From BBC Radio 4, 30 July 2002

File on Four

With Grant Ferrett

(Transcript of a programme on BBC Radio 4)

Grant Ferret: Zimbabwe is on the brink of a famine which could engulf six million people – nearly half the population. In spite of restrictions imposed on the BBC by the government in Harare, File on Four has travelled to Zimbabwe and witnessed widespread hunger in towns and cities as well as the countryside. We’ve also discovered disturbing evidence of the manipulation of food distribution at all levels by the government and its supporters, raising uncomfortable questions about how the outside world should respond to appeals for assistance.

Unidentified: "There’s a direct link between the shortage of food and its distribution in a partisan way and the starvation that is already occurring. There will indeed be starvation in Zimbabwe – people are going to die."

GF: In our journey across the country we’ve compiled the most comprehensive first-hand account of the extent of the shortages in Zimbabwe, and of political interference in attempts to alleviate the crisis. As the United Nations appeals for hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, we ask how far can and should the international community go in trying to rescue Zimbabweans from the actions of their own government.

GF: In the remote north-west of Zimbabwe, on the shores of Lake Kariba, church-goers implore God to hear their cries for help. The people here are going hungry. This is an arid corner of the country. The soil is poor. Even in the best of years, it’s a marginal farming area - and this is not the best of years. The rains last season were erratic and the crops have failed. Villagers are reduced to foraging to survive.

Translation of villager speaking in the background: "Right now is nothing but just sitting. Nothing to eat. Yesterday we had some fruits – some wild fruits – but is not yet ripe, so there is no choice but just to eat it raw as it is. We are just hopeful that this issue is resolved quickly, otherwise our kids will die of hunger."

GF: A similar pattern is emerging in much of rural Zimbabwe. With at least six months until the next harvest, families are already struggling to keep going. The very young and the old are the most vulnerable. Anderson Mudimba is nearly 80. He recently lost his eyesight. He and his family live in a crude wooden shelter on a barren windswept plain. They have no income, no animals – and no food.

Translation of Anderson Madimba speaking in the background: "From six o’clock in the morning up to late, no food. We don’t know actually what we shall do or who helps us to have food, because we have waited and waited, no assistance at all which is coming."

GF: Over an open fire, a pot of what looks like thick green porridge is bubbling away. It’s all they have to eat.

Translator: "They normally survive on their staple food – maize. But now there is nothing like that. It’s very hard to come by. So, they’re surviving on leaves."

GF: Leaves?

Translator: "Leaves. They’re surviving on leaves."

GF: Can this family remember when it’s been this bad before - in this area? When was it last like this?

Translation of Anderson Madimba speaking in the background: "He is saying he was born in 1923. Since he was born he has never come across such a situation in his life. Even before this country was independent, he was actually living a happier life than what he is experiencing now."

GF: International aid programmes are in place to help people like Anderson Mudimba and his family. They were due to receive food several weeks ago from one of the local partners of the UN World Food Programme. But the delivery was stopped at the last minute by government supporters calling themselves war veterans. They accused Anderson of backing the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC.

Translator: "The war veterans blocked it. They are saying only the war veterans should be given this food, because the war veterans believe the food comes from overseas, that it comes from the whites, the whites which support the MDC. So they believe they are coming here to campaign for MDC. That’s their belief."

GF: The opposition says supporters of the ruling party, Zanu PF, are waging a campaign of retribution in the wake of the closely-fought presidential election in March. Robert Mugabe was returned to power, but only after sustained violence and allegations of vote-rigging. Anderson Mudimba’s local opposition MP, Jealous Sansole, says government food supplies are being used as a weapon in the campaign.

Jealous Sansole: "They are mostly using food to intimidate people. Each time there is distribution of food, they tell people that all those who belong to MDC, they are not capable of having that meal because that food belongs to Zanu PF. You have to have a Zanu PF card for you to have food."

GF: This evidence of political interference in the distribution of food, and the blocking of some food aid, creates a dilemma for agencies such as the World Food Programme, the WFP. Can they operate in Zimbabwe without becoming entangled in president Mugabe’s struggle to stay in power? The WFP’s regional director, Judith Lewis, insists they can.

Judith Lewis: "We’ve been very clear with the government that we will monitor our food, we will not have any political interference. In fact, we’ve issued a zero-tolerance policy for any interference from anyone in terms of targeting, in terms of criteria for beneficiaries. But in situations where our implementing partners have been threatened in any manner, we are prepared to suspend distribution. We’ve had less than a dozen instances since we have started our food distributions in February and we have gone through and shut down every one of the operations to check the details, go to the site, discuss with the people who are responsible for the distribution, to be sure that our food is in fact being distributed to the poorest people and the most vulnerable people in Zimbabwe."

GF: But if there’s a family which is existing on leaves, and isn’t getting food aid because it’s blocked by government supporters, surely it suggests that something’s going seriously wrong here?"

Judith Lewis: "That’s not acceptable. I’m going to check this out immediately to see what the problem is."

GF: Because of the ban on BBC journalists travelling into Zimbabwe, we were unable to speak to a government spokesman inside the country. Our requests for an interview with Zimbabwe’s High Commission in London, and the Embassy to the European Union, were turned down. But we did manage to contact the ruling party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Didymus Mutasa, by phone. On a poor quality line from Harare he denied categorically that there was any political interference in the relief effort, but added that aid agencies such as the World Food Programme must work at the direction of Zanu PF.

Didymus Mutasa: "If they want to give anything, they should give it through the government. Yes, why not. There is no international government of Zimbabwe, there is only a Zanu PF government of Zimbabwe, and that has got the right to do what it thinks fit to be done for Zimbabweans."

GF: The World Food Programme said that one of the problems of operating in Zimbabwe was that the government wanted to control at every single level, the aid effort.

Didymus Mutasa: "What’s wrong about that? Surely if the World Food Aid Programme is to succeed here in Zimbabwe, and if the officials want it to succeed, then they should come and be told what to do by the government."

GF: In spite of the ruling party’s assertions, File on Four’s investigations in Zimbabwe suggest that political manipulation of food is commonplace. One of the worst affected areas is the rural district of Binga, which registered the biggest vote for the opposition during the presidential election. For the past two months, the local church organisation was prevented from running a feeding programme for more than twenty-five thousand schoolchildren.

Here at the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Binga, there are the vehicles – I can see at least seven or eight of them here – which are intended to deliver food. Just across the way there is a small hut which contains a hundred tons of food aid which should be distributed to children in the region. But, government supporters – so-called war veterans – are preventing the food from being distributed. They say that if these trucks leave the compound here, they’ll be burnt.

With its workers threatened and its compound blockaded, the Catholic Commission was understandably cautious in its public comments. One of its workers did speak to us on the condition that we didn’t identify him for fear of attack by war veterans who support the government.

CCJP worker: "The war vets don’t want us to distribute food to the communities. They came to our offices and camped outside the gates, watching every movement that we make."

GF: So, you have vehicles here, and you have food here, and you have the organisation to provide food for thousands of children, but you’re being stopped by war veterans?"

CCJP worker: "Yes, we have food, we have one hundred and fifteen tons of food that is stocked in our warehouse at the moment, and we have enough vehicles and personnel to distribute this food."

GF: The project serves a dual purpose – providing a guaranteed meal each day for children, while also encouraging them to attend school. We went to one of the schools affected, an hour’s drive from the nearest tarred road. The sparsely furnished collection of single-storey buildings has few desks or books. Teachers, who were too frightened to be named, told me the withdrawal of food aid had an immediate effect.

Teacher 1: "Most of the children are pulling out of this school - because of hunger."

GF: And what about the children who do come? How are they?

Teacher 1: "They don’t concentrate. They are weak, and they are always complaining of hunger. They also talk about that there is nothing at home to eat."

Teacher 2: "After breaktime, you find concentration is really a problem. They don’t faint as such, but they will be sleepy, which really show signs of hunger. You can’t learn on an empty stomach. You can only concentrate if you’ve had enough."

GF: According to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, the interruption of its feeding programme caused not just hunger but death.

CCJP worker: "Recently we got information that three children died after having eaten poisonous roots because of the desperate situation. And we also have received reports from the hospital that twenty seven children have died of malnutrition-related diseases. For us it is sad, especially when we have food around and we have people who are starving in the communities, but the war vets won’t allow us to distribute the food there."

GF: Within the last few days, the school feeding programme has resumed. But the manipulation of food in Binga extends beyond the sole scheme. War veterans wearing Zanu PF T-shirts have insisted on accompanying deliveries by one international agency. Three shops belonging to opposition officials have been looted of food and destroyed. George Shire, a Zimbabwean academic based in London with long-standing links to the ruling party, blames the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace for causing the problems in Binga.

George Shire: "The Catholic Institute of Justice is seen by ordinary people in Zimbabwe as part and parcel of the opposition. That will explain the tension between these agencies and the ordinary people."

GF: This project has vehicles, it has personnel, and it has over a hundred tons of food rotting inside the compound because war veterans won’t allow them out. Surely that’s indefensible?

George Shire: "It is defensible. They are…I think you’re taking things completely out of context. You have a legitimate government in the country, OK, and I would urge the Catholic Institute on Justice to work with the government to make sure that food is distributed appropriately."

GF: Binga recorded the biggest vote of any constituency during the presidential election for the opposition. Do you think the people of Binga are now being punished?

George Shire: "There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that people of Binga were punished in any shape or form. The war veterans would not be as effective as they are without the support of local people I know that as somebody who was involved in armed struggle…

GF: So the people of Binga support being starved into submission by war veterans?

George Shire: "I’m sorry, I’m sorry, this is not true, your facts are wrong. There is no evidence that suggests that the state, in any shape or form, has impeded the distribution of food to people in Binga simply because they voted otherwise."

GF: In another area nearby, in Hwange West, I spoke to a family existing on leaves. That family was denied food aid by people who, again, described themselves as war veterans…

George Shire: "Well…"

GF: They said the food was not for MDC people…

George Shire: "The war veterans are not responsible, or have access to, the food distribution process in any part of Zimbabwe - OK?"

GF: They forced, from the evidence…

George Shire: "They’re not, they’re not, I’m sorry, they’re not…"

GF: What about the evidence I uncovered in Zimbabwe…

George Shire: "Well, you didn’t uncover that evidence because it’s not true…"

GF: But our travels around Zimbabwe indicate that the denial of access to food for political reasons is being carried out by government supporters, officials and agencies across the country. Since the election in March, human rights groups say Buhera, the home region of the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has become the centre of a purge of opposition supporters, backed by local Zanu PF officials, war veterans and the police. Among those who’ve fled is Prosper, a former teacher, who couldn’t get food for his young family.

Prosper: "The problem is of buying food. They only allow Zanu PF members to buy the food. There was a war veteran who was saying: ’You are MDC, you are not going to buy this food. Buy maize. Go back to the back of the line.’ So when you reach the number is near, they start taking you again back."

GF: So they make you queue until there’s no maize left?

Prosper: "Yes, whenever the queue is near they take you back again."

GF: The latest confrontations in Buhera and Binga fit into a wider campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition which began more than two years ago. John Makumbe is a senior lecturer in political science in Harare and a founding member of the pressure group Crisis in Zimbabwe, which has been documenting the violence. He says the number attacks rose sharply in the months immediately after the presidential election earlier this year.

John Makumbe: "The war veterans have punished those who they allege are supporters of the opposition, and as people who are alleged to have voted for the MDC, are punished – not just in the sense of being beaten up and raped and murdered, and, you know, made to disappear, but even in terms of being refused food. And we are at the moment looking at more than seventy to ninety thousand people who are displaced, as the result of the violence in rural areas. We are looking at schools in many areas of the country being closed, and teachers are being beaten up, for supporting the MDC."

GF: Human rights groups estimate that in the first six months of the year, there were fifty-seven politically-linked murders, and over a thousand cases of torture, as well as hundreds of rapes, disappearances, and unlawful detentions. The Amani Trust, which helps victims of torture and violence, has compiled a study of a hundred and eighty cases. Tony Reeler is director of the Trust.

Tony Reeler: "The injuries were clearly indicative of systematic torture rather than simple assaults. The kinds of injuries we saw definitely implicated that the beatings were very systematic, they were confined to people’s backs and their buttocks, there were people who were beaten on the soles of their feet. You can’t beat people on the soles of their feet unless you do this as a deliberate exercise. A certain number of rapes as well. It all conformed to a picture that we would say categorically was systematic torture."

GF: And what happens to those people who have been detained by the police? Once they are released can they return to their homes?

Tony Reeler: "Many of them have been told that they’re basically banned and must leave the area. Some of them have been detained for periods up to twenty days, and then released without charges. Some have been charged, some have been charged and also experienced torture in detention. But the basic picture seems to be of displacing these people from that district and formally told by the police that they are banned from the area and they must get out."

GF: The allegations of officially-backed violence are categorically rejected by George Shire, who argues that politically-motivated attacks are perpetrated by supporters of the opposition, as well as the ruling party.

George Shire: "People linked to both political parties have been involved in violence of one kind or another including death of ordinary people. You have a culture of violence in Zimbabwe that is generated by people connected to all political parties. I condemn all violence. I know of no state institution or agency that would condone that violence."

GF: In Buhera, for example, the Amani Trust suggests that hundreds of people have left the area, partly as the result of detentions by the police in which many people have been beaten, some of them on the soles of their feet. This is systematic torture by government agencies…

George Shire: I think that’s a very serious charge to make, because there is no evidence to suggest that the institutions of the state have been dishing out violence to ordinary people in the manner in which you are describing. I keep on saying to you again – violence in Zimbabwe has been orchestrated by people – young people in the main – linked to both political parties. But to claim that the violence being meted out by the institutions of the state is not true."

GF: Nonetheless, human rights workers like Tony Reeler of the Amani Trust maintain that according to the internationally accepted definition, what’s taking place in Zimbabwe amounts to state-sponsored violence.

Tony Reeler: "Our conclusion in calling it torture i.e. implicating the state, is that the state has not repudiated the actions of key groups operating in the community - specifically, the war veteran militia, the youth militia, and Zanu PF supporters. The state has the power to stop that kind of violence. When you see no attempt by the state to stop that violence, then you can only conclude that the state tolerates it, and that fits with the definition of the UN convention, and therefore we have no difficulty in calling it torture i.e. state-sponsored."

GF: Those who’ve been displaced like Prosper, who fled Buhera for the capital, Harare, have no doubt they’re being punished for their political beliefs.

Prosper: "Police officers and Zanu PF members accompanied by war veterans are looking for the supporters of MDC. So we fled from home to bushes to big cities. The number can reach seven hundred to eight hundred people who had fled from their homes to find some other places for refugee. These people, they don’t feel safe to stay at home."

GF: Prosper and thousands of others are finding that life is little easier in Zimbabwe’s urban areas. The whole country is suffering food shortages. The capital hasn’t been spared the hardships.

Otilia: "During the winter it’s very cold at night. We give out blankets."

GF: Otilia works for a local charity which helps families affected by HIV and AIDS. Her job takes her to Harare’s most deprived suburbs every day. Places like Epworth, an impoverished township criss-crossed by potholed dirt roads.

Otilia: "We are going to Epworth. It’s a very poor suburb with a lot of people who are living in poverty. We are seeing some of the orphans who are on our programme already and assessing new orphans."

GF: The project gives out clothes and bedding and helps to pay school fees. It also provides food, including mealie meal, the staple of the Zimbabwean diet produced from maize.

Tichaona is eighteen years old and has just taken his A-levels. He hopes one day to become an economist. Since his father died as a result of AIDS he has been the head of a household of five living in a makeshift two-roomed dwelling. Water is drawn from a well. Even with help from Otilia, Tichaona and his family find themselves going hungry.

Tichaona: Sometimes we have to just drink tea. It’s getting worse and worse. There’s nothing we can do nowadays. In the supermarkets, if you ask for mealie meal and sugar, they will tell you they haven’t received any deliveries. There are a lot of people who are suffering. Even if they find the basic commodities, they won’t have the money to buy that food."

GF: Supermarkets like this one have taken on a forlorn air, the aisles devoid of basics such as mealie meal, cooking oil, sugar and salt. Many potential customers simply don’t bother coming to the shops any more. In an effort to give an impression of normality, the shelves are stacked with other goods, such as toilet rolls and expensive breakfast cereals.

Prices for the goods which are still available put them beyond the reach of many. Annual inflation is conservatively estimated by the government at well over a hundred per cent. Mealie meal costs more then three times the price last year. When the food shoppers really want occasionally arrives, supermarkets are besieged.

Queuing for basic necessities has become part of everyday life for many Zimbabweans. In front of me in this Harare suburb, the queue of perhaps several hundred people is snaking around to the back door of the supermarket. The queue today is for sugar. It apparently lasts about an hour or two to get from the back up to the front to buy a couple of bags of sugar. It’s being sold at more than the government-controlled price, but people are prepared to pay – they’re desperate.

It’s not just the poorest who’re being affected. All but the very rich are constantly on the lookout for food. In the kitchen at home, Otilia, relates the daily struggle to find something in the shops.

Otilia: "I things have just arrived, I’ll just get into queue very quickly, and grab whatever I want. Now salt, sugar, everything – you queue for it."

GF: Following independence in 1980, Zimbabwe grew into one of the most successful economies in Africa. A highly productive and efficient commercial farming sector helped it become a net exporter of food. Now, it’s unable to feed itself.

Otilia: "During the old days, people were poor, but everything was - was there. But now, you can’t have the food. If you want to buy the food, it’s on the black market, and you are poor – three times or two times the usual price. They are going out without food. Last week, we saw a man lying down the road, because he had gone two days without food, and he was almost fainting because he had nothing in his stomach."

GF: By the end of the year, The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that six million Zimbabweans will need help. Concerns over political interference contributed to a low-key response from donors to an international appeal last December. Now the WFP’s regional director Judith Lewis warns that without a more whole-hearted and rapid reaction this time, Zimbabwe is heading towards famine.

Judith Lewis: "We’re going to see an absolutely devastating humanitarian crisis. There are a number of causes – man-made and natural. Clearly, Zimbabwe has been affected by a major drought. We also have seen the devastating longer-term effects of the land reform policies in Zimbabwe. There’s so many factors that have just converged at one time and that’s why we’re looking at such a dramatic humanitarian crisis right now."

GF: As Judith Lewis hints, the food shortages are in part the result of president Mugabe’s policies and his government’s mismanagement. The strategic grain reserve was run down even before the drought. Seed and fertiliser for small-scale farmers was handed out far too late during the last planting season. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says the problems so far are entirely the fault of the government. Welshman Ncube is the secretary-general of the party.

Welshman Ncube: We’ve already had an acute shortage of food, as long ago as the end of last year, and that is nothing to do with the current drought. It is all attributable to mismanagement. When the effects of the current drought are felt, this thing will be actually quite, quite terrible. You add to that the fact that there is no appreciation of the extent of the crisis. It’s as if you have a government which is in a state of denial, which is in a state of paralysis. They are not taking the steps that are required to bring into the country adequate food stocks to prevent a catastrophe."

GF: President Mugabe has declared a national disaster and appealed for international help. But he and his government maintain that the cause of the crisis is entirely down to the weather. George Shire rejects suggestions that the unfolding disaster is in any way man-made.

George Shire: "If the rains had come, in the last year or two, we wouldn’t be talking about famine in Zimbabwe, we would be talking about a bumper harvests, there have been two successive rainy seasons in which there has been no rain in Zimbabwe, and no other period in the history of Zimbabwe in the last twenty years has been affected in that way at all."

GF: The World Food Programme says that it is partly drought, but certainly it’s partly land reform, and government mismanagement as well. Do you accept that?

George Shire: No I don’t! I’m sorry, the land distribution programme which is coming to an end and has been operational in the last three years, when simultaneously there has been no rain, somehow the idea that changing that ownership in itself was being the cause and effect of the drought is really being economical with actualite. Some farmers have sabotaged farming themselves, a number of companies which are controlled by commercial farmers have been found in possession of tons of maize. People have been arrested and are being arraigned before the courts with precisely those issues, and I think to me it’s immoral for anybody to simply hoard food simply because you hope it will change the political climate of the day when people are starving."

GF: As well as detaining farmers, the police have raided food companies, accusing them of hoarding in order to push up prices. Businesses complain that they lose money every time they sell basic foodstuffs because of unrealistically low official price controls. The whole economy has buckled under the weight of government spending and debt. The International Monetary Fund withdrew several years ago. The local currency has collapsed, worth less than a tenth of its official value on the black market. One factor in the meltdown stands out above all others.

Zanu PF supporters celebrated as they illegally occupied thousands of white-owned farms. They were urged on by president Mugabe, whose government was facing a strong challenge in the elections.

Robert Mugabe: "Land must change hands, in favour of the majority of our people. The land is ours by birth, is ours by right, is ours also by struggle."

GF: The white commercial farmers provided an easy target. About four thousand of them owned the bulk of the best farming land. But they also formed the centrepiece of an industry which employed half the total workforce, and earned about forty per cent of Zimbabwe’s foreign currency, as well as feeding the nation. Now it’s being dismantled.

Unidentified: "Will you just grab your tea or coffee, have a seat, and we’ll make a start. OK, we’ll go through the incidents that have happened over the farms the last couple of weeks."

GF: Commercial farmers have been meeting across the country to discuss what to do in the run-up to the 10t^h August – the deadline given by the government for the majority of them to abandon their homes and businesses.

John: "It’s very difficult to plan a week ahead. I’m finding it very difficult to know what I’m planting this year, and planting commences in under six weeks time."

GF: John, who didn’t want us to use his full name for fear of retribution, is typical of many commercial farmers. He lives in a house built by his grandfather who settled in what was then Rhodesia after the First World War. Although John’s main business is growing tobacco and exporting flowers, in previous years he has also produced more than enough maize to feed the several hundred people who live and work on the farm. But the squatters who invaded the land and are now resettling it, have ordered him not to grow food.

John: "There has been two years when we have not put a maize pip in the ground."

GF: And what about the squatters or settlers? Have they been growing enough to feed themselves?

John: "They were never going to be able to reap anything sizeable. Most of them got to a stage where they abandoned their crops. What these settlers set out to do, in theory, was to feed the nation, and yet they’ve been abandoned and they haven’t been able to do it. The twist to it is that I haven’t been able to do it as well, and when I was ready to plant, I did have the money to plant maize, I had all the inputs ready, the infrastructure was ready to go, my knowledge of planting is still here, and yet I can’t do it."

GF: As well as the white farmers, the United Nations estimates that more than eight hundred thousand people – farmworkers and their families – are being thrown off the land. More people are likely to be displaced than are resettled.

This camp is home to a hundred and fifty people, all farmworkers and their families evicted at gunpoint by squatters. Their employer was severely beaten. Faith was previously an office-worker on the farm. Now she’s living in a tent and relying on handouts.

Faith: "The conditions here are bad, because at the farm we are used to work for ourselves and do everything you wish with your money. But here we are only looking for help from somebody else."

GF: Are any of the people who live here able to work?

Faith: They are able to work, but now there is no work they can go and find, just because most of the farmers are being evicted. People were used to work, and do everything for themselves, so – aah – the situation here is horrible."

GF: In such a polarised society, the World Food Programme is left with serious difficulties. It’s been operating in Zimbabwe since February, but so far managed to distribute on thirty thousand tons of aid – the equivalent of just a few days national consumption. It’s efforts to find politically neutral partner agencies have been largely unsuccessful. The agency’s regional director, Judith Lewis, says there’s a huge task ahead if a devastating crisis is to be averted.

Judith Lewis: "We think we still have a long way to go. We know that we don’t have enough food to feed everybody in the country. The government has not told us we cannot work – we just have not been able to move as quickly as we would like to."

GF: Why is it so difficult?

Judith Lewis: Well, the government really would like to be able to call the shots in terms of where we should distribute food, so we still have to discuss very regularly with the government in terms of doing our own work.

GF: Do you think the danger really is that the World Food Programme is getting involved in propping up an unpopular government?

Judith Lewis: No, absolutely not. We are feeding hungry people. Hungry people don’t have politics.

GF: But the danger, surely, is that food goes in, but it goes in to people who are government supporters only.

Judith Lewis: No. Not the food that is being distributed by the World Food Programme. The World Food Programme will not be involved with that type of approach.

GF: Given the instances of political interference, do you think the WFP should be involved at all in Zimbabwe? Should it not say: ‘We can’t work in those circumstances. When there’s no political interference, then we’ll start working here.’"

Judith Lewis: The last option would be to have to pull out of Zimbabwe. We want to stay in Zimbabwe to help people who are not responsible for the causes of what’s going on in Zimbabwe, but are suffering nonetheless."

GF: President Mugabe’s government – suspicious about outside intervention following the barrage of negative publicity over the past two years – isn’t making that task any easier. Zanu PF’s foreign affairs spokesman, Didymus Mutasa, says western food aid will be accepted, but only if it is given unconditionally.

Didymus Mutasa: "There are true and genuine friends, like China, like Libya, like the Arab world, who will help us, and they will help us at our request. The rest of you can please keep your money, keep your aid, and keep yourselves out of Zimbabwe, and we will manage – thank you."

GF: Six million Zimbabweans…

Didymus Mutasa: "We will not come to you, we have not come to you to beg. If you want to help us, then help us. And if you don’t want to help us, well then shut up and keep where you are."

GF: Zimbabweans are already dying because of hunger. Even with a concerted and well-funded international effort, it’s likely that more will do so. But with reticence among donors and growing evidence of widespread interference by the government, a difficult situation shows alarming signs of becoming a disastrous one.

This report does not purport to cover all the incidents that are taking place in the commercial farming areas.  Communication problems and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting all that happens.  Farmers names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to minimise the risk of reprisals.

HI-JACK OF LORRY

At 02h00 31 July 2002 a 7 tonne Volvo FL6, White, 599860W belonging to Northern Growers, Box 252, Karoi was hi-jacked full of Flue Cured tobacco.  Growers number 1032 is on the propac and the paper.  84 bales are involved.

The hi-jacking happened at Banket and the driver arrived at Darwendale Police Station.  The truck, which has no trailer, then proceeded to the main Harare - Chirundu Road.

If anyone sees this truck, please contact Sean Forster 064-7800.  (fozzie@mango.zw) or Paul Hopcroft 066-3196  /011860000 or David Rockingham-Gill 067-22410 / 091262051 or e-mail mashwestn@cfu.co.zw

NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF

·        In the Midlands, Veld fires are occurring with increasing frequency causing serious damage to grazing resources and, in some instances, property, mostly caused through carelessness on the part of settlers while clearing fields. Worst case - destruction of about one and a half million dollars worth of hay bales in a barn.

·        Masvingo East and Central – the Bon Air Farm owner reports a large Kudu Bull with massive horns was chased by packs of dogs and poachers on 31.07.02 until it finally broke its leg and fell. The dogs proceeded to kill it. The owner confiscated the meat from the poachers. 

·        Chimanimani - On Charleswood Estate, cattle were put into the minimal grazing area left to the farmer.  Not long after, they were moved out by settlers.

·        Doma - Settlers tried to burn down the Zesa electricity poles to steal the cable.  Police given the motorcar registration number. 

·        Banket/Trelawney/Darwendale - At Woodleigh Farm a heifer valued at ZW$80 000-00 was slaughtered in the paddock.  All the meat was ferried away leaving behind only a head. 

·        Raffingora - Pressure is experienced from a new labour union calling themselves Zimbabwe Agricultural Labour Consultants based in Banket.

REGIONAL NEWS

MANICALAND
Note: 

In my communique of the 26th July, I singled out Tanganda Tea, which was wrong, as there was a large number of Tea Producers involved in the recent wage negotiation.  They fall under Agro-Based Industry and not Agro-Industry.

The gentleman taken down to help with he negotiations was with H-GAPWUZ and not GAPWUZ.

I would like to apologise for any damage I may have caused between Tanganda Tea and its farming neighbours.

Judy Wilson, REO Mutare 

Chipinge - A farmer was arrested on 28.07.02, for allegedly burning three DDF tractors.  He was nowhere near the area but was reported to “have been seen” in the area.  Another forester from Chimanimani area is also being held for the same incident.  The two men went to court 01.08.02.     The labour is still in a state of unrest.  Some workers are not happy; as they are not being paid for the days they were on strike.  Farmers have brought their labour committees into Mutare to have meetings with Ministry of Labour to try and solve the problem.

Chimanimani - On Charleswood Estate, cattle were put into the minimal grazing area left to the farmer.  Not long after, they were moved out by settlers.

Nyazura - Theft on the increase, suspected to be the workers.  Settlers are quiet and just sitting around.

Mutare - Agritex are buying irrigation equipment from a farmer who is selling up. Plenty of brick making ongoing.

Odzi - stumping still on going.  Settlers are still going around looking for jobs.

MASHONALAND CENTRAL
No report received.

MASHONALAND EAST
Harare South - Eight Section 8 Orders received.  One farm manager attempted to report to Police the theft of MCB's but this was refused.  Three tractors were towed away from one farm.  A farmer reported his labour on strike.  Pegging occurred on an unlisted farm.  On one farm a meeting was held with the labour and labour from surrounding farms, where they were told they or the farmer would not be moved off the farm and no assets are to leave the farm.  Another farmer was told to be off the farm by 22.09.02 and 33 people were moved on to the farm and told to erect permanent structures and no assets are to be removed.  Theft of fencing reported.  One farmer accused of hoarding maize; as had a small amount for his labour the ZRP were satisfied this was not hoarding.  Another farmer's labour refused to load tobacco, demanding the remainder of their retrenchment packages. 

Macheke/Virginia - General theft, report of a house break-in, one cow slaughtered and 15 cattle missing.  General hassles from labour demanding retrenchment packages. 

MASHONALAND WEST (NORTH)
Makonde:

Doma - Some settlers trying to move on to Nellivale Farm.  One strike reported at Nirvana Farm.

Settlers tried to burn down the Zesa electricity poles to steal the cable.  Police given the motorcar registration number.  Section 7's and Section 8's being served.  The DelaRosa Farm owner was locked out of his house.

Umboe/Chinhoyi - Massive burning of grazing on 29.07.2002, with five fires going at once.  Umboe reported receiving Section 7's but very few so far.  A farmer was made to move his cattle for the third time.

Hurungwe:

Kariba - Many people from Chinhoyi have gone to Chirundu to see if they can plant early maize.

Karoi - Agritex is going around asking questions about the wheat crop.  No bad news at present.  Rocklands received a Section 7 on 30.07.02. 

Tengwe - Some bush fires.  Reuben Maramahoko M.P. is encouraging some farmers to plant crops.

Ayrshire:

Some extortion reported from Mvurachena. A robbery occurred at Erewhom on 24.07.2002, where a VCR and some alcohol was stolen.  Much of the veld burnt out. 

Banket/Trelawney/Darwendale:

At Woodleigh Farm, a heifer valued at ZW$80 000-00 was slaughtered in the paddock.  All the meat was ferried away leaving behind only a head.  No suspect was picked up and the case was reported to Banket Police for investigation.  At Bessville Grange Farm a man was arrested for theft of 50 kg of soyabeans valued at ZW$ 5 000-00 from the land.  The soyabeans were recovered and the accused handed over to Banket Police for charges.  Sundown Farm reports theft of 2 inch x 9m irrigation pipes valued at ZW$30 000-00 from the seedbeds.  No suspect picked up as yet.  Vehicle theft occurred at Mariondale Farm of an Isuzu: engine number 765649 KB280, Reg No. 532-017D, blue in Colour.  At Ayshire Downs, there was illegal netting of 20 kg of fish.  The accused was handed over to the police.  Riverhead Farm reports theft of 2 MCB's valued at ZW$800 000 from ZESA switchbox and one electric motor (value not given).  No suspect picked up as yet.  Between Rivers Farm reports theft of 2 knapsacks, 2 watering cans, 1/2 x 25 litres tamarone, 1/2 x 5 litres copper, 25 x 500 grams chemicals and wheat theft 2 x 50 kgs valued at ZW$2000-00 from the sheds. 40 kg of wheat was recovered and the accused handed over to the police. Burnhills Farm also reports theft of 28 sprinklers (value not supplied).  Accused handed over to the police.  At Ashley Farm, cattle were driven out from the paddock to Chitombowizi area.  All the cattle valued at ZW$100 000-00.  Accused was arrested and cattle recovered in Chitombowizi area and driven back to the farm.  At Clydesdale Farm, a person was netting and in the possession of 15 kg of fish using a 1 x 12m net and 1 x 15m net.  Accused handed over to the police. Stockfield Farm had a house break-in.  Stolen was a Sharp radio, a 6310 Nokia cellphone, portable phone, TV decoder and five CD's valued at ZW$740 000-00. No suspect picked up as yet.  Shipton Flowers reports theft of a water tap valued at ZW$35000-00 from the pipeline at the barns.  No suspect picked up as yet.  At Ilanga Farm a 6-month-old calf was slaughtered in the paddock and only a head and skin were left behind, and the rest of the meat was ferried away.  On Sholliver Farm, accused were arrested for poaching and in possession of a warthog and a spear.  Usham Farm had a house break-in.  Items stolen not disclosed as yet.  Kasanzi Farm reports theft of a 12-volt battery from an energizer.  Zanzandare Farm had a theft of 5,5 hp electric motor (value not supplied) from the pump house at the dam, serial No. AA00090.  No suspect picked up as yet.  Shirleigh Farm reports theft of a submersible pump valued at ZW$500 000-00 from the borehole.  No suspect picked up as yet.  Wynhill Farm suffered theft of 90 x hydron screws valued at ZW$180 000-00 from the land.  No suspect as yet.  At Monga Farm an accused was arrested for arson at the beerhall in the compound.  Myeti Farm had 200 m of electric cable (valued not supplied) stolen from the pivot at the field. No suspect as yet. At Riverside Farm, the settlers called yet another meeting on 30.07.02.  A total of twenty settlers attended (out of forty).  They were adamant to make it political, by insisting on the Pamberi's before the meeting.  Farm labour is very wary and hesitant to participate - but did.  Points from the "meeting" are

a) They are to do all year round cropping (instructed by Government).  This will begin in April 2003, after the rains.  Their cropping programme will include horticulture, to be funded by donor organisations and/ or Government.  For this they will need the use of the farmer’s irrigation pumps/ pipes:  for which they will pay for the ZESA, theft, repairs etc with the money from the donors.  When the cost per day in ZESA was mentioned to them, they were not perturbed at all as they were 100% certain the government would meet these bills.
b) The Land Preparation rate the Farmer quoted (same as the Gvt. DDF rate) per hectare, was far too much.  The settlers felt the farmer is making a huge profit. They further went on to say that they think it would be better if they supplied the diesel, and Farmer supplied the equipment and labour for free! Having tried to explain there is no possible way this could be accommodated financially, it would pay the Farmer to shut down totally, they again were not concerned at this.  Nor were they concerned about the 100 farm workers families' jobs that would be lost.
c) The white man has lots of money.  This comment arose a number of times, to the extent that one could not even try to explain to them differently!

This farm does not have a Section 8, but has been unable to utilise any of the fields, even for grazing cattle!

Raffingora – at Farm 1 severe trouble continues. The owner paid off his labour with full packages, who now want more. Settler Chimere is trying to evict owner from the homestead and told the labour they will be working for him from October 2002. On and off strikes continue. Wheat has been planted here.  At Farm 2 strikes and negotiations continue. Settlers threaten to take out the pumps for the wheat irrigation if retrenchment packages are not paid.  The owner has no cash to pay it anyway. Another strike occurred on Farm 3, with labour demanding packages. This was sorted out by Zanu PF Matafari.  At Farm 4, Kangachepe is still on farm most days travelling from Mafuta farm. He is still battling to find enough settlers to take plots and encouraging labour to force the owner to pay retrenchment packages. Labour went on strike after they were paid. The owner is still off farm. There was a break in to the main homestead on the evening of 28.07.02 with a VCR, clothing and cell phone stolen. Investigations continue. Police were notified. Farm 5 has pressure from one settler to vacate the manager’s house. Other A2 settlers are threatening to switch off pre-irrigation. The Farm 6 owner went to Ministry of Lands and Agritex confirming no Section 8 to date. "War vet" Kangachepe threatens to come back but has not arrived. It has been decided no deals to be made until Section 8 arrives. The owner has found out the map of settlers boundaries has changed whereby Mr. Mutasa (campaign manager for Chombo) was allocated the Misiyesi homestead and two plots of 100 ha and the D.A. Shumba Chegutu, allocated the main homestead and two plots of 100 ha. At Farm 7 there are major problems with labour demanding retrenchment packages in full and strikes on and off. Lorries for bales are not being loaded. There is major pressure from A2 settler, Mr. Chunga, to vacate the house, disrupting the labour and threatening the owner. Visits by Ministry of Labour Chinhoyi have been no help at all. NEC Denver Chinhoyi is unable to attend and ALB Harare not very helpful. The Farm 8 owner returns from absence on 01.08.02.  The Lt.Col. settler who has planted wheat disrupting labour on the next door farm. A report of 29.07.02 states the Lt. Col. obtained keys to the main homestead and stole one of the children’s mountain bikes. Police notified. Borehole has stopped working – collecting water from Katawa in bowsers. The Lt Col. Is adamant the owner must repair the borehole when he returns. The Farm 9 owner and his wife came back on the farm intermittently after the D.A. had removed the youth from the workshop yard. This must be the first time for three months.   Farm 10 reported theft from the main homestead. The owner is off the farm but in the District.  At Farm 11, the black manager reports he was ordered out of the main house back into the manager’s house by settler Chirama. The main house was broken into – carpets etc. stolen, but no entry into the two locked bedrooms. Boreholes have stopped working  – labour and settlers getting water from the dam and river.   Various other farmers are threatened with eviction from houses. Settlers are lighting veld fires throughout the district. Farmers are all trying to continue despite the increasing labour unrest. Pressure is experienced from a new labour union calling themselves Zimbabwe Agricultural Labour Consultants based in Banket. Farmers are visited by GAPWUZ checking on seasonal workers – agricultural holidays paid, grades of workers and back pay where necessary with a 33% commission on any dues for non-union members.

General - There are more and more military officers trying to intimidate farmers.  One Col. said he was working on behalf of the Commissioner of Prisons!

HI-JACK OF LORRY

At 02h00 31 July 2002 a 7 tonne Volvo FL6, White, 599860W belonging to Northern Growers, Box 252, Karoi was hi-jacked full of Flue Cured tobacco.  Growers number 1032 is on the propac and the paper.  84 bales are involved.

The hi-jacking happened at Banket and the driver arrived at Darwendale Police Station.  The truck, which has no trailer, then proceeded to the main Harare - Chirundu Road.

If anyone sees this truck, please contact Sean Forster 064-7800.  (fozzie@mango.zw) or Paul Hopcroft 066-3196  /011860000 or David Rockingham-Gill 067-22410 / 091262051 or e-mail mashwestn@cfu.co.zw

MASHONALAND WEST (SOUTH)
Report to follow on Monday.

MASVINGO
Masvingo East and Central – the Bon Air Farm owner reports a large Kudu Bull with massive horns was chased by packs of dogs and poachers on 31.07.02 until it finally broke its leg and fell. The dogs proceeded to kill it. The owner confiscated the meat from the poachers.   He also continues to fight fires on his property started by settlers in this area.

Chiredzi – the wet weather has dampened the surge of veld fires. Poaching and snaring continue and plenty of busy settlers reported moving around on several properties.

Mwenezi - More of the same happening in this area, cutting of trees continues, snaring and poaching is ongoing.

Save Conservancy - Poaching and snaring continue in this area.

Gutu / Chatsworth - Nothing to report from this area.

MIDLANDS
Summary for month: Theft, stock theft and poaching are so common that no one bothers to tell the office about them. Section 8's and 7's are being served sporadically but not always reported. This is due to the fact that farmers are dealing directly with Land Committees and, in some cases, getting Sec 8s lifted in return for agreeing to subdivision etc. So far 48 known section 8s have been served affecting 85 title deeds. Veld fires are occurring with increasing frequency causing serious damage to grazing resources and, in some instances, property. Mostly caused through carelessness on the part of settlers while clearing fields. Worst case - destruction of about one and a half million dollars worth of hay bales in a barn. Inspection of maize stocks by GMB officials has started again.

MATABELELAND
No report received.