Zimbabwe President Mr Robert Mugabe has stepped up seizures of white-owned farms and banned private groups from handling food aid in what analysts see as key moves in his election campaign.
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Zimbabwe President Mr Robert Mugabe
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The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) condemned the government. It said the government's approach "is not meant to achieve social justice and economic prosperity, but [is] politically vindictive and economically disastrous, MDC secretary-general Mr Welshman Ncube said.
"The whole programme is being pursued in an intimidatory and hurried manner for election purposes," he said.
Mr Mugabe used a presidential decree to amend Zimbabwe's Land Act at the weekend so his government could seize white-owned farms, targeted for redistribution to landless blacks, despite legal challenges from the owners.
The government said it had taken the decision - requiring affected farmers to stop operations immediately and to vacate their farm homes within three months - because the farmers were abusing the court system to frustrate land reform.
The mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said it is still studying the implications of the change in law, but some officials say 1,000 out of 4,500 CFU members would be affected immediately.
Farmers are consulting all over the country on the best course of action, one CFU official said.
"This presidential amendment has come as an absolute shock to us because the government has been giving us the impression that we are talking, and that things will follow some orderly fashion now," said the official.