Mazowe evictions proof of Zanu PF brutality

Source: Mazowe evictions proof of Zanu PF brutality – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 25, 2017

The ongoing ruthless evictions of poor families at Arnold Farm to pave way for First Lady Grace Mugabe, who reportedly wants to expand her business empire in Mazowe, serve to confirm the brutal nature of Zanu PF politics. In fact, it is an ironic contradiction to the mantra — a government of the people by the people.

Comment: NewsDay Weekender Editor

The selfishness that characterises Zanu PF politics — particularly the smash and grab strategies — has never been in doubt, from the time of Gukurahundi, through to Operation Murambatsvina and to the current evictions.

Zanu PF has never changed its colours, and it will continue to ride roughshod over the population regardless of its claims that it’s an ordinary person’s party with the interests of the majority at heart. Far from it. Its conduct demonstrates that it is as cruel as they come and confirms that First Lady Grace Mugabe’s “mother figure” is just a charade, her charity initiative cheap politicking. You can’t claim on the one hand that you feel for children, and on the other throw out families, with little children into the open at the height of the rainy season.

Just to demonstrate the level of cruelty, some of the affected villagers will have to leave behind a thriving maize crop after a season of plentiful rains and obviously face a bleak future characterised by hunger, as they live like destitutes in their own country of birth.

To understand the sadistic nature of Zanu PF, one just has to look at the timing of whatever blitz that the ruling party government initiates. They chose the height of the rainy season to throw people out, and chances are high that whatever meagre belongings that they had to salvage, will be destroyed in the rain.

It is sad that long after Zanu PF chefs have parcelled prime farming land among themselves after the controversial land grab of 2000, many of Zimbabwe’s ordinary people are continuously shuffled from place to place, with no permanent home. This is an enduring mark of a failed government.

The Zanu PF government has always shown its disdain for the law and they are continuing on this path, which confirms claims by the international community that there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe.

In 2015, the same villagers were evicted from their homes and dumped in Rushinga and Concession before they got a High Court reprieve to stay at the property until they had been allocated an alternative piece of land to settle. With no land coming, the powers that be are at it again.