Pat and I went back to Two Tree Hill yesterday and Crofton our home. Nothing
prepared me for what I saw as a friend of mine said this is the work of the
anti-christ. My dear neighbours are in South Africa and I am so glad they
did not have to witness the utter destruction of their home. The family pets
have disappeared except for three puppies that were found tied to a
motorcycle. Absolutely everything has gone including the roof and window
frames. I had a digital camera with me and as we took pictures of everyroom
it was hard to believe that a warm wonderful family once lived here. We then
drove to our old home and could not believe what we found all that was left
were the walls. Every photograph had disappeared there was nothing left the
only thing lying on the floor was a serviette ring that my daughter Katie had
used at Rydings School. Even our cat had not been spared they shot her with
a shotgun there were cartridges all over the house. They then stripped the
lemon trees and the vegetable garden. Our domestics were sent to a pungwe
while they ransacked. The stripped my sons old white mercedes and all that
is left is the shell. But nothing can take away the memories of the happy
years we had at Crofton. My daughter Katie who is 15 just can't believe this
upheaval in her life. We lease Palmerston Estates where we have our Scouting
Office we have been unable to get into the office for over a week because of
a large contingent of war veterans which have settled themselves outside the
fence. Soon hopefully i can get the photos to run through the computer and
you can see for yourselves the utter destruction. We are only one of many
farmers who have had everything taken. Out of this mayhem I can only hope
some good comes. No one likes to live out of a suitcase and you like your own
things around you. It makes one more determined than ever to hold on here
and not to be beaten and that is what Pat and I resolve to do,carry on
regardless.
Pat and I went into village 11 yesterday to recover property
that had disappeared from Two Tree and Crofton. It was amazing to see
tractors just parked outside villagers houses and a washing machine outside.
Two surly policeman stood by. We filled up 5 lorries full of stuff that had
been looted and all of it had to go to Shackleton Police station. I was
so upset seeing my neighbour's daughters childrens books in a grubby pile.
Just thank goodness they are not here to see it.
What must be said is
how wonderful the people of Banket and chinhoyi and even surrounding areas
have been, lending trucks and labour. People have worked night and day
monitoring, helping out and being so amazing. Nothing could make me prouder
I am so pleased to be part of this wonderful
farming community.
Lots and lots of love to all our friends,
relations,
A big thank you to the Johnsons and the Tiffins for taking
us in and making us feel safe and loved.
The British Embassy in Zimbabwe has denied reports of plans to evacuate Britons
from the strife torn country.
An independent Zimbabwean newspaper
reported that Britain is planning a mass evacuation of 25,000 Zimbabweans with
British citizenship.
However the embassy has released a statement denying
the report.
But the statement noted that the Government did have general
contingency plans for emergencies.
The report in the Financial Gazette
led to a flood of calls to the embassy and media organisations asking for
details of where to meet for evacuation on British military
planes.
British officials also dismissed rumours that British troops had
been deployed in neighbouring countries to mount an evacuation.
In a week
of violence in the Chinhoyi corn and tobacco district, at least 45 homesteads
have been looted and white families, many the descendants of colonial era
British settlers, have been evacuated from about 100 farms.
The unrest
began after the arrest of 21 white farmers on allegations of violence and
assault against squatters and ruling party militants illegally occupying their
land.
The farmers deny starting clashes on August 6, saying they were
attacked when they went to help a neighbour under siege by militants.
Just to show you what's happening here at the moment. I've known
********* since we were children and can assure you that he's one of the
most upstanding high principled men I know. Please forward this to as many
people as you can, its time to say enough! Kind regards To all who care to
know the truth about the crisis in Zimbabwe ******`s report concerning the
imprisonment of 22 farmers in Chinhoyi:
On Monday 6th August a large number of farmers from the
Banket/Chinhoyi/Karoi areas were gathered in Chinhoyi for a report back from our
Regional chairman, Mr Jan Botes, concerning the recently ended Commercial
Farmers Union (CFU) annual congress which had been held in Harare the previous
Wednesday and Thursday. The meeting started at 0930 hrs and went on until after
midday.
At around 1000hrs, Mr Boet Pretorius received a telephone message to the
effect that his neighbour, Mr Tony Barklay, had been attacked at his home by a
group of 40+ settlers who were armed with axes, fence poles and rocks. Boet
called me out of the meeting and gave me this report. I immediately phoned the
Officer in charge of Chinhoyi Rural Police station, Inspector MUDZIWAPASI, who
is well known to most of us due to our involvement in neighbourhood watch duties
with the Police. I spoke to him on his direct line and gave him a summary of
the report we had received. I asked for Police attendance to this scene as a
matter of urgency emphasising that this was not a conflict over land but an
attack on a farmer in his residence. He seemed most uninterested and eventually
told me he had no transport. I replied that he could easily borrow another
vehicle from another Police section or use one of my vehicles. His reply was
that he would pass the message to Shackleton Police Post and they would send a
cyclist to the scene. I reminded him that Shackleton was over twenty kilometres
from the farm in question and therefore he was telling us that Police could not
reach the scene for at least two hours. He said that was his decision and rang
off.
I turned to the farmers around me and informed me of this decision. We all
knew what this meant. We now had no option but to help Tony Barkley ourselves.
About six farmers left the meeting at this time and proceeded to Tony Barkley`s
farm. I continued to phone other Police officers in an effort to get
help. The record of calls made, as provided by the cell-phone service
provider, will show that I phoned the Officer Commanding Police, Mashonaland
West Province, (no answer) the Deputy Officer Commanding Police, Mashonaland
West Province, Assistant Commissioner PRITCHARDT, who told me he was in Bulawayo
and therefore unable to help, the Officer Commanding Makonde District (said to
be out of his office) and finally the Deputy Officer Commanding Makonde
District, Woman Superintendent CHEPATO who turned out to be the only senior
Police officer available. I passed the report to her and told her that in view
of Inspector MUDZIWAPASI`s refusal to attend this scene timeously, the
neighbouring farmers were responding to assist Mr Barkley whose life we believed
was in jeopardy. She promised to get the Support Unit to attend. Note that
at this time we still believed Mrs Yvonne Barkley was in the home and therefore
equally in danger- only later did we hear she had gone to Harare that morning
before the attack commenced.
The Support Unit did not arrive for the next approximately two hours
forcing the farmers on the ground to make decisions in the belief that help
would not be forthcoming. A report on the radio back to those of us who were
still in Chinhoyi said that Mr Barkley was no longer responding to his radio and
it was feared he had been overpowered in his home and was now injured or worse.
The worst was feared for Mrs Barkley as well. A decision was made to try and
negotiate with the settlers to allow two farmers to enter the house and check
the Barkleys well-being. Two farmers approached the group of settlers (now
estimated at over 50) The farmers were immediately attacked with bricks, rocks,
caterpults and branches, both suffering moderate injuries before escaping. The
number of farmers in attendance had now risen to about 12 or 14. A decision was
made to try and enter the house. A confrontation followed by a violent clash
followed leaving approximately 5 persons injured on either side but leaving the
farmers in control of the house. Thankfully Mr Barkley was found unharmed - he
had not been able to respond to the radio calls as he had been holding his front
door against the attempted break-in by the settler groups. The farmers
immediately contacted us (the group who had remained in Chinhoyi ) and advised
us that Tony was safe. The settlers reinforced until they numbered around 70
had regrouped and were threatening the farmers again. I continued to phone
Woman Superintendent CHEPATO as Support Unit had still not arrived at the
scene. I then left the Chinhoyi Country Club where we had been and I proceeded
to the Police station where I went to see Inspector MUDZIWAPASI -the Officer in
charge. I gave him an update on events on the farm and told him that several
casualties had been suffered. He seemed surprised and said that perhaps he
better go and attend the scene. We talked for a while and then I left.
Sometime between 12 and 1300hrs the Support Unit were reported to have
arrived. The report I received was that they picked up all, or most, of the
settlers in their armoured carrier and asked the farmers to follow to the Police
station to give statements as to what had happened. By this time the Chinhoyi
Farmers Association leadership, who had all been in Chinhoyi attending the
meeting, arrived on Liston Shields farm. Amongst them was Fred Wallis, the
chairman, and Duncan Moyes, the ex chairman. They all agreed to follow and
give statements. Most arrived at the Police station around 3pm and were later
detained. In the uncertainty surrounding events, they were followed to the
Police station by interested friends and relatives including Mr Louis Fick, who
was checking on his brother in law and was immediately arrested. In the early
evening Mr Jim Steele, 72, went to the station with blankets for his son. He
was also arrested. Neither of these two had been involved in this incident in
any way. None of those arrested were informed of the reasons for their arrest
and none were permitted to communicate with lawyers or family. Neither were
they fed for the first 24 hours of their detention.
At 0730 hours the following morning I arrived at the Police station and
went to see Inspector Mudziwapasi. I asked him what was happening and whether I
could see the detained persons. He told me that he was now taking the farmers
as accused persons as the information provided to him showed they had caused the
conflict. I asked him how that conclusion fitted with our repeated requests for
Police assistance and the threats to a farmer`s life and property. He said he
was very busy. I remained at the Police station for the next hour, in full
view of the settlers, making a few phone calls to advise other concerned people
what was happening. Some time after 0800 a Double-cab vehicle marked ZANU-PF
had entered the station, disgorged four persons who began to stir up the
settlers and other zanu youth who had gathered at the station. I was pulled out
of my car by a person I have now been informed is a zanu councellor named his
accomplices gathered around me in a threatening manner and told me to go back to
the office of the Police station (I was parked in the grounds) Once inside
the station these persons accused me of being involved in the incident which had
occurred the previous day. I told them I had not been on the farm at any time
and that Inspector Mudziwapasi could confirm this. We went into Inspector
Mudziwapasi`s office and he did confirm that I had been with him. The zanu
official insisted that I be detained. He now claimed that a baton stick had
been used by one of the farmers and because all my guards carried baton sticks
(standard issue for every security guard in Zimbabwe) therefore I had obviously
supplied the baton. Baton sticks are readily available in most hardware
stores in Zimbabwe. I said to Inspector Mudziwapasi `It`s your call, you know I
could not have been involved, but do you have the courage stand up for the
truth?` His reply was to hold up his hands in a sign of resignation/surrender
and he told me to go and sit in the charge office. Although I was not advised
I was under arrest I was no longer free to go. Within a few minutes I was
taken to the mother Police station (Chinhoyi Urban) where I was informed I was
to be detained. When I asked on what charge the detail at the counter turned
back the page in his Detention book and read out the allegation written against
the name of some of those detained the previous day..Public Violence. I was
told to remove my outer clothing, including shoes and socks and then locked in a
cell. I was also not permitted a call to anyone. I asked to be allowed to
retain a jersey/coat because of the cold and was told I could keep my shirt or
my jersey but not both. All the other prisoners I found had been similarly
treated. In my cell I found 7 other inmates, six of them farmers. (One of
them, Hamish Barkley,was arrested at the same time as myself when he arrived to
visit his father.) The eight of us shared only three blankets, besides three
dirty pieces of old blanket being used to cover the floor on which we
sat. There are no chairs, beds or windows and the toilet is an open hole in
the floor which has no flush mechanism or paper.
My cell mates had been in custody for 16 hours and had not been fed or
allowed to receive the food brought to them by visitors. They had also been
refused use of the blankets brought to them by relatives. I was informed that
the farmers had been divided into three groups and sent to different Police
stations around the district, namely Banket and Zvimba. Later I heard the
Police at Banket had allowed the prisoners detained there to receive food. All
the prisoners reported extreme cold conditions and a lack of blankets and
deprivation of their warm clothing.
At about 1000hrs we were removed from the cell and handed over to CID
officers who began to conduct an identification parade using the settlers as
witnesses. Of the total of 22 of us only seven were identified. Amongst
those seven were Jim Steel, Hamish Barkley and others who had never been on the
farm during the whole day in question. Also identified was Tony Barkley who had
never got out of his house. Clearly the settlers were confused or merely
identifying farmers known to them (most of those identified live in the Alaska
area close to Liston Shields farm)
The parade continued until around 1600 hrs when we were offered a communal
bowl of sadza and a small plate of about 150 grams of kapenta (to share between
22). Most prisoners had now been without food for 34 hours (24 of those in
Police custody) The Police now told us they wished to take us to Liston Shield
for further identification by other settlers. We agreed to forego lunch to
expedite this and were loaded into three vehicles. Half way to the farm the
plan was changed and we returned to the Police station. Upon our return we were
allowed to consult with lawyers who had arrived during the id parade and the
Police began to record individual warned and cautioned statements and
fingerprints from all of us. At around 1800 hours food was brought to the
station by family and friends and we were allowed to eat. The recording of
statements went on until around 1930 hours. During this time the CID arrested
two relatives who had tried to provide us with warm clothing and
blankets. (Incidentally, in the presence of the lawyers I had complained
about the lack of blankets and the officer in charge CID had agreed we should be
supplied with more - this was not adhered to) No prisoners up to that time, to
my knowledge, had been beaten or physically mistreated. However zanu officials
from time to time would approach us and taunt us or lecture us. A few Police
officers, not those directly involved in the investigation, also chose to insult
and taunt the prisoners and give us a bit of a political education.
At around 2000hrs those of us who had been held at Chinhoyi Police station
were taken away from the CID block and returned to the cell. As we entered the
cell I was called and told to return to the CID office. Some time later I was
told I would be released. When I asked why it was suggested to me that I had
been detained for my own safety. I did not push the issue and left the Police
station sometime around 2100hrs.
The following morning I went to work a bit later than usual but was
informed by some of my staff that zanu youth were looking for me as they were
not happy with the Police decision to release me. I decided to take my family
away from Chinhoyi that evening.
We have been warned to remove all valuable things from our home as it is
likely to be trashed etc, I pray it will not...
CHOGM may roll back Mugabe's welcome
mat Bruce Wilson and Malcolm Cole 16aug01 THE controversial regime of
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe is looming as a diplomatic nightmare for the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Brisbane later this
year.
British officials said this week that it would not be fitting for
Mr Mugabe to be on the same platform as the Queen when she opened
CHOGM. The Zimbabwean President is yet to tell the Australian Government
whether he plans to attend the meeting, to be held in Brisbane and on the
Sunshine Coast from October 6 to 9.
But diplomatic sources in the UK
said there was likely to be a move to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth
before CHOGM, unless the Mugabe regime gave some guarantee of security and
safety to Zimbabwe's white farmers, whose farms are being taken over by black
settlers.
There is also pressure on Mr Mugabe over claims of internal
corruption, election-fixing and widespread human rights violations. Leaders
of the country's beleaguered white community have accused the Mugabe regime
of ethnic cleansing.
Britain's shadow foreign secretary, Francis
Maude, has called for Mr Mugabe and Zimbabwe to be excluded from CHOGM, a
move that could split African loyalties within the 54-member
organisation.
One British official said it would be extremely difficult
to recommend to Buckingham Palace that the Queen should greet Mr Mugabe as a
valued member of the Commonwealth.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don
McKinnon, visiting Brisbane yesterday to inspect CHOGM preparations, said
that while the organisation had voiced its concerns about events in Zimbabwe,
"I know of no move whereby there is a determination to prevent Zimbabwe
coming".
But he said the issue may arise at the Commonwealth Ministerial
Action Group when it meets next month.
The CMAG, comprising
representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Botswana, Canada,
Malaysia, Nigeria and the UK, has already suspended Pakistan and Fiji from
participating in Commonwealth activities after their democratically elected
governments were overthrown.
Federal Government sources said last night
Zimbabwe's membership would almost certainly be on the CMAG
agenda.
CMAG will review Fiji's suspension after democratic elections
later this month, and consider the memberships of The Gambia, Sierra Leone
and the Solomon Islands following recent unrest.
Mr McKinnon said
Commonwealth leaders had asked for the CHOGM agenda to focus on issues of
democratic governance within Commonwealth nations, and development-related
issues such as infrastructure and debt in developing nations.
"We've
got a lot of Commonwealth people living in villages in different parts of the
Commonwealth who in fact are still in the 19th century, because they haven't
got a telephone, they haven't got electricity and they probably haven't got a
decent water supply," he said.
IRIN: August 16, 2001 Posted to the web August 15, 2001
The following report does not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations
A maze of creases map Amos Maduma's face as the sun sets
behind him. He says he is "seventy-something" and it shows - the years have
taken their toll on this retired farm labourer who seems to have worked himself
to the bone his entire life.
Maduma lives in Dombadema, one of Zimbabwe's oldest
government land resettlement schemes in Matabeleland South. It lies about 140 km
southwest of Bulawayo, the country's second city. From Plumtree, a small town on
the border of Botswana, one has to rattle along a 20 km dusty dirt road to reach
Dombadema. The land is harsh and dry, suitable for game and cattle farming.
However, the people who inhabit about 30 small villages which make up Dombadema,
plant whatever they can and rely on the rain for healthy crops.
"We raise cattle, and we grow maize and potatoes and nuts,
but this wasn't a good year," Maduma says. "We are going to make up by selling
cattle or goats. To raise money for school fees, we sell our cattle to the local
cold storage company and our maize to the GMB (Grain Marketing Board) and other
private buyers."
He says a good harvest yields about 42 bags of maize,
roughly about 4 mt, and that while the parastatal GMB is offering his 28-family
village about Zim $4,500 per mt (US $82), a 20-litre drum of the staple food can
be sold for for Zim $200 (US $3.6) on the "black market". He knows that the
government, trying to prevent food shortages across the country, has banned the
sale of maize on the private market, but says that the GMB will not pay him
enough to survive and he will have to break the law.
Squinting into the sun, which is casting long shadows over
the circle of mud and brick houses surrounding his discoloured, plastic chair,
Maduma says, however, that he is content. "I am very happy because we have
enough land to graze our cattle. I have 20 of them. We are managing to survive
as subsistence farmers and we can usually sell our food too, depending on the
harvest," he told IRIN. Then his thoughts turn to the rest of Zimbabwe,
particularly its central and eastern provinces, where the government's
fast-track resettlement programme has spawned widespread violence.
"I benefited from the government's resettlement programme. I
was the first to agree to this resettlement scheme and to come here. But things
are different now," he says. "There's a very big difference in the manner they
are settling people now. The people who are being settled on the commercial
farms are very violent. They go there and harass people on that land. When some
of us were settled here, in 1982, the government had already bought this piece
of land and we came here in an orderly manner. We are not happy with the way
people are being beaten on the farms at the moment."
Maduma says the people of Matabeleland reject political
violence. And even though President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party
gave them land 19 years ago, the people still hold the party - and Mugabe -
responsible for about 30,000 deaths during a vicious security crackdown against
armed dissidents soon after independence in 1980. "This is why you don't see so
much violence in these provinces. Violence and violent tactics will not work
with our people here," he says, referring to the bands of ruling party
supporters who have invaded farms in many other provinces, particularly
Mashonaland West.
Recalling the time he moved to Dombadema, Maduma says that
while the government did not keep all its promises - Dombadema still does not
have electricity - it did help his people create basic infrastructure needed to
farm.
"Me and some of the other people living here were working on
farms near Figtree (more than 60 km away) before we moved. The farm I worked on,
Spring Fountain, was sold to a black businessman from Beitbridge. Then we were
joined by squatters and the police moved us off the farm after the court said we
should move. The government advised us not to resort to violence and to respect
the new land owner while they looked for land for us. We were told there was
going to be this Dombadema resettlement on some four farms the government bought
here. We were even given riot police for protection while we were building here
because it was during the disturbances that were going on at the time," he
says.
It was tough going, nothing was free. "When we started, the
closest water was 4 km away. There were no clinics, shops or schools or houses
here. The government promised us a lot of things, like boundary fences, food,
ploughs and carts, schools and clinics. They said they would give us bulls and
calves to start our own herd too. It was just political rhetoric. They did not
give it to us. See, we have no title deeds for this land. The government said we
were just settled and we did not buy the land.
"They brought a planner, but we built the schools ourselves
- four of them. They lent us ploughs though, and in 1984, the ministry of water
sunk some boreholes on our farm and on the other farms in the settlement," he
says. Then, in 1994, after years of complaining, the government funded a dam on
the settlement with money sourced from donors. The community built the dam.
Maduma says that materials for the brick houses which dot the village were sold
for about Zim $2,600 (US $47) each and that because of the interest which has
piled up, some people are still paying the government for the houses.
Still, says Maduma, he and the rest of the Dombadema
community were provided with seeds and some tools by the government and are
happy that they have land on which they can live, grow their crops, graze their
cattle and bury their dead - even if the land itself is too harsh for mass-scale
"food farming" and rainfall is erratic.
"I was happy when they (the government) started (its land
redistribution programme) because it meant our children would have land. But
what is troubling us now is the violence on the farms. It is from our
government, this violence. For those people to be there, it is from the
government. We also settled here in a fast manner, but it was peaceful and
orderly. The people are just being dumped there (on government acquired
commercial farms). It's just a word that they are being 'resettled'. They are
being put into the bush to disturb commercial farmers."
Maduma thinks the people being resettled on commercial farms
could be doomed to starvation if they do not receive help from the government.
"This is the bad thing. The government won't help them and they have no
resources to be successful farmers," he says. Closing his eyes in thought, he
adds: "It's like if I take your car. I have no licence or money for fuel and
repairs. What am I going to do with it?"
When asked what he thinks the solution is, considering that
Zimbabwe's peasants need land desperately to eke out a living and that the
government seems to be under pressure to keep its promise and deliver land to
the poor, Maduma measures his words: "Things should be said. If we don't say
them and we don't talk, then ... The government did a good thing for us, but now
it looks like something else.
"The government should first have identified people with the
resources to farm, and should have established irrigation schemes and then
resettled those who are capable of farming and doing something with the land.
The problem is that people who have benefited are people who don't need land.
For instance there are ministers who have five farms. The government should
target ministers with more than one farm and also parcel out that land to
landless people. Yes, some war veterans could be getting land, but they are just
being dumped there."
Then he says that people also have to work hard for their
wealth. His community, for example, may have been given land and provided with
expertise, but they built the small rudimentary schools, the dam, the tiny
shops, the two local clinics and their houses themselves. "It was hard work,
hard work, not violence that has given us what we have," he says, surveying his
village as the sun finally goes down behind
him.
Lawyers representing 21 white Zimbabwean farmers will seek
to secure their release on bail on Thursday.
The white farmers were arrested after clashes 10 days
ago
The farmers, who were charged with violence and assault
after clashes with black squatters, have spent the past 10 days in prison.
Late on Wednesday, four journalists from the Daily News were released after
their detention on charges of spreading false news was declared illegal by the
High Court.
A report in the newspaper had alleged that police were involved in looting of
white-owned farms in northwestern Zimbabwe over the past week.
Bail application
The lawyers representing the imprisoned white farmers are hoping that a judge
will be able to hear a bail application at the High Court in Harare.
The 21 were arrested after trouble in Chinhoyi, 115km (70 miles) northwest of
Harare, accused of beating up government supporters who had invaded a farm
belonging to a white farmer.
Nyarota: False information charges
dropped
A BBC correspondent in the region says that the
Zimbabwean Government has given every indication that it would like to see the
farmers vigorously punished.
They have been shown on local television in chains and police who allowed
blankets and food to reach their cells have been disciplined.
But our correspondent says that the Zimbabwean judiciary has proven itself
independent and fair, despite intense political pressure.
Old law
The journalists from the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent newspaper
were detained and charged under legislation inherited from Zimbabwe's former
white minority government.
Geoff Nyarota, editor-in-chief of the Daily News, assistant editor Bill
Saidi, news editor John Gambanga and reporter Sam Munyavi had allegedly
published false news "likely to cause alarm and despondency".
A report in the newspaper had alleged that police were involved in looting of
white-owned farms in northwestern Zimbabwe over the past week.
But the court said the act under which they were charged was no longer in
force.
As Zimbabwe's political and economic problems have deepened, the government
has become increasingly hostile to the media in general, our correspondent says.
Farm attacks
At least 30 homesteads have been looted, and white families have been
evacuated from about 100 farms in the Chinhoyi area.
The farmers deny starting clashes with black war veterans on 6 August, saying
they were attacked when they went to help a neighbour threatened by the
militants.
The front page of the Daily News on Tuesday had described the use of police
vehicles as "well orchestrated acts of lawlessness" on the farms.
President Mugabe is targeting the independent media
and judiciary
Before his detention, Mr Saidi said the story was based
on eyewitness accounts by the white farmers. He said the police had refused the
opportunity to comment on the report before they went to press.
The newpaper's owners have vowed to continue publishing.
The government views the Daily News as an opposition mouthpiece. The
newspaper says it is independent and has linked members of the government to
corruption.
In April Mr Nyarota and two of his colleagues were questioned and charged
with defaming President Robert Mugabe. The Daily News printing press was bombed
in January.
White farmers in the Chinhoyi area say violence by a group of up to 250
militants has now eased and the authorities say that large numbers of police
have been deployed to restore calm.
IN A further move
towards militarising Zimbabwean society, President Mugabe plans to deploy
soldiers to subdivide 5,000 white-owned farms by next April’ s
elections. Using soldiers instead of land inspectors and agricultural experts
would help to create “a general mood and psychology of obedience,” Joseph
Made, the Agriculture Minister, said.
Despite attempts to “ethnically
cleanse” whites, one farmer said that they would go back to the land to try
again. At the weekend a mob broke into the homestead in the Chinhoyi area
where the farmer’s parents-in-law, aged 81 and 77, have lived for more than
50 years and stripped it bare.
“You are just so, so vulnerable and you
feel so, so helpless,” he said. “If you retaliate in any kind of way, you are
in for the high jump — yet the police just sit and watch them loot all this
stolen stuff on to vehicles. But what has happened is not going to make the
farming community give up, so you wonder what is next.”
A neighbour,
Briget, said: “We won’t go back — there is absolutely nothing left. They have
even taken the roof off the house.” She and her husband had bought their farm
only two years ago, when the Lands Ministry issued a certificate saying that
the farm would not be required for resettlement for at least five
years.
Legal sources believe that the week-long spree of farmhouse
trashing around Chinhoyi was aimed at breaking the white Zimbabwean farming
community’s will to resist, thus speeding up the takeover of properties in
time for the campaign by Mr Mugabe for re-election. If all 5,327 designated
farmers continue to contest designation, it could take the administrative
court several years merely to rubber-stamp the seizures.
Police have
been deeply implicated in recent terror campaigns against white farmers, when
officers said they had orders not to intervene.
Farming sources said that
using soldiers to divide plots “spells the end of any serious attempt to put
ecologically sound and sustainable smallholdings in place of present
large-scale commercial agriculture”.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said that Mr Mugabe wanted to
hasten land reallocation to give recipients a stake in continuing the ruling
Zanu (PF) party’s 22-year rule.
Use of soldiers in the farm takeover plan
dovetails with the President’s promises of plots to all 60,000 of his
uniformed services and the recent posting of retired military and secret
police personnel to key positions in virtually every department of
state.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe reported yesterday that 74 per
cent of the country’s 13 million people cannot afford basic necessities. The
currency is worth 2 per cent of its value at 1980.
The wives and children of farmers affected by the crisis in Mashonaland
West met at the Commercial Farmers’ Union at 4pm on 14th August, 2001, to be
briefed by the CFU President, and to discuss the needs of the families and
procedures for handling offers of support.
It was agreed that time should be given for the situation to stabilise
before the families returned to their homesteads, and that advice in this regard
would be sought from those on the ground in affected areas.
Families in need of financial assistance with medical bills, school fees
etc. should contact the Farm Families Trust. The Trust has organised an Outreach
programme and can provide details of Clinical Social Workers, Psychologists and
medical practitioners. Accommodation can also be arranged for distressed
farmers who wish to have a holiday in the United Kingdom and further details in
this regard can be obtained from the Trust. The Chairman of the Farm Families
Trust Fund is Mr Anthony Swire-Thompson 04 883173 swires@pci.co.zw or orchards@mweb.co.zw. Donations to the Farm
Families Trust can be made to Account number 0101 727 409 500 sort code 5510 at
Standard Chartered Bank, Westgate Branch, P O Box 3198, P O Westgate Harare.
Donations to the Farm Families Trust are particularly welcome as logistics In
terms of handling monetary donations are far easier.
Any families in need of accommodation, furniture or other utensils should
make their needs known to the CFU where a database of such offers has been set
up. A local company has offered storage space and storage of personal goods and
implements can be arranged through the Union. Those wishing to offer assistance
by way of accommodation and other practical means should have their details
included in the CFU database. Contact persons: Jan Wentworth and Nicky Petersen.
janwe@cfu.co.zw and nickyp@cfu.co.zw Telephone 309800. Fax Number
309874.
The National Employment Council, comprising of ALB and GAPWUZ have
established a Relief Fund to assist farm workers and their families who have
lost property and been maimed or injured as a result of the current
lawlessness. Enquiries should be directed to The National Employment Council
for the Agricultural Industry 6 Cottenham Avenue P O Box WGT 312 Telephone
334472\3 and 303669 or The Agricultural Labour Bureau, Agriculture House cnr
Adylinn Road, Marlborough Drive. Phone 309800. Donations to this fund can be
made at Barclays Bank Westgate (in the name of the Farm Workers’ Relief Fund –
account number 2144 3286926.
Counselling for those requiring it can be obtained from Veronica Hywood
(Ceres Trust) Telephone 885156 or 091 336 158 , Brenda Laing Phone 882808,
885156 Cell Phone 091 370 029. Sue Hair 335837 or 091 313 333, Ann Hair
485138.
A room has been set aside in the CFU Building on the first floor by the
Farm Families Trust for farmers and their families.
The importance of dealing with media interest in a judicious and managed
manner is paramount. Farmers and their families are requested to work through
representative Maureen Meikle who was elected to co-ordinate press interviews.
These will be handled by the CFUs Public Relations Consultant Jenni Williams,
Managing Consultant Public Relations Newsmakers, 011 615 300 or 091 377 800.
(Enquiries can be referred through Malcolm Vowles or Jan Wentworth at the
CFU.)
Pets in general will be taken in by the Friends Foundation plot 7, Kirkman
Road, Tynwald – 10kms from town on Josiah Tongogara Avenue, Phone 229831 224262
or 023 816 804- Christine or Nicholas. Facilities can be arranged for
horses.
Arising from meetings held between CFU and Insurance Brokers last year, a
number of companies did take on a certain amount of political risk. The CFU
President undertook to have this matter followed up and professional advice
given where needed.
VOA News: 16 Aug 2001 19:52 UTC
Zimbabwe police have
filed new charges against four journalists one day after they were released from
charges found to be unconstitutional. The police charged three editors and one
reporter from the independent Daily News late Thursday for publishing what
authorities say is subversive material. The four originally were charged with
allegedly publishing false material in Tuesday's front-page article implicating
the police in raids on white-owned farms. The courts threw out the original
charges because they were based on the Law and Order Maintenance Act, which has
been deemed unconstitutional. The new charges are based on a separate section of
the same act.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's embattled
farmers are calling on the government to guarantee their safety so they can
resume operations after a week of attacks and looting by pro-government
militants.
The Commercial Farmers' Union said in
a statement Thursday more than 45 farms in Doma, Mhangura and Chinhoyi have been
devastated by the militants at an estimated cost to farmers of $18 million. But
the government continues to blame the farmers for the chaos.
Zimbabwe's High Court also said today
it will decide Friday whether to grant bail to 21 white farmers accused of
inciting violence during an August sixth attack on a farm by black militants.
The lower court denied them bail last week, but the farmers' lawyers appealed to
the High Court in Harare. The lawyers argue there are no grounds to believe the
farmers will leave or interfere with the investigation into the attack, which
sparked the recent wave of violence in the country.
An ugly situation in Zimbabwe has been getting uglier. Mobs have been
looting, vandalizing and taking over white-owned farms, sometimes attacking
farmers and farm workers in the process. This has been going on for the past 18
months, but the pace seems to be picking up.
And what are the authorities doing about it? Not much, because the ruling
ZANU-PF party is complicit in the attacks. Indeed, last week, police arrested 21
white farmers who had come to the aid of one of their number whose farm was
being attacked. This week, though, the police at least made a token effort:
after letting the mobs do their work with impunity, they finally creaked into
action and arrested 12 alleged attackers. Still, it seems clear enough that the
deck is stacked.
There can be no doubt that the patterns of land ownership in Zimbabwe are an
unfair relic of the Rhodesian colonial era - whites make up less than one per
cent of the population while owning half the best land. But it is equally clear
that the government's efforts to fix that situation have been abusive, unfair,
even hate-mongering.
Some years ago, Britain, the former colonial power, had started to buy out
white farmers but stopped when it turned out that many of the farms were being
given, undivided, to friends of the government. More recently, as their own
popularity has started to decline, President Robert Mugabe and his party have
seized the issue as a way of rallying support and have been scapegoating white
farmers - and whites in general.
With Mr. Mugabe facing an election early next year, there is every reason to
fear that his party will continue to mobilize bands of thugs to terrorize not
only white farmers but also anyone else deemed to be a political opponent.
Last month, there was an attempt on the life of the leader of the Movement
for Democratic Change, which had done surprisingly well in last year's
parliamentary elections despite a climate of violence and intimidation. In
recent months, the government has also pressured senior judges to resign and
replaced them with those it clearly expects will do its bidding.
Heavy-handed tactics can have a way of backfiring, though. For example, the
attacks on the farmers have disrupted production, exacerbating difficulties due
to weather conditions; shortages of wheat and corn - staple foods - are expected
in the coming months, something that would erode the government's popularity
further.
The omens for Zimbabweans, black and white, are not good.
Mr. Mugabe has not shown himself disposed to listen to objections from
Western capitals, often branding them "racist." South Africa, the regional
powerhouse and a democracy, might be able to make more of an impression. But
South African leader Thabo Mbeki so far has said little publicly. He should
speak up. And if Mr. Mugabe doesn't listen, countries such as Canada should
impose targeted diplomatic sanctions on Zimbabwe, ones that would get the
government's attention without hurting the public - such as barring Mr. Mugabe
from the next Commonwealth meeting in Australia.
Harare - President Mugabe’s regime further
undermined Zimbabwe’s fragile democracy yesterday with the arrest of the editor
of the Daily News, the country’s only independent daily newspaper, and three
senior members of staff. However, a high court judge ruled last night that the
police had no right to hold the four men and they were released immediately."We
were ready to go to the cells," Bill Saidi, 64, assistant editor of the Daily
News, said. "Then our lawyer got a judge to issue an order for our release on
the ground that the law they were using to detain us was unconstitutional. They
(the police) failed. We are very happy."
Geoffrey Nyarota, 50, the paper=92s editor,
was picked up at his home in Harare’s affluent Highlands suburb yesterday
morning by detectives and taken to Harare central police station. Later Mr Saidi
was asked to go to the station and was arrested on arrival as were the news
editor, John Gambanga, and a reporter, Sam Munyavi. Lawrence Chibwe, the men’s
lawyer, said that the police had prepared charges against them of "publishing a
false report liable to create alarm and despondency", a section of the draconian
Law and Order Maintenance Act passed by the former white minority Rhodesian
government in the 1960s to suppress those fighting for black majority rule.
Lawyers pointed out, however, that the law had been struck down by the Supreme
Court in May last year.
The arrests followed a front page report in
the Daily News on Tuesday, which said that police vehicles had been used to aid
thugs from Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party militias as they pillaged
white-owned farms north of Harare. A police spokesman said that the police
vehicles identified were carrying goods recovered from arrested looters. Mr
Nyarota, 50, has changed the face of journalism in Zimbabwe. In 1998, as the
editor of the state-controlled Chronicle newspaper in the western city of
Bulawayo, he uncovered the "Willowgate Scandal", the first serious corruption
case against the Mugabe government. The exposure of vehicle racketeering among
senior government officials resulted in the resignation of four Cabinet
ministers and the suicide of a fifth - and Mr Nyarota losing his job. He became
the founding editor of the Daily News in March 1999. Since then, the paper and
its staff have been engaged in a war with the government that has gone beyond
verbal barrages. It has suffered two bombings, assaults on journalists, arrests,
legal action and slander.
From The Daily News, 15
August
MDC activist in Midlands dies in
Gokwe prison
Vusumuzi Mukweli, 32, an MDC activist in
the Midlands province, died at Gokwe remand prison on Monday in suspicious
circumstances. Frankie Meki, the spokesman for the Zimbabwe Prison Service,
confirming the death, said: "It is true Mukweli died, but at the moment I have
not been furnished with the details of the circumstances surrounding his death.
I am waiting for a verification from our prison doctor on exactly what
happened." Meki said he had received conflicting reports on Mukweli’s death, but
would not elaborate. Blessing Chebundo, the MDC’s
national executive member for Midlands North and the MP for Kwekwe, said Mukweli
died in a prison cell. He said Mukweli was arrested last Wednesday for allegedly
inciting violence as he campaigned for election as a councillor in Ward 22,
Gokwe. Chebundo said: "Mukweli was very active in the run-up to last year’s
parliamentary election. He was abducted by Zanu PF supporters and war veterans
who beat him up severely. He sustained several injuries to the head and the
body." He said Mukweli was then referred to a specialist who put him on
permanent medication.
Comment from The Wall Street
Journal, 16 August
White flight
Forget racism, colonialism, land reform and all the other
excuses trotted out by the head of Zimbabwe's tottering regime. This past week's
violence and the arrest of 21 white farmers should finally put the lie to those
excuses. The crisis in Zimbabwe is simply caused by autocratic government that
is itself destroying the legal protection of its citizens in a desperate attempt
to hold onto power. For the past week, government-backed mobs have stormed farms
in northeast Zimbabwe, the breadbasket of Southern Africa. Even as starvation
looms in many regions, the mob has invaded some of the most productive farms on
the African continent. They have attacked white farmers and black laborers with
axes and machetes. Houses have been torched, tractors smashed, crops trampled
and livestock hacked to pieces. One observer called it an "orgy of banditry." If
these criminals truly wanted land reform, why would they destroy the farms that
they hoped to own?
Some 60 farms have been evacuated and whites are leaving the
country. Some determined farmers are staying, but they are painting their radio
call signs on their roofs to make contact with passing planes. Zimbabwe hasn't
seen that since the worst days of the 1970s civil war. Most of the whites carry
Zimbabwean passports, have lived there for generations and risk losing
everything when they flee the country. They used to jokingly call themselves the
"lost tribe," but that might not be so funny anymore. The police simply refuse
to enforce the law. Valid court orders to remove farm invaders are ignored, as
are urgent calls from farmers. One police officer told a farmer: "These issues
are political and the police therefore cannot become involved," according to
Britain's Daily Telegraph.
When the police do become involved, things sometimes become
worse. During a farm attack last week, the owner desperately radioed for help.
Twenty-one white farmers came to his rescue. Then the police appeared -- and
arrested all of the whites. Not a single farm invader was arrested, according to
numerous reports. The photographs of the arrested farmers show a group of
middle-aged, middle-class men being led away in handcuffs. They look bewildered.
They are being held without bail in an unheated prison in the middle of the
Zimbabwean winter. The men, clad mostly in shorts and short-sleeved shirts, are
not prepared for temperatures that can go as low as 12 degrees (54 Fahrenheit).
Family members who showed up to deliver blankets were also arrested. Three black
policemen who gave the prisoners warm clothes were punished. Every aspect of a
lawful society has been purposely turned upside down.
The motives for these attacks are not primarily racial. Before
the waves of violence instigated by the regime of President Robert Mugabe, an
American visitor to Zimbabwe's farm belt would be reminded of California's
Central Valley. These were modern, highly mechanized farms worked by men of
different races and tongues without enmity. Some recent events show that race
and tribe mean less in Zimbabwe than ever before. Zimbabwe's opposition party,
the Movement for Democratic Change, is the largest interracial political party
in Africa today. Even the two rival tribes that divided Zimbabwean politics for
decades, the Shona and the Ndebele, have come together in the MDC. If the
opposition is not cheated out of its expected victory in next year's
presidential elections, Zimbabwe could be ruled by the most diverse and liberal
coalition in Africa.
Land reform is also a red herring. In 1980, when Zimbabwe
became independent of Britain, the U.K. pledged to help finance the purchase of
white-owned farms. After a decade and more than $44 million spent, the British
government cut off the funds. Zimbabwean officials were forcing white farmers to
sell -- a clear violation of the agreement that the U.K. government had struck
with Zimbabwe. As for the farms that the Zimbabwean government did buy, most
were simply looted and abandoned. Settling city dwellers with no agricultural
experience on large commercial farms simply didn't translate into success. Most
of the hapless urbanites were reduced to demolishing farm buildings and selling
the bricks for food.
In 1998, Britain agreed to another land reform scheme. The U.K.
agreed to pay for the purchase of 100 farms. Mr. Mugabe responded by demanding
funds for 1,500 farms -- nearly one-quarter of all white-owned farms. When the
British government learned that the farms would remain government property, it
balked. Thus began Mr. Mugabe's crusade for land seizures. His government has
announced plans to seize 95% of all 4,000 white-owned farms, mostly without
compensation. Remember, these farms are an economic pillar of the Zimbabwean
economy and are heavily taxed. It makes little economic sense to destroy what is
still working -- but sadly it does make political sense. Nearly two million
blacks live and work on white-owned farms. Mr. Mugabe believes they are the
source of the opposition party's strength. Wrecking those farms and turning
those blacks into refugees will flatten the opposition. Too bad he has to
destroy the country to do it.
From News24 (SA), 16
August
SADC team 'a slap in the
face'
Pretoria - The establishment of a task team of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), under the leadership of President Thabo
Mbeki, to search for a solution to the situation in Zimbabwe can be seen at "the
most severe slap in the face yet" for President Robert Mugabe in an attempt to
alter his thinking. The step can, through consistent pressure, isolate Mugabe
within the region to such an extent that he will have no option but to
co-operate in bringing about a political and economic settlement. Dr Jakkie
Cilliers of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said on Wednesday "if a
country's neighbouring states decided to speak about their 'brother's' problems
in public, it was, in diplomatic terms, tantamount to drawing the line on its
actions."
The task team was announced this week after the SADC summit
held in Blantyre, Malawi. Mbeki will head the team, together with the president
of Botswana and Mozambique, Mbeki's main allies within SADC. The three parties
are known as the SADC troika. "When heads of state within a region join forces
to intervene in another country, it emphasises the seriousness of the problems.
It is also significant that South Africa is prepared to take the lead, even
though it is known to shy away from strong-arm tactics. It is a masterstroke by
Mbeki not to tackle the task alone, but to unite his allies in a multilateral
initiative."
The DA's Dr Boy Geldenhuys is of the opinion that the task team
will have to act against Mugabe in no uncertain terms to end lawlessness in the
country in order to re-establish a basis for political and economic growth.
"Measures must also be put in place to prevent further lawlessness. Foreign
sanctions will not have the desired effect, but should Mugabe be isolated by the
SADC leaders, it may save the stature of his country and that of the region.
Should the leaders within the region act firmly, it will also send a message to
the international community that these leaders can act decisively. Without
leaders to see it through, no African plans for reconstruction will be
successful." In a communique released after the summit, SADC leaders expressed
their concern over the effect of the Zimbabwean economic situation on the
region. The leaders said "it was imperative to co-operate with all interested
parties, not only with the Zimbabwean government, to find a solution". According
to Cilliers, it boils down to the isolation of Mugabe. "When your neighbouring
states start talking to representatives of commerce and industry, organised
agriculture and opposition parties within your own borders, you do not have much
of a chance."
According to Tasneem Carrim, a spokesperson of the presidency,
the task team will shortly launch action plans. "Guidelines have to be set, but
to save time, groundwork can be done telephonically." According to her, Mbeki
said "the task team will work closely with the negotiation team of President
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, which acts as intermediary between Zimbabwe and
the League of Nations on restitution". Colin Cloete, president of the Zimbabwean
Commercial Farmers' Union, told Nico van Burick "they welcomed the involvement
of other countries in the region". He has not yet been fully informed about the
decisions taken at the summit, but in the interim, the involvement of the task
team "looks promising". "Should Mugabe be willing to co-operate, this can be a
step in the right direction."
