COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION
Farm Invasions And Security
Report
Thursday 25 April 2002
The CFU has been plagued by a mass mailing virus for
nearly a week. Our apologies for the late sitrep, but we wish to make sure that
recipients are not affected by the W32Klez virus. We hope you bear with us
whilst we try sort out the problem.
This report does not purport to cover all the incidents
that are taking place in the commercial farming areas. Communication problems
and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting all that happens.
Farmers names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to minimise the risk of
reprisals.
NATIONAL REPORT IN
BRIEF
- Horseshoe - "War vets" and settlers on Nyamsewe and Rungudzi, have taken
possession of the owner's tractors, lorries and other equipment and are using
them as they please.
- Selous - at Strathmore, on which Pamuzinda Safari Lodge operates, Air Vice
Marshall Muchena demanded the owner stop all operations, and cancel all Safari
Lodge bookings (fully booked for the next two weeks) immediately. He also
visited Serui Drift and demanded the owner stop all operations. He left 6 armed
guards at the entrance to Serui Drift to ensure that no equipment or movables
are removed from the property.
- Matabeleland, Mashonaland East and Masvingo report numerous incidents
throughout the region, indicating an escalation of activity.
REGIONAL NEWS
MANICALAND
Nothing to
report.
MASHONALAND CENTRAL
Bindura - The owner of Guitingwood
Farm was ordered to leave his farm on 21.04.02. The farm has a Section 5 notice.
The Police were contacted but as yet no response has been forthcoming.
Centenary - On 20.04.02 Cloudy River Farm was invaded by
"war vets" who ordered the owner to leave. They camped on his veranda and began
cooking a meal saying that he had to be off the farm by that same
afternoon.
Mazowe - On 18.04.02, 25 "war vets" arrived and
cut down two trees, which they placed across the gates on Warmingham Farm
barricading the owner inside his home until the next day. The "war vets"
demanded to see the owner’s copy of the Section 8 Order and told him to vacate
his property on expiration of the Section 8 Order. The owner of Normandale Farm
attempted to send a truckload of irrigation pipes to Harare for safety. The
vehicle was turned back at Mazowe by the Police who instructed they be returned
to the farm. Upon enquiry the owner was told that the Police had received a
"directive" to stop all agricultural machinery and livestock from being moved
off any farm.
Horseshoe - The owner of Mangondo Farm sent
his truck loaded with irrigation pipes to Harare for safety. It too was turned
back at Mazowe by the Police, who, on being questioned as to what law prevented
a farmer from re-locating his equipment, was told they had received a directive
to do so. "War vets" and settlers on Nyamsewe and Rungudzi, have taken
possession of the owner's tractors, lorries and other equipment and are using
them as they please. On 18.04.02, three members of the Presidents' office
arrived in Horseshoe and announced that for the next two weeks no farmer would
be allowed to remove any agricultural equipment or livestock from their farms.
After that "they would receive further instructions." On 24.04.02, the owner of
Makombe reported he had succeeded in having the Glens removal truck released
from the farm, but the "war vets" still refused to let his own lorry leave.
There are no further developments in this area and some outstanding issues await
the return of the Bindura DA.
Mvurwi - Several farmers have
been issued Section 8 Orders and Sections 7 Notices. These are:
Vukwe Farm -
Section 7, Ruia - Section 8 on one section of the farm and a Section 7 on
another, Norver Farm - Section 8, Coolderry - Section 8, and Barrock - Section
7.
MASHONALAND EAST
19 April 2002
Beatrice
- The owner of Nengwa farm was visited by "war vets" who initially
wanted him off the farm immediately, but after negotiations, he was given until
23.04.02 to get off. He was told he is not to remove any irrigation pipes or
tractors. The Victory Farm owner has had one beef cow from Alamein Farm for the
last couple of months. The "war vets" living on Alamein Farm asked him to kill
the cow for them, which he refused, so they slaughtered it themselves and took
it away with a tractor and trailer. At Eden Farm A earlier this week, seven men
arrived in an old Peugeot 404 at the rondavels. One man, dressed in camouflage,
identified himself as Sibanda from Bulawayo. He presented the owner with a fake
eviction notice instructing him to leave within 24 hours, which he did. It
would appear these are the same men who went to Alicedale West and Talana
Farm. Nebo Farm confirms a CZ75 pistol is missing from the manager's
residence. The pistol/magazine and ammo was accidentally left behind when they
vacated the property the first weekend of March. Shortly after that, the house
was broken into and ransacked and pistol is presumed to be have been stolen
then. ZRP are investigating this as a housebreaking and theft case. Some
property has been recovered; mostly clothing found on neighbouring Dorananga
Farm. Clothing and a green mountain bike still outstanding.
Macheke
– at Royal Visit, drunken "war vets" /settlers asked for money for
Independence. The owner referred them to the Murehwa DA who has received money
from the Farmers’ Association. The Two Streams "war vets" are unhappy with the
allocation of farm workers with regard to the Independence celebrations. Koodoo
Range reports workers, who loaded cattle on to two lorries for transfer, were
forced to unload them. No reason was given, all paperwork was in order and "war
vets" were aware of the move. The "war vets" kept the movement permit. Soft Farm
had Agritex pegging for A2 resettlement. Journey's End had Agritex assessing
the farm for A2. The Springdale owner was stopped moving irrigation pipes to
Harare for use on his smallholding. The police impounded the pipes and lorries
and later escorted the lorries back to the farm. The Welcome Home Farm owner is
away. 15 settlers arrived and said it now belongs to them. The settlers would
not allow the neighbour on to the farm. They then asked the neighbour for
mealie-meal. He refused, citing no stocks as his reason.
Marondera
South - Monte Christo received a message from settlers to vacate
immediately, and that all farming equipment is now theirs. Igava Farm reports
the settlers want all farming equipment removed from Igava to Gorajenna Farm
returned immediately "for safe keeping". The owner was off the farm his wife and
daughter were told to evacuate their homes, with no help allowed and no lorries
could enter the premises. The daughter was later told she had 30 minutes to get
out. She tried to bargain with them and in the end they said she could have
neighbours and lorries to help as long as she got out within the hour. It has
not yet been established whether the owners were able to go back to grade and
reap the rest of the tobacco, paprika, cabbages etc. The settlers demanded keys
for the house be left behind and amidst threats, the owners managed to pack.
They were subjected to searches for farm equipment, a settler stole alcohol and
a small generator used for the house was removed from the lorry. The Monte
Christo owner is away and all the workers told to leave the farm village. No
damage to house or property as yet. 29 cattle were stolen on the night of the
17.04.02. K-Se-ra reports on the morning of 19.04.02, "war vet" Mutoko and
accomplices told the owner to vacate his house and get off the property; if he
did not do so, he would be removed with force. The owner has moved off but his
personal effects are still in the house.
Wedza – the
continuation of ongoing trouble at Chakadenga saw four tractors and trailers and
a 3.5 tonne lorry taken. The Lifton - Hull owner had seven tractors and
trailers taken. At Plymtree a Toyota hilux pick-up was stolen, which was
subsequently involved in an accident on 18.04.02 and rolled. The police
investigated but have not been to see the owner. All of the above incidents
have been reported to the police but no action has been taken. At Chirume a
lorry coming to collect cattle got lost. When the owner went to redirect it he
was told all his cattle belonged to the State. The lorry was allowed to proceed
to Chirume when the owner told the settlers the cattle were being sold to
Government. On 15.04.02, the Mt Arthur owner, his wife and three children were
barricaded in their house. The police were called in the morning and eventually
arrived at 1600 hrs and removed the lock off the gate put there by the
settlers. Lustleigh reports "war vets" from Chop Chop base have moved into the
owner’s house in his absence. The Raleigh owner was moving a truckload of
equipment on 16.04.02. The lorry was hijacked by Mauweza near Mushandira Pamwe
and taken by Gandiza to Chakadenga. This was reported to the police but there
has been no response. Skoonveld and Fair Adventure received a second section 5
each. At Devon a truckload of army personnel and youth arrived, saying as they
had such a big farm, they would like to share it. They also told the manager
that he must be out of his house within two weeks, and they would be back. This
farm has been unaffected up until now.
23 April 2002
Harare South
- During the night of 22.04.02l the remaining kitchen units in the farm
village were burnt down at Kinfauns The owner was told to get off the farm by
23.04.02, but is unable to move off the farm as both access roads have had
ditches put across them.
Macheke/Virginia - Vanguard Farm had settlers arrive on
22.04.02, who were verbally abusive. The owner again reported this to the Police
who said they would follow up after attending a lands meeting in Murehwa. The
settlers have taken all the irrigation pipes, using two of the farm’s tractors
and trailers, and moved the pipes to Royal Visit. The police reacted and the
owner has to see the Lands Committee on 28.04.02 and prove ownership of pipes.
They will not be used until such time as proof is given. About 700 pipes were
removed. On Showers farm eight settlers demanded keys to sheds and offices to
make an inventory. This was reported to the police and he was told to
co-operate and keep the peace. An inventory of stock in the sheds was made but
access to the offices and other areas was denied. On Nyadema Farm 25 youth and
2 "war vets" evicted labour from houses in farm village, because they had not
contributed to the Independence celebrations. The labour is now in the barn
complex. The Athlone Farm Foreman was notified all the keys were to be handed to
the settlers by 03.05.02 OR ELSE. The Wheatlands Farm owner was told his cattle
would be divided up between settlers on Highover, Wheatlands and Mehtven.
Police are aware of the situation and will attend if necessary. Two Streams
reports settlers cattle from River Valley got into the paprika. The owner
impounded them for safe keeping in his dip and reported this to Cst. Chanakira,
who said if he is assaulted by settlers he must notify the police at once. River
Valley had paprika stolen.
Marondera South – at Gorajenna
Farm settlers demanded all the farm keys. The owner refused and they became
threatening and rowdy. The owner felt he had to get out quickly. He went to
Marondera to see higher authorities but no one was available. The Monte Cristo
Farm owner is still off the farm and it appears certain he will be evicted on
his return. At Mtemwa Farm the owner received an internal message settlers were
gathering at the neighbouring farm Hungwe Farm and coming to Mtemwa to evict the
owner. As he was in Marondera at the time, he decided not to return. On Makarara
Farm about 40 settlers arrived at main gate and threatened to close down farm as
property belonging to a neighbour was being held on Mkakrara after her eviction
from Igava Farm. They made a claim cattle had eaten their maize. At 1300 hrs
they demanded food for lunch and said they would not leave until compensation
had been received. The CIO arrived, stating the owner had phoned in a report
but this was not so. Together with the settlers they insisted on seeing
property of Igava (only junk, no furniture) and the owner was told to get it off
the farm. The settlers had to witness the loading of the lorry. Eventually an
agreement was made and settlers left the farm. The Munemo Farm owner reported
his lorry went to collect 54 bales of paprika from Scorror farm at 0900 hrs, but
had not returned by 2100 hrs. The lorry was last seen going into Marondera at
1600 hrs but had not arrived at its destination in Ruwa. Investigations are
ongoing. On 22.04.02 at Mutoromandwe Farm a mob arrived and told the workers
to vacate. The owner is away on leave and a neighbour came over to sort out the
problem and managed to get three workers to stay and milk the cattle and one
worker to feed the chickens. This incident was reported to the police (Cst
Nyakoka). The settlers await the return of the owner, as they want to verify an
inventory of all the moveable assets and to discuss the future of the farm. At
Stow Farm the lessee returned to collect some belongings and was barricaded into
his house. This was reported to the police (Cst Nyakoka). The lessee was later
allowed to leave. Vilendy Farm reports on 23.04.02 four settlers, the same
people that visited Mutoromandwe Farm, Stow Farm and Jenni Springs farm, told
the owner to pay off his workers the same day on the pretext that one of the
workers had told a settler to get off the farm. The Jenni Springs Farm owner
and his workers were forced to vacate their property on
22.04.02.
Wedza – on 23.4.02 at Totnes a load of cattle
going for slaughter was stopped at Chudley and off loaded. The Police attended
and were told by "war vet" Kujeke he took his orders from "war vet" Gandiza and
was told to stop any lorries carrying livestock or irrigation pipes. The Police
said there was nothing they could do. At Mbima a lorry load of people arrived at
Southlawn and said they had come to take all the equipment belonging to Mbima
back to the farm. The tractors have since arrived back at the farm. The
Chakadenga Farm owner discovered on 22.04.02 five 1-hp barn motors had been
stolen, as well as various items from the greenhouses. The police came to
investigate at 2000 hrs that night and took a statement. On the morning of
23.04.02, an 8 tonne lorry arrived on the farm with about 30 people and a 10
000l fuel tank. They pumped all the fuel on the farm into the tank, and also
took oil, brake fluid and generally looted in full view of the owner. This was
reported to the police. The mob is extremely aggressive.
Marondera
West - the Jenni Springs Farm owner was told on 20.04.02 to vacate the
homestead within two hours. The matter was resolved temporarily to allow them
two days to move off. Another elderly couple occupying another house on the
same farm were also given the same instructions. Stow Farm next door to the
above was also given two hours to leave on 20.04.02. The situation is
temporarily resolved as they were then given two days to vacate. Cloverholme
owner was given until 30.04.02 to vacate homestead, as this is when their
90-day eviction notice is up. One of the A2 settlers is wanting their house as
it falls within his allocated plot. He has also told the factory workers he
will continue to employ them and will take over the factory. The Essexdale
situation has not changed. The owner is still away.
MASHONALAND WEST (NORTH)
The Rainham Farm owner is
still off the farm, and there is a complete work stoppage. Hired combines were
turned back on 19.04.02 with the "war vets" refusing to let them in to combine
soyas. Ministers Chombo, Made and Munangagwa have all said there is nothing
they can do. The soyas are now starting to split and the crop will be wasted
after one week – approximately 250 t at ZW$ 15 million.
No other report
received.
MASHONALAND WEST (SOUTH)
Chakari - On Tawstock a
security guard apprehended settlers moving some of the owners maize crop, and
2.4 tonnes of stolen maize were recovered.
Norton - The
owner of Crebilly had his chicken operation shut down by resident settlers. The
police have said they will react.
Kadoma - The owner of
Eiffel Blue had his operation shut down by resident settlers.
Selous - On
Strathmore on which Pamuzinda Safari Lodge operates, Air Vice Marshall Muchena
has demanded that the owner stop all operations, and cancel all bookings (fully
booked for the next two weeks) at Pamuzinda immediately. Air Vice Marshall
Muchena has also visited Serui Drift and demanded the owner stop all
operations. He has left 6 armed guards at the entrance to Serui Drift to ensure
that no equipment or movables are removed from the property. On Gra Machree
Agrippa Gava, who is the "C.E.O for the war veterans association for the area",
and who is also a Councillor at Norton Rural District Council has demanded the
owner shut down operations.
MASVINGO
Masvingo East and Central – Greenhills
Farm was visited by a Ministry of Lands official on 19.04.02. The official asked
why the owner had not yet moved off the property as his Section 8 had already
expired and gave the owner till 22.04.02 to report back. Lamotte Farm reports
approximately 50 people moved on and are furiously chopping trees, clearing
lands and building huts. The owner has moved his cattle into his Paprika lands
after losing his entire crop over Easter to theft.
Chiredzi
- On 20.04.02, the Zimbabwe Development Trust brought heifers/weaners
on to Oscro Ranch in the Chiredzi Area and was supposedly selling them at ZW$ 33
000 each. Some are LIT registered, but the bulk of them are not. On 19.04.02 on
Wasasara Ranch seven men and six women came into the farm village for a meeting
due to be held the next day. At 0700 hrs the Zanu (PF) youth, from the Chekewere
Township in the communal lands, left an agenda on the owner’s gate. Allegations
against the owner were listed. On their way past the dairy, four of the youths
helped themselves to three litres of milk. Until 1000 hrs approximately 200
youth were seen singing, dancing, shouting and running up and down all the
paths. Support Unit, police, "war vet" Mutemachani and others attended the
meeting. Mutemachani noted some of the allegations from the settlers and told
them to liase with the DA at Chiredzi. Total work stoppage occurred on this day.
On 21.04.02 the Speargrass Ranch owner reported approximately 20 youths and one
labour member were trying to corner him. A neighbour came in and rescued him and
they were able to resolve the issue from the vehicle. The Palm River Ranch owner
took the settler that has been extorting money from him to a meeting at Oscro
Ranch. The Chiredzi DA told the settler he should settle the matter through the
courts. On 16.04.02 the settlers were demanding compensation for cane allegedly
cut on their plots. This has happened on several different cane farms. The ZCTU
also threatened a strike on 17.04.02 and demanded ZW$ 7000 in wages. One of the
cane farmers reported he had been to see the OC Chiredzi regarding the sugar
cane set up. The OC responded that farmers must “negotiate” and “co-exist” with
the A2 Settlers. On the A2 Resettlement, settlers have tried to stop the cane
from being cut and delivered. The current landowners have been told to continue
cutting the cane till they are physically stopped. At Ruware Ranch settlers
arrived with a scotch cart, and loaded up doors and windows from the old
homestead. Police reacted and the doors and windows were recovered. One settler
was arrested and names of the other three obtained. At Samba Ranch on 18.04.02
twenty settlers arrived and began instructing the herdsman to round up the
cattle. The farm manager was told he was not allowed back on to the farm. Police
were informed and could not assist due to transport problems. Eaglemont Ranch
game scouts were assaulted by settlers. The game scouts retreated back to the
owner’s homestead where the settlers followed them. The latter came into the
farm garden and made threats and demands of the owner. After some time they
dispersed. At the Independence celebrations MP Chauke told the farm labourers
they would be allowed to stay on the properties after they had been acquired;
however they would have to buy their own houses.
Mwenezi –
at Kleinbegin Ranch following several days of demands the owners leave the
property, labour resident on one section were chased away. With the housing
vacated those responsible for terrorising the labour helped themselves to
curtains and furniture and stole roofing material from the kitchens and chicken
co-ops. Initially the Beitbridge police declined to investigate, as they
admitted they were ordered by the Matabeleland South Governor, S. Nkomo, to
ignore anything involving "war vets". On being asked how they knew it was "war
vets" without investigating, they agreed to attend. The "war vets" denied they
were responsible, so it was agreed this was criminal activity. In the last six
months the settlers have used the owners water supply point for their cattle.
They have now broken the engine and no more water can be pumped and demand the
owner fixes the engine and restore the water supply. Mrs. Tshuma, who is the
Zanu (PF) leader in Beitbridge, is very aggressive and beat up the labour on
21.04.02. Some managed to get away, while the owner went to fetch the Police.
The settlers were armed with sticks, stones and axes, which they threw down and
ran away when the police arrived. The Police took in one of the leaders for
questioning. Communal cattle were moved to Kleinbegin Ranch against the
homestead and are now mixing with the owner’s cattle. Mwenezana Estate reports
several ZFTU functionaries, led by Mr Hwarare of ZANU (PF) and in the company of
a Mr. Muzenda, were at the estate over the past week, culminating in an invasion
of an independent transport company’s premises. The whole episode lasted from
about 1000 till 1530 hrs and consisted of abuse, most of it racist and sexist,
against the two people, a man and a woman, who manage the operation. The
Lumbergia Ranch owner reports the slaughter of another five cattle either
through snares or being chopped on the head with an axe after being driven into
a snare. Battlefields Ranch had one cow slaughtered. Cutting of wire continues.
There is an escalation in poaching with an increased use of wire snares. The
internal farm road was barricaded by rocks.
Gutu/Chatsworth
- The A2 Resettlement operation is speeding up on Northdale Farm ,
Middeldeel Farm and Nuwejaar Farm Cattle are moved out of paddocks, fencing is
cut and moved to alternate areas. An army truck was seen over the weekend
bringing in thatch grass for the roofing of houses, which are erected all over
the farm. The army truck was seen leaving loaded with firewood. At Chindito Farm
on 15.04.02, the owner was visited by a delegation headed by Vice President
Muzenda. Vice President Muzenda told the owner he received a Section 8, which
had expired on 06.04.02 and he should have been off the property. He gave the
owner one week to pack up and move off, allowing him to take his household goods
and furniture, but nothing else. He noted the owner was not allowed to move any
implements or irrigation equipment as he would make use of them next week when
he began his land preparations for wheat. Vice President Muzenda was willing to
buy the implements from the owner. At Chomfuli Farm approximately 15 vehicles
arrived whose occupants distributed plots amongst themselves. Agritex was also
present amongst these people. The Zanu (PF) official Mr. Matuki was also
present. Wragley/Lauder Farms were visited by Agritex officials making inquiries
about the irrigation equipment. They indicated settlers have applied for loans
and indicate they would like to purchase the equipment. The owner states Mukwa
trees are cut down. At Grasslaagte Farm, a Mostead Venge, presumably from ARDA
moved on 92 cattle from Gweru. This is after the owner was delivered a Section 8
on 10.04.02, dated 29.03.02. This farm is a Group Breeding Scheme for Mashona
Cattle. The Felixburg Farm owner continues to have problems where grazing for
his cattle are concerned. In the last week five cattle have been lost due to
snaring and theft.
MATABELELAND
Nyamandlovu – on 13.04.02, sixty
people tried to forcibly evict the owner’s family on Glen Curragh Ranch They
attempted to gain access to the homestead security fence through two gates,
managed to force the padlock on the back gate and assaulted the owner with rocks
weighing up to 1.6 kg and hit him once with an iron bar. He sustained a cut
requiring three stitches on his arm, various grazes and bruises and a couple of
fractured ribs. He managed to ward off his attackers with a pepper spray and
closed the gate while the OIC Ins. R.F. Ncube watched the whole incident from
approximately 30 m away. They did not manage to enter the second gate. This
group of "war vets" and thugs were from this property and adjoining properties
and included approximately 8 people from town who arrived in a Kombi. One of
the people from town is suspected to be Andrew Ndlovu, one of the top war
veteran association leaders. Prior to the assault they also handed over a
letter from Andrew Ndlovu stating all farmers would be evicted due to their
assistance to the opposition and not wanting to reconcile with the Country. On
17.04.02, approximately 50 "war vets"/youths accompanied by a Chronicle News
team went to Umguzaan Farm and delivered the letter signed by Andrew Ndlovu to
the owner. They caused a total work stoppage comprising approximately 250
members of labour and forced two of the farm tractors to load up all the labours
property and deliver it to a main road 2 - 4kms away. The Police in Nyamandlovu
were notified and arrived approximately 2 hours later, a trip which normally
takes 15 - 20 minutes. They did not talk to the owner of the property, but
drove straight through the farm village without stopping, proceeded to the main
road where the labour had been dumped and instructed them to return to work.
They then left having made no arrests or investigations. The "war vets"/youths
promptly contradicted the police and threatened death to any who returned to
work. This has led to the farm owner hiring Security Guards from a firm in
Bulawayo to protect a crop of sweet potatoes. On 20.04.02, the Guards arrested
one sweet potato thief. They were surrounded by approximately 300 - 400 people
comprising "war vets", Zanu (PF) youths, women and children, and one guard was
hit on the head with an unknown instrument, but did not sustain any serious
injury due to protective headgear. Pepper sprays were stolen from the Guards
who were instructed to return to the homestead. The crowd then stole about 3000
kg of sweet potatoes valued at approximately ZW$ 50/kg. Nyamandlovu Police
reacted only after being told there was a foreign news crew on their way to the
scene. No attempt was made to make any arrests and the OIC told the owner and
some other farmers that he would speak to the war veteran leadership to try stop
the looting. He would not leave police details to protect the crop, and advised
against hiring of security guards. A temporary work stoppage occurred on Porter
farm resulting in the loss of approximately US$ 3000 of paprika as it rained and
there was no labour to assist in covering it. On Tandanani farm "war vet"
/youths steal approximately 1000 kg of sweet potatoes per night. Approximately
50% of the labour has been evicted from the farm village and sent back to their
communal homes. No assistance has been forthcoming from the Police although
numerous reports have been made. Poaching and petty theft continues unabated
with little or no reaction from the Police. The Matambu Farm labour was forced
off the farm and taken to the main road and dumped there. The Police, in a very
slow reaction, got the labour to return. During the night of 20.04.02 and the
following morning, several hundred "war vets" and settlers invaded the farm and
stole over ZW$ 200 000.00 worth of sweet potatoes and other large quantities of
vegetables. The Police failed to react to this blatant theft of
vegetables.
Matabeleland South - Twin River Ranch has had
problems with "war vets" for the past 10 days or so. They have set up booms and
roadblocks to stop the owner leaving and anyone from getting on to the farm.
They claim the entire farm and all implements and assets belong to them and are
now ploughing up between all his citrus trees with donkeys. The Courts are also
prosecuting him for having shot an eland on his own farm.
Inyathi
- Reedsdale Farm was invaded on 22.04.02 by 17 men and 25 women. They
locked the gates and demanded all labour leave immediately. The cattle were
rounded up and put inside the cattle dip pens. Police have reacted.
aisd1@cfu.co.zw Visit the
CFU Website www.mweb.co.zw/cfu
Disclaimer
Unless specifically stated that this message is a Commercial
Farmers' Union communiqué, or that it is being issued or forwarded to you by the
sender in an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein are private.
Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any organisation not
directly affiliated to the Union. The CFU does not accept any legal
responsibility for private messages and opinions held by the sender and
transmitted over its local area network to other CFU network users and/or to
external addressees.
A report in the National News In Brief
erroneously states Strathmore, from which Pamuzinda Safari Lodge operates, and
Serui Drift to be under threat from Air Vice Marshall Muchena within Mashonaland
West (South). The owners concerned have called to say this is not true. We
apologise for any inconvenience caused by this report to all parties concerned.
We should like to state business and security has not been affected at Pamuzinda
Safari Lodge.
Disclaimer
Unless specifically stated that this message is
a Commercial Farmers' Union communiqué, or that it is being issued or forwarded
to you by the sender in an official CFU capacity, the opinions contained therein
are private. Private messages also include those sent on behalf of any
organisation not directly affiliated to the Union. The CFU does not accept any
legal responsibility for private messages and opinions held by the sender and
transmitted over its local area network to other CFU network users and/or to
external addressees.
Zim Independent
Letter to the editor
Murder is murder, rape is
rape
Dear Editor,
YOUR correspondent, Brian Ruff, made some
pertinent observations on language
use in the Zimbabwean press, "The late,
dead and deceased", (Independent,
April 19).
Excessive use of
euphemisms is another problem that the press needs to
address. The Daily News
front page headline on Saturday April 20: "War vets
seize $74m farm goods",
is a good example.
To the best of my knowledge and understanding the
word "seize" would
correctly be applied to a situation when, for example, the
Sheriff of the
High Court comes to take property from a debtor acting on
orders from the
High Court.
When private property is unlawfully
taken surely the correct word to use is
"steal". Presumably only the
political dinosaurs (of which we have more than
our fair share) would dispute
this reality - quoting their outmoded
communist rhetoric that private
property is theft.
Has the situation in Zimbabwe got so bad that we
no longer care, or dare, to
describe illegal acts for what they
are?
We do not need the press to use euphemisms as a way of avoiding
confronting
its readers with the truth. Murder is murder, rape is rape, and
theft is
theft. To be told that Mr X was suddenly deprived of his life, that
Mrs X
was intimately attacked, and that their property was seized by
intruders in
no way alters the realities on the ground.
By the
same token, why are we told either that someone died "after a short
illness"
(or after a long illness)? Are we frightened to use certain four
letter words
- such as Aids?
Our problems will not go away, or in some way be
ameliorated, by failing to
identify them for what they are.
RES
Cook,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Dual exchange rate canvassed
Godfrey
Marawanyika
ALTHOUGH in principle the Minister of Finance, Dr Simba
Makoni and the
country's biggest industrial representative body, the
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) agree on the need for a dual
exchange rate,
political expediency at the expense of pragmatism by the
powerful Zanu PF
politburo has carried the day.
The ruling party's
politburo has so far quashed any hopes of dollarisation
and devaluation, in
the process defeating efforts to resuscitate industry.
Makoni and his
permanent secretary, Nicholas Ncube, both agree with
industry's concerns that
the proposed policy on a dual exchange rate will
provide a strong incentive
for exports to drive the economy.
As part of its short-term economic
measures, the Ministry of Finance has
said there was need for the
introduction of a two-tier exchange rate with a
view to
convergence.
Industrial representative body CZI has recommended that
the lower tier be
set at $140 against the greenback and managed on a crawling
peg basis.
Industry proposed that 40% of export proceeds be
surrendered to the central
bank at that rate, with the remaining 60% being
market-determined.
Currently exporters retain 60% of their export
proceeds for a maximum 60
days during which period they are free to sell
their foreign exchange.
Industry further recommended that customs
duty be calculated on the weighted
average of the two rates, providing a
significant boost to government
revenue.
The crawling peg system,
aimed at ensuring a competitive exchange rate by
adjusting the rate along a
predetermined inflation-linked path, was once
attempted in August 2000, but
did not fully take off.
CZI says that the proposed crawling peg
system would adjust the currency
based on forecast inflation for a three-
month period. Daily adjustments
would be calculated and published in advance
to give maximum transparency
and eliminate speculation.
The CZI
also recommended that the governor of the central bank make a
credible public
forecast of inflation differentials for a three- month
period adding that the
forecast would then be translated into equal daily
adjustments so that the
first currency tier would be adjusted by full
forecast inflation
differentials by the last day of a given three-months
period.
On
the other hand the Ministry of Finance has said there is need for use
of
monetary policy instruments to contain monetary growth to levels
consistent
with single digit inflation over the medium term. The Ministry of
Finance
has also said there is need to unwind special credit facilities and
create a
revolving fund to support the export and productive
sectors.
Due to the erosion of market confidence, the Ministry of
Finance and CZI
agree on the need for a concerted effort on confidence-
building by
finalising land acquisition, whilst taking into account the other
concerns
of the general public, the private sector as well as
external
bilateral/multilateral partners.
Since 1999 Zimbabwe has
severed ties with several multilateral donors which
has affected foreign
direct investment inflows. The country's high levels of
investment risk have
further worsened the situation.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
Zim now a police
state
IN what sort of state do the owners of a popular café have to
seek police
approval before they are allowed to hold discussions on current
affairs? In
what sort of state do the police deny people the right to hold a
peaceful
march in support of constitutional reform, claiming the political
climate
isn't conducive to such a march?
In a police state is the
obvious answer. Zimbabwe is a police state. It has
become so over a two-year
period by a drastic curtailment of liberties
secured in two earlier decades
and by the arbitrary exercise of power by a
governing elite that has stared
defeat in the face and is now running
scared.
Those of us working
in the media have of course been exposed to the
desperate and rather clumsy
attempts of those in power to curb free speech.
But it was the Book Café case
which I found particularly emblematic.
Here was a vibrant venue, run
by people with a liberation war background,
that had since its inception in
1997 hosted over 350 discussions involving
dozens of speakers on subjects
that included women's issues, trade unions,
ethics in journalism, and
culture, among others.
There was invariably a wide range of
contributors, including government
spokesmen, and lively audience
participation. Dr Eddison Zvobgo read his
poetry, Kate Adie spoke about her
experiences as a war correspondent, Edgar
Tekere was provocative, and
everybody had their say on land, most vocally
Olly Maruma.
Yet
this rather harmless meeting-place above the Fife Avenue shops
evidently
posed a challenge to our paranoid rulers for whom every word of
dissent is a
mortal threat. They banned its meetings. Shortly after the
enactment of the
Public Order and Security Act, its owners say, law
enforcement officers
arrived and informed them that political debates were
illegal under the new
Act and that police permission would have to be sought
for any further
activity of this sort.
After some reflection on
whether this included international affairs such as
the Middle East or other
topics that were political but not domestic, the
owners got clearance for
discussions that were of a cultural or educational
nature. They are
proceeding on that basis.
Personally, I don't believe deals of this
sort with a repressive regime are
justified. But it wasn't my call. The
National Constitutional Assembly is
handling things rather differently. It is
challenging on the streets the
right of the police to ban demonstrations
under POSA.
The Supreme Court in the early 1990s struck down that
section of the Law and
Order (Maintenance) Act which governed demonstrations
declaring it
inconsistent with the constitutional right to freedom of
expression.
Despite shrill protests from ministers and the police
that this prevented
them from doing their job, the fact is the police had
abused their powers
under the Act to regulate demonstrations in a way that
prevented legitimate
civic protest.
They are doing the same now
under the new legislation. Most notably, they
refused permission to the NCA
to conduct a peaceful march on February 15
while allowing Zanu PF thugs
uncontested control of the streets a few days
later where innocent bystanders
and motorists were attacked and shop-fronts
damaged.
The problem
here is that where the right to protest is not guaranteed by
law, the police
will act in the interests of the government that employs
them. This is not a
situation unique to Zimbabwe. But we cannot have a
situation in which police
officers make determinations about the political
climate. It was frankly
embarrassing to see Chief Inspector Tarwirei
Tirivavi telling South African
television viewers on Tuesday night that the
NCA was denied permission to
demonstrate because it was "seeking political
mileage", as if that was
something illegal!
It is to be hoped the constitutionality of those
sections of POSA which
abridge civic rights will be challenged in the courts
and that judges do
their duty. Meanwhile, perhaps the several hundred people
who reportedly
turned out on Tuesday are the seedbed of something bigger.
Most protest
movements start out as a handful of people brave enough to face
the
authorities head on. Others derive courage from their example. And
before
long a peaceful revolution is born.
Munyaradzi Gwisai was
right to refer in his recent controversial statement
to the examples of Ivory
Coast and Madagascar. Why do we fall short of those
movements? Why are
Zimbabweans so passive when South Africans mobilised in
their millions to
confront tyranny?
These are the questions civil society should be
tackling. What do we have to
do as a society to resist repression and
misrule?
Zim Independent
EU rights activist probes Zimbabwe
Dumisani
Muleya
A WEEK after African countries blocked the European Union (EU)'s
bid to put
Zimbabwe in the dock for abuses at a session of the United Nations
Forum on
Human Rights, an EU human rights investigator is in the country to
assess
the situation.
European Commission officials in Harare
yesterday confirmed that a veteran
human rights activist and good governance
expert, Alessandro Palmero, is in
Zimbabwe on an appraisal
mission.
It is understood he was meeting various stakeholders with a
view to
compiling a report for the EU headquarters in
Brussels.
Palmero's mission comes hard on the heels of a rejection by
regimes friendly
to Harare of an EU motion last Friday at the United Nations
Commission on
Human Rights session in Geneva to investigate President Robert
Mugabe's
government for abuses.
Reports said African, Asian and
Middle Eastern countries - some with gross
human rights violation records -
rejected EU attempts to probe Zimbabwe for
its abuses.
At the end
of the meeting, human rights activists attacked the UN body for
allowing
violators to get away with grisly abuses.
"This should be about
scrutinising human rights around the world and instead
it has become a place
where abusers pat each other on the back," said Reed
Brody of the United
States-based Human Rights Watch.
Daily News
Zanu PF militia strips Bulawayo journalist, pregnant wife
naked
4/26/02 9:57:04 PM (GMT +2)
From Chris Gande in
Bulawayo
ZANU PF militia based at Bulawayo’s Nketa 8 Secondary School
recently
stripped a freelance journalist, Rodrick Mukumbira, and his pregnant
wife
naked. Mukumbira was accompanying his wife to a local ante-natal clinic
for
a routine check-up.
Mukumbira worked for the weekly Zimbabwe
Mirror before becoming a freelance
writer. He now works for a number of local
and international publications.
He has since instituted charges of
indecent assault and robbery against the
militia. A docket number, CR
6732/02, has been opened at Bulawayo’s Central
Police
Station.
Mukumbira, who stays in Emganwini, next to Nketa, met his fate
when the
militia, numbering over 100, were patrolling the streets.
“We
bumped into them at a street corner. We could have avoided them but
they
blocked our path,” he said.
Mukumbira and his wife alleged that
the youths forced them to remove their
T-shirts. “We complied because the
marauding youths appeared to have been
under the influence of drugs or
alcohol, maybe both,” he said.
The journalist said the youths were armed
with knobkerries, catapults,
spears, sticks, stones and knives, some of which
weapons are banned under
the Public Order and Security Act.
“It looked
like they were on a hunting expedition,” he said. “We could not
run away
because of my wife’s condition.”
After confiscating the pair’s T-shirts,
they force-marched them for about 50
metres, while shouting abuse at
them.
Mukumbira claimed that he flagged down a police vehicle,
registration number
ZRP 1260 D, but the driver did not stop or offer any
assistance. After the
couple was eventually set free, a passer-by who had
witnessed their ordeal
from a distance, offered them
clothes.
Zim Independent
Wheat farmers pull out
Staff Writer
WINTER
wheat production could decline to at least one third of normal
hectarage as
more than half of the traditional producers will not plant the
crop this
year.
In a statement, the Commercial Farmers Union said farmers would
plant 20 000
hectares, down from 60 000 hectares traditionally planted by the
large-scale
commercial sector due to illegal farm evictions and harassment
coupled with
the issuance of Section 8 orders.
The Zimbabwe
Independent heard this week that Agriculture ministry officials
told farmers
at a meeting at the Selous Country Club that every white farmer
would be
issued with a Section 8 order in due course while in the same
breath
encouraging the farmers to grow winter wheat.
Sources who attended
the meeting, which was also attended by Deputy Speaker
of Parliament Ednah
Madzongwe, said the farmers walked out.
CFU president Collin Cloete said
in the statement that there were major
constraints facing farmers and these
had to be addressed before planting of
the winter crop could
commence.
"Most commercial farmers are now subject to Preliminary
Notice of Compulsory
Acquisition, which are being served on a daily basis,"
he said.
Farmers who have been served with a Section 8 order can no
longer, by law,
plant a crop on their land holdings.
Many other
farms yet to receive the Section 8 orders have been shut down by
war veterans
and farm invaders and are physically unable to continue
their
operations.
MSNBC
Zimbabwe vice-president leads farm eviction
-union
HARARE, April 26 — Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union
said on Friday many
of its members were being evicted from their farms in a
drive it says has
seen several senior officials in President Robert Mugabe's
government
acquire properties.
In its latest report on the
government's farm seizures, the CFU,
grouping some 4,500 mainly white
farmers, said Vice President Simon Muzenda
led a group on April 15 which
ejected one farmer in the southern district of
Gutu.
''Vice
President Muzenda...gave the owner one week to pack up and
move off... He
noted the owner was not allowed to move any implements or
irrigation
equipment as he would make use of them next week when he began
his land
preparations for wheat,'' the CFU said.
''Muzenda was willing to buy
the implements from the owner,'' it
added.
Neither Muzenda nor
government information officials were available
for comment on
Friday.
The CFU says several senior officials in Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF
party, including cabinet ministers and top defence officials have
been
allocated farmland under a programme the government says is meant to
benefit
Zimbabwe's poor landless blacks.
Zimbabwe has been in
political turmoil since February 2000 when
pro-Mugabe militants invaded
hundreds of white-owned farms in support of the
land reforms. Ten white
farmers have been killed in the violence that has
accompanied the farm
invasions.
After his controversial re-election as president last
month, Mugabe
vowed to press ahead with the government's seizure of at least
8.3 million
hectares (20.5 million acres) of the 12 million hectares (29.6
million
acres) of white-owned farmland for blacks.
In a bid to
rectify over 100 years of colonial misrule, Mugabe says
it is immoral for the
4,500 minority white farmers to occupy 70 percent of
the country's best farm
land, which he argues was ''stolen'' from blacks by
former colonial master
Britain.
The government has so far listed about 6,000 farms,
representing
about 90 percent of commercial farm land, for seizure, but not
all have been
taken yet.
MDC Update – Apr 26, 2002
In this news update:
- Mwanawasa's statement shocking – Apr 26
- MDC deplores ZANU PF's expulsion of teachers – Apr
25
- Violence and harassment reports – Apr 25
- Madhuku’s arrest an act of naked state terrorism –
Apr 23
Mwanawasa's statement shocking
26 April
2002
The MDC is dismayed that Zambian President Levy
Mwanawasa has endorsed last month's presidential election. We are further
shocked that Mwanawasa is under the mistaken impression that there is now peace
and harmony in the country. He is also quoted asking Zimbabwean people to bury
political rivalry and tackle hunger together.
We wish to put it on record that the food crisis had
been put on the agenda of the talks between Zanu PF and MDC but was removed
after the Zanu PF government said it did not need MDC's help to tackle the
problem.
If Mwanawasa believes that national development can
be brought about by killing over 120 Zimbabweans and displacing, torturing and
victimising over 300 000 innocent people in this country then he can keep that
brand of national development to himself.
What is required for national development in the
country is political stability and Robert Mugabe with his penchant for violence
cannot provide that stability. Stability can only be restored through a return
to legitimacy. This can only come about through fresh, free and fair
elections.
As Zimbabweans we take great exception to Mwanawasa's
misinformed statements that there is peace and harmony in the country. While
Mwanawasa is waxing lyrical about peace in Zimbabwe, MDC is today mourning its
provincial secretary for Chitungwiza Province Davies Mtetwa who died this
morning from the wounds he sustained after he was tortured by the CIO just
before the presidential elections.
The society that the Zanu PF government seeks to
create is one based on fear that is maintained through violence and oppression.
All those leaders and individuals who are backing Zanu PF's murderous agenda
must know that they have blood on their hands and that one day justice will be
done.
Unlike Mwanawasa, Zimbabweans are not fooled by the
hypocrisy of the Zanu PF leadership that has constantly boasted of degrees in
violence. The people of Zimbabwe today are struggling to make ends meet. The
people of Zimbabwe need food, jobs, affordable health care and education for
their children not violence, if Mwanawasa does not understand this then may God
help Zambia.
Learnmore Jongwe,
MDC Secretary for Information and Publicity.
The following statements are issued by tne MDC
Information Department
mdcinfo@zol.co.zw
MDC deplores ZANU PF's expulsion of
teachers
25 April, 2002
The MDC is extremely perturbed that the
chaos that has been allowed to prevail in most sectors of the country is
beginning to creep into the education system, with the raucous self-styled war
veterans and Zanu PF militia appointing themselves staffing officers in the
Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture.
As MDC we are shocked at news
that Zanu PF has been involved in the expulsion of over 50 teachers in
Manicaland.
We are further disturbed by the consistent and persistent
nation-wide victimisation of teachers perceived to be supporters of the MDC by
the Zanu PF militia.
As a result of this, teaching, which was once a
noble profession, has been turned into a political circus as government
abdicates its role and hands over responsibility to this group of hooligans who
neither understand nor value the importance of education.
Sadly, the
Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture, which had for the most part maintained
its reputation as a neutral government entity, has been reduced to an
unprofessional body that chooses to defy all ethics, just to support the goals
of Zanu PF.
The improvement of living and working conditions for teachers
is a clear and pressing issue. Their remuneration is not commensurate with their
level of training or nature of work.
The people, who were once beacons
of society and through whose hands millions of successful Zimbabweans have
passed, are being reduced to living penurious lives simply because of a paranoid
government that perceives them as enemies of the state and chooses to use its
economic power to control them and rein them into supporting it.
The MDC
calls on the Education ministry to reinstate all the teachers who have been
fired by the Zanu PF militia, and conduct its evaluations on the basis of merit
and existing systems, rather than political affiliation.
Fidelis
George Mhashu,
MDC Shadow Minister for Education
Violence and harassment reports
25 April,
2002
MDC Makoni North official forced to
flee
Chipo Manyere, the MDC chairperson for ward 10 has fled Bingaguru
resettlement area in Makoni North constituency after learning of an alleged plot
by the Zanu PF leadership in the area to kill her.
The plot to eliminate
Manyere, which is part of the retribution exercise against MDC members, was
allegedly hatched at a meeting called by Shepherd Chipara, the councillor for
the area, where it was agreed that Manyere, a staunch MDC activist, had to be
killed.
Manyere, who was warned by some Zanu PF members who had attended
the meeting, travelled 30 kilometres in the bush to Mutare with her two
daughters aged three years and four months.
Manyere is currently living
in a safe house in Mutare town. (Contact 011 761 075)
Assaulted MDC youth loses Z$4 300.00 to Zanu PF
thugs
An MDC youth, Kennedy Chasakara, was on Wednesday assaulted and
robbed of Z$4 300.00 by six Zanu PF youths at Magaba Home Industries in Mbare
while shopping.
Chasakara, who was in Mbare to purchase scarce
commodities such as cooking oil angered the Zanu PF youths when he bought a copy
of The Daily News. The youths suddenly surrounded him and demanded that he
destroy the newspaper in front of them.
When he refused to do so, they
dragged him to a room within the complex and assaulted him using sticks and
various objects.
He received serious injuries and has had to seek
medical attention. During the process of assaulting him, the youths also stole
Z$4 300.00 from him.
Chasakara reported the incident at Matapi Police
Station in Mbare and a docket number 2540/02 has been opened. However, the
police told him to apprehend the culprits and bring them to the police, which is
a phenomenal task under the current political set up.
Six MDC polling agents fired from Shamva gold
mine
Six people, Douglas Hamauswa, Tito Kaifa, Rogers Chaponda, Tedious
Maisha, Morgan Makunda and Prince Chikomo, have been dismissed from Shamva Gold
Mine for their participating in the March 09 and 10 presidential elections as
MDC polling agents.
The six, who had taken leave from work so that they
could participate in the elections, were first evicted from their mine-owned
homes soon after the elections and persistently harassed by Zanu PF
youths.
The six fled to Harare for safety and sought advice from the
Associated Mine Workers' Union, which arranged for a hearing between the
conflicting parties.
They also sought legal advice, and were issued with
peace orders to protect them from further harassment and attacks by the Zanu PF
youths.
A hearing was subsequently set for 17 April and the mine's
management made a determination that the six should be dismissed. They however,
appealed and a second hearing was set for April 23.
However, when the six
went to the mine for the hearing on Tuesday, a group of Zanu PF youths prevented
them from entering the premises by barricading the gates. The six then sought
police assistance, but were attacked by the Zanu PF youths on the way to Shamva
Police Station, forcing them to flee to Harare.
The youths also
manhandled the Associated Mine Workers' Union representative who was identified
as Mr. Sithole.
War vets spearhead purging exercise in
Matabeleland North
War veterans in Matabeleland North Province have fired
MDC Provincial Information and Publicity Secretary, Herbert Sinampande, from the
Binga Rural District Council because of his political
affiliation.
Sinampande was dismissed with two other employees who were
suspected of being members of the MDC by a war veteran identified only as
Mabhena.
Mabhena was assisted by a member of the Zanu PF youth executive
member in Binga identified as Zengera.
Mabhena, who is also a Zanu PF
official, is employed by the Central Mechanical and Engineering Department
(CMED) in Binga.
Visiting MDC activist attacked in Zaka
MDC
activist Johannes Mufanauyawe on 17 April suffered severe head injuries
following an attack by members of the Zanu PF militia during a visit to his home
in Zaka.
Mufanauyawe was ambushed by members of the militia, who are
suspected to have trailed him, as he was going to board a bus back to
Harare.
The militia assaulted him using sticks and various metal objects.
He sought medical attention at a clinic in the area and had some stitches on his
head before being discharged.
The MDC condemns the on-going
state-sponsored violence against its members and supporters. Every Zimbabwean
has a right to belong to a political party of their choice. We are shocked that
these attacks come at a time when Zanu PF president Robert Mugabe is purportedly
talking about peace and unity. It is high time Mugabe realises that there is
need to match his rhetoric on peace with action on the ground.
Madhuku's arrest an act of naked state
terrorism
23 April, 2002
Yesterday's arrest of the National
Constitutional Assembly's chairperson Dr Lovemore Madhuku and NCA staff, Maxwell
Saungweme and Edna Zinyemba is an act of naked terrorism founded on political
hypocrisy.
It is disturbing that this government deploys its rioting
police to deal with peaceful protesters when violent and armed Zanu PF gangs are
allowed to cause mayhem with police assistance. Surely how can a demonstrator
armed only with a petition pose a threat to national security?
Every
single effort towards peaceful change in this country has been met by this
government with arrests, violence, abductions and murders. The point has to be
made that the right of Zimbabweans to peacefully express their ideas on the
streets is a right that lies at the foundation of any democratic society and is
the lifeblood of a free land.
Finally, the MDC shares the cause for
which NCA officials are being persecuted. The MDC objects to government's
intentions of stopping the process of crafting a new and democratic constitution
for Zimbabwe.
The Rural Crisis
The main focus of current attention in Zimbabwe is the situation on the
large-scale commercial farms. I have dealt with that ad nauseaum in the past two
years and do not dispute that it fully deserves our attention and concern.
However that is not the end of the story – there is much more to the rural
crisis in Africa than meets the eye and the leadership of the continent seems
ill prepared to deal with this. Because the majority of Zimbabweans still live
on the land and the great majority of the absolute poor are in this sector, it
deserves our full attention.
In the early 60’s I was part of a dedicated team led by a remarkable man
called Murray in the Ministry of Agriculture. Whilst I worked with that group I
learned that civil servants can be as committed as anyone and that if it was
possible, these guys wanted to change the world of the rural peasant farmer.
They tried to extend a form of tenure to the individual farmers in the rural
areas, moved thousands of people from exhausted lands in the centre of the
country to virgin state owned land in the west. They developed new technologies
and introduced new crops and problems such as sleeping sickness and other
diseases were tackled with vigour and determination.
But they were swimming against the tide. The winds of change were blowing
down through the continent and no matter how hard they worked, the results of
their efforts were blown away. By 1970, very little sign of what they had
attempted to do was visible – a few contours, the network of roads, boreholes
and a sprinkling of dams rapidly silting up. The people settled on the virgin
land in the west of the country simply cut down the trees, put up their
traditional homes, prospered for a few years before land exhaustion caused by
the constant cultivation without fertilisers or manure took its toll. The canopy
forest of the Mafungabusi plateau disappeared and the area took on the
appearance of the lands they once left behind – where the population was again
as dense as it had been before the resettlement effort.
I know they made many mistakes – there was very little research and no
attempt was made to understand the culture and sociology of the people. The
administrators in the Department of Internal Affairs largely despised the people
they were meant to be helping to administer and this is never a good way to
operate if you want real long term progress. Politicians deliberately twisted
the efforts of the people behind this thrust – destocking was the white mans way
of removing the wealth of the people. Getting people to stand on their own two
feet and operate as independent farmers threatened the hegemony of the
traditional chiefs and the Department of Internal Affairs. As those who
responded to the call for progress and adopted the new techniques, so they
prospered and the culture, which fears such progress, moved to cut them down to
size. Against their own people they had no defence.
What we have got to recognise is that so long as Africa refuses to grant
security over assets and entrenches those rights not only in their legal systems
but also in their culture, Africa will never make progress. It’s not a racial
thing, its not a western thing, it’s a human thing. I grew up in a slum area and
can remember even today what happened to our district when the Town Council
simply wrote a letter to every leaseholder in our district saying that with
effect from such a date, they were transferring title to us and our rental
payments would become bond payments. After 10 years the houses were ours to do
what we liked with. There was an instant transformation – gardens were planted,
hedges took root and walls and gates went up. Houses were repaired and painted
and suddenly what had been a municipal slum became a township of some pride and
decency.
I said to my mother in law who was living in Zambia in the Kaunda era that
she must watch the gardens – when people stop tending their gardens, its time to
get out. She never forgot the advice and I was right. The gardens are back in
many parts of Zambia and its one of the sure signs that the country is now on
the path to recovery and growth.
The MDC is the only political party in Africa that I know of that has the
issue of security of tenure at the top of its political agenda – and has had
since its launch in 1999. It is the only political party in Africa that states
that it is it’s firm commitment to grant every rural peasant farmer some form of
tangible security over the assets they use. Observers are not giving enough
attention to this here and outside the country. If something like the winds of
change do not blow through our rural farm communities along these lines then our
deserts will continue to expand and our people will remain locked into a viscous
cycle of poverty and degradation.
Why develop a piece of land over which you only have the tenuous security of
your cultural ties, where for a pittance a corrupt chief or headman will sell
your land to another and force you to work less land than before. Why strive to
rise above the crowd when you know that local pressures will do all in their
power to pull you down to their level – hating you for your success and their
own apparent failure. These are real issues in every African country. If you do
not have security of tenure then you do not invest, you simply exploit the
resources at your disposal. The result is that both you and your land become
poorer as time goes on and the growing population denies you the luxury of
simply moving to virgin land when you can simply no longer make a living. What
you do when confronted with this situation in modern Africa is that you send one
of your sons to another country to make good and hopefully send money home,
which will make life more bearable.
Having done very little to get the rural economy out of the doldrums except
to hand out trinkets to the rural peasants whenever an election was held, Mugabe
now unleashes his own revolution in the rural areas. This time not extending to
existing small scale farmers any security or real support, but simply stripping
away from the commercial farm sector the security they thought they had in their
title deeds and status as citizens and investors. Then he simply said to the
poor and dispossessed – go and take what you want, steal and plunder these
resources and I will ensure there are no consequences. So now 12 million
hectares of the country (30 per cent) is being stripped of its assets, its
owners driven off their land and anyone who wishes can take up a small piece of
land as his own – still no security, still no support and no social
infrastructure for children and health.
Already we have situations where small-scale farmers who in some cases have
been on these farms for up to two years are being summarily dispossed by
political heavies who are taking over the properties as "country estates". No
wonder these people see this as a short term bonanza - take what we can,
furniture, farm implements, wood, fertiliser and seed and squat on the land as
rural peasants in the traditional sense. It does not take a prophet to see that
within a very short space of time, all of Zimbabwe except for a few small
islands will resemble what we already have in the communal lands – over grazed,
exhausted land (no matter what the potential) with too many people chasing too
little to survive.
The threat to food security is one thing; much more serious is the threat to
natural resources and water. But from a political point of view it’s all of
benefit to Mugabe’s corrupt leadership. Can you imagine what a problem
politically the MDC will create for itself by granting title and security and
real support to a million small scale farmers. All independent and
self-supporting – any politician that attended the annual general meeting of the
representatives of such a community would have to look to his or her laurels.
They would be a very demanding and critical constituency, like small
businesspersons everywhere in the world.
I hear that desperate commercial farmers – driven off their land and now
threatened with destitution are responding to offers by the ruling elite in
Zimbabwe for the sale of their free hold rights for a tiny fraction of their
real value. They should not be doing this – their title is the only real
security they have in the long term and money is virtually worthless by
comparison. Commercial farmers must strive to hold onto their title rights and
fight for legal compensation through the courts if the State is able legally to
acquire their properties. They should list their assets and prepare detailed
legal claims for full compensation in return for their true rights. Under no
circumstance should they give up the legal right to the title over their
properties. Eventually change will come and when it does then this issue can be
properly sorted out and the rights of every property owner properly recognised.
To sell their property rights now for 30 pieces of silver is not only a poor
business decision, it’s a lousy legal decision and closes the door to any future
recovery of their legal rights. This is too much to ask even if you have been
temporarily dispossessed, their legal right remains and Mugabe cannot alter that
in the time left to him.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 26th April 2002
Mail and
Guardian
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Famine
looms in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi
NIVASHNI NAIR, Johannesburg |
Thursday
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZIMBABWE,
Zambia and Malawi were experiencing a humanitarian crisis and were
struggling
to survive because of food shortages, United Nations World Food
Programme
(WFP) regional director Judith Lewis said on Thursday.
Addressing journalists
in Johannesburg on her visit to those three countries
and Mozambique, Lesotho
and Swaziland, Lewis said the food shortages were
attributed to severe
droughts, the Aids epidemic, price escalation, a
foreign currency shortage
and insufficient support by governments for
smaller farmers.
"Zimbabwe,
Zambia and Malawi are the top three countries that are in
trouble.
Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho do have a broader window and has
about
three more months to really filter food."
She said in Zimbabwe she saw
thousands of people queuing up in Harare to
collect basic staples.
"There
has been a severe drop of food production due to the government
land
acquisition activities and erratic rainfall. The vulnerable
throughout
Zimbabwe are also experiencing hardship due to high inflation,
declines in
employment and unprecedented HIV-infection levels," she
said.
Lewis said the political problems in Zimbabwe did play a role in
food
shortages and there were reports of political pressure when it came to
the
WFP's distribution of food.
"I sent a written statement to the
implementing group stating that the WFP
will not have its food
politicised."
She said in Malawi and Zambia the food shortages were largely
attributed to
drought.
"People have nothing to eat. They are eating green
maize and grass. There is
also an increase in theft. People are afraid to go
to weddings and funerals
because their crop will be gone when they get back,"
Lewis said.
She said the WFP needed US69-million (about R748-million) to
solve the food
problems in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Swaziland
and Lesotho.
However, the agency only received US3-million (about
R33-million) in total
from South Africa, Finland, the United States,
Switzerland, the Netherlands
and Australia.
Lewis said the crisis needed
urgent international action to avoid a
widespread humanitarian disaster
soon.
She said the WFP was assessing the situation and would release an
analysis
on the issue in May. - Sapa
The Monitor, Kampala
Ex-Kony man Matsanga now with Mugabe
By P.
Matsiko wa Mucoori
Former spokesman of Lord’s Resistance Army rebels Dr.
Nyekorach Matsanga is
now working to defend Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe over
allegations that he
stole last month's presidential elections.
Matsanga,
who is currently in Harare to present a report on the elections by
Africa
Strategy, a United Kingdom-based "observer organization" where he is
the
director, according to the pro-government Harare Herald Monday, alleges
that
the Head of the Commonwealth Observer Team, retired Gen. Abdulsalami
Abubakar
revealed to him that the Commonwealth report on the Zimbabwe
election was
doctored.
The paper said the Africa Strategy report says that Abubakar told
him that
the Commonwealth team had betrayed him.
“At the press conference
at Meikles Hotel, Africa Strategy had a brief
discussion with Gen. Abubakar
of Nigeria who told us that he had been
betrayed by the team as the chairman.
He admitted that his report was not
the correct picture and could lead to
political mayhem,” Matsanga says in
the Africa Strategy (AS) report, which is
to be presented formally to the
government, Zanu-PF and MDC this
week.
“The image of the Commonwealth has been dented by the chairmanship
of
Abubakar, a former Nigerian dictator who detests democratic
elections
anywhere. The male staff of the Commonwealth were involved in
heavy
social sprees with most South African women journalists who had
been
enlisted by the MDC as their sympathisers,” reads Matsanga’s
report.
The report further outlines that most of the Commonwealth findings
were
hearsay from night-clubs.
Dr Matsanga said in an interview with The
Herald in Harare where he has gone
to present the report that infighting
within the Commonwealth group about
the report had led to the delay in
releasing the interim report.
He alleged that the Commonwealth team shared
logistics with MDC at Meikles
Hotel.
“The reason why they [Commonwealth]
decided to house themselves with the
opposition in Meikles was that they did
not want to be influenced by the
Government of Zimbabwe if they accepted the
Sheraton Hotel. As political
analysts we find such reasoning shallow, narrow
and dangerous for such a big
operation,” Matsanga says.
He said that
Abubakar’s poor judgement has caused confusion for the
whole
Commonwealth.
“This is regrettable. The world had waited for good
judgement such that the
Commonwealth avoids sanctions and other measures on
Zimbabwe, but we watched
Abubakar swim in the same currents of dishonesty and
malice that only
encouraged violence in Zimbabwe,” he further
says.
Matsanga dispelled the suspicion of any rigging in the Zimbabwe
presidential
election.
The 23-page AS report also says Zimbabwe is a young
democracy only 22 years
old, which should not be equated to 100-year-old
democracies.
The report details insufficient civic exposure and how the
Commonwealth
observers had little knowledge on how African politics
work.
Matsanga said Presidents John Howard of Australia, Thabo Mbeki of
South
Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria used the findings of
the
Commonwealth report to recommend a 12-month suspension of Zimbabwe from
the
councils of the Club.
Dr Matsanga says he witnessed violence when they
went to an MDC area wearing
Zanu-PF T-shirts and could have been lynched had
they not produced their
accreditation cards.
Matsanga was a pro-UPC
advocate in London, then was linked with various
anti-Movement exile
organisations, but his longest stint was as a spokesman
for Kony. While
Matsanga takes a soft line on Mugabe after he has been in
office for 22 years
and held a widely disputed election, in 1996 he rejected
the election of
Museveni who had been in office for 10 years, and called him
a dictator until
last year when he denounced Kony and Obote, and softened
his stand on the
Movement government.
April 26, 2002 05:38:29
Times of India
Zimbabwe police search offices of pro-democracy
group
AFP [ THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2002 4:42:08 PM ]
ARARE:
Zimbabwean police on Thursday searched the offices of a pro-democracy
group,
the National Constitutional Assembly, poring over documents and
computer
files, NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku said.
"They are saying they have
information that we are paying youths to cause
public violence," Madhuku
said. "They are looking for papers where we pay
people money." The search
lasted more than three hours. Police did present a
warrant for the search,
Madhuku said.
A magistrate's court on Wednesday tossed out charges
against Madhuku of
conspiracy to commit public violence, saying prosecutors
had failed to back
up their case.
The NCA on Tuesday staged
anti-government protests in four cities around
Zimbabwe, calling for a new
constitution that could pave the way for more
democratic
elections.
Madhuku said the NCA does provide its supporters with bus fare
if they want
to attend the protests, but said the group does not make other
payments.
The NCA is a coalition of churches, civic groups, rights
activists and
political parties.
The group has announced plans for a
series of demonstrations aimed at
forcing the government to accept a more
democratic constitution, which the
group says would prevent the abuses that
aided President Robert Mugabe's
re-election in the March 9-11 presidential
poll.
Africa And Asia Block EU On Harare
Mail & Guardian
(Johannesburg)
April 26, 2002
Posted to the web April 25,
2002
Jaspreet Kindra
African and Asian countries are likely to
strengthen their "solidarity
stance" on Zimbabwe at the Non-Aligned
Movement's ministerial meeting in
Durban over the weekend, diplomatic sources
say.
The African bloc was supported by Asian and Middle Eastern states
last week
in blocking a European Union resolution in the United Nations Human
Rights
Commission expressing concern over violence in Zimbabwe.
The
draft resolution tabled in Geneva urged Zimbabwe to invite UN rights
experts
to visit the country.
A bloc of 14 African states led by Nigeria
introduced a "no-action" motion
last Friday, which rejected the EU resolution
as "politically motivated".
According to AFP, Nigeria's delegate told the
commission there could be no
debate on human rights without first dealing
with the land issue.
South Africa, Algeria, Burundi, Kenya, Libya,
Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia
voted against the EU resolution, with Cameroon
abstaining. China, Cuba,
Russia and Syria supported the African bloc, with
Japan abstaining.
A diplomat said Zimbabwe was expected to feature on the
agenda of the NAM's
weekend meeting. The 115-member body, which comprises
almost the entire
Third World, is expected to reiterate the stance taken by
the African bloc
in Geneva.
"Their common colonial history and the
race factor will reinforce the
position," said a diplomatic
source.
The ministerial meeting is also expected to come up with a venue
and a date
for the 13th NAM summit.
Daily News
Maize hectarage far below Zimbabwe’s annual
requirement
4/26/02 11:16:47 PM (GMT +2)
By Takaitei
Bote
ZIMBABWE, experiencing one of its worst droughts ever, is expected
to
produce a total maize crop of less than 750 000 tonnes, which is far
below
the 2 000 000 tonnes needed annually to feed the
nation.
The Southern African Development Community Early Warning
Unit’s 31 March
2002 food security report says maize harvest prospects for
2001/2002 crop
season are forecast to range between 450 000 and 750 000
tonnes, equivalent
to between 30 and 50 percent of the previous season’s
below average of 1,48
million tonnes.
The harvest, which was
drastically curtailed by a prolonged dry spell from
January through March, is
only adequate for three months’ consumption
requirements. Production has also
been affected by disturbances in the
commercial farming sector as a result of
farm occupations which began two
years ago.
Under normal
circumstances, Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) members produce
between 40 and
50 percent of the total maize crop in Zimbabwe while the rest
is produced by
the communal, small-scale and resettlement sector.
In its report for the
year 2001/2002 farming season prospects, the CFU said
early planting
intentions by its members showed a reduction in maize
hectarage due to
uncertainties caused by the land issue and theft.
Early planting
intentions as indicated by a CFU members’ survey showed a
maize crop size of
48 000 hectares and an estimated production of 255 000
tonnes. Maize
production in the commercial farming sector has dwindled in
the past two
farming seasons, from a total maize crop of 850 000 tonnes in
the 1999/2000
season, 385 000 tonnes in the 2000/2001 season, to 255 000
tonnes expected
this year. Production of sorghum and other small grain crops
has been
affected by the drought conditions.
Communal and small-scale farmers
produce the bulk of sorghum, millet, and
rapoko. The Sadc report says:
“Supply and demand projections for the
2002/2003 marketing year suggest a
maize deficit/import requirement of
between 1,80 to 2,10 million tonnes,
including the need for building up a
strategic reserve stocks of 500 000
tonnes of maize.”
Since the government is already too stretched to
finance such a large import
programme, an appeal for humanitarian assistance
has already been launched.
The humanitarian food distribution programme in
has, however, experienced
hitches as the World Food Programme has only
received one-third of the food
it needs to feed starving
Zimbabweans.
Daily News
Leader Page
Journalism in government media has gone
to the dogs
4/26/02 11:03:28 PM (GMT +2)
On several
occasions over the past 18 months or so, journalists in the
country’s
privately-owned Press have been arrested and detained on spurious
charges of
publishing falsehoods. More recently, alleged breaching of a
section of the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act have been
cited as the
basis for the arrests of media practitioners arrests which,
incidentally,
have become more frequent.
The section of the Act under which
journalists have been charged in recent
weeks says in part that “a journalist
shall be deemed to have abused his
journalistic privilege and committed an
offence if he falsifies or
fabricates information and publishes
falsehoods”.
We must note here that the law in question grossly infringes
upon the people
’s right to freedom of expression guaranteed in the
Constitution of Zimbabwe
and enshrined in the Universal Bill of Rights as
competently argued by Zanu
PF’s legal expert, Eddison Zvobgo, when he tabled
his legal committee’s
report in Parliament at the beginning of debate on the
Bill before it became
law.
That fact notwithstanding, it is its skewed
application which has become a
source of grave concern and dismay among the
journalistic fraternity. It is
those who publish the truth who get arrested
for no other reason than that
the truth they publish makes the government
uncomfortable.
On the other hand, those in the State-controlled media who
routinely
publish, not just minor falsehoods, but complete fabrications, are
left to
go scot-free because, apart from tarnishing the image of its
“enemies”,
those falsehoods are what the government would like to
hear.
It is the kind of fiction which, without any sense of shame over
what it is
doing to the profession of journalism, The Sunday Mail
consistently peddles
as news. Possibly the most irresponsible of such
falsehoods was published in
that paper just before the June 2000
parliamentary election, in connection
with the alleged MDC’s military
training of its youth, said to be taking
place variously at a cemetery in St
Mary’s and at a camp in Uganda. That
fiction might just make for absorbing
reading to those tolerant of literary
mediocrity were it published as a
novel.
But when it is published as news, it is the sort of fabrication
which, so we
all must believe, the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act
was specifically enacted to deter, for the simple reason that it
has the
effect of causing unnecessary fear, alarm and despondency among the
entire
population.
But because The Sunday Mail and The
Herald, too, when it published its own
alarming fabrication about military
bases being set up in Mozambique from
which to launch an offensive to remove
President Mugabe if he won
re-election went unpunished, The Chronicle this
week decided to outdo its
stablemates by publishing its own incredibly
fictitious story.
On Tuesday, the paper published a story that “at least
400 opposition
Movement for Democratic Change terrorists were trained in
Rwanda to provide
Œback-up’ attack (whatever that means) during the confusion
likely to arise
during the planned march to State House (we are hearing about
that plan for
the first time) and the bombing of several buildings in Harare
and Bulawayo”
.
According to the paper, Swedish diplomat, Pierre
Schori, who was supposed to
have led the European Union (EU) election
observer mission but was deported
a few days after arrival, leading to the EU
withdrawing its entire observer
mission, had come here as a decoy to allow
free entry of the “terrorists”
through Harare International Airport “a few
weeks before the presidential
election”.
The “terrorists”, who are now
said to be housed at a white-owned farm in
Mvurwi, flew to Rwanda for their
training via Finland. The whole story is,
of course, utter balderdash, and
shows how journalism at the
State-controlled media has gone to the
dogs.
We, therefore, seriously expect the police to move swiftly against
both the
writer and the paper’s editor because, as must be clear to
any
right-thinking person, the story is not only a fabrication, but is likely
to
cause much fear, alarm and despondency.
If they fail to move
against the paper, they will have forever forfeited
their authority to move
against anyone in connection with publishing
falsehoods real or
imaginary.
Daily News
CZI attacks Made for causing food shortages
4/26/02
9:43:22 PM (GMT +2)
By Takaitei Bote Farming Editor
THE
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has condemned, in the
strongest of
terms, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural
Resettlement, Dr Joseph
Made, for misleading the nation on the food
situation last year.
The
organisation also challenged him to stop disturbances in commercial
farming
areas in order to safeguard food security in Zimbabwe.
While the entire
farming industry and the Department of Agricultural
Technical and Extension
Services in Made’s ministry warned of serious food
shortages last year,
following reduced plantings in the commercial farming
sector as a direct
result of the ongoing war veteran-led lawlessness, Made
insisted there would
be enough food.
Made was adamant that farmers who were allocated land
under the
controversial fast-track resettlement programme would produce
sufficient
food during the 2000/2001 marketing year.
The country,
however, started to face serious food shortages as early as
October last year
because the fast-track resettlement farmers did not
deliver the goods, as a
result of their failure to access inputs, while some
of them were resettled
well after the planting season.
The commercial farming sector reduced
plantings because of farm occupations.
War veterans and supporters of the
ruling party disrupted farm operations,
with threats of serious harm to
farmers who continued to undertake
agricultural activities on their
properties.
Jacob Dube, the CZI president, said: “Senior government
officials have, in
the past, sent out mixed messages regarding the true
position on current
maize stock levels. The nation has, therefore, been
caught off guard on the
basis of unreliable information. We appeal to
government to always circulate
statistics and information on the true
picture.”
Dube said the CZI was concerned about the continuing
disturbances in
commercial farming areas because they were causing food
shortages.
He said: “There have been reports of continued violence on the
farms, and
further disruptions of farming activities. Farmers must be allowed
to
produce the necessary crops in order to ensure inputs for processed
foods.
“This will have downstream benefits such as increased employment
in the
agro-processing sector. It is crucial to maintain steady output. The
various
State organs must diligently ensure security at farm level to enhance
this.
Those that have nothing to do with security matters must be dealt
with
firmly.”
Dube said the government should create a good farming
environment to enable
the country to reclaim its position as Africa’s
breadbasket.
Zimbabwe has experienced reduced crop production and a
nose-diving economy
since President Mugabe launched his Land Reform Programme
in 1997.
“We make a specific request to the government to ensure an
environment which
will enable the planting of the winter wheat crop to
provide a continued
supply of bread to the people. If disruptions on the
farms continue, it will
cause further shortages and negative social currents
associated with
shortages of essential commodities,” Dube said.
On
food imports, Dube said the government should co-operate with the
private
sector to find ways to improve the transportation of food to all
the
outlying areas in the country.
Rail services and the Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) are reported to be facing
transport limitations in
their bid to deliver the maize imports countrywide.
“The government must
allow other players to take a leading role in sourcing
food externally,
whether it is food aid or imports, subject to them advising
the GMB and the
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, on
their intended
import quantities. Decentralising importation of food will
surely go a long
way in addressing the current problem,” the CZI president
said.
The
GMB has the monopoly on maize importing and marketing in the country. It
has,
however, failed to make the staple available to hundreds of thousands
of
Zimbabweans in communal and urban areas because it does not have
the
financial resources.
Zim Independent
Address the economy, government told
Godfrey
Marawanyika
ZIMBABWE'S prospects of economic recovery look gloomy as a
result of the
on-going unstable political climate, a leading economist has
said.
At a meeting organised by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries
and
Administrators in Zimbabwe this week, economic and planning consultant
Dr
Daniel Ndlela said it had become difficult to forecast the future of
the
economy which he said had taken a directionless level.
"Of
concern has been the current rate of the economic structure in the
country,"
Ndhlela said.
"In fact, it is quite relevant to note that basic
fundamentals on the
economic side continue unnoticed to the extent that
prospects for recovery
look dim."
He said it was in the interest
of economic stakeholders to promote a stable
macro-economic climate to lure
both multilateral and bilateral donors to
boost economic
activity.
Ndlela said unemployment levels continued to increase at
alarming rates as a
result of closures of companies.
Fiscal
policies, he said, should be adopted in tandem with mechanisms
targeted at
reducing the level of expenditure to curb the escalating
domestic
debt.
"What remains to be seen as of now is the creation of a fiscal
regime
cognisant of efforts to enhance revenue collection in order to reduce
debt
exposure which has compounded government's budgetary woes," he
said.
Ndhlela said the main casualty of the economic decline has been
the
destruction of business confidence especially in the private sector.
The
said the government was solely responsible for the abrogation of rule
of
law.
"Whilst miracles do happen, in the Zimbabwean case this
implies that the
government has been solely responsible for the abrogation of
rule of law,
destruction of human life and property," he
said.
Ndlela said that for economic recovery to happen, the nation
could not
afford to ignore answering among other "big questions" such as was
the
government prepared to restore economic fundamentals to spearhead
growth.
"Is the government prepared to put into place a credible and
serious
stabilisation and recovery programme, is the government prepared to
ensure
that the export climate is restored," he questioned.
He
said for the economy to turn-around, government policies would have
to
include among other things restoration of exchange rate to realistic
levels,
with a level headed managed float.
The mixed messages on
economic policies for the country between the
abandonment of the Millennium
Economic Recovery Programme led by the
Ministry of Finance and Agrarian
reforms led by the Executive did not help
matters.
"Only a
thorough formulation and application of a comprehensive,
national,
consensus-based coherent economic stabilisation programme that
addresses the
economic fundamentals can reverse the current economic
decline."
Participants at the meeting were of the view that the
agrarian reforms being
pursued by the government would not boost
investments.
Chairman of economics at the University of Zimbabwe
Phineas Kadenge said it
was high time government relaxed the exchange rate
policy to create a
competitive environment for the export
industry.
"The export industry has continued to reel under extreme
circum- stances
owing to the overvalued local currency unit," Kadenge said.
"In fact it is
crucial for the government to ensure that the currency is
devalued to a
level which can assist the ailing export
industry."
Kadenge said hopes for recovery were being dampened by
government's
reluctance in following market reforms which entailed the
liberalisation of
the economy to create transparency and
accountability.
He said the shrinkage in Gross Domestic Product on an
annual basis as well
as the food crisis, including the reduction in Foreign
Direct Investment was
indicative of how the economy was in
crisis.
Zim Independent
Comment
Officials should get real about
economic recovery
LEWIS Caroll would have recognised the scenario
immediately. His account of
Alice-in-Wonderland involved a number of
delusional people suggesting the
opposite of everything his readers
understood to be true.
Zimbabwe is becoming rather like that. Every week
we hear of a new plan to
revive the economy knowing in our hearts it doesn't
stand a snowball's
chance in hell of succeeding so long as the political
saboteurs remain in
office.
This week Permanent Secretary for Industry
and Trade Stewart Comberbach was
outlining government plans to set up a
National Productivity Centre to
spearhead the revival of the manufacturing
sector. Botswana, Mauritius and
South Africa had established such centres and
therefore it was imperative
Zimbabwe was not left behind, he
said.
Comberbach dutifully extolled the virtues of the government's land
reform
programme claiming it would unleash agricultural productive
capacity.
We are seeing the consequences of that programme, if arbitrary
farm seizures
can be called that, as food production plummets and Zimbabwe
holds out the
begging bowl to countries it insults on a daily
basis.
Comberbach also paid lip-service to Zanu PF's autarchy, saying
that as the
global economy was biased in favour of developed countries, there
was no
alternative to cooperation among "ourselves".
Meanwhile,
neighbouring states have embraced the challenge of the global
economy and are
planning to engage it as best they can. African leaders
gathered in Dakar
last week to plan projects that integrate their parts of
the continent into
the international trading and investment community. If
South Korea,
Singapore, and Malaysia could pull themselves up by their
bootstraps, why
can't Africa, Presidents Wade, Obasanjo and Mbeki asked.
Only 30 years
ago, South Korea's GDP matched Ghana's. Now South Korea is
capable of taking
on the developed countries in manufacturing, technology
and
trade.
Zimbabwe is meanwhile going backwards. In 1990 manufacturing
accounted for
20,5% of GDP; in 1995 18,8%; in 2000 15%; and in 2001
12,8%.
This is an economy in advanced decline. Zimbabwe's regional
partners are
expanding their industrial capacities by following policies that
work
elsewhere. Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Mozambique and South Africa
have
experienced growth (although in South Africa this has not been matched
by
employment) while Zimbabwe is contracting.
This week South African
Trade and Industry minister Alec Erwin unveiled a
draft manufacturing
strategy, which is designed to enhance South Africa's
share of global
trade.
His ministry's role he said was to promote competitiveness,
provide
customised services to encourage key export sectors, and ensure
efficient
generic services such as transport, communications and port
processing. This
did not require massive injections of money, Erwin pointed
out. Instead
government would facilitate human resources development,
technology,
infrastructure and logistics.
South Africa is keen to
place its manufacturing capacity on the same basis
as developed countries. It
is not naively talking about trade "among
ourselves".
If Comberbach's
ministry is to be of any use at all, its senior officials
must inject a
measure of real- ism into government policy and not indulge
its fantasies.
"Land reform" along the present lines of unlawful farm
seizures, widespread
looting, ad hoc planning and harebrained crop schemes
is already producing
its bitter harvest as exports cease, forex dries up and
GDP
sinks.
Comberbach should forget his National Productivity Centre. It is
doomed to
failure along with every other initiative like Merp - or what's
left of it -
that ignores the realities of misrule. Senior officials like
Comberbach and
those in the Trade and Finance ministries who know only too
well where the
problem lies should stop contributing to illusions of recovery
and instead
explain the facts of decline. Zimbabwe's future does not lie in
standing on
the sidelines as the world moves on.
-->
Zim Independent
Bad laws bedevil state's media purge
Jacob
Mutambara
THE government's crackdown on media personnel whom it
accuses of writing
"false" stories has not been justified by successful past
prosecutions, the
record reveals. The majority of such cases have either been
dropped before
plea or failed in the courts.
Of all the journalists
arrested on various offences in the line of duty over
the past three years,
only one case involving three scribes led to a
successful conviction. And
that is on appeal. Other charges have been
dismissed as unconstitutional or
simply never shaped up. Most prosecutions
have ended up with the state
withdrawing charges because of lack of
evidence.
In what journalists
warned would happen, a combination of the recently
passed Public Order and
Security Act and the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act have
now been used to harass the press. Both Acts
have been widely condemned as
draconian and aimed at silencing critics of
the government.
A sweeping
interpretation of the Acts has enabled authorities to abuse the
law and
arrest journalists without sufficient evidence to lead in
court.
"Everybody is unhappy about the provisions contained in the two
Acts and
there is a general air of uncertainty over the provisions," Advocate
Eric
Matinenga said.
The list of journalists arrested or picked up for
questioning in the past
three years runs into dozens. Most occurred during
the tenure of the
incumbent Information and Publicity minister, Jonathan
Moyo, who has made no
secret of his hostility towards the independent
media.
Moyo last year failed in a High Court bid to prevent the
Zimbabwe
Independent publishing details of a civil action against him by
donors in
Kenya.
Since the passage of the two controversial Acts this
year, government has
moved swiftly to arrest journalists deemed to have
contravened the new
legislation.
A number of international
media-related organisations have described the
Zimbabwean government as one
of the worst violators of press freedom in the
world with President Robert
Mugabe being labeled an enemy of the press.
Last week three journalists
were picked up by the police and charged with
various offences relating to
publishing articles the government disapproved
of.
Editor-in-Chief of
the Daily News Geoff Nyarota was picked up by the police
for an article his
paper carried which alleged anomalies in the total number
of votes announced
by Registrar- General Tobaiwa Mudede and the actual
ballots cast in last
month's presidential poll. The paper said the evidence
was contained in a ZBC
video tape showing Mudede announcing the election
results.
Nyarota was
charged with contravening a section of the Access to Information
and
Protection of Privacy Act dealing with the "abuse of journalistic
privilege".
If convicted, he is liable to a fine not exceeding $100 000 or
to
imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
The police reportedly
admitted they had not viewed the tape before arresting
Nyarota.
Also
last week, Independent editor Iden Wetherell and chief reporter
Dumisani
Muleya were arrested over a story which said that First Lady Grace
Mugabe had
been drawn into a labour dispute.
Wetherell and Muleya were charged under
the same section of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act
and alternatively with criminal
defamation.
Wetherell described the
arrests as a "clumsy abuse of power" by the Office
of the
President.
It is only a month since the Act was signed into law and
already it is being
used to harass the private media.
In perhaps one
of the most high profile cases in recent years, the army, and
not the police,
detained Standard editor, Mark Chavu-nduka and chief
reporter Ray Choto in
February 1999 over a story alleging a coup plot within
the army. The two were
tortured for a week and later charged under the now
repealed Law and Order
(Maintenance) Act for publishing a story "likely to
cause alarm and
despondency".
The state was forced to withdraw charges before plea
against the two after
the journalists successfully challenged the
constitutionality of the
relevant section of the Law and Order (Maintenance)
Act in the Supreme
Court.
While Defence minister Moven Mahachi was
obliged to admit in court the army
had been wrong to arrest the two,
President Mugabe was at the time defiant.
"I will not condemn my army for
having done that when they are being
provoked...The army has its own feelings
you know. They can do worse things
than that," the state-owned Herald quoted
Mugabe as having told the Voice of
America after the arrests.
A
court-ordered investigation by the police into the circumstances of
the
abduction and torture of the two journalists has been blocked by the
army.
In May 1999, the state withdrew charges before plea against
Zimbabwe Mirror
editor-in-chief Ibbo Mandaza and reporter Grace Kwinjeh who
were arrested
for contravening the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act when they
published a
story about the army burying the bodyless head of a soldier
killed in the
DRC.
Last year Vice-President Simon Muzenda told a
police passing-out parade that
the government would not hesitate to arrest
journalists writing inaccurate
stories about the country.
"This
tendency of projecting our security institutions as barbaric and
morally
decadent, particularly the police force and the army ... can never
be
tolerated," Muzenda said.
His remarks followed another arrest of
Chavunduka last August following a
story in
the Standard suggesting that
President Mugabe was being haunted by the ghost
of late Zanla commander
Josiah Tongogara. The story was reproduced from the
London Sunday Times. A
charge of criminal defamation was brought by the
police but not followed
up.
In the same week two Zimbabwe Mirror journalists, Wallace Chuma
and
Constantine Chimakure, and Daily News editor Geoff Nyarota and three of
his
staffers were arrested in connection with stories relating to alleged
police
looting on occupied farms. They were all charged under the Law and
Order
(Maintenance) Act. The state has said it will proceed by way of
summons.
In July last year, the Attorney-General's office once again
refused to
prosecute three journalists who had been detained for a day under
the
Miscellaneous Offences Act.
The three, Tsvangirai Mukwazhi of the
Daily News, Cornelius Nduna of the
Standard, and Chris Mazivanhanga of AP,
had been arrested for allegedly
obstructing the police in carrying out their
duties. The three had been
covering demonstrations against fuel hikes,
including taking pictures of
riot police beating up demonstrators in Harare's
Budiriro suburb.
In February this year the police arrested the
Secretary-General of the
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Basildon Peta,
and three other
journalists following a demonstration against the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
The four were charged under
the recently passed Public Order and Security
Act which replaced the old Law
and Order (Maintenance) Act.
Peta's lawyer, Tawanda Hondora, said the
arrests were based on the police's
ignorance of the new law.
"The Act
does not prohibit professional gatherings such as the one organised
by ZUJ,"
Hondora said.
The state has repeatedly used the archaic criminal
defamation law against
scribes. Criminal defamation, unlike civil defamation
charges, attracts a
jail term as well as fines. However, most democracies
have done away with
criminal defamation because it is deemed inconsistent
with democratic
practice. Ghana was the latest country to strike it
down.
Standard acting editor Andy Moise and two other staffers from the
paper were
successfully prosecuted under the same law for publishing a story
about the
writing of the constitutional commission's report in early 2000.
They were
convicted but the case is on appeal to the High
Court.
Foreign correspondents have not been spared either. In February
last year,
two foreign correspondents were ordered to leave the
country.
Joseph Winter, a BBC correspondent, was ordered out after being
accused of
holding an irregular work permit. His home was attacked by state
security
officers.
Mercedes Sayagues of the South African Mail &
Guardian was also told to
leave two days later for writing stories that
displeased the regime.
Officials claimed that she was associated with
Unita.
British journalist David Blair was also ordered by Moyo to leave
the country
after his work permit expired.
Last year Nyarota and ANZ
founding chief executive Wilf Mbanga were arrested
on charges relating to
ANZ's share-holding structure. Despite their
incarceration the charges
wouldn't stick and were dropped before plea.
Matinenga said "an arrest
must be sensible, fair, moderate and in accordance
with reason. What the
police sought to do in this case was to arrest in
order to
investigate."
Film-maker Edwina Spicer has been arrested twice this year,
once when
filming Morgan Tsvangirai after he went to answer treason charges
at
Tomlinson Depot and again this month at an ANC demonstration. In
neither
case were charges laid.
Daily Telegraph correspondent Peta
Thorny-croft was arrested in Chimanimani
last month while investigating
post-election violence. She spent four nights
in police cells and was charged
under the Access to Information Act. But
High Court judge Adam declared that
the relevant section of the Act (80) was
inapplicable.
Misa, a
regional media watchdog, has set up a Media Defence Fund to assist
media
organisations and journalists in need of legal assistance.