world news - 13.11.2002
Illegal Settlers On Timber Estates Defiant
KILLIAN Mupingo, the provincial administrator for Manicaland, said last Friday that the government was facing serious difficulties in evicting some of the illegal settlers on estates belonging to Border Timbers Limited (BTL) and the Forestry Company of Zimbabwe (FCZ) in Chimanimani.
Last month, the settlers set fire to about 1 400 hectares of gum and pine trees aged between five and 25 years worth $9 billion, while preparing land for this year's agricultural season.
Pine and gum trees, a major foreign currency earner, take at least 25 years to mature. BTL and FCZ are two of the biggest timber producers in southern Africa.
Mupingo said although most of the settlers agreed to move off the estates, some remained defiant.
"I received a report from the district committee in Chimanimani that they managed to evict some of the settlers, but some hardheaded ones have remained on the farm," Mupingo said.
"It was decided at a meeting held last Monday that the district committee should remove the settlers."
Earlier Mupingo said the estates had not been designated and were therefore not for resettlement. The settlers took advantage of the controversial land reform programme and invaded BTL's Charter Estate in Chimanimani and other estates in Manicaland run by FCZ and wholly-owned by the government. On 20 August, the Administrative Court in Harare turned down an application by Dr Joseph Made, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Development, to have BTL's estates designated after the Attorney-General's Office failed to defend its acquisition.
John Gadzikwa, BTL's managing director and Veronica Gutu, FCZ's public relations manager, said there had been sporadic fire outbreaks on the estates since the invasions.
Ken Schofield, BTL's deputy chairman, said the loss could not be recovered as there was no insurance against fire, throwing the company's future plans into disarray.
(Harare)
See also:
- — Vlahovic opens 40th furniture fair
- — Timber sales down in Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
- — DREMA 2002: International Trade Fair of Woodworking Machines and Tools
- — Small furniture firms battle to keep doors open
- — Ilim Restructuring
