Zimbabwe land grab reaches Ian Smith's farm By Darren Schuettler HARARE: Rhodesia's last white leader, Ian Smith, said on Sunday his cattle ranch in Zimbabwe had been occupied by landless blacks, but he did not believe they were veterans of the liberation war that ended his rule in 1980. "I don't think it's serious," 80-year-old Smith said outside his home in Harare's diplomatic quarter. Farmers in the Matabeleland district that includes Shurugwi, where Smith farms, told Reuters that many had moved to nearby towns after receiving threats of occupation and violence. "There are still a lot of threats and that has some farmers leaving for town for the weekend," a spokesman for the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said. Thousands of self-styled veterans of the 1970s guerrilla war against Smith's regime have occupied more than 700 white-owned farms, saying they are reclaiming land stolen from blacks under British colonial rule. Smith said his farm about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Harare was occupied on Saturday afternoon. "I gather there are just a few chaps from the village, who haven't got a job and I think somebody said to them: 'Well, if everybody is going to stake out a piece of land, why don't you do the same?' "If there is one person who is well known in that part of the world, it's a bloke called Ian Smith," he said. "I'VE MORE BLACK FRIENDS THAN MUGABE" Smith said he did not think it was revenge for his resistance to liberation 20 years ago, adding: "I've got a peaceful farm... I've got more black friends in this country now than (President Robert) Mugabe." Smith, prime minister from 1964 to 1979, resisted British moves to lead the colony toward independence and once vowed that whites would rule for 1,000 years. He told Reuters in March he would come out of retirement to support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) against the ruling ZANU-PF, which has ruled since independence, in parliamentary elections due by August. "I am concentrating now on making sure we get rid of the gangsters, the communists. If we can do that, I will be optimistic," he said then. Mugabe has repeatedly endorsed the occupations, which have twice been declared illegal by the country's courts. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on Sunday warned Mugabe not to implement a reported plan to strip whites with rights to British nationality of their Zimbabwe citizenship. "It would be an enormous mistake for Zimbabwe to attempt to expel British citizens with resident qualifications because these are people who are making a big impact on the economy. They provide the backbone for so much of the exports of Zimbabwe in the agricultural sector," he told BBC television in London. The partly state-owned Herald newspaper said on Saturday the government planned to act against an estimated 86,000 white Zimbabweans with rights also to British nationality. Thousands of whites have applied to reactivate their British nationality since the land grab began in February. The Zimbabwe government made citizens with dual nationality renounce their British citizenship in 1985, but London has never recognized the measure. On Saturday, Cook criticized police action to prevent a peace rally in central Harare, saying: "President Mugabe must ensure the violence ends so the elections can go ahead on a fair basis. Today's violence makes it even more essential that we get agreement to international observers." On Friday, Mugabe for the first time denounced the violence in which at least 19 people, including three white farmers, have died after talks with veterans and farmers. He also announced the formation of a land commission including government officials, farmers and independence war veterans to carry through the distribution of white farmland to blacks. But he said the veterans would not leave until land redistribution had started. Until now, Mugabe has backed the land invasions and police have done little to intervene. Farm leaders hope Mugabe's comments and the land commission will calm a volatile situation on the farms. The CFU spokesman said farmers in some areas were meeting this weekend to discuss what land could be redistributed to landless blacks. But many farmers are sceptical. "As long as the invaders are still on the farms there is going to be confrontation," a farmer in the northern Karoi area told Reuters. Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Saturday his party would contest a forthcoming parliamentary election, but called for unspecified "mass action" against government campaign tactics. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon was scheduled to meet Mugabe for two days on Monday and Tuesday to discuss election arrangements. (Reuters)
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