Defiant white farmers summoned to court in Zimbabwe
Six white farmers were due to appear in court in Zimbabwe today accused of defying government orders to abandon their homes.
The farmers in the Filabusi, Kezi and West Nicholson districts in the southwest were served court papers yesterday in the first official moves to evict defiant landowners.
Police also took statements from the six before the first court hearings in the town of Gwanda, 80 miles south of Bulawayo.
President Robert Mugabe promised last week that no "loyal" white farmers will be left landless or homeless - or deprived of their sole source of income.
But Ignatius Chombo, the local government minister, said the government had lost patience with hundreds of white farmers defying orders to leave their farms by midnight on August 8.
"We are considering a number of options to ensure the land redistribution programme is not unnecessarily derailed. Those defying the law should be duly charged," he said.
And a spokeswoman for Justice for Agriculture, a white farmers pressure group, complained: "What is being said and what is happening on the ground don’t merge."
Defiant farmers who ignore eviction orders and stay on their land risk up to two years in jail and a fine.
Justice for Agriculture said as many as 50 other farmers had been told they would be asked to
appear in court soon in western Zimbabwe.
Since the eviction deadline passed last week, ruling party militants have made at least a dozen attempts to force farmers from their land.
