The Zimbabwe Situation

"Last Saturday morning, a war veteran named Wind, accompanied by a bunch of young men, arrived on my farm in the morning. He gave my tenants and their young children two days to get off the farm and out of the house as he says it now belongs to him. Wind then went over the road and issued a verbal eviction order to my neighbors and then to the family living in their cottage," Buckle said.

"These eviction orders were all non-negotiable and backed up by threats of violence. One of the threats was to throw a 4-year-old deaf child into a silage pit. Wind and his men then went to the houses of all the people who live and work on these farms. All the men, women and children were also ordered out. Wind closed the trading store on my farm and said it was now his. He ordered that all the dairy cows on one of the farms and all the laying hens on the other farm were not to be moved as they now belong to him."

Several Zimbabweans interviewed by WorldNetDaily said that Mugabe's henchmen were cutting off one leg of each of the cattle on white-owned farms and locking horses in corrals before lighting the corrals on fire. Even the black rhino reserve has been overrun by Mugabe's men.

Buckle told WorldNetDaily that Wind ordered all the agricultural equipment be left behind, including a tractor and plough, borehole motors, feed tins, water pipes, wheelbarrows, drums of fuel, rakes, shovels, etc. Buckle said that Zimbabwean police were informed but said they could not get involved since it was political.

"I went out to my neighbors and tried to help them pack. Driving toward the farmhouse gate, I was met by Wind. He was wearing orange overalls, a brown leather belt, a big hat and carried a large Zimbabwe flag on a pole in his back pocket. At his side was a thin dog, and a number of youths were hanging around, many with shaven heads and wearing Ray Ban sunglasses. I had phoned ahead, so a friendly face was waiting at the gate for me and I drove in rapidly before Wind and his helpers could get in," Buckle reported.

"There were no friendly, barking dogs to meet me as usual; they had been put to sleep the evening before because there will be no room for them in the tiny cottage the owners are moving to. Inside the house was utter chaos. The contents of a 22-year life on this farm were strewn everywhere. Boxes and crates were filled, curtains taken down, pictures removed from walls, furniture moved outside onto the lawn. Everything was done in haste and all under the watchful gaze of Wind and his men.

"Throughout the packing and loading they patrolled up and down the driveway, leaned against the gate, climbed trees and just stared. When we were finally done and the removal truck was loaded, we all sat on the front step of the little porch and looked for one last time out onto the farm. We shared a cup of coffee out of the only things not packed – a cracked plastic cup and a chipped china mug without a handle. There was not much to say that didn't include swear words."

"For me, there were a million memories of happy days, lunch parties, fat cattle at the feed tins, burning firebreaks together under the pine trees, glossy starlings at the bird bath. … For the owners, there were just silent tears. For them this is the end. They are too old to start again anywhere else. They had invested their life in this farm, which is not even designated for government acquisition. They have been forced to just walk out and let a bunch of thugs move into their home," she said.

"There is no money, no compensation, nothing – just get out or else. When we were ready to leave, Wind was waiting at the gate. Bored louts lolled against the fence and trees down the driveway and we all thanked God we got out alive. There had been no time to harvest the vegetables in the garden or bananas dripping from the trees; there had been no time to dig up treasured plants from the flower beds."

"Wind and his men supervised the loading of their furniture. At one point, he barricaded them in for some hours and later changed the lock on the gate so they couldn't get back in to collect the last load," she told WorldNetDaily.

"They demanded all the keys to my house, dairy, workers' houses and the trading store. Wind and his men are now living in my house, lying in my bath, sitting on my veranda. My tenants have lost their home and livelihood.

I have lost the farm it took a decade to pay for and establish and the rent I was getting, which was my only income. In an article I wrote for a local newspaper about the events of last weekend I pointed out the immediate resul ts of Wind's actions: 63 people are now homeless, 28 adults and 35 children.

Because of these evictions, Zimbabwe is immediately deprived of 110 dozen eggs a week, 1,500 liters of milk a week and 1,000 kilograms of beef a week."

Buckle said that Wind and his cronies had only a few comfortable days on her farm.

"They had nice hot baths and listened to their radio at a very loud volume until Wednesday when they ran the borehole dry and burnt out the electric motor. They sent a message to me saying that as I was still the owner of the farm I should pay for the borehole motor to be repaired, as they could not survive without water. My response to their demand was short, explosive and consisted of two words which I cannot repeat."

Buckle also told WorldNetDaily that other horrors from Zimbabwe this week, include a woman in her fifties who "was beheaded by government supporters in front of her two daughters."

Buckle told WorldNetDaily of the difficulties she experienced while reporting the seizure of her farm to the local Mugabe-appointed authorities.

"Last week, I finally managed to get in to see a senior local government official to advise him that three unknown men were now living in my house, had broken the borehole and that the situation was completely out of control. I explained politely that as the government had not served me with any acquisition papers at all, I was extremely worried about assets which may now be being destroyed such as geysers, water fittings, fitted cupboards and other items," she said.

"The 'official' got extremely angry with me and gave me a very long lecture about the history of Zimbabwe and said the reason the country was now in this state was due to 'you people' who have made concerted efforts to 'demonize Zimbabwe' and 'tell lies to the world.' Some of the things this 'official' said to me were extremely offensive and absolutely shocking, particularly coming from a civil servant. The official told me that in order to have my property valued I must go to another government department, fill in forms and hand over the title deeds. When this has been done, government valuers will go in and then compensation would be paid at some future date."

Buckle explained that throughout the "interview" she was "polite and courteous and did not raise my voice or lose my temper and had expected a similar response from a man whose salary is paid by my taxes."

"While this goes on the food supply situation is continuing to deteriorate," she said.

Indeed, the Sunday Times of South Africa reported this week that 4 million people in southern Africa are starving and that representatives of nations in the area will be meeting this month with United Nations agencies to try to hammer out a solution. The paper reports that Zimbabwe is among the three nations hardest hit by famine.

The End Game

As this sponsored terrorism continues against our people, nation, business and commercial farmers there are many other victims of these actions, who have been drawn in against their will, and are helpless.

We are daily faced with the queues of people waiting, often vainly, for the purchase of life’s basic necessities. For those who employ we are faced with daily pleas from their staff to source their staple food for both them, and their families. Although no "Ethiopian disaster" situation exists yet, in reality it is not far off.

Although some of the starvation is caused by most of the populations' total reliance on maize meal as their staple food, others have been able to adapt to other available foodstuff. However some just cannot change their diet - some due to habit, but many because of finance. Whilst the cost of maize meal is increasing daily due to black marketing due to the shortage, it is still the cheapest staple food. The buying power of the Zimbabwean dollar is being weakened daily by the spiralling inflation, thus putting many other foodstuffs completely out of reach, especially of those unemployed or those with huge families.

Added to this are the estimated one million Aids orphans, who traditionally are absorbed into the close families, who probably cannot even afford to feed themselves. The ill-conceived fast tracking of commercial farms and businesses (in the near future?) has discouraged any meaningful thoughts of business in the country. The impact of this is to create even further unemployment with resultant starvation and misery. Not to mention the increase in crime statistics, as people turn their hands to absolutely anything in desperation to try to feed their starving families.

I pay tribute to two outstanding ladies who have exposed the plight of the wildlife and domestic stock during this military style revolution. They are journalist (name withheld) and Meryl Harrison of the ZNSPCA. What they have exposed is the barbaric nature of the present political campaign, which has no rules, nor does it appear to be accountable to the law. In fact how can the law be applied against people who have been totally convinced by the national media that they are merely recovering whatever resources are naturally theirs? The wanton destruction of these precious resources in totally unsustainable.

Farmlands, woodlands and pastures are destroyed and burned. All forms of living animals are now "their right" to hunt, maim and destroy. The unseen is the fact that the rightful property owners' cattle and other domestic stock, and game are suddenly left without grazing, and nowhere to go. Even to the commercial abattoirs who are fully booked to slaughter all forms of livestock, whether pregnant or fat or not. Obviously their turnover of meat has been severely reduced with actions of all the "new players" in the meat market begins to take effect. The uncontrolled illegal movements of cattle, with the resultant smouldering of Foot and Mouth Disease, has resulted in the closure of our beef export markets for the unforeseen future.

Zimbabwe once had a very proud record of meat hygiene, which was of world standard, but now half rotten carcasses from snared or butchered game and livestock is readily available at a fraction of the normal price, at all times on the streets. Uninspected meat is coming in to the towns from all corners of the country, on busses and taxis, without any form of refrigeration.

The picture developing now is a scene where the rightful owner’s cattle and game are being pushed into little corners of their farms, where they are literally being starved to death. These cattle are continually being hacked, butchered and maimed by people who class them merely as the "spoils of war", in a country where war was never officially declared. Even if stockfeed was available (which it is not) the cost is far too high to be an economic option or solution, due to the farmers' drastic reduction in income.

Already lifetimes of genetic material have been slaughtered, either legally or illegally. Which way are we heading? It is estimated that grazing on commercial farms and conservancies will all be either depleted or completely burned by August. Our normal rains come in November, with useful grazing only coming through and able to be grazed, one month to six weeks later. Established water supplies, on farms in low rainfall areas, are also being sabotaged or overexploited, by settlers, leading to deprivation of water, and thirst, resulting in further massive weight loss and poverty, or death.

What will happen if the predictions of another drought next year caused by the El Nino phenomenon are correct, will be the complete eradication and wipe-out of all domestic stock, and of the little game that is left. Following this will be even further hardship, starvation and lawlessness. There will be no winners.

If the present destructive course of the present political regime is not ceased forthwith, this could be the end game for what was once a wonderful and productive nation.

May God help the people of Zimbabwe.

In line with the new draconian legislation, on absolutely no account may my name be used in publication of this article. If printed as a letter please use nom de of Concerned Farmer. Many thanks.

Harare - It is back to the drawing board in their efforts to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis for Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo. Their plan for a government of national unity between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change was never a starter, and has been repeatedly and publicly rejected by the opposition. Indeed, there is growing evidence of grassroots discontent within the MDC with the fact that their party is even talking to government. So much so that at the weekend the MDC published full-page advertisements saying a government of national unity was "out of the question". The only solution to the present crisis, it says, is "a return to legitimacy through a fresh, free and fair presidential poll". It demands an immediate end to violence by Zanu PF militia and supporters, the disarming of the war veterans, an end to government's policy of denying food supplies to MDC supporters, and fundamental economic policy changes to tackle the fast-worsening economic crisis.

This brought an angry response from Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who described Tsvangirai as "a hooligan" and accused him of violating the rules of the talks by publishing advertisements in "British-sponsored newspapers" (Zimbabwe's top-selling newspaper, the Daily News). The interparty dialogue could collapse unless the MDC stopped "peddling their criminal falsehoods", Moyo said. Government's position is clear but uncompromising. It is willing to take in enough MDC members to some kind of unity administration to enable it to secure international respectability, while also able to amend the constitution. This is necessary so that Mugabe (78) would be able to appoint a successor as President rather than going through the tiresome process of holding elections.

But the MDC, aware that voters support its demands for a rerun of the poll, is holding fast. After two meetings last month, the talks between the parties, which were going nowhere, were adjourned until May 13. During the adjournment the MDC stance has hardened, leaving Mbeki and Obasanjo to conjure up another compromise formula ahead of next month's G8 meeting in Canada, at which the two Presidents will be pushing hard for financial backing for their New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). No-one expects the G8 to refuse to back Nepad just because of Mugabe, but his capacity to sour the atmosphere at the meeting should not be underestimated. Indeed, in the past fortnight, two of his allies - Tanzania's President Benjamin Mkapa and Zambia's Levy Mwanawasa - have publicly sided with Mugabe in attacking "Western" ideas for the economic and governance reforms that are the keystone of Nepad.

While the talks stall, the speed of deterioration in the economy and on white-owned farms is accelerating. By April 17, 5 069 commercial farms out of a total of 6 000 (84%) had been listed for compulsory acquisition. Acquisition orders now cover 10,2m ha out of a total commercial farming area of 11m ha. Hundreds of farmers have been forced off their land, and new Draconian rules announced by Agriculture Minister Joe Made have plunged the farming community into despair. Made accused farmers of "resisting" land reform and delaying the process by taking eviction orders to the administrative court, which they are legally entitled to do. He accused farmers of "vandalising irrigation infrastructure" and "other acts of sabotage including spraying sugarcane plantations with harmful chemicals and infecting cattle with diseases". Farmers are being prevented from removing moveable assets (tractors, vehicles, equipment) from their farms, though legislation explicitly permits this.

There are numerous reports of senior military personnel, public officials and politicians taking over white-owned farms. One report claims that two senior members of government have taken over a farm belonging to the State-owned Cold Storage Commission. Commercial Farming Union vice-president Doug Taylor-Fremme warned that if, as seems possible, 90% of commercial producers are forced out of business this year, the cost to the Zimbabwe economy will be about US1,3bn or 14% of GDP. Commercial farmers employ around 350 000 people with an annual wage bill of about US450m. The knock-on effects will be huge. Some economists now predict that GDP will fall more than 12% in 2002. Some fear the worst will only come next year when, as one farmer puts it, "the tobacco crop will be less than 50m kg (165m kg in 2002) and the country will have to import 500 000 t of wheat".

It will be impossible for Mbeki to put any sort of gloss on this situation when he meets the G8 leaders next month. He must either admit he has failed or unveil plan B, assuming he has one.



By Barnaby Phillips With the UN peace tour in Africa