Six white Zimbabwean farmers have been arrested in southwestern Zimbawe for defying eviction orders under President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms, police have said.
A farmer's advocacy group said it had been told up to 50 farmers were summoned to appear in court.
"Some six farmers who were arrested this afternoon were brought into the police station, and warned and cautioned," a police spokesman said.
Some 60 per cent of an estimated 2,900 farmers ignored government notices served on them to be off their land by a deadline set for midnight on Thursday last week.
The police spokesman said the six "are likely to appear in court tomorrow facing charges arising from their failing to observe the Section 8 (eviction) notices".
If convicted for failing to comply, they face a maximum sentence of two years in jail.
The arrests came as the Zimbabwe government, after repeatedly warning farmers that they would face the brunt of the law if they defied the eviction orders, accused white farmers of stage-managing the eviction of the first ordered to leave his property under Mugabe's tumultuous land redistribution programme.
Lands and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made has warned that farmers "who stand in the way of the resettlement programme will face the law."
AFP
