Zimbabwe owes its very existence to a breathtaking act of land-grabbing. Over a century ago, the imperialist adventurer, Cecil Rhodes, carved out the territory for his own personal control. White rule was secured in 1890, when 200 white "pioneers" trekked in from South Africa, defeated the African ruler and seized the land.By 1969, 250,000 whites controlled 42 million acres of the best land, while 7.5 million blacks owned 45 million inferior acres. Land was one of the driving impulses of the war of liberation and, when independence was achieved in 1980, a resettlement programme began. Two-thousand departing white farmers were compensated from funds put up by the British government.However, fewer than half the 160,000 peasant farmers who were supposed to be resettled actually were. Much of the land acquired by the state remains idle. In addition, much farm land fell into the hands of prominent party officials."The government has shown it hasn't got a clue how to resettle people," says Mr Mike Auret, director of the Catholic Commission on Justice and Peace. But, he says, it knows how to exploit the land issue for political gain when its popularity is sinking, as at present."Its popularity has dropped to the lowest ebb and it has only one weapon at its disposal - blame the white farmers," he says.Late last year, President Mugabe announced plans for the government to compulsorily acquire 13.7 million acres on 1,500 mostly white-owned farms for the resettlement of landless blacks.Unlike in 1980, the farmers would not be paid compensation for their lands. Among those whose farms were "designated" is the author, Doris Lessing, and former prime minister of the then Rhodesia, Mr Ian Smith.The 4,000 members of the Commercial Farmers' Union, who control almost half of Zimbabwe's arable land, were outraged. All but 60 lodged objections. The CFU claimed the move would destroy productivity; agriculture accounts for 40 per cent of Zimbabwe's foreign exchange earnings.Under pressure from the international community, Mr Mugabe has agreed to a series of conditions which will severely limit the extent of land distribution.The CFU offered last week to find 3.5 million acres on which to resettle poor blacks, one-fifth of what the government wants.