From Reuters, 22 August

Farmworkers attach squatters

HARARE - A crowd of 200 black farm workers attacked 60 war veterans occupying white-owned agricultural land in northern Zimbabwe Monday night and beat them with sticks, a farmers' spokesman said. "The situation is very volatile as we speak," Kelvin Weare, a farming community security spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from Karoi, a farming town about 120 miles northwest of the capital Harare. "They beat them with sticks. A number of war veterans were quite badly hurt," Weare said. "They were trying to chase them (the war veterans) off the farm." He said police were investigating the attack but had made no arrests so far. "They (the farm workers) were apparently fed up with all the intimidation that has been going on the past few months," he said, adding that the farmer they worked for now feared for his life. Zimbabwe's countryside has been tense since February, when self-styled veterans of the country's 1970s liberation war invaded hundreds of white-owned farms demanding that whites return land they say was stolen at gunpoint during British rule. President Robert Mugabe says he plans to acquire nearly half the 30 million acres owned by 4,500 white farmers to resettle landless blacks. A group of veterans Tuesday blocked a highway to protest against the slow pace of land redistribution.

From BBC, 18 August

Zimbabwe: the promised land

(The Promised Land was shown on Saturday 19th August on BBC2)

Mfadze Nkomo left her rural village in Zimbabwe for London ten years ago, now she returns to unearth a side of Zimbabwe rarely seen, where politics is more than just a game; it's a matter of life and death.

Like most people I had seen the images from Zimbabwe of violence and fear as white owned farms were occupied by landless mobs, allegedly on instructions from the very top. But was this the whole story? Was Mugabe really the monster the British media portrayed. I couldn't believe that the country and people I loved were involved in the events unfolding on television. Worried about my friends and family, I wanted to find out for myself whether Zimbabwe's dream was fading. On the eve of the most important political event since independence twenty years ago I went back to Zimbabwe.

I was born in Zimbabwe in 1969 but moved to London in 1989. When I arrived in Zimbabwe after a decade, I noticed straight away that things had changed. My recollection was of a country that had gained independence from Britain and was looking to the future and the promise of better things. Times were hard, but not as bad as they seem today. Back then people didn't talk about high inflation and unemployment, like they do now. They talked about the future.

Now all I see before me in Harare are masses of unemployed people, mostly young, waving red cards. These red cards symbolise the change in Zimbabwe today. They are the cards of the MDC - the Movement for Democratic Change - the first real opposition party to challenge Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF Party since Independence. Such opposition would have been unheard of a few years ago, but now the red cards are brandished readily by a people tired of empty promises and poor prospects. I find the force of this opposition quite amazing. Comrade Robert Mugabe may have presided over the collapse of the country's economy but to many people here he is the man who led the fight to give Zimbabwe its freedom.

At a Zanu PF rally I can see that Mugabe still has a great deal of support. What is more, the rhetoric that casts him as a villain in London goes down well in Zimbabwe. He uses this criticism to his advantage. His supporters fought the war of Independence to claim land back for the Africans that had been stolen by the British. It is an issue that could buy Mugabe priceless votes.

My cousin, 'Biggie', is one of many who fought in the war of independence. I met him in Glen View, a poor suburb of Harare where he is campaigning for the Zanu PF. He thinks that the new MDC party have done Mugabe a favour, "what the MDC did was a blessing in disguise. Because Zanu PF was almost asleep ... MDC came along a shook it up." He speaks on behalf of the war veterans at many rallies held to promote the Zanu PF candidate. He argues that the land must be redistributed to those that fought for Zimbabwe, and that they do not want white people to leave. In Britain I suppose we would call it a sovereignty issue: who owns the country anyway?

Talking to veterans out here I feel sympathy for their hunger for land. "The British came empty handed and took our land. They exploited the Zimbabwean people without giving anything back" said one veteran. Another told me that "the occupation of the white farms is not about us being against white people", but about land rights. The war veterans hate the British media because it portrays them as the only villains. They have a point. Violence is occurring on both sides. While veterans are seen attacking white farms on British television, attacks on the local Zanu PF candidate by MDC supporters go unreported.

The land issue is certainly being exploited by Mugabe for all it's worth. But many see the economy as a bigger issue. I went to see my parents who live around 350 kilometers to the south of Harare, in Mataga. In the 1980s Mataga became a 'growth point' designed to promote economic activity in the bush, yet recent economic troubles have seen this area decline rapidly. But memories of the war are strong here and Zanu PF enjoy much support. On meeting my parents I was overcome by how things had changed. The once prosperous family bakery is now a shell. Everyone is putting on a brave face, but I know they are feeling the pinch. I can't remember things ever being so desperate. Reminiscing about the 1980s my mother told me of the prosperity that she enjoyed: "at the time things were going very well, you know I used to fall asleep at my desk counting money because it was just too much!" But not now. In those days my mother employed thirty people, now there are just six.

It is this sense of desperation that has privately led my parents to vote MDC. They would not, however, admit this publicly. Zanu PF supporters burnt down my uncle's hardware store when he came out in support of the MDC. To my mother and father it's not land, but the country's ailing economy that is the real issue. Personally, I disagree. To me land is the most important issue and the fact that Mugabe uses it to paper over his failings in the economy doesn't really matter. What matters, I think, is that he is doing something about it. Perhaps it will give the rural have-nots like my grandma, who has been working the same four acres for over fifty years, a chance.

I grew up with my Grandma while my parents went to England to study. A supporter of the Independence war, she feels badly betrayed by the Zanu PF now. "we were deceived ... they used to tell us, when we win the war you will no longer suffer. You'll have machinery to plough, you won't have to carry heavy buckets of water on your heads, it will come through a tap. We were lied to. Now we look to God for help, because if he can't we're done for." This disillusionment is at the heart of the election here.

Down the road from my grandmother's four acres is Peregwe Ranch. Known as 'the endless fields', this farm spans 42 000 acres. Peregwe Ranch has been occupied by war veterans since March. The owners, Mr and Mr. Abbott, moved to their house in Bulawayo in fear of their lives. But the servants at the farm said that no violence had occurred. The Abbott's left peacefully. I caught up with Mrs. Abbott in Bulawayo. She was angry about the occupation of her farm. "It's this government's fault. There is definitely a need for redistribution of land but it should have been done a long time ago. It should never have come to this... I don't believe it is their ancestral rights. My husband and I were born here too. We have as much right to the land as any Black Zimbabwean." I don't think colour is the issue either. After the war the British Government gave large tracts of land to its war veterans. Because it was a colony they said it was their land. Now an Independent country, we say it's our land and our veterans should have some too. "When we went to war we didn't fight for money, we fought for land" say the occupiers of the farm. They just want some of the land back.

As election day draws near, the tension is evident at my parents home. Anyone planning to vote MDC keeps a low profile. Dad says that Zanu ‘heavies' have been threatening trouble if he votes the wrong way. Lots of people are expecting violence here, especially if MDC win. As the village crams into the local bar and watches the election results the MDC look to be making massive gains. However, our expectations of violence are thankfully misplaced. The election brings a narrow win for the Zanu PF. But for my cousin, Biggie, the result is tinged with disappointment. His district has fallen to the MDC candidate. Despite Mugabe's win, the political landscape of Zimbabwe has altered radically. For those wanting change the result offers the hope of a useful opposition to Mugabe. For the war veterans it's a victory. Mugabe promises to redistribute land within three months. However, I feel that if he betrays the poor again he will lose what remaining support he has.