Battle for Final 500 "White" Farms

UNCLAS HARARE 000018 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/S NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER USDOC FOR 2037 DIEMOND TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW PASS USTR FLORIZELLE LISER STATE PASS USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON ¶E. O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR ECON EINV ETRD PGOV ZI SUBJECT: Battle for Final 500 "White" Farms ¶1. (U) Summary: The GOZ is attempting to seize the final 500 white-owned commercial farms by attacking black business partners. End Summary. ¶2. (U) During Zimbabwe's tumultuous land redistribution over the past two years, the Government has dispossessed approximately 4,000 of 4,5000 white commercial farmers. Most of the remaining 500 farmers seem to have entered into arrangements or accommodations with prominent black Zimbabweans. Since early-December, GOZ hardliners have begun to attack these indigenous dealmakers. At the ruling ZANU-PF's party conference on December 6, some delegates circulated a paper accusing Vice President Joseph Msika of cooperating too closely with white commercial farmers. ¶3. (U) Over the past week, the State and independent press have sparred over alleged attempts by a group led by Agriculture Minister Joseph Made to occupy a horticulture farm called Kondozi. The white farmer apparently sold over half his stake to Edwin Masimba Moyo, a black businessman, to shield himself from land reform. A GOZ spokesman berated the new black owner in bombastic terms: "[Government] will not be duped by Uncle Toms that make themselves willing tools of former Rhodies who are hopelessly trying to hold on to the land their colonial ancestors brutally grabbed from our forefathers. . . . Government is dismayed that there are Zimbabweans of the likes of Edwin Masimba Moyo ready to be used by white farmers for whatever number of pieces of silver." Comment -------------- ¶4. (U) Other remarks by the GOZ spokesman make little sense. He argued that the farm was allocated to State rather than Made's group, and that the 5,000 farm workers "should [become] farmers in their own right and not [the white owner's] servants as in the Rhodesia of yesteryear." In practice, land reform beneficiaries - such as Made in this case - do not receive title deed and there are no plans to parcel Kondozi into small plots for the 5,000 employees. ¶5. (SBU) Made is obviously attempting to take control of a valuable forex-earning business. Such battles over the final 500 farms with white ownership will be increasingly messy. Sullivan