At least 60 black militants besieged a white farmer in his home yesterday as self-styled war veterans laid claim to white-owned land reportedly to be transferred to black ownership by month-end.
Mr Peter Goosen was barricaded at his farm in the Nyamandlovu area, outside the southern city of Bulawayo, after militants armed with knives and spears moved onto his property, local farmers said.
"They are demanding that he must leave so they can settle there," Mr Goosen's neighbour, Mr Peter Johnstone, said.
Mr Chris Jarreth, chairman of the Nyamandlovu Farmers' Association, said the group was in radio contact with Mr Goosen and he had not been harmed.
"I think this is a case we can resolve through negotiations.
"Mr Goosen is being wrongly accused of failing to pump water from his farm borehole to nearby villages, and we are trying to talk to war veteran leaders to intervene," Mr Jarreth said.
Increased activity by the black militants is an apparent response to Agriculture Minister Joseph Made's statement in the state-owned Sunday Mail that the first phase of fast-track land resettlement would be completed by the end of August, and farmers had to vacate targeted properties immediately.
The President, Mr Robert Mugabe, says it is immoral for 4,500 whites to own the bulk of Zimbabwe's prime farm land while majority blacks are crammed into unproductive areas.
Farmers say the settlers, led by self-styled war veterans, have already claimed agricultural land across the country.
The chief police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, said no incidents had been reported to the police.
The latest scramble for land came after 21 white farmers in an area north-west of Harare were granted bail on Monday after being jailed for two weeks on charges of inciting violence.
The farmers had clashed with pro-government militants occupying their properties in the north-western town of Chinhoyi.
The militants retaliated by burning and looting property.
A lawyer for the farmers said they had not yet been released because the bail conditions had complicated the process. "We are just hoping the lawyers can finish the process in time for their release today," said Mr Firoz Girach.
The bail conditions included a payment of 100,000 Zimbabwean dollars ($1,960), a surety of another 100,000 Zimbabwean dollars, and the surrender of their passports to the police.
The farmers also cannot return to the Mashonaland West area, which includes Chinhoyi, for at least four weeks. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which represents 4,500 white farmers, says its members had been told nothing official by the government and did not know how to respond to the Sunday Mail report.
Mr Made, who had made no statement since Sunday's newspaper report, was unavailable for comment yesterday.