Police in Zimbabwe have arrested two more white farmers for defying government eviction orders, news reports said on Wednesday.

Johannes Fick and Gideon Theron, both farmers in the tobacco-growing Beatrice district south of the capital, appeared in court on Tuesday, said the official Herald newspaper.

“It is alleged the two extended their occupation without government authority,” said the Herald.

The two will stand trial in January next year.

More than a dozen white farmers have been arrested since the authorities started enforcing eviction orders in October. Until then, only 400 or so white farmers were still left on their farms after President Robert Mugabe launched his controversial programme of white land seizures in 2000.

The government had given some of the white farmers until the end of September to leave. Some of those who have been arrested want to challenge the country’s land laws that they say violate their constitutional rights.

Zimbabwe, once a renowned farming country, has suffered declining harvests since land reforms were launched. Mugabe blames the drop in production on repeated drought.

(Source)