5 1. Methodology of the study This study is part of an ongoing exercise in understanding the effects of the land reform process on the violation of commercial farmers and farm workers human rights. This is a preliminary report on the data gathered to date from the first sample of former commercial farmers. As such, it is the employers’ views and does not report on data directly gathered from former commercial farm workers. Such data will be collected in subsequent phases of the research. Subsequent phases of the research will involve in-depth interviews with farmers and farm workers, as well as more global survey data from the former commercial farm workers. A specific questionnaire was developed with the Justice For Agriculture Trust [JAG] for the first phase of the project [see Appendix 1]. The questionnaire aimed at gathering information on a number of key areas that have not been well-covered in previous studies: • • • • • Violations against farmers; Violations against farm workers; Efforts to use the justice system to protect farmers and their rights; Damages and losses incurred by farmers; Loss of support and services to commercial farm workers. Justice for Agriculture then circulated this questionnaire by email and direct contact. The data was compiled in a purpose-built data base in Access, and all data was consolidated in an Excel spreadsheet. Simple counts of frequencies, as well as tests of frequencies and means, were carried out. The present study merely reports very general findings, and more detailed reports will be forthcoming in the future. 2. Background “Land is at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe and cannot be separated from other issues of concern to the Commonwealth, such as the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy and the economy. A programme of land reform is, therefore, crucial to the resolution of the problem.” 1 These views, expressed in the Abuja Agreement in 2001, have come to characterize the Zimbabwe crisis. And whilst few will disagree with these views, many will disagree that it wholly captures the crisis, for, although land re-distribution is essential, many will argue that it has 1 Abuja Agreement, 6 September 2001. A Preliminary Report on Human Rights Violations on Commercial Farms, 2000 to 2005.