Zimbabwe's white farmers face ticking clock

Thousands of white farmers in Zimbabwe have until midnight tonight to decide whether to fight the government and risk jail or flee the lands they have worked for years.

The government has targeted 95% of white-owned farms for seizure and redistribution to blacks.

The country’s 2,900 white farmers facing eviction fear violent evictions if they stay in their homes.

But Vice President Joseph Msika’s presence yesterday at a Commercial Farmers Union meeting, which represents white landowners, allayed some fears, union officials said.

Top officials have ignored invitations to the union’s annual meeting in the past.

In what was seen as a conciliatory gesture, Msika, who heads the government’s land reform task force, said Zimbabwe needed ‘‘a deliberate blending of your experience, expertise and knowledge’’ to feed its people, currently facing severe food shortages.

‘‘There is room and space for everyone. We should cooperate and together succeed in our endeavours,’’ he said.

Zimbabwe faces a severe food crisis that will affect an estimated six million of its people by the end of the year.

The World Food Programme has blamed the hunger on erratic weather and the land seizure programme that has caused chaos in the nation’s commercial farming industry, which is dominated by whites.

But in his speech, Msika did not bow to union demands for an extension of tonight’s deadline.

Human rights groups accuse the government of using the land issue to mask President Robert Mugabe’s often violent efforts to crush the nation’s opposition, which is strongly supported by white farmers and their workers.

Though the government has promised to give the seized farms to landless blacks, many prime tracts have gone to senior officials and military officers.