Political violence continued in 2001, including in connection with the land reform program, and at least forty-eight people died in political violence during the year.27 According to reports from human rights groups, harassment of opposition activists and intimidation of farm workers escalated by the end of the year and into early 2002; though there was some transfer of geographical focus from commercial farming areas to communal land and towns. Fast Track Land Reform The Zimbabwean government formally announced the “fast track” resettlement program in July 2000, stating that it would acquire more than 3,000 farms for redistribution. Between June 2000 and February 2001, a national total of 2,706 farms, covering more than six million hectares, were gazetted (listed in the official government journal) for compulsory acquisition. 28 According to the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU), which represents the large-scale commercial farming sector in Zimbabwe,29 more than 1,600 commercial farms were occupied by settlers led by war veterans in the course of 2000, though others have questioned the number, and some were occupied only for a short period. 30 Not all of these occupations were accompanied by violence. In April 2001, the objectives of the land reform and resettlement program were, among other things, said to be to acquire not less than 8.3 million hectares from the large scale commercial farming sector for redistribution (an increase from the five million hectares stated in 1998).31 In October 2001, the government announced that it intended to list for acquisition 4,558 farms, covering 8.8 million hectares.32 In the same month, based on a survey of its members, the CFU estimated that 1,948 farms had been physically occupied and that the number of people occupying farms had risen to 104,000 from an estimated 25,000 at the end of 2000, with an overall average of fifty-three occupiers per farm. 33 By the end of 2001, about 250 farmers out of the CFU’s total membership of 3,500 had left their farms over the previous year,34 and the Ministry of Land, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement had recorded that 114,830 households had physically moved and resettled on 4.37 million hectares. By January 2002, up to 6,481 farms had been listed for acquisition. Of these, 918 had been removed because they were counted twice, and 689 were delisted after litigation or negotiation; leaving a total of 4,874 listed farms, or 9.23 million hectares of land. 35 According to official government documents, the identification of land for compulsory acquisition under the fast track process is in theory coordinated by a National Land Identification Committee, chaired by the vicepresident’s office. Four ministries are officially involved: Lands, Agriculture, and Rural Resettlement; Local Government, Public Works and National Housing; Rural Resources and Water Development; and Environment and Tourism. In practice, the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing plays the critical role. Provincial Land Identification Committees chaired by the provincial administrator coordinate 27 Politically Motivated Violence in Zimbabwe, 2000-2001: A report on the campaign of political repression conducted by the Zimbabwean Government under the guise of carrying out land reform (Harare: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, July 2001), p.4; Political Violence Report January 2002 (Harare: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, February 2002). 28 Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, and Rural Resettlement, Land Reform and Resettlement Programme: Revised Phase II (Harare: Government of Zimbabwe, April 2001), paragraph 2.4. 29 The CFU is widely perceived to represent white interests, though it has several hundred black members. The Indigenous Commercial Farmers’ Union represents other black commercial farmers; the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union represents smallscale black farmers, with about 200,000 members. 30 COHRE, Land, Housing and Property Rights in Zimbabwe, p.27; Moyo, “The Interaction of Market and Compulsory Land Acquisition Processes with Social Action in Zimbabwe’s Land Reform,” p.31-32. 31 Land Reform and Resettlement Programme: Revised Phase II, paragraph 1.3; People First—Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme (Harare: Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, and Rural Settlement, June 2001). 32 “Zimbabwe govt has seized 4,558 white-owned farms: minister,” AFP, October 31, 2001. 33 CFU statement, October 19, 2001; see also “White farmers see major escalation of violence in Zimbabwe,” AFP, October 19, 2001. 34 CFU “Background briefing” submitted to the SADC heads of state summit January 13-15, 2002. The CFU had 3,514 paid up members as of October 2001. 35 United Nations Development Programme, Zimbabwe: Land Reform and Resettlement: Assessment and Suggested Framework for the Future—Interim Mission Report (New York: UNDP, January 2002), p.12. Human Rights Watch 11 March 2002, Vol. 14, No. 1 (A)