| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
The protest is organised by concerned Zimbabweans and supporters, Human rights campaigners, Church groups and organisations, gay rights organisations and environmentalists. Possibly the last protest outside Zimbabwe House before the end of the year 2001. These protests shall coincide with the CHOGM meeting/protests taking place in Brisbane Australia. The protest will focus on:
Or
Government of Zimbabwe vs Commercial Farmers’ Union
The cause of lawlessness in the commercial farming area and the role of Government , its institutions and its officials in the anarchy have come under strong criticism. This on the second day of the landmark Constitutional Court hearing, in which the State is seeking a relief order recognising that since December 2000 it has restored the rule of law on farms and produced a land reform programme in keeping with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. The case follows a decision by the Supreme Court in December 2000, ruling that the fast track resettlement programme was illegal and granting the State an interdict requiring it show and prove correction of this illegality by July 1 2001.
In Harare today the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) represented by Advocate Adrian de Bourbon dismissed the State’s earlier argument that the rule of law on commercial farms was being restored, asserting that the State and its ministers were actively involved in spearheading, sponsoring or directing violence on farms. This in effect has rendered the rule of law non-existent and opened a Pandora’s box which shows clearly that the situation on the ground can no longer be contained. Citing affidavits submitted for evidence by members of the farming community, Advocate de Bourbon said the Government was guilty of creating and attempting to legalise a situation. This in effect entrenched anarchy on farmlands and provided impunity to the offenders through protection by the Rural Land Occupiers (Protection from Eviction) Act.
"The State concedes that Section 9 of the Land Acquisition Act does not permit occupiers to do all the illegal acts they are doing on the farm, but these incidents in many cases are being done with the support of the State. There has been no attempt by the State to deal with issues of the rule of law. It is beyond doubt that the rule of law has not been restored. The Commissioner of Police has failed or is unwilling to respond to the affidavits filed and has also failed to comply with an earlier order given by Justice Garwe that he provide a copy of the instructions given to police with regards to restoring the rule of law. This is because the document does not exist," said Advocate de Bourbon. In his submissions, he also challenged the move by the State to have the case heard in the Constitutional Court, saying the Court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter unless it involved an appeal alleging the infringement of the State’s declaration of rights.
Yesterday the State, represented by the Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Bharat Patel was at pains to convince the Bench, headed by Chief Justice Chidyausiku, that Government had complied with the order to restore the rule of law on commercial farms. Mr. Patel had as part of his argument, an affidavit from the Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri denying impartial application of the law on commercial farms and cataloguing incidents and arrests made in connection with the land resettlement programme. He was taken to task, however, by Justice Malaba who said there was clear evidence of unlawful incidents occurring on commercial farms. Justice Malaba also questioned why Commissioner Chihuri had made an affidavit in the case, when he had not been specifically identified as a respondent in the December 2000 case.
Mr. Patel drew audible murmurs of disagreement from the floor, when he asserted that the police were performing at their best under the circumstances and that there had been no deaths connected with violence on commercial farms since December 2000. He was immediately reminded by Justice Chidyausiku of the weekend deaths of two people during disturbances on a commercial farm in Wedza. The case comes in the wake of reports that 20 commercial farms countrywide have been invaded since September 6 2001, (Abuja Accord date) with reports of work stoppages, labour harassment and evictions being received from most districts. The case continues tomorrow with the legal counsel of the CFU expected to round up its arguments, before the State is given an opportunity to reply.
Moyo says he cannot stand trial in Kenya
Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President’s Office, being sued by the Ford Foundation in Nairobi, has claimed the Kenyan High Court has no jurisdiction to hear the suit. According to yesterday’s issue of the East African Standard, an independent Nairobi newspaper, Moyo filed an application in the Kenyan High Court to terminate the suit on the grounds the court could not hear the case as he was now staying in Zimbabwe. The hearing was postponed to November. Moyo, a former programme officer with the American non-governmental organisation, and Professor Joshua Olewe Nyueya and Dr Mutahi Ngunyi, directors of a non-governmental organisation based in Nairobi, are being sued for alleged misuse of about US$414 000 in donor funds.
Ford claims Moyo and the officials in the Nairobi office diverted funds meant for a project to their own use. The East African Standard said Moyo’s affidavit, drawn by his lawyer, Mutula Kilonzo, said he was employed by Ford Foundation from 15 September 1993 until 31 December 1997, when he resigned. "When the suit came up yesterday, Kilonzo told Judge Onyango Otieno that his client has handed over the contract documents requested by Ford," the newspaper said. "Henry Ongicho for Ford, however, said he required time to go through the documents before the matter can proceed to full hearing." Ford is seeking to recover US$98 000 from Moyo which it alleges he wrongfully used to buy property in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Editorial from The Vanguard (Nigeria), 20 September
Mugabe And His War Veterans
Those unleashing terror on whites in Zimbabwe are not war veterans, but youthful brigands with the backing of Robert Mugabe, writes Oladipo Omole
Lagos - On the eve of Zimbabwe's independence, Mugabe had declared "if yesterday I fought with you as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the same national interest". He was addressing whites in Zimbabwe who are now the objects of his mood swings, his whims. The population of Zimbabwe was expected to reach 9.4 million in the mid-1990s, with a population density of over 20 people per square kilometre and growing at a rate of 3.1 per cent per annum. Fairly recent reports show that the proportion of the population living on the land as peasant farmers was an estimated 70 per cent. Agriculture is the second largest contributor to Zimbabwe's GDP and accounts for almost 50 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. As at 1991, there were approximately 6,000 commercial farmers in Zimbabwe who are white. These white farmers largely employ workers in the agricultural sector of Zimbabwe's economy. Records show that the contribution of over 750,000 communal and small-scale peasant farmers was becoming increasingly important both in numbers and level of output.
There are conflicting reports on how the foreigners - including the whites - acquired land in Zimbabwe. Records show that for instance in 1573 the Portuguese and Mawanamutapa Nogomo signed a treaty which gave the Portuguese possession of a number of gold mines and other minerals. Ngomo also gave the Portuguese the permanent ownership of a strip of territory along the south bank of the Zambezi from Tete to the sea. The same report had it that, at the close of the 1940s the African Voice Association were embroiled in a struggle with the white government over a scheme which included the forcible removal of masses of peasants from their homes and land and de-stocking their cattle.
In addition there was the Lancaster House Agreement which protected ownership of property and allowed for transfer only on a "willing seller/willing buyer basis in local currency. This agreement could not by any means be interpreted to subsist only between whites. Blacks who had the means are also affected. Then the minority regime did not prohibit ownership of land in Zimbabwe by blacks, hence no peasants will be engaged in farming as they are now. Mugabe had a laudable and noble objective: The resettlement and rehabilitation of war veterans, but his motives and strategy are suspect. To put it bluntly they are sinister. Who are the real beneficiaries of Zimbabwe's new land policy and what criteria will be used for distributing seized land? When were these war veterans disengaged? What has been happening to them since disengagement? Are there blacks engaged in agriculture in Zimbabwe. These questions raise a lot of suspicion on Mugabe's real motive.
It is on record that the approximately 6,000 commercial white farmers provide employment for Zimbabweans so their settlement in Zimbabwe is functional. Mugabe's present disposition to white farmers and his war veterans is not commendable and neither is it justified by any stretch of the imagination. The truth is Mugabe has been in power for 21 years and he is not willing to let go. He has denied this allegation but it remains his latent motive. The man really has nothing else to offer Zimbabwe. He has an option he has refused to take because of his obsession for power. Instead of propagating brigandage, Mugabe could actually rehabilitate his army of war veterans with little or no skill or experience in commercial farming by giving them jobs that suit their skills, knowledge and abilities. He has enlisted the support of Nigeria in his mission of justifying voodoo economics but apart from the failed indigenisation policy of Gowon's regime Nigeria allows foreigners to own property including farmlands. It is not exactly clear what role he expects Nigeria to play and how Nigeria will reconcile his motives with her foreign policy objectives. If he expects an army of occupation or any form of moral or political support it is futile and he is not on firm ground.
Zimbabwe has agreed to act against self-styled independence war veterans who have been occupying white owned farms during a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers in Nigeria. So the Commonwealth of Nations does not share Mugabe's idea of land reform nor does Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge who led Zimbabwe's team at the Commonwealth Ministerial Meeting in Nigeria as he declared that government would move swiftly to evict illegal land invaders. Within the framework of the Abuja accord, Zimbabwe has agreed to stop landless blacks from invading white-owned farms and to acquire farms for black resettlement on a fair and legal basis As a matter of fact Britain has agreed to co-finance compensation for farmers, whose land was acquired, under the Abuja accord as well.
It is not only the Commonwealth of nations that does not share Mugabe's idea of a land reform. South African President Thabo Mbeki has urged Zimbabwe to uphold the rule of law and has called on the international community to honour pledges of financial assistance for Zimbabwe's land reform programme. Mbeki recognises that Mugabe and his war veterans are operating above the law. Robert Mugabe and his war veterans are also undermining the economy of Zimbabwe and surrounding states. This is evident in the statement credited to a senior South African official, Mboweni who told an investment conference that Zimbabwe's crisis was one of several factors affecting the rapidly depreciating Rand adding the situation has became untenable when it is seen that the highest office in that land seems to support illegal mean of land reform, land invasions, the occupation of land and violence. Mboweni went a step further as he added the land problem in Zimbabwe must be solved, but this must be done within the law -anybody who acts outside the law must be locked up and brought before the courts.
Southern Africa is indeed apprehensive of a possible spill over of violence from Zimbabwe to the whole of Southern African region as groups of brigands within the area might act i.e. Mugabe and his war veterans. This is not good for peace, security and business. The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for a meeting to drive home the implications of Zimbabwe’s refusal to honour the agreement reached in Abuja. Bakili Muluzi, the president of Malawi and chairman of SADC said regional stability was the prime concern "of great concern to all of us is that, if the land issue is not urgently resolved amicably and peacefully, the economic and political problems of Zimbabwe could easily snowball across the entire South African region." Muluzi also expressed fear, on critical direct foreign investment in the region which may not be forthcoming any longer due to increasing political instability.
White farmers are not the only targets of Mugabe's war veterans. Black farm workers had their homes burned in the village of Beatrice, leaving more than 200 farm hands homeless. In the past 18 months black farm workers have been assaulted and thousands forced from their homes by violence which political analysts link to Mugabe's campaign to retain power. In essence Mugabe and his war veterans are not in the business of land reform. No authority in the South African region recognises or sympathises with their agenda. As a matter of fact Mugabe and his cohorts have become something of an embarrassment to the whole South African region and the Commonwealth. Mugabe's objective is not the rehabilitation of war veterans which he could have done much earlier by absorbing the war veterans into the national army where their skills are needed; he wants to sit tight but he has played dangerously and foolishly into the hands of the opposition who do not see any sense in his wasteful venture.
| Zimbabwe passes $316 mn stop-gap budget |
|
HARARE:
Zimbabwe's parliament Thursday approved a $17.5 billion supplementary budget,
state television reported, to help the government meet soaring expenses in a
crumbling economy. Government expenses have risen 14 percent beyond what was planned for in the 2001 budget, the report said. The supplementary budget is to meet the shortfall until the 2002 budget is drafted in November. The extra spending will come from interest savings Zimbabwe gained earlier in the year by restructuring its debt, the report said. The report did not detail how the money would be spent, but said that some would go to defense and health spending. Another portion would help the government buy maize to avert a food shortage, as parts of Zimbabwe are already beginning to suffer from hunger. Normally self-sufficient, Zimbabwe is projected to suffer a 600,000 tonne shortfall in production of maize, the staple grain. |
Mugabe blames white farmers for provoking violence The Associated Press |
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) Under pressure from fellow Africans to stop land seizures, President Robert Mugabe accused white farmers Friday of provoking violence to resist redistributing property to landless blacks. Ruling party militants have occupied 1,700 white-owned farms since March 2000, and the government has earmarked 4,500 white-owned farms to be seized and given to landless blacks. At least nine white farmers have died in violence since June. In an agreement signed in September in Abuja, Nigeria, Zimbabwe pledged an immediate end to violence and farm invasions in return for British funding for orderly land reform. Mugabe told his ruling party's 135-member central committee on Friday that the government was to launch a campaign across the country to explain the deal brokered to end the 18 months of violence on farms. But he said the white farmers were engaging in a "dangerous trend" of attacking landless blacks occupying their farms, the official Zimbabwe News Agency quoted Mugabe as saying. "That will have to stop forthwith unless these farmers are ready for a conflict situation," Mugabe said. He said the government would call on ruling party militants and those living illegally on farms to explain their obligations in ensuring the success of the deal reached in Abuja. Stopping short of promising immediate action to enforce the accord, Mugabe said the government "would be able to take a position on compliance" with the agreement once its terms were explained to those involved in land seizures. David Hasluck, director of the Commercial Farmers Union which represents about 4,000 white farmers, said although violence on farms had not subsided since the deal was brokered, there were signs the government might commit itself to the agreement. "I sincerely believe the opportunity we have now to resolve the problems in this country is an opportunity we have not had before," Hasluck said. The union said Thursday about 500 white-owned farms across the country had been shut down by ruling party militants forcing farm laborers not to work through intimidation and threats. Malawi's president Bakili Muluzi warned on Sept. 10 that economic instability in Zimbabwe could spread to neighboring nations if the 2-year-old standoff over land reform is not resolved soon. Muluzi was the chairman of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community that met in Harare for a two-day summit. |
Friday September 21, 2001
9:50 PM
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Under pressure from fellow Africans to stop land
seizures, President Robert Mugabe accused white farmers Friday of provoking
violence to resist redistributing property to landless blacks.
Ruling party militants have occupied 1,700 white-owned farms since March
2000, and the government has earmarked 4,500 white-owned farms to be seized and
given to landless blacks. At least nine white farmers have died in violence
since June.
In an agreement signed in September in Abuja, Nigeria, Zimbabwe pledged an
immediate end to violence and farm invasions in return for British funding for
orderly land reform.
Mugabe told his ruling party's 135-member central committee on Friday that
the government was to launch a campaign across the country to explain the deal
brokered to end the 18 months of violence on farms.
But he said the white farmers were engaging in a ``dangerous trend'' of
attacking landless blacks occupying their farms, the official Zimbabwe News
Agency quoted Mugabe as saying.
``That will have to stop forthwith unless these farmers are ready for a
conflict situation,'' Mugabe said.
He said the government would call on ruling party militants and those living
illegally on farms to explain their obligations in ensuring the success of the
deal reached in Abuja.
Stopping short of promising immediate action to enforce the accord, Mugabe
said the government ``would be able to take a position on compliance'' with the
agreement once its terms were explained to those involved in land seizures.
David Hasluck, director of the Commercial Farmers Union which represents
about 4,000 white farmers, said although violence on farms had not subsided
since the deal was brokered, there were signs the government might commit itself
to the agreement.
``I sincerely believe the opportunity we have now to resolve the problems in
this country is an opportunity we have not had before,'' Hasluck said.
The union said Thursday about 500 white-owned farms across the country had
been shut down by ruling party militants forcing farm laborers not to work
through intimidation and threats.
Malawi's president Bakili Muluzi warned on Sept. 10 that economic instability
in Zimbabwe could spread to neighboring nations if the 2-year-old standoff over
land reform is not resolved soon.
Muluzi was the chairman of the 14-nation Southern African Development
Community that met in Harare for a two-day summit.
Muckraker