A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL
Mugabe's
misrule
8/13/2002
WHITE FARMERS are being forced out of
Zimbabwe, but it is President Robert
Mugabe who should leave. With
Zimbabweans unable to make him go, his
neighbors, led by South Africa, need
to encourage him to cede power.
About 2,900 farmers out of 4,500
remained in their homes this weekend,
hoping that Mugabe would offer them a
reprieve. In a speech yesterday he
renewed his vow to give most of their land
to black Zimbabweans, saying:
''We set ourselves an August deadline for the
redistribution of land, and
that deadline stands.''
Mugabe is right
that the land was expropriated unjustly when white
colonialists took over the
country in 1890. But Zimbabwe is no longer the
sparsely populated land the
whites conquered. And the farmers are
responsible for Zimbabwe's strong
agriculture performance. Until a few years
ago Zimbabwe was able to feed its
more than 12 million people and have
enough food for export. Now, thanks to
Mugabe's misrule, it cannot feed
itself.
The best approach would be a
phased transfer of land supported by foreign
donations. That would not serve
Mugabe's political purposes, however. Land
is used as a reward for Mugabe's
supporters, and the confiscations recall
his struggle to wrest the country,
once known as Rhodesia, from whites.
Following a tainted presidential
election in March, the United States and
the European Union imposed travel
sanctions against leading officials. These
have little impact, and it would
be wrong to impose harsh measures that
might harm ordinary
Zimbabweans.
South Africa, which borders Zimbabwe, has tried to restrain
Mugabe but in an
understated way. Thabo Mbeki, the South African president,
is trying to
create a coalition of African leaders committed to democracy.
Mugabe's
misrule mocks their efforts. Public pressure ought to replace
quiet
diplomacy.
This story ran on page A14 of the Boston Globe on
8/13/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
From: Justice for Agriculture <
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw>
Sent:
Saturday, August 09, 2014 5:47 AM
Subject: re: TO FARM OR NOT TO FARM - TO
GO TO JAIL OR NOT
"Patience, Politeness and Persistence"
As we approach the 9th of August which is the 91st day after the
promulgation of the Land Acquisition Amendment Act many people who had received
section 8 orders before the 10th of May face the threat of prosecution and
eviction.
These notes endeavour to assist lawyers whose clients face those
problems.
1. Landowners probably have a fair idea of whether or not they are likely
to face possible arrest for remaining on their farms after 10 August by virtue
of whatever has been happening in their areas during the past month or two.
Some people may well be able to continue farming while others are likely to face
problems.
2. 2.1 Note that a section 8 order is NOT an eviction order.
According to section 9 (1) (b) it constitutes notice to the owner or occupier to
cease to occupy, hold or use land (45 days after 10 May) and notice to cease to
occupy the living quarters within 90 days (i.e. 9 August).
2.2 Failure to
vacate the living quarters may constitute the crime of contravening section 9
91) (b) (ii) for overstaying but it is only if and when the owner/occupier has
been convicted that the court should issue an eviction order. There is a lot
that can happen before then. The orders are not issued by the D.A. or the
Police.
"Come with us"
3. We are likely to see arrests of those who have
section 8 orders and who stay on after 8 August. There may be hundreds or more;
there may be a few high profile cases. There will at least be many instances in
which people are required to go to the Police and "make a statement" explaining
why there are still at home. Those arrested will only cause themselves more
trouble by resisting arrest. Those requested to and make a statement are
advised to do so. Those arrested will probably also be invited to make a
statement.
"Making A Statement"
4. It is advised that anyone charged with
overstaying i.e. contravening section 9 (1) (b) (ii) of the Act - should make a
statement. Clients should get a lawyer if possible but otherwise a statement
along the following lines should suffice.:- "I deny that what I am doing is
unlawful. My land case has still not been heard and the High Court is already
having to consider the validity of this law. I am helping to produce food and
exports to earn foreign currency which we all need and I need to remain in my
home to protect my assets."
"Police Bail"
5. After a statement has been
made, the farmer may be released to go home whether he was first arrested or
not. In either case the Police may require a payment of "bail out". This could
be anything from $1000.00 to $50 000.00, probably about $10 000.00. Bail could
be refused at this time and detention in police cells may follow. Those
detained may or may not be allowed visitors, food, a magazine/book and
toiletries.
6. Treatment by the Police will be closely related to treatment
of the Police. They too have a job to do and they will be following
orders.
Clients should stay calm and not protest at invasion of human rights
etc.
Unless they want to be detained. Individuals may be locked up however
proper their conduct. Over-reaction by lawyers may well extend the period of
detention.
Lawyers will be on standby to assist farmers.
"Court
Bail"
7. If clients are not released (on bail or otherwise), the Police
should take them before a Magistrate within 48 hours (excluding Saturdays,
Sundays and Public Holidays). That 48 hours may be extended by a police officer
to 96 hours. The longest anyone arrested over the long weekend can be lawfully
detained is until Thursday 15 August.
8. When appearing in Court remember
again "Patience, politeness and persistence" Apply for bail and it will probably
be given. If the Court rules that a condition of bail is that one does not
return home accept that but immediately lodge an appeal against that
condition.
9. If bail is refused or if the conditions are unreasonable,
different applications can be made to the High Court for bail or a change of the
conditions. At this time a lawyer's help is probably
essential.
"Defences"
10. If the Police or Magistrate ask why client
claims to be not guilty he does not have to answer that question. But then the
Police and the Magistrate do not have to release client - with or without bail.
A spell in Police custody is not the end of the world nor is a spell in a remand
prison though that is not to be recommended. Accordingly there could be
advantages in clients raising one or more of the following defences where
appropriate:-
10.1 No service on Bondholders There have been recent High
Court cases confirming that if, when the section 5 notice was published, the
farm was bonded or subject to a servitude, then it was necessary to serve a copy
of the notice on the bondholder or servitude holder. Failure to do so
invalidates the section 5 notice and the section 8 order which follows on that
notice (See the case of Simon and Simon (Pvt) Ltd. - v- The Minister of Lands;
Harare High Court Case No. H.C. 5379/02 Mt. No. HH 107/02)
Check with
your bank to see if they were served with section 5s and 8s.
Get a copy of
the front page of your Title Deeds if they reflect an uncancelled bond and get a
letter from the Bank confirming that they were not notified of the notice or the
order.
10.2 Administrative Court Application too late The High Court has also
ruled that if the Administrative Court does not receive a section 7 court
application within 30 days of the date of service of the section 8 order (NOT
the date on the order), then the section 8 is invalid. it used to be a common
error but not so many cases like this recently. (See to Simon & Simon
Case)
10.3 The Quinnell Case: H.C. 5263/02 The High Court recently issued a
Provisional Order in which it ordered the Minister of Lands, the Minister of
Justice and the Attorney General to show cause why the new amendment to the Land
Acquisition Act should not be declared invalid. It has therefore accepted that
there is a prima facie case that the law may be invalid for a couple of reasons
(a) Invalidity of the Land Acquisition Amendment Act This Act which was brought
into force on 10 May 2002 could itself be invalid and any arrest based on an
invalid Act would then be unlawful. It could be unlawful because the same
legislation was defeated earlier in the same session of Parliament but
defeated. The Courts have already held that a re-enactment of some electoral
laws defeated earlier in the same session was invalid. (See Biti -v-Minister of
Justice & Others Case No S.C. 10/02 (b) Minister no lawfully appointed
There has never been a formal appointment of any Ministers since the President
was re-elected. Their acts since then could therefore be unlawful.
This is
not a final order but it does show that the High Court recognises the possible
merit of these two points and others and they may well invalidate the new
section 9. Watch the local Press.
10.4 Deprivation of property without Court
hearing The Constitution prohibits deprivation of property without a court
hearing. The new section 9 makes it unlawful for client to stay in his home
even if the validity of the acquisition has not been confirmed. Continued
occupation could be no more than the lawful exercise of a claim of right
exercised in the face of the failure of the acquiring authority to obtain
confirmation of the acquisition.
This is a Constitutional point and can be
raised by anyone but it is likely to lead to a long wait before the Supreme
Court gives a decision.
In terms of section 24 of the Constitution a
Magistrate is obliged to refer a Constitutional argument like this to the
Supreme Court. This must be done and should be raised as an argument why a
condition of bail should not be that a farmer not go home.
Labour Matters
Many clients anticipate huge demands for gratuities from their labour forces if
and when they are evicted. Statutory Instrument 6 of 2002 regulates this
situation. These payments are necessary ONLY "IF IT IS NECESSARY FOR AN
EMPLOYER TO TERMINATE THE EMPLOYMENT OF ANY EMPLOYEE BECAUSE THE FARM HAS BEEN
COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED FOR RESETTLEMENT."
Clients therefore do not have to pay
these gratuities unless:
(a) they have terminated the employment; and this is
(b) because the farm has been acquired for resettlement.
A section 8 order
may be an acquisition but it is clearly an inchoate or incomplete acquisition
because it is subject to the resolutive condition that there has to be a court
hearing to confirm the acquisition and because the acquisition may not be
confirmed.
In practice there are many section 8s that are being set aside by
virtue of "deals" and very few farmers who have gone through their section 7
hearings have had to stop farming and sign everyone off, and get them our of
their homes.
Therefore do not terminate the workers' contracts but note that
any termination following a section 8 is presumed to have been by the employer
unless he proves otherwise. Rather give them extended leave and try to
negotiate a system of half pay while on leave plus food. Many will take that if
they can keep hold of their jobs.
The constitutionality of this law is open
to debate but even an employee who is granted leave on part pay and allowed to
remain on the farm is not 'dismissed'.
Section 7s Many people are receiving
section 7 papers. See your lawyer or ask your CFU Regional Office for a copy of
the notes that have been sent out to help members in this situation.
Section
7s do NOT cancel the section 8s.
Section 7s do NOT automatically give you a
defence against eviction or suspend the section 8
Your day in Court The
Section 7 will give you a day in Court - at least one day; perhaps in a years
time.
Your arrest will give you a day in Court within a week.
And this
time Government has to prove everything including the lawfulness of the laws and
the way in which they have been used.
YOU HAVE STRONG DEFENCES SO HANG ON
News release
(On behalf of Justice for Agriculture)
In the Middle Sabi
farming area 475 kms from Harare in Zimbabwe, a group of
up to 17 people,
comprising Land Committee members, visited four (4) farms
on Saturday
afternoon. The group was made up of soldiers armed with AK 47
assault rifles
and armed members of the police force. The leader of the
group, a woman who
refused to identify herself, told the farmers that they
were to leave by the
next morning - Sunday.
Two of the farmers visited (Farms 19 and 34), told
the group that they were
not under compulsory acquisition notices but had
only received Section 5,
preliminary orders. This did not seem to deter the
group who told both
farmers that the acquisition orders would be upgraded
soon.
One of these farmers was told that he would be arrested immediately
for
arguing that the farm was only under preliminary notice. He declined to
be
arrested saying the he was a Police Reservist, whereupon they requested
his
Police Identity card and confiscated it telling him he was 'discharged'
from
the force on their say so. He was however not arrested.
In this
wheat producing area, there are nine farmers under compulsory
acquisition.
Despite these orders, these farmers were granted permission by
the District
Administrator (DA) to grow food crops with the assurance that
they would be
allowed to continue farming. The permission to plant had come
in writing and
was stamped with the official Government stamp.
The farmers then used the
written authorization to seek finance from their
bankers and when it was
granted, they planted 1025 ha of wheat, 160 ha
barley, 20 ha tomatoes, 10 ha
of Litchi trees and 40 ha of Citrus. The
approximate market value of this
produce is in excess of ZD $500 million. It
is normal practice for farmers to
obtain such documentation and present it
to bankers when requesting
financing.
The farmers met after the incident to exchange notes and
decided that for
safety reasons they would relocate to neighboring farms for
safety. Of major
concern was that there have been other incidents whereby
'youth' in an
inebriated state have arrived and intimidated families. The
farmers decided
to avoid violence at all costs and elected to relocate those
viewed as
vulnerable to surrounding farms. This strategy proved fruitful, as
there
were no further intimidatory incidents over the weekend.
A
further development on Monday - the farmers were revisited and told to
meet
the Land Committee on their respective farms. Fearing illegal arrest,
they
declined and it then transpired that a group meeting was held at a
neutral
venue.
The Land Committee members have further confirmed in a meeting
earlier today
(Tuesday), that whilst they acknowledge the stamped and signed
letter
granting the right to farm and harvest, orders have come from a
'national
directive' and the previous permission is therefore rescinded.
No
explanation was given.
The farmers then pressed for direction as to
what to do with the employees
still resident on the farms numbering 630 and
their family members. There
are also over 3500 people employed during the
cotton-picking season.
Clarification was sought by the farmers as to the
continued irrigation and
care of their crops. The Land Committee group were
divided on how to respond
to these questions and seemed to have no directive
to follow.
The farmers await a return to normal office hours to be able
to obtain legal
counsel on the way forward. The farmers remain united but
they have no
assurances that any agreement reached will be honored by this
Land Committee
as the members refused to identify
themselves.
Ends
13th August 2002
Contact Jenni Williams on
Mobile (+263) 91 300456 or 11213 885 Or on email
jennipr@mweb.co.zw
or Fax (+2639) 63978
or (+2634) 703829
Office email prnews@mweb.co.zw
A member of the
International Association of Business Communicators. Visit
the IABC website
www.iabc.co.za
ZIMBABWE: Political violence continues
JOHANNESBURG, 13 August (IRIN) -
While the controversial acquisition of white owned farms grabs headlines,
political violence against mostly black opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) supporters continues unabated and largely unreported, claim human
rights NGO's.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said in its latest
report, covering the period 1-31 July, that political violence had claimed the
lives of two more people. This brought the number of deaths from politically
motivated violence to 59 since 1 January 2002.
The latest victims were
both MDC supporters, the organisation alleged.
"The political violence is
continuing, and despite the focus in the press, particularly the UK (United
Kingdom) press, over the last week on farmers and farm workers, the majority of
victims of the violence are still alleged or real opposition supporters, almost
all of whom are black Zimbabweans.
"In July there were two new deaths
recorded, both of MDC officials. Also the youngest victim we have recorded, an
11-year-old was reportedly victimised for 'attending an MDC school'," the forum
said in a statement.
The report also indicates a pattern of alleged
intimidation of teachers, who have long been viewed as supporters of or
sympathetic to the MDC. "At Mapanzure Secondary School in Masvingo four teachers
were seriously injured after ZANU-PF supporters assaulted teachers at the
school. In Zaka, ZANU-PF youths allegedly assaulted teachers suspected to be MDC
supporters," the report said.
"The month of July has also seen attacks on
civil servants by [ruling party] ZANU-PF supporters and war veterans. The
district administrators of Matobo and Umizigwane were pushed out of their
offices by war veterans ... following remarks by the Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing who reportedly accused civil
servants of delaying the land redistribution exercise," it was
alleged.
The forum claims there were 205 incidents of arson or what is
describes as "malicious injury to property" in July, raising the total since the
beginning of the year to 786 incidents.
Meanwhile, human rights
organisation Amnesty International has expressed concern that political violence
and intimidation could increase in the run-up to local government elections in
Zimbabwe.
"In the run-up to local council elections in September, Amnesty
International is deeply concerned that the pattern of using violence against the
political opposition and abusing the neutrality of the police by government and
state-sponsored 'militia' will be repeated," the organisation said.
It
cited recent examples of alleged political intimidation.
"Between 28 and
29 July, seven MDC members were arrested allegedly for setting fire to three
tractors at a government complex in Chipinge North. The seven accused, including
the MDC vice-chairman for Manicaland, Prosper Mucheyami, and the MDC candidate
for Chimanimani, Michael Shane Kidd, remained in police custody until 5 August,
when they were each granted bail of Zim $20,000 (about US $375).
"While
in detention they were reportedly subjected to verbal threats and psychological
intimidation by police officials. In his ruling for bail, Magistrate T. Khumalo
stated that there was no connection between the burning of the tractors and the
seven accused. Both Mutseyami and Shane Kidd have been repeatedly arrested and
harassed by police and ZANU-PF supporters, frequently organised in
state-sponsored 'militias', over the past two years," Amnesty International
alleged.
[ENDS]
IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11
447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za
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Subject: Mastermind behind Matabeleland massacres, Perence Shiri, now
in charge of Zimbabwe's grain procurement and distribution -
Date: Fri, 9 Aug
2002 16:46:30 +0100
Air Force chief, Perence Shiri (alias 'The Butcher of Bhalagwe' because
of
his complicity in the murder of thousands of Matabeles in the early
'80s)
has been put in charge of grain reserves being imported into Zimbabwe
(see
below). Here then is blatant evidence of how food supplies will
be
manipulated and used to favour ZANU PF: Shiri is a master in this
game.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 9 August
Mugabe is starving his own people
People are being starved in Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe's
deliberate
and systematic ploy of using food shortages to cling to power.
Millions of
people a re going hungry not, as Mr Mugabe's government claims,
because of
poor rains but as a direct result of its policy of denying food
to
opposition supporters and enriching its loyalists. Last night, the
deadline
passed for the mass eviction of 2,900 of Zimbabwe's white
commercial
farmers, for decades the mainstay of the agricultural sector. Mr
Mugabe
ordered them to abandon their homes, land and livelihoods by midnight.
An
investigation by The Telegraph found that control of the Grain
Marketing
Board (GMB), Zimbabwe's state-owned monopoly supplier of commercial
maize,
was passed this year to one of Mr Mugabe's most loyal henchmen, Air
Marshal
Perence Shiri, an alleged war criminal. With Zimbabwe's economy in
chaos,
Shiri's mission was to spend a £17 million loan provided by Libya
buying
just enough maize to stave off food riots, which would then be
supplied
through the GMB. The organisation, which is meant to supply maize
at
subsidised price s to all Zimbabweans, has instead been selling maize
only t o
supporters of the ruling Zanu PF party. Backers of the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change went hungry. Worse still was the country's
Food For
Work programme. Thousands of opposition supporters would provide 15
days'
labour only to be told at the end there was no GMB food for them. The
GMB is
so corrupt and politicised that aid groups shipping food into Zimbabwe
are
being forced to set up their own expensive parallel storage and
distribution
facilities, rather than using those of the GMB - the traditional
way of
bringing food aid into Zimbabwe.
There is also evidence that the Zimbabwean government is
deliberately
blocking the work of these international aid groups and keeping
the flow of
aid down to a trickle. That trickle is enough to stave off
threats of public
unrest, but not enough to provide food for all of the
country. "What we are
seeing is nothing but humanitarian torture," an aid
worker said. "It takes
three months to die of starvation and this is a
torture every bit as bad as
beating someone with barbed wire or hanging them
from handcuffs." One
British Government source said: "The irony is that the
food shortage is one
of the reasons the people in Zimbabwe might be impelled
to rise up against
the government but we are morally obliged to provide food
that removes that
impulsion and secures the Mugabe regime." The British
government has
promised aid worth £32 million to Zimbabwe. A warehouse of
supplies
organised by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace was
blockaded for
three months by Zanu PF militants and an attempt to increase
the flow of
humanitarian supplies by the World Food Programme (WFP) has also
been
blocked. The WFP relies on recognised agencies to do the final
distribution
on the ground and aid sources said the mere presence of a
British charity,
Save the Children (UK), on a list of possible distributors
is hindering
expansion. Aid groups are routinely criticised in the
state-owned medi a in
Zimbabwe, accused of being tools of the "imperialist,
colonialist West". The
situation is being worsened by logistical problems in
neighbouring countries
such as South Africa, where management errors in the
state-run railways mean
there is a drastic shortage of goods wagons to move
grain. And in Mozambique
a malfunction in a bagging machine at the port of
Beira means six ships
carrying grain remain in the approaches to the harbour,
unable to offload
supplies for Zimbabwe.
In effect, the regime in Zimbabwe is doing just enough to help its
own
supporters while blocking efforts to help the millions of needy people
in
the country. So far, there have been only a handful of deaths connected
to
food shortages. Without any basic food supplies, families have been
forced
to live off what they can find in the bush and some children have died
from
eating poisonous berries. By early November, however, before the
next
planting season, aid experts predict widespread malnutrition in
Zimbabwe
unless significant food supplies can be brought into the country.
The WFP,
the world's largest humanitarian aid organisation, currently
estimates six
million people in Zimbabwe out of a population of 13 million
are suffering
from food shortages. There have been intermittent rains in the
region this
year but observers believe most of the shortages have resulted
from Mr
Mugabe's policy of land invasions, which have all but destroyed
the
country's once thriving commercial farming sector. South of the Limpopo
in
South Africa the same intermittent rains have not stopped farmers
producing
a surplus of about 1.8 million tons of maize. For almost all of the
1990s,
Zimbabwe was a net exporter of maize and so good were its supplies
that the
WFP had an office in Harare, not to distribute maize in Zimbabwe but
to
procure Zimbabwean maize for distribution elsewhere. That situation
now
seems a long way away.
Union 'robs' workers
Hi , I thought you might be interested in an update
re my parents' property in the Eastern highlands.
As you know, my Dad died recently and his ashes
were sprinked at the farm -- which he was so loathe to give up. Since then my
Mom has been assisted by relatives and friends (amazing people bending over
backwards to make things less painful for her) in settling the estate and making
preparations to move down south. She is pursuing Dad's court appeal based on the
'govt' promise that a portion of the farm could be kept, and a skeleton staff
has been reemployed to keep an eye on things, and harvest the flowers (if they
are allowed?!) This follows the big payout of the whole staff, negotiated
through the lawyer and the farm workers' union (the workers insisted on their
participation) On the big day, all concerned were transported to the bank, and
the workers each given their cheque -- intended to prevent the problem of vast
amounts of cash being handled, carried etc. Of course the union people were
there, sitting to one side at a table, and my relative stood close enough to
observe and hear what happened next.
Upon receiving the cheque, the workers did not open
an account as expected. They each went to the cashier and cashed it; great wads
of money to carry, hide, spend or whatever. The next stop was the union desk,
where they each had to pay a fee of approx 40% of the cash they'd just received!
If that isn't extortion, what is? My family was so shocked and upset after
scraping together enough to cover this deal, which they had expected would give
the workers a nest-egg and some hope for the future.
Our property is a very small unit of no
agricultural interest but has been included with all the commercial farms in the
country for takeover this week. My heart goes out to our workers, but it was
they who called the union in, instead of making a deal independently with us. It
is appalling that they have been used like this.
For immediate release - 18:00 BST Tuesday 13 August 2002
"SAVE ZIMBABWE"
CALLS FOR COMMONWEALTH ACTION
SaveZimbabwe.com
The "Save Zimbabwe"
campaign has welcomed the call by New Zealand Prime
Minister, Helen Clark,
for the Commonwealth to put Zimbabwe back under the
spotlight.
Ephraim
Tapa, Chief Spokesman for the "Save Zimbabwe" campaign said : "If
it has the
will, the Commonwealth can achieve a great deal and its African
members have
a particularly important role to play . It's time for them to
demonstrate
both moral leadership and political weight. They must show that
the behaviour
of this corrupt, repressive and illegitimate regime is
abhorrent to the
values of both the African Union and the Commonwealth. If
they now withdrew
all support from Mugabe and chose to exert their fullest
political weight, we
could see democratic government restored to Zimbabwe
within
months".
Tapa said that it was excellent news that Zimbabwe would be on
the agenda
when Helen Clark meets Australian Prime Minister John Howard
and
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon at the South Pacific
forum
meeting in Fiji at the end of the week, and he hoped this would lead
to
further action. "Suspension was little more than a slap on the wrist.
Even
expulsion would offer little more than symbolic impact. What is needed
now
is sustained, coordinated political and economic pressure, led by
the
Commonwealth's African members, validated by the full weight of
the
membership"
The "Save Zimbabwe" campaign is a non-partisan
international initiative,with
broadbased support drawn from both political
parties and community
groups. It was launched during the recent African Union
meeting in Durban
and is designed to restore democracy, human rights and
legitimate government
to Zimbabwe. The holding of early, free and fair
elections, under full and
proper international supervision, is a key
objective of the campaign.
ENDS
For more information in the United
Kingdom and the European Union, please
contact:
Mark Pursey - 0044 20 7939
7934
For more information in Canada, please contact:
Linda Molynieux -
001 416 489 4744
Mugabe's Megalomania
Just back from 6 days in a bush camp on the Deka River, I took time out to
watch President Mugabe make his Hero's Day speech at the funeral of Bernard
Chidzero. It was a classic Mugabe performance - his English is superb and I
doubt if 20 per cent of his domestic audience understood all the language spoken
in English. It was a speech aimed not at his Zanu PF supporters at the occasion
but at an external audience - I suspect specifically his fellow leaders in
Africa itself.
We had heard it all before but I thought several themes are worth noting: -
a.. Targeted sanctions are hurting - no matter what he said in open defiance,
he recognised that these sanctions, more than any other thing, marked him and
his associates out as renegades and outcasts in the world community. Mugabe has
a big ego and this hurts him where it matters most, his personal pride and
arrogance.
a.. He is under some pressure on the land question - while
refusing to budge or make any significant concessions, he was still obliged to
restate that "no farmer will be left without a farm" and those who "co-operated
with the Party and obeyed government decisions, could stay". With over 95 per
cent of all white owned farmers now given marching orders and hundreds evicted
by force, irrespective of whether they own only one farm or their properties are
smaller than stipulated for maximum farm size, these words have no meaning on
the ground. But they were aimed at a hidden external audience in Africa who are
anxious about what is happening and its implications for themselves and the
continent.
a.. He firmly committed himself and his regime to continued
defiance of the Courts and the decision not to respect the rule of law. He
language in the latter respect was quite specific and carefully crafted. It
confirms what we have all suspected for some time, we have a government that is
now determined to operate outside the law.
a.. Any investor who had any
doubts about the security of their investments or potential investments, have
had their doubts removed - they have no security as long as we have a rogue
administration in Harare.
His intemperate language did nothing to further his
cause or solve his problems, but it certainly demeaned the position of the
presidency in this country and highlights his growing megalomania. I do not
think that Mr Blair or any European or American would take any cognizance of
what he said about them in his speech. But it will hang over his head as a low
point in his time as the leader of an African State. Britain might have been
the "colonial power" in our case, but so it was for half the world at one time
or another. No other former colony would stoop so low in a verbal attack on
another soverign state, especially one who was in a position to be a valuable
source of assistance and support in many material ways.
Especially when
Britain is the largest single donor of food aid to Zimbabwe at this time of
national crisis.
Altogether an immature, irresponsible speech which does nothing for him or
his party, and more especially, the people of this country. He said nothing new
but did confirm his delinquency.
The question is, where to from here? The economic situation is more than
dire, we face widespread famine - wheat stocks run out this month further
exacerbating the situation and inflows of basic foods are at levels which are
not adequate to prevent starvation. The effort by the Commonwealth Troika to
get talks started between the MDC and Zanu PF are stone dead, our legal
challenge goes ahead in six weeks time but before a panel of Judges whose
credentials and impartiality is seriously flawed. Domestic democratic options
are also seriously compromised by an administration that simply manipulates the
figures to secure the desired outcome - no matter what the people want.
If we go onto the streets we know what faces us - real guns with bullets,
banning orders and imprisonment with no chance of any recourse. We also know
that the majority of African leaders will approve of such action by a "soverign
State". It is a minefield and we must walk carefully, with our eyes open and a
good map.
Back to the Bush.
A small group of us took over a bush camp in the Hwange National Park for
5 nights. It was a great break away and to be recommended to all of you who
have the time and opportunity. We drove up to Hwange from Bulawayo and spent
one night at Sinamatella camp before going through to Bumbusi Camp. This was
28 kms to the north on the Bumbusi River and located where three natural
springs run throughout the year into the river. Just 4 kms away is the Deka
River, which ultimately runs into the Zambesi.
The weather was superb, clear cold nights, warm days, zero humidity and
blue skies. On our first night in camp we had lion on both sides of the camp at
the springs - went out with our guide early the next morning and he took us
straight to where he thought we might find them and sure enough we had a good
sighting of a large female lion. Elephant were in plentiful supply and at one
stage we had a small herd in the camp itself in broad daylight.
Giraffe and
plains game completed the picture. There were buffalo in the area and at least
4 Rhino but we saw none during our walks across the veld.
Our guide was very good - from National Parks, he knew his birds (we
counted
50 different species including several raptors and hooded vultures),
had wonderful eyes and saw things we had missed all the time. On our last day
he spotted a pride of lion including a large male with a black mane. We were
able to get to within 20 meters of the two female lion, whilst the male stalked
away. We did a lot of walking with our guide and although we came into close
contact with game, never had any doubt that the guide knew what he was doing.
On the Deka River we saw pools with many large crocodiles in them - so many in
one instance that we wondered what they lived on. There was plenty of water and
the condition of the bush was very good - the colors with the gold and green of
the Mopani and the different color rock formations provided a superb backdrop
for our days. We saw no other people for the whole period - no telephones no
TV! No Zanu PF - this is a strong MDC district.
National Parks were ear tagging and radio collaring Rhino and were using a
helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft with ground teams to do this. The area is
designated an intensive conservation area for Rhino. Although we never saw one,
there was lots of active spoor.
The cost - total Parks charges came to less than Z$3000 per person or Z$500
a day - including the cost of the guide and all other fees. The accommodation
was spotless, the beds comfortable and we had our punctures fixed for free by
the workshop at Sinamatella. I think you can call that real value for money.
For those of you who work in US dollars, the official exchange rate is 55 to 1
and the street rate is 700 to 1. Not a bad deal for US$4.30!
Eddie Cross Bulawayo, August 14th 2002.
Business Report
Political commentary on recent events in
Zimbabwe
Noelani King and Carmen Spilsbury
August 13 2002 at
10:53AM
Below please find comments from our Political Consultant Gary van
Staden on
Zimbabwe.
While many South Africans spent the day
contemplating the consequences of
the boorish actions of a drunken lout who
rubbished the country's rugby
reputation many in Zimbabwe were left to
consider their very future as a
consequence of the actions of another boorish
lout.
Late last week there was a sense that at the eleventh hour some
sanity may
prevail - that Robert Mugabe would turn from a course that could
not be more
damaging to the entire southern Africa region had it been so
designed. Some
farmers had already given up hope and headed for the cities,
other countries
with little more than the clothes on their backs to show for
generations of
labour. But others stayed, encouraged by a court order that
declared the
evictions null and void on a technicality and clinging to the
hope that the
Zimbabwe government would finally see sense and reform a land
redistribution
programme courting human tragedy on a massive
scale.
The farmers got their answer yesterday - it was short and to the
point - get
out!! There would be no eleventh hour miracle, no sudden return
to common
sense, and no touch of an angel to
engender a sense of justice.
Despite the lingering court orders, the feeble
challenges, the last lashings
of desperate people there is now a sense of
finality - the battle is over,
Mugabe has won, and his two-year struggle in
defiance of international
opinion, logic, compassion and vision has produced
the hollow victory it
always promised. There is no going back now and within
a very short while
most white farmers will have been driven off their land
for the last time and
they will not return - not this time. The consequences
of that for Zimbabwe's
people may be dire. Aid agencies, NGOs and even those
South African
government officials with enough courage to open their mouths
for a few
seconds will tell of the impending tragedy.
Millions, not merely hundreds
of thousands are going to starve and there is
little that anyone on the
outside can do since the scale of the problem
dwarfs relief efforts. A
country that once produced food for export will
barely harvest enough to
cover the tables of Mugabe and his government and
other high placed cronies
who are prepared to add a new horrific dimension
to the concept of "let them
eat cake". Even the handful of farms still
operating have not planted crops -
in one district alone last season's
planting at this time covered hundreds of
hectares, this year it is less
than 50 - subsistence farming. South Africa
will be caught up in the
unfolding drama across its borders - sucked into a
vortex of hunger, despair
and anger and this time there will be no turning a
blind eye. There are
those in Zimbabwe that warn South Africa's dismal
interventions in Zimbabwe
are about to reap the whirlwind of its own
stupidity. South Africa cannot
escape the consequences of its actions - or
rather its lack of action - and
Pretoria stands condemned for the
unbelievable arrogance of deciding that
the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans are
a small price to pay for Mugabe's
blessings.
Last week South African
Department of Foreign Affairs officials lifted not a
single finger - except
to switch their cell phones off - when Mugabe's
madness was extended to at
least 46 South African landowners in Zimbabwe.
Not content with abandoning
Zimbabweans to the clutches of a dictator the
South African government
abandoned its own people as well. Perhaps a fitting
final chapter as the
Mugabe's of Africa stamp their authority on the new
African
Union.
Noelani King Conradie, Group Economist at PSG Investment
Bank
BBC
Tuesday, 13 August,
2002, 14:57 GMT 15:57 UK
Prince Charles' 'Zimbabwe appeal'
Mugabe has ordered white farmers to leave their
land
Prince Charles has reportedly urged Prime Minister Tony
Blair to do more to help British citizens fleeing Zimbabwe.
News of the appeal comes as Robert Mugabe's critics warn his land reform
programme threatens the lives of millions of Zimbabweans.
What I think is needed is an African solution to this African
problem
|
Peter Hain Foreign Office Minister
| The prince is said to be worried that many
families leaving the African country for the UK are being denied help and
benefits.
Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain said the government was giving the help it
could but the focus needed to be on reversing the situation in Zimbabwe itself.
The Daily Mail newspaper reports that Prince Charles has written privately to
Mr Blair about his concern about red tape facing families arriving in the UK.
Depending on charity
St James' Palace said it could neither confirm nor deny that the letter
existed and Downing Street says it will respond if a letter is received.
Some Zimbabweans coming to the UK argue they have to rely on charity because
of the lack of benefits available to them.
Mr Hain said those fleeing persecution did receive support as they went
through the normal asylum process.
Prince Charles issaid to want more help for fleeing
families
| British
citizens leaving Zimbabwe were entitled to claim their rights in the same way as
other UK residents, Mr Hain told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"I don't think we should turn what is a failure of leadership in Zimbabwe
into some kind of criticism of reception facilities," Mr Hain.
The minister also pointed to the development and food aid the UK was giving
to help people in Zimbabwe.
Food politics
That help was being channelled through non-governmental organisations rather
than through the Zimbabwean government.
Mr Hain pointed to evidence that Mr Mugabe's officials were using food as a
"political weapon", providing it only to their supporters.
Ancram says ministers are
"shilly-shallying"
| "The
whole situation is desperate, the country is being torn apart by state organised
violence," said Mr Hain.
The deadline has now passed for two-thirds of the country's remaining white
farmers to leave their farms.
Many of those families are reportedly refusing to move.
Mr Hain said the UK had helped to get sanctions in place against Mr Mugabe
and his top officials, as well as Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth.
Earth Summit talks?
"One of the problems with dictators like Mugabe is that they take no notice
of international opinion," Mr Hain continued.
The Conservatives have accused the government of failing to do enough to
tackle Mr Mugabe, who they say should be "faced down" at this month's Earth
Summit in Johannesburg.
Mr Hain said the Tories, despite their criticisms, had offered no practical
alternative policies.
The prime minister would, however, discuss the situation with African leaders
at the Earth Summit, he said.
"What I think is needed is an African solution to this African problem,"
added Mr Hain, stressing that such an initiative would get UK support.
Complacency?
Those words failed to impress shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram.
Mr Ancram accused Mr Hain of "hang-wringing mixed with complacency and a
total failure to face up to the situation".
"Those threatened by Mugabe must be given proper reassurances that they will
not be abandoned," he said.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said the UK had a
moral duty as the former colonial power to act humanely towards "Mugabe's
victims".
"The British Government should make it clear that it will deal
sympathetically with anyone - irrespective of ethnic origin - who is forced out
of Zimbabwe by the Mugabe regime," said Mr Campbell.
|
MSNBC
Mugabe unlikely to compromise on land issue
HARARE,
Aug. 13 - Robert Mugabe is waving his trademark iron fist at white
farmers,
but some of them see a glimmer of hope in the Zimbabwean
president's tough
words that could see them keep their land.
Mugabe vowed on Monday to
push ahead with his controversial land
reform drive, saying thousands of
white farmers defying an August 8 eviction
order must surrender their
property without delay to landless blacks.
But Mugabe also said no
farmer would be left landless under his ''one
farmer, one farm policy'' with
a place for ''well-meaning white farmers who
wish to pursue a farming career
as loyal citizens of this country.''
Colin Cloete, president of the
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)
representing 4,500 white farmers, said
Mugabe's line that no farmer need go
without land offered hope to some 1,000
members whose only farms have been
targeted for acquisition.
Mugabe's government had ordered 2,900 farmers to quit their land
without
compensation by midnight last Thursday, but about 60 percent are
defying the
eviction orders.
The reforms have caused upheavals at a time when six
million
Zimbabweans, about half the country's population, faces hunger due
to
drought and the upheaval on the farms.
MISPLACED HOPES
Analysts say the farmers' hopes are misplaced because their farms
have been
promised to Zimbabwe's black elite, including top members of the
ruling
ZANU-PF party and military officers.
''I think anyone suggesting that
Mugabe will let go on the land
issue, that the white commercial farmers will
be left alone with the large
land-holdings they have, is not following the
dynamics of Zimbabwean
politics,'' political analyst Professor Heneri
Dzinotyiwei said.
Dzinotyiwei, chairman of the private think-tank
Zimbabwe Integrated
Programme (ZIP), said those likely to benefit from the
land drive included a
cross-section of black Zimbabweans whom Mugabe could
not afford to
disappoint.
He said the best deal for the white
farmers would come, not in
seeking to retain their large land tracts, but in
accepting smaller farm
holdings alongside new black commercial
farmers.
''If that is the softening that the hopeful white farmers are
talking
about, it is not a compromise because it has always been on the table
and
Mugabe says it remains on the table,'' he said.
One senior
government source told Reuters that Mugabe had left open
the question of what
his government would do about white farmers defying
orders to vacate the
farms because he did not wish to set his militant
supporters against
them.
''That is not an indication they (the farmers) will be allowed
to
stay...and those who don't get this message might eventually have to
be
forced to get out,'' he said.
FRESH LAWSUITS URGED
Eleven
white farmers have been killed since the land reform programme
began with
violent invasions by so-called war veterans early in 2000, some
in possible
robberies fuelled by a climate of lawlessness and others in
direct clashes
with militants.
Hundreds of black farm workers have been beaten and an
unknown number
have died at the hands of war veterans enforcing the land
redistribution,
many of them too young to have fought for the liberation of
the former
Rhodesia in the 1970s.
Justice for Agriculture (JAG), a
newly formed pressure group, urged
farmers on Tuesday to prepare fresh legal
challenges against the acquisition
of their lands. But in an apparent
reference to court challenges, Mugabe
said on Monday: ''We brook no
impediment and we will certainly suffer no
avoidable delays.''
Political analyst Masipula Sithole said Mugabe's combative
and
confrontational stance in his speech on Monday was an ominous
sign.
''This was an opportunity to get sensible...but Mugabe showed in
his
speech that he was still prepared to use the land issue for
short-term
political dividends,'' he told Reuters.
Business Day
Clock ticking for Mugabe:
MDC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON
- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will be out of power in one
year, leading
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told the Washington Times
daily in an
interview published yesterday.
Tsvangirai, who leads the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), is widely
believed to have obtained more votes than
Mugabe in the March presidential
elections.
"Time is running out for
this country," Tsvangirai told the conservative
newspaper in an interview
from Harare. "We have six to 12 months at the
most - that is, if we can
survive that long. If we can achieve change within
12 months, then maybe
there is hope."
However "if it goes beyond a year, the government will
have destroyed the
infrastructure of this nation and the spirit of its
people. It will mean the
subsistence and informal sectors dominating and no
investment. It's another
African basket case; that's what it will mean," he
said.
In July police summoned Tsvangirai to take down a statement on
allegations
that he threatened to overthrow Mugabe. Tsvangirai, who is
already facing
treason charges, denied the charges.
Mugabe on Monday
insisted that he would hand over white-owned lands to black
farmers by the
end of August, four days after ordering thousands of whites
to leave their
homes.
AFP
Please find below the latest statements from the MDC:
1. Mugabe's Heroes'
Day Speech typical of his own shortcomings - Morgna
Tsvangirai, 12 August,
2002
2. MDC Insiza MP Ndlovu dies
3. Chidzero a true national
hero
12 August 2002
Mugabe's Heroes Day Speech typical of his own
short-comings.
All Zimbabwean patriots realise that the National Heroes'
Day is a day of
sombre reflection on the liberation of this country from the
yoke of
colonialism and a time to rededicate ourselves to the values and
ideals for
which the national heroes lived and died. It is a day to map out a
vision
for future development of the country in accordance with of these
noble and
cherished ideals.
However, the illegitimate ZANU PF
government has routinely turned this
sombre national occasion into an
indecent partisan junket to spread a
message of violence and hatred. This
year's National Heroes' Day proved to
be no exception. It is a tragedy that
once more Mugabe took the occasion of
the burial of Dr. Bernard Thomas Gibson
Chidzero, an internationalist, an
illustrious and cosmopolitan son of
Zimbabwe who abhorred racialism,
tribalism and all divisive practices, to
spew a message of violence and
racial hatred.
Indeed, the
circumstances of Dr. Chidzero's own life are clear and
unequivocal
demonstration of his abiding faith in non-racialism and a common
brotherhood
and fellowship of all human beings. For Mugabe to disgorge a
message of
violence and hate, the very antithesis of what the life of Dr.
Chidzero
signified, was not only an insult to all patriotic Zimbabweans, but
indeed to
the memory of an illustrious son of Zimbabwe. The record of Dr.
Chidzero's
life places him firmly in the camp of Mugabe's victims. Those who
have
routinely opposed Mugabe's dictatorship at the pain of death are the
real
patriots carrying forward the ideals and values of the genuine heroes,
like
Dr. Chidzero who are interred at the national shrine. They have
carried
forward the torch of liberation in a manner that Mugabe can never
imagine.
Zimbabwe is currently reeling under the effects of Mugabe's
dictatorship
with millions facing certain death from disease, starvation
and
state-sponsored violence and yet Mugabe's message to the nation was
a
promissory note for more misery and death.
Mugabe fails to connect
with the primary concerns of the people of Zimbabwe,
which are food, jobs,
health and an end to poverty. He instead concerns
himself primarily with
rhetorical nationalism. In fact Zimbabwe now is a
country where everything is
in short supply except misery, starvation and
death. The regime has reduced
innocent citizens to the level of scavenging
animals.
Where
Zimbabweans expect a message of hope and decisive leadership to
confront the
problems bedevilling the country, they are told that their
daughters and sons
will be forcibly drafted into the so-called National
Youth Service and be
transformed into killing machines for the perpetuation
of Mugabe's
dictatorship. Zimbabweans must resist the imposition of this
evil programme.
They must send a clear and unequivocal message to Mugabe
that he and his
cronies can continue to brutalise us, murder us, starve us
to death and visit
all manner of unimaginable atrocities on us, but we shall
never succumb to
dictatorship. We shall never allow our children to be
turned into shock
troops for his evil regime.
The only success that those camps have
achieved to this date is to subject
our children, particularly girls to sex
slavery by the uncouth trainers and
to turn our children into
killers.
Having been effectively isolated by the international community
because of
its murderous record, the regime now threatens to turn its wrath
on
innocent, defenceless and democracy loving Zimbabweans. We want to
tell
Mugabe here and now that the old adage still rings true among the
gallant
citizens of Zimbabwe: "THERE IS NO ARMY WHICH IS MIGHTIER THAN AN
IDEA WHOSE
TIME HAS COME". Change in Zimbabwe is inevitable no matter how
many innocent
citizens are slaughtered by the regime.
Morgan
Tsvangirai,
MDC President.
12 August 2002
MDC MP for Insiza George
Ndlovu dies
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP for Insiza George
J Ndlovu has
died. Ndlovu died last night at about 7.45pm at the Theatre as
doctors
attempted to remove a blood clot from his abdomen at Central Hospital
in
Bulawayo.
Ndlovu who was born on September 10 1939 in the Gwabhila
Village of
Filabusi, suffered a black out while driving two days ago
resulting in his
vehicle veering off the road. George did not sustain any
injuries from this
accident. Doctors suspect that his blackout was due to the
stomach ailment,
and they were thus attempting to remove the clot. The MDC
remains unclear
about the circumstances that led to his death in the
theatre.
The sudden death of George comes as a devastating shock to us.
We grieve
with the Ndlovu family and the people of Insiza. May they know that
they are
not alone in this time of sadness. We have lost a dear dependable
friend, a
competent organizer, a soft spoken colleague, a courageous man, a
man of
principle and few words.
The nation is robbed of a man of
integrity. While we grieve at his death, we
at the Movement for Democratic
Change cherish his deeds for he fought the
good fight; he played a big part
in the struggle to bring a better life for
all Zimbabweans. He belongs to a
new crop of heroes, heroes that have
dedicated their lives to the struggle to
reassert and restore the freedoms
for which the heroes of the 2nd Chimurenga
died.
The MDC leadership will hold an emergency meeting and consult the
Ndlovu
family in preparation for the funeral. The arrangements will be made
public
in due course.
May his soul rest in peace.
Welshman
Ncube,
MDC Secretary General.
10 August, 2002 - Chidzero a true
national hero
Bernard Chidzero was a good man. Zimbabwe has lost a true
hero, a man of
integrity, a politician above the ordinary. He was never a
'pasi naNhingi'
politician. Chidzero was a truly selfless son of this nation
who played a
big part in our independence. Such was his selflessness that he
at one time
left a big paying job at the United Nations to come and serve his
country.
We are paying tribute to his selfless sacrifice.
Like the
father of Zimbabwe Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, Bernard Chidzero always
placed the
nation ahead of personal or sectional interest. He never in his
illustrious
career ever uttered a single word that sought to alienate any
section of
Zimbabwe's population in a bid to gain political advantage. He
was thus a
truly unifying Zimbabwean.
At this time we also remember our heroes, all
sons and daughters of this
nation who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the
fight for equity and equality
in Zimbabwe. This equity and equality is again
under threat today. Young
Zimbabweans should emulate the exemplary qualities
of the heroes of the
caliber of Chidzero to protect their future.
May
the Chidzero family know that they are not alone in this time of
sadness. We
the people of Zimbabwe are with them. We share their pain.
Morgan
Tsvangirai
MDC President
TSVANGIRAI PROMISES MUGABE IS OUT IN A YEAR
Adrian Blomfield
THE
WASHINGTON
TIMES
-----------------------------------------------------------
HARARE,
Zimbabwe - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has
pledged to unseat
President Robert Mugabe within a year,
warning his country will become
another African "basket
case" if the government remains in power.
In
an interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Tsvangirai,
widely believed to
have been cheated of victory in May's
presidential election, said Mr. Mugabe
had unleashed a
humanitarian disaster on Zimbabweans by trying to
hound
white farmers off their land.
"Time is running out for this
country," he said. "We have
six to 12 months at the most - that is, if we
can survive
that long. If we can achieve change within 12 months,
then
maybe there is hope.
"If it goes beyond a year, the government
will have
destroyed the infrastructure of this nation and the spirit
of
its people. It will mean the subsistence and informal
sectors dominating and
no investment. It's another African
basket case; that's what it will
mean."
Aid workers say the government's land-redistribution
program
has aggravated a regional famine that has left 6
million
Zimbabweans, half the country's population, at risk
of
starvation.
Since February 2000, when Mr. Mugabe was defeated in
a
referendum that would have entrenched his hold on the
presidency, youths
claiming to be veterans of Zimbabwe's war
against minority rule have occupied
most of the country's
4,500 white-owned farms.
Playing a populist
card, the president pledged to correct
the iniquities of the past and
distribute the farms to
millions of landless blacks. Paid by the government,
the
self-styled war veterans began a violent campaign of
intimidation,
killing 12 white farmers and scores of their
workers and chasing many more
off their land. They also
burned millions of acres and prevented the farmers
from
tilling their fields.
A government decree earlier this year
ordered 2,900 whites
to stop all farming activities in June and move off
their
land as of Friday. Many of the farms were allocated to
members of
the Cabinet and political associates of Mr.
Mugabe.
"It is a racist
project and a monumental humanitarian
disaster," Mr. Tsvangirai said. "In the
face of famine, you
can't be seen to chase off your farmers. This is like
the
Cultural Revolution of Mao Tse-tung, and the results of that
were
suicidal."
Slamming the government's threat to arrest the hundreds
of
farmers who defied the eviction deadline as a gross abuse of
human
rights, Mr. Tsvangirai also dismissed suggestions that
he was pandering to
the former colonialist masters.
Virtually every white Zimbabwean supports Mr.
Tsvangirai's
party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"This
country is facing a crisis that transcends the
black-white divide," he said.
"We are a national party that
does not pursue a racial or ethnic agenda. We
are fighting a
government responsible for a litany of actions of
violence
and lawlessness against its people of corruption and of
gross
economic mismanagement."
Zimbabwe's economy will shrink by 11 percent
this year.
Inflation is running in triple figures. In the past two
years,
the Zimbabwean currency has weakened 600 percent
against the
dollar.
In two years, Mr. Mugabe's government has succeeded in
turning
one of Africa's few success stories into a bankrupt
and starving
country.
But deposing the president within 12 months is going to be
a
tough ask. Mr. Tsvangirai has ruled out violent means,
although he
slowly is coordinating a program of nonviolent
mass action.
He also is
challenging the presidential election result in
the Supreme Court and claims
to have gathered "shocking and
irrefutable" evidence to show that Mr.
Mugabe's Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front party has stolen
the
election. But Mr. Mugabe in the past two years has filled
the Supreme
Court with die-hard supporters of his ZANU-PF
party.
The MDC also is
contemplating boycotting upcoming regional
elections if the courts reject an
injunction to stop the
polls on the grounds they will be rigged.
In
the meantime, Mr. Tsvangirai is facing charges of
treason, which he cannot
discuss while they are before the
courts. An indistinct videotape shows Mr.
Tsvangirai
supposedly plotting with a Canadian-based consultancy firm
to
kill Mr. Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai claimed he was set up and
his remarks were
taken out of context.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office website
'CHANGE CAN ONLY
COME FROM WITHIN ZIMBABWE' (13/08/02)
ARTICLE BY FCO
MINISTER OF STATE, PETER HAIN, IN THE TIMES
NEWSPAPER, TUESDAY 13 AUGUST
2002
As hundreds of white commercial owners and tens of
thousands of
black workers face being forced off their farms in Zimbabwe by
government
decree, they can be forgiven for nostalgia over their country. The
jewel in
Africa's crown. Stable. Peaceful. Democratic. Prosperous. And
the
breadbasket of the region, too.
Yet Zimbabweans are
now racked with starvation, the country torn
apart by stateorganised
violence, with the world's fastest-shrinking
economy, declining at the rate
of 10 per cent last year and another 11 per
cent this year. Despite Harare's
claims that this is purely a result of
drought, everyone knows it is a
man-made tragedy: one man's.
Instead of increasing food
supplies, the regime has increased
the suffering. Instead of encouraging
commercial farmers to meet the food
gap, it wants to evict them, leaving
victims everywhere: farmers losing
their land, farmworkers losing their
livelihoods and the people losing their
food.
And, as the
Zimbabwean Deputy Foreign Minister recently
admitted, the regime is using
food as a political weapon: denying it to
areas which support the
opposition.
The regime claims that farmers will be allowed to
keep one farm.
But this is not how the chaotic land seizures have been
implemented. It
ignores the fact that millions from donors like Britain have
been available
for some time to help with land reform, so long as the
beneficiaries were
the rural poor, not the ruling party's cronies. The
British Government has
long warned that this was a policy of economic
suicide.
A huge amount of food aid is now needed. The British
Government
is providing £32 million of assistance this year, but we are
insisting that
all aid is distributed outside Zimbabwean state channels and
is properly
monitored to ensure that the most needy are helped irrespective
of their
political views. Some say that Britain should compensate farmers for
their
losses. But that would merely justify retrospectively what the regime
has
done and encourage similar violent and illegal expropriations
elsewhere.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development
(Nepad), put
together by progressive African leaders, offers a vision for the
future. It
recognises that the donor community is right to focus aid on those
who
respect human rights and democracy. Regimes such as Zimbabwe's will not
be
backed by the developed world.
Britain, the
Commonwealth and the European Union have done all
we can to persuade the
regime to change course. But a regime that cares so
little for its own people
obviously cares nothing for international opinion.
That is why a number of
countries, the European Union and the United States,
have taken measures
including targeted sanctions on 72 of Zanu (PF)'s
leaders.
The Government will do its best to give practical advice and
support to any
British nationals who face eviction in the coming weeks. At
the same time, we
will continue to provide as much emergency assistance as
we can for
Zimbabwe's long-suffering poor.
It is a tragedy that there
was not an African solution to this
African problem, especially since the
Zimbabwe crisis has hit international
investor confidence in the whole
region. The message to Zimbabwe's
neighbours is that good government matters
and, like charity, begins at
home.
Zimbabwean champions of
decency and basic rights, the starving,
the farmers, are all victims of
Mugabe's misrule: black and white, rich and
poor. But frustrating though it
has been for Zimbabwe's friends to watch its
sad collapse, change can only
come from within Zimbabwe. In the meantime, we
will maintain our solidarity
while continuing to work for a change of
direction and maintaining sanctions
on the elite.
epxNews
Hain under fire for Zimbabwe 'hand
wringing'
Foreign Office minister Peter Hain
has been criticised for
"hand wringing mixed with complacency" after saying
that Britain is doing
all it can to help the people of
Zimbabwe.
Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram added
that the
government's response to the situation in Zimbabwe consisted of
"talk and no
action".
His comments followed a speech
by president Robert Mugabe
in which he pledged that his government would
continue its efforts to
transfer the land of white farmers to black
Zimbabweans.
Hain said that those fleeing Mugabe's
regime were given
all the help they were entitled
to.
"Those coming as citizens entitled, because they
are
British, to settle here go through the same procedures that every
other
British citizen would go through," he told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme.
"They are entitled to get a job. They are
entitled to all
sorts of rights and they are able to claim those
rights.
"That is a different category from those who
are not
British citizens and are seeking asylum. They are processed in the
normal
way."
The minister said a failure of
leadership in Zimbabwe
should not be turned into criticism of British
reception facilities.
"We are doing all we can and we
will continue to do all we
can," he said.
But one
farmer who fled Zimbabwe for the UK, and has now
set up a trust for farmers
arriving in Britain, said more support should
be
given.
"I think more people are going to be
leaving, so we do
need that support for people arriving here, in the form of
allowing them to
draw their benefits and so on," Derek Arlett-Johnson told
Today.
"These are skilled people coming to this country
who can
contribute to this country. Given a chance, many of us would
start
businesses and create employment. We are not asking for a
lot."
And the Conservatives also said the
government should do
more.
"Peter Hain's performance
on the Today programme was
another example of this government's talk and no
action," said the shadow
foreign secretary.
"It is
hand wringing mixed with complacency and a total
failure to face up to the
situation. Those threatened by Mugabe must be
given proper reassurances that
they will not be abandoned.
"It is time that the
government listened to our advice and
began to make it clear that
international involvement in helping to resolve
problems in Southern Africa
cannot proceed in isolation from the need to
deal with the politically
motivated and totally obscene situation in
Zimbabwe," Ancram
added.
But Hain said Tory policy on Zimbabwe was
"bluster".
"What is very interesting about the
Conservative position
is that they have provided no practical alternative
policy," Hain told the
BBC.
"It's up to those who
are saying more should be done to
specify exactly
what."
The minister said Britain had been leading
international
efforts to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and added that the
prime minister
would raise the issue with African leaders at the Earth Summit
in
Johannesburg next month.
"There has to be an
African solution. We will support that
and provide the development assistance
to regenerate Zimbabwe when it is
pursuing policies to support its people,
not the tiny elite," Hain said.
The Guardian
Tension Rises On Zimbabwe Farms
Tuesday August 13,
2002 8:10 PM
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - White farmers facing eviction
reported Tuesday a
wave of threats and intimidation by government officials
and ruling party
militants trying to force them off their
land.
Farmers leaders said five farmers in southeastern Zimbabwe left
their land
early Tuesday after local officials, armed police and soldiers
visited their
farms and told them they were violating the eviction
laws.
No physical action was taken, but five farmers went to stay with
neighbors
not affected by eviction orders, the Commercial Farmers Union,
representing
4,000 white farmers, said.
In other incidents in the
north of the country, militants threatened
violence if farmers did not
abandon their properties, said Justice for
Agriculture, a group calling for
the evictions to be challenged in court.
A black settler on one of the
farms in the Banket tobacco and corn district
fired a pistol in the air in an
effort to drive the owner and his black
workers away Monday, said Jenni
Williams, a spokeswoman for the group.
In other incidents near Harare, a
black manager employed by a white farmer
was assaulted by militants Monday
and three other farmers were under
pressure from black settlers to leave, she
said.
A deadline for nearly 3,000 white farmers to leave their land
expired last
week as part of the government's often violent land reform
program. But the
government has taken no direct action to enforce the
eviction order.
The government says its program was a final effort to
correct colonial era
imbalances in land ownership. Critics say it is part of
the increasingly
authoritarian government's effort to maintain power amid
more than two years
of economic chaos and political violence mainly blamed on
the ruling party.
The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans'
Association, which has led
the often violent occupation of white-owned farms
over the past two years,
said its members would not take the law into their
own hands to remove
defiant farmers.
``It is now the responsibility of
the government of Zimbabwe to make sure
the laws of Zimbabwe are obeyed in
all respects,'' chairman Patrick
Nyaruwata said.
President Robert
Mugabe said Monday he would not tolerate opposition to his
plans to
redistribute white-owned farms to blacks. He said he would not
allow whites
to retain massive farms, though he said he was willing to let
``loyal''
farmers keep some land.
Mugabe did not refer to evictions in a second
speech marking a Defense
Forces Day holiday Tuesday.
He said the land
redistribution program was ``being finalized.'' Military
personnel had been
given farms and more would continue to get land.
The standoff between
government and white farmers came as half Zimbabwe's
12.5 million people face
a severe hunger crisis, according to the U.N. World
Food Program. The WFP
blames the crisis on drought combined with the
agricultural chaos caused by
the seizures.
The Times
Letters to the Editor
Suffering shared by
all in Zimbabwe
From Miss Sue Shaw
Sir, Jan Raath's report this morning focuses on the plight of
the black
Zimbabweans. He really does get to the guts of the destruction
taking place
without any apparent qualms on the part of the governments of
the UK, the
Commonwealth, Europe or of the United Nations.
Of course we care
about the white farmers - but they are likely
to be offered alternatives. It
is doubtful the UK would refuse them entry
and life here. But what of their
black workers? As we can see from this
report, they are not only losing their
jobs but their homes and their health
and, all too often, their
lives.
Shame on our politicians for having done far too
little far too
late. We must pray for divine assistance in this crisis for it
seems no
human help is at hand.
Yours
faithfully,
SUE SHAW,
154 Cross
Street,
Arnold, Nottingham NG5 7BY.
sue.shaw1@ntlworld.com
August 12.
From Mr Graham Weinberg
Sir, As Mr Mugabe proceeds with his racist policy of
expropriating the farms
of the indigenous white population of Zimbabwe,
where are the protests of the
liberal intelligentsia and their supporters in
the media? Where was the
outrage at the murder of several farmers? Where are
the resolutions sponsored
by the non-Western majority at the UN?
Their silence is
deafening.
Yours faithfully,
GRAHAM
WEINBERG,
3 Albemarle Street,
London W1S
4AU.
August 13.
From Mr Roger M.
Bale
Sir, Reports on Zimbabwe should avoid saying "returning
land to
Zimbabwe's black population" (page 1, August 9).
Before European settlers arrived there was no "black" concept of
land
ownership, rather ownership was of what lived upon the land and,
in
particular, cattle. Rights to cattle ownership had, prior to the
settlers'
arrival, been taken from the Shona (Mr Mugabe's tribe) majority by
previous
(black) settlers from what was the Zulu tribe of (now) South
Africa.
Yours faithfully,
ROGER M.
BALE,
Rocque Berg,
St Clement, Jersey JE2
6FT.
August 9.
State Killed Potential for Commercial Farming
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
August 13, 2002
Posted to the web August 13,
2002
Norman Reynolds
Johannesburg
Halting funds to training
schemes set Zimbabwe's agriculture on path to
disaster
WE ARE
witnessing the demise of the white commercial farmer in Zimbabwe.
That is
analogous to removing the main engine of that nation's formal
economy without
first having built a replacement engine.
The white farmers, government,
donor community and civil society have stated
for more than 20 years, since
independence in 1980, that there had to be
land reform to correct historical
injustice.
Now, instead of reform, there is chaos, state-inspired
violence, a ruined
economy, extreme levels of unemployment amid one of
Africa's most educated
populations, and to boot, deep corruption and cronyism
relating to access to
land.
Also, there is virtually no state support
worth mentioning to help those
with allocated farmland to begin to farm. This
when more than half the
population faces famine and the planting season is
less than three months
away.
There are three areas of white
farmer-government relations that are worth
recording as they help to
understand the background to this national
tragedy.
The first case is
that Ian Smith's government, to beat sanctions, had worked
closely and
successfully with the white farmers to research and to switch
crops that
could be fed into the domestic industry, like cotton, maize and
soya. At
independence, that research and expertise on the state side was
devoted to
black, mostly small farmers, again with success.
The commercial farmers
accepted this policy decision that, as a developed
industry, they should
largely look after their own research needs. This they
did, most notably
rebuilding tobacco as a world crop and then perfecting
horticulture and
wildlife as major export and tourism earners.
These feats became the
focus of considerable support to small farmers
entering these demanding
operations. The next success involving commercial
farmers was quickly killed
off. It presaged the larger destruction of
commercial farming.
By
1984, after a reasonable start to land redistribution, it was clear
the
emerging bottleneck was trained agricultural personnel to back settlers,
so
they could succeed.
The agriculture ministry produced a costly plan
to build two new
agricultural colleges, to triple the number of graduates.
The cost was far
too much for government. Also, it would take six years to
produce the first
crop of graduates, no matter how generous donors
were.
As government's chief economist then, I had to find a quicker,
cheaper
solution. I went to see the successful head of the previously
"black"
Chibero Agricultural College, Lovegot Tendengu. We decided to take
the issue
to the Commercial Farmers' Union, on the grounds it was as much an
industry
issue as it was a state problem.
They were surprised. It was
common then for many sectors to feel Zimbabwe's
government should be left to
"stew in its own juice", as occurred that year
when it stupidly froze all
prices for ever to contain the inflation it had
generated.
We appealed
to the union leaders on several fronts. "Who", we asked, "would
buy their
farms if they did not create their own commercial successors?"
"How", we
added, "could farm prices stay strong if the colleges presently
trained
youngsters, mostly black from poor township or rural homes, to
fill
bureaucratic posts?"
Following that meeting an "onfarm" training
programme was born, which is of
interest to SA. By shipping half the students
each term onto "member"
commercial farms, the existing three colleges were
able to increase the
number of students by half immediately.
Each of
the colleges formed a training committee comprised of faculty and
"trainer
farmers". Donors provided a fund to help. This paid for
on-farm
accommodation, usually for three students in a cottage. The
farmer
progressively owned the cottage as he or she re mained in the
programme. An
onfarm training programme was jointly developed that exposed
students to all
farm operations. A faculty member co-ordinated and supervised
the students
on the farms.
The whole farm was the training entity.
Students spent much of their time
with the labour. The farmer took them
through planning and other assigned
managerial tasks. Farmer members and
students also helped the colleges with
their own college farm
operations.
Then, so tragically typical of Zimbabwe's government, the
state pulled the
plug. It began to demand all college revenue be returned to
government.
Staff resigned in frustration. Tendengu left. The on-farm
training scheme
faltered and died. A cornerstone of any successful small and
big commercial
farming industry was broken.
In all poor countries the
major constraint to development is lack of
managerial skills. In Zimbabwe,
the 4000 commercial farmers like them or not
have represented the largest
body of technical, commercial and managerial
competence.
Hence, there
was an attempt to persuade government to encourage all farmers
who sold farms
for redistribution to remain within the programme as managers
supporting the
farm operations of groups of settler farmers in the area.
This idea was
never taken up. Settlers have been left to the care of
extension officers
with little or no knowledge of agriculture as an industry
and few
organisational skills. In the same vein, none were given tenure.
They have
remained settlers at the discretion of the minister. Few have
found the
commercial means to grow their farm businesses.
The great potential for
mutual small and large commercial farm operations in
an agriculturally
successful country has been dashed. And with it, the hopes
of all citizens
but the limited interest in plunder of President Robert
Mugabe's cronies and
thugs as his regime dies.
Reynolds, a former Zimbabwean government chief
economist, is director of
Earth Africa.
A man-made disaster puts 300,000 lives at risk
David Coltart The New
York Times Saturday, August 10, 2002
The coming famine in
Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe In the last two years Zimbabwe has been
transformed into a
state that increasingly resembles Cambodia under Pol Pot.
The government
seems set on adding famine to the list of oppressions visited
on the nation.
.
In May, a law was passed decreeing that any commercial
farmer who continued
to farm 45 days after being given notice to stop would
face imprisonment.
This weekend that law will be used to evict thousands of
commercial farmers
and their workers.
.
Fear and desperation pervades
the country. All the signs are that President
Robert Mugabe is determined to
hold on to power at any cost, including the
deaths of hundreds of thousands
of Zimbabweans. The judiciary has been all
but destroyed. Independent
journalists have been arrested, their presses
bombed. Civil liberties have
been revoked. In January, the military warned
they would not accept any
leader other than Mugabe.
.
The presidential election in March was a
farce. Mugabe was proclaimed winner
in an election that was widely condemned
internationally.
.
Still, the Mugabe regime knows it must convince the
world it is legitimate
if it is to survive. For this reason, the regime
cloaks its suppression of
democracy in what would otherwise be legitimate
concerns, primarily the need
to redress legacies of colonial injustice. The
unresolved land ownership
issue has been exploited very effectively to cover
up corruption, poor
administration and human rights abuses.
.
The
catastrophic human rights situation is now complicated by a famine that
is,
in the case of Zimbabwe, mainly the result of the Mugabe regime's
ruinous
policies. Had experienced farmers been allowed to plant their crops,
Zimbabwe
would not have had to import any food at all. As it is, Zimbabwe is
now
facing a shortage of some 1.2 million tons of corn.
.
The World Food
Program recently predicted that some 6 million Zimbabweans
will soon face
starvation. At least 25 percent of Zimbabweans are HIV
positive. Experts are
agreed that some 20 percent of AIDS sufferers are
extremely vulnerable to
drops in nutritional levels.
.
Conservatively, one might calculate that
300,000 Zimbabweans could die
within the next few months as a result of this
combination of famine and
AIDS.
.
The Mugabe regime may be counting on
catastrophe for its own salvation.
There is no doubt a calculation taking
place that television images of
starving children will soon dominate policy
decisions in the West and that a
flood of aid will pour in.
.
That
Zimbabwe and other countries in the region need vast amounts of food
and
medical aid is beyond doubt. But if the symptom of famine is addressed
but
not its cause, the international community will only have succeeded
in
perpetuating the problem.
.
Ongoing food shortages will occur unless
a massive irrigated corn crop is
planted this November - and it can still be
planted if the rule of law is
re-established - but only if the rule of law is
re-established with help
from Zimbabwe's neighbors and through holding a
fresh election that complies
with international standards.
.
Famine in
Zimbabwe is primarily caused by bad governance, tolerated by many
African
states and supported by some. Investors the world over will be
watching to
see whether African rulers deal with the cause of this famine,
not merely its
symptoms. If African leaders do not act in these
circumstances, what
investment in Africa will ever be safe in the future?
.
If leaders in the
industrialized democracies are interested in preventing
famines in southern
Africa, they must persuade their African colleagues to
deal with the real
cause of the catastrophe unfolding in Zimbabwe.
.
The writer, a member of
Zimbabwe's Parliament, is a leader of the Movement
for Democratic Change, the
main opposition party. He contributed this
comment to The New York
Times.
The Guardian
Zimbabwe Farmers Under Pressure
Tuesday August 13,
2002 8:50 PM
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Ruling party militants and local
officials have
begun putting pressure on some of the hundreds of farmers
defying a
government order to leave their land, farmers' leaders said
Tuesday.
Among a dozen incidents reported around the country, five
farmers in
southeastern Zimbabwe left their land early Tuesday after local
officials,
armed police and soldiers warned them they were violating the
eviction laws,
a farmers' group said.
Justice for Agriculture, a group
calling for the evictions to be challenged
in court, said militants had
threatened violence if farmers did not abandon
their properties.
A
deadline for nearly 3,000 white farmers to leave their land expired last
week
as part of the government's often violent program to redistribute
white-owned
farms to blacks. But the government has taken no direct action
to enforce the
eviction order.
On Monday, a black settler on one farm in the Banket
tobacco and corn
district fired a pistol in the air Monday in an effort to
drive the owner
and his black workers away, said Jenni Williams, a Justice
for Agriculture
spokeswoman.
She said a black manager employed by a
white farmer was assaulted Monday by
militants northwest of Harare. At least
four other farmers were under
pressure from black settlers to leave,
according to Williams and the
Commercial Farmers Union, representing 4,000
white farmers.
The black settlers may have been emboldened to act by
remarks Monday by
President Robert Mugabe during celebrations marking the
guerrilla war that
ended white rule more two decades ago, farmers
said.
Mugabe praised militants and ``young men who slugged it out on the
farms''
during his program of land seizures over the past two years. ``They
are the
new war veterans ... not impostors but genuine fighters for their
land,'' he
said.
Land occupations have been led by veterans of the
guerrilla war, politicians
and ruling party militants.
The standoff
with white farmers came as half Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people
face a severe
hunger crisis, according to the World Food Program. The U.N.
agency blames
the crisis on drought combined with the agricultural chaos
caused by the
seizures.
Nearly 3,000 white farmers face eviction. About 60,000 farm
workers are
estimated to have been left jobless on farms already shut down.
Some 350,000
workers live with their families on white farms, and evictions
threaten to
displace as many as 230,000 workers, farmers say.
The
government says its program was a final effort to correct colonial
era
imbalances in land ownership. Critics say it is part of the
increasingly
authoritarian government's effort to maintain power amid more
than two years
of economic chaos and political violence mainly blamed on the
ruling party.
Mugabe said Monday he would not tolerate opposition to his
plans, nor would
he allow whites to retain massive farms. But he said he was
willing to allow
``loyal'' whites to stay on some land.
The Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans' Association, which has led
the occupation
of white-owned farms over the past two years, said its
members would not take
the law into their own hands to remove farmers
defying the
eviction.
``It is now the responsibility of the government of Zimbabwe to
make sure
the laws of Zimbabwe are obeyed in all respects,'' chairman
Patrick
Nyaruwata said.
In a second speech marking a Defense Forces
Day holiday Tuesday, Mugabe said
the land redistribution program was ``being
finalized.'' Military personnel
had been given farms and more would continue
to get land.
Scotland on Sunday
Zimbabwe's farmers defiant amid fears of fresh
violence
TENSION mounted in Zimbabwe's chaotic land stand-off
yesterday, as embattled
white farmers locked their farmyard gates in defiance
of government orders
and anxiously awaited President Robert Mugabe's next
step.
Just over 1,700 farmers were refusing to leave their farms,
according to
Justice for Agriculture, a hardline farmers' group. Government
threats of
eviction had failed to materialise; however there were signs of
tough action
to come.
"The law will take its course," Vice President
Joseph Msika told the
government Herald newspaper, referring to possible
punishments of a large
fine or a two-year jail sentence. But farmers and
hesitant government
officials are focusing on President Mugabe, who has just
returned from a
visit to Singapore.
He is expected to address the
nation to mark Heroes' Day, which celebrates
the victory of black liberation
fighters against the white Rhodesian
government. A fiery address at last
year's event sparked a looting spree on
white farms around the town of
Chinhoyi.
Fears are rising that this year's speech, due for either today
or tomorrow,
will combine with the eviction crisis to trigger more
anti-farmer violence.
International opprobrium at Mugabe's actions has
heightened in recent
months, as six million Zimbabweans became faced with
possible starvation
while his government effectively shut down the country's
most productive
farmland.
And even though the redistribution is meant
to benefit landless blacks, it
has also emerged that some of the best farms
are being given to officials
and cronies of the ruling Zanu-PF
party.
Meanwhile yesterday, farmers were in disarray as pressure
increased for them
to leave their farms. According to acting agriculture
minister Ignatius
Chombo, 400 farmers had left by Friday evening, with more
expected to follow
today.
Confusion surrounds the number of farmers
threatened with eviction. Initial
estimates of 2,900 - out of an estimated
total of 4,500 commercial farmers -
were revised by Chombo yesterday, who
said that 1,600 farmers must leave
immediately, with a further 1,000 to
follow in the coming year.
Those remaining on their farms are left
clinging to frail legal promises and
a desperate hope that the long holiday
weekend, which extends until Tuesday
evening, will not descend into violence.
Some felt they had been thrown a
lifeline by a High Court ruling last week
that quashed all eviction orders
where mortgage-holding banks had not been
informed - which affected nearly
all white farms.
But similar rulings
have been disregarded in the past. "Court orders are
great in principle but
they are not much use on the ground," said David
Haslock of the Commercial
Farmers' Union.
Nevertheless, the law still has some value in Zimbabwe.
The farmer who
brought last week's test case, Andy Kockett, told Scotland on
Sunday he had
already returned to work at his farm near Karoi, 220 kilometres
north-west
of Harare. "I'm up and running again," he said yesterday.
A
wealthy businessman and prominent Zanu-PF supporter, Philip Maguti, had
been
trying to take over the farm. When he came with supporters last week,
Kockett
handed him a copy of the order. "They weren't quite sure what to do.
Then
five minutes later, they took off," he said.
The white farming community
is increasingly divided on how to best tackle
the crisis. The CFU is hoping
to negotiate a solution with the government. A
new splinter group, named
Justice for Agriculture (JAG), is however taking a
more confrontational
approach.
"Farmers have been made many promises by the government over
the past two
years. All of them have been broken," said JAG spokeswoman Jenni
Williams.
Of those who have left their farms, some have headed for the
UK, South
Africa, or neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique. But most have just
gone to
the towns, in the hope that they can sit the crisis out and return to
their
homes.
Jim Sinclair has swapped his farm in Norton for a
townhouse in a smart
Harare suburb. "We're not hopeful of returning in the
immediate future. We
think this madness has to work itself out first," he
said yesterday.
Sinclair has more to regret than most. As a farmers'
leader, he toured the
country after it gained independence in 1980,
encouraging white farmers to
stay on. He often spoke from the same platform
as Robert Mugabe. Now one of
his farmer sons is leaving for England; the
other has turned to carpentry.
"He [Mugabe] made a commitment that this would
work. Then he turned around
and bit us," he said yesterday.
Until
recently Zimbabwe was seen as a bread-basket country for southern
Africa.
Now, a combination of the chaotic land redistribution programme and
poor
weather has turned it into a starving, pauper nation. The United
Nations
estimates that half the population - six million people - are going
to need
international food aid in coming months.
There is no famine, yet, but the
warning signs are increasing. In the worst
affected areas, to the south and
west of the country, most families are
surviving on just one meal a day. Some
schoolchildren are collapsing in
class, others are dropping out to look for
wild fruits. Some have died after
eating poisonous roots.
"It is very
early for those signs. This is August and the next harvest is
not until April
or May," said Richard Millar of the Catholic agency Cafod.
"If the food
doesn't come by one means or another, there will be famine."
Last Friday
in Concession, 50 miles north of Harare, hundreds of hungry
peasants were
queuing for maize rations outside the Grain Marketing Board,
the state body
with a monopoly on maize imports. They stood in front of a
line of large
grain silos, most of them empty.
The fields around the town, which should
be groaning with green winter wheat
at this time of the year, were fallow.
Similarly, the dam at nearby Mazoe
should have been sucked dry by irrigation
schemes by now; instead it is
full.
Some settlers had planted maize
but their crops were struggling. President
Mugabe's government had neglected
to give them seeds, tools and expertise.
Amid claims that farms are going
to cronies of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party
the information minister,
Jonathan Moyo, has been officially listed as the
new owner of a farm in the
eastern Manicaland province.
Others said to have benefited from the
alleged cronyism include Air
Vice-Marshall Perence Shiri, a senior military
figure accused of gross human
rights abuses in the 1980s, Vice President
Msika, police chiefs, the
Zimbabwe ambassador to the US, a bank executive and
a journalist with the
state television station, ZBC.
-->
News release (On behalf of Justice for Agriculture) Please visit the
Justice
for Agriculture - Website - <http://jagzim.netfirms.com/> Two
wrongs do not
make a right
JUSTICE for Agriculture (JAG) recognise
that over 60% of farmers under
notice of acquisition have remained on their
farms and in their homes along
with their staff and families - making up over
one and a half million
people. Farmers are not defying Government but rather
the orders, which they
believe to be illegal, and therefore intend to
continue to fight the
acquisition of their farms and title through the
Courts. This is not
confrontational. It is regrettable that the opportunity
to restore the rule
of law and establish proper planning and sustainability
to the inevitable
process of land reform, has not yet been addressed and this
is endangering
the lives and livelihood millions of Zimbabweans. The official
agrarian
reform programme has been altered in terms of the implementation of
the
legal process and in terms of the awarding of farms. Limitless power
has
been put in the hands of local government officials, who decide what
land
will be acquired and allocate it without due regard to legal instruments
or
production. The 10-year programme was to leave single fully utilised
farms
and an economic core of 6 million hectares. Instead almost all
independently
owned land has been listed, and most of it compulsorily
acquired, without
assessing or budgeting for any compensation. Many
Zimbabweans will die from
starvation, the AIDS pandemic and the rest will be
impoverished by unsound
economic programmes. The time has come for them to
put 'principle and
production' above 'political patronage'. If we are to
share the land we must
do so lawfully and without ignoring food security.
Another aspect is that of
Title. It is as important for new settlers to have
clear title and adequate
resources as it is for the existing farmers to be
treated fairly, humanely
and in accordance with the law. This was not
addressed.
A plethora of legal cases have already been brought before
Zimbabweans
Courts, and some judgments have already been made nullifying
compulsory
notices of acquisition. Examples of cases already won are the
Simon and
Kockott cases. In some instances the Attorney General has advised
that the
Ministry of Lands and Agriculture have conceded that Section 8
notices have
been irregularly issued and have withdrawn
acquisition.
President Robert Mugabe today reconfirmed that the deadline
for farmer's
eviction would go ahead; the formation of JAG is therefore
timeous in terms
of leading legal challenges. The President also acknowledged
that the
government would abide by acquisition processes and we would like to
take
him at his word and request the immediate delisting of 1024 single
owned
farms. We take heart that the President acknowledges the existence of
loyal
farmers, amongst these are the 70% who bought their land after
independence
in 1980 and have invested heavily in their farming operations.
These are the
people who along with their loyal workforce have nowhere to go
and vow to
stay put.
The JAG leadership are also advising farmers to
complete comprehensive
affidavits and an inventory of assets and once this
paperwork is complete,
legal counsel will be briefed to sue for losses using
every redress the law
allows. The respondents in this action can only be
determined once all the
paperwork is in place but it is expected that the
settlers, war veterans and
politicians will be key respondents as in most
cases they have orchestrated
the trashing, looting and theft of assets on the
ground under the guise of
land reform. Legal advice is that we first take
this matter to a Zimbabwean
Court and if we do not get a fair judgement, we
take it up internationally.
JAG is a group of concerned Zimbabweans with
a mission to secure justice,
peace and freedom for and in the agricultural
sector. Its contribution to
the Zimbabwean economy is presently under attack,
which has led to the
displacement of expertise, causing poverty and
starvation.
JAG is concerned with the interests of commercial farm
owners, farm workers,
as well as the agricultural ancillary industries and
their employees, and
all those having any interest in the land. Its mission
at present is to
safeguard and support people directly affected, in whatever
way possible,
and to document and expose the injustices and human rights
abuses being
perpetrated against them. These rights are enshrined within the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by Zimbabwe, a member of the
United
Nations.
Made up of committed Zimbabweans, JAG remains
determined to find a lasting
and just solution to the crisis currently facing
the agricultural sector, in
accordance with the freely expressed wishes of
the people. We therefore call
on all affected Zimbabweans in a bid to
represent as wide a spectrum of
interests as possible.
The next few
weeks will be a crucial time for Zimbabwean farming families.
Until that time
JAG has resolved to explore every legal avenue to expose the
iniquities of
the accelerated "fast track" programme.
Justice for Agriculture overview:
JAG believes in justice for agriculture in
Zimbabwe and the unbiased
non-racist application of just and constitutional
laws in accordance with
locally and internationally recognised standards. ·
JAG will expose and make
accountable all persons actively destroying
essential agricultural under the
guise of land reform. To achieve this, JAG
will encourage the taking up of
legal proceedings that argue against
violations of the Zimbabwean
constitution and laws. JAG believes that a
rational, orderly and legal
process of agrarian reform is needed for food
sufficiency and long-term
prosperity, not only in Zimbabwe but also in
Africa as a whole.
JAG
will work to keep agricultural skills on the land and in the country,
and to
find innovative ways to increase production whilst working towards
recovery
of the sector. JAG believes it is essential that good farming
practice be
widely taught and that successful farmers share their knowledge
and expertise
with others who wish to become productive farmers.
JAG believes land is a
precious and finite national resource and that it is
essential that it be
used productively. The Zimbabwean constitution
expressly forbids
discrimination on grounds of race, religious affiliation
or gender. JAG
believes the laws and decrees that are discriminatory are
unconstitutional
and should be challenged. JAG supports a duly elected and
democratic
government whilst refuses to be transformed into political
apologists. JAG
recognises the resolutions of the International Donors'
conference on Land
Reform and Resettlement held in Harare on 9th September
1998 and also the
Abuja Accord signed on 6th September 2001. No one has
disputed the need for
land reforms. No government accountable to Zimbabwe's
people will be ever
able to avoid dealing with it. But there is no
legitimate excuse for the
violent lawlessness and injustices now, and no
legitimate reason for reckless
haste or a lack of transparency.
Farming versus starvation Whilst this
ban on planting, producing and
marketing of food occurs, Mr Mugabe, his
cabinet ministers and aid
organizations are lobbying the international
community for food aid to feed
over six million Zimbabweans who are already
starving.
2002 commercial crop planting projections were: Wheat:
24
692 hectares are already in the ground and will be harvested Sept/Oct.
Its
value in terms of dollars and cents is Z$6 billion. But its value as a
scarce
food commodity is priceless in the current stock out position.
Cereal
production at 670,000 tonnes has dropped 57 per cent compared to last
year
and 67 per cent compared to 1999-2000. Cereal import needs, including
maize,
is up to 1.8 billion tonnes.
Tobacco: Over 170 million kgs of
tobacco is produced and waiting grading on
the farms. US$35,5 million worth
of tobacco has already been sold and the
Section 8 Orders have cast doubt
over the fate of the US$330 million crop
still in grading sheds on the farms.
Government has made it clear that it
has funds only for some inputs for this
coming season's food crop, with
nothing for tobacco and other essential
export crops which provide the
foreign currency needed for fuel, chemicals,
medicines etc. It has not been
able to secure any significant funding for
these.
Maize (2002/2003):
41 067 hectares will translate to 226 000
tonnes: three months supply for
the staple diet of Zimbabwe. The value of the
crop is Z$9,4 billion. Last
season 50% of the maize crop was stolen with no
police action taken against
the perpetrators. This severely eroded confidence
for the commercial sector
and compromised viability. Maize production at
480,000 tonnes is estimated
to be 67 per cent less than last year and 77 per
cent less than 1999-2000.
Unless significant delisting is done and the
law altered to something more
practical, it is impossible at this time to
confirm how these estimates will
translate into yields as some of the farmers
who expressed intentions may
yet come under Section 8 notification and will
have to leave before the
planting/harvesting. All listed farms can be
acquired without a hearing and
the crop seized after only 45 days. The few
farms, which have not been
listed, have only 75 days protection ensuring that
the current legal
framework is inimical to any land preparations or crop
planting. It is
difficult for any farmer to plan ahead until the past
promises to de-list
farms are honoured and it is clear that allocations have
been administered
fairly.
ZIMBABWE LAND DISTRIBUTION BY SECTOR AS AT
SEPT 2001 Large Scale Commercial
Sector (6 000 farms) on 11 020 000 hectares
which is
28.2 percent. Zimbabwe is 39 079 000 hectares in extend.
The
Large Scale Commercial Sector, totaling 11 020 000 hectares,
Commercial
Farmers' Union Members owned 8 595 000 hectares.
STATE LAND
is 27 604 000 hectares, 70.6 percent; PRIVATE LAND is 11 275 000
hectares,
28.9 percent and URBAN LAND is 200 000 hectares, 0.5 percent.
The
Government of Zimbabwe Land Reform programme has resulted in changes to
the
above picture. Land has been acquired through notices of acquisition and
in
some instances, invaders have first arrived on farms, under the 'Fast
track'
programme and then steps have been taken to acquire the farms through
legal
means available.
Some farms were deemed unsuitable and were then delisted
from acquisition,
however in November 2001, the Government of Zimbabwe
announced its intention
to implement Maximum Farm Size regulations and this
resulted in the
relisting of farms. The results below indicate this shift in
policy.
Lising refers to the naming of the farm in Government Gazette
notices - it
is a preliminary notice, Section 5. The following are compulsory
acquisition
statistics; they represent the changing picture of occupation of
land in
Zimbabwe.
Large scale commercial farms comprising 11 020 000
hectares (28.2% of
Zimbabwean land) under threat of acquisition.
As at
19 July 2002, there were 6148 farms measuring 10780963 hectares of
land
listed for acquisition. On this date there were 465 farms measuring 864
579
hectares delisted from acquisition. There were 339 farms, 770 759
hectares
that had previously been delisted, relisted for acquisition. This
brought the
nett figure to 6 022 farms on 106 8714 hectares of land. To
translates to 97
percent of the land acquired.
Ends
12th August 2002 For more
information contact Jenni Williams Justice For
Agriculture Publicity Team
Mobile (263) 91 300 456 0r 00 213 885 Email us at
jennipr@mweb.co.zw or
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw