Every attempt is made to provide a
comprehensive report of ongoing activities in relation to farm invasions, but
many incidents are unreported due to communications constraints and a gereral
weariness on the part of farmers.
NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF:
Illegal ploughing and planting is so widespread that specific
cases are not included in this report.
Correction to previous report: The broken shoulder
sustained by Karl Wolf (Old Mutare) in the accidental shooting by police was
caused by shrapnel. The vehicle did not roll over as stated in the report.
The owner of Knockmaroon in Norton was
assaulted by a war vet after farm cattle strayed through a fence, which the
occupiers had cut, and ate some of their maize.
A ZBC report that the occupier of Railway Farm 4 in Kadoma
deliberately drove farm cattle into maize planted by illegal occupiers is
entirely misleading as, although this farm was fast-tracked, all occupiers had
moved off and there was no maize to destroy.
A fam guard was assuaulted on Coulston Estate in Nyamandlovu
by illegal occupiers.
In Matabeleland, High Court Orders for properties to be
evicted are being openly defied.
No report was
received from the Midlands region.
REGIONAL REPORTS:
Mashonaland Central: Nothing to
report.
Mashonaland East
Beatrice - Illegal occupiers attempted to seize a camera from
the owner of Goldylands
after he took a photograph of the occupiers. A group of people from Joyce Mine
came in four vehicles to Endslendeale
(Steyn) and proceeded to plant sweet potatoes and peg for the twenty families
that they intended to resettle there. People in
a government vehicle served an eviction notice on the owner of Laasgedenk
but it is not yet known if this is an official notice to vacate under section 9
of the Land Aqcuisition Act.
Bromley/Ruwa - There is a
meeting on Xanadu with the Provincial Administrator to address ongoing problems
on the farm.The Lands
Committee has stated that they will attempt to resolve the problems on Upton
farm.
Enterprise - Threats by illegal occupiers to
take over farm housing have
been addressed and resolved.
Harare South - A farmer has
noted that in the past few months he has lost about 40 000 gum poles through
invaders tree cutting. (Indiscriminate
tree-cutting will be quantified through a national CFU census which has been
undertaken).
Marondera - A notice to
vacate (section 9 order) has been served on the owner of Progress Farm which has
not been served section 7 or 8 orders.
Macheke / Virginia - Attempts by the
owner of
Fairview to protect his Katambora pasture by requesting illegal occupiers to use
an alternative part of the farm have been intrepreted by the occupiers and
police that he has given the land away. GMB continue to deliver fertiliser to
illegal occupiers. Some of this
fertiliser is not being used on the farm but is being sold in the communal
areas.
Mashonaland West (North)
Umboe - War vet
Magwaza destroyed a pumphouse on Highbury Estate but the police have not
responded. Cotco and GMB are providing inputs to illegal occupiers.
Ayshire - There are
isolated cases of work disruption and more cattle have been moved onto
Cornrise Farm.
Karoi - Lack of police
protection for the Messenger of Court to carry out evictions has made the
Messenger of Court reluctant to enforce evictions.
Mashonaland West
(South)
Norton - One of the illegal occupiers on Wilbered Farm
was seen with a weapon. Norton Police did not respond. The owner of
Knockmaroon was assaulted by a war vet after farm cattle strayed through a
fence, which the occupiers had cut, and ate some of their maize.
Kadoma - A ZBC report that the occupier of Railway Farm
4 deliberately drove farm cattle into maize planted by illegal occupiers is
entirely misleading as, although this farm was fast-tracked, all occupiers had
moved off and there was no maize to destroy. There was an influx of invaders
onto Ebor Farm which has been de-listed. The District Land Committee evidently
want to resettle this farm despite that fact that the farm owner has already
offered 70% of his landholding to Government in the last four months.
Manicaland
Nyazura - On the 28th December police intervened to
prevent attempted ploughing with cattle on Morkonyora Farm.
Old Mutare - Correction to previous report:
The broken shoulder sustained by Karl Wolf in the accidental shooting by police
was caused by shrapnel. The vehicle did not roll over as stated in the report.
Matabeleland
General - The Christmas period was reasonably
quiet with no major incidents, but there is a definite political drive to
intensify the fast track effort and to reverse achievements through local High
Court Orders. The Governor of Matabeleland North wishes to open dialogue to
start reducing the problem of land.
Nyamandhlovu - Court orders and police
instructions for illegal occupiers to vacate Redwood Park have been ignored. An
aggressive element moved on to Epping Forest over the Christmas period and there
has been an escalation of occupiers on this farm and Matabeleland Concession,
Dilcosch and Fountains. Tree cutting and land clearing is escalating daily and
wildlife is also coming under tremendous pressure. In one day alone some 30
mature teak trees were chopped down on Fountain Farm. A tense situation developed after the owner attempted
to record this on video, but the situation was defused. On Couston Estates,
where the situation improved after court orders were issued, the situation has
degenerated. A guard has been assaulted, and workers have been subjected to
intimidation. Two illegal occupiers have been apprehended for slaughtering a
steer on Redwood Park.
Beit Bridge - Pressure is mounting on Jopempi
and there are threats to re-invade despite High Court
Orders.
Zvishavane - Over the Christmas period, 10
cattle were slaughtered on Kineale and a further 15 stolen. Other farmers in
the vicinity have also lost cattle. Police are helping but appear to be losing
control.
Masvingo
Chiredzi -
Invaders have occupied the farm store on Wasarasara Ranch which was previously broken in to. There has
been no police reaction. The Headmaster
from Musundudzo Secondary School has acquired a plot on Alstar Heaven, which is
being fast-tracked. Illegal occupiers have been told that if they do not take
up their plots by the 1st January 2001 they stand to loose them. On this farm, the plots have been allocated as
follows: 25 plots for the landless peasants, 5 plots for businessmen, 5 plots for the army, 5 plots for the ZPP, 5 plots for the War Veterans. This proportion represents the general pattern of
allocation.
Malcolm Vowles, Deputy Director (Admin &
Projects) 04 309800-18 ddap@cfu.co.zw
Zimbabwe is deploying more troops to the
southern front of the DRC to strengthen the allied forces' shaky defence lines
and stem rebel advances as renewed fighting in the war intensifies, it was
learnt this week. Information at hand shows that government has dispatched 1.1
Infantry Battalion based at Induna Barracks in Bulawayo to the Congo war front.
This follows the fall of Pweto and Pepa last month. A Zimbabwean battalion has
up to 1 000 soldiers. It is understood that government has also deployed
specialised paratroopers from the Parachute Group based at Inkomo Barracks,
about 40km outside Harare, to reinforce the allied ranks.
"About 130 members belonging to Company B
from Inkomo Barracks went to the DRC in early December following the defeat and
crossing into Zambia of Zimbabwean and Congolese government forces," a military
source told the Zimbabwe Independent. "Companies A and C will follow anytime now
as reinforcements. They are currently on stand-by," the source said. About 300
Zimbabwean soldiers and thousands of Congolese FAC forces of President Laurent
Kabila fled into Zambia after rebels seized the strategic towns in the
south-eastern extreme of the country. The Zimbabwean soldiers who fled the
fighting have since been returned to the front.
Reports say Joseph Kabila, the Congolese
leader's son who was involved in the Pweto and Pepa battles, also escaped the
rebel onslaught with senior Zimbabwean commanders and Burundian Hutu militia
leaders aboard a ferry named Alliance along the Luvua River. They abandoned on a
soccer field a Mi-17 jet fighter that had earlier brought them to Pweto, it was
reported. Military sources said the latest developments in the conflict which
has degenerated into a war of attrition have also prompted government to put on
standby more specialised combat soldiers from 1 Commando based at Cranborne
Barracks. Hundreds of soldiers have also been waiting at Cranborne Barracks to
return to the DRC since last year. They were being delayed by fuel shortages and
lack of transport, sources say.
Government usually hires planes from other
countries including Russia and Ukraine to ferry troops to and from the Congo
because it does not have its own air transports capable of ferrying a full
company. But sources say it was now difficult for government to continue hiring
planes from abroad due to foreign currency shortages. While troops have been
moving up and down from the Congo on routine rotational schedules, sources
pointed out the current movements included new deployments. In September
government sent eight pilots to Libya for training who were set to come back
next month. Sources said they would be immediately sent to the Congo. Zimbabwe
has between 11 000 and 12 000 troops in the Congo.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that
the fall of Pweto and Pepa - which came after the allied forces' massive attack
on rebel lines turned into a bloody retreat - could
change the course of the 30-month old civil war. Rwandan commanders have
described the fighting on the southern front as the most intense in the war yet.
"At the southern extreme of a ragged front line that winds 1 400 miles across
Congo lies a ferry, dirty pink and half-submerged in the muddy Luvua River,"
wrote Karl Vick of the Washington Post Foreign Service this week after touring
Congo. "Facing it on a gravel ramp stand the burned-out husks of 33 military
vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, trucks, an ambulance waiting in a line
that never moved forward. Unopened syringes lie underfoot, amid charred tyres
and a trampled note that a fleeing Congolese junior officer left behind," the
Post said. Two howitzers, two T-62 tanks and at least a half-dozen armoured
personnel carriers were left intact for the Rwandans, as well as three
ammunition dumps and an arms cache with about 1 000 rifles.
The American newspaper explains how the
renewed fighting started on the southern front: "On October 15, Kabila's troops
launched a massive assault on Rwandan-held positions in the southeast, striking
100 miles north of Pweto at the town of Pepa. Six weeks later, as happened in
the northwest, Kabila's forces once again lost far more than they gained." It
was said that the Congolese forces attacked and shelled Pweto reinforced by
armoured personnel carriers and British-made Hawk combat aircraft from Zimbabwe.
The Interahamwe militias - who Rwandans were in pursuit of - were said to form
part of the allied offensive and their subsequent retreat.
Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe are fighting
alongside Kabila while Rwanda and Uganda are backing a consortium of Congolese
rebel movements. Rwandan officials accuse Presidents Mugabe and Kabila of acting
in bad faith during recent peace negotiations which led to the signing of the
disengagement plan in Harare and the 15-km withdrawal agreement. "We were really
talking about withdrawing 120 miles to an operational zone closer to Rwanda,"
said Colonel Charles Kayonga, defence adviser to Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
"Kabila must have misread our position. He apparently thought we were weak," he
said.
The Post explained what transpired later
on. "What ensued, according to Rwandan and Congolese soldiers alike, was a
three-week running battle across the 100 miles between Pepa and Pweto. Weeks
later, the road south towards Pweto remained speckled not only with green and
white butterflies, but with corpses - here the body of a young man cut down
clutching an AK-47, here a splayed green poncho topped by a skull. By December
1, the Rwandan forces had Pweto nearly in sight, approaching the lakeside plain
around the town on an abandoned road...," the Post said. "By the evening of
December 3, when Rwandans entered the town, the civilian population had pushed
en masse down a muddy road into Zambia, and Kabila's forces were betraying
something like panic."
"The Rwandans are very strong; they
do flanking actions," said a Congolese government soldier, Selester Mbanza, from
a hospital bed in Nchelenge, Zambia. "They get around people. That's how they
fight. They use the right tactics. They came when we were resting and we have
been distracted," he told the Post.
From The Daily News, 4 January
Zanu PF members looting Red Cross
Bulawayo - Corruption involving top
government officials is said to be prejudicing the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society,
as board members demand hefty packages for attending meetings, while expenses by
management have cost the organisation more than $3 million. Senior employees
said donors had also been taken by surprise when the organisation decided to
acquire a farm owned by the Matabeleland North Governor, Obert Mpofu, which is
to be turned into lodges, a move that has also been criticised by professionals
within the organisation.
Mpofu, while admitting that the Red Cross
had approached him in connection with this farm, said nothing concrete had been
finalised. However, sources within the organisation maintained that the farm had
already been acquired for a figure believed to be around $2 million. Dr Swithun
Mombeshora, the Minister of Transport and Communications, is the president of
the Red Cross Society, while some of the board members are former Zanu PF
chairman for Masvingo province, Dzikamai Mavhaire, senior civil servant Dr
Samuel Mahera and the organisation's second vice-president, Reuben
Mnkandla.
Some board members are said to be unhappy
with the decision to acquire Mpofu's farm as this would cut deeper into the
organisation's coffers - worsening its plight for more funding necessary to help
victims of the Cyclone Eline disaster and people living with HIV/Aids. The
construction of the lodge is expected to gobble an estimated $3 million, further
depleting the organisation's resource because donor funds continue to dwindle. A
board member told The Daily News: "Donor fatigue is evident in the country and
the Red Cross will be the first to bear witness to that Mozambique got more aid
than Zimbabwe when Cyclone Eline struck last year. It is clear that there is
more to the operations of the organisation than meets the eye."
Board members, mostly politicians from Zanu
PF, are said to be pushing for an increase in allowances for attending board
meetings from $1 000 to $20 000. A decision is yet to be passed on the proposal.
While efforts to seek comment from Mombeshora proved fruitless yesterday,
Mavhaire accused The Daily News of using his name to boost its sales and asked
to be left out of the matter. "Go and ask the superiors, I am the Masvingo board
chairman of Red Cross. There are other officials you can ask who are not
Mavhaire," he said before switching off his mobile telephone.
Mpofu denied that he had already sold the
land to the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, but admitted the organisation made some
inquiries. Asked how the Red Cross came to have an interest in the farm since it
was never advertised, Mpofu said: "That is a private affair. You cannot ask me
why I didn't advertise my property. Go ahead and write your story with the
information that you have." He said after making an inquiry, the Red Cross
officials did not return. Red Cross provincial programmes officer for
Matabeleland North, Scot Mpofu, refused to comment yesterday, referring all
questions to the secretary-general in Harare, Bongai Mundeta, who was not
available.
Allegations were also
raised against some board members for lavish spending of the organisation's
funds, estimated to have cost the organisation at least $3 million in the last
two years. It is also alleged board members sold themselves Red Cross cars, when
these became due for disposal. Mavhaire is alleged to have acquired one of the
vehicles.From an MDC activist, 2
January
Report from Bikita
West
After the violence that had rocked the Marondera West by
election it was inevitable that ZANU PF would adopt a policy of violence and
intimidation in Bikita West - working on the basis that the policy had worked in
Marondera West and would work again. A day after the ZANU PF congress finished
in Harare, Chenjerai Hunzvi led a convoy of trucks ferrying about 150 ZANU PF
youths into Bikita,. They made their headquarters the Bikita Training Centre, a
government institution. Their presence immediately raised tension in the area.
Hunzvi was joined by Joseph Chinotimba and Border Gezi. Most of what has
transpired since that time has been adequately covered in The Daily News so what
follows is what has occurred in the last few days.
On 30 December three petrol bombs were thrown at a group of MDC
campaigners at Nyika Growth Point. A Mercedes Benz motor vehicle belonging to an
MDC campaigner and war veteran Dr. Mudzingwa was burned after a petrol bomb was
thrown into it, allegedly on the instructions of Hunzvi. The incident occurred
in view of the Police at Nyika who appear to have simply let the incident pass.
The vehicle is at Nyika Service Station. It is not burned beyond economical
repair and will be towed into Masvingo for repair in the next day or so.
Bernard Gora, a ZANU PF campaigner was stabbed to death by MDC
youths shortly after the petrol bomb incident. The MDC youths had reacted to
ZANU PF youths who again on the alleged instructions of Hunzvi, had prevented
MDC supporters from going to a place where they wanted to hold a rally. It is
understood that no one has been arrested over the incident.
It has been reliably established that ZANU PF intend abducting
Chief Mazungunye who has thrown his weight behind the MDC and who is an
influential figure in the constituency. On New Year’s day Shadreck Marima who
stood as the MDC candidate in Bikita East, and who has been helping Boniface
Pakai in his campaign, was arrested by the ZRP. He is being detained at Bikita
Police Station and it is understood that he will be charged with inciting public
violence. It is not clear what evidence the Police have to substantiate these
charges.
Information received indicates that there is a very real
possibility that the election will be postponed if ZANU PF come to the
conclusion (in the next few days) that they will not win the election. It is
suggested that what they will do is ‘manufacture’ violence and blame it on the
MDC, in order to give the President an opportunity to postpone the elections.
This would give them more time to intimidate the electorate into voting for
them. In particular, the additional time would provide the opportunity to bring
added pressure on those Chiefs and Headmen who they perceive to be MDC
supporters.
Further information to hand suggests that on the 6 January,
ZANU PF will flood the constituency with more youths and war veterans. The plan
would be to make it absolutely impossible for the MDC to campaign in the final
days before the election - assuming it does go ahead on the 13 and 14 January.
This is exactly the same ploy that ZANU PF used for the Marondera West election.
They are working on the basis that a high turnout of voters will favour the MDC
whilst a low turnout of voters will favour ZANU PF. In the latter case, they
assume that the majority of those voting would be ZANU PF supporters, whilst
those who were kept away from the polls through intimidation would be MDC
supporters. There is also the suggestion that on polling days ZANU PF will
mobilise and station their war vets etc at points more than 100 metres from
polling stations. Their ‘job’ would be to ‘vet’ those who want to vote and to
try and prevent those who they believe are MDC supporters (particularly the
under 35 age group) from getting to the polls.
From The Daily News, 4
January
Court throws out postponement of
election hearing
The Supreme Court yesterday refused to grant the
Attorney-General's Office a four-week postponement of the hearing of the MDC's
challenge to President Mugabe's decree on election petitions. Instead, Chief
Justice Anthony Gubbay ruled that the matter be heard on 19 January as opposed
to 31 January which the AG's office had requested, saying that they needed time
to hire an unnamed South African defence counsel.
Said Gubbay: "Were it not for the fact that the applicants
needed the time to secure the service of the defence counsel, the court would
have dismissed the case with costs because it has no merits." Justice Gubbay
then ordered the AG's office to prepare their heads of arguments and submit them
to the court before end of business on 16 January. The Supreme Court had earlier
set the date for the MDC hearing for yesterday before the government applied for
the postponement.
Yvonne Dondo, from the AG's Office, told the court that the
government wanted to be represented by a lawyer with experience similar to that
of advocates Chris Andersen and Eric Matinenga, representing the MDC. Said
Dondo: "The applicants feel that they needed this matter to be dealt with by the
best legal brains they can have. The AG's office does not have the capacity to
argue the matter in a manner the appellant can do. The AG's Office does not have
the capacity and enough officers to handle the matter. Some officers had gone on
leave, hence the need to acquire outside counsel," she said. She said the
Attorney-General, Andrew Chigovero, returned from leave on Tuesday and was
ill-prepared to handle the case while his deputy, Bharat Patel was also on
leave.
Justice Ahmed Ebrahim said: "Are you saying that the leave
comes first before this important matter?" The court said the government should
have anticipated the challenges after they published the decree to ban the
petitions. Anderson had asked the court to dismiss the application arguing that
the government was involved in "delaying tactics before the day of reckoning."
Andersen said: "There was no effort to make sure that the matter be heard
expeditiously." The MDC election challenges were set to be heard in the High
Court next week.
From The Star (SA), 4
January
UN boss to meet Rwanda about
tug-of-war town
Kigali - The head of the United Nations' observer mission in
the DRC is due here on Thursday to meet Rwanda's chief of staff, the UN said.
Talks between Senegal's General Mountaga Diallo and Rwanda's Kayumba Nyamanza
are expected to focus on the situation in Pweto, a town in the southeast DRC
held by Rwandan-backed rebels and bombed by government forces on Sunday.
According to the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) which took the town
in early December, two civilians died in the attack. Pweto lies in the southeast
of Katanga province, on the road to Lubumbashi, the country's second city. Its
population has fled the town and its surroundings.
On Friday, Rwanda called on the UN to deploy immediately in the
area to allow troops involved there to pull back. In mid-1999, parties to the
war in the DRC - including Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia on the side of the DRC's
President Laurent Kabila - signed a ceasefire deal in Lusaka that provided for
UN forces to deploy. But the deal never got of the ground and the ceasefire has
been repeatedly violated. On December 6, all parties - with the exception of one
rebel group - signed a new deal on troop disengagement.
Rural District Council Vacant Seat
By-Elections – 26th and 27th January
2001
The above by-elections are due to take place throughout the country on the
above dates. Southern Region has 24 vacant seats.
It is important that MDC gains a foothold in all
District Councils whenever they are contested
Unconfirmed reports have been received that possible candidates for the MDC
have already been intimidated. In one case a supporter has been chased from his
area to seek refuge. We need to provide support to all candidates who are
nominated and selected to stand as councillors in their individual Council
Wards.
Nominations will take place on the 9th January 2001. The vacant
seats are :-
Please pass this message on to as many people
as possible as volunteers are required to assist in each individual constituency
campaign. Volunteers should contact the Provincial Chairman as indicated
above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MDC Support (Southern
Region), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Have you ever imagined where we would be as a country if
uncle Bobodan were white? Or, better still, where he would be as a person?
Uncle owns two farms in rural Mashonaland, which are his
rural homes. He has two other huge plots on either side of Seventh Street.
His wife, on her secretarial salary, managed to build a
multi- million-dollar mansion in Harare's plush Borrowdale suburb, a feat only
previously matched by the Lord Jesus Christ when He converted a boys' fish
sandwich into a meal for over 5 000 people.
Uncle also has another plot in Borrowdale where he is
building another mansion, as well as the property in Qourn Avenue. Very few
white chief executives can boast such amazing accumulation within the last 20
years.
He is always on the aeroplane to some non-African
destination, with his shopping wife. Imagine what the landless peasants and
ex-comrades would say about this insatiable appetite for land by one man. Or is
it a clan?
Rich minority
He has colonised all the important highways in the country
by giving them his name. If uncle Bob were white, we would have called him "an
enemy of the state" or an imperialist, part of the filthy-rich minority.
He would in his obscene opulence mock the landlessness and
homelessness that is the lot of many Zimbabweans, especially the freedom
fighters.
We would never even consider him worth resting at the
National Heroes' Acre when he finally retires from mortal affairs, as we all
shall some day! At least not with his record of butchering black civilians in
the Midlands and Matabeleland! I am yet to figure out what uncle "Taboo" Mbeki
would say about such a propertied white person with such an unpleasant history,
urging his charges to strike fear in the hearts of his racial rivals. What a
sign of African renaissance and the African dream? My foot! "Taboo" Mbeki
himself seems not keen to strike fear in the heart of the white man and yet his
country was under white tyranny for a longer period of time than ours. Could it
be that the Afrikaners were more humane than the Rhodies? I doubt! "Taboo"
straddles the international plane courting global capitalism to come and invest
in South Africa. A review of the recent rush by South African companies to
invest in Zimbabwe shows clearly that we are South Africa's new colony.
If uncle Bob were white, we would have acquired all his
farms and told him to go back to his own people. Some of his relatives and human
friends may even have lost their lives as the landless and hungry "Hunzvites"
descended on their properties.
Chenjerai Hunzvi would have simply said tough luck, this is
a third "chimurenga", misnamed chimurenga.
Barbarism
Mind you, the courts would not be allowed to intervene. If
they tried to, we would simply order Commissioner "Tear Smoke" not to enforce
the law or simply ask the judges to toe the party line or resign, or better
still appoint our own enlightened ones. "Ndokutonga zve", "that is how we rule",
"yikho ukubusa".You can't rule without oppressing someone else.
Just less than three decades ago "Rhodies" exhibited similar
barbarism towards powerless blacks. They used the same crude terror tactics to
forcibly expropriate our land.
Rhodies invented violence as a common tool for resource
acquisition. They crafted race bigotry and made it sacrosanct and worshipped
it.
White privilege in Zimbabwe was undeniably founded on the
violent dispossession of black masses. Rhodies monopolised the organs of state
through violence. They never dreamt that similar terror would return to haunt
future generations of white Zimbabweans who may not have had anything to do with
that historical savagery.
Some silly day soon uncle Bob will no longer be in power and
his cohorts will cease to be "mini-stars". If future governments insist on
similar retributive justice, what will happen to Chatunga and many other
innocent children born to these men and women who have wrecked our nation? Only
mortal foolishness inhibits us from seeing that retribution is a vicious cycle
that annihilates both the perpetrator and the victim.
Genuine truth, justice and reconciliation must have a day in
our nation. There must be an equitable redistribution and distribution of
resources and opportunities between races, regions and genders.
True reconciliation
Land must, first of all, go to the landless. We are
duty-bound by historical experience and the expediences of national survival to
strive to eliminate all forms of prejudice. Zimbabweans must mend the wounds of
history materially, socially, psychologically and spiritually.
True reconciliation will take more than shaking hands,
hugging and post-historical admissions of guilt. Earned and unearned privilege
may have to be willfully surrendered in order to achieve equity.
Whites have a material and real contribution that they must
corporately and individually make to the process of reconciliation. The syndrome
of "otherisation" that has led most whites to exist in a world of "us" and
"them" is an unsustainable myth. Rhodesia must give up the ghost if we are ever
going to build Zimbabwe.
There is just no space for an exclusive white homeland for
the white tribe. Clever whites know this reality and they renounced their
Rhodesian citizenship in 1980. Clever black people know that we will forever now
be a multi-racial society. Others have not yet renounced their guerrilla
passports.
To the Rhodies and the comrades, the war is over "magents"
and we have a country to build. So, let's get on with it. What should determine
redistribution and acquisition of land should not be solely one's skin colour.
Mind you, if Hunzvi had by some misfortune retired from the world of mortals
during the course of his marriage to his Polish lover and the mother of his
children, his family would be a victim of this blanket race-based approach.
I can think of many other freedom fighters who married
across the colour line. Must we also strike fear in the hearts of their wives?
What are we saying about them and ourselves? Two wrongs do not make a right.
There are white people who have absolutely no link with Rhodesia and others who
risked their lives and comfort fighting against it, in as much as there are
black people even in Cabinet and Parliament who fraternised with it.
There are hardworking citizens who bought their farms after
independence. We cannot - even for political reasons - treat them as colonisers
who must get no compensation whatsoever.
The ghost of Rhodesia must leave us some day soon if we are
to progress into the 21st century.
Inhumane efficiency
It is true that a good number of white Zimbabweans may still
have very Rhodesian tendencies. They mistreat and abuse their black
employees.
It is a fact that in some industries white employees still
get far much better treatment than their black superiors, let alone
counterparts.
As a nation we must address these problems. The starting
point is, of course, in exposing and confronting these social ills. The enormity
of these failings of our nationhood should not justify our degeneration into
mindless self-destruction.
I have never, not even for a minute, believed that white
agriculture is the most efficient and only productive form of commercial
agriculture. Nor am I persuaded that without it, in its racial specificity, we
will starve as a country. That is a myth, and a racist one for that matter.
The super-efficiency of white commercial agriculture should
not be viewed outside of the rampant exploitation of black labour and the
pathetic shacks that house farm labourers. It is an inhumane efficiency,
admittedly with a few exceptions.
So, I have never subscribed to the notion of a victim white
farmer. I am, however, clear in my mind that the Rhodesian-style racial
targeting that has attended the land issue is, irrespective of the well-known
historical factors, unjust and blatantly unlawful. Not necessarily because
Zimbabwe will starve without its white commercial farmers, but because as
pan-Africanists we are way beyond the myopia of race wars. We are morally beyond
the decadence of apartheid policies.
I am most perturbed by uncle Bob's fixation with proving a
point to whites. It smacks of a debilitating inferiority complex. A complex
which assumes that in order for a black person to get recognition he/she has to
prove his/her competence to whites ("mavet").
A person only strives to prove himself/herself to those that
he/she feels weaker than or inferior to. Why, under heaven, should a legitimate
programme of black economic empowerment and poverty alleviation be necessarily
enslaved to the imbecile concern with frightening white people? More so if one
has the legal instruments to achieve the ends of equity without the fanfare and
drama? If the 1998 land policy and the present constitution are sufficient to
acquire the needed land, why should we engage in Nazi-style detours which might
result in our international banishment and the destruction of our economy?
Self-worth
Why should we endanger black economic empowerment just for
the sake of proving a point to 100 000 white people? Whether it is fear or joy
that one wants to instill into the heart of the white person, such a
preoccupation is symptomatic of a severe lack of self-worth. Self- respecting
black people should strive to do the best they can for the betterment of our
country and its wonderful people.
True Africanism requires that we build a continent with a
culture of self-worth and a respect for the sanctity of life as opposed to
bigotry and bloodshed. We will not go far if we always measure everything we do
according to white standards.
It does not matter much whether it is white acceptance or
annoyance which we seek to achieve. It would still be a myopic enterprise which
capitulates to the racist stereotype of a morally and intellectually inferior
African.
I am saddened by uncle Bob's mimicking of dead white prime
ministers and living senile ones. What Ian Smith did to black people in Rhodesia
was not heroism, but foolishness and a testimony of his moral bankruptcy.
He planted the seeds of hatred that make it possible to
divide our nation and destroy our economy to prove a point to 100 000 whites.
Smith didn't have much social orientation, nor did he have role models like
Madiba. His ignorance explained itself.
What about us the other 12 million blacks? Who will prove to
us that life can be better and that the economy can be well-managed and our
rights can be respected? Who will prove to us that there is a future for our
children and a good life for hardworking black people? If we elected a
black-looking government which sees its mission as proving a point to its
colonial masters, where is our government which wants to come through for us?
Racism is an expensive card and whoever buys it must be willing to live with the
curse it brings. For Chatunga, Bona and all the other born-frees' sake, we must
prepare for them a future where no group of citizens will want to strike fear
into their heart.
Uncle Bob is black. He just has this fixation with whiteness
and whites. We have been independent for 20 years and it would do all of us
buckets of good if we started acting our age instead of our shoe size.
* Brian Kagoro is a National Constitutional Assembly
activist currently studying in the United Kingdom.
Ruthless, arrogant and rich: the new face of
Zimbabwe
By Alex Duval Smith in Harare
3 January 2001
Robert Mugabe has handpicked a new
generation of young and energetic politicians through whom he intends to lead
the largely septuagenarian ruling party to victory in Zimbabwe's presidential
elections, expected within 18 months.
But the tactic of enlisting young Turks, such as 30-year-old David
Kasukuwere, is a gamble that could backfire on the old men running the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
Mr Kasukuwere, Zanu-PF's youngest MP, is a classic product of ambition and
patronage. He is arrogant and ruthless, and owes everything, including his gold
BMW (with leather seats and car phone) to ruling party contacts that have come
down to him through his liberation hero father. He, in common with other young
Zanu-PF politicians, has gone into politics for business reasons.
Outwardly, he says he wants a debate over whether 76-year-old President
Mugabe should be replaced by a younger man and, as a result, he is presented as
a reformer. But in reality, he depends entirely on Mr Mugabe. He has just been
awarded one of five oil-importation contracts; one of his companies distributes
coal in the east of the country; and he runs two transport firms whose lorries
bring back spoils from the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
To the charge that his mega-capitalism is at odds with Zanu-PF's supposed
Marxism, he said: "I am not a capitalist, I am a capital-former and I believe
firmly in empowering the masses. That is why giving them back the land is
crucial. Land is everything to us.
"I am part of a new generation in the party. We want the economy to be
expanded. The state cannot continue subsidising the people. It cannot afford to
give tablets for malaria and STDs. The role of the government is to create an
environment for people to make money," he said.
Zanu-PF claims that, in the absence of international donors, it has proceeded
with its own land resettlement programme – a "fast-track" approach under which
five million hectares will be redistributed to 150,000 families. The government
claims the programme is nearly complete, but United Nations land specialists who
have seen "resettled" areas say that only a tiny proportion has been tilled.
Mr Kasukuwere, MP for Mount Darwin, about 125 miles (200km) from Harare,
adopts the party line: "We are going to have a bumper harvest in February. We
have planted grain, cotton and groundnuts. We are farmers by birth."
He, however, has clearly grown into a white-collar reaper of wealth. Straight
from school, "Tyson", as he is known, joined the infamous Central Intelligence
Organisation – in middle management. "It's all about your ability to have and to
form good contacts," he said.
In his mid-twenties, he went into business, taking little interest in party
affairs until this year, when he was called on to run for Mount Darwin – a
constituency which saw some of the worst violence in the run-up to June's
election – and which he won, he says, with a crushing majority. Around the
country, at least 31 people died, including opposition supporters, labourers and
owners of farms occupied by war veterans.
Now, in the wake of the corruption-riddled collapse of Noczim, the state
company which imported petrol, diesel and paraffin, he has been given one of
five licences to distribute fuel. He says he has 10 tankers bearing his Comoil
logo and a petrol station under construction. But it is a mystery how Comoil
will be able to raise the hard currency needed to import oil products, unless
money is channelled from the DRC.
On the issue of the presidential succession, Mr Kasukuwere seems keen to
align himself with those who back Simba Makoni, the new pragmatic finance
minister, who is highly rated by the international community. Mr Mugabe brought
Mr Makoni into the government last year.
With its highly organised agricultural sector and generally favourable
climate, Zimbabwe has traditionally been a net exporter of food.
But the picture for the year ahead looks very different.
Despite government assurances, there are growing concerns that continued
disruption of agriculture as a result of the land redistribution efforts could
lead to serious food shortages.
The maize harvest for the coming season could well be down by
a third
The Grain
Producers' Association has issued an urgent appeal to large-scale farmers to
plant as much of the staple crop, maize, as possible, in an effort to alleviate
the predicted problems.
Months of illegal invasions of white-owned farms by government supporters
have combined with rapidly escalating prices of seeds and fertilisers to produce
what the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the FAO, describes as
a "gloomy prospect".
Large-scale white farmers have cut back on planting, partly because of
stoppages imposed by squatters, and partly because they have been denied the
usual bank loans.
Farmers have endured violence and political
turmoil
Small-scale farmers are also likely to produce less, not
least because the authorities waited more than six months before paying most of
them for last year's produce.
Many of those who have been given land under what the government calls its
fast-track resettlement scheme lack the resources and skills to make any
meaningful contribution.
The result is that the maize harvest for the coming season could well be down
by a third.
But the FAO says its more immediate concern is not with food security but
with food access.
Prices have climbed so steeply as a result of the government's economic
mismanagement that even basics such as bread are beyond the reach of a rapidly
growing number of people.
From a business point of view the realities of the farm invasions are
often overlooked by observers who do not know the real situation on the
ground. This is a sample of what is going on and what is at stake. Here are a
group of farmers - probably the best that Africa has to offer, who have
invested in their farms and in a joint marketing operation. The whole thing
is now in jeopardy as illegal farm invaders take over the properties,
threaten the farmers and their families and displace thousands of farm
workers and their families.
THE MAPUNGA STORY IN RELATION TO THE LAND
INVASIONS AND THE ZIMBABWE ECONOMY Pre-amble Mapunga Silo Syndicate
is a group of grain cropping farmers who operate in the Mazowe Valley. In
March 1996 the Mapunga Silo Syndicate was launched by 50 farmers with the
mission to consolidate production to achieve market advantage. To this end it
was necessary to construct a grain silo complex to store and control quality
at out-load to meet the ever-increasing demand for quality by the
users/buyers of our products i.e. bakers, millers, oil expressers and stock
feed manufacturers.
With the assistance of some dynamic, forward
thinking people in the banking sector, (Douglas Munyati and Francis Dzanya
amongst others), who had just established one of the first indigenous
merchant banks, combined with our vision, capital funding was put in place by
these bankers and construction of the silo complex began in December 1996. It
was fully operational by May 1997. To date we have spent some Z$95 million
on construction in four stages, with planned development of at least
another Z$50 million before we embark upon the development of value adding to
our product.
As much as progress was rapid, so was the recognition
by our members of the unique opportunity that we had created and production
soared. >From a small beginning, the same producer base off the same land
has increased its annual grain production from 59 752 MT of mixed grains in
1997 to this years production of 142 000 MT which has generated Z$1.275
billion in sales. This is almost a three-fold increase from the same producer
base.
Once again, through our banker's vision to recognize the
opportunity of financing at minimal risk, we were able to put in place annual
production funding for our members, based on our ability to continuously
perform against contract. Our ability to perform was as a direct result of
our dynamic skills as farmers and having sufficient access to seasonal
funding which enabled the farmer to do the job without financial constraint.
This in itself has resulted in improved profits from improved performance for
both our bank and the producers.
The financial impact of the lawless
farm invasions to Mapunga & the financial institutions The
disruption taking place on the farms belonging to our members is about to
have dire financial consequences to our members, the banking sector and the
Zimbabwe economy. The bottom line is that our organization is out to our
"Bank" for the sum of Z$406 million, made up of Z$375 million in seasonal
finance, which is funding the production of the current crop planted / to be
planted and Z$30.7 million of unpaid project capital. This is aside from the
individual's own liability to his/her commercial banks, since Mapunga
provides only 50% of the gross value of his/her estimated grain production.
This is far short of total production costs required and therefore additional
funds are individually sourced from other institutions such as the
Agricultural Finance Corporation and commercial banks over which we have no
knowledge to the extent of their borrowings.
We currently have 23 out of
47 members in partial or complete shut down as a direct result of lawless
invasion. These twenty three members represent 52% of our combined production
with the net result that we project a reduction in summer cropping to just 22
000 MT of soyas/maize down from 45 385 MT contracted at the start of the
season. This does not include wheat production normally to be expected to be
some 65 to 70 000 MT to be planted in April 2001. Eighteen of these 23
members (out of 34 members) have borrowed Mapunga operating finance. Our
Bank's comfort zone came from the fact that each and everyone of us are cross
and severely guaranteeing the bank for this debt. So it should be clear to
see that, with the reduced production, the immediate financial impact is not
just to the 23 members who are unable to perform and repay their debt, but
that the liability will be spread over 34 members for the seasonal finance
portion and all 47 members for the capital loan, which will result in all
members being placed in a near impossible financial situation. So not only
are we seeing the collapse of Mapunga members looming but also we are likely
to see great discomfort to our Bank and the ensuing knock-on effect in the
banking sector as a whole. From Mapunga's perspective we see difficulty in
continuing the silo operation under the present circumstances since the
diminished economy of scales with regard to through put, will preclude us
from viably operating the silo complex. Silo operating finance is derived
from charges levied against tonnage handled in and out and amongst other
things, finances the wages and salaries of some twenty permanent staff and
two hundred seasonal workers employed in the depot. No throughput no
income.
The impact on production as a result of the lawless farm
invasions As unpalatable as it may be to the orchestrators of the land grab
in this area, the facts of the matter is that the Mapunga Silo Syndicate
group is responsible for the annual production of 23% of the entire wheat
crop grown in Zimbabwe and 20% of the soya crop. Combine this potential loss
of production together with other farming areas, which are experiencing
similar problems of interference in their operations and it should be
clearly understood that Zimbabwe will need to import at least half of the
national wheat requirement next year. Since interference in the production of
the 2000 wheat crop has resulted in reduced production already, this
will necessitate importation sooner rather than later. The value of
importation will possibly equate to some Z$2.4 billion at today's exchange
rate. The same will apply to the needs of the expressers of soya beans or
although to a lesser extent because of increased plantings this season
throughout the country.
Although Mapunga represents only about 6% of
the national commercial maize production, we envisage that a national maize
stock-out position will occur as early as August 2001. This will require a
further Z$6 billion to import maize from as far a field as the Gulf to see
the nation through to the next harvest in 2002.
It should also be
noted that no consideration has been given in this report to the impact on
the production of other commodities besides grain crops that our members
produce. They produce large volumes of seed maize, cottonseed, cotton lint,
bananas, and horticulture and to a lesser extent tobacco, which does not fall
under our jurisdiction.
Let us be under no illusions, this loss of
production will not be made up by the haphazard plantings of a few misguided
individuals now creating the mayhem on our properties - as it will not. As an
example, my own property, which has been my and my family's home for the past
24 years and was set to produce some 2 100 MT of soyas this summer and a
further 2 500 MT of wheat in 2001, has been completely laid claim to by
invaders who have planted, using ox ploughs and tractors, only about ten to
fifteen meaningful hectares of crop into the 700 ha of land we intended to
plant.
It should also be noted that it is not mere coincidence that the
five farmer directors of Mapunga have been targeted for maximum
destabilization in this land grab, indicating a heinous agenda by the
orchestrators to inflict severe economic damage upon us and the Nation and
has nothing whatsoever to do with needing land for the landless.
Conclusion
The above scenario is not a scare tactic - this is fact.
The facts are derived from the actual situation on the ground and from the
knowledge that we have acquired as the operators of the silos in terms of
production projections and data collection. The facts in general with regard
to the pending loss of production, are not widely known and are certainly a
source of amazement to many in the financial world since, as a result
of misinformation, they have been led to believe that farm invasions are
having no impact and are nothing more than an inconvenience to the farmers.
This may have been the case prior to the beginning of November for us but
since then, destabilization has taken on a new meaning in our
area.
There is still a limited period of time left to reverse this
situation (about ten days) in terms of seasonal considerations. This can be
done by removing the illegal invaders from our farms to allow us to start /
continue our farming operations unhindered. This would divert the impending
disaster. However we will not acquiesce to the illegalities of this anarchy
and will not be coercered into co-existence by a few people bent on denying
us our rights as citizens to the protection of the law and who have a
hell-bent desire to oversee the destruction of commercial agriculture in
Zimbabwe. All that we have achieved as a group has been for the good of the
nation. The dispossession by the state of our means of earning a livelihood
and our family homes, without compensation, will be found to be
unconstitutional but it will be too late. Not one of us has a problem with
land re-distribution but it must be done in a sensible, planned, timely and
legal manner for the ultimate good of the nation. This madness must end now,
otherwise the likely demise of Mapunga Silo Syndicate will certainly add to
the already catastrophic economic situation that prevails in our
nation.
