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Zimbabwe farmers strike over squatters By David Blair at Irenedale farm | ||
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| LETTERS/OPINIONS | Wednesday 26 , July |
| Let us all apply relentless pressure for return to law | |
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7/26/00 9:41:21 AM (GMT +2) | |
Joan Brans, Beatrice
Congratulations to M
Mangachena for his letter on 20 July 2000, stating the facts about the murders
in Mudzi-Mutoko.
It is so important for the
urban people to learn what terrible things happened in the rural areas prior to
the election.
The vital link between urban and rural folk must not be broken
and anyone going kumusha (to the village) must return and tell the people what
is happening there.
The black armbands worn by the MDC Members of Parliament
at the opening of Parliament were to remind the country of the more than 30
people who died, the countless others who were raped and beaten, and the
violence and intimidation that continue today.
We should all wear black
ribbons until this is stopped and every case of murder, rape, arson and
kidnapping has been investigated, and the perpetrators brought to book.
The
pressure for the Police Commissioner to resign and for law and order to return
must be relentless.
I urge every Zimbabwean to snap out of their apathy and
do something.
A small voice can rise to become a roar that cannot be ignored
and, as a united people, we have the power to stop the evil let us do this now!
SOME time ago, in the early 1980s when
South Africa was still racist, rumour had it that an ''incident'' occurred that
delayed delivery of diesel and petrol we had purchased from some Middle East
country.
The delay was at the South African port of Durban. The "incident" caused long
fuel queues. I remember at one point sleeping in my car overnight in a fuel
queue and having a plate of sadza brought to me for supper. Ah, for those
"racists"!
Anyway, the "incident" that triggered the fuel "crisis" at the time was that
someone had the bright idea of writing "Death to the Racists in South Africa" on
the empty fuel tankers destined for Durban to pick our oil consignment from the
Middle East. The Boers on the other side of the Limpopo quickly spotted this and
reported to the authorities in Pretoria.
Pretoria had a bright idea of its own. It let the tankers proceed all the way
to Durban at a slower than usual pace only to have them returned empty with the
inscription "Kaffir Clean This Up Before Refill" side by side with "Death"
instructions. The return trip was even slower, to the delight of the Boers on
the way.
Rumour has it that our then rabidly Marxist regime spent quite some time
contemplating this and that option, including declaring war on the "racists" in
South Africa. But another bright idea came up. We "cleaned up" the tankers, they
returned to Durban and they came back with fuel.
Subsequently, Zimbabwe's then Minister of Energy and Transport Simba Makoni
was relieved of his duties and given a different assignment at the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) secretariat in Gaborone where he did very
well. If I am wrong I stand to be corrected.
It was a case of revolutionaries being more revolutionary than the
revolutionary situation.
No doubt Simba has grown up successfully since the early 1980s. In fact, his
glamorous 10-year career as SADC executive secretary and his equally successful
career as a businessman since then testify to this and reassure the country now
that he has been given the pivotal Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Energetic, imaginative and, more importantly, adaptable as he has proven to
be, I have no doubt he is the right person for this most challenging job. But he
faces an uphill struggle; so "up-hillish" that it will be a miracle if he
succeeds in his plan for economic recovery for which, I believe like many
others, he has been appointed.
Simba is an economic "spin doctor" in a way not different from the political
"spin doctor" Jonathan Moyo has been. Jonathan was hired to map out ZANU PF's
political recovery plan when that party had declined to its lowest ebb. We all
know it. If he works hard, Simba too could achieve a "Jonathan success" in the
economy.
A "Jonathan success"? Yes, coming up with a plan that avoids a complete
collapse of our economy until the 2002 presidential election. For the political
"spin doctor" has achieved just that, preventing the complete collapse of ZANU
PF up until the presidential election. Beyond that, I have my doubts, not unless
the plan is to make the whole of Zimbabwe a graveyard.
This is what makes me believe Simba's task is worse than Jonathan's. The one
had (and still has) access to the instruments of violence and death; the other
does not. In any case, their assignments are different in that they are dealing
with different environments.
I am not saying the one used violence and death; politicians in his party
used them. I am merely saying these instruments were accessible.
Simba will have to do a lot more "cleaning up" this time. Worse still, the
"mess" is not of his making. If anything, the "mess" happened while he was in
the "cooler", put there by the man who now has assigned him this nasty task.
Simba is in an invidious situation; invidious in that he is being called upon
to recover an economy when both the domestic and international environments have
been made unfriendly by the man who leads the regime that he must sell, both
domestically and internationally.
On the domestic front, he must excite abantu abanga celesekanga, vanhu
vakasuwa, unhappy people to work together under and in the name of a regime and
party that only yesterday caused the destruction of their lives and property -
an exercise that made thousands homeless. Some are still in shock as we speak
and I am one of them.
Honestly, up to now I can't believe the savagery and "rank madness"! I am not
at all proud of what we did to each other during the period February - June
2000. No one should be. Moreover, many doubt the result of the parliamentary
elections in which the current Speaker of the House lost. Muri kumbozvifambisa
sei, Gushungo? How are you running these things, Gushungo?
Internationally, the "imperialists" and "colonialists", or what have you, are
not happy either, least of all because we encourage the "unlawful" seizure of
farms belonging to their "kith and kin" (a few of whom we occasionally
murdered), and because we don't respect the "rule of law" the investments we are
trying to attract depends on. What if whites in the West are sensitive to their
"kith and kin" being murdered?
Really, what logic is there but Zimbabwe logic that we are calling the
international community to invest in a country which can at any time seize that
investment? Moreover and more importantly, what pride do we have in our own
black race when we can kill one another over elections? This I despise to the
core.
I understand the "imperialists" have video types of us saying "You can keep
your money and we keep our sovereignty", or some such invectives.
They recorded us saying these things on many different occasions in case Stan
Mudenge was thinking of advising that we should simply say we were "misquoted"
or "quoted out of context".
I understand that these tapes are waiting to be shown to us in the boardrooms
of every "imperialist" capital. Copies are said to be also deposited in
embassies in Harare. We would be better advised to check them out before making
expensive and useless trips abroad.
I understand, further, that already these imperialists have come with a rude
reply: "You can keep 'your sovereignty' and we keep 'our money'."
I-i-i , SaMakoni, mutwaro wamapihwa muhombe. You have been given a tall
order.
- Professor Masipula Sithole is a political science lecturer at the
University of Zimbabwe. Staff Reporter PRESSURE mounted this week on new
Finance Minister Simba Makoni to make an official statement on the future of
Zimbabwe's artificially stable currency and end the haemorrhaging of the economy
in the face of a biting foreign currency crisis.
Some local companies are already believed to be planning work stoppages in a
bid to force Makoni to announce a new exchange rate policy to replace informal
currency controls, imposed by Zimbabwe's bank chiefs, which have kept the
troubled dollar artificially stable since January last year.
Sources in the manufacturing sector this week said the continued silence by
Makoni was driving most local industrialists to the wall and warned that an
accelerated de-industrialisation of the Zimbabwean economy would occur unless
the minister urgently addresses problems caused by the fixed exchange rate.
The manufacturing, agricultural and mining sectors have been hardest hit by
the fixed exchange rate regime, which deprives them of hard cash while forcing
them to import spares, raw materials and equipment at a higher rate of the
perceived devalued dollar.
"There is a feeling that the minister has been too silent about the exchange
rate as if all is well in the economy," one industry official told the Financial
Gazette.
Another industrialist, also preferring not to be named, said: "Coming from
the private sector, he should be more responsive to the needs of the business
community and it would help if he clearly stated his position about the currency
in order to reduce the speculation which is killing local industry."
As a result of the controls and demands by exporters for a devaluation,
Zimbabwe's foreign currency market is battling with a severe hard cash shortage.
Bankers have kept the Zimbabwe dollar stable at 37,9/38,0 to the United
States unit for more than a year under measures they adopted in January 1999 to
stave off government controls after a speculative run downed the dollar to
historic lows.
In some cases, applicants for hard cash are now asked to wait at least two
weeks before their applications are processed, depending on the availability of
funds.
Most Zimbabwean firms have since the end of last year demanded a higher
exchange rate to offset their rising input costs.
The parallel market is trading forex at about 60 percent above the official
exchange rate.
Traders in the black market are currently selling the greenback at between 62
and 65 to one US greenback while exporters are being forced to sell their hard
cash at the official exchange rate of $38 to the American dollar.
Local economists said the devaluation was inevitable and Makoni already had
his work cut out.
"The time is good for the minister to allay fears of investors and the
business community by saying something that would help ease the tension and
rebuild confidence in the market," said Zimbabwe Economics Society chief Ternard
Kwashirai. Staff Reporter THE Ministry of Finance and Economic
Development will review and adjust the Millennium Economic Recovery Programme
(MERP) so it can deal with the immediate problems facing Zimbabwe's economy, it
was learnt yesterday.
Sources said the MERP, the brainchild of the Economic Planning Commission
supposed to put Zimbabwe's economy back on the road to recovery, was discussed
at the new government's first Cabinet meeting on Tuesday this week.
They said Simba Makoni, the new Finance and Economic Development Minister,
had indicated his intention to fine-tune the programme to make it more focused
to deal with the economy's stability and recovery.
"He was told to go and come up with a revised plan that he could support,"
one source told the Financial Gazette. "This is not something new, Herbert
Murerwa (the outgoing Finance Minister) always said the same thing."
There was no immediate comment from Makoni, reported by his officials to be
at meetings throughout yesterday.
However, sources said Makoni had indicated his intention at Tuesday's meeting
to review the plan and adjust it to deal with Zimbabwe's most pressing economic
woes.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since independence in
1980. It is battling rampant inflation that is expected to soar to an
unprecedented high of 80 percent in the fourth quarter of this year, record high
interest rates of 70 percent, a budget deficit forecast to top 20 percent this
year and severe foreign currency shortages.
The MERP, launched earlier this year, has not been implemented because the
government feared a public backlash at a critical time ahead of the June 24-25
general elections.
The 18-month-long programme, one of many the government has unveiled but
failed to implement fully in recent years, aims at trimming runaway state
spending and mobilising the government, business, labour and civil society to
implement a package of macroeconomic stabilisation measures.
It advocates inflation targeting, the first time this would be done in
Zimbabwe, among several measures which the government hopes will pull the
country out of its deepening economic quagmire.
Most analysts say the entire programme, already behind schedule, needs to be
overhauled by all stakeholders because it does not deal with the fundamental
causes of Zimbabwe's crisis. Makoni under pressure to break silence on currency
Recovery plan overhaul
Staff Reporter
WAR veterans leader Chenjerai Hunzvi
said yesterday his followers would remain on white farms they have seized as
pressure mounted on President Robert Mugabe to order the former independence
fighters off the farms and placate international donors whose aid is key to
Zimbabwe's economic recovery.
"The land must go back to the people and we cannot retreat now," Hunzvi told
the Financial Gazette.
"In fact, the government should move faster now and build on what has been
achieved by the war veterans by giving more land to the people."
Sources said pressure was mounting on Mugabe, who has tacitly sanctioned the
farm occupations, to instruct the former guerrillas to quit the farms and pave
the way for an orderly government-implemented land resettlement programme.
Those pushing for the removal of the veterans include some of the ministers
appointed to the new Cabinet who, according to sources, see the issue as a
prerequisite for Zimbabwe to lure back the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
other donors.
The IMF suspended all aid to Zimbabwe last year because of the government's
failure to meet agreed targets under IMF-backed economic reforms and because of
Zimbabwe's costly military involvement in the civil war of the Congo.
Vice President Joseph Msika yesterday held talks with Hunzvi for more than
three hours. The talks were apparently aimed at convincing Hunzvi that the land
resettlement programme should now be handled by the government and not by the
veterans who are already allocating land to thousands of people across the
country.
Msika could not be reached for comment on the talks while Hunzvi would not be
drawn to discuss the meeting's details. He insisted, though, that the veterans
would not be deterred on the issue of the land and would stay put on the farms.
Hundreds of war veterans and supporters of the governing ZANU PF party have
since February forcibly seized more than 1 600 white-owned farms. At least five
farmers have been killed in the violence that has accompanied the seizures.
This week the town of Karoi was brought to a standstill when farmers and
industrialists there closed shop in protest against the continued - and in some
areas widening - occupations of the farms.
The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), in a fresh two-pronged effort to end the
farm occupations, this week petitioned Mugabe and appealed to the High Court to
order the police to act against the farm invaders.
No date had by yesterday been set for the hearing of the farmers' new
application while no comment was available from the Mugabe's office on his
response to the CFU's petition.
Earlier this year, the CFU twice won High Court orders which outlawed the
invasions, but Mugabe refused to obey them. Staff Reporter PLANTING for the 2001 tobacco season,
due to start in five weeks' time, will be delayed by violence on occupied farms
and the stoppage of farming by growers who are facing threats to their lives
from supporters of the ruling ZANU PF party.
Growers of tobacco, Zimbabwe's single biggest export, have already forecast a
30 percent drop in output from this season's output of 200 million tonnes
because of the five-month-old invasion of the farms by self-styled liberation
war veterans and other ZANU PF supporters.
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) director David Hasluck said this week tobacco
output forecasts for next season would be further revised downwards because of
the continuing unrest on farms, which has escalated in the past few weeks and
has affected preparations for the new tobacco crop.
Continued unrest has forced growers to halt farming, although the CFU has
been quick to say this is not a protest against the occupations but an action
forced on farmers who can no longer work without harassment.
A further decline in tobacco output is expected to have a serious impact on
Zimbabwe's export earnings, 30 percent of which come from tobacco.
CFU president Tim Henwood said there had been severe disruptions in the
planting of other summer crops as well and this was likely to adversely affect
Zimbabwe's food supplies next year.
"The new agriculture season is approaching rapidly and within five weeks
tobacco planting is due to start," he told the Financial Gazette.
"Invaders continue to interrupt the irrigation of the wheat and barley crop
as well as the tobacco seed beds. Land preparation for the crops is behind
schedule across the country. Clearly it is impossible to continue normal farming
operations under these circumstances."
The CFU officials spoke as the organisation filed an urgent application in
the High Court seeking an order compelling Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri, war veterans leader Chenjerai Hunzvi and President Robert Mugabe to
ensure that the former freedom fighters leave commercial farms.
Hasluck said Mugabe was being cited as a respondent in his official capacity
as well as in his role as a supporter of the war veterans' actions.
The court application is the third that the CFU has filed this year
challenging the occupation and seizure of commercial farms, most of them owned
by CFU members.
In two previous occasions, the CFU successfully challenged the illegal
occupations but the police, with Mugabe's open support, defied the court
rulings, saying the issue was political and they did not have adequate manpower
to enforce the orders.
The veterans have seized more than 1 000 farms since the invasions started in
February, threatening the survival of the agricultural sector, the backbone of
Zimbabwe's economy.
Analysts warn that growth in the sector, which accounts for 20 percent of
Zimbabwe's gross domestic product and 40 percent of export earnings, could
plunge 20 percent if the land crisis is not resolved
soon.Farm invasions stall tobacco planting
IT IS business as usual for President Robert Mugabe and
the government and yet lawlessness and anarchy are mounting on farms occupied by
his supporters.
Instead of directing the police and the army to rapidly restore law and order
on the farms to allow for an orderly redistribution of land, the government has
deployed the security forces in urban areas where there is no discernible
violence.
In an open act of retribution against opponents who voted for the opposition
in the June 24-25 general election, the government refuses to see the
incalculable harm it is doing to the country by its continued suspension of the
rule of law.
As the nation agonises and waits for action to quell the anarchy on the
occupied farms, not a single member of the Cabinet - and crucially Mugabe
himself - has found it necessary at all to even speak out against the rampaging
mobs.
Not only are the mobs encouraged by this silence and earlier open support for
their activities from Mugabe, they now believe they have become a law unto
themselves.
While this happens, Zimbabwe's entire mainstay agriculture sector is under
threat, portending severe food shortages and an even more crippling foreign
currency crisis than the present one because farmers cannot go about with their
business.
We simply cannot continue this way. Either there is a government that is in
charge and protects all its citizens or there is none, in which case the people
must decide how to protect themselves. There is no other way.
And yet tragically, the worst for Zimbabwe seems yet to come.
Here is a "new thinking" government which launches a plan to revive the all
but collapsed tourism sector and yet none within its ranks sees any link with
the restoration of law and order to attract the foreign visitors.
Here is a government virtually on its knees which wants international
investors and donors to return to Zimbabwe and yet none within its ranks sees
the need to end the farm violence that has persisted since February.
Here is a government that refuses to devalue an overvalued currency and yet
it is partly because of this decision that Zimbabwe is choking from foreign
currency shortages and may soon be unable to have any meaningful exports.
How can any sensible investor put his or her money into a country where law
and order have been suspended and where property rights, a critical element of
any constitutional order, are not respected?
How can any sensible government do so much to undermine - indeed sabotage -
an already crumbling economy?
Instead of tackling these burning issues and the state's runaway spending -
issues that are caused solely by the government and are the chief causes of
Zimbabwe's economic crisis - the authorities are directing their invective
against imagined local and foreign economic saboteurs.
No, Zimbabwe's clear problems will not be resolved by this diversionary
propaganda nor by the postponement of painful but necessary decisions.
Mugabe and his Cabinet are fast running out of excuses and, unless there is a
dramatic change of heart on their part to act with resolution and speed against
vices that are impeding the nation's progress, the international community must
rightly leave Zimbabwe to its own fate.
But long-suffering Zimbabweans must refuse to be lulled or cajoled into
accepting this intolerable state of affairs.
They have a pressing national duty to take whatever lawful means are
available to end their torment and they have none but themselves to blame if
this continues.
EDITOR - We all wanted things to
improve and we thought that they would once the present government realised how
sick and tired people were of excuses and blaming everyone but itself for all
that has gone wrong.
But far from improving, things are getting worse, and President Robert Mugabe
is still ranting about the "imperialist West" and the "Ian Smith regime".
It is sad how highly he rates Smith that he attributes Zimbabwe's mess to a
90-year-old cattle farmer whose land has now been taken over by squatters who
don't even realise that the land cannot support them and their crops.
ZANU PF, in my opinion, only scrapped through last month's parliamentary poll
by plain and simple cheating. It only managed to "convince" rural voters but
urban dwellers rejected it.
The rural voters really have nothing to lose and even if they received a bag
of maize-meal a month (paid for by taxpayers, of course) that would be an
improvement which convinced them to vote for ZANU PF.
So claiming that the rural folk support the government is pathetic as you
cannot expect them to realise the problems facing the country and why a new
government would actually benefit them more.
What amazes me is that ZANU PF doesn't seem to realise where the money to run
this country comes from - it comes from urban areas and commercial farms in the
form of taxes which we pay through the nose.
I no longer want to pay tax to sponsor squatters who terrorise farmers and
workers; for teargas to be used against my own people and to support a corrupt
foreign government (can you believe others being accused of having foreign
interests?).
What I want is leadership and advice on how to further reject what we have
already rejected. This is not about petty personal interests - we want our
country back. ZANU PF is not in charge and it should get out and stop ruining
our country.
In a similar vein, the Commercial Farmers' Union is pathetic as it is running
around trying to deal with the devil and it will pay the price. Any supporters
of land invasions should have their properties invaded and we will see how they
feel.
The issue is not about land - on that most agree. It is about people's rights
and getting the distribution done properly, not by pig-headed racists claiming
revenge for something that happened to some of their forefathers.
Every business and organisation must stand up and reject the government and
its policies which are evil and will ruin all of us. John Sogolani, Harare. EDITOR - President Robert Mugabe faces
presidential elections in the year 20002.
It is with this fact in mind that Mugabe's ZANU PF would like to recruit
political hooligans in line with the programme of terror that the ruling party
is putting together to ensure that the President retains his post.
Interested candidates should meet the following conditions:
-They must be Grade Seven graduates. Those with a higher standard of
education will not be considered. But please note that if the number of Grade
Seven respondents fails to meet the target of 20 000 hooligans needed for this
exercise, then "O" level failures would be considered.
-They must have a proven track record of hooliganism.
-Former prisoners who were gaoled for rape, murder and political violence and
all those who went through Chenjerai Hunzvi's college of torture should rush in
with their applications.
-Experience in invading white-owned farms is an added advantage.
In return the ZANU PF party offers the following:
-Three white T-shirts.
-A daily allocation of five litres of opaque beer per individual.
-A once-in-a-lifetime chance to shake hands with Mugabe.
Please note that all recruits will be made redundant after the presidential
election.
Interested candidates should forward their applications to the undersigned or
to Hunzvi before January 30 2002 Edson Chikuza, Chitungwiza.
EDITOR - July 9 2000 was a sad day in
my life. I lost my best friend in the stampede that occurred at the National
Sports Stadium.
A lovely girl, Euleria, only 21 years old, was trampled to death.
After teargassing the whole stadium, the police barricaded some of the gates.
I do not doubt that the police had an intention to massacre some Zimbabweans.
My question is why?
This question shall stand until we find a decent and honest police force.
Augustine Chihuri, God is for us all!
I'm feeling very much injured. D Chichaya, Bulawayo. EDITOR - I would like to highlight the
relationship between the state and the church in the way I know it as a
Christian.
I take it that the majority of our population is Christian.
Now, if we profess to be a Christian society, we should also observe certain
tenets that constitute our relationship with God.
Please be reminded that we don't need to declare this nation a Christian
state as some people may advocate but the way we behave affirms this principle.
We go to church, invite priests to bless our weddings, conduct funerals and
other services all in the name of God.
This faith is embedded in and guided by the teachings of the Bible which we
interpret differently according to the various beliefs we subscribe to.
However, there are certain fundamental principles which we seem to agree on.
For instance, we should render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what
belongs to Him.
It is said we should obey those who rule over us for they have the blessing
and authority from God.
As Christians, we expect our leaders to fear God and also expect the
custodians of the law of God (pastors and priests) to advise leaders when they
go astray. We believe that no one is above God and that He is great.
I believe that our church leaders should not keep quiet when the moral fabric
of our society is being torn apart. They must speak out when we are killing each
other.
I also believe that it is the duty of our church leaders to speak out when
things are being done contrary to God's will and that He should curse them if
they do not uphold His laws.
The Bible is full of stories of kings who were advised by the prophets on
various issues affecting their societies. Some listened but others didn't. You
can read the rest in the Bible.
The pulpit is one of the places from which we should be told the good and the
bad that we do on this earth - it is where the authority of God is professed.
That platform belongs to the priests and pastors and I do not see anything
wrong with that arrangement.
Although no political speeches or rallies must be conducted from the pulpit,
nothing can preclude the church leaders from pointing out the wrongs that we do
as a society from the same platform.
Unfortunately, there may be some political connotations in these speeches.
But everyday life is politics in itself anyway.Wanted urgently: terror hooligans
God is for us all
Christians must speak against stray leaders
The MDC has already mounted challenges to the results in seven constituencies, a party official said another 28 applications had been filed on Wednesday, just ahead of the deadline for such action.
In most cases, the MDC is calling for an annulment of the result on the grounds of alleged intimidation by Zanu-PF activists, but it also says it has evidence of vote-rigging.In their final report on the election, European Union observers said that, while polling-day itself had passed off smoothly, the overall result was marred by the scale of the violence in the weeks beforehand.
Political violence
In the run up to polling more than 31 people were left dead by political violence, most of them opposition supporters.
David Coltart, the MDC legal affairs spokesman, said 35 of the 62 constituencies won by the Zanu-PF came about because of manipulation and intimidation.
The election result in the constituency lost by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is among those being challenged.Another result being challenged is for the seat contested by Zacharia Rioga, who remains in hospital following an attack by suspected ruling party supporters three days before the elections.
Intimidation
Intimidation is the main grounds for appeal in most of the cases, said Mr Coltart.
"One of the arguments is that even where the candidate himself didn't participate in intimidation or violent acts, the fact that they did not openly condemn those acts amounts to tacit approval, which is an offence," he said.
The MDC also says it has evidence of vote-rigging including ballot stuffing and "treating", or wooing voters through bribes or offers of loans.
Problems Found in Zimbabwe Election
Wednesday July 26 8:34 PM ET
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The main opposition party on Wednesday asked the High Court to annul a parliamentary election result after polling officials found evidence of irregularities.
Opposition candidate Shepherd Mushonga, who lost to ruling party veteran Chen Chimutengwende, asked the High Court to cancel the result based on findings made by election officials examining the vote.
Election officials reopened ballot boxes and examined voting materials after a court on Tuesday sided with a request by the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. The district is one of 30 that the party has disputed following June 24-25 parliamentary elections.
In the investigation, election officials found incomplete voter lists and lists where names had been checked off twice, indicating they voted more than once at different polling stations, Mushonga said. The documents also showed that unlisted voters from other districts as well as voters known to be dead had cast ballots, he said.
Mushonga, a lawyer, said scrutinizers saw this as evidence of rigging in the ruling party's favor and grounds to seek a judicial order canceling the result. The opposition was asking for a reversal of the result by default or a fresh poll, he added.
``Things have been messed up and interfered with,'' he said.
If the High Court rules against Chimutengwende, a former information minister, he could be disqualified under electoral law from holding any political office for five years.
Chimutengwende and Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede were not immediately available for comment.
In the June elections, the opposition party, the biggest threat to President Robert Mugabe's two decades of rule, won 57 of the 120 parliament seats up for grabs, leaving the ruling party with a slender 62-seat majority.
The opposition party said it is also contesting ruling party victories in districts where it said widespread political violence and intimidation violated electoral law. Political violence in the run up to polling left at least 31 people dead and thousands homeless, most of them opposition supporters.
After the polls, international observers from the European Union declared the polls could not be interpreted as free and fair mainly because of the violence preceding voting.
Thursday, July 27 1:08 AM SGT - HARARE, July 26 (AFP) -
More than half the seats won by Zimbabwe's ruling party in last month's parliamentary elections are subject to a legal challenge by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the party's spokesman said Wednesday.
The MDC's Learnmore Jongwe said 37 of the 62 races won by the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) were marred by the kind of manipulation and intimidation that prompted EU observers to conclude that the historic vote was not free and fair.
Lawyers filed applications challenging the results from 30 districts to the High Court on Wednesday, the 30-day deadline since the June 24-25 elections, in addition to seven filed earlier, Jongwe told AFP.
The challenges filed Wednesday include that of Zacharia Rioga, who remains in hospital following an attack by 500 suspected ruling party supporters three days before the elections. Rioga's supporters were told he died in the attack and need not bother voting, MDC's legal affairs chief David Coltart said.
Another MDC candidate, Philemon Thambatshira Matibe, lost narrowly to a ZANU-PF candidate whose campaign team told rallies that special devices at polling stations would detect those who voted for the MDC.
A third, Elliot Pfebve, also lost by a narrow margin. His brother was killed and his parents were assaulted after the winning candidate had instructed his backers to threaten opposition party supporters.
Intimidation is the main ground in most of the cases, said Coltart, who was elected from a Bulawayo district.
"One of the arguments is that even where the candidate himself didn't participate in intimidation or violent acts, the fact that they did not openly condemn those acts amounts to tacit approval, which is an offense," he said.
Coltart had said at the weekend that evidence was so strong in some of the cases that the plaintiffs would not need to rely on witnesses who could be intimidated.
The MDC also says it has evidence of vote-rigging including ballot stuffing and "treating", or wooing voters through bribes or offers of loans.
The High Court has already acted on one challenge and began examining electoral records from a northern constituency on Tuesday.
Evidence that has emerged so far gave the MDC's Shepherd Mushonga enough "ammunition" to seek a nullification of the results and a by-election on Wednesday.
Coltart said: "I anticipate that most of the cases, if successful, will result in a by-election," adding that he considered it "unlikely the court will simply award the election to the MDC (although) it has that power."
The European Union's 190-strong team of observers said in its final report issued July 4: "The scale of violence and intimidation in the run-up to the campaign and during the election period marred the final result. The government failed to uphold the rule of law."
Four months of violence preceding the elections saw hundreds of white-owned farms invaded by thousands of landless blacks and claimed at least 34 lives.
ZANU-PF's victories were all in rural constituencies, where the violence was centered, while the MDC swept the cities, winning 57 seats and becoming Zimbabwe's first viable parliamentary opposition since independence in 1980.
The 150-member body also includes 30 members appointed by Mugabe and a member from a minor opposition party.
One MDC candidate who is not challenging the result is Blessing Chebundo, who unseated Mugabe protege Emmanuel Mnangagwa after escaping five alleged assassination attempts.
July 24, 2000
The Movement for Democratic Change, (MDC)
President Morgan Tsvangirai has
called upon government to come up with a
lasting solution to the land
question, that will satisfy all stakeholders to
avoid anarchy and rebuild
confidence in the economy.
Responding to
reports of white farmers who have shut down their farms in
protest against,
lawlessness on land occupied by war veterans and villagers.
"The farmers
strike will be justified unless the government comes out with a
long lasting
solution to the land question."
He said as MDC if this lawlessness
continues the protests may spill into the
urban areas, where workers will be
forced to take action in solidarity with
farm workers who now live under
constant fear of losing their lives or jobs.
"Workers are being beaten
up, how do you expect them to be productive under
such conditions," he
said.
He also warned that the protests by the farmers must not be
misconstrued as
a fight against land redistribution but for a peaceful and
just process.
Keep up the support!
Regards,
MDC Support
Centre
8th Floor, Gold
Bridge
Eastgate
Harare
091367151/2/3
Guqula Izenzo/Maitiro
Chinja
"We call upon the government to restore law and order in the
country and
immediately stop the violence being inflicted on MDC supporters
and innocent
people" (Gibson Sibanda)
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Zimbabwe farmers strike over squatters By David Blair at Irenedale farm | ||
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26 July 2000
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 26 July
Zimbabwe townsfolk may join farm strike
Harare -Zimbabwe's opposition leader warned President Mugabe yesterday that urban workers might join the strike of white farmers, which began a week ago. As the protest spread to a second region, with other areas also considering action, Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the MDC, backed the landowners and threatened strike action in "solidarity" with their employees. His intervention came after another white farmer was severely injured by squatters, when a mob of 40 set upon him with sticks and clubs. With 237 farmers now on strike, Tim Henwood, the president of the CFU, said the protest could spread nationwide because normal operations were becoming "impossible". He petitioned Mr Mugabe to halt the land invasions, which commenced in February, and began a fresh legal attempt to end his members' ordeal.
Farmers around Karoi, 150 miles north-west of Harare, began their strike at 6am yesterday. Irrigation systems were switched off and their 27,000 workers sat idle, although they will be paid for as long as possible. The protest was joined by 57 farmers in neighbouring Tengwe. Alan Parsons, one of the striking landowners, said: "We want law and order back in our country. That's what this is about. We can't continue in this state of anarchy any longer." He said a nationwide strike was on the cards. Some of Karoi's shops and garages closed in solidarity with the landowners after Mr Tsvangirai called the farmers' action "justified".
He said: "If this lawlessness continues, the protests may spill into the urban areas, where workers will be forced to take action in solidarity with farm workers who now live under constant fear of losing their lives or jobs." Mr Tsvangirai is a former secretary-general of the ZCTU, which has close ties with the MDC. He led a series of national strikes in 1997 and 1998, and senior figures in the MDC believe such action is necessary again. A member of Mr Tsvangirai's executive said: "What we need is a general protest, covering every industry, until we return to the rule of law. I think it will happen soon."
Beleaguered farmers, who have lost all confidence in the police, were still shocked yesterday by the attack on Mr Brand, one of the striking farmers, outside his gates at Gremlin farm, Karoi. He said: "They came and said they wanted to take my farm. I turned to go back to my security gate and that's when they started beating me. They hit me with sticks until I dropped to the ground." Mr Brand was rescued by fellow farmers and rushed to Chinhoyi hospital, where he was treated for a fractured arm, severe bruising and lacerations to his head and right ear. He told them the squatters had "got into a frenzy and wanted to take vengeance on somebody".
Farmers are reaching the end of their patience after an ordeal that has lasted for almost six months. Mr Henwood gave the CFU's first warning of national action. He said: "In the interests of the safety of our members and their workers it may soon become impossible for farming operations to continue nationwide. This drastic action will have a serious impact on the economy of Zimbabwe but will be a small price to pay to prevent further loss of life." Mr Henwood begged the president "to intervene in bringing to an end the perils faced by all those involved in commercial farming". The CFU asked the High Court to order the police to evict the squatters and act against violence. Judges have already granted this request twice, but their orders have been ignored. Few believe that the third legal attempt to solve the crisis will meet with any more success.
The government has scant sympathy for the farmers. Joseph Made, the newly appointed Agriculture Minister, accused them of trying to sabotage land reform and warned against a strike. He told the official Herald newspaper: "I appeal to the farmers not to go ahead with the demonstration. If the strike goes ahead it will reaffirm the need for land redistribution in this country. We cannot have a few people threatening the majority."
From News24 (SA), 25 July
Farmers' strike spreading
Harare - The strike by commercial farmers over the government's reluctance to guarantee their security spread throughout Mashonaland on Tuesday. More farmers stopped work in protest over the continued occupation of their properties and the disruption of operations by war veterans, said David Hasluck, the director of the CFU. Hasluck said more farms could stop operations if the war veterans continued to threaten farmers and their workers. "Unless the war veterans move off, more of the commercial farms will be shut down and production will be further disrupted," he said. Hasluck said it was impossible to calculate the loss of business as the situation was changing all the time. He said the loss of production depended on the duration of a particular shut-down. Steve Crawford, the CFU spokesman, said they had received reports of stoppages mainly in Shamva, Glendale, Concession, Mazowe, Marondera and the Macheke/Virginia farming areas in Mashonaland East. "Some of the farmers have voluntarily shut down to protest over police inaction on the continued occupation of farms, especially in the Glendale and Concession areas and for fear of becoming targets," Crawford said. A number of commercial farmers in Mvurwi, Glendale and Concession had fled their farms after receiving death threats from the war veterans.
In Shamva, Crawford said farmers voluntarily ceased production because a farmer in Woodlands had not been allowed to return to his farm after he had fled the violence. In Mashonaland East, Steve Pratt, the CFU regional representative said war veterans last week ordered the stoppage of all activity on farms in the Virginia/Macheke area. "I know a large number of farmers in the area are affected and such threats by the former freedom fighters disturb the preparation of land and the irrigation of winter crops," he said. Michael Mason, the owner of Ian Penny farm in Tengwe, said on Monday his workers were sleeping in the bush after about 75 people told them not to report for work last Saturday. "My workers are nervous about returning to work and I may not be able to continue production if this continues as we have had many such work stoppages," he said. The war veterans have intensified their occupation of commercial farms since the government gazetted the list of 804 farms earmarked for compulsory acquisition. They occupied about 1 600 farms in the run-up to the election last month when they helped prop up the Zanu-PF campaign which promised people free land for resettlement.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the president of MDC on Monday called on the government to stop the anarchy on the farms and rebuild confidence in the agriculture-driven economy. "The farmers' strike will be justified unless the government comes out with a long-lasting solution to the land question. The protests must not be construed as fights against land redistribution but for a peaceful and just process," he said. Tsvangirai said there could be no production on the farms if the workers were being beaten up. He said the lawlessness on the farms could lead to protest in urban areas where workers could end up taking action in support of farm workers who were living in fear. Elsewhere, war veterans have intensified their invasions. At Beatrice, for instance, Stone Ridge and Blackfordby farms had endured a week of sustained pressure and could shut down any time. An influx into already occupied farms was reported in Mvuma, Ruwa and Shurugwi. The war veterans were said to be aggressive.
From News24 (SA), 26 July
Businessmen join farmers' strike
Harare - Businessmen in the town of Karoi began shutting down stores and at least 150 white farmers stopped work in the biggest action so far to protest a break down in law and order, farm union officials said on Tuesday. As the stoppage took hold in and around the town, 200km north west of Harare, the CFU said a group of about 50 ruling party militants and veterans of the bush war that ended white rule in 1980 assaulted local farmer David Brand, who was hospitalised for treatment of his injuries.
Farmers, backed by town leaders who closed some businesses, submitted a list of demands to police, including the removal of the district police chief in Karoi, whom they accuse of fanning tensions, said Chris Shepherd, a spokesperson for the group. The group was also hiring lawyers to sue the police chief, known only as Chief Superintendent Mabunda, for assaulting a farmer's wife at the police station on Tuesday. Mabunda was unavailable for comment, officers at his police station said.
Shepherd said witnesses reported Mabunda struck the woman in the face, pushed his finger up her nose and used obscene language while she was being jostled by four other officers. Mabunda allegedly told a crowd outside and farmers who were called to defuse the incident that he would fight the district's whites, declaring: "we'll give you war." The woman, whose family asked for her not to be identified, was being treated for shock. Wayne Bvudzijena, a police spokesperson in Harare, said he had no report of the incident, adding that any complaints against the Karoi police chief would be investigated.
About 150 farms in the Karoi district, a main tobacco and corn growing area, began shutting down their operations on Tuesday, Shepherd said. About another 100 farmers in neighbouring Tengwe district were considering similar stoppages. Tim Henwood, head of the farmers union, warned that farm stoppages would likely spread across the country unless the government stopped violence and intimidation by illegal occupiers claiming rights to more than 1 600 white-owned farms. Nationwide stoppages would bring the already suffering economy closer to a complete collapse.
From The Star (SA), 25 July
Mugabe is a liability, says opposition leader
Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe should step down because he lacks the political will to make the changes necessary to revive the country's sagging economy, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Tuesday. Speaking at a breakfast for businessmen in Illovo, Johannesburg, the MDC leader said Zimbabwe was experiencing an "economic meltdown" that required decisive action from government. "Unless this is addressed, I don't know if the economy will last the next six months," he said. The country is experiencing a 25 percent budget deficit, a fuel crisis, widespread corruption and the government's land redistribution policy had "literally devalued all land in Zimbabwe", he said.
The growing dissatisfaction among Zimbabwean citizens - especially the younger population - was highlighted in recent elections in which the MDC won a third of the seats in the 150-member assembly, making it the country's first viable opposition in 20 years of independence. As long as Mugabe remained in power, the new parliament would be hampered from making any real progress. "Mugabe will not allow people to make changes," said Tsvangirai. "How do we convince Mugabe that the only way left is an honourable exit? Because Mugabe has never believed in honour. He is not going to tolerate anything that undermines his power... and he will use violence."
Tsvangirai said his party would push for the return to law and order and the depoliticising of the land issue. The government had failed to implement a proper land policy, raising the issue only at election time to attract votes. "Disrupting property rights and upsetting the economy was not the way," Tsvangirai said. "We need a land commission to find the land, assess land stock, identify beneficiaries and create necessary infrastructure, training and support. Underutilised land owned by the state itself is over 200 million hectares." Tsvangirai said the process also had to be managed in such a way as to restore international goodwill, which would be needed to revive Zimbabwe's economy.
"Without international support, I don't believe the economy can grow. The country needs breathing space to get back on its feet." Mugabe could assist the ailing Zimbabwean economy by pulling troops out of the Democratic Republic of Congo and reduce the size of parliament, but this would require political will, which Mugabe appeared to lack. Tsvangirai expressed satisfaction with the election results, despite having failed to win the Buhera North seat he was contesting. "The election results were the best for the country at the time. We could not have had a massive MDC or massive Zanu-PF victory ... it would have led to chaos." Tsvangirai criticised South Africa's ANC's support of Zanu-PF during elections, saying that many Zimbabwes saw it as an endorsement of the pre-election violence. He said if the Southern African Development Community was to prosper, the ANC would have to "remain open-minded and engage all political voices in Zimbabwe".
From News24 (SA), 25 July
Ballot recounts to begin
Harare - The inspection of the ballots cast in the first of the disputed 28 parliamentary poll results begins at the High Court on Wednesday morning. The court ruled in favour of Shepherd Mushonga, the defeated MDC candidate for Mazowe East and ordered an inspection of the voting papers. The Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede, confirmed the verification of ballots, under the watchful eye of Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, in line with his order last week. The winner, the former Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications, Chen Chimutengwende had initially opposed the recount, arguing the elections were free and fair and Mushonga's agents had signed all the documents certifying the result. Chimutengwende polled 18 824 votes against Mushonga's 7 473. In a letter to Mushonga, Mudede said: "You are hereby advised that the opening of voting packets, ballot boxes, registers and Mazowe East Constituency voting rolls under Judicial Supervision in terms of the Electoral Act Chapter 201, will take place at the High Court on Tuesday 25 July 2000 from 8.30am."
If there are any irregularities, Mushonga, 38, would immediately apply for the result to be nullified. Mazowe East is among the 28 constituencies whose results the MDC is challenging. Mushonga cited irregularities in the conduct of the election and asked the court to rectify the alleged anomalies. He wanted Mudede to open for inspection all the sealed voting packets, voters rolls/ registers and election materials. Mushonga alleged there were people who voted twice because of poor machinery at a number of polling stations. The names of dead people had appeared on the voters' roll, he alleged. Said Mushonga: "There was a lot of movement of people from one polling station to another, and some people travelled more than 30km to cast their votes when they could have done so at polling stations closer to their homes."
Mushonga, a lawyer, said there were a number of allegations raised in his chamber application, all of which violated the provisions of the Electoral Act. Chimutengwende, through his lawyers, Mandizha, Chitsunge and Company, on Friday unsuccessfully tried to oppose the chamber application arguing that the election had been conducted in a transparent manner. He said: "The voters' roll was open for inspection for an extended period before voting and surely the applicant could easily have objected to the state of the roll." Chimutengwende said Mushonga's polling agents signed the necessary formalities as evidence of their satisfaction with the voters' roll and the conduct of the elections in general. "If they had been displeased by anything one would have expected them to have complained contemporaneously and in the heat of the moment," said Chimutengwende.
