Zimbabwe's white farmers near deadline to quit land

Thousands of white Zimbabwean farmers face a midnight deadline today to leave land they have farmed for generations or risk jail…

Thousands of white Zimbabwean farmers face a midnight deadline today to leave land they have farmed for generations or risk jail, although a last-minute High Court ruling could give them extra time.

The court ruled that a mortgaged farm could not be taken for resettlement by blacks if the state had not properly informed the mortgage lender. Farm officials said farmers were waiting to see how President Robert Mugabe would react to the decision.

Trucks laden with household goods drove into the capital Harare from surrounding farming districts today but farmers who declined to be identified said they might return to their homes next week if it seemed safe enough to do so.

Mr Mugabe says his land seizures are meant to right the wrongs of British colonialism, which left 70 per cent of the best farmland in white hands.

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In May, he passed a law giving 2,900 of the country's 4,500 white farmers 45 days to wind up operations and another 45 days - ending at midnight tonight - to quit their land and make way for black settlers. If they refuse, they face a fine and up to two years in prison.

In a landmark ruling yesterday, High Court Judge Charles Hungwe said the state could not confiscate land owned by Mr Andrew Kockett because it had not informed the National Merchant Bank, which has a mortgage registered on the property.

The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his ruling elite over his land policy and after his controversial re-election as president in March, in a vote that Western powers say was rigged.

Mr Mugabe insists he won fairly, and dismisses calls for a rerun as attempts to impose MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai as leader of the country.