• Lifeline offered to Zimbabweans
• JAG Open Letters Forum No. 185
• Zimbabwe labour union intensifies mass action
• Zimbabwe armed rebel group 'thousands strong'
• From colony to civil war: lecture explores the history of Zimbabwe
• Amnesty International director speaks on humanitarian action in Africa
• The price of Zimbabwe's collapse for the rest of Africa
• Reminder and update WOZA street prayer 15 November
• Zimbabwe problems worsen - Commonwealth sec-gen
• 'Commonwealth must consult on Zimbabwe'
• FAO warns threat of animal diseases epidemic
• Utete Land Report: the Details (Part 17)
• Lunatics, or dirty tricks?
• Zim land grab turns sour

New Zealand Herald

Anthea and Allan Bradley with Mitchell (left, 8) and Luke (10). Picture / Warren Buckland Lifeline offered to Zimbabweans 15.11.2003 By ELINORE WELLWOOD About 2500 Zimbabweans who have fled to New Zealand face an uncertain future as their permits near expiry. Many have 11 weeks left. But yesterday, Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel hinted that they may be allowed to stay permanently. "If I was to give an indication, I would like to propose a work-to-residency solution," she said. Since February, the Immigration Service has given out hundreds of one-year work permits or student visas to Zimbabweans. Many were forced from their farms by President Robert Mugabe's land reforms, through which white farmers have lost property to landless blacks. Many either became illegal overstayers here or tried to stay on visitors' or temporary work permits before getting the one-year reprieve. Yesterday, Ms Dalziel said officials were working on the problem, but no proposals had yet been taken to the Cabinet. She pledged, however, that no one would be kicked out when hisor her one-year permit expired. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the fact that the Zimbabweans were here at all showed immigration policies were too lax. "We've got to be the world's softest touch if 2500 people just come steaming in and can stay here. Why didn't they go to Australia? Why didn't they go to Canada or the UK?" But Ms Dalziel said giving them work permits meant few claims for refugee status. Many qualified to enter under existing work-permit rules and had links to New Zealand. Allowing them to stay permanently would mean Zimbabweans could qualify to live here under the general skills category. Automatic residency could not be granted because of security concerns. Last year, the Government investigated claims that three black supporters of President Mugabe threatened an exiled white farmer in a queue at an Auckland Immigration Service office. Fear of Mr Mugabe's spies in New Zealand is keeping many silent. A black Zimbabwean who agreed to tell his story, on condition he was not named, spoke of his fears for family left at home. In March, he fled what he claimed was a future of torture and fear. Fellow pro-democracy activists told him New Zealand was the last country in the world that would let him in without a visa, he said. Another man, tobacco farmer Allan Bradley, arrived in Hawkes Bay with his family, and a bullet in his lung. He got out after the leader of a gang of "settlers" shot him and authorities forced him off his farm. He said the gunman then moved into his house. He said Ms Dalziel told the family in a letter that she did not normally interfere in work-permit or residency applications. "But in our case she made an exception and will instruct the immigration department to give us a two-year work permit." The letter said that if the family supported themselves, stayed out of trouble and integrated into the community, they could apply for residency. Mr Bradley is now a factory night-shift supervisor.

By Mike Massey
On Thursday, November 11, the Black Studies Program and the Department of
Political Science sponsored a lecture on the civil war in Zimbabwe in Moore
Hall. The moderator was Dr. Julius Nyang'oro.

The lecture began with Nyang'oro theory regarding the instability of African
nations following revolutions and government changes. "In post-revolutionary
Africa," Nyang'oro said, "...you are bound to have serious conflict with the
first generation of revolutionaries. It takes a while for conflicts to work
their way out through political exchange."

"It was a very interesting theory," said Dr. Deirdre Bird, Assistant
Professor of Marketing at PC. Dr. Bird was born in the African nation,
Rhodesia, and lived there for 22 years. She also lived in South Africa for
10 years. "The theory also holds for a lot of conflict globally. It's taken
centuries for conflicts to work out in Europe," she said.

Nyang'oro explained that because many of the civil conflicts in Africa were
stopped before a deciding winner could be determined, contrasting viewpoints
and bad blood still remain. In the case of Zimbabwe, that country is "a
reflection of the non-resolution of revolutionary problems," Nyang'oro said.

Following a civil war that lasted for much of the 1970s, Robert Mugabe, the
former leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), came to power
as the nation's president. The main purpose of the war was to regain the
land taken away from the blacks by British Colonizers, and for the most
part, according to Nyang'oro, Mugabe lived up to his promises.

"President Mugabe was seen as a smart leader when other [African]
governments were reeling from other crises," Nyang'oro said.

During the 1980's, Zimbabwe enjoyed a robust economy and steady agriculture.
These would mask to the world the increasing conflict taking place inside
the nation.

"Mugabe resolved that whites would run the economy and [Mugabe] would run
politics so he could crush his opponents," Nyang'oro. It was this neglect
for the economy that led to massive hyperinflation and famine as crops
failed to yield acceptable harvests.

"For outsiders, the conflict seemed contradictory," Nyang'oro continued.
"Zimbabwe was seen as a haven...other African countries were filled with
turmoil. Zimbabwe was filled with turmoil and intellectuals."

Zimbabwe's main problem today is its lack of stable currency. The inflation
rate is 1000%. In 1994, one American dollar equaled six or seven Zimbabwean
dollars. As of July 1, 2003, one American dollar was equal to 4,500
Zimbabwean dollars. [Zimbabwe] went from being a breadbasket to a basket
case," said Bird.

"Zimbabwe doesn't have its own paper, so it can't print money," said
Nyang'oro. "Hoarding the currency is the smartest thing because no one else
has money...then you can actually purchase things."

To make matters worse, the 2000-2001 harvest yielded hardly any returns at
all and the country faces starvation on a massive scale. "The agriculture
system will take years to rebound," said Bird. "Commercial farms have been
allowed to collapse...the infrastructure must be rebuilt."

March 2003, saw the most recent presidential elections in Zimbabwe, in which
Robert Mugabe was re-elected amid corruption charges. "The U.S. government
does not recognize Mugabe," Nyang'oro continued. The United States has
imposed "smart sanctions" on Mugabe in an attempt to force him to relinquish
power. An example of these sanctions may be freezing of his overseas
accounts so he cannot travel outside of Zimbabwe. "...Put him in a
box...Make life uncomfortable..." Nyang'oro said, describing the sanctions.

Towards the end of the lecture, Nyang'oro looked to the future and described
what may be necessary for Zimbabwe to accomplish to pull itself out of the
current quagmire it is now in. "They lack international legiti-macy...the
[European Union] has pledged money..." said Nyang'oro. But why haven't these
nations done anything yet?

"President Mugabe has to go," said Bird. "[Mugabe] must step down or the
country will boil over and the end will be ghastly...I think the Zimbabwean
people have the skill to set up a government themselves...they can rebuild
the economic base."

The Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International, Joshua Rubenstein,
spoke Wednesday night about current human rights injustices in Africa.

The talk, titled "Human Rights Challenges in Africa: An Amnesty
International Perspective," was intended to create awareness of abuses in
Africa and to explain Amnesty International's work to prevent and stop these
crises.

Rubenstein, who has been the Northeast Regional Director for 28 years,
discussed the atrocities performed by vicious dictators, the prevalence of
HIV and AIDS, and the raging civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Rubenstein said many Americans are either unaware of or know little about
human rights problems in Africa.

In the 1970s, he said, many Americans focused on southern African issues
while Amnesty International worked to document abuse and atrocities in other
African countries.

"The human rights abuses and the nature of the governments in sub-Saharan
Africa were often ignored by America," he said. "People didn't realize the
scale of the killing going on there. We believe that as many as half a
million people were killed in Uganda alone."

Rubenstein discussed the horrible atrocities committed by African
governments and dictators.

"Amnesty's work has always included Africa, not only South Africa and
Zimbabwe that have black minority regimes, but the behavior of black
governments towards their own citizens," he said.

Issues of impunity affect many African countries, he said, and Amnesty is
dealing with those issues now.

Rubenstein also discussed the AIDS virus as a disease scourging the entire
continent of Africa.

"One in four Africans are HIV positive," he said. "It has an enormous impact
on ill people and children."

Amnesty International attempts to protect activists who work on many issues,
including AIDS, from reprisals in their own societies.

In discussing these issues Rubenstein responded to the myth that Amnesty
International only deals with individual cases of injustice.

"It is true that most people see our work as focusing on individual cases.
That has always captured the imagination of our own members and the public,"
he said. "We do know of individual cases and we will campaign for them, but
we also campaign, report and document the broader issues."

Rubenstein talked about Amnesty International's role in preventing and
stopping human rights injustices worldwide but acknowledged the limited
ability of Amnesty to end conflicts.

"We don't have helicopters and we don't have a standing army to send to
areas of conflict," he said. "I don't want to claim that the human rights
organizations deserve kudos for stopping conflicts. We never pretended to
have that capacity. There are some aspects of these conflicts, though, where
we do have influence and can make a difference."

Amnesty responds to many issues by raising consciousness through
campaigning, petitioning and letter writing to government officials.

The talk included an "Action-Discussion" intended to give attendees the
chance to discuss and become involved in the actions to resolve these
issues.

A small group of about 30 people attended the discussion. Many people were
members of Amnesty International's Northampton group. Attendees expressed
their opinions on issues including the genocide in Rwanda and the prevalence
of female genital mutilation in many African societies.

Amnesty international was formed by British lawyer Peter Beneson in 1961.
According to the organization's website, the group now has more than one
million members, subscribers, and donors in more than 140 countries. Amnesty
International's research and action to prevent human rights violations
worldwide is funded by donations of its members, the public and
organizations.

Ralph Faulkingham, a professor of anthropology at University of
Massachusetts and member of the Five Colleges African Studies Council,
moderated the talk.

Western Massachusetts Amnesty International and the Five Colleges African
Studies Council sponsored the talk and discussion.

The price of Zimbabwe's collapse for the rest of Africa
Reuters

Are the Brothers M still holding hands?

Get article background

WHEN Zimbabwe's despotic president, Robert Mugabe, finally leaves office, a
shattered country will have to be rebuilt. His economy is the world's
fastest-collapsing; its GDP has shrunk for four years in a row. Donors say
they will be ready again to offer help once there is change. But what of the
damage Zimbabwe has caused in the rest of the region?

Recently in Johannesburg, Don McKinnon, secretary-general of the
Commonwealth, called attention to just that. Most obvious is the exodus:
once 14.5m-strong, Zimbabwe now has nearer 11m people. “South Africa's
[President] Thabo Mbeki tells me there are 3m Zimbabweans in his country,
[President] Joaquim Chissano says 300,000 are in Mozambique, Botswana has
perhaps 200,000 and repatriates 2,000 a day,” he said. Britain may host as
many as 250,000.

Botswana is building a fence along its border to keep out both cattle
infested with foot-and-mouth disease, and unwelcome human migrants. A
detention centre in Francistown, on the same border, is bulging. Every few
weeks, trains from South Africa disgorge thousands of Zimbabweans sent back
home at the Beit Bridge border crossing. Some African leaders have told Mr
McKinnon in private that Zimbabwe's troubles are scaring investors away from
southern Africa as a whole.

A study by a South African economist, Mike Schussler, concluded that
Zimbabwe's slump cost the region at least $2.6 billion in lost economic
activity between 2000 and 2002, most of it in South Africa. Much of that was
due to cancelled exports and the failure of Zimbabweans to pay for goods and
services, such as electricity, exported from South Africa. A volatile South
African rand, which collapsed against the dollar in 2001 and then recovered
last year and this, was also partly blamed on uncertainty in Zimbabwe.

It is hard to gauge the damage done by lost investment and trade. But in
some places it is plain. Central Mozambique's economy once relied on trade
with, and transport receipts from, landlocked Zimbabwe. It now fares
dismally compared with flourishing southern Mozambique, although Mr Chissano
says hopefully that 60 white Zimbabwean farmers will soon start farming
there. Zimbabwe used to have a grain surplus, which kept the region's price
of food low; now it is a net importer—and for two years maize prices have
soared across southern Africa, hurting the poor terribly.

It is harder to judge how much Zimbabwe's plight has hurt tourism in the
region. While Zimbabwe's side of Victoria Falls is becoming tatty and
neglected, the Zambian side and the town of Livingstone are prospering from
diverted visitors. South Africa's tourist industry has not been hurt: last
year's turnover was 20% up on 2001.

If the economics are hard to measure, what of the politics? Mr McKinnon and
other observers put Africa into at least three camps over Zimbabwe; the
splits may become plainer next month, when Commonwealth leaders meet in
Nigeria.

One group, led by Zimbabwe and its closest allies, such as Namibia, Congo
and Libya, oppose any outside interference. Some of them want to boot Mr
McKinnon out of his job. A second group, including Botswana, Ghana, Kenya
and possibly Nigeria, is more outspoken. It may quietly seek to have
Zimbabwe suspended from the body. Mr McKinnon says that “most African
leaders want to see change take place and have said something negative about
Zimbabwe”.

But most African countries, led by South Africa, dither between private
criticism of Zimbabwe and support for Mr Mugabe, albeit sometimes lukewarm,
in public. They want Zimbabwe back in the Commonwealth and may favour Mr
McKinnon's sacking. Even the closure of Zimbabwe's free press, murderous
rampages by Mr Mugabe's youth militia, and the arrest of the opposition
leader on trumped-up charges have drawn no public criticism from South
Africa, though ministers say privately that they are horrified and claim to
have told Mr Mugabe so. On October 29th, Walter Kansteiner, the American
administration's outgoing top Africa man, said that southern Africa's
leaders had been too slow to recognise the difficulties Zimbabwe has been
causing them. That's putting it politely.

The Herald (Harare)

November 14, 2003
Posted to the web November 14, 2003

Harare

This is Seventeenth part in a series of articles on the details of the Land
Report presented to President Mugabe by the Presidential Land Review
Committee chaired by Dr Charles Utete.

9. GENERAL AND OVERARCHING ISSUES:

Planning for Transformation of Zimbabwe's Agriculture

Reform of Key Institutions of Government involved in Agriculture and Water
Resource Development and Management

The Gender Dimension of Agrarian Change and Reform

Farm Sizes and Review of the Resettlement Models

Cost Recovery Issues

Legal Issues that arise from the Fast Track

Information Management

i) Planning For the Transformation of Zimbabwe's Agriculture

Introduction

The process of transforming Zimbabwe's agriculture, following the completion
of the Fast Track land reform programme, will involve a greater reliance on
efficient input and output delivery systems and a smooth integration of
agriculture with other sectors of the domestic, regional and international
economy. Agricultural transformation will not occur in the absence of
sustainable productivity growth in agriculture. Such growth will depend on
the successful development of key partnerships and alliances between
government and private stakeholder groups, strong institutional
arrangements, research and developments, market linkages and human capacity.
Planning for the transformation of Zimbabwe's agriculture should address the
following issues: What are the basic elements and pillars for moving
agriculture forward? What policy lessons have been learnt from previous
experience with reforms and the Fast Track that have brought about a
broad-based agricultural system, and what must be done differently from the
past?

Strategic Goals for the Agricultural Sector

The strategic goals for the agricul- tural sector can be collapsed into
three namely:

l The need to ensure food self-sufficiency and food security at all times
through adequate production of staple food crops in particular maize, wheat,
sorghum, millets, oil seeds, livestock, fruit and vegetables;

l The need to profitably generate adequate foreign exchange earnings through
the production of exportable commodities in which Zimbabwe has demonstrated
its comparative advantage, mainly sugar, cotton, citrus, horticulture, beef,
tobacco, paprika, soya beans and groundnuts; and

l The need to stimulate the manufacturing sector through effective demand
for factors of production (seed, fertiliser, machinery chemicals, irrigation
equipment), and providing raw materials for the industrial sector (milling,
processing, packaging, retailing)

Pillars For Agricultural Transformation

The rapid transformation of the agricultural sector will hinge upon the
following five pillars:-

l Institutional Framework for Agricul-tural Service Province;

l Human Capacity and Skills Develop-ment;

l Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer;

l Agricultural Inputs and Financial Services; and

l Domestic and International Markets for Agricultural Product.

Under each pillar there are various instruments and policy strategies and
key result areas as explained in the next sections, and as summarised in
Figure 1.

1. Institutional Framework For Transform-ing Agriculture

For agricultural transformation to work, the starting point is to clearly
re-define the structures, strengths and capacities of key public
institutions responsible for agriculture, particularly in areas of skills
development, land, water, research and extension, policy analysis and
information management, strategic planning and monitoring and evaluation.
Good policies and programmes can become totally ineffective if the public
institutions that implement them do not function properly or are
disconnected. Existing public institutions: Ministries, Parastatals and
other Government agencies need to be restructured (GMB and ARDA) and new
institutions created (Agricultural Development Bank, Agriculture Marketing
council, Irrigation, Engineering and Agricultural Mechanisation Department)
in order to effectively execute a comprehensive plan for the agricultural
sector. The small-holder green revolution that occurred in Zimbabwe between
1980 and 1986 due to heavy Government involvement in infrastructure
development and input support services is a clear demonstration that
sustained public investment in the supply-side of agriculture through
institutional capacity development is a critical ingredient for agricultural
transformation.

Private and Producer-Based Organisa-tions

In cases where the development and transformation of the agricultural sector
results in the expansion of markets and increased demand for service
delivery functions beyond what the Government can provide on its own,
producer and community-based organisations, together with the private
sector, have an important role to play in providing basic linkages between
farmers, business (food processors, manufacturers, traders) and research
organisations. Properly functioning producer-based organisations can help to
increase farmer's access to extension, inputs and financial services, and
facilitate greater participation of the rural community in decision making.
Current farming organisations in Zimbabwe need to move away from their old
structures which were based on racial and sectional lines, and which have
been discredited because of their poor performance (African Farmers Unions)
and their appetite for misrepresenting national policy issues (CFU) to ones
that are more professional and commodity-oriented, and which are
economically viable, self-sustaining, transparent and responsive to the
needs of all farmers combined. Government will still need to assist them in
developing business and management skills, establishing information systems
and creating good governance practices and an appropriate legal and
financing framework for such organisations. In the interim Government must
insist on dealing only with one unified structure for the agricultural
industry.

A national framework for promoting private-public sector partnership in all
areas of activity (research, extension, land, irrigation, marketing, and
trade) will be a key essential element in the implementation of Zimbabwe's
agricultural sector. This point is further highlighted below.

In summary, the institutional framework for transforming Zimbabwe's
agriculture should include revamping the structures and operations of
present public institutions, creating new ones where feasible, and fostering
public-private partnership in the delivery of essential services. What must
be done differently is that in facilitating the role of the private sector,
which stands to benefit tremendously from the opportunities created by the
Programme, government must be unequivocal in demanding that certain
conditions be met by private companies in return for their privilege of
doing business in the country. Such conditions for example, should include
expanding depots and distribution centres for seed and fertiliser to rural
areas and providing training and skills development for new farmers in
return for the import/export permits and registration licences which they
get to undertake lucrative businesses in the agricultural sector. The kind
of demand-driven and participatory development needed for the transformation
process may require effective devolution of many planning and implementation
activities to the local level. This requires stronger local Government and
community organisations so as to allow central Government to empower them
and transfer resources to these organisations (especially for the upkeep of
rural infrastructure and management of natural resources).

2. Human Capacity and Skills Development

The development of human capital is critical for achieving agricultural
growth. Zimbabwe is endowed with human skills at all levels that are the
envy of many, and yet these skills are either not fully utilised or
sufficiently motivated. Staff members involved in development sectors will
need to show a greater sense of commitment and a willingness and ability to
adequately communicate and correctly articulate the common vision and
strategy of the agricultural sector. Effective public institutions require
an adequate supply of trained people, including agricultural policy
advisors, agricultural research and extension workers, business managers and
financial and computer experts. Such training programmes should take into
account the effects of HIV/Aids, ageing and low salaries and morale within
public institutions that may continue to contribute to chronic staff
shortages.

Human capacity training should also be biased in favour of women who play a
key role in agriculture as farmers, entrepreneurs and nutritionists. They
should have greater opportunities in terms of access to inputs and
labour-saving technologies, land ownership information and extension
services and education.

An accelerated skills development and farmer training programme will be an
essential part o the plan. Training centre should be spread out country-wide
and allow various public, private, NGO and individual experts to bid for
running courses for farmers and farm labour, with AREX and the National
Farmer Training Board of the Ministry of Agriculture designing and
supervising the training modules.

In order to close the skills gap created by the movement of professional
staff from public to private companies in search of higher salaries, there
is need for a partnership agreement for subcontracting services, which must
be pursued urgently. While efforts are being made to narrow the gap and
retain the remaining staff, development services must continue to be made
available without compromising quality through well supervised sharing of
responsibilities with the private sector.

3. Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer

Perhaps the single most important driving force for Zimbabwe's agricultural
transformation will be the generation of new crop and livestock varieties
through research and the transfer and adaptation of those technological
packages through technical service provision, extension, training and on
farm demonstrations. The steps taken by the Ministry of Agriculture to
combine research and extension under one roof has significant advantages of
economies of scale through de-compartmentalisation and closer linkages for
speedy delivery, provided the combination does not compromise one in favour
of the other. The generation of new varieties and regulatory aspects of crop
production must be properly balanced with delivery of extension services.
The starting point for AREX is to agree on production targets for individual
crops that should be decentralised and used a s a basis for assessing the
performance of the transformation process on a seasonal basis. Commodity
specialists at both the nation land district levels will play a critical
role in gathering information and compiling appropriate research and
extension packages. These must be held accountable for national yields and
annual productivity gains. For example the average yield per hectare of
maize in this country has hardly shifted since the early 1980's and
particularly since 1985 when yields in communal areas peaked. Communal area
yields of sorghum, cotton, and groundnuts also remain essentially unchanged.

Lunatics, or dirty tricks?

A small sample of the London press corps was yesterday treated to a
production of downmarket melodrama, as the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement
launched it's inaugural video onto a hitherto unsuspecting world. The MTV
awards this wasn't. A camera which didn't move from its tripod, an
off-screen interviewer, and two actors so wooden they had more grain than
the pictures, this low-budget presentation was reminiscent of 1970's footage
from the steamier sort of Latin American banana republic. Several of the
assembled hacks were heard stifling giggles as ZFM's National Commander,
Charles Black Mamba and Ntuthuko Fezela, the group’s Deputy National
Commander, outlined their strategy in electronically distorted voices. ZFM -
the name suggests a radio station rather than a liberation movement - would
attempt to "take Mugabe alive".

The scene was dripping with tacky symbolism. The two commanders, in military
fatigues and ski-mask balaclavas, with Mr Mamba sporting a rather fetching
beret, sat side-by-side on benches which appeared to have been ripped from
one of Harare's commuter taxis. The flag behind the two goggled-eyed
characters had been doctored. The Zimbabwe bird floated alone in the white
triangle, searching forlornly for the red star which seemed to have slipped
off the standard. Other pictures show ZFM's "arms dump", which consists
mostly of stacked ammunition boxes and half-a-dozen superannuated rifles.
They really should find a new PR consultant. Speaking of which, the show was
compered by Peter Tatchell - world-renowned self-publicist, gay rights
activist, and now rebel group impresario - who stressed that he was not
involved with the organisation "in any way", but was solely a facilitator,
bringing it's message to the world. He did manage to find a half-decent
venue - the Institute of Contemporary Arts on The Mall between Admiralty
Arch and Buckingham Palace. Never has an African coup been launched from so
salubrious a postcode.

ZFM have a website. The address - www.zfm.cc - indicates that it is
registered in the Cocos Islands (population 630). Is this an unintended
consequence of global warming? Are a group of Indian Ocean islanders
plotting to take over Zimbabwe before their home disappears below the waves?
The Cocos Islands are an Australian territory. Is the combination of rising
damp and direct rule from Canberra proving too much? Do they see their
future with well-known anti-Australians in southern Africa? The islanders
have 287 working telephones, one radio station, no TV station, and no
railway. They would feel at home in Zimbabwe. Or could it be that ZFM's
website was registered as .cc because .com, .org and .net were already
taken. Whatever; they appear to have had some small help with their site,
which so far features "Communiqué 1" and a couple of photos, from a web
design company in less-than-exotic North London.

If ZFM are who they say they are, why have they talked the talk before
walking the walk. Most "rebel" groups at least have the tactical foresight
to take a couple of hostages, or blow up a few telephone poles, before
presenting themselves to the world. So far, so ludicrous. But in Zimbabwe
this may play, not as farce, but as tragedy. For this drivel is the answer
to J Moyo's dreams. Here, on one video cassette, are all the visions of his
paranoid mind. A "gay gangster" - once memorably described by Mugabe as
British minister Peter Hain's "husband" - is seen associating himself with
promises of violent revolution, in the centre of British imperialism. Moyo
has been spouting this kind of rubbish week after month after year, and
suddenly the strands of "evidence", like London buses, all conveniently
arrive together. Perhaps this is not so much the answer to Jonathan's
dreams, as the product of them. This will go down like iced-beer with Moyo's
friends in Africa and betond who, of course, suspected it all along. And
don't bet against more ransacking of offices, more mass arrests, more
treason charges, more draconian laws - on the pretext of this ridiculous
film.

Zim land grab turns sour

Chris Anold Msipa

Harare - The "fast-track" land grab and resettlement the Zimbabwean
government claims to have completed "successfully" has been described as one
huge national scandal. "What the world is hearing or reading differs greatly
from the reality on the ground, especially when it comes to who benefited
from the programme. No Zimbabwean is against land redistribution, but the
manner in which it has been handled is not right," says a retired
accountant, who only gives his name as Nyani. His comment comes amid reports
of fresh confusion and clashes on the farms, where senior government
officials and politicians from the ruling Zanu PF are displacing peasants
and ex-combatants of Zimbabwe's liberation war resettled during the
controversial exercise. Three years ago it was the poor blacks against
whites in the fight for farms. The tables have now turned, as the rich
blacks have descended on the peasants. The former guerrillas, who led the
initial invasions in 2000, are threatening retaliation. Endy Mhlanga,
secretary general of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans' Association,
says: "Comrades [ex-combatants] are now being moved off the land they
seized, to make way for some civilians, who, at that time, distanced
themselves from the jambanja [the violent seizure of the land]." His group
is inviting all former guerrillas who have been displaced from their new
land to report to the association. "We are prepared to fight," Mhlanga says,
but adding, "As an association, we are in the same line with the party [Zanu
PF] and the government. "We have discovered a lot of abnormalities in the
scheme. We respect the president [Robert Mugabe] and cannot reveal the
information until we brief him. He can later tell whoever else he wants ...
we just don't want to wash our dirty linen in public." Mhlanga says some
incidents are already public knowledge, like the eviction of five disabled
ex-combatants from a farm in Beatrice, near the capital, Harare. The
property has been taken over by the wife of a late member of Parliament.

Three months ago police set ablaze 1 000 homes during an early-morning raid
at Windcrest Farm in the south-eastern region of Masvingo, ordering the
original invaders to return to their former communal homes and make way for
a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official. The families were allotted the plots
in 2001 under the so-called "fast-track" land resettlement programme.
Hundreds of other settlers have a pending case with the authorities over
Little England Farm in the western Zvimba district, home of Mugabe. His late
nephew's wife and about 70 other people have been selected to take over the
6 000ha farm. The evicted families have been resisting the move. "These
people and the war veterans were used to grab the farms. Now they are being
forced to join hundreds of stranded former farm workers who lost their jobs
and homes in the land invasions," says a traditional leader in the district.
The elder, who prefers anonymity for fear of reprisal, says the land issue
is "a headache. There are too many scandals involving very senior [Zanu PF]
party and government officials. Some of them are even selling the farms to
aspiring settlers. They are demanding bribes." About a million farm workers
lost their jobs when Mugabe's government seized land from 4 500 white
farmers between 2000 and 2002, according to human rights groups. Multiple
farm ownership is another problem bedevilling the controversial land-reform
programme in Zimbabwe, amid reports that some Cabinet ministers have
properties registered, in some cases, in the names of their children. Mugabe
in July ordered senior officials who had seized more than one farm to
surrender all and remain with one, under his "One Man One Farm Policy",
which seems to have been ignored so far. However, Zanu PF national
chairperson John Nkomo is quoted as saying that about 60 000ha of land have
been returned. But he neither mentions names nor any action likely to be
taken against those who returned the farms.

Bright Garikai Mombeshora, a commentator on agricultural issues, says while
the disturbances on the farms continue, they are also laying the foundation
for more difficulties ahead if the state does not come up with clear
guidelines. "The fundamental problem regarding the agricultural sector at
the moment is the direction the government wants to take. It doesn't seem to
have a clear policy as to how it wants it to develop," he says. Mombeshora
says there was no need to destroy an already-established infrastructure by
white farmers to institute a land-reform programme. The authorities should
have employed simple approaches like collecting the names and number of
people interested in land and the size of areas needed to cater for them,
without removing existing producers. He says financial institutions that
were dealing with the commercial farming sector before the invasions also
need clarity on who will settle the debts and other transactions left behind
by the evicted white farmers.

Ex-combatants in 2000 reportedly defied orders by Vice-President Joseph
Msika, the then interior minister John Nkomo and the Minister of Agriculture
Joseph Made not to seize farms. Mugabe was out of the country when the noise
began. On his return he quickly declared the illegal occupations as a
"demonstration" against unfair distribution of land, and barred forcible
eviction of the invaders, plunging the country into chaos and sparking
shortages of food, fuel and other essential commodities. But Mugabe needed
support from war veterans and rural masses ahead of last year's presidential
poll. The government says persistent drought has frustrated production,
especially of crops, in parts of the country. It does not explain the
reduction in irrigation activities on the seized farms, where there are
reports of massive looting and vandalising of equipment, either by former
farm workers or the new settlers. The looted equipment is reportedly resold
cheaply. A report by a team of retired senior civil servants - appointed by
Mugabe this year to review the resettlement exercise -- says whites now hold
3% of the country's arable land. Before the invasion, they used to own 30%,
or 11-million hectares. While the state claims to have resettled 300 000
families, the study shows only 127 200 benefited from the exercise. Many of
the farmers who fled their properties with their workers have either crossed
into neighbouring Zambia or Mozambique. Others are renting houses in the
cities, awaiting the outcome of petitions against their evictions. Some Zanu
PF officials say they expect Mugabe, in office since independence from
Britain in 1980, to announce his retirement plans next month at the party's
annual conference. The civil servants report, they say, supports Mugabe's
claim of successfully returning land to its rightful owners, one of the
major conditions he set before he steps down.