white farmers - The African Mirror

Oct

2020

S.Africa’s Ramaphosa warns against using farm murders to stoke racial hatred

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South Africans not to use murders of white farmers to inflame racial tensions by falsely equating them with ethnic cleansing, a week after a farm killing stoked violent protests. The killing of Brendin Horner, a white farm manager, in Free State province at the start of this month, triggered riots in the town of Senekal. White demonstrators stormed a police station where two Black suspects were being held. Some fired shots and set fire to a police car. "What happened in Senekal shows just how easily the tinderbox of race hatred can be ignited," Ramaphosa…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

South African police make an arrest in connection with lawlessness by furious white farmers

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER LESS than 24 hours after coming under heavy criticism for failing to act when faced with brazen unlawfulness, South African police have arrested a farmer for the acts, which included the torching of a police van, firing of a gun in and damage to the court building. The 52 year-old farmer, who has not been named, was arrested for his role in the torching of the police vehicle. He is expected to be joined by others as the South African Police Service expect to make more arrests. “The suspect will be charged with malicious damage to property…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Police attacked for inaction after angry white South African farmers take the law into their hands

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER IN violent acts of defiance, fueled by anger over the brutal of a young farmer in Senekal, in the Free State, his colleagues torched a police van, tried to overturn another and forced their way into court where at least two shots were fired. Failure by the police to act against the farmers has been criticised by South Africans who took to social media to express their anger. Pandemonium erupted at the Senekal Magistrates Court where two suspects, Sekwetje Isaiah Mahlamba (32) and Sekola Piet Matlaetsa (44), arrested for the murder of Brendin Horner (22), appeared. The…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Land hunters: App matches Zimbabwe’s farmers with vacant plots

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

FARAI SHAWN MATIASHE FOR more than a year, Lionda Mhonda searched for a plot of land to buy in northeastern Zimbabwe but struggled to find anything that was both affordable and came with a legitimate title deed. Then the 33-year-old farmer found out about a new app that listed not only land that was available for sale and lease, but also vital information such as legal documentation, crop history and average soil temperatures. Two months later, Mhonda became a first-time landowner with an 80-hectare (198-acre) plot - quadruple the size she was originally looking for - near Marondera, about 70km…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe says foreign white farmers can apply to get back seized land

NEWS

FOREIGN white farmers settled in Zimbabwe whose land was seized under Robert Mugabe can apply to get it back and will be offered land elsewhere if restitution proves impractical, the government said on Monday. Last month, Zimbabwe agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to local white farmers whose land was forcibly taken by the government to resettle Black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era. Under Zimbabwean laws passed during a short period of opposition government but ignored by Mugabe, foreign white farmers protected by treaties between their governments…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

NEWS

ZIMBABWE agreed on Wednesday to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era. But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to raise funding, according to the compensation agreement. Two decades ago Mugabe's government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 Black families, arguing it was redressing…