Zimbabwe -- Church-run farm seized

HARARE - The government has seized the church-run Driefontein farm in Masvingo in clear violation of its earlier promises not to take over farms run by religious organisations.

The farm where one of the country's biggest infectious diseases hospitals, Driefontein Mission Hospital is built is owned by the Catholic Church.

The hospital is the main referral centre for tuberculosis patients in Masvingo, parts of Midlands and Mashonaland east provinces.

The government issued a Section 8 order against the farm last Friday. Under the government's Land Acquisition Act, the order is a formal notice on the church to wind up operations and vacate the property within 90 days from the date of issue.

Lands Minister Joseph Made, in charge of the land acquisition programme, could not be reached yesterday to establish whether the government also planned to take over the hospital.

An official at the Catholic Diocese of Gweru under which Driefontein falls said the church had not yet been officially informed of plans by the state to take over the farm.

He said: "We have not been advised of the intention by the government to compulsorily take over the farm. However, we will discuss the matter this coming week and see how we can respond."

Before Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, the Catholic Church built schools and hospitals at farms it owned across the country to provide education and health care services to blacks who were marginalised by the country's former white rulers.

President Robert Mugabe himself was educated at the Catholic-run Kutama Mission in his Zvimba rural home.

Out of Zimbabwe's 124 mission hospitals, 47 are run by the Catholic Church making it the country's second biggest provider of health care services after the government.

Also listed for seizure last Friday were two of the country's biggest tea and coffee estates, Aberfoyle Estate and Eastern Highlands Plantations.

The two properties, measuring 2 363 353 hectares, produce tea and washed Arabica coffee mainly for export. They are owned by London Stock Exchange-listed Plantation & General plc.

The government also ordered the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed plantation firm, Border Timbers, to surrender five timber estates measuring more than 34 154 066 hectares.

The government had said it would not seize land owned by churches, agro-firms and plantation and estate companies.

But the state has since backtracked on its word grabbing land from companies in the last three months. Most of the land has ended up in the hands of companies owned by ruling ZANU PF party politicians. - ZimOnline

I live in Zimbabwe and read this article in one of the newpapers. There is a Driefontein Farm that has been listed to be taken over, however it has no relation to Driefontein Roman Catholic Mission. No mission farms have been threatened. Things are bad enough in this country without news being fabricated.

I would very much appreciate it if you would send the remarks in your reply 23 to Zim Online and ask them to either back up or retract their story.

Zim online's contact dialogue page is here:

http://www.zimonline.co.za/writetous.asp

Please post their reply.

FWIW, here it their "about us" page:

About Us:
The Zim News Online is published under a project that has been set up by seasoned Zimbabwean journalists and lawyers. We agreed on the need to create a daily alternative media voiceon Zimbabwe to expand the democratic space being shrunk by repressive media laws being selectively used to eliminate the independent media.
We are an independent news service not affiliated to any political party, civic organisation nor any other lobby group. Through our network of experienced correspondents deployed around all the provinces of Zimbabwe, we will complement the few remaining independent voices in the media sector.
We have put in place mechanisms to check and re-check our stories and provide the world with an accurate reflection of the true state of affairs in Zimbabwe. Through strategic partnerships with other independent media outlets around the world, we will afford a wide voice to those who have been rendered voiceless.

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