Zimbabwe's Supreme Court yesterday reserved judgment on a government application to proceed with its controversial drive to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
Earlier a lawyer for the mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) told the court that attempts to discuss land distribution with government officials had failed.
The government is appealing against a court order last December which declared President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned land without paying compensation to be unlawful.
Mr Mugabe's government was given until July 2001 to evict its supporters from hundreds of farms they had invaded.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku did not say when the court would give its ruling.
Earlier this month, Mr Mugabe endorsed a plan to end government farm seizures in exchange for funds from former colonial master Britain to carry out land reform.
Mr Adrian de Bourbon, lawyer for the CFU, told the court yesterday that attempts to talk to the government had come to nothing. "The CFU hoped to be able to engage government in domestic dialogue, but in light of the attitude of the minister of justice it is regretted that no progress was made at all," he said. The justice minister was not available for comment. Farmers say violence is continuing on the farms. Nine white farmers have been killed and scores of black farm workers have been assaulted by pro-government militants over the past 19 months.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has said has barred Zimbabwe from IMF loans or use of its general resources as the country's overdue payments mount. The IMF board declared Zimbabwe "ineligible" to use the resources of the IMF and urged the country to settle its overdue payments.