The Zimbabwean High Court yesterday granted bail to 21 white farmers whose arrest for allegedly beating black land settlers a fortnight ago launched the wholesale looting of dozens of farm homesteads around Chinhoyi and indiscriminate attacks on white people.
But the court set unusually harsh conditions for the relatively minor charge of public violence which carries a minimal fine.
Some 20 of the farmers were barred from returning to the province of Mashonaland West, where their homes are, for four weeks and ordered to surrender their passports. Bail was set at 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars (US$1,700), substantially higher than is usual for a charge of this nature.
It was not clear if they would all be able to raise the funds. One farmer was allowed to return to his home to receive medical treatment.
The farmers' lawyer, Mr Laurence Chibwe, said: "We're happy because they are able to go free. We're unhappy because the terms of the bail are quite harsh, quite stringent." The judge, Judge Rita Makarau, said she had imposed the ban on the farmers returning to their homes because she feared it would lead to a fresh outbreak of violence.
"The settlers are still on the farms. There is no evidence before me that the appellants and the settlers have worked out a way of living together," she said.
"There is therefore a high likelihood of public violence and unrest if the appellants are immediately returned to the community," the judge said.
A magistrate in the town of Chinhoyi had refused bail two weeks ago, even though it is quite normal in such cases. A charge of public violence is usually minor and is used against people involved in bar room brawls.
The farmers' supporters say that since their arrest the men have been singled out for harsh treatment, from the initial refusal to grant them bail to the threats by the authorities to confiscate their farms because of the alleged crimes. The arrested farmers also had their heads forcibly shaved. Others have done the same in solidarity.
Although the violence has subsided in Chinhoyi, dozens of other families are also unable to return to their homes for fear of attack. Farmers' leaders have demanded security guarantees from the authorities, but even if they were forthcoming, few of those directly affected by the violence have any faith in the police.
Similarly, hundreds of black farmworkers are facing expulsion from the land they live on in the Chinhoyi area, either because they are perceived to be opposition supporters or because they are foreign-born. The land will be reallocated to President Robert Mugabe's supporters.
Meanwhile, a white South African man accused of murdering a black worker by dragging him behind his pick-up truck yesterday denied the charge in the Bloemfontein high court.
The prosecution alleges that Pieter Odendaal (45) tied Mr Mosoko Rampuru's right ankle to the vehicle with wire and dragged him through the streets of Sasolburg.
Pictures showed that dead man's back, stomach and chest torn away. Mr Odendaal said he could not remember the killing.