Two years ago I was elected Commercial Farmers Union Chairman
for Mashonaland East Province (for my sins). It covers nine districts
and embraces 800 of the country's 3500 remaining commercial
farmers.
As I write I am close to the phone because a family in my
province, in the district of Macheke, has been under seige all night. So
called war-vets and their followers broke down their security fence last
evening and converged on the homestead chanting blood curdling threats, built
fires around the house, on the lawns and verandah, fired shots randomly, and
the neighbours stood-by all night in case things got really out of hand. The
police declined to react throughout, and I was only able to get the
officer commanding the province on her cell phone early this morning. Under
extreme pressure the police sent two details there who reported everything to
be in order, and left. The family are still in the house surrounded. 40
farmers went to the police station to demand an explanation and a reaction
from the member in charge, accompanied by a BBC film crew who were threatened
by the officer if they continued to film. The provincial head of police is
now on her way there to "talk to the farmers", and they and the BBC and other
press have retired a couple of kilometers away to the local sports club for
some breakfast and to await further developments. We have a lawyer on standby
in case any of our farmers are arrested, which is likely as that has become
the pattern in recent weeks - charges are trumped up and later withdrawn,
but not before the farmers concerned and the community in general have had
a rather unpleasant experience. (We have exercized a policy of not
encouraging press involvement for many months now - to try to keep the
temperature down, and to try to resolve issues by negotiation and without
publicity - but I think it is generally accepted now that we have been
wasting our time as there is no goodwill to draw on, and our approach is now
to let the press report all that they can, as there is nothing to lose by
them doing so.)
(That was Saturday - it's now Friday. The seige ended on
Tuesday afternoon when we managed to get the heirarchy of the Party involved,
after they had begun to panic about the publicity both overseas and in the
local press. The couple were not able to leave the house, and nobody was
allowed in, even with provisions so things became a bit desparate -
especially as they ran out of cigarettes! The dogs were not allowed out of
the hose for the four days, so soiled carpets etc., trees were cut down in
the garden, and across the drive so that no vehicle could easily approach,
and fires were burned all day and night upwind of the house so that smoke
constantly permeated the home. The filth and rubbish, and empty beer
containers were all over the garden. Anyway, that one is over.)
I am
afraid it was not an isolated incident.
Last Sunday, during lunch, a
farmer in the same area had a group of about 100 individuals rush into his
tobacco seedbed site and set light to 300 beds. These are the seedling
production units, for the early plantings of the irrigated crop, to be
planted out into the fields from 1st September, grown and reaped during our
summer, and sold in 2002. After sowing they are covered with a dry grass
mulch, and a synthetic 'nappy liner' material for protection against frost -
a very combustible combination. Direct loss there was in the order of Z$1 000
000, but the crop that would have been produced from the 120 Ha those
seedbeds were to cater for, US$850 000 in foreign currency earnings for our
country. (For a year we have been suffering fuel shortages with endless
queues at the few filling stations that have anything to sell, and food
shortages are looming, both due to a lack of foreign exchange to pay for
imports. There are zero reserves.) The farmer concerned has been ordered to
get off his farm, and no arrests have been made although the perpetrators are
on the farm. The farmer and his family are refusing to leave, are resowing
their seedbeds with a lot of help and support from the community, who are
also putting in extra beds in case he is unable to produce them in time for
planting, or is interfered with further.
Two Saturdays ago our local
Beatrice cricket team had a match against Featherstone at our Beatrice Sports
Club. It was planned in order to coincide with the International being played
in Bulawayo between Zim. and India, so that those who don't have satelite
television could watch it at the club, and support our locals while they were
at it. A very good day was enjoyed by many, and it went on late into the
night. On Sunday morning our local war-vet contingent with a raggedy band of
followers invaded and took over the club on the pretext that we had been
"celebrating the death of Hitler Hunzvi" their brutal leader who had been
buried at our National Heroes Acre, with pomp and ceremony and fanfare, on
Friday. They drank the beer, and ate the food from the freezers, took down
our photographs and memorabilia, and across our lovely faced brick arches,
redone a year ago, have written in foot-high black bitumen paint the new name
of the club! "HITLER CLUB - VIVA THE 3RD CHIMURENGA". (Chimurenga is a
revolution). I had meetings with the club committee, the provincial war vet
leadership, and the district head of police, at the club with the invaders,
in an attempt to get them out. They simply sent us away with a list of
demands about free membership to war vets, and war vet participation on the
committee. The position of the committee is that membership is open to all on
payment of subscriptions, the actions of the invaders are absolutely illegal,
and purely for the purpose of extortion and theft, and it is the job of
the police to arrest the perpetrators, and prosecute them. No arrests have
been made, the club remains occupied and vandalised after 13 days, and is
now being used as a base not only to accomodate them, but also for such
things as 'disciplinary hearings' and kangaroo courts. Our farmers and
their families meanwhile are finding alternative venues at which to wind
down, relax, and at times let their hair down.
At the same time, in
Harare South, a farm workforce decided that they had taken enough abuse from
the war vets and followers on the farm, including the rape of a teenager, and
chased them. One war vet follower had a finger chopped off, another got an
axe in the head, and others were beaten. The farmer who was not even on the
farm at the time was arrested the next morning for "inciting violence", and
it took his lawyer 36 hours to get him out on bail, but not before the police
had beaten him in his cell with a hose pipe in an effort to get a confession.
The rapist, and all the others involved have not been arrested. Three farmers
have spent similar periods in jail in the last few weeks, on fabricated
charges.
A farmer in the Marondera district in my province had $800 000
worth of maize reaped and loaded onto trucks and trailers in front of his
eyes, and carried away, with the police looking on and refusing to act. It
was not 'theft' they said, it was 'political', and therefore they would not
help him. The same occurred a few days later on a farm in Beatrice. No
arrests in either case.
Police who try to uphold the law, as most were
trained to do when they joined the force, are singled out for transfer to
remote stations, or to administrative jobs at H.Q. In Beatrice we have just
lost our very good member in charge for that reason - gone to Matabeleland.
He has been replaced with a war- vet / war-vet-sympathiser / yes-man. It's a
very sad process which is taking place on a widespread and systematic basis,
around the country.
Economically the situation is no better. The price
of fuel went up by 70% overnight last week and serious social unrest is
predicted in the weeks ahead. Inflation is at 60% before the knock-on effect
of the fuel price increase. Unemployment is at 60% and rising. Corruption at
all levels is endemic and paralysing and goes largely unprosecuted.
Production is plummeting in agriculture, mining, manufacturing. Tourism is
dying. Our Z$ is pegged at 55:1 against the US$ and has been for a year,
although the parallel (black) market is running at up to 150:1. The few
airlines still accepting payment for flights in Z$ now are openly doing their
calculations at 133:1. All of our inputs such as fertilizers and crop and
veterinary chemicals are being bought with currency sourced on the parallel
market. And yet we are being paid at the official rate of 55:1 for export
products (tobacco, beef, horticultural produce etc.). Businesses including
farms are closing daily for reasons of viability, but we understand that
govt. policy is that the exchange rate will remain fixed. It is seen as a
political imperative because the risk of a backlash from the poorest classes
in the event of devaluation, from the effect on the basic cost of living, is
too great for them to contemplate. And yet the country is being killed to
keep the current leadership in power!! It is not sustainable, but we can not
see what will change or when. Only that it will.
I could go on and on.
There is absolute anarchy, but the world is told that there is the rule of
law and stable governance! It is pleasing that Mbeki and others in Africa are
beginning to take a harder line with Mugabe, because their soft approach has
been interpreted by our leaders and government controlled press as tacit
approval of the awful things that they have done in order to cling to power,
in the name of correcting injustices of the past!
On the positive
side, the population at large is patient and peaceful (with the exception of
the 20 000 or so government hired thugs or so called war vets, who even most
real veterans of the liberation war disown.) Our's is one of the most
educated populations in Africa, and capable of, and willing to rebuild
rapidly as soon as the conditions exist to allow it to happen. The
infrastructure largely remains intact in what really was the "tiger"
of Africa only a few short years ago, and I believe that the
international community has not abandoned the Zimbabwean people, only our
government, and that is as it should be. Many of our young people, both black
and white, are outside the country, but most will return when conditions
improve bringing with them a wealth of experience from around the
globe
There is land enough for every farmer, large or small, to farm
productively, and a real determination on the part of most of the parties
involved in land in this country to solve it equitably once and for all, so
that it is never again used as a political weapon. Ordinary Zimbabweans are
sick to death of hearing about the twin pillars of the ruling party - being
race hatred and land. There are fully implementable offers on the table right
now, accepted by the international community in 1998, and reworked and
re-presented this year in a format appropriate to the current political
environment. (The Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative, presented by the
CFU and the Private Sector, is before Cabinet now, and awaits their
approval). The land question can and will be settled to everyone's
satisfaction, and there need not be any further loss of production - it is
only a question of our government allowing it. If they do not, I am quite
sure that a future government will.
I will attach a short document that I
produced earlier this month which is a 'snapshot' of our province on the 7th
June. It was presented to our Governor, party Chairman, and the Minister of
Finance, Simba Makoni, among others. The situation has deteriorated since I
wrote it.
It is so important to us that people outside the country know a
little of what is going on here. You get the big picture and the politics,
but not the day to day goings on I don't think.
As I finish this I am
looking out of the office window (which some of you will be able to
visualise) and at the bottom of our garden, a herd of giraffe have joined the
herd of eland that have been there all afternoon, feeding on the cubes that
we put out for them each day during winter. It is beautiful. That bull is so
tall - one doesn't realize just how tall until they are close. Vicky, Sherry
and all the children are sitting outside having tea as the shadows lengthen.
It's a lovely evening and I am off for a run.
(Sherry's husband
was murdered in May last year, in the violence that ran up to the General
Election)
MDC
on Monday 1 July 2001 Tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic
HIV/AIDS is a
devastating epidemic that is decimating Zimbabwean society. It is killing our
productive adults and youth, deepening poverty and generating social
insecurity. The economic crisis and political instability in the country is
further increasing the spread of AIDS.
The rapid increase in infection in
adolescents and the significant fall in life expectancy over the last few
years in Zimbabwe indicate that we are not successfully stopping the spread
of AIDS, nor minimising its impact. At a time when international commitment
to deal with AIDS is growing, this commitment must be directed to supporting
an effective national response within the most highly affected
countries.
We appear to be suffering from a number of shortfalls in our
national response to the epidemic: § There is a serious absence of
political leadership on the issue. Instead of providing the vision, planning
and motivation to deal with AIDS, there continues to be denial and lack of a
coherent, consistent and visible response at the highest levels. § Despite
many proven strategies and many scattered, individual, organisational,
community initiatives to prevent and manage AIDS, there is no national
consensus on the key areas we should be targeting attention and resources to,
where we must ALL make a difference. § Many communities and households
provide awareness and care services with inadequate support, including from
national funds such as the AIDS Levy fund. § The public and private
services to support local initiatives thus remain weak and
uncoordinated.
The collapsing health system must receive the top priority
attention it deserves to ensure access to treatment for opportunistic
infection, outreach monitoring and support, TB treatment, support of
home-based care providers and to take on the service inputs needed to support
the use of anti-retroviral drugs for treatment, as these become more
affordable.
The MDC believes that government should pay greater attention
to providing the essential services that are critical to ensuring that
households are not thrust into even deeper poverty due to AIDS. Fore
example, this means ensuring that health services do not push the full burden
of caring to overloaded households, but provide adequate resource and service
inputs.
The private and NGO sectors also have a critical role to play
in mobilising technical, human and material resources to support
community responses and services, to provide services, and to promote and
use services effectively.
The MDC has put together policies in all
these areas, taking note of the initiative and role models provided across
the continent. We are not afraid to make commitments to change public
policies and spending to better reflect the reality of this terrible
epidemic, and the efforts we must make as leaders, government, business and
society to deal with it and to give confidence in our services. We will do
this from the highest level of government and ensure that it reaches the
furthest corner of the country.
‘The Financial Gazette’ reported on Thursday that the EU had given Mugabe’ s
government 60 days to end political violence and the illegal occupation of
farms or face tough penalties. The weekly newspaper reported that in
a declaration on Zimbabwe after a meeting on Monday at the EU’s
Brussels headquarters, the EU council of ministers said it wanted “rapid
and tangible results” on several listed issues. Diplomatic sources told
the newspaper the declaration by the influential council, which
comprises foreign ministers of all 15 EU states, was the toughest signal yet
to the government to get its act together or face punitive economic
sanctions.
~~~~~~~~~
EUROPEAN UNION COUNCIL OF MINISTERS GENERAL AFFAIRS MEETING 25/6/01. ZIMBABWE
- CONCLUSIONS
The Council noted the lack of substantial progress in
the ongoing political dialogue with the Government of Zimbabwe and expressed
its deep concern over recent developments in Zimbabwe. It stressed that as a
first priority the dialogue should yield rapid and tangible results on the
following:
An end to political violence, and in particular an end to all
official encouragement or acceptance of such violence;
An invitation
to the EU to support and observe coming elections and full access to that
end;
Concrete action to protect the freedom of mass media;
Independence of the judiciary and the respect of its decisions
and
An end of illegal occupation of properties.
The Council agreed
to closely follow developments in these areas, as well as on overall
questions regarding the rule of law, economic policies and the land reform
during the next two-month period, and to take appropriate measures if
substantial progress has not been made.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
26/27-02-2001
ZIMBABWE
The Council had a brief exchange of views on Zimbabwe following
an update by UK Foreign Secretary Robin COOK on the deterioration of the
situation in this country in recent weeks.
The Council will take the necessary steps to propose to the
government of Zimbabwe a comprehensive and balanced dialogue. The Council will
come back to this issue in due course.
COMMERCIAL FARMERS'
UNION Farm Invasions and
Security Report Monday 2nd
July 2001
Every attempt is made to provide a comprehensive
report of ongoing activities in relation to farm invasions, but many incidents
are unreported due to communications constraints, fear of reprisals and a
general weariness on the part of farmers. Farmers names and in some cases, farm
names, are omitted to minimise the risk of reprisal.
NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF:
There has been a threat to plough in an established
wheat crop in Manicaland.
Grazing is being burnt by wild fires set by illegal
occupiers on lowveld ranches.
A dispute over the disconnection of electricity and
water to a farm homestead, illegal occupiers on a farm from which the owner has
withdrawn has led to threats of arson and blockade.
REGIONAL REPORTS:
There were no reports received from Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West (South) and Matabeleland Regions.
Mashonaland West North
Chinhoyi - DDF
tractors and air drills are on various farms. Agritex pegging on various farm
and Section 5's are being delivered. Pegging also taking place on farms that are
not listed. Illegal occupiers lit fires on Alaska Farm, Listonshiels and Magog
Farm. 40 hay bales were burnt on Magog farm and DDF tractors ploughed 1 ha of
rye grass. Illegal occupiers tried to prevent the owner of Portelet Farm from
paying farm workers. There has been an increase of illegal occupiers onto the
farm.
Doma - Illegal occupiers are pegging on Green
Valley.
Manicaland
Mutare - The owner of Brooksville received
threats from illegal occupiers saying they would be coming to plough the owners
wheat. The owner reported the incident to the lands committee. Illegal occupiers
intending to peg on L'Amour farm left after the owner informed then that the
farm had only been gazetted.
Masvingo
Masvingo East & Central - A DDF tractor ploughed an illegal occupier's vegetable
plot, on Lothian Farm which has led to an altercation between illegal occupiers.
Mwenezi - Illegal occupiers are lighting fires
on farms and leaving them unattended. Police told illegal occupiers on
Battlefields Ranch that they had illegally moved cattle and that they were to
round up their cattle and move back across the veterinary line.
Chiredzi - Illegal occupiers started fires on
Eaglemont and Crown properties.
Save Conservancy - The situation remains
unchanged.
Gutu / Chatsworth - Deforestation, movement of
cattle and pegging of plots continue.
Midlands
Shurugwi - The owner of a farm in the area has
shut down the supply of electricity and water to a homestead on the farm which
has recently been vacated. Illegal occupiers threatened the owner that they
would burn his vehicle and blockade farm roads if he did not return water and
power supplies. Police have been notified.
The following is the extra excerpt from
The Story of My Life by Joshua Nkomo, carried in the Herald, but not the
Chronicle, on Saturday.
"Speaking of my party, he (Mugabe)
said: 'Zapu and its leader Dr. Joshua Nkomo are like a cobra in the house. The
only way to deal effectively with a snake is to strike and destroy its head.' On
Saturday 5 March 1983, his men at last moved against me in person. Despite
instructions from the police that I should report to them every time I left my
house in Bulawayo, I was taking various precautions: that Friday night I had
spent with relatives in the eastern suburbs (the former European area of the
town, my own home being in the more crowded western district that was formerly
reserved for Africans).
On Saturday morning came the news that the old African
townships were cordoned off by the army and the police, while the men of the
notorious Fifth Brigade were conducting searches within the cordon. Early in the
afternoon we heard that my own house had been searched, that the Fifth Brigade
commander had checked that it was indeed my home, and had left.
I was furious at this invasion of my home, and I resolved to go
there and check it out. My hosts urged me not to go, but, seeing that I was
determined, my wife insisted on coming with me. I told my security man to drive
off across the deserted town. As we approached the cordon of soldiers and
police, he flatly refused to go on, saying that if by any chance he survived
what was bound to happen, he would get the blame for exposing me to danger. My
wife agreed with him, and for almost two hours we drove aimlessly around the
deserted city, discussing what to do. In the end caution prevailed, and we drove
back to the former European suburb, where we had spent the night.
About 8pm there was a telephone call. There had been shooting
at my home, and sporadic fire was continuing in the neighbourhood. My driver and
two other members of my household were known to be dead: there might be more
casualties, but nobody was certain. The Fifth Brigaders were still asking the
neighbours where I was, but those who knew were not saying. Never before had I
wished that I were dead, but I wished it then. I wished I had died when Ian
Smith's raiders had attacked my house in Lusaka and missed me by an hour. Then I
would have died at the hands of the enemies of my people. But now the attempt on
my life was being made on the orders of the African government of Zimbabwe, by
people claiming to act on behalf of the nation that I had worked for decades to
create. It was the bitterest moment of my life.
Later it became clear what had happened. The Fifth Brigade men
had entered my house, searched it and found me absent. They had then questioned
my people about where I was, and on getting no reply had shot three of them out
of hand. They had then rampaged through the house, smashing up the kitchen and
aimlessly breaking the furniture. Apparently for their amusement they had also
damaged three of my cars, putting rifle butts through the windscreens and
ripping the upholstery.
This was sheer unprovoked murder and hooliganism directed at
me, but striking at people whose only offence was to have served me loyally.
Robert Mugabe had decided to have me out of the way, and he evidently did not
care what method was used. But I hold the legitimate government of Zimbabwe
innocent of this atrocity. Mugabe was acting not as prime minister, but as
leader of his party Zanu. I had once asked him directly: 'What is the supreme
organ in Zimbabwe?' he had answered: 'The supreme body in Zimbabwe is the
central committee of Zanu (PF) my party.' I told him that could not be so: that
the supreme organ of the country could only be its elected parliament, speaking
for all the people. As the prime minister chosen by parliament, Robert was the
top man of the country. But as leader of his party he was just a politician like
me, with the same rights but no more. As leader of Zanu he acted outside the
law: but the law and the constitution of Zimbabwe remain in force, and I hold
the ruling party, not the lawful government, responsible for the attempt on my
life.
It was my wife maFuyana who determined what I was to do. 'It
appears to me,' she said, 'that your friends have gone out of their minds. Now
that they have come straight out to kill you, you have got to leave. If you
survive abroad you can return, and help the country out of its present problems.
If you stay, you will die, and there will be no repairing the damage that will
do Zimbabwe.' I pleaded with her that we should stay together, since if I left
her alone they might well kill her and the children too. But she insisted that
nobody should leave their country in time of trouble, unless it was absolutely
necessary. It was her duty, and the children's, to stay and see things through.
But equally it was my duty to go, since only if I survived would there be a hope
of peace and reconciliation. She was weeping: when I argued that I, too, should
stay she accused me of being selfish. And so I gave in to her argument. Once
more I was heading into exile.
To leave Zimbabwe was the toughest decision I ever had to take.
I knew my enemies would say I had run away, and I expected they would invent
stupid stories about my flight. That clown, Herbert Ushewokunze, the minister of
home affairs, told the newspapers I had 'escaped' disguised as an old woman.
People will believe anything if they will believe that. Whoever saw an old woman
of my height and my weight, with a clipped moustache and one of the best-known
faces in all Africa? And if the police had information about this old lady, why
did they not arrest her? Anyway, I did not escape, I decided to leave, and I
left. For a year I had lived the life of a hunted animal. I could hide no
longer.
On the Monday I had been summoned to report to the police: if I
reported the killers would follow me from there, and if I did not report I would
be called a fugitive suspect, with every soldier and policeman in the country
licensed to shoot me out of hand. Those were the arguments for leaving. I
resisted them until my wife's words sank in. Then I said, 'Right, I'll do it.' I
did it, and surprised even myself.
Once the decision was taken, we sent our people out to
reconnoitre the roads, first to the south-west and then southwards, towards the
Botswana border fence which is, at its nearest, about a hundred kilometres from
Bulawayo. All that Sunday the men kept coming back to report that it was
impossible to pass. Every few kilometres there were roadblocks and men with
guns, soldiers or police or men from the security service and the Fifth Brigade.
As commander-in-chief of the Zipra army during the war against
the previous regime, I had acquired some knowledge of military tactics and -
more important - of the military mind. I knew that every minor road would be
blocked. But something told me that they would never expect me to do the simple
thing and drive right down the main highway towards the border. That is just
what we did. At half-past midnight we set off down the road to Plumtree, beyond
which the main road and railway pass on to the Botswana frontier- post. The
timing was chosen to pass through Plumtree at 2.30 or 3 am, when soldiers in any
army are inclined to take a nap. That was the chance we took, and it worked. I
must add that the only people to know of the plan were my wife and the young men
who accompanied me.
I deliberately left my son and daughter, and her husband, out
of it. It was best they did not know, in case of repercussions later. The leader
of our group was Makhathini Guduza, a member of the central committee of Zapu.
He drove off first in the truck, a half-ton pick-up with a canopy, together with
one man. They were unarmed. I rode behind in the station wagon with Jackson Moyo
and three other young men: we had two AK rifles and three pistols ready for use.
Guduza's vehicle kept about two hundred metres ahead of ours, so that we could
clearly see each other's lights.
We had arranged a simple set of signals. If he saw something
suspicious on the road, he was to stop and keep on all his lights including the
brake light. If he then switched everything off, it meant that all was clear,
and we were to pull up to him for a discussion. But if he left all his lights on
the four passengers in my car were to get out and move clear of the road with
our weapons, and our driver was to move cautiously ahead. If it came to
fighting, the plan was that one of the boys would stick by me, and the others
were to fan out right and left before opening fire, to give the other side the
impression that there were a lot of us. Then I as commander was to shout, "Close
up!", and on that word of command we would retreat, join up, and try to work our
way forward around the obstacle in the direction of the border. We were
perfectly ready to shoot if it came to that: I did not like it, but there it
was.
So we drove out through the former white suburbs to join up
with the main road. In Bellevue, just before we picked up the highway, we passed
a single car. Between there and Plumtree, a distance of just under 90 km. we met
no others. Ten kilometers short of Plumtree we stopped: Guduza went ahead to
scout, and I and my three boys took up defensive positions on the roadside. In
Plumtree, we knew, there was a government force of about 2 000 men. Guduza came
back and reported that they seemed to be there alright, but asleep: there were
no police on the road, and the townships were dead quiet.
I said, "Let's go." We sandbagged the pick-up, and I got in the
back with three guards and the guns. That was how we drove right into Plumtree,
turning left at the township as we entered it, and so on southwards on the
Mpandeni road. Now it was only 10km to the border. We knew this was the riskiest
part, but our headlights showed nothing but the rabbits jumping around. Next we
had to find the place where we knew the border fence was unguarded, and this was
where we made our first mistake. We turned down the wrong track, and found
ourselves at a dead end by a little country school. I took the risk of waking up
the teachers, who directed us back towards the highway - and there once again we
took a wrong turning, which we realised when the lights of Plumtree once again
came up in front of us. As we turned back the sky was starting to brighten in
the east, and we knew there was very little time.
But at last we identified the corner, drove down the dust track
and came to the village we were looking for. A countrywoman, up early fetching
water, pointed to the line of trees and the riverbed just beyond them that
marked the border. We drove down and turned left at another track, stopped at
the bank of the dry Ramakwabane river, and walked across to the two border
fences on the Botswana side. I am no lightweight, but the boys pushed and I
climbed the fence, and at last we were over in no-man's land, and up again to
the Botswana fence. It was exactly twenty past six in the bright morning when I
climbed down the wire onto the safety of Botswana soil.
From then on it was all welcomes. The chief of the nearest
village had been my pupil for a while back in 1939, when he lived on the
Zimbabwe side of the border. He greeted me and sent for the local headmaster,
who organised transport to take me to Francistown, where the police took over.
By 9 pm that night we were safe in Gaborone, the capital, and lodged on the
orders of the president of Botswana in a small house. For the past two days I
had barely rested. Now the tension was over, and I fell into the unconsciousness
of deep sleep.
Harare - The hunger pangs factory worker
Steven Tagwireyi feels at night makes him support a planned two-day national
protest strike starting Tuesday. Tagwireyi said he and his 110 colleagues
support the strike because soaring inflation has made life so difficult, even
for the 40 percent of adults lucky enough to have jobs. "Once we ate chicken or
meat stew every day" said Tagwireyi, a 32-year-old part-time laborer at a Harare
plastics maker. "Now it's a luxury we can't afford."
The strike, called by the Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions, protests a 70 percent rise in fuel prices that sparked similar
increases in commuter bus fares. The government has declared the strike illegal.
It said strikers attempt to paralyze the commuter transport network to prevent
workers opposed to the strike from reaching their jobs. Authorities said they
would deploy buses to take workers to their jobs and cancel the licenses of bus
companies supporting the work protest.
Lovemore Matombo, president of the
federation, dismissed government allegations the planned strike was "economic
sabotage" by political opponents of President Robert Mugabe that would worsen
unemployment by forcing more businesses to the wall. "It is they, not us, who
have created inflation and large scale unemployment through mismanagement and
corruption," Matombo said. "We are withdrawing our labor for two days as the
only resort we have to make them listen."
The federation vowed to defy the
government's ban but urged workers to stay home and not take part in public
demonstrations against the government. "We know they are going to deploy the
police and army and they are going to provoke the situation," Matombo said. The
main fear was that strike supporters may attempt to barricade roads to stop the
government's promised deployment of extra state-owned buses to ferry opponents
of the strike to work, he said. Authorities would likely move quickly to crush
any unrest, said John Robertson, a privately employed economic analyst, based in
Harare. "With a rapidly shrinking economy and the political crisis deepening,
the smallest excuse would be needed to declare a state of emergency" with
sweeping powers of arrest, detention without trial, the suspension of parliament
and rule by decree, Robertson said.
Unemployment has soared during the worst
economic crisis since independence from British colonial rule in 1980. About 70
percent of Zimbabwe's 12.5 million population live in poverty. Tagwireyi earns
$58 for the equivalent of 15 working days a month. His bus fare, rent, his two
children's state school fees and electricity charges leave him with about $16 a
month. That's to pay for food, medical expenses and leisure. "It's killing us,"
he said. "But at least I am lucky to have a job." About 80,000 workers lost
their jobs in the dwindling economy in the year that ended March 2000, according
to government figures. Political violence and the drying up of hard currency
earnings and investment are estimated to have cost another 120,000 jobs. Police
Monday set up check points on the main streets into the impoverished outlying
townships of Harare where most workers live. Supermarkets were swamped with
shoppers panic buying food for the week.
From Business Day (SA), 2
July
More to Young than meets the
eye
Critics thought Andrew Young was off his rocker when he said
recently Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was managing the land crisis in his
country better than Britain was handling political problems in Northern Ireland.
But if the information that is beginning to filter out of Harare is to be
believed, the former US ambassador to the United Nations definitely has all his
marbles intact and might have been on a much bigger, and potentially
far-reaching mission to Zimbabwe than seemed apparent at the time.
Young has apparently hatched a plan in conjunction with some
regional leaders and long-suffering Zimbabwean businessmen that could get
Zimbabwe out of its present economic and political crisis. The talk, too, is
that he has the tacit approval of Washington and London. The first part of the
plan, insiders say, is to charm and gain the confidence of Mugabe, hence Young's
overdramatisation of the strife facing London in Northern Ireland in comparison
to the Zimbabwean crisis.
The second, and more difficult part, will concentrate on making
Mugabe realise it is possible to dust off Zimbabwe's worsening image as a pariah
state, a la Libya and Iraq, if he makes certain political compromises. This
includes amending the constitution to allow powersharing between the ruling Zanu
PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change. Depending on
other developments, the masterminds behind the plan are also musing about the
possible postponement of next year's eagerly anticipated presidential elections,
meaning Mugabe will be guaranteed the presidency for one more term while
Tsvangirai becomes prime minister during that interim period. This, they hope,
will avert possible bloodshed in the run-up to the 2002 elections and afford
time to resolve Zimbabwe's worsening crisis.
Although it is easy to dismiss the existence and content of
this plan - more so given that both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have previously
dismissed the idea of a government of national unity - recent events in Zimbabwe
and elsewhere suggest it would be unwise to do so now. To begin with, Mugabe's
hold on power is unquestionably at its weakest since independence in 1980. If
one were, for example, to discount the 30 non-constituency seats that the
constitution vests in the president's hands, the opposition could now be the
majority in parliament following the recent nullification by the courts of a
number of seats won by Mugabe's party in last year's general election. This
means there is scope for the MDC to mount a legal challenge in court to demand
to form a new government, and ultimately press for Mugabe's ouster.
Among other recent developments is the fact that the Zimbabwean
crisis featured prominently in talks between presidents Thabo Mbeki and George
Bush when they met at the White House a fortnight ago. It has been interesting
to watch. A few days later, the US state department was arguing vigorously in a
New York court that Mugabe was entitled to immunity in the US in a lawsuit filed
against him by the relatives of victims of the violence in the run-up to last
year's parliamentary election in Zimbabwe. In addition, Kenya's President Daniel
arap Moi, who met Mugabe in Nairobi two weeks ago, and whose country is a member
of the Commonwealth team that will soon visit Zimbabwe, was in Washington last
week where he met Vice-President Dick Cheney. Could this not have been a
follow-up to his meeting with Mugabe?
And as if to stock the rumour mill further, Tsvangirai,
Mugabe's chief rival for the leadership of the country, is in the US meeting
influential figures, among them the new US assistant secretary of state for
Africa, Walter Kansteiner. It is not inconceivable that the MDC leader might
also meet Young, Secretary of State Colin Powell and, maybe, even Bush himself,
for there is renewed interest in the region by the Americans. Then there is also
the small, but significant, matter of Robin Cook's demotion and removal as UK
foreign minister, which pleased Harare no end. While he was seen as standing in
the way of Britain's interests in Europe, Cook and Peter Hain were also seen as
impediments to warmer relations between London and Harare.
Young has appeared to confirm the plan by saying that his
meeting in Harare with Mugabe was at "the suggestion of some of my friends among
the leadership in Africa". The question to ask is, could Mbeki be among these
friends? "The violence and suffering (in Zimbabwe) will continue worsen unless
we come together to create an orderly, rational and moral solution for Zimbabwe.
Can this be done without Mugabe? I do not believe so," Young says. And he is
absolutely right. Mugabe holds the key to the resolution of Zimbabwe's myriad
problems. If he plays ball, Young and his friends will succeed. But if Uncle Bob
doesn't like the plan, then the idea is as dead as a dodo.
From The Washington Times, 2
July
US proposes to cut aid to
Zimbabwe
The Senate is considering cutting off non-humanitarian aid to
Zimbabwe to promote a return to the rule of law after a series of
government-inspired attacks on white farmers and opposition figures, said Sen.
Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat. The proposed legislation is "not about
favoring any party, it's about restoring the rule of law," said Mr. Feingold,
speaking last week at a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001,
proposed in response to the corrupt electoral practices of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, would prevent the resumption of non-humanitarian aid to
the country unless specific conditions were met regarding the rule of law and
electoral practice. Although Mr. Feingold, a co-sponsor of the bill, emphasized
the impartiality of the legislation, a free and fair election undoubtedly would
bolster the position of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), which won almost half the seats in parliamentary elections last
year despite widespread intimidation and accusations of fraud.
Zimbabwe is experiencing its most devastating political and
economic crisis since winning independence in 1980. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of
the MDC, speaking to reporters and editors at The Washington Times last week,
denounced Mr. Mugabe as a tyrant who was leading Zimbabwe on a "suicidal" path
to economic ruin. Mr. Tsvangirai said the country's economy is expected to
shrink by 10 percent this year and that Mr. Mugabe's land-grabbing policy is
exacerbating the economic decline.
The Commercial Farmers Union in Zimbabwe announced late last
week that the number of farms listed for nationalization has risen to
approximately 4,500. Mr. Tsvangirai said the "farm invasions," in which ZANU-PF
militants seize and occupy the listed farms, would lead to a poor harvest and a
"critical shortage" of food. Mr. Tsvangirai rejected descriptions of the
invaders as "war veterans" and called them political "thugs" who are too young
to have fought in the war of liberation in the 1970s. Sixty percent of
Zimbabwe's population is younger than 40, many too young to remember the
struggle against white rule in the former Rhodesia. Mr. Tsvangirai attributes
Mr. Mugabe's policies to a loss of credibility among the young.
The political situation in Zimbabwe is increasingly repressive.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on a recent trip to South Africa,
characterized Mr. Mugabe's methods of keeping power as "totalitarian."
Furthermore, broadcasting is state-owned, and foreign journalists are under
growing pressure to leave. A British journalist, David Blair, has been refused a
renewal of his work permit and will have to leave. Such incidents are no
surprise to Mr. Tsvangirai, who said: "I have been the subject of harassment.
But that is the nature of the game. That is why we fight against this tyranny."
Mr. Mugabe has agreed to a Commonwealth ministerial mission
that would seek to address the land dispute. The mission, proposed by Nigeria,
will consist of the foreign ministers of four African countries and three
others, including Britain, and is scheduled to meet in South Africa next month.
Mr. Mugabe has consistently held that Britain, the former colonial power, should
compensate any white farmers displaced by his land-redistribution scheme. With
presidential elections scheduled for early next year, the international
community is eager to ensure that free and fair elections take place. Robert
Rotberg, of the World Peace Foundation, urged Congress at last week's hearing to
pass the aid-cutoff legislation quickly, calling for a "clear and assertive
policy position."
From News24 (SA), 2
July
Don't desert us, MDC asks
UK
London - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
urged Britain not to turn its back on its troubled former colony during a
meeting with new Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Monday. Tsvangirai, leader of
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), met Straw at the Foreign Office for
the first time since Straw replaced Robin Cook last month. He used the occasion
to urge the government to continue keeping a close eye on Zimbabwe, a country
blighted by violence since President Robert Mugabe introduced a controversial
land reform scheme last year.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "Tsvangirai appealed to the
world to continue to focus its attention on what is happening in Zimbabwe. He
stressed it was not only important for Zimbabwe but for the international
community as a whole. He urged Britain to keep a close eye on what is happening
in Zimbabwe." The spokesperson said Tsvangirai recognised that Britain was very
"engaged" in Zimbabwe, due to historical ties, and pleaded with the government
not to desert the country now.
Tsvangirai, who also met junior foreign minister Valerie Amos,
responsible for Africa, requested the meeting with Straw as part of an
international tour. Last weekend the opposition leader was in Washington and
later this week he will travel to Strasbourg where he will meet representatives
from the European Union. Straw and Tsvangirai, 48, also discussed the "situation
on the ground" in Zimbabwe. "They were very interested to hear his assessment of
the situation. He is the leader of the opposition so his assessment needs to be
seen in that light," the spokesperson added.
Mugabe's government last week listed another 1453 farms it
plans to seize as part of the controversial land reform scheme. This follows
another list published one week ago of 577 farms, for a total of 2030 farms
listed in the last eight days. Zimbabwe has a total of about 5500 commercial
farms. The government plans to take the mostly white-owned farms and resettle
them with poor black farmers in a bid to redress colonial-era inequalities in
land ownership. Mugabe's land reforms have been heavily tied to political
violence against Tsvangirai's MDC, which has posed the most serious challenge
ever to his 21-year rule.
From ZWNEWS, 2
July
We shall
overcome
In London on Sunday evening, several hundred people, including
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, joined in prayers for peace and
reconciliation in Zimbabwe at the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in
Trafalgar Square. In a service of moving contrasts, the rhythms of Shona music
and dance echoed through the historic church, as did the sounds of traditional
Western hymns such as ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’. In colourful dress, the Black
Spear group performed several Shona hymns, starting with ‘Tiri vana maWari’,
while the congregation clapped to the beat.
"We shall overcome", MDC leader Tsvangirai declared in an
address. "The MDC is unique in providing a solution to the conflict through
non-violence. We have chosen to be different." Tsvangirai, in London as part of
a trip to Europe, also read one of the lessons : Matthew 5, verses 38-48, which
includes the exhortation "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you." The congregation said the noted prayer "Victory is ours
through Him who loves us" which the former Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most
Rev. Desmond Tutu, wrote during the apartheid era, and sang the African anthem
‘Nkosi sikelela iAfrica’. A collection taken during the one-and-a-half hour
service, which was conducted by the Rev. Nicholas Holtam, is to be divided
between St Martin-in-the-Fields and orphaned children in Zimbabwe through the
Zimbabwean AIDS Support Network.
om Business Day (SA), 2 July
Zimbabwean union gears up for
strike
Harare - Zimbabwe's main labour movement on
Saturday called for a two-day national strike, scheduled to start tomorrow,
after President Robert Mugabe's government failed to meet a deadline to reverse
recent drastic fuel price hikes. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
gave the government 14 days to scrap the 70% fuel price rise, which state oil
importer National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) imposed on June 12.
On Saturday ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe
said the government had continued to "dither on crucial matters to address the
day-to-day prices of basic commodities as a result of the 70% increase.
Following government's failure to respond within the 14 days, the general
council resolved to carry out a two-day national protest on Tuesday and
Wednesday," Chibebe told a news conference.
On Saturday the largely stateowned Herald
newspaper reported that the government had declared the proposed strike illegal.
"Any worker who participates in the illegal withdrawal of labour because of this
planned stayaway should know that he/she is participating in an illegal
activity," the paper quoted Labour Minister July Moyo as saying. "That (the
strike is illegal) is the perception of the government. That does not address
the issues of the hardships workers are facing," Chibebe said.
After declaring the strike illegal, the
government said yesterday it would deploy buses to carry workers to their jobs
and cancel the licences of private transport operators supporting the work
protest. Transport Minister Swithun Mombeshora warned private transport
operators which include thousands of minivan taxis which ferry the bulk of the
country's commuters they risked losing their licences if they joined the strike,
the Sunday Mail said. Moyo alleged on Friday that the
union had not followed routine labour law procedures in calling the strike.
However, Chibebe dismissed Moyo's claim, saying his organisation met the 14-day
mandatory notice required in terms of the constitution to embark on such action.
He said the ZCTU was prepared to take government head on. "The protest is the
only weapon workers have to force government to reverse the fuel price hikes."
Apart from the possible arrest of strike leaders and threats to cancel transport
licenses, it was not clear how the government could enforce the ban and break
the strike.
The government has urged unions to demand
higher pay from employers to meet the rising cost of living. But the ZCTU which
has the support of most of Zimbabwe's 1,2-million workers said that government
was asking workers to bale out a state oil company "notorious for corruption"
and inefficiency. Zimbabwe has suffered erratic fuel supplies since December
1999 after Noczim's credit lines were cut over a Z9bn (163m) debt. The business
community said the fuel rises would drive up costs and force the closure of
companies hit by the worst economic crisis since independence from Britain 21
years ago.
Meanwhile, political analysts warned that a
big national strike could raise the political temperature close to boiling
point. Political tensions in the country have barely abated since early last
year, when a violent campaign, blamed largely on supporters of Mugabe's ruling
Zanu PF, killed at least 31 people before last June's general elections. Earlier
this month police moved into Harare's Mabvuku township after crowds barricaded a
main road in protest against the fuel price increase. The increase has sent
public transport costs soaring, forcing most commuters to walk to
work.
From ZWNEWS, 2
July
A day in the life of a truck
driver's family: a survival battle
By A Special
Correspondent
The Mataruka family crouches round a small
smoky fire in a two-room shack in a Harare suburb, waiting impatiently for their
evening meal: a pot of cabbage. For Rabson and Dadirai Mataruka and their five
children, this is the only real meal of the day. Breakfast was a shared small
pot of porridge, lunch a slice of unbuttered bread for each of the children. ``I
just play draughts with the other guys over the lunch-break and this helps me to
forget about my hunger,'' says Mataruka, as he watches his wife attempting to
coax more life into the fire while at the same time trying to comfort the
youngest child, 3-year-old Rudo.
Zimbabwe's descent toward economic collapse
has brought hunger and hardship to the Matarukas and hundreds of thousands of
other urban families - reducing to the status of near-beggars even many of those
lucky enough to have a job. Mataruka, a 48-year-old truck driver with a delivery
company based at Msasa, an industrial area 13 kms west of the capital, earns $4
765 a month. Soaring inflation and fuel price hikes means that bus fares to work
would now cost Mataruka $1 200 a week - just over his entire salary. But well
before President Robert Mugabe's government enraged trade union leaders by
announcing June 13 a 70 percent rise in fuel prices, Mataruka had ceased to be
able to afford bus fares. Last year he started walking to work.
Each morning at 5 a.m.. he leaves the
family home at Budiriro and walks 18 kms to the Harare city centre, where he
gets a lift to Msasa in time to start work at 8 a.m. When he finishes at 4.30
p.m. there is no lift, and Mataruka walks the entire 31-km way home. ``You found
me here today because I have just come back from the countryside,'' says
Mataruka, further in debt after borrowing money to attend a family funeral.
``Under normal circumstances I only get back home around 8 p.m.'' Referring to
the daily long trek home, he adds ruefully: ``The evenings are the most
painful.''
Zimbabwe's economy has crumbled over the
past few years. State-sponsored invasions of white-owned commercial farms by
supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF government, and attacks on
political opponents, the judiciary and the media, have hit the two biggest
foreign exchange earners, agriculture and tourism. Foreign governments and
international agencies have retaliated by cutting aid. Inflation and
unemployment are both running at 60 percent, and food shortages loom. Mugabe's
government, desperately short of foreign currency, faces having to import about
579 000 tonnes of maize and wheat.
Mataruka battles on. Last year he moved the
family from their four-roomed rented house to the two-room shack. Inside,
crockery, blankets, water-containers and broken wooden chairs pile upon each
other. ``When one of us gets a cough it spreads like wildfire throughout the
family because, as you can see, there isn't even proper ventilation,'' he says.
``Lately, I think these two rooms are now infested with bed bugs,'' he adds in a
whisper. He struggles to pay school fees - a total of nearly $400 a month for
the four older children - even though he doesn't expect them to find jobs. Each
year, Zimbabwe's secondary schools turn some 300,000 students on to the
shrinking job market.
Money for food and clothes is a monthly
battle. His wife used to crochet tablemats and sell them to other women who in
turn sold them to tourists. But few tourists come anymore. Now Mrs. Mataruka
illegally grows maize on municipal land. ``The groceries of kapenta (dried
fish), a bottle of cooking oil, two kilograms of sugar, three bars of soap and a
small packet of salt do not even last two weeks . we borrow continuously from
local loan sharks.'' A meal with meat is a treat, once every two weeks. What
about applying for a plot on one of the white-owned farms being taken over by
former nationalist guerrilla fighters and other Zanu PF supporters? ``I'm not a
farmer,'' says Mataruka. ``All I ask for is a job that gives me a living wage
and a government that understands that its citizens have to survive. They expect
our votes but at the same time they want to kill us.'' The cabbage is ready.
Mataruka shakes his head in dejection. ``There is no way our lives will ever
improve again, unless of curse the government makes a deliberate move to improve
the economic situation.''
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 1
July
CIO, war veterans invade
Tsvangirai’s village
War veterans and CIO agents have descended on MDC president
Morgan Tsvangirai’s home village of Nerutanga in Buhera North. Villagers from
the area told The Standard last week that the war veterans and state agents, who
in the last few weeks set up their bases in the village, had been intimidating
and harassing opposition supporters ahead of a possible by-election following
the nullification of Zanu PF’s election win in last year’s parliamentary
election.
The High Court recently nullified the election result of the
constituency where Zanu PF’s Kenneth Manyonda had defeated Tsvangirai. In
possible anticipation of a by-election and in preparation for next year’s
presidential election, the ruling party has embarked on a massive terror
campaign in the whole constituency targeting school teachers, "uncooperative"
traditional leaders, and other civil servants. However, of late, the war
veterans have intensified their campaign by invading Tsvangirai’s home area
where they have terrorised villagers and the local MDC leadership.
A number of MDC supporters from the village have been on the
run as a result of the terror campaign. MDC branch secretary for the area,
Willard Magadzire, told The Standard that scores of families had been forced to
abandon their homes and had fled to mountains for safety. Magadzire himself had
his homestead burnt and property worth over $100 000 destroyed by the marauding
Zanu PF supporters. Magadzire said the ruling party supporters were also causing
terror in nearby villages of Nharira and Gwebu.
Police, despite being told of the violence, have characteristically refused
to intervene and arrest the culprits. "We have reported the matter to the local
police but this has not helped. Every time we ask about the police inaction, the
police tell us that they are afraid of the CIOs. We are exposed," said
Magadzire. "I left my family in Buhera and I am not sure of their safety. Our
supporters are now staying in mountains while others have moved in with
relatives who stay in other places. The situation is
bad."
From ZWNEWS, 1
July
Turbulent priest says
farewell
By a Special
Correspondent
In an emotional
three-hour service Sunday, hundreds of Harare parishioners said goodbye to Canon
Tim Neill, the Zimbabwean priest who is going into self-imposed exile in protest
at government meddling in the Anglican church. At least 600 people crowded onto
straw bales and pews in the garden of St Luke's church in Greendale suburb, for
Neill's farewell service. Neill, who has been accused of fomenting racial
divisions within the Anglican church, has been rector at St Luke's for 16 years.
Members of the congregation sang for Baba (Father) Neill - mostly in Shona.
Teenagers danced for him, blue-scarved members of the Mothers Union gave him
gifts and church officers promised to carry on his work.
Neill, whose active stand against the
government of President Robert Mugabe has been welcomed by many churches in
Zimbabwe, was sacked as Vicar General of Harare by the government in February.
He refused to resign, instead choosing to go into exile to protest against
anti-canonical procedures which put a staunch Mugabe supporter into office as
Bishop of Harare. Neill first came to prominence in March last year, when St
Luke's distributed a pamphlet criticising Mugabe's stance on land invasions
after the president refused to stop war veterans illegally occupying white-owned
farms. The government said then his parish had to be prepared to be treated as
part of the opposition trying to oust Mugabe from power.
Earlier this year, Neill was bypassed for
election as Bishop of Harare after Mugabe's friend Norbert Kunonga was brought
in, in a move Neill argues bypassed canonical law. Kunonga in his enthronement
speech lashed out at priests in Harare calling them "tools for other races" and
"religious Uncle Toms." In February, Neill claimed to have survived an attempt
on his life after a government-owned vehicle tried to run his car off the road
as he was returning home after giving a speech criticising the
government.
While Neill has over the past year spoken
out fearlessly against the government - he said in an interview last week that
the international community had to do "anything that makes it hard for the
regime to survive, anything that takes away its credibility" - his words on
Sunday bore little trace of bitterness. He made only one reference to the
"disgraceful things happening in our nation." "You know what to do," he urged
the congregation, as one woman told of how Neill had healed racial rifts in the
church by setting up house-meetings where blacks and whites could eat and talk
together. While he has cut all ties with the Anglican church in Zimbabwe, Neill
has said he wishes to stay on in the country, possibly to work with an NGO.
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 1
July
Armed war vets terrorise
villagers
Bulawayo - Armed bands of former Zipra combatants have caused
panic among the civilian population on the new resettlement areas in the
Nyamandlovu area, north-west of Bulawayo. The war veterans are said to be
harassing suspected supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change, and
sexually abusing women settlers. According to some settlers at one resettlement
scheme near Deli, groups of rowdy war veterans, some clutching Kalashnikov
combat rifles, roam the resettlement areas on a daily basis, intimidating those
who do not possess Zanu PF membership cards. Seven settlers were reported to
have abandoned the new homes after war veterans kept on harassing and
threatening to kill them.
"Nobody feels safe in this place because of harassment by war
veterans. Whenever we make reports to the Nyamandlovu police, they tell us they
can’t touch war vets," one villager told The Standard during a recent visit.
"There is complete lawlessness in this country and something must be done to
stop the harassment of civilians by these war veterans," said Kabelo Mlothswa,
who claimed to have been tortured by three war veterans. Sometimes, the war
veterans invade white-owned farms and ranches in the district and demand fresh
milk and amasi (a dairy product). If the farmers refuse to give them the milk
and game meat, they are severely assaulted. Police in Nyamandlovu refused to
speak to The Standard saying they were instructed not to talk to journalists
from the independent media. The officer who answered the phone told the paper to
send questions to Harare. "Anything to do with war veterans, please ask our
Harare headquarters," said the officer.
The Standard also visited the Deli resettlement area to
investigate allegations that some women settlers were being sexually assaulted
by the former freedom fighters. When this reporter arrived in Deli, he was
confronted by four war veterans dressed in military style khaki outfits, who
promptly "arrested" him for entering what they called "a protected area". The
men took the reporter to their leader who simply introduced himself as the field
commander of Nyamandlovu resettlement area and was "licensed" to eliminate
suspected MDC spies and foreign journalists.
"Who told you to come here? Were you sent by MDC? Everyone
reports to me in this place and you must be punished for disregarding our
rules," he said. "You are a journalist, I have no comment," added the
self-styled field commander. He however, later gave his name as Comrade Dabudabu
and agreed to speak to The Standard. He denied accusations that his men were
sexually harassing women on the farms, and that one of his men wanted to kill a
villager suspected of being a member of the MDC. "We don’t harass civilians
here. We only kill spies sent by whites," Cde Dabudabu claimed. However, the
women settlers who were brave enough to speak to this paper said two of their
colleagues had been raped by war veterans on the farms. The victims had been
attacked after allegedly turning down the war veterans’ advances. "If you are
raped here, the police will not do anything because they were told not to
interfere with the war veterans," said Cecilia Moyo who was allocated a stand in
the area when land was being parcelled out.
The Associated Press (Tue 3 Jul 2001) Strike Takes Hold in
Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Riot police patrolled townships and
police stood guard at checkpoints Tuesday as a two-day national strike began
in Zimbabwe's capital.
Most banks and shops were closed. Only a
trickle of workers turned up at factories in the industrial district south
of the city center, and small knots of commuters were gathered at usually
busy bus stops.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the country's
main labor federation, called the strike to protest a 70 percent rise in
gasoline prices imposed by the government June 12, a hike that has fueled
inflation in an already crumbling economy.
Union President Lovemore
Matombo said the government repeatedly ignored the worsening plight of
workers.
"It is they, not us, who have created inflation and large-scale
unemployment through mismanagement and corruption," he said. "We are
withdrawing our labor for two days as the only resort we have to make
them listen."
The government accused the labor federation of
economic sabotage, and declared the strike illegal. Government offices and
schools were ordered to remain open.
"It is not a school holiday and
all pupils are supposed to go to school," Education Minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi said, according to state radio.
The government had said
it would deploy buses to carry people to work and would cancel the licenses
of private transport operators supporting the strike.
But few buses
of the state-owned Zimbabwe United Omnibus Company were seen carrying
commuters Tuesday. About 30 buses at one of the company's yards were laid up
because of a shortage of spare parts.
Meanwhile, a military helicopter
crossed above the city center Tuesday morning, and riot police were deployed
at township shopping centers to prevent looting.
Police were on
special alert and were searching vehicles for weapons or "offensive
objects," spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.
There were no reports of
clashes, but someone hurled a rock through the window of a bakery delivery
truck in the Harare suburb of Budiriro, the bakery chain said.
Witnesses said strikers had begun assembling makeshift barricades on
roads near the southern township of Chitungwiza.
Zimbabwe is
suffering its worst economic crisis since independence from British colonial
rule in 1980.
Unemployment has exceeded 60 percent and inflation has
rocketed to more than 70 percent. An estimated 70 percent of the 12.5
million population live in poverty.
Previous national work stoppages
organized by the labor federation have shut down the economy. A series of
strikes in 1988 erupted in rioting, with eight people killed by police and
troops quelling the violence.
The federation represents 90 percent of
organized labor, about 1.2 million workers in 32 affiliated labor unions.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press.
The
Senate is considering cutting off nonhumanitarian aid to Zimbabwe to promote
a return to the rule of law after a series of government-inspired attacks on
white farmers and opposition figures, said Sen. Russell D. Feingold,
Wisconsin Democrat.
The proposed legislation is "not about
favoring any party, it's about restoring the rule of law," said
Mr. Feingold, speaking last week at a subcommittee hearing of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act of 2001, proposed in response to the corrupt
electoral practices of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party,
would prevent the resumption of nonhumanitarian aid to the country unless
specific conditions were met regarding the rule of law and electoral
practice.
Although Mr. Feingold, a co-sponsor of the
bill, emphasized the impartiality of the legislation, a free and fair
election undoubtedly would bolster the position of Zimbabwe's opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which won almost half the
seats in parliamentary elections last year despite widespread intimidation
and accusations of fraud.
Zimbabwe is experiencing its most
devastating political and economic crisis since winning independence in
1980. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, speaking to reporters and
editors at The Washington Times last week, denounced Mr. Mugabe as a tyrant
who was leading Zimbabwe on a "suicidal" path to economic ruin.
Mr. Tsvangirai said the country's economy is expected to shrink by 10 percent
this year and that Mr. Mugabe's land-grabbing policy is exacerbating the
economic decline.
The Commercial Farmers Union in Zimbabwe announced
late last week that the number of farms listed for nationalization has
risen to approximately 4,500. Mr. Tsvangirai said the "farm invasions," in
which ZANU-PF militants seize and occupy the listed farms, would lead to
a poor harvest and a "critical shortage" of food.
Mr. Tsvangirai
rejected descriptions of the invaders as "war veterans" and called them
political "thugs" who are too young to have fought in the war of liberation
in the 1970s.
Sixty percent of Zimbabwe's population is younger
than 40, many too young to remember the struggle against white rule in the
former Rhodesia. Mr. Tsvangirai attributes Mr. Mugabe's policies to a loss of
credibility among the young. The political situation in Zimbabwe is
increasingly repressive. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on a
recent trip to South Africa, characterized Mr. Mugabe's methods of keeping
power as "totalitarian."
Furthermore, broadcasting is state-owned,
and foreign journalists are under growing pressure to leave. A
British journalist, David Blair, has been refused a renewal of his work
permit and will have to leave.
Such incidents are no surprise to Mr.
Tsvangirai, who said: "I have been the subject of harassment. But that
is the nature of the game. That is why we fight against this tyranny."
Mr. Mugabe has agreed to a Commonwealth ministerial mission
that would seek to address the land dispute. The mission, proposed by
Nigeria, will consist of the foreign ministers of four African countries and
three others, including Britain, and is scheduled to meet in South
Africa next month.
Mr. Mugabe has consistently held that Britain,
the former colonial power, should compensate any white farmers displaced
by his land-redistribution scheme.
With presidential elections
scheduled for early next year, the international community is eager to ensure
that free and fair elections take place. Robert Rotberg, of the World
Peace Foundation, urged Congress at last week's hearing to pass the
aid-cutoff legislation quickly, calling for a "clear and assertive policy
position."
WHEN Little Red Riding Hood met the
wolf, the phrase "charm offensive" didn't enjoy common usage. Fortunately
Zimbabweans can learn from Little Red Riding Hood, who was naïve even by nursery
standards, and take the government's charm offensive with the caution it
warrants.
The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has been
paying huge sums of money for advice, principally from people of debatable
morality. Men like Mr Herman Cohen, spin-doctor to several dictatorships, will
almost certainly have advised the Zimbabwean government to spruce up its image
ahead of the Commonwealth Conference. President Robert Mugabe does not want to
be top of the Commonwealth's list of troublesome countries and one way to limit
the damage will be to appear reasonable.
That's why people like Mr Mugabe and
Professor Jonathan Moyo are embarking on a charm offensive. Apart from the
despicable act of booting out a British journalist (and even that was couched in
the language of reasoned diplo-speak), Moyo and Mugabe have toned down their
rhetoric. They want to be friends with the British, we hear, and they even went
so far as to congratulate Tony Blair on his electoral victory, assuming, one
supposes, that he will have forgotten that just months ago he was a gay
gangster.
Perhaps more than any other sector in
Zimbabwe, farmers need to be sceptical about the amount of reason and light
emanating from the ruling party. There is much reason for hope - but it is not
to be found in a newly enlightened ZANU - PF. The ruling party has changed its
approach, but the agenda and the objectives remain the same. Mr John Robertson,
a leading economist, recently said, "In all of the moral indignation being
expressed by ZANU - PF in its passionate claims for the recovery of 'land for
the landless' is missing, not just one vital point, but a whole raft of points.
As commercial agriculture is crucial to the continued survival of about half the
paid employment in the country, brings in about half the foreign exchange
earnings and generates about half the taxes collected by government, closing it
down could cut the size of the economy by half. And the half that is left would
inevitably shrink."
Much of the responsibility for ensuring
that does not happen lies with farmers, because Mr Robertson is entirely correct
in his belief that it is the ruling party's goal to create a country based on
patronage. "In terms of their plan, the ruling party also insists that this
process of capturing economic territory has to be accomplished specifically by
themselves. This is so that the reallocation of the prizes, the captured assets,
will fall entirely within the party's gift. Dressed up as socialism and
Marxist-Leninist thinking on the redistribution of wealth, and energised by
disingenuous righteous indignation, the policy is actually designed to enrich
and firmly entrench a tiny, powerful and morally bankrupt minority."
That is Mr Mugabe's intention, but he
is unlikely to achieve it.
The Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement
Initiative will probably emphasise the tactics the party will use over the
coming months. Its proposals will almost certainly be accepted, even lauded, by
the government in the very near future. One cabinet minister has already praised
it and others will follow.
Still, there's a danger that there'll
be encouraging talk in the corridors of power and lots of rhetoric about a new
spirit of cooperation - but no change on the ground. The reason for this is
simple: while ordinary Zimbabweans never believed that Zimbabwe's crisis was
brought about because of land, ZANU -PF and the people it negotiates with are
working on the principle that until the land issue is resolved, the real issues
cannot be tackled. The rest of the country, and the international community, is
taking a more holistic view by insisting that land may be an issue, but it is
not the only issue - and that all problems contributing to the crisis must be
resolved simultaneously. If farmers don't adopt this approach as well, they will
be the butt of huge resentment for attempting to solve their problems in
isolation - and will stand accused, rightly or wrongly, of solving their
problems at the expense of ordinary people who are suffering as much, if not
worse, harassment and intimidation at the hands of the ruling party.
Zimbabwe's progress towards the 2002
presidential elections will be carefully stage managed at a public level. The
government will be eager to present itself as a willing partner in dialogue,
both at home and abroad. It will concede that it has made errors, some large,
and that the mess needs to be resolved. But diplomats, the important ones at
least, have already said that there is absolutely no possibility of changing
their approach until definite action is taken to end the Zimbabwean crisis - and
definite action goes well beyond solving problems on the farms.
In the main, diplomats are clever
people. A few showcase evictions for the benefit of the press won't persuade
cynical men in Europe and North America that Mr Mugabe is doing something
tangible to bring democracy to his country - because, be warned, there probably
will be an attempt to lay on carefully managed measures that prove Zimbabwe is
once again committed to the rule of law.
Journalists will treat the rhetoric and
stage management with hard-bitten scepticism, as will diplomats and aid workers.
Farmers should be encouraged to follow their example.
This is not the time to be naïve. Dialogue
is worthless unless it results in action to end the crisis. That probably won't
happen, which is bad news, because it is essential to Mr Mugabe that the nation
remains in a state of crisis until the presidential election. The good news,
though, is that after the election it's unlikely to matter. Whatever the
outcome, and at this stage the prognosis is far from good for the ruling party,
the rules will change completely and Zimbabweans will be able to get down to the
business of fixing things.
THE newly formed so called Zimbabwe
Federation of Trade Unions appears to have adopted a strategy of intimidating
employers to award unrealistic wage and salary increments in an apparent attempt
to curry favour with farm workers as a way of boosting its
membership.
However, under the law, the ZFTU can
not recruit individual members but only affiliate unions, which makes its
current campaign on behalf of workers illegal. The Farmer has established that
most of its so called members, including the Zimbabwe Horticulture, Crocodile,
Ostrich and Allied Workers Union, are not registered with the Ministry Labour
and Social Welfare.
The union's unorthodox membership drive
is at the centre of a labour crisis that paralysed operations of Butler Farms,
Zimbabwe's largest cut-flower enterprise just outside Harare.
3000 workers at the farms went on
strike this week demanding a wage increment of more than 200 percent apparently
after ZFTU deputy president and war veteran leader, Joseph Chinotimba, stepped
into the fray and tried to intimidate farm owner, Mr John Butler to accede to
the demands.
In an interview, Mr Butler said about a
month ago, his management was forced, under duress, to sign an unofficial
agreement which would have seen most of the farm workers earning up to $4000 per
month including various allowances. He said, however, the agreement carried a
provision that it would only be implemented subject to the viability of the
company.
According to Mr Butler, this was when
Chinotimba came onto the scene and threw out the agreement suggesting that a new
one be negotiated. "He tried to intimidate me to award increments of more than
200 percent but that is not possible," he said.
Mr Butler dismissed as misleading a
report in the State controlled Herald which claimed that the farm management had
agreed to award increments of up to 227 percent.
Meanwhile Mr Ewen Rodger, chief
executive of the Agricultural Labour Bureau said wage increases "negotiated" by
the newly formed ZFTU will not stand up if contested in court. This was after,
Irvine's, a massive poultry producer, and Butler Farms, were coerced into
signing wage increments of 150 and 227 percent respectively.
The negotiations were spearheaded by
the self-appointed leader of farm and business invasions, Mr Joseph Chinotimba.
Chinotimba, now vice president of the unrecognised ZFTU, travels the country in
a newly acquired ZANU - PF Jeep Cherokee, while he is on permanent leave from
the Harare Municipality. A former security guard in the municipality,
Chinotimba's other job is that of a driver.
Rodger told The Farmer this week
that farmers should not bow down to unrecognised unions. "This is clearly part
of their (ZANU - PF's) political plan," he said. "The ZFTU is made up of a loose
grouping of unregistered unions set up by government. They go on to farms, cause
trouble and coerce people into entering agreements. You can see from the
irresponsible reporting (in the Herald) that this is nothing to do with
us," he added.
Mr Rodger said that these cases should
be taken to court. "The courts will overturn the agreements," he advised, "but
this takes time. The Ministry of Labour won't intervene because it's deemed
'political', while the police will be their usual useless selves."
The ALB chief executive said the best
way of avoiding this problem was not to sign any agreement. "The only way to
deal with tyranny is to stand up to it," he said. "If you bow down to it then it
won't go away." This was proven by the fact that Butler Farms already had
agreement with their workers, Rodger explained, but Chinotimba returned with a
new set of demands. "The problem is that these people come and say, 'these are
our new demands and they aren't negotiable so if you don't agree, we'll kill
you,'" said Ewen Rodger, adding that people then tend to sign.
According to the Agricultural Labour
Bureau deputy executive, Mr Joseph Mafanuke, there is, at present, only one
union which represents farm workers, and this is the General Agricultural and
Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), which is an affiliate of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
Mr Mafanuke advised farmers to immediately contact
the ALB if approached by the ZFTU seeking to negotiate wage increaments for farm
workers. "We understand they are going around the country trying to negotiate on
behalf of workers" he said.
Poaching headache for
wildlife producers
WILDLIFE producers are dismayed and
disappointed by the manner in which the government's controversial fast-track
resettlement programme is unfolding threatening to decimate entire herds of
exotic animal species. Thousands of animals have perished, vast tracks of
wildlife range disturbed, thousands of snares recovered, client hunting
curtailed and photographic tourism reduced.
The Wildlife Producers' Association
(WPA) said at its annual general meeting that the association was seeking
government's support in stopping the massive poaching and other disruptive
activities to the industry to enable a rebuilding of herds and operations in the
national interest.
WPA chairman, Mr Wally Herbst, said due
to the invasions of commercial farmland, the industry has experienced a downturn
of more than 60% in tourism.
Most producers, concerned by the
poaching activities by the new settlers and invaders, told the Environment and
Tourism deputy minister, Mr Edward Chindori-Chininga that his ministry and the
department of National Parks needed to control the poaching activities. It
emerged that the problem of poaching is far more widespread than the
much-publicised Save Conservancy and the Gonarezhou National Park where people
have settled themselves and have continued poaching with impunity. They said
these problems were a major threat to the EU meat market as fences had been
completely destroyed.
Mr Chininga told the wildlife producers
that he was aware of poaching and other problems but, "you must understand the
need to address the land issue."
He said National Parks should to go
down and educate people on what should be done with wildlife in newly resettled
areas. Mr Chininga urged farmers to work together especially with the people "on
the ground" to come up with models that would accommodate the indigenous
people.
"There is lack of coordination all the
time because stakeholders are not coming together. If there is better
co-ordination then problems can be solved," he said. He said the current
problems were a passing phase because resettlement cannot continue for many
years.
Mr Chininga said there were particular
problems with regards to the resettlement of people in natural regions 4 and 5
where large tracts of land are used for wildlife. He said people in these areas
resisted being moved to other natural regions due to their traditional beliefs
hence the need to allocate some and not all of them land in natural regions 4
and 5.
Deputy director (research) for National
Parks, Mr Vitalis Chadenga said, "although poaching is a problem, dealing with
it in isolation will not solve the problem. There is need to address the
concerns of the those who are poaching"
Mr Herbst hoped an awareness programme
would be started on the properties have been resettled to bring them into the
WPA fold and enable them utilise the natural resources sustainably.
He said law and order was critical to
the survival of wildlife and its habitats on game farms.
"There has to be an atmosphere of calm
to enable clients and operators to go about their business of safari hunting and
photographic tours. If wildlife loses its value because of the current land
resettlement problems it will counter Zimbabwe's tourism programmes," said Mr
Herbst.
Other problems discussed were the issue of animal
translocation, delays in the issuance of export permits and the export of live
animal.
Tobacco farmers want
coal middlemen axed
TOBACCO farmers, blaming middlemen for
the exorbitant cost of coal which threatened their viability last season, are
now seeking alternative methods of sourcing the commodity at reasonable rates
while others have gone further by calling for other sources of energy to cure
their tobacco.
To cut the cost of coal, large-scale
tobacco producers have urged their representative organisation, Zimbabwe Tobacco
Association (ZTA) to apply to the country's sole coal producer, Wankie colliery,
to become a registered merchant with respect to road hauled coal orders
collected at the colliery or designated distribution centres.
Last year, tobacco farmers faced
shortages and delays, which they say proved too costly to their businesses.
Trelawney farmer, Mr Warwick Evans, said last year's early coal deliveries,
which accounted for about one third of the coal for tobacco farmers, should have
been delivered by the end of July 2000 at $2 144 a tonne. However, he said,
these deliveries were only completed in December at a cost of $2 846 a tonne.
This delay resulted in farmers paying any extra $151 million.
The shortages of coal, which is used by
farmers to cure their tobacco, were due to poor performance by National Railways
of Zimbabwe (NRZ), which provided limited wagons and a plant breakdown at Wankie
Colliery.
Tobacco farmers are the second biggest
customer to Wankie Colliery after Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) and
feel that they should be allowed the same facility to purchase coal directly
from the colliery as ZISCO.
Tobacco farmers are currently forced to
purchase coal through the Coal Distribution Association, which makes coal more
expensive as the farmers are made to pay the extra costs and
commission.
Mr Evans said, "While one can
understand that Wankie do not want to deal with 7 500 individual farmers, one
cannot accept their refusal to deal with ZTA."
He said despite the introduction of
liner trains to improve the supply situation, Wankie continued to hamper
deliveries by deliberately choosing not to send coal on liner trains which
resulted in NRZ's failure to supply enough wagons. Mr Evans said this resulted
in the introduction of road-hauled coal, which is the most expensive option for
the farmers." This resulted in substantial increases in the coal price which
prejudiced the industry $43 million to $75 million."
He said tobacco growers were now
victims of cartels or monopolistic trading on one of their main
inputs.
But while some tobacco farmers were
looking at ways to cut the cost of procuring coal from Wankie Colliery, small
scale farmers have called for alternative sources of energy to coal which they
say is not affordable to them.
The smallholder Commercial Production
Committee urged the ZTA to investigate and commission research into viable and
cost effective alternatives to the use of indigenous timber for curing tobacco.
The committee said despite its shortage, it was now unaffordable and most
smallholder farmers did not have electricity. They said wood was cheaper and
smallholder farmers should intensify their forestation programme initiated
through ZTA.
The ZTA, through the Tobacco Research Board (TRB),
have signed an agreement with Dutch solar power company to experiment on the use
of solar power in curing tobacco.
Zimbabwe to respond to
EU veterinary team
THE director of Zimbabwe's Veterinary
Service Department, Dr Stuart Hargreaves, says he is preparing a report to the
European Union (EU) providing answers on how the country is responding to the
recommendations of the EU veterinary inspection team which carried out an
inspection in the country last January.
He expects to present his report to the
EU in the next two weeks amid reports that one of the main problem areas, the
Save Conservancy, which the EU inspection team was concerned about during its
visit, has not improved.
Dr Hargreaves confirmed to The
Farmer that he would be responding to the EU recommendations. "They are just
answers on how we are implementing the recommendations they made when the came
here."
However, he declined to elaborate
further saying he did not want to pre-empt the contents of his report through
the media before officially presenting it to the EU.
Following its visit in January, the EU
veterinary inspection team prepared a report on Zimbabwe that centred on the
implementation of veterinary control regulations. The report had four major
components some of which included the need to beef up the veterinary department
with adequate resources to effectively do its job and to urgently attend to the
Save Conservancy and other areas where the so-called war veterans and land
invaders had cut fences resulting in cattle mixing with buffalo which are known
to be foot and mouth disease carriers.
Dr Hargreaves is said to have requested
the EU team after its visit to allow Zimbabwe three months in which to rectify
any problems. However, as he is preparing to present Zimbabwe's report, the Save
Conservancy remains a major problem area as so called "war veterans" and land
invaders continue to defy efforts by government officials to bring the situation
under control.
Asked to comment on the Save
Conservancy issue, Dr Hargreaves was cagey, "I can't comment on that. We are
still busy investigating that issue," he said.
But he said, however, that a lot had
been done to improve efficiency within his department. Dr Hargreaves said the
veterinary department has been going through an institutional reform programme
and restructuring so that it concentrates on its core business.
Meanwhile, cattle producers say they are still
concerned with non-adherence to regulations on cattle movement and that some
people were apparently not aware of the law of cattle identification. Cattle
Producers' Association chief executive Mr Paul H'dotman said cattle nationwide
must be identified with the brand of the farm of origin or the dip tank of
origin and that Livestock Identification Trust ear tags can be used in place of
a brand. He said that there was a need to make people realise that this is
law.
Zimbabwe government lists about 80
percent of farms
THE Zimbabwe government last week used
18 full pages in the state-controlled broadsheet Herald newspaper to list
hundreds of farms it intends to acquire for its so-called fast track
resettlement scheme.
In 1998, the Zimbabwe government agreed
to acquire five million hectares of commercial farmland over a five-year period.
The scheme was to be paid for by western donors, though all donor money was
withdrawn when farms were issued to government cronies instead of landless
peasants.
The latest listing brings the hectarage
to over five million hectares. "Seventy eight percent of all farms had been
listed before today's list," said Jerry Davidson, of the Commercial Farmers'
Union, adding that the new list would "probably take it to well over 80
percent." Davidson said some areas, like the coffee and tea producing eastern
highlands district of Chipinge, had already had 98 percent of farms listed for
acquisition by government. He believed "something in the region of 5 300 farms
have now been listed."
David Hasluck, the CFU director, said,
"About 804 of the farms on last week's list were listed in June last year, while
there are also some new ones, so it looks like they've re-listed them all in
case they left some out. It looks like they're working on the principle of
listing everyone because these lists aren't compiled in the provinces, they come
from Harare."
No official from Zimbabwe's agriculture
ministry was available to comment on the latest mass listing of
farms.
The move has caused speculation that
the government intends to list all white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, forcing
farmers who wish to remain in the country to seek them back through the courts.
However, the move will cause apprehension among donors as it follows a European
Union directive that the Zimbabwean government restores law and order and ends
the illegal occupation of farms. The EU will meet in late August to consider
whether it needs to take action against Zimbabwe.
There are an estimated 20 000 illegal
invaders on Zimbabwe's commercial farms.
Since relocating this office as advised in our
e-mail of the 8th June, the situation has again changed. Activities have
therefor been suspended until further notice. Your queries may be directed to support@mdc.co.zw
We would like to thank all of you for the support
you have shown over the past year.
TOGETHER WE CAN COMPLETE
THE CHANGE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL
ZIMBABWEANS.
THE POWER IS IN OUR
HANDS
VOTE MDC - VOTE
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MDC Support (Southern
Region), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
