RECENT REPORTS from Zimbabwe suggest that President Robert Mugabe is making his final push to expel white farmers and redistribute their land. The ethical and economic cases for land redistribution are both strong. Smallholder farming in Zimbabwe could both raise productivity and create employment. And given the manner in which the land was taken from Zimbabwe's African population, it is high time that the historic injustice is rectified.Unfortunately, the manner in which Mr. Mugabe is going about it seems to have less to do with historic obligations and more with political calculations. Much of the land seized from white farmers has not been redistributed to poor Zimbabweans, but to friends of the government. And given the deteriorating state of the country's economy, Mr. Mugabe's populism seems to be an effort on his part to shore up his crumbling support base.
Furthermore, widescale and often violent evictions are depressing output at a critical time. As the country faces the risk of famine, farmers are literally being told not to farm. Many are packing up and heading for Mozambique, whose government has offered them vacant land.
Zimbabwe might do well to note that since the end of its civil war, Mozambique's pragmatism has led it to become one of Africa's economic success stories.
In fairness, the problem is not of Mr. Mugabe's making. He was dealt a bad hand both by British colonialism and the past intransigence of Zimbabwe's white community. Nonetheless, given Mr. Mugabe's record as a statesman, one would have hoped for better from him than this sad charade.
In a late development a court has invalidated the eviction of one white farmer, raising hopes of reprieve for some 2,900 farmers who had been ordered to leave their property by Thursday midnight.
The court ruling was based on the technicality that with a mortgage on the property the relevant bank had to be consulted before eviction. It was not immediately clear how many of the 95 per cent of white-owned farms targeted for seizure were similarly mortgaged.
