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CNN Live Today

Zimbabwe's Government Orders Nearly 3,000 White Farmers to Surrender Land

Aired June 26, 2002 - 11:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR; In Southern Africa, a food crisis takes root in the farmland. Zimbabwe's government has ordered nearly 3,000 white farmers to abandon their crops and to get ready to surrender their land, despite the threat of a nationwide famine.

Reporter Lindsay Hillson (ph) explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSAY HILLSON (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are doing nothing. Ross Reid should be processing this year's crop or preparing next's year. But from today, working on this farm is a crime.

ROSS REID, FARMER: I stand the chance of being arrested with a fine or two years imprisonment and that also goes for farm workers.

HILLSON (ph): It's the final stage in President's Robert Mugabe's land reform program. White-owned commercial farm are being given to black people. Today, white farmers and the laborers must stop farming, and by August, be off the land. Mr. Reed says for now, he will stop raiding the tobacco he harvested. But he is hoping against hope the government will change its mind before August.

REID: When you are born and bred in Zimbabwe, maybe white, maybe black, you have got Africa in your blood. It is very difficult to get out. This is where your home is. I want to continue farming. I'm a law abiding citizen. Why can't I continue farming when the farm is being paid for and bought.

HILLSON (ph): The farm workers have not been given land. They face unemployment and destitution.

PETER ACIDE, FARM MANAGER: When they come to take the farm like this one for example, they don't care about us. They just (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So that's a problem for us. Where can we go (ph)? As I say, every owner (ph) has been here I have been here for 27 years. Where am I going to go?

HILLSON (ph): Farm machinery lies idol. Zimbabwe used to feed itself, and it sports tobacco and other cash crops. Today, there is a desperate shortage of both food and foreign exchange. President Mugabe of Zimbabwe is in crisis. A third of Zimbabweans have already their jobs. Inflation rose by 122 percent last year, and the economy will shrink by 10 percent this year. Between five and six million people need food aid. While commercial farmers are banned from cultivating, some Zimbabweans are surviving on food aid, and others may yet starve.

HARRIS: Thanks to Lindsay Hillson (ph) for that report.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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