The letter pages of the independent press have been full to the brim
with
correspondence from concerned people expressing a wide range of views
from
support to absolute disgust at the present political situation in
this
country. I see a lot of whining going on, and I guess editors must see
one
hundred times more, about the most chronic stupidity being exercised by
the
politicians in their Augean stable and the damp passive response from
the
people. This missive is about courage and moral fibre, matters that
appear
lacking in the Zimbabwean community of all shades and
persuasions.
I believe one of the finest characteristics of the majority
of people in
Zimbabwe is their being a peaceful people who are respectful and
indeed slow
to anger. What a wonderful nation to suppress, where so little
in the form
of resistance is offered. Little question therefore that the
people
succumbed to the perceived ravages of their colonial past. No wonder
the
current regime is so fully entrenched and has so totally subjugated
the
people to the extent of making our colonial past a mere kindergarten in
the
realms of our history.
"Ah", you say, "but we chased out Smith".
I am beginning to wonder. Is
it not true that the now ruling party's army
comprised gangs of villains,
renegades and thieves - opportunists armed to
the teeth - who raped and
pillaged the villages in their glorious road to the
defeat of colonialism!
Are not scoundrels of the same ilk perpetrating their
long practiced
antagonism against you, the people today? The same miscreant
tricks, just
a different generation. Can you, the people, not see the evil
pattern?
Do not allow yourself to believe the untruthful liberation
propaganda you
have all so readily gulped down over the last 20 years,
without question.
Because this is what Zimbabweans have done and now they are
paying for it
with a corrupt, racist, tribalist and autocratic regime.
Democracy is out
the window, people. You are at the mercy of a more rabid
bunch of men and
women than you will ever meet and they will stop at nothing
to remain where
they are.
If you capitulate now, as you apparently
have, then best Zimbabweans all go
down to their local ZANU (PF) cell, obtain
a membership card and shut up -
stop whining and enjoy their lot, because
they have not the courage to do
otherwise. And Mugabe and his cronies know
this only too well and will make
every effort to ensure you, the people, stay
crumpled in your little
subservient lives for ever in the name of the baba,
the party and heroes
past. Are you vomiting with shame yet? You should
be!
Zimbabweans seem to lack the moral fibre to extricate themselves from
the
ravages of the ZANU (PF) regime, they fear for their personal safety
and
that of their families and how incredibly right they are, because the
system
will crush them with absolute impunity and take a few along just for
the
ride. This is no appeal for heroes; we have enough of them running amok
as
it is. No, this is a little attack on your conscience, a suggestion
that
you examine your morals, pick up your courage, and question the
issues
without being swallowed in the trash emanating from the government
press and
electronic media.
Think about your future in Zimbabwe, and more
importantly that of your
children, not on the euphoric ideals of one man, one
farm with free inputs
and 30 head of cattle to boot, but rather on the
reality of you sitting in
your little hovel, jobless, hungry with hungrier
children screaming for
sustenance. Think about your lot in the fuel queues,
the job queues as the
hunger pangs bite, and the bread queues to come as the
regime skillfully
continues to plunder and destroy the very core of your
life.
Zimbabweans must take courage and liberate themselves from the
devastation
eating away at their nation. The people must become bigger than
the regime
and democratically defeat the ruling party, for should Government
not allow
a process of democracy to prevail then they invite sustained
violent
struggle, a useless waste of resources. So take up a pseudonym, as I
have
here, and as the war veterans have, for use of your real name will
mean
instant reprisal to you and your family.
Encourage your fellow
Zimbabweans to resist the unlawfulness of the present
regime by any way
lawful and to be outspoken against the regime at every
juncture. Let us
create a "Winter of Discontent" and be heard through all
nations. Mothers,
wives, sisters and nieces of servicemen, policemen and
civil servants
encourage your children, husbands and relatives to terminate
their services
to the oppressive regime in the hope that when change comes
their jobs will
be re-secured for clearly, as night follows day, they will
face the wrath of
the people should they not.
Stop patronizing the state owned media
through buying and reading their
diatribe of untruths and through
advertising. Castigate those who read the
Herald, Sunday Mail and Kwayedza
and boycott those companies that advertise
in those same papers and the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's propaganda
channels. Phone those
"sellout" companies and tell them of your intentions.
Avoid Government and
ZANU (PF) sponsored gatherings or meetings, for your
presence gives them
false confidence. Vote at every conceivable
opportunity for anyone but the
ruling party.
Report all incidents (present and past) of Government and
ZANU (PF)
sponsored and orgestrated violence to lawyers, have affidavits
recorded and
name offenders and witnesses, so that the perpetrators may be
brought to
book after change comes about. And be sure to send a copy to your
local
church leaders and complain of their revolting silence. Publicly
identify
secret servicemen and masquerading "war veterans" list their names
and
addresses and warn others against them. Form cells with your
fellow
Zimbabweans, at home and at work, but guard against the infiltration
of the
party's clumsy spies, thugs and sellouts.
Understand what
common law crimes are being committed by these roving ZANU
(PF) thugs.
Murder is unlawful, yes you all know. But why are business
capitulating to
extortion most foul? What of the abductions (kidnapping and
hostage taking
if you like) and all the assaults? For goodness sake
extortion is "First
Schedule" criminal offence as is abduction and assault.
And those former
employees who brought the thugs upon you and extorted money
from you are
accessories to the crime, if not principals who must be
prosecuted!
Companies have a right to recourse and must report such
offences to the
police and at the very least get a reference, for you know
the police will
not honour their own charter. But when change comes, and it
will, at least
you can seek justice.
Insist that your church leaders become outspoken
against the regime or
boycott the churches. Push non-government
organizations to speak out
against the regime or refuse their programmes.
Annoy foreign embassies
with your protest, especially the spineless South
Africans who have turned
their blind eye. Take this message to all you know
in Zimbabwe, cut it out,
keep it in your pocket, copy it, print it, e-mail it
in the interests of
sustaining the last modicum of hope that we have before
we fall into the
dark abyss beyond democracy and into anarchy. And then send
it again and
again so that everyone understands the message to the core. We
must
lawfully resist, we have a duty to the nation to do so.
Do
nothing illegal fellow Zimbabweans for you are the force of goodness
against
evil, the people, the true masses or the povo, the life blood of the
nation
that no Government will suppress if you demonstrate a little morale
fiber and
the courage to lawfully resist the regime. Continue to be
spineless and
cower in you hovels and your children will hang their heads in
abject poverty
and shame and regret their worthless, immoral and cowardly
parents for ever.
The choice is yours. So far, you have not managed very
well at the polls,
and if you do not rise up to the call against evil, soon,
all goodness will
be lost in Zimbabwe forever.
Tichatonga Mabhunu
COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION
Farm Invasions and Security Report
Thursday
10th May 2001
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every attempt is made to provide a comprehensive report of ongoing
activities in relation to farm invasions, but many incidents are unreported due
to communications constraints, fear of reprisals and a general weariness on the
part of farmers. Farmers names and in some cases, farm names, are omitted to
minimise the risk of reprisal.
NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF:
Illegal
occupiers abducted the foreman on Santidza Ranch, Mwenezi, on Monday. The
foreman is still missing. Police are investigating.
On Machiki Farm in
Marondera, an aggressive mob entered the fenced area of the homestead in the
evening, and assaulted the occupants. A guard was separately assaulted.
The fence guard on Bubye River Ranch, Mwenezi, was assaulted after
discovering a section of fence that had been cut and covered with brush.
The owner and his family on Mayfield Farm, in Harare West, were barricaded
in their home following a dispute with illegal occupiers in which the son was
assaulted.
Illegal occupiers gathered on Rutenga Ranch, Mwenezi, in front
of the owner’s home in the morning, barring the owner, his daughter, son-in-law
and grandchild.
A group of 7 businessmen from RSA were held at gunpoint at
the 18 km peg outside Bulawayo on the Victoria Falls Road and were relieved of
all valuables.
Death threats have been made to farm labour on Cambria Farm,
in Masvingo East and Central. War vet Muzenda is requesting that staff vacate
their homes, as he wants to occupy them.
A work stoppage occurred on
Cotswold Estate, in Umboe. The Governor said the owner can continue planting
wheat next week.
In Mwenezi, a veld fire started by illegal occupiers on
Chigwisi Section of Nuanetsi Ranch destroyed a lot of grazing.
350 head of
communal cattle have moved onto Lesanth Ranch, Mwenezi, from the buffer zone.
Disruptions on wildlife safari operations is growing with two sets of
clients having been frightened away by illegal occupiers in Inyati
camp.
REGIONAL REPORTS:
Mashonaland Central
Harare West - A
dispute arose regarding access to water, the farmer's seed maize crop and the
intended wheat crop on Mayfield Farm. Police were called when the resident
illegal occupiers assaulted the farm owner's son and they responded but were
reluctant to offer any assistance. The DA Concession and local Lands Committee
eventually responded and, after lengthy deliberations, managed to stabilize the
situation. The farmer has been allowed to continue with wheat planting but the
dispute remains largely unresolved.
Mashonaland West North
Karoi - The owner of Ardingley Farm is being prevented from planting wheat.
The DA is unable to assist.
Chinhoyi - Bandira Farm was visited by Assistant
DA who say they are going to resettle 50 people on the farm, contradicting the
agreement between the owner and the DA. There is a lot of movement on farms in
this area.
Umboe - A work stoppage occurred on Cotswold Estate. The Governor
said the owner can continue planting wheat next week.
Ayshire - Agritex are
pegging on Great Gains.
Nyabira - Pegging has commenced on Kingswood and
Wellesley Farm.
Trelawney / Darwendale - An Agritex Team is pegging Western
Ridge Farm, Marussino Farm, Sundown Farm, Riverhead Farm, Glen Esk and Preston
Farm.
Mashonaland West South
General - Agritex officers continue to
peg on all farms, regardless of their legal status. The situation remains
un-aggressive.
Mashonaland East
Marondera - Following a visit
by ZRP and the Assistant DA to Machiki Farm, an aggressive mob entered the
fenced area of one of the homesteads in the evening, assaulting the occupants.
A guard was also assaulted. Support Unit arrested the ringleader and remained
on the farm overnight and continued looking for 2 other assailants known to the
victims.
Manicaland
Mutare - On Fairview wheat planting has been
stopped by illegal occupiers.
Burma Valley - Pressure is mounting and more
peggings are taking place on listed properties.
Chipinge - A pedigree bull
was slaughtered on Groenvlei. Illegal occupiers are trying to force the owner
out of his house on Lusilver.
Masvingo
Masvingo East & Central
- 16 hydrant pipe fittings have been stolen from one field and 19 have been
maliciously damaged or broken off on Dromore Farm. Death threats have been made
to farm labour on Cambria Farm. War vet Muzenda is requesting that staff remove
themselves from their quarters, as he wants to occupy them. Illegal occupiers
are mounting pressure on the owner of Mayo Farm, requesting that he remove his
cattle. The owner of Southwill Estates has been subjected to extortionate
demands for alleged crop damage. Large numbers of illegal occupiers are waiting
to be resettled on Bon Air Farm.
Mwenezi - A veld fire started by illegal
occupiers on Chigwisi Section of Nuanetsi Ranch destroyed a lot of grazing
areas, and spread onto Triangle Limited. Illegal occupiers gathered on Rutenga
Ranch in front of owner’s home in the morning, barring the owner, his daughter,
son-in-law and grandchild. Shouting, singing slogans and demanding for the land
and compensation for illegal occupiers maize eaten by the owner's cattle.
illegal occupiers remained outside the homestead for the day and lit fires in
the evening. About 19.00 hours the Officer in Charge arrived with the excuse
that he had no transport. He immediately excused himself from the scene saying
he would return after he had dinner. The Police returned and met with the
illegal occupiers, but did not disperse the crowd that evening. In the morning
illegal occupiers marched outside the homestead and prevented the owner from
checking cattle in a kraal nearby. Farm labour were told to stop work. The
fence guard on Bubye River Ranch was assaulted after discovering a section of
fence that had been cut and covered with brush. 350 head of communal cattle have
moved onto Lesanth Ranch from the buffer zone. A protest between the owner of
Santidza Ranch and illegal occupiers occurred when the owner wanted to take
legal action against poaching. The illegal occupiers abducted the foreman on
Monday and the foreman is still missing. Police are investigating.
Save
Conservancy - Poaching continues.
Gutu / Chatsworth - Illegal occupiers on
Nyombi Estates have cut gum trees. Fences have been cut near the railway line
allowing cattle to wander. 85 illegal occupiers arrived on Lonely Farm.
Midlands - Nothing to report.
Matabeleland
General - The
level of aggression has not escalated and no further assaults have been reported
during the past few weeks. The general trend last month into this month has
been a marked escalation of pegging on listed as well as unlisted properties.
Some unlisted properties being pegged found themselves listed the following
Friday. Disruptions on farming operations such as demands to remove owners
cattle, chasing cattle off farms, cutting of fences so that cattle can stray,
and the introduction of illegal occupiers' cattle continues unabated and is
widespread. Disruptions on wildlife safari operations is growing with two sets
of clients having been frightened away by illegal occupiers in Inyati camp. A
group of 7 businessmen from RSA were held at gunpoint at the 18 km peg outside
Bulawayo on the Victoria Falls Road and were relieved of all valuables. There
are numerous disruptions to businesses in the city and several reports of
assaults. Over Independence celebrations, DA's have been signing letters of
authority to hunt animals on farms to supply meat for the festivities.
Poaching, snaring and stock theft continues with companies having lost as much
as 300 head of cattle each. On one ranch some 15 cattle are slaughtered each
month. Trading in meat is a new source of revenue from occupied properties.
Refusal to let landowners operate their properties is escalating, examples
being; refusal to allow safari / hunting operations to take place; cattle being
removed or restricted to limited areas of the property; claims being laid to
irrigable lands; tomato producer being prevented from cutting firewood to make
fires around his lands to prevent frost damage; restriction demands to prevent
owners going into sections of farms that have been illegally occupied;
occupation of farm buildings / homesteads and workers houses; eviction of a
miner occupying a farm house with his property being thrown outside whilst they
moved into the premises; several claims that the farm now belongs to them with
eviction notices against farm owners and demands of removal of cattle are being
made. Even on fenced game farms claims are being made on the animals as now
belonging to them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Living with death
By David Blair
The Daily Telegraph, 23 April,
2001
Last defender of the family's lands
For three generations,
David Olds's family tilled the soil of their
Zimbabwe farmsteads, surviving
drought, political turmoil and war. Now,
in the wake of government-condoned
farm seizures which killed his mother
and brother, David is the last defender
of the family lands.
The rains have been kind to Matabeleland this year.
Green leaves cover
the acacia trees and a luxuriant carpet of grass rests on
the
once-parched soil, still tainted by a film of sand blown in from
the
Kalahari desert. Soon after the African dawn on Sunday, March 4, a
tall,
slender woman of 68 walked down the corridor of her
modest,
single-storey farmhouse. She had long white hair, tied in a
flowing
ponytail that fell almost to her waist. Passing a row of
paintings
depicting the scenery of Zimbabwe, she unlocked the door and walked
out
into her garden.
After 25 years on Silverstreams farm, she began
the working day at 6.20
every morning by opening the gates beside her
whitewashed home.
Following her normal routine, she walked past the empty oil
drums and
past the small outhouse with a flat tin roof. The sun had risen and
the
air was pleasantly cool before the heat of the day. Beyond was
the
farmyard, with cattle moving to-and-fro, and black workers gathering
to
collect water from the nearby dam.
She was about five feet from the
gates when two men opened fire with
AK-47 assault rifles from behind an
acacia tree. A hail of bullets
sliced through the wire mesh of the fence,
punctured the oil drums and
slammed into the outhouse. She was hit and
mortally wounded, but she
turned and struggled towards the cover afforded by
her white Isuzu
pick-up. Trailing blood on the grass, she managed to move
about 10 feet
before she fell to the ground and died. Her three dogs were
driven half
mad by fear and rage. But the gunmen shot all of them: Pavarotti
the
Rottweiler, Blondi the mongrel and Duke, an Alsatian so old it
could
barely run.
Then they shattered the lock with a burst of fire,
broke through the
gates and emptied their weapons into the body of the
defenceless woman.
One bent down and stole the wedding ring from her finger.
Then they took
her white pick-up and made their escape. A witness saw the car
heading
north towards Tsholotsho, and the vehicle was found abandoned
the
following day. One man has been charged with murder, but the other
is
still at large, and no one has yet been convicted for any of last
year's
political killings.
The murder of Gloria Olds was yet another
tragedy for a Zimbabwean
farming family that has tilled the soil of
Matabeleland for three
generations. Barely a mile from the spot where Gloria
was killed, her
son, Martin, 43, was murdered on neighbouring Compensation
farm on April
18 last year. Martin was certainly not defenceless. He had a
fierce
reputation as a tough character, well able to protect himself. They
came
for him at dawn, not two gunmen but a highly organised force of 70.
Even
then, Martin held them off with a shotgun and 9mm handgun for
perhaps
half an hour, wounding two before he was shot and beaten to death.
His
homestead is now a scorched and bullet-scarred shell, and squatters
are
staking out his land.
With the vociferous support of President
Robert Mugabe, squatters have
occupied almost 1,700 white-owned farms since
the onset of the land
invasions last February. All but a handful of the 45
farms in the Olds
family's home area of Nyamandhlovu, 350 miles south-west of
Harare, have
been overrun. Seven white landowners have been murdered: Gloria
and
Martin in Matabeleland, and five others scattered elsewhere in
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe's ruthless terror campaign against the opposition claimed
another
40 lives last year.
The tragedy has split up the Olds family.
Martin's widow, Kathy, 44,
fled to Britain last year, where she was granted
political asylum. She
now lives in Cirencester with her children, Angus, 14,
and Martine, 18.
Gloria's surviving son, David, 44, still runs Silverstreams,
the family
farm, while his wife, Laura, 40, and children, Mandy, 14, and
Ryan, 11,
live in the nearby town of Bulawayo. Laura visits her
husband
occasionally, travelling the 40 miles along a narrow, winding road,
but
the risks are too great for them to contemplate bringing the
children,
or for her to stay on the farm overnight. Every day they must
think
about their safety and prepare for the worst. David varies his
routine
hour by hour, and maintains constant radio contact with
neighbouring
white farmers.
David is a powerfully built man who oozes
determination from every pore.
His emotional attachment to Silverstreams
cattle ranch is unbreakable.
'You're not just talking about a man's
livelihood here. When a man loses
his farm, he loses everything. He loses his
home, his livelihood, his
memories, his whole life. Where does he go after
that?' he said. Yet
Silverstreams could be listed for seizure by the
government at any time,
and squatters occupy Compensation farm. Kathy Olds
has received no
compensation for being driven off her property - and no one
expected
anything else.
David spent his childhood on a farm. His
brother died defending the
family's land. Now it falls to him to continue the
Olds family tradition
and try against all odds to recapture the happiness of
the past. He
talks with audible pride of his grandfather, Martin, who bought
the
12,000 acres of Silverstreams in 1942. Then, it was a barren expanse
of
dense bush, two days' journey from Bulawayo on one of the ox-wagons
that
were still widely used. 'The old man built this place up from
nothing.
When he bought the farm, there was almost nothing here. Everything
you
see is what we've done,' said David.
The family were butchers by
trade. Originally from St Just, Cornwall,
they emigrated to South Africa in
the mid 1800s and the first Martin
Olds moved to the British Crown Colony of
Southern Rhodesia in 1931. He
bought a butchery in Bulawayo, went into cattle
ranching on
Silverstreams, and left the family business to his son,
Alf.
By the time Alf opened a second shop in Bulawayo - the 'Olds
Butchery' -
he had met a young, dark-haired travel agent who worked for
Central
African Airways, called Gloria. She was born in Hastings and had come
to
Rhodesia in 1941 as a wartime evacuee. The couple married in 1955,
when
he was 26 and she was 23.
David was born in 1957, one year after
his brother, Martin. He talks
with fondness of the ordered world of Rhodesia,
when everything,
absolutely everything, was geared for the convenience of the
white
elite, numbering less than four per cent of the population. Bulawayo
may
once have been the seat of power for Lobengula, King of the
Ndebele
tribe, but under colonial rule it acquired the Ascot race course,
a
whites-only country club and plush suburbs with streets named
after
British prime ministers. The Olds Butchery was on Abercorn Street,
just
around the corner from the lovingly tended memorial to Cecil
Rhodes's
pioneer column - a Gatling gun mounted on a solid stone
plinth.
Alf would rise at three in the morning and work in the butchery
until
closing time. Every weekend, he would leave the family home in
Bulawayo
and look after Silverstreams. 'Cattle was the old man's passion and
it
was work, work, work. I can't think of a time when I saw him
relax,'
said David.
Life revolved around cattle sales and the annual
agricultural show.
Making no concession to the heat of the African summer,
men would dress
as if they were attending auctions in Lincolnshire. Tweed
jackets and
trilbys dominated the crowd of farmers as the cattle were driven
before
them. Alf would always position himself on the right edge of the
back
row. The animals he bought often became prize steers.
When David
was five, the family left Bulawayo and moved to Southcote
ranch, a few miles
from Silverstreams, although they kept the butchery
in town. Inhabiting a
magical world of dense bush filled with wildlife,
the boys spent their days
herding cattle, riding horses, swimming in the
dam built by their father, and
hunting. By the age of 12, David and
Martin were shooting porcupines, spring
hares and small antelope with
.22 rifles. Soon they were heading off in the
dead of night to track
down kudus.
The experience left them with a
deep understanding of nature. 'We always
shot for the pot or because the
animals had to be controlled. We never
shot for fun, never,' said
David.
Orphaned animals were rescued from the bush and became family
pets.
David shared his baby milk bottle with a steenbok, a tiny antelope
found
abandoned near the farmhouse. As well as nine dogs, at various
stages
the Olds family menagerie included Dumbi the kudu, Paddy the
vervet
monkey, Mziki the reedbuck, Hans the porcupine and Esmerelda the
skunk.
Politics impinged little on their lives. Yet David remembers
sitting in
the family butchery and listening to Ian Smith's announcement of
the
Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on November
11,
1965.
'We were sitting listening to the radio. I remember all the
customers
listening, how happy everyone was,' he said.
Like most
white Rhodesians, the Olds family backed Smith to the hilt -
Alf's cousin,
Gordon, was one of the Prime Minister's backbench MPs -
and trusted him to
defend their privileged life against the threatening
spectre of African
nationalism.
That privileged lifestyle included an education modelled on
the British
public school system of the 19th century. At the age of seven,
David and
Martin went to boarding school and their parents chose the
deeply
traditional Rhodes Estate Preparatory School (REPS), near the
Matopos
hills, south of Bulawayo.
Gloria never forgot her British
background. Yvonne Sharp, who lived on a
nearby farm in Nyamandhlovu, became
a close friend in the Seventies.
'Gloria would always say that England was a
lovely, gorgeous, cool
country. She would dress in the English style, with
lovely hats and
gloves. She wanted her family to remember that they were
English as well
as Rhodesian.'
Compulsory chapel, Latin lessons, an
obsession with sport and an
old-fashioned uniform complete with a peaked cap
proved beyond doubt the
British heritage of REPS.
The boys progressed
to the equally traditional Plumtree School in 1969,
one of the oldest and
most prestigious establishments in Rhodesia. In
the quiet school courtyards,
every conceivable British tradition was
lovingly upheld, including the
fagging system. All of the older boys had
a 'skivvy' - a younger boy charged
with the vital tasks of making tea
and polishing shoes.
David excelled
at all sports, especially rugby, and was a troublesome,
boisterous tearaway,
who had frequent fights with his elder brother.
Also a brilliant sportsman,
Martin became a prefect and head of Lloyd
House. These honours entitled him
to wear a distinctive white shirt and
punish boys with 'Impots' (or
Impositions). A new athletics track was
built with the forced labour of the
miscreants - who almost always
included David.
While Martin was
responsible and hardworking, his younger brother was
always getting into
scrapes of some kind. One evening, David and a
cousin, Gavin, armed
themselves with catapults, took up position on the
school balcony and began
shooting at the fruit bats swooping overhead.
For a joke, Gavin decided to
shoot David. The resulting injury to his
left eye almost blinded him, caused
a permanent squint and led him,
disaster of disasters, to miss a whole rugby
season.
Neither boy stayed on for A-levels. Martin left Plumtree in
1974,
followed by David in 1975. By this time, the war against
black
guerrillas led by Mugabe and the late Joshua Nkomo was in full
swing.
White Rhodesians dismissed the rebels as 'gooks' and although
their
idyllic world was under pressure as never before, little changed on
the
surface.
As the war escalated with a wave of attacks on white
farms near
Rhodesia's eastern frontier in 1975, Alf and Gloria moved
to
Silverstreams and set up the family home. The entire community
adjusted
to life at war. Saturdays were still occupied by tennis parties
and
dinner at the Nyamandhlovu Farmers' Hall, but grenade screens and
blast
walls protected homesteads, everyone carried guns -
usually
semi-automatic FN rifles for the men and 9mm handguns for the wives
-
and lone travel by night was forbidden. Every farm was issued with
an
Agric Alert radio and roll calls were transmitted at 7pm and 7am
each
day. If there was no reply, neighbours would assume the worst and
rush
to the rescue.
Yvonne Sharp attended firearms drill at the
Farmers' Hall, yet she never
saw her friend Gloria at these occasions.
'Gloria was a fantastic shot.
She never needed the training. She and Alf were
well prepared for the
war,' she said. But farmers around Nyamandhlovu were
shielded by
geography. Mugabe's ZANLA guerrillas operated out of Mozambique,
on the
other side of the country, and rarely came as far as
Matabeleland.
Rebels from Nkomo's ZIPRA army infiltrated Rhodesia from
Zambia, 250
miles to the north. Few penetrated as far as Nyamandhlovu and
throughout
the entire war, no serious incidents affected the local
farming
community.
By 1975, Smith had extended the call-up to include
all white males over
the age of 18. David and Martin were conscripted into
the Rhodesian Army
soon after leaving Plumtree and, at their special request,
found
themselves in the Grey Scouts. This unit of mounted soldiers,
specially
trained for counter-insurgency operations, claims the honour of
having
conducted the last cavalry charges in the history of
warfare.
Alone, and extraordinarily among modern armies, the Rhodesians
still
used horses on the battlefield. A soldier on horseback had a
better
chance of spotting his prey and of pursuing him to the kill, or so
the
thinking went. Perhaps most importantly, the Grey Scouts had a
crucial
psychological advantage over bewildered African opponents.
Their
prisoners often asked, 'How can the white man ride on the top of
the
trees?'
David and Martin trained together for the Grey Scouts in
1977, learning
how to shoot accurately from the saddle and dismount at a
gallop. David
remembers these days with great happiness.
'There were
tremendous blokes in the Grey Scouts and being with Marty
again was great,'
he said. 'The camaraderie was something you will never
get again. All the
blokes would do anything for each other, die for each
other.'
The
brothers went into action in 1979. By this time, their opponents
had
discovered the best way of breaking up mounted units - ambushing
them
with mortar and machine-gun fire. David and Martin Olds were with
a
troop of 20 horsemen when mortar bombs began exploding all around
them
on a patch of open plain in Chiweshe, the main infiltration route
for
Mugabe's guerrillas. 'All we could do was try and charge our
way
through,' said David.
The cavalry careered across the plain, with
shells exploding in all
directions and bullets cracking overhead. Suddenly
they spotted a narrow
ravine in their path, but it was too late to stop. 'We
all piled in.
Blokes were losing their horses left right and centre, it was a
real
to-do,' said David. Remarkably, no one was killed in this ambush
sprung
by increasingly effective ZANLA guerrillas. But the brothers had
nothing
but fond memories of the army. 'It turned boys into men. You
don't
remember the killing, you remember the good times with your
mates,'
explained David.
There were also soldierly high-jinks. While
on a trip to South Africa to
buy some horses, David and a few friends
stumbled on the hotel where the
cast of The Wild Geese, the action movie
starring Richard Burton and
Roger Moore, was staying. It happened to be
Burton's birthday and the
hotel had been taken over for the party. Claiming
to be kitchen staff,
the group of Grey Scouts walked into the celebration and
claimed an
empty table at the back of the dining hall, from where they joined
the
toasts to the star.
Although it had nothing to do with the war,
the Olds family were hit by
tragedy in 1978. Elizabeth, the brothers'
18-year-old sister, was killed
in a car accident. She had been Alf's
favourite and David described his
father as 'nearly destroyed', but added,
'with true grit, he got through
it.' This stoical attitude to death was
typical of the rugged and
increasingly embattled and isolated white Rhodesian
population.
Rhodesia was transformed into independent Zimbabwe in 1980,
and Mugabe
took power after winning an easy victory in the first elections.
The
Olds family were too deeply embedded in their country to
consider
leaving.
Like tens of thousands of whites, they were
encouraged to stay by
Mugabe's early message of reconciliation and unity.
They stayed in their
country and were proud to call themselves
Zimbabweans.
Gloria helped the neighbouring George Silundika primary
school by
donating books and meat from the ranch. Their 40 black workers
were
treated well, and friends point out that many served the Olds family
for
decades. When Gloria's friends gathered for her funeral, at least
30
black faces were among the congregation of 250.
After leaving the
army, shortly before independence, David went to
Harare and worked for an
irrigation company. The homestead on
Silverstreams was too small for him to
return there. He had met Laura
while serving in the Grey Scouts, and the
couple married in 1984.
Martin married Kathy in September 1980. The
wives of both brothers were
born and bred in Africa and had no desire to
leave.
Martin and Kathy bought Compensation farm, next door to his
parents at
Silverstreams, in 1981. The two ranches were merged into one
unit
covering about 20,000 acres, with almost 1,000 head of cattle. After
Alf
died of emphysema at the age of 70 in 1999, Gloria ran the
operation
with the help of Martin. When he was killed she managed alone
until
David moved in with her in December 2000. By chance, he happened to
be
with his family in Bulawayo on the weekend when she was killed.
For
the Nyamandhlovu farmers, the period after independence was far
more
traumatic than the war itself. The old certainties of Rhodesia were
gone
and there was a new, more potent threat. Mugabe's first government was
a
fragile coalition with Nkomo, his old rival. By 1982, Nkomo had
been
sacked and armed dissidents, drawn from the remnants of his ZIPRA
army,
roamed Matabeleland, carrying out random attacks.
White farms
around Nyamandhlovu were often the target, and five local
landowners were
killed - more than during the entire war. With the
support of the
authorities, farmers joined the Police Reserve and formed
a rapid reaction
squad, popularly known as the A-team. To no one's
surprise, Martin became its
leading figure.
George Parkin, 47, was senior officer of Nyamandhlovu
police station and
a close friend of Martin. After leaving the police force
in 1982, he
became a manager on nearby Fountains ranch, 10 miles from
Martin's home.
'Whenever there was an emergency, the first person you phoned
was
Martin. He never hesitated, you always knew he was coming,' said
Parkin.
In 1984, dissidents ambushed Jack and Joy Ehlers at the gates of
their
homestead, about 20 miles from the Olds farms. Their vehicle was
raked
with automatic gunfire before they were dragged out and butchered on
the
ground. Farm workers raised the alarm and Martin,
characteristically,
was first on the scene. George Parkin's wife, Lesley, 48,
remembered
Martin saying, 'I closed Joy's eyes and put down her skirts. There
was
nothing more we could do for them.'
Armed with FN rifles, Martin,
George Parkin and about six other
landowners set off to track down the
killers. Travelling on horseback
and using an armoured Land Rover specially
adapted by Martin, they
headed north for four days. The tracks of the killers
led to a village
near Lupane, 60 miles away.
Martin and four others
waited in ambush on the edge of the village,
while Parkin led the rest of the
squad through the cluster of mud huts
to flush out the killers. In a sudden
flurry of activity, four men armed
with AK-47s fled in panic. Parkin heard a
volley of shots as Martin's
ambush group opened fire. One dissident was
killed, and he learnt that
Martin had fired the fatal shot. The survivors
were handed over to the
police.
The Parkin family frequently joined
Martin for holidays. In 1983, Martin
and Kathy had a daughter, Martine, and a
son, Angus, followed in 1986.
Childhood polio had crippled Kathy and she
walked on crutches, not the
most practical way of negotiating the rugged
terrain of Matabeleland.
But Martin would always carry her whenever
necessary. Lesley Parkin
described him as a 'gentle giant, a man who was like
a puppy when he was
with his wife and kids'.
She had cause to be
grateful for Martin's selflessness when he saved her
husband's life in 1989.
The families were enjoying a fishing holiday on
Lake Kariba when George and
Martin tried to tether their boats as dusk
fell. Carrying a mooring rope,
George waded into the black, choppy
water. When he was at knee depth, a shape
loomed out of the darkness and
seized him by the right leg. The crocodile
toppled George into the water
and swept him, screaming, out into the lake.
Hearing the cries for help,
Martin plunged in and seized hold of the animal.
'There was a tremendous
wrestling match, Mart was getting scratched to hell
by the croc's claws,
but he kept bashing away at it,' said George.
Yet
the six foot beast managed to break away from Martin and carry its
victim
into even deeper waters. Suddenly George surfaced, his rescuer
managed to
grab hold of him and the crocodile mysteriously relaxed its
grip. Martin
dragged his friend to safety and set about giving him
emergency aid.
Typically, he had brought with him a voluminous medical
kit containing every
form of treatment. George was made comfortable and
taken to hospital the next
day. Aside from a vivid collection of scars
on his leg, he received no
serious injury.
Martin's feat received nationwide publicity and on
Independence Day the
following year, April 18, 1990, he was summoned to State
House and
decorated with the Bronze Cross by Mugabe. Photographs from
the
newspapers show a stern, bearded farmer, sitting two places away from
an
aloof president. Exactly 10 years later, Martin was murdered by
gunmen
who made no secret of their loyalty to Mugabe.
When the farm
invasions began last February, Martin was the first to
demand that the police
uphold the law and evict the squatters. When they
failed to act, he
personally rounded up five invaders who were on a
neighbouring farm and
escorted them to Nyamandhlovu police station. John
Zurnamer, 43, a close
friend, said that Martin demanded to see the
senior officer and told him, 'Do
your duty'. One week later, he was
dead.
'They picked out Mart because
he was the toughest nut in the area. He
was a hard, principled man who didn't
take kindly to anyone breaking the
law,' said Zurnamer. To break the farmers
of Nyamandhlovu, the invaders
had to break the Olds family.
Now David
is determined to cling to whatever can be salvaged from the
wreck of their
lives. His wife, Laura, makes no secret of her desire to
leave Zimbabwe. 'It
wouldn't be the same living in England; we wouldn't
have the sun, the
wildlife, the horseriding, but at least we would be
safe,' she says. But her
determined, unbending husband is resolute about
staying.
The Olds
family have their eccentricities - a mosaic of Mussolini hangs
in their
living-room and no one can remember how it arrived there,
although it may,
apparently, be a collector's item. But in their own
way, they typify the
breed of people who chose to farm in Africa. Now
they are confronted with the
ultimate dilemma - whether to leave the
country that has become their own, or
stay in the bush and defy the men
at their gates. It is not a decision for
the faint-hearted.
18 AFZ planes grounded
Vincent Kahiya
Zimbabwe Independent, 11 May 2001
THE Airforce of Zimbabwe (AFZ) is
falling apart as a combination of
international embargoes, foreign currency
shortages and poor maintenance
has immensely compromised Zimbabwe's air
defences, military sources said
this week.
The Zimbabwe Independent
was also told that untreated malaria has
claimed the lives of more soldiers
and airmen in the Congo than actual
warfare.
Military casualties from the
DRC campaign, authoritative sources said,
currently stand at 600.
The
figure of troops in the DRC has been variously put at between 9 000
and 12
000 men. But the Independent understands that following rebel
attacks last
year on Zimbabwean positions at Pweto, on the DRC's border
with Zambia, the
total went up to 16 000.
The Zimbabwean authorities have kept a lid on
Zimbabwe's losses in the
DRC saying these would be revealed at the end of the
war.
However, it is the depletion of the airforce which has raised
concerns
among senior officers in the high command. It has been established
that
the AFZ has at least 18 planes out of service due to a shortage of
spare
parts while some have been lost in operations.
These include
three Lynx helicopters, two Alouette helicopters, and two
Hind helicopter
gunships.
The AFZ's four British-made Hawk fighter planes are all
grounded due to
shortage of spare parts following an arms embargo imposed by
Whitehall
last year. Three F-7 fighter planes are believed to have crashed
after
being sent to the DRC to perform a fly past at the funeral of
Laurent
Kabila in January. The other planes which are not operational include
an
AB412 helicopter and two Cassa 212 transporters.
Information at
hands shows that as of January last year, the in-service
fleet of the AFZ
included 12 F-7 interceptors of which two were
trainers,
11 Hunter
fighters from the Rhodesian era, and 15 Cessna transporters.
There were
also 11 Hawks, 23 Alouettes, six SF260 TP and 23SF260M/W/F
helicopters, and
nine AB412s.
The in-service fleet consists of planes that are due for
service and
those that still have flying hours. Most of the planes are on the
ground
as they cannot be flown without a service certificate. The servicing
is
being hampered by a shortage of spare parts.
Sources said the
operational figure was currently standing at three Hind
helicopter gunships,
one Cassa, one Lynx, six F-7s, one Alouette and
four AB412s. There are also
two AS532 Cougar helicopters used mainly by
President Mugabe for his tours of
the country.
Military sources said the AFZ, once the envy of many
African states, had
slowly lost its shine. The AFZ was credited with
successfully defending
Kinshasa when Laurent Kabila's regime was subject to
rebel attack in
August 1998.
The Airforce of Zimbabwe successfully
defended Kinshasa from the air and
it is doubtful if Zimbabwe can perform
that duty now, a defence
specialist said.
Sources said Zimbabwe had
also suffered more manpower losses form
disease than combat. They said the
increase in malarial cases became
manifest when the ZNA moved to the eastern
front in 1999 where troops
had to spend long periods in trenches in the
equatorial jungle.
There was increased risk of contracting the disease
and fatalities went
up due to erratic supplies of drugs. Rebel sources in the
DRC have put
the figure
of malaria-related deaths among Zimbabwean
soldiers at above 2 000 but a
Red Cross official in Kinshasa this week said
the figure was more likely
to be about 1 000. This could not however be
confirmed.
Attempts to have malaria cases treated at South African
military
hospitals were unsuccessful because protocols with Pretoria covered
only
military casualties, the Independent has been told.
The
Independent also heard this week that Zimbabwe had purchased an
Antonov 12
transporter from the Ukraine.
Sources said Ukrainian pilots who usually
flew military goods to the DRC
from Zimbabwe were refusing to fly without
payments upfront in foreign
currency and Zimbabwe saw it prudent to buy a
plane and fly it using AFZ
officers. However, there are no spare parts or
service records which
normally accompany a purchase of this kind and the
plane is likely to
end up grounded.
War vets close down 27 farms
Dumisani Ndlela
Zimbabwe Independent, 11 May 2001
WAR veterans this week closed down
27 farms in the Virginia farming area
of Macheke, threatening production of
wheat and tobacco in moves that
will seal-off over $300 million worth of
revenue and cost thousands of
jobs.
Although the farms had been
listed for compulsory acquisition about a
month ago, the farmers said they
had not been served with either a
Section 5 or Section 8 Land Acquisition
Order to compel them to stop
working on their land when the war veterans
invaded their farms.
I have not been served with an order and I just
carry on with my
business as usual, one affected farmer said yesterday.
But sources said the government, through Lands and Agriculture
minister
Joseph Made, had endorsed the shut-down on the properties by
war
veterans and immediately served orders on the affected
farmers
indicating that he would fast-track the acquisition of the farms.
A farmer from the area said yesterday that the farmers had been
served
with different orders.
Some have been served with Section 5
orders and others have been served
with Section 8 orders, a farmer said
yesterday.
This is understood to be the first large-scale expropriation
in an area
by the government since last year and has caused anxiety in the
farming
sector. Virginia is one of the country's most productive areas and
the
cessation of production will have implications for food
self-sufficiency
and forex revenues.
Made is understood to have
already taken a hardline against the farmers,
ignoring any pleas for
dialogue.
Farming sector executives confirmed the cessation of farming
activities
in Macheke, where Virginia lies, but refused to give details until
after
a meeting that was scheduled to end late yesterday. Industry
sources
predicted the meeting, reportedly with senior government officials,
was
unlikely to cut any ice with Made who appears determined to
prove
obdurate and thereby win political favour.
However, the
executives expressed grave concern at the situation in the
area which they
described as very worrying.
The farmers said their complaints to the
district administrators and
police over the illegal occupation of the farms
were being ignored.
Police are doing absolutely nothing when approached for
help, a farmer
said.
Over 2 061 jobs will be lost due to the move,
while 10 000 dependants
will also be left homeless.
The total wage
bill for all the employees is estimated at $42 million
per month and NSSA
stands to lose $2,5 million in monthly subscriptions.
Planting of wheat
and tobacco on the affected Virginia farms measuring a
total of 1 142
hectares has ceased.
No land can be prepared and we are talking of very
huge losses, a farmer
told the Zimbabwe Independent from the farming area,
one of the most
productive in the country.
A farming source said nine
wheat production farms had been closed while
17 tobacco farms had been shut
down by the war veterans.
The wheat farms cover 295 hectares while the
tobacco farms cover 847
hectares. These are portions of land normally under
intensive
production.
Farmers said wheat production under threat from
the invasions and
government designation plans add up to the equivalent of 2
655 000
loaves of bread this winter. The average cost of a loaf of bread is
$25
and this brings the total loss to $67 million, while tobacco
production
lost amounts to $261 million at US$1,70 per kilogramme, sources
said.
l The clampdown on Macheke farms comes as tourism industry players
were
reportedly busy trying to secure a meeting with Environment and
Tourism
minister Francis Nhema over the designation of land in the
Eastern
Highlands which includes some of the country's premier resorts.
Tourism industry players said a total of over US$500 million worth
of
receipts could be scuttled by the move this year alone, while
an
undisclosed number of jobs would be lost.
The Eastern Highlands
boasts prime tourist resorts which include Outward
Bound, Pine Crest and
Raynes Park Estates as well as the country's
best-known lodges and hotels
like Troutbeck Inn, Pine Tree Inn, Inn on
the Ruparara, and the Montclair.
Operators in the area are pushing the government to de-list their
land
from properties to be designated under the government's fast
track
resettlement programme spear- headed by Made.
But they were
also privately lobbying for a court challenge against the
orders, sources
said.
Since the decline in the tourism industry due to the breakdown of
the
rule of law and farm invasions, the Eastern Highlands had maintained
its
market share when other resorts around the country has
experienced
dwindling arrivals.
That is now likely to change.
From The Daily News, 10
May
Editor charged with defamation
again
Geoff Nyarota, the Editor-in-Chief of The
Daily News, was yesterday afternoon charged with criminal defamation for the
second time in a month. Yesterday’s charge arises from the publication of
stories in which it was reported that Evelyn Masaiti, the MP for Mutasa, and
three relatives of some victims of the June parliamentary election violence sued
President Mugabe in the United States of America last year.
Nyarota arrived at Harare Central police
station soon after the arrival of a five-person delegation from the United
States-based World Press Freedom Committee. The delegation is in Zimbabwe on a
mission to study Press freedom conditions in the country. It consists of the
committee’s executive director, Marilyn J Greene of the US, European
representative, Ronald Koven of France, David Dadge of the International Press
institute in Austria, and South Africans Joe Mdhlela of the Media Workers’
Association of South Africa and Raymond Louw, Editor of Southern Africa Report.
The delegates held a meeting with Information and Publicity Minister, Jonathan
Moyo, in his office yesterday morning and on discovering that Nyarota was about
to be charged with criminal defamation they visited Harare Central.
Louw said last night: "We visited the
police station as part of our investigation into the state of the media in
Zimbabwe. We are holding a press conference tomorrow at which we will release
the preliminary findings of our visit." When Nyarota arrived at the police
station the delegation followed him into the charge office. They were, however,
asked to leave by policemen who said they had no legitimate business there.
Nyarota, who was accompanied by his Harare lawyer, Lawrence Chibwe of Stumbles
and Rowe, was then charged under the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act. The charge
arises from publication of stories, which the government has denied. The stories
were confirmed by the US-based lawyers who filed the $20 billion
lawsuit.
They said that the four plaintiffs had,
indeed, sued Mugabe. Elliot Pfebve, Maria Stevens, Adella Chiminya and Evelyn
Masaiti sued the President for alleged wilful violation of human rights and for
murder. Chiminya’s husband, Tichaona, who was the campaign manager for Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC president, was petrol-bombed in Murambinda on 15 April last
year. He died together with Talent Mabika, while travelling from an election
campaign rally. Pfebve’s brother, Matthew, was murdered in Bindura just before
last year’s parliamentary election, while Stevens’ husband, David, a commercial
farmer, was shot dead by war veterans in Murehwa. Masaiti, the Mutasa MP, sued
Mugabe for what she described as his failure to run the country in a democratic
manner. US judge Victor Marrero passed a default judgment in the civil suit
against Mugabe. The case was heard in the New York Manhattan District Court in
the presence of Stevens, Pfebve and Chiminya.
Soon after a Detective Assistant Inspector
Dowa finished recording a statement from Nyarota, his lawyer told The Daily News
that his client had denied the charge that he criminally defamed Mugabe. Chibwe
said the police proceeded to take Nyarota’s fingerprints. Last month, Nyarota
and two of his reporters, Sandra Nyaira and Julius Zava, were charged with
criminal defamation arising from the publication of a story in which the name of
Mugabe was mentioned in connection with allegations that certain unauthorised
payments were made by Air Harbour Technologies during the construction of the
controversial $5 billion new Harare International Airport building. The police
yesterday said the docket for this charge had been submitted to the Attorney
General’s Office.
Meanwhile, the name of Mugabe has appeared
on a just released list of 10 world leaders accused of the worst abuses against
the media. In a statement, released to coincide with the celebration of World
Press Freedom Day, whose major celebrations were held in Windhoek, Namibia, last
week, the New York-based Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ) said of
Zimbabwe: "Robert Mugabe’s government has launched an all-out war against
independent media, using weapons that range from lawsuits to physical violence."
Mugabe, President Vladimir Putin of Russia
and Colombian paramilitary leader, Carlos Castano are the new additions to the
list of government leaders alleged to be guilty of using various methods to
intimidate the media in their countries. The list is prepared annually by the
CPJ, a non-profit and non-partisan organisation dedicated to the global defence
of Press freedom. At the top of the list are Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
China’s President Jiang Zemin and Liberia’s President Charles Taylor. The CPJ
noted that, since January 1999, two local journalists have been tortured and two
foreign correspondents expelled, while the secret service screens e-mail and
Internet communications "to preserve national security". Bomb attacks twice
damaged the premises of The Daily News, with the second bomb explosion following
close on the heels of a call from Mugabe’s Information Minister, Moyo, to
silence the paper "once and for all". CPJ’s executive director, Ann Cooper, said
in a statement on the Ten Worst Enemies of the Press for 2001: "We hope that by
naming these 10 Press tyrants, we can focus world attention on their deeds and,
by exposing them, bring about change."
From News24 (SA), 11 May
'Stop intimidating
journos'
Harare - Zimbabwe's government has created a climate of
intimidation against journalists in the country that must end, a panel of
international press rights groups said Thursday. "Violence against journalists
has increased, foreign journalists have been expelled, and the government has
sought to preserve the monopoly of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation," the
group said in a preliminary report. "Furthermore, government ministers have
verbally abused journalists in public and used criminal defamation laws to
silence critical reporting," it added.
The delegation called on the government to uphold the rule of
law, ensure the safety of journalists, investigate abuses of press freedom, end
its campaign of intimidation, stop the use of criminal defamation suits, and
uphold a Supreme Court judgment ending ZBC's monopoly. In presenting their
findings, members of the delegation said their meeting with Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo produced little hope for change. "Mister Moyo, in my opinion, saw
nothing wrong with the situation," said David Dadge of the Vienna-based
International Press Institute, adding that Moyo had insisted the government was
enforcing the law. "It's my opinion that that is not actually true in Zimbabwe,
that the rule of law is being undermined almost every day," Dadge said. "The
government is doing little or nothing to change the situation in Zimbabwe."
Marilyn Greene, executive director of the World Press Freedom Committee, said:
"Basically what the government should do is stay out of the media's
business".
The delegation comprised representatives of the World Press
Freedom Committee, the International Press Institute, the South African National
Editors Forum, and the Media Workers’ Association of South Africa. Journalists
in Zimbabwe have come under repeated attack during the last two years, including
two bombings at the independent Daily News which have never been prosecuted.
Journalists have also suffered beatings and harassment by police, and become the
target of criminal defamation lawsuits.
From The Star (SA), 10
May
Moroccan UN troops arrive in DRC
rebel town
Kigali - United Nations troops from Morocco arrived in the
Democratic Republic of Congo rebel stronghold of Goma on Thursday to help
reinforce a ceasefire in the country's many-sided war, rebel officials said. But
at the same time, rebels complained that government troops were advancing in the
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, threatening the truce. The 105 Moroccan
soldiers arrived in Goma from Rabat early on Thursday before heading to a base
just outside the town, according to rebel officials. Goma is headquarters for
the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy, which has been fighting to
oust the government in Kinshasa for nearly three years and controls a vast
swathe of eastern DRC. Another 300 Moroccans were deployed in the strategic
northern rebel-held town of Kisangani last month, after initial rebel objections
were overcome. The UN troops are supposed to guard supplies and rear bases for
several thousand unarmed UN observers, whose job is to report violations of a
ceasefire between the main warring parties in the DRC.
Rally for Democracy officials expressed concern on Thursday
about the government troop movements, as well as advances by Ugandan troops,
their former allies, towards Kisangani. Joseph Mudumbi, the rebels' head of
foreign relations, said government and allied troops were advancing from the
village of Muliro towards the rebel-held port of Moba on Lake Tanganyika in the
eastern province of Katanga. "This force estimated at about two battalions is
comprised of government forces and their allies of Burundian and Rwandan Hutu
militia," Mudumbi said. "We have asked Monuc (the UN mission in the Congo) to
look into this violation, but this was not a pre-condition for today's
deployment," he said.
The war in the Congo began in 1998 when Uganda, Rwanda and
Burundi invaded the country to support rebels fighting to oust then President
Laurent Kabila. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia have all sent troops to help the
government, which is also said to be using Rwandan and Burundian ethnic Hutus to
help its cause. Another 145 Moroccans are expected to arrive in Goma on
Saturday. The deployment will bring to 800 the number of UN "casque bleus" or
blue helmets in the rebel-controlled eastern
Congo.
One of Zimbabwe’s foremost national parks, Gonarezhou, has been
demarcated for resettlement under the controversial fast-track programme in a
move likely to deal a mortal blow to tourism in the south of the country, the
Zimbabwe Independent has established this week. The demarcation of part of the
world-renowned national park, the beacon of tourism in the south-eastern
Lowveld, comes barely two months after the signing of a Transfrontier agreement
between Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa, encompassing Gonarezhou as a
regional conservation area. The sudden change of land use at Gonarezhou, without
consulting the other signatories of the agreement, is likely to scuttle the
setting up of a vast game park which includes Gazaland in Mozambique and the
Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Masvingo governor Josiah Hungwe yesterday confirmed the
resettling of people in the park but was quick to say that animals and humans
will not be living side by side. When asked when people would be moved into
Gonarezhou and how they would cohabit with the animals he said: "Vanhu vatovako
iyezvi so (People have already started to build). "There is 11 000 hectares of
land available so people can all fit well. It’s not that we have taken the whole
park area but what we have done is to acquire land which is just adjacent to the
park area," he said.
However, the governor’s claim that the land taken is "adjacent"
to the park is at variance with reports from the National Parks department and
Agritex. In a letter to National Parks acting director Brigadier Epmarcus
Kanhanga headed "Occupation of Guluji Area of Gonarezhou National Park for
Settlement", dated May 9, a senior National Parks provincial officer clearly
states that the land being acquired is within the national park. "I spoke to the
District Administrator of Chiredzi, Mr Sanjovo, yesterday (sic), 7 May 2001, as
the chairman of Fast Track Land Committee for Chiredzi District about the above
issue," the letter says. "The District Administrator confirmed that the exercise
of settling people in Gonarezhou National Park started last week after the area
was pegged and would be through by the 9th of May 2001."
"The Agritex District Officer for Chiredzi also confirmed that
he sent two teams who did the pegging and that the plots were being allocated to
people but so far the people had not yet settled but were making preparations
for settling in the park. The Agritex Officer stated that his teams pegged some
520 plots but the area had capacity to take 750 settlers. He said grazing area
is being planned. The total area for resettlement is 11 000 hectares. Cattle are
being grazed daily inside the park. The numbers are never less than 500 in the
park per day. The cattle fence has been put down allowing free movement of
cattle in and outside the park," the letter says. The acting director for
Research in the Department of National Parks, Vitalis Chadenga, confirmed having
received reports of people moving into Gonarezhou. He expressed concern that
this would derail the Trans-frontier agreement. "We have had reports of people
moving there (Gonarezhou) but this is really unfortunate on the Zimbabwean side
as this is most likely affect the Transfrontier agreement," he said.
The movement of people in the park area has raised concerns
among Parks board members who visited the area last Saturday to assess the
damage which has so far been done to the environment. The villagers moving into
the game area, mostly from Chief Chitsa’s area, have destroyed game fences and
some estimates suggest more than 1 000 cattle are being moved into the area
every day. The movement of cattle into the area is likely to expose some of them
to foot-and-mouth disease as the park contains buffalo. The settling of people
in the park stems from a meeting which was held at Senuko Lodge in Save
Conservancy on March 2 this year. This meeting was followed up by another one on
April 7 when it was decided that the park would be resettled, sources close to
the move said.
Minister of Environment Francis Nhema dismissed Governor
Hungwe’s statement as misleading. "There is nothing like that. What has happened
is that some cattle strayed into the park but our guys from Parks are working on
that," said Nhema "There are no people physically within the park at all. He
wants to politicise the issue. I do not know why he is making such a statement.
The governor does not know the implications of such a statement. Imagine (if) he
was talking to an international journalist, then claims he was misquoted." Nhema
said his ministry was working on the problem.
