President Mugabe yesterday said war veterans, who have occupied hundreds of commercial farms since February, will be removed next month. They will be resettled on farms acquired for the resettlement programme, Mugabe said.

But in a related development, commercial farmers went to court at the end of the day yesterday to challenge the government's plan to seize more than 3 000 farms for the resettlement programme.

Mugabe spent part of the day in talks with visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has said his country will help Zimbabwe recover from its deep economic crisis.

"This visit is in line with the commitment that the South African government made earlier this year to support the Zimbabwean government,"a South African spokeswoman said.

Mugabe, addressing a Press conference soon after talks with Mbeki, said the land acquisition programme had been accelerated with people, both on the acquired farms and in the communal areas, being resettled.

"I am sure you are aware now that there is a process of acquiring and as per the amended law," Mugabe said. "We will be resettling those who are in need of the land both those on the farms, who have invaded the farms, and those who have not done so in the communal areas and elsewhere. We will, in the process, be removing all war veterans from the farms that are not earmarked for resettlement. The time frame I cannot really say, but certainly I want to say it will be within this month."

Mbeki said he had discussed with Mugabe the issue of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Mbeki's visit coincided with a one-day stayaway called by the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to force the government to observe the rule of law.

War veterans' leader Andrew Ndlovu last night refused to comment on the removal of the former freedom fighters from the farms.

"The President must tell us first of what is going to happen and we can only give you our response after meeting him," Ndlovu, Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi's second in command, said.

Thousands of Zanu PF supporters and war veterans have been terrorizing commercial farming communities, especially in the run-up to the June parliamentary election and five farmers and an undisclosed number of farm workers have been killed in violence related to the farm invasions.

"It's a matter that we discussed and I am quite sure the Zimbabwe government will take the necessary steps to deal with the situation," Mbeki said in reference to the state of lawlessness on the farms and in the rural communities.

The South African leader said his efforts on the international scene to assist Zimbabwe in its land reform programme now lay with the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

"He offered to assume leadership in addressing the Zimbabwe land problem and we all agreed, " said Mbeki.

"That's where the matter resides he is keen to move on that matter so that this matter is addressed."

Mbeki said over $6 billion was needed to pay compensation for the acquired farms but the issue was being looked into by Annan.

But as Mugabe and Mbeki were addressing the news conference, the CFU appeared to have abandoned co-operation with the government on the proposed redistribution of some commercial farms and sought a court ruling that the process was illegal.

"We have launched a court challenge in the Supreme Court questioning the whole constitutional base on which the government is proceeding on the issue of land acquisition," CFU director David Hasluck said.

The government on Monday increased the number of farms directly targeted for redistribution with compensation for buildings, but not for land from 804 to 3 041.

The CFU, representing 4 500 mainly white farmers, says it supports an orderly redistribution of land and commercial farmers have indicated they will give up about 200 farms without protest, but the government's announcement on Monday has significantly increased the stakes in the land debate.

Meanwhile, in Norton, police arrested two men who tried to take over a commercial farm. However, they then looked on helplessly as a bigger group of war veterans brandishing automatic weapons arrived to occupy the farm and threatened newspeople interviewing farm workers.