Burl, 55, was one of some 2,900 white farmers ordered off their land on Aug. 8 as part of a radical government land-expropriation program. About 200 farmers have since been arrested for refusing to comply with the new law, which has drawn criticism from political leaders around the world. Earlier this week, senior U.S. State Department officials used some of their strongest language yet to condemn the Zimbabwe government, saying that President Robert Mugabe won re-election through a “fraudulent” vote last March and that his policies were helping to spread starvation through drought-stricken southern Africa. “It is madness to arrest commercial farmers in the middle of a drought when they could grow food to save people from starvation,” Andrew S. Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told reporters in Washington.
Although Burl is one of the farmers who have moved to another home, he was charged last week with violating the eviction order because his employees continue to tend his 300 cattle and operate his equipment on the land. Burl says police issued him the summons last week when he went to them to complain of the theft of a $1 million irrigation pump from his property. The evening after he and seven other local farmers were arraigned in a local magistrate’s court, he spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Tom Masland. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: What happened in court on Wednesday?
Alan Burl: We were remanded on bail of 5,000 Zimbabwe dollars [less than $100] and ordered to come back Sept. 4. And we were ordered to take all our movable property off the farm by the 31st of August.
Were there other conditions?
We can only go back onto our property with police escort. But I got a special dispensation for my cattle. The magistrate understood that there’s nowhere else to move them because so many farms are affected. The only answer would be to slaughter them all, and he accepted that this wouldn’t be wise.
Is this the end of the road for you?
No. We’ll be able to argue our case at the next hearing. And actually it’s quite wise right now to move your assets, to keep them from being stolen. There’s wholesale theft taking place all over the country. As the economic crisis hits people, they’re turning to helping themselves to whatever they can steal. The farmers can’t operate, the police are overwhelmed, and it has opened the gateway for thieves. They’re taking electric motors, or bales of tobacco or bags of corn–whatever they can take. I’m looking for a place to store my equipment. That’s what most people are doing–holding on to it. If we’re allowed to carry on, then we’ll move stuff back on once there’s law and order.
Who are the thieves?
It’s impossible to say for sure. [Black settlers who farm on part of the property] had no income. It was a disaster. Maybe they make more money by selling electrical goods, or irrigation piping. They’re rolling up fencing. The settlers will blame the farm workers. It might be neither. It might be just professional thieves from the town. Unemployment is huge, food is short and people have to keep themselves alive somehow.
What will become of your employees?
I don’t know how they face the future. Now they don’t have a job. We probably have 500 people on our property. We had enough grain stored for two years for them. But some of the settlers took angle grinders, they cut the locks off the doors and they must have taken one year’s grain away. We also had lost our big pump, for our drip-irrigation scheme. Three nights before that we lost almost half a million [Zimbabwean] dollars worth of processed tobacco that was waiting to go to the auction floor.
Is it the same all over the country?
No, the situation is incredibly confused. The bail conditions vary from area to area. In some areas the farmers have been instructed they have to stay on their farms until the Supreme Court rules [on whether the expropriations are legal]. Some magistrates imposed no bail.
How are your relations with those on your land?
The first [black] settlers arrived two years ago. The ones that are wanting to farm I don’t have a problem with. I dipped their cattle, and I still pump all the water they need. But when politics is involved it can turn very ugly. Just after the presidential elections [last March], 80 people broke into our house. They smashed the doors down. They took all the food out of the deep freeze and the fridge, anything that was in the liquor cabinet they drank; they helped themselves to our cell phones and calculators. The police eventually came after seven or eight hours. We’ve never been harmed physically.
You’re not ready to call it a day?
I’m born here, this is my home. I intend to stay here. These are interesting times. It’s actually unbelievable what has happened. We’ve got to get through it. I don’t know how it’s going to end.
What’s your own prediction?
Let me tell you, if there’s another drought this year, it’s going be horrendous. The entire production of the settlers that were on my farm this year didn’t amount to half a percent of what we normally produce. And normally when there are floods in Europe, there’s drought in southern Africa. It means the jet stream has come deeper toward the Mediterranean. So my prediction would be that this coming year might not be a good one. And then [hunger] is going to be catastrophic.
