ZIMBABWE - What really happened at Bath Farm ?

BACKGROUND

Jannie and Maureen Erasmus are very successful cattle producers who farm on Bath Farm, in the Chatsworth area. Jannie is a third generation Erasmus to farm with cattle on Bath Farm. In the 1940s when all the farmers were experimenting with tobacco and other crops the family realised that Gutu/Chatsworth was a marginal area which was best suited only for cattle production. As the crop farmers burnt their fingers and moved on, so the family farms increased and progressed.

There are three elder Erasmus brothers, namely, Jannie, Koosie and Coert, who in turn have their own children who have inherited their farms. Unfortunately the children's' farms have not yet been transferred into their names for fear of Government taking their farms during their compulsory offering to Government in seeking a mandatory Certificate of no Present Interest. It is legislated that before any farm may be sold, or transferred, or consolidated that Government has the first right of refusal. Therefore anybody looking in the Deeds Registry would find a number of farms belonging to Erasmus, although this is not technically true.

This has caused these lovely, well respected, true cattlemen to be continually at the wrong (receiving) end of the political land reform exercise in Zimbabwe. This is despite their being successful beef producers whose bulk of sales qualify for our EU export quota, and thereby significantly contributing to the nation's economy.

BUILD UP OF EVENTS PRIOR TO OCTOBER 26TH VISIT

Bath farm was first invaded in April 2000 as part of the politically orchestrated illegal "fast-track" programme, and was in fact not long after the tragic loss of their only son, whose death had seriously affected Jannie.

Since then Jannie has been subjected to a well orchestrated terror campaign which has involved harassment, intimidation, assault of workers, extortion, maiming, slaughter and snaring of cattle and game, destruction of grazing through burning and prohibition of use of most of his farm for grazing. He has been subjected to a form of the worst possible mental or physical torture, for 18 months now.

The cattle have been confined to small areas of the farm as squatters plant crops on unfenced plots within his cattle grazing paddocks. Cattle herds have intentionally been mixed to make them impossible to be accounted for, in order to disguise the thefts, etc. Cattle gates are continually left open and fences cut as well as cattle continually being forced onto either main highways or railway lines, and even off the farm into the communal areas.

In short, as the squatters continually moved on together with their livestock, and built huts with the blessing of the government, he was quickly being squeezed off.

In an effort to retain his breeding herd he has been translocating them to temporary grazing in the SE Lowveld. This has been at tremendous expense in transport costs and in the loss of cattle, mainly due to the Heartwater Disease which traditionally only occurs in the Lowveld. All this takes a tremendous amount of time, mainly due to the planned disruption of his farming operations. His sensitive Brahman cattle have become wild as a result of being continually mishandled by the squatters, so rounding them up has become a major exercise. Jannie says that he loses 10% of his cattle with each lorry load, due to their loss of condition. This was very evident when I saw his cows and calves, which were being penned prior to transportation, on Friday. They were so thin they were barely alive.

This must be so painful for such a dedicated cattleman, but Jannie feels that he has been forced into this corner, and has reluctantly decided to move his life's work to a safer area, regardless of the cost. Although the cattle may be safe for the time being, the lease is on a one-month notice period. The area where the cattle are now also removed the qualification for the export quota, so both Jannie, and the nation are losing.

CABINET ACTION COMMITTEE VISIT ON OCTOBER 19, 2001

This visit was one of those hastily organised trips by government officials, which is kept so quiet and secret that it is surprising that even the participants know the timetable. CFU was definitely not invited, and when we did attend we were neither welcomed nor recognised.

Jannie had very short notice, and did not know what to prepare, but when the 22-vehicle cavalcade did arrive he definitely felt the brunt of it. It was a huge delegation, which also included Ministers Made, Chombo, J. Moyo and Majuru, as well as the governor, Police, CIO, Ministry of Lands, ZBC, etc, etc.

Although the meeting was said to be promoting the implementation of the Abuja Accord, it soon became very evident that the government had absolutely no intention of changing from its present illegal, disruptive, evil programme. In fact it turned into just another political rally for them to show how they had delivered the land, and that the people should show their gratitude by voting for the responsible (for land) political party.

Of course Jannie was thoroughly humiliated, intimidated and subjugated, and in fact felt inclined to believe all the lies told about the land. Therefore in his confused state he was coached into saying certain things which he would not normally have said, to appease those who were threatening and intimidating him. When we spoke to Jannie after this humiliating visit he was thoroughly broken.

The government controlled press and media used this event as part of a twisted story, with the headline, "Abuja Pact Holds". What rubbish!

EVENTS PRIOR TO COMMONWEALTH MINISTERS VISIT

Once again the programme of this field trip was very confusing. CFU President spoke to us at the tea break during CFU Council and requested a nomination of a farm to be visited by the team. After consultation we chose Berry Springs, and the name was put forward, so we informed our Gutu Chairman.

However on Wednesday morning I received a call from a contact, who informed me that the team would be visiting Bath Farm. Later that afternoon this was confirmed by Jannie who told us that the District Administrator for Gutu, accompanied by Army and Police personnel, had informed just him of this. He had also been instructed not to "buck the system" and to repeat his subdued and humiliating statement he had made to the CAC team - "or else".

Gutu farming community has a wonderful community spirit and they were not prepared to have one of their own humiliated for political purposes, in public, again. They therefore invited us to attend an "O"-group meeting on a nearby farm, which we did. The community had decided that it was time that we stopped apologising for being "white" and owning farms, and that they needed to support Jannie through this ordeal.

We discussed what he should say, and then decided that he should be as brief as possible and to let another member of the community make a statement for him, and to field questions on his behalf. We also felt that this was a unique opportunity that we should not miss, and should make every effort to get the true story out. Dave Henson and his father-in-law, Jaapie Jackson was delegated to write both speeches. We also delegated a person who had a contact in an embassy to attempt to arrange a one-on-one with us prior to the gathering. We also decided to print a folder containing relevant facts concerning the illegal land programme and a sitrep of events on Bath Farm, etc.

On Thursday afternoon the Gutu DA and his "gang" were back threatening Jannie, and this time he ordered that no other farmers should be there and that CFU must definitely not be there "because they would hijack it and use it as a political platform".

There was still no official confirmation on the venue, even up to 11pm on the night before the proposed field trip. It was only confirmed a few hours before we left the next morning.

COMMONWEALTH MINISTERS FIELD TRIP TO BATH FARM

Hendrik and I left Masvingo at 6.30am for the proposed prearranged one-on-one meeting. I must say that we were apprehensive because Jannie had been told that there would be at least 500 people there for the 9am meeting. We were visualising mobs of people and roadblocks to keep CFU out, but we found absolutely no human activity at all. Although I must say we were a bit startled when we saw the clean-up crews clearing the railway line after a derailment.

We were the first there and our proposed one-on-one meeting did not materialise. Jannie and Maureen were relieved to see us. Maureen said that her daughter had told her that government officials had telephoned the manager of the farm on which their cattle are leasing grazing. I telephoned him and he said that it seemed the DA was trying to be convinced that Jannie owned more farms in the Lowveld, or that the lease was permanent, so he could relinquish his entire Gutu holding. Fortunately he was told the truth that the grazing was on a month-to-month basis.

The governor arrived about one hour behind us, but he was left to his own devices, as they were busy organising a tent and seating etc. We were also not too keen for a confrontation with the governor, on his own, so we waited for more to arrive. Slowly more and more vehicles arrived. When David and Jaapie arrived it was decided Jaapie, being the senior citizen would deliver the speech on behalf of Jannie.

I went outside to mingle with the people and had a lengthy discussion with Provincial War Veteran, Mhike, as well as small chats with the governor, Propol, Police, warvets and Chiefs.

The helicopter arrived over one hour late, at 10.15am and we introduced ourselves to the dignitaries, whilst other official introductions were done. The Gutu DA requested us to be seated in the tent. All in all there were only about 100 villagers, workers and warvets representing the "people", and the dignitaries which was mainly made up of civil servants, Army and Police made up about another 50. There were seven of us present, including Jannie and Maureen, representing the farmers.

As the Commonwealth group were being seated we made contact with them individually, and I gave four of them our prepared handout. I then sat down taking as low a profile as possible, took out my notebook and recorded the following.

NOTES MADE FROM SPEECHES, AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS

The guests were introduced as a group and the local groups of squatters, committee of 7, war vets, "former farm owner", farm employees who had been "given" land were paraded in front of the tent

MASVINGO PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR, J. HUNGWE

After welcoming visitors and guests to the province, he said that 26,000 people had been settled in the Masvingo Province, and this figure represents both "black" and "white" people. 226 properties had been acquired in the province and about 6,000 people had been settled here in Gutu. He said that there is an identification system, which begins with the District Land Committees (DLC) who then send their recommendations to the Provincial Land Committee (PLC), which is chaired by him. Recommendations of listing or delisting of properties comes from the DLC, and so far some 150 properties have been delisted through their recommendations. The merits for delisting are conservancies, Zimbabwe Investment Centre permits, church farms, and so on, which are all part of a long list.

He said that the programme began with the A1 model farms, which are designed to decongest the over crowded communal areas. He said a committee of 7, which is headed by a chairman, runs the acquired farms, and they pass their complaints and requests through the DLC to the PLC. This would include requests for schools and clinics, and there have been so many requests for seed packs and inputs. The A1 scheme is now completed under the "fast-track" scheme.

The A2 model settlement has now started and is nearing completion. If people want land they must just apply, and choose where. The country is divided into Agricultural Regions 1-5, and this province has Regions 3,4 and 5, which are mainly only suitable for cattle production, like Mwenezi. Perhaps we could take you down there when you come again?

The A2 application forms are processed through the PLC and examined by a team of experts and the applicant has an opportunity to state which type of farming he would prefer. So far 7129 applications have been received by the province, from around the country. Unfortunately we have delisted 150 farms and we cannot go against government policy, so we can only accommodate 950 of these applications. The rest will have no land, as there is no more land available at the moment. There have been a total number of 60,000 requests for land.

The rules of the acquisition are that the farmers and the settlers must co-exist. If a farm is taken then a farmer must co-exist until the farm is finally paid for and acquired. There are no stipulations on how long this will take, but the government will not tolerate those who will not co-exist.

The latest instructions from above are that nobody should be found squatting on ungazetted properties, in terms of the law. The exercise to remove these people and from conservancies has started and police and army trucks have started removing people, as I speak, due to the government regulations. The operation is going smoothly. There should be no friction and any breaches of these actions he will be advised and take action, and this also applies to farmers who should recognise the law. People must stick to the law under which we operate and acquire farms.

The Gutu District Administrator then took the floor.

He paraded 7 Bath Farm workers who had allegedly been given land. Jannie could not confirm this when he was asked, nor were the workers very talkative nor could they answer any questions about the sizes of their plots or whether they had ploughed or not. (After the meeting this was exposed as another charade by the DA.) Minister Made asked them where their homes were and they replied - Chivu, Zaka, Chilimanzi and Midlands. The DA then gave his speech as follows.

He welcomed the guests and "former" farm owner. He said that the Gutu population was 245,000 people and covered 700,000ha. 41% was communal, 35% was commercial, 10% small-scale commercial (SSC) and 7% resettlement. However with the "fast-tracking" it was now 47% communal 14-14% commercial, 11% SSC and 28% resettlement. (He reeled off these figures so fast I hope I am quoting correctly) about 6000 families have been resettled. The figures represent 45 people per square ha and the "fast-tracking" has removed about 150 families from every ward, which would assist in decongestion.

So far DDF have tilled 420ha and we have moved 136 families with government transport, but the rest have moved by themselves. Through the government and GMB we have so far supplied 188 tons of fertiliser and 28 tons of seed maize. We have drilled 8 boreholes on the acquired farms and there are requests for another 19. We so far intend to build 9 new schools and 6 clinics and to repair dip tanks on farms and a number of deep wells have been dug - as the one over there.

On Bath Farm the former owner has allowed us to use one of his sheds (there) to run a school, and we have grades 1 to 5 there. 500 head of cattle have been authorised by government to move onto Bath Farm.

We have sent in a list of farms for farms which should be gazetted for delisting and so far 5 dairy farms (like the one over there) and 3 church farms have so far been delisted. We negotiated with Erasmus when we gazetted and we have delisted one out of his 12 farms, and they are dealing with continual requests for more. All parties have been requested to co-exist under the laws of Zimbabwe. Evaluation teams have completed their tasks and the current settlers are busy tilling. Unfortunately the farmer and the settlers have two opposing agricultural systems, which causes confrontation between the owners of the cattle and the crop farmers. Fortunately the former owner has complied and removed some cattle from the farm whilst others have been allocated paddocks (Nothing said that he was forced by the squatters to pay large sums of money to them to allow his cattle to graze in a small area which they allocated). The DA then requested suggestions on this and said that he was working on the problem, to prevent conflict.

The Chairman of the Committee of 7 was then asked to speak. They were introduced as the beginning of the local government administration of the areas.

He said they came here from Wards 31 and 32 and that their councillors allocated them their areas. They came here on 10/4/2000 and later Agritex demarcated the grazing and cropping areas. This was followed by the official handing over of plots by the DLC. He said they had stayed peacefully with the owner Mr. Erasmus and the DA had asked them to for the committee of 7. They had been ordered to live here peacefully and to co-exist. Mr. Erasmus was a good man and there had been no squabbles or fighting. The problem of his cattle eating the thatch off their huts was resolved peacefully. He thanked Mr. Erasmus for helping them and accommodating their needs such as the school - after all we need education. He gave us the use of the shed and we have Grades 1-5 there.
Mr. Erasmus is a good person and approved and accepted us with no resistance. When we first came here he helped us with accommodation, water and firewood as well as allowing us to fish in his farm dam (applause). When we want to go to town he always gives us lifts and whenever we have a gathering he always gives us meat and mealie meal to feed the people. We have always been encouraged to live peacefully and when there are problems he has moved his cattle to his other properties although some are still here.

He requested government assistance for the building of schools and shopping complexes. DDF has ploughed some of the fields and they are busy sinking more deep wells, but they need more money. Unfortunately last season's crops were destroyed by Erasmus's cattle, but we have asked him to move his cattle to where there are no crops.

He hoped that the visitors were here to build, and not to destroy Zimbabwe. If all fails us??? On our side as settlers we support co-existence. They were thankful, as they had been waiting since 1980. Erasmus's workers were not excluded from the programme in appreciation of Erasmus's co-operation.

Jannie Erasmus was then asked to speak. He had prepared the following speech.

He welcomed all the guests and dignitaries to Bath Farm. I have been a major cattle producer in this district. All my land, including my home farm is listed and has been illegally occupied.

The invasions have been aggressive, full of threats and intimidation towards both my workers and me. Crime has been rife - stocktheft, wire theft and snaring of both cattle and game. The legal steps were not followed, neither have I received a Section 9 in terms of the Act, which is supposed to be the final step giving me 3 months notice before any invasion or interference in my farming is allowed. I am being forced to remove all my cattle 70% of, which are already off. I have incurred colossal expenses in feeding, transport and hiring of grazing. Under the current situation farming is simply not possible.

He then excused himself and requested that he invited a friend to answer any questions and to put his and the farmers' position straight. As Dr. Japie Jackson came forward the Zimbabwe Ministers said that this was absolutely out of order and that this was not on the programme. The Canadian representative David Kilgor then insisted saying that it was only fair to hear both sides of the situation. To this Minister Made and Governor Hungwe started being abusive, and the Nigerian Minister Sule Lamido intervened. The tussle went on for about five minutes with Minister Made saying that it would be racial for Japie to speak, and that all the crowd should be able to speak then. David Kilgor said that that was OK and that he had all day, but insisted he heard the other side, and not just the government's. Eventually at David Kilgor's insistence Japie began. The Zimbabwean Minister were stunned and silenced with what was being said and I overheard Made saying that this was a prepared speech which was done by CFU Harare, as they had seen me giving out handouts. Some members of the Gutu Land Committee walked out, but the crowd was reasonably attentive to what Japie had to say. ZBC who had been filming and recording all stopped.

I wish to thank the Ministers of the Commonwealth for coming all this way to give us this opportunity. Jannie Erasmus is one of the most gentle hearted men in the district, whom we hold in high respect and I have agreed to present our case on his behalf. I have been Jannie's veterinary surgeon for over 30 years so I know both him and his farm very well.

The principle purpose of today's meeting is to establish from the reality on the ground the answers to the following questions:

Is the Abuja Accord being honoured? - No.

Has law and order been restored? - No.

Is the law, and particularly the Land Acquisition Act, being implemented correctly? - No.

Were more illegal occupiers moved onto the farms after the agreement? - Yes.

Is land reform being implemented in a fair, transparent and sustainable manner, and is it addressing poverty alleviation? - No.

Has there been any delisting of farms that do not meet the criteria? - Yes - one and only one.

Have assurances like "One man one farm", and "homestead farms left alone" been adhered to? - No.

Jannie Erasmus is testimony of this. He and his workers have been harassed, humiliated, ground down. Their normal farming operations are a thing of the past. (Just yesterday the DA was here threatening him to tow the line for the meeting, otherwise there would be severe consequences.) He has had enough, and just can't go on trying to farm like this. That is why you have been flown 250km to be here - because the govt. think they have crushed him into submission.

So far in this district the DA has claimed to have settled 85 farms, with a further 15 to be settled on model A2, out of a total of 110 farms. Eight of the remaining commercial farms belong to commercial black farmers, so the intention is to leave us with two! The majority of the farms were occupied from the beginning of April this year, with plots being allocated from May and June, and this activity continues today. There has been no attempt to move people who settled after 1st March 2001.

And to who have the plots been allocated? - Lft-Colonels, Army Captains, District Administrators, Policemen, Teachers, Veterinary staff, any other government employee who wanted a plot, businessmen and influential members of society who may be able to influence the next vote, together with many who had already been resettled in the 1980's. Take a drive around many of the plots, and see some of the people with their cars and lorries parked by their huts. Yes, there are the genuine land-less people on the farms, but they are settled in villages, not plots, and are generally used by the wealthy invaders to do work for them

If the Government wants the land, all we require is for them to follow the law. Most farmers have only received a 'Preliminary Notice of Intention to Acquire' their farm. All objection letters have been ignored, and the 'Fast Track' implemented anyway. All approaches to Govt. via the D.A. have met with no reaction or a negative reaction.

In the 1980's 66% of the original commercial farming area (excluding Eastdale Ranch) of Gutu/Chatsworth was already resettled. When we presented our 'Community Plan' in August last year to both the D.A. and the Governor, in which we offered 28% of the remaining commercially farmed land, it met with no response. This plan was again presented on 20th June 2001. We stated that this was a start and that more land would be made available after this initial phase - no response, only more invasions. The offered farms were also included in the ZJIRI. All our efforts at dialogue have been spurned.

When Minister Chombo visited the district a few months ago, his message was that homestead farmers were to be left. I personally gave a list of these farms to the D.A. because he had no idea of which they were. The response; he made sure that just about every one was invaded and none were relieved.

At last weeks meetings on our farms, the Governments interpretation of the Abuja Accord was spelt out to the illegal occupiers - As far as Government is concerned they have now acquired the land, and assessed it, (by a couple of school leavers), and therefore it belongs to the people. It is up to the British, if they choose to, to compensate the farmers and that it is not the responsibility of the Government. However, most of the invaders have been misled to believe that the farmers had already been paid. That is not true.

The farmers have been told we have no further rights on our farms. The illegal occupiers have been told to watch the farmers and closely check their activities, and any action contrary to the interests of the invaders must be reported immediately to the Police. (One was even arrested by three policemen and six armed soldiers for having fixed a contour and deepened a water hole. He was detained until 11,30.p.m.) We are told where we can graze the cattle, and more often than not told to take all our cattle away. In the mean time the illegal occupiers have free rein to continue to cut trees, burn pasture, and plough anywhere they choose.

A most disturbing fact is that the invasions have been accompanied by such malice, so many threats, so many criminal acts, and so much dishonesty. The invaders have been regimented by meeting after meeting, sometimes daily, and the similarity of their attitudes and tactics countrywide makes it very clear to us that the whole unacceptable situation is centrally co-ordinated.

We are told to co-exist, and we will do so to survive, but can not if we are denied all rights to our farms. The President has repeatedly stated both within the country and to the outside world that nobody who wants to arm will be stopped from doing so, that farmers whose land is adjacent to the communal land will be given other farms to continue on. Vice President Muzenda stated last weekend that the intention was not to chase the white farmers away - that is not the case in this his home area.

The minimum requirement now is that all homestead farms be de-listed and the invaders moved. Thereafter, the law must be followed, through the Administrative Courts, Compensation Committee and final Section 9. The agreed criteria must be adhered to, and the poor land-less allocated viable plots. We would welcome that and offer our full co-operation to give them a good start.

After Japie had spoken the Nigerian Minister Sule Lamido spoke, but he spoke very softly so people could not hear and I could not take notes.

From what I can remember he said that things need to change and both sides had to accept the situation as it is and to desist from calling people invaders as we were all invaders at some time or another. The team had come here to try to find an amicable solution after the Abuja Accord, and that the diplomats should remember that and not side with one side only.

Made and Hungwe insisted that the people could not hear or understand what he had just said so Minister Mudenge offered to translate. But instead he said the following, which was preceded by a vigorous session of sloganeering.

After telling a few jokes in Shona Mudenge said that there was no going back on the land. He said although we were allowed to dream at night we must stop dreaming in the day, and to face the facts. He thanked the Nigerian Minister and said that the team had come here on his invitation, as a result of Abuja. They came here to see Zimbabwe and to try to assist to repair relations with the British. and since Abuja on 6/10 to try to push the objective to see what has happened. (?)

He welcomed everybody and was sympathetic to the feelings of Erasmus as they were only human, and to what has happened, and why he spoke as he did. Justified both emotions. (?) The government has tried to resolve the problem for a peaceful future but this is difficult, as we have been forced to take land in order to be able to share land, and to be as fare as possible. We must agree to give for the future, which may be difficult but we need to, as it is the only way it can work. Zimbabwe has limited land so we must share. Many feel they have lost everything but we should have done it legally since 1980. We wanted to follow that route but others reneged and so we sat. Lancaster House agreement was never followed.

We have instead changed the Constitution in order to take the land and we will not pay for the land. In 1920 Brian Mitchell's father-in-law, Bob Richards moved my family off Richmond - that was my land and I want compensation - we were not paid. so we do not want to pay but we need help from the Commonwealth team and to return to Britain for help. Both Canada and New Zealand have joined to UK to assist, so we can continue to farm with no emotions.

The decision has been made that there is no going back to the legal position on land and there will be no change.

However we are working towards fair compensation now. I personally give Mr. Erasmus the undertaking that he will remain with one farm and I will honour what I have said. Nobody in Zimbabwe will be left without a farm, although they may have to move to other provinces where the land is better and water is available. Unfortunately their communities will be broken up. We must have honour, be fair and be together. Statements written in Harare. (?) everybody has feelings and we need to be fair to both. Ended with a slogan meaning "down with those who do not want us".

Minister made ended the meeting making a series of repetitive slogans.

When the meeting closed we made further contact with the people but there was a lot of noise both from the crowd and the helicopter. I had asked Japie to let a few people know that the speech he had read was written locally and not by the CFU Harare as was being suggested. He spoke to the governor, who immediately attacked him and repetitively called this upstanding member of the community a liar. Fortunately Minister Mudenge intervened and assured both Jannie and Japie of their personal safety.

SUMMARY
Bath Farm had been chosen particularly because the government thought they had ground Jannie down sufficiently, and would therefore have a farmer supporting and co-operating with the illegal programme. This was especially after the threats from the local DA on two consecutive days.

With the support from the community the position was turned around and we managed to get the true picture across to the Commonwealth Team much to the dismay of the government organisers.

The international press has been very interested in what happened on Bath farm and in fact I was interviewed on BBC World Service shortly afterwards. This was followed by a number of further interviews, which persuaded me to write the facts down from the notes, which I was able to take.

M. A. Clark
Regional Chairman

NB (?) indicates where I had difficulty reading my writing.