A High Court has ruled that many eviction orders are illegal, just ahead of the deadline for hundreds of white farmers to vacate their properties.

Up to 3,000 white farmers must leave their land by midnight local time (2200 GMT) on Thursday or face a fine or imprisonment.

	Zimbabwe's land reform 1890-1980: Black peasants were moved to less fertile areas during the colonial area 2000: 4,000 whites own 70% of prime land March 2000: 'War veterans' occupy white-owned farms 2000-2002: Several white farmers and black workers killed during violence 9 August 2002: 3,000 white farmers must leave their homes Who owns the land?

But a judge has ruled that the state cannot seize farms which are mortgaged to banks, without first informing the financial institutions.

The redistribution of Zimbabwe's best farmland from whites to blacks formed the basis of President Robert Mugabe's re-election campaign in March this year.

But donors say that the fall in agricultural production is one of the reasons for Zimbabwe's current food crisis.

Up to half of the population - six million - face starvation this year, aid agencies have warned.

In a landmark decision on Wednesday, High Court Judge Charles Hungwe said the state could not confiscate land owned by Andrew Kockett because it had not informed the National Merchant Bank, which has a mortgage registered over the property.

The judge said the acquisition was "null and void".

"Farmers in the same situation as me - which is I believe the majority - in very few cases or in no cases has the bond holder been served with these notices," Mr Kockett told South African radio on Thursday.

"Whether that automatically gives the other farmers cover I don't know," he said.

Wait and see

But the government has refused to enforce previous court orders that they evict those who had illegally occupied white-owned farms.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Johannesburg says the ruling may not change the situation on the ground.

Some farmers have already decided to leave their properties and allow the Zimbabwean Government to seize the land.

Land reform is Mugabe's main policy

Others are waiting to see whether police will use their powers to forcibly evict them.

The government has warned that those who defy the eviction will be arrested, and farmers could face fines and up to two years in prison.

"The laws of the country will be enforced without hesitation," Vice-President Joseph Msika said.

Colonial wrongs

Other farmers have adopted a more defiant tone ahead of the deadline.

"Our position is that people should not give in because we are in a crisis as a country," Justice for Agriculture (a splinter group of the Commercial Farmers Union) chairman David Connolly told Reuters news agency.

Zimbabwe faces mass starvation

Concern about the land reform programme was one of the reasons why the International Monetary Fund suspended financial support for Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe argues that the seizures will right the wrongs of British colonialism, under which 70% of the country's best farmland was concentrated in white hands.

He says giving land to poor black families will increase their living standards.

However the seizure programme coincides with a period of severe economic crisis in the country.