1


BRIEFING PAPERS
: ZIMBABWE :


Jill Lambert

The Hon. Alexander Downer
Minister of Foreign Affairs.


The situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating to such an extent that these briefing papers
are intended to give you as far as is possible, a balanced overview which is more
detailed than you may be able to access in normal circumstances.

To assist you in clarifying issues, the papers are grouped into topics followed by
headline updates on the current situation in each of those areas. Should you require
further information, each headline will point to the page on which the full text of articles
or newspaper reports can be read.


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INTRODUCTION:

The government of Zimbabwe has banned all external journalists in the country and is
persecuting those who present an opposition picture.

Some innovative steps have therefore been taken. It is largely through e-mail that
events in Zimbabwe are covered in any detail.

In addition, a media monitoring group based in the United Kingdom, is able again
through e-mail to compile a daily report of news stories and personal experience
articles from within and outside the country in order to get more accurate information to
the media and others who can be influential outside what is now a closed country.

On the eve of my meeting with you Minister, I received an email from this source, with
this very emotive header to its collection of articles for the day.

You will have read of the appalling events - which continue as you read this around
the town of Chinhoyi in northern Zimbabwe.

Dozens of farms have been attacked and ransacked, forcing many times that
number to be abandoned, with the result that in excess of eight thousand people have
lost their livelihood and shelter - in the depths of winter, within a few days.

This has been portrayed by government as the wresting of farmland from white
farmers. The reality is, that it is the cordoning-off of huge swathes of countryside,
allowing gangs - some several hundred strong - to sweep these areas for people and
animals with impunity. Nobody is allowed into the area and they are out of the sight of
anyone who can report what is going on, and out of the reach of anyone who could
help.

Those who have not been able to flee face the immediate prospect of murder,
rape, beating and intimidation at the hands of gangs of government-directed thugs. It
is the same set of circumstances which led to the gukurahunde during which it has now
been confirmed, between 25,000 and 30,000 Matabele people were ‘eliminated’ by
government forces and their bodies thrown down mine shafts in the area. The
Matabele people say the number was closer to 80,000 killed.

We ask those of you who live outside Zimbabwe to contact - as soon as possible

- your Member of Parliament, Congressman, Senator, or Deputy. Contact them by
phone, letter, e-mail, or fax - and urge them to ask their governments to convey outrage
in the strongest possible terms to the Zimbabwe government about this brutal treatment
of its own citizens.
We also ask you to directly contact your Ministry or Department of Foreign
Affairs (in the United States, the US State Department) urging the same course of
action. Please ask anyone you know to do the same.

Please help us -- please save Zimbabwe.


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LAND FACTS

Area of country: 39,000,000 hectares

Situation: between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Population: about 12½ million, majority Mashona people, with
approximately 2,000,000 Matabele
approximately 100,000 European, Coloured and Asian

History: Inhabited by the Bushmen for 20,000 years -- hunter/gatherers
. Decimated by southerly push of Bantu due to desertification of the

Sahara from 200 BC, now extinct.
. Bantu grew cereals herded cattle.
. Kingdom of Monomatapa ruled for 150 years until arrival of

Portuguese who signed treaties and gained suzerainty for a further

150 years -- mining and agriculture established

. Driven out by the Rosvi, who were in turn decimated by

. 1830 the Matabele - a branch of the Zulus

. 1890 Pioneer column arrived following a treaty signed by Chief

 Lobengula and negotiated by Cecil John Rhodes

. population of half a million - density of approx 200 acres per person

. Settlers received 6,000 acre farms and in the most densely

populated areas, reserves were created for the indigenous people
and Europeans were not allowed to use this. Land available to
Africans to purchase, not many could afford to do so -by 1925 only
19 farms amounting to 47 000 acres had been sold to Africans.

. Rapid population growth due to preventive medicine and education
as well as cessation of tribal wars

. 1923 the colony paid Britain for unalienated land and was given
self-government

. 1931 -- Land Apportionment Act introduced -- Europeans 49 000
000 acres; Native reserves 21 600 000 acres; Native purchase
areas 7 465 000 acres; unassigned land 18 000 000 acres;
forest areas 600 000 acres; undetermined areas 88 000 acres.

. 1980 - European owned land reduced - 45% of available land
communal or set aside for African farmers and 39% was
commercial farming under freehold tenure.

. Government acquired 3,500,000 hectares of commercial farm land
for resettlement through help from the British Government.
Acquisition slowed due to lack of finance, no evidence of suitable
land management and inadequate infrastructure.

. most land given to party faithful and ceased to be effectively used
for farming purposes.

. 1992 - Land Acquisition Act was promulgated enabling Government
to designate farms for resettlement without compensation.

. 1997 - a list of 1471 properties declared subject to a preliminary
notice of acquisition.

. 2000 - 30% of the country held under freehold tenure; 41%
communal lands; 4% small scale commercial farming, 9%
resettlement. The remaining 16% National Parks and State forests.

. Government prepared a new Constitution to remove requirement for
compensation had to be paid, declaring that compensation payable
should be paid by Britain.

. February 2000 - referendum held to approve the new Constitution
was rejected by the majority of voters in Zimbabwe.

. August 2001 Government states it will take 95% of all commercial
farms for resettlement

(See articles : The History of land ownership -- pp 14 Author unknown, but facts are accurate
also Mugabe’s Mess -- Wall Street Journal -- pp 20 ; CFU Update -- pp 34)


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LAND : expropriation

June 2000

804 farms to be taken
The Economic folly of President Mugabe's decision to expropriate no fewer than 804 of
Zimbabwe's white owned commercial farms, is matched only by its political dishonesty ...

(see article The Times : Up for Grabs -- pp Zim facts)

August 2001

7,132 farms listed
(The Director of the Commercial Farmers Union) ... said government had listed 7 132 farms
and of that total, 2 335 were repeats or duplications which meant that 4 797 farms measuring 9
183 069 hectares had been listed under Section 5 of the Land Acquisition Act.

(See report : 35 000 people settled : CFU :pp 132)

August 13th, 2001

95% of farms to be taken

On Saturday, Mugabe announced new plans to increase the amount of land targeted for
seizure still further - to 9.5m hectares (24m acres) or 95% of that in white hands.

And he issued a warning: "We have seen of late some of those who have not repented
who are organising them selves to attack the landless people who have been resettled on some
farms. But we warn them to desist immediately continuing in these kinds of organised attacks,
they will of course ricochet."

(See article : The Guardian : Mugabe leaves farmers to grim fate pp 22)

July 2000

SIXTY war veterans and landless villagers occupying Sandown North Farm have
threatened farm owner Max Rosenfels with death if he does not sign away the farm to them.

(see article : Land grabbers become more belligerent ... pp _) horror continues

August 2000

Gen Shiri's name appears on a list of 28 senior government and military figures given farms
seized from white farmers. These were supposed to be handed to landless people...

(see article Topple Mugabe, Mandela Urges -- pp 26 )

November 10th, 2000

LATE ON THE AFTERNOON OF FRIDAY 10TH NOVEMBER THE FULL SUPREME COURT
BENCH SIGNED AN ORDER BY CONSENT WHICH EFFECTIVELY NULLIFIES ALL
ASPECTS OF THE FAST TRACK RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMME. THIS IS IN RESPONSE
TO A SUPPLEMENTARY ... (See document : High Court judgement -- pp 64)

December 16th 2000

AFTER telling his central committee on Wednesday that Zanu PF was at war with the
country’s white commercial farmers, an embattled President Mugabe yesterday intensified his
racial rhetoric to whip up nationalist indignation against a growing list of enemies -- at home
and abroad -- in his battle for political survival.

Two days after war veterans murdered former MP Henry Elsworth in Kwekwe, he said
his party should "strike fear into the heart of the white man, our real enemy".
(see article Mugabe declares race war -- pp 80 )

July 2001

A CABINET minister and governor are orchestrating the acquisition of Macheke-based Sariview
farm, threatening the production of maize, export grass seed, tobacco and cattle breeding worth
$55 million in annual turnover.

(See article : Minister incites farm seizure pp 126


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July 2001

As I write I am close to the phone because a family in my province, in the district of Macheke,
has been under seige. So called war-vets 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 ... (See Letter from a farmer -- pp 23 )

August 2001

Despite government assurances that the Gonarezhou National Park will not be occupied under
the fast-track land reform programme, resettlement in the park continues unabated ...

(See article : The Independent : Gonarezhou still occupied : pp129)

August 7th 2001

More than 15 white farmers are reported to have been arrested in Zimbabwe after a
confrontation with militant government supporters ...

(See article : BBC : White farmers held in Zimbabwe PP 107/123)

August 9th 2001

Twenty-three white farmers were charged in a Zimbabwe court on Wednesday with inciting
public violence following clashes ...

(See article : White farmers charged in Zimbabwean court PP 108)

August 2001

Government’s fast-track land resettlement programme will only achieve its full productive
potential in 15 years, a World Bank-sponsored study on land reform says.

(See article : Fast track to take 15 years -- pp 128 )

August 10th 2001

TIM Henwood, the outgoing president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said yesterday
the agriculture sector, with its recent drastic drop in major crop yields, will never be the same
again ... (See article: The Daily News : CFU boss breaks down over food)

August 2001

THE Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) says only about 35 000 people have so far been
resettled under President Robert Mugabe's contentious fasttrack land reform programme,
contrary to his claim that more than 100 000 families have been resettled ...

(See report : 35 000 people settled : CFU : pp 132)

August 2001

This time Mugabe has gone too far! Since April 2000, following the defeat of the Zanu proposed
new constitution, Mugabe has pursued a land policy that has said "land is the key to our
prosperity as a people, it is our heritage. (See article : Ngwenya pp83 )

August 11th, 2001

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday the
threat of sanctions would not deter his controversial land reform drive and warned white farmers
against attacking militants illegally occupying their properties.

(See article : Fast track to take 15 years -- pp 128 )

August 13th, 2001

ABOUT 300 white Zimbabwean women and children were evacuated yesterday from a
besieged farming district by convoy and airlift as looting and violence reached new heights ....

(See article : 300 whites flee violence : pp 118)


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ARMS BUILD-UP

... reported that the Armed Forces had imported a big Russian arms shipment, including 21,000
AK47 assault rifles to distribute among the squatters

(see article Topple Mugabe, Mandela Urges -- pp 26 )

August 2001

THE Ministry of Home Affairs this week sought authority from Treasury to make a down
payment of $105 million to an Israeli company recently contracted to supply nearly $1 billion
worth of special vehicles and water cannons

(see article : Police buy $1b riot gear -- pp 103)

DISRUPTION OF BUSINESS/STRUCTURES

April 24, 2001

This could have been the worst day in my life, however I came out of it alive and unscathed
physically. I pray that is not speaking too soon.

(See article : invasion of the Avenues clinic -- pp 29)

July 2000

In the latest case of state-sanctioned extortion, a number of companies in the Ruwa industrial
area have been raided by officials from the ZFTU. The official said that a ZFTU official
threatened to beat up manage- ment if the employees were not reinstated or paid money.

"We don’t need to follow the law in Zimbabwe. We are going to fix you in another way if you fail
to honour our demands," the ZFTU official told the director of one of the affected companies.

(see report : Chinotimba in new raids ... pp 125 )

August 2000

When I arrived in Zimbabwe prior to the June election, I was absolutely appalled at what I saw.
Clearly, a once great agricultural country was now rapidly disintegrating and in the advanced
stage of economic ruin.

(See letter to the editor : E Mpahlwa : pp 74)

EMPLOYMENT

In 1954, 21% of Zimbabwe’s total population was employed in the formal sector, and by 1998
the percentage had fallen to 11,2%. Economist : John Robertson : May
2000

See article : Robertson Economic report -- pp 92 )

May 2001

In the past four years, about 1 400 000 young people have left school and the estimate
is that formal sector job opportunities were offered to perhaps 100 000 of them. Under less
damaged investment conditions, perhaps another 200 000 of them would have found openings.

The wages and salaries paid to the hundreds of thousands of people who used to work
on the commercial farms will cease, as will the flow of earnings to the hundreds of thousands of
employees of upstream and downstream businesses...

See article : Robertson Economic report -- pp 86 )

June 2001

THERE is a land crisis in Zimbabwe. Not the artificial one created by Zanu PF in recent months
but one that is about to overwhelm us. Over half the two million people who live on commercial
farms could soon be dispossessed.

(See Independent Editorial Comment : pp 72)


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ECONOMY
Quick facts
1980 June 2000
Zimbabwe dollar US$1.58 2.6 US cents.
Government debt US$1.1 billion US$7 billion.
GDP per head US$740 US$575 (estimated)
average lending rate 7.5% 65% to 80%
annual inflation rate 6.9% 70%
employment 13.5% in formal economy 10.5% in formal economy
income tax 20% 29.8%

June 2000

Power Corrupts. The prospect of losing it corrupts completely
After 20 years of Zanu (PF) rule, half the population is unemployed and the country is bankrupt.
There is no longer enough money to provide specialist medical care;


(see article: the Times : Up for Grabs -- pp Zim facts)

July 2000

ONE week after Zimbabwe’s parliamentary election, President Mugabe was interviewed
on CNN by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. When she commenced a question with: "Given that
Zimbabwe is about to go bankrupt . . ." the president interrupted her with an almost hysterical
laugh and said: "Zimbabwe is not going bankrupt; countries don’t go bankrupt; Zimbabwe will
never go bankrupt; that’s just what our enemies say about us."

Quick facts
National Debt May 31, 2000 = $263 billion
external debt $171 billion (more than US$4,5 billion)
domestic debt $92 billion (comprising $72,8 billion in Treasury
government stock $8,7 billion
Reserve Bank overdrafts exceeding $10,3 billion).

External debt (TODAY) 82% of gross domestic product (GDP)
(1991) 36% of GDP

For the first quarter of the current fiscal year, government’s expenditure amounted to $33,7
billion, while its revenues totalled $19,7 billion, yielding a deficit of $14 billion for the three-month
period!

The most positive of the assets which can drive Zimbabwe’s withdrawal from the abyss of
bankruptcy is that it has a large, able and willing labour force which desperately craves for
employment and, if that craving is catered for, will work with motivation and drive.

(see article : Eric Bloch column -- pp 27)

August 2001

... on average, monthly foreign exchange requirements exceed foreign exchange inflows by
approximately US$90 million. Therefore, it must be anticipated that by the end of the year the
deficit of foreign exchange will have amounted to more than US$1 billion

(see article : Eric Bloch column -- pp 50 )

August 2001

The Zimbabwean worker seems to be the biggest loser. According to the Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions' economics department the minimum wage for the industrial sector, which is $2
500 was only 22% of the poverty datum line in March which stood at $11 597.52. By May, the
poverty datum line had shot up to $15 242.33. The cost of transport has gone up 60% since
then...

(See Guardian article : Economy : August 7th : pp 69)


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ELECTIONS

One man who had just left the main polling station said explicitly that he was too afraid to tell me
who he voted for. Then, eager to please, he looked around nervously before saying: "Shall I tell
you how I voted?" I paused, and shook my head. He didn't need to say.

(see article : BBC’s Grant Ferrett reports : page 61 ...)

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested
after a campaign rally at Chiredzi

(see article : Topple Mugabe, Mandela urges -- pp 26)

June 2000

(Leader of the Opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai) ... said he would run for president in 2002.
Tsvangirai's party won 57 of the 120 contested seats -- giving it the power to block amendments
to the constitution in the 150-seat house -- against 62 for President Robert Mugabe's ruling
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) and one for the small ZANU-Donga
party. The president appoints the other 30 members.

"Without the subversion we would easily have won," Tsvangirai told a press conference.

EU observer team head Pierre Schori condemned "high levels of violence, intimidation and
coercion" during the campaign. "The term free and fair is not applicable in these elections,"
said Schori, a Swedish former aid minister. In London, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook
told the BBC: "The voters' rolls were rigged, the boundaries were rigged and there was
systematic brutality intended to deter people from voting for change."

(See article Tsvangirai accepts result -- pp 52 )

June 2000

The people of Zimbabwe have voted in large numbers in this weekend’s parliamentary
elections. Despite a high level of violence and intimidation during the campaign, and serious
flaws and irregularities in the electoral process, they have shown a clear determination to
influence the future of their country -both individually and through the structures of civil society.

(See document : Zimbabwe Elections 2000 INTERIM STATEMENT by Pierre Schori : pp53)

Head of EU Election Observation Mission)

INTOLERANCE OF THE OPPOSITION

September 2000

The detailed background to the recent grenade attack on the MDC office in Harare
makes interesting reading.

The plan was to bomb the MDC office in Harare and then conduct searches at the
targeted homes in Harare ...

(See article : Eddie Cross 240900 -- pp 58 )

I arrived home after 5.00pm last night having fetched Jessica from school, to find a
police vehicle parked out side and nine policemen waiting outside my gate to receive me. Our
dogs were faithfully looking very vicious on the other side of the gate.

(see article : Jenny Coltart -- pp 48 )

March 2001

Ever since its disputed victory in last June's parliamentary elections President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party has waged a low-intensity war aimed at destroying the opposition MDC.

(See article : On a knife edge -- pp 79)


9


27 April 2000

The High Court has nullified the election results in two rural constituencies won by ZANU PF in
June last year, saying they were won through intimidation. High Court Judge Justice James
Devittie cited massive violence and intimidation in the two constituencies.

(See Chronology of atrocities -- pp 37 )

July 2001

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 ...

(See Letter from a farmer -- pp 23)

August 2001

The offices of the Norwegian Directorate of Development in Zimbabwe is reported to be under
surveillance by the country's authorities, according to The Financial Gazette. The reason is
supposedly .....

(see article : Norway's mission to Zimbabwe under surveillance -- pp 128 )

August 2001

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- President Robert Mugabe lashed out Saturday at the United States
and other Western nations he said were planning racist and punitive sanctions against his
government because of its seizures of white-owned farms.
"What is our crime? Our crime is that we are black and in America blacks are a condemned
race,"

(See article : Zimbabwe's president accuses United States, other countries of racism

WHAT hope is left for a country whose judges are now the target for attack by their own Minister
of Justice? This newly appointed dignitary, who gave early signals of his politically subservient
tendencies ... (See article : Diana Mitchell pp 82)

RACE RELATIONS

July 2000

(see article : We are told to hate whites even if some are beautiful friends. -- pp 33 Captives )

February 2, 2001

Independence Day, 18 April 1980, was a proud day for Zimbabwe. Many openly wept as the
Union Jack was lowered and the new Republic of Zimbabwe flag hoisted in its place.

Today there is a rising vocal crescendo of "Pasi ne Zanu PF, Chinja! (Down with Zanu
PF, Change!)" What went wrong? Everything has gone wrong, it seems. Our much-loved
government has turned against its own people and has become our oppressor.
(see article : Pius Wakatama on Saturday -- pp 125 )

June 2001

After Hunzvi was let loose, he liked to be called Hitler. "Do you know why they call me Hitler?"
he spat at a white farm manager last year. "It is because I am the biggest terrorist in Zimbabwe.
I am the most dangerous man in this country. And you must do what I tell you."

(See article : "Why should we observe the law? This is our country and we can do what
we like." -- pp 71 )


10


VIOLENCE

See Chronology of attrocities : pp 37 : Torture -- Who was responsible : pp 132)

The gukurahunde, (murder of the Matabele) killed an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 people

. more than 3,000 extra-judicial executions

· hundreds of "disappearances"

· more than 7,000 beatings or cases of torture

· more than 10,000 arbitrary detentions

· thousands of rapes

· property burnings

· forbidding burial of the dead

· forbidding mourning

· refusal to grant death certificates to families of murder victims

(see extract Catholic Justice and Peace Commission -- pp 63 )

THE man who commanded the notorious Fifth Brigade massacres in Matabeleland in
the Eighties is masterminding Zimbabwe's violent farm invasions ...

Tens of thousands of people died in massacres carried out by General Shiri’s North
Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, and mass graves have been uncovered in recent years.

 (see article : Daily Telegraph : Topple Mugabe, Mandela urges -- pp 26 )

July 2000

2,000 impalas, 365 other antelopes, 20 zebras, two cheetahs, two elephants and one
wild dog snared. ‘The animals die in absolute agony.’ SWARMING with flies, the rotting
carcass was barely recognisable as an elephant...
(see article : Daily Telegraph Zimbabwe squatters slaughter wildlife : pp 21)

August 2001

At least seven other people are believed to have been severely assaulted - six of them women.
Chinoyi police have now advised all white residents of the town to leave.

(See report : Zanu thugs on rampage in Chinoyi : pp 122)

August 2001

On the evening of Sunday 6 August, a group of around 60 Zanu PF militants - provided with
food and ferried in on government vehicles -gathered on a farm in Nyathi in northern
Matabeleland. They camped overnight on the farm, and on Monday morning abducted 13
people from a nearby mine. They then laid ...(See report : Ambush, in Nyathi : pp 122)

August 10th, 2001

Five farmsteads in the Mhangura/Doma farming area in northern Zimbabwe have been attacked
and ransacked in the last 24 hours. Gangs of Zanu PF thugs are reported to be roaming the
area assaulting and robbing passersby. Some farmers are reported to have left the area to
avoid confrontation with the... (See report : Orchestrated violence spreading

August 10th, 2001

THE government has told war veterans to target and harass individual commercial farmers into
abandoning their land instead of waiting for the arduous legal process of land acquisition before
they get settled ... (See report : Force them off the farms: govt : pp 113)

August 12th, 2001

DIDYMUS Mutasa, a senior Zanu PF official, and former Speaker of the House of Assembly,
has warned civil servants in Chimanimani they risk being shot dead if they continue supporting
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

(See article : Mutasa threatens MDC supporters with death : pp 114)


11


August 10th, 2001

... and some would say that the prominence given to Zimbabwe in the last two days is
purely because white Zimbabweans have been the prime victims. There is probably some truth
to this.

It’s just that the majority of the voters whose support he must coerce in order to
survive live out of the glare of the media, in remote areas which are easy to seal off from
intruders - areas in which his gangs of marauding thugs can roam at will - raping,
pillaging, burning, and murdering with impunity. We have received a report ....
(See report : Life with Zanu comes to town

REPRESSION OF THE MEDIA

July 2001

THE government’s decision not to renew the work permit of Daily Telegraph correspondent
David Blair should be seen against a background of curbs on the media in general and
intensified lawlessness across the country. Very simply the government hopes to get away with

(See Zimbabwe Independent -- Editorial Comment -- pp 128 )

July 2001

Geoff Nyarota's newspaper has been bombed twice so far this year. The marble and concrete
entrance ...
Three months earlier, an armed commando-style team held a guard at gunpoint and blew up the
newspaper's presses with four well-placed bombs.


(See article : from the Wichita Eagle -- pp 78 )

THE FUTURE

"Zimbabwe's strength lies in racial and ethnic diversity - we will overcome attempts to divide us"
(Morgan Tsvangirai)

July 2001

THE Zimbabwean crisis was the subject of a Congressional hearing in the United
States yesterday after South African President Thabo Mbeki this week took his diplomatic
initiative to Washington.

The Zimbabwean problem, as it has come to be known here, featured prominently in
the talks between Mbeki and US president George W Bush at the White House on Tuesday.
Washington is pinning its hopes on the Commonwealth ministerial team in which Mbeki will play
a key role ...
(see article Zim crisis looms large in US Bush/Mbeki talks -- pp 127 )

July 2001

PRINCE Zwidekalanga Khumalo, the great grandson of King Lobengula, has distanced
himself from the current government-sponsored land redistribution programme which he says is
a political issue he cannot be associated with.

Khumalo (47), who traces his ancestry to King Mzilikazi who is credited with the
founding of the Ndebele state,
(See report : Prince Khumalo denies claims on land -- pp 77 )

August 2001

Retired General Solomon Mujuru this week questioned the war credentials of Harare
province war veterans' chairman Joseph Chinotimba, following complaints from Zanu PF
politburo members that ...
(see report : Chinotimba's credentials questioned -- pp 103 ) various 060801


12


August 2001

New Cherokee jeeps donated by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi for Zanu
PF to use in the presidential election set for next year, may have helped the party win the
crucial, bitterly contested election for a parliamentary seat in the north-eastern rural
constituency of Bindura last weekend. According to the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, the
cars have ...

Al-Gaddafi has reportedly pledged some US$900,000 to the party to aid in Mugabe's
presidential campaign ...

(see report: Zanu PF Electoral Machine Oiled by Libyan Cash : pp 60)

August 2001

Harare - Plans by Zimbabwe's President Mugabe to rig next year's presidential election
have been exposed, just as his beleaguered nation begins gearing up for the crunch ballot
which he is expected to lose. His plot hinges on the multiple registration of ruling-party
supporters in different constituencies to allow them to vote several times; the second part of the
strategy involves relocating more than 500,000 unemployed urban dwellers to commercial
farms now being confiscated ....
(see article : Mugabe plot to rig election exposed -- pp 101 )

August 2001

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and officials of his government could be subjected to
sanctions and other punitive measures if a European Union (EU) general council meeting

(see article : Mugabe could face personal EU ban -- pp 102) Various 060801

August 2001

A SERIOUS humanitarian disaster looms in Zimbabwe because of an absence of a
national strategy and funds to deal with thousands of people who are likely to become internal
refugees ...

Affected communities include commercial farm workers displaced by the occupation of
farms, opposition party supporters or those perceived to be against the ruling ZANU PF party,
school teachers, health workers and other civil servants targeted in rural areas.
(See report Presidential poll set to displace over 200 000 -- pp 106 )

August 2001

South African President Thabo Mbeki has, for the first time, admitted failure in his
efforts to avoid a crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Mr Mbeki told the BBC's Hardtalk programme that time was running out for Zimbabwe
and admitted that so far President Robert Mugabe had not listened to him during their repeated
meetings in the past 18 months.
(See comment : BBC August 7th : pp 122)

August 2001

As pressure continues to mount on President Mugabe because of the prevailing
anarchy in the country, it has emerged that the Commonwealth intends to act strongly against
him at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Brisbane,
Australia, in October. High level sources within ...
(See report : Commonwealth gives Mugabe ultimatum : pp 109)

August 10th, 2001

Security has been stepped in Blantyre, Malawi where African heads of state will
converge this weekend for a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) summit.

(See report : Threats to kill Mugabe at SADC summit : pp 110)


13


August 11, 2001

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s Cabinet is considering declaring a state of emergency if
the international community goes ahead to impose sanctions against him ...

(See article : Martial law looms pp 111)

August 12, 2001

ROBERT MUGABE, Zimbabwe's embattled president, believes he is haunted by the
ghost of a former rival who berates him for mismanaging the country, aides have said.
For six months, Mugabe has been "seeing" Josiah Tongogara, a former guerrilla leader who
was expected to become president in 1980, but died in a car crash. Mugabe is said to be
tormented
(See article : Mugabe eats supper with spirit of dead rival

August 12th, 2001

The respected Financial Gazette reported that Mugabe's Cabinet intends to use the
looming passage of the Zimbabwe Democracy Bill in the United States Congress as a pretext
for declaring a state of emergency that would allow the president to suspend Parliament, delay
elections and rule by decree.
(See article : Mugabe prepares for State of emergency .. pp 116)

August 13th, 2001

..... a man of Mr Straw's moral integrity should see at once the imperative for
intervention in Zimbabwe. What is happening is on nothing like the scale of the Nazi persecution
he so rightly wishes should never be forgotten. However, when one reads of the anti-white
pogrom by Mr Mugabe's thugs, one sees at once that the loathsome principle is the same.

The Commonwealth, which even before this inglorious episode had already marked
itself out as a footling, hypocritical and pointless organisation, continues to tolerate Mr Mugabe's
depravities...
See article : Sunday Times : We will not tolerate racism, except in Zimbabwe : pp 116)

August 13th, 2001

How is Mr Mugabe able to get away with it? His government survives not just because it flouts
the rule of law and uses violence to intimidate or remove opposition, but also because it
manages to maintain a facade of legitimacy. That facade appears to be enough to ensure that
neither other African states nor the countries of the Western world are prepared to take the
steps required to end Mr Mugabe's violent ...

That is why he was perfectly happy for coverage of Zimbabwe in Western newspapers
to centre last week on the patently unjust detention of some 20 white farmers .... If all the world
sees is his attacks on whites, that makes him look like a "liberator", the leader in a struggle
against colonialism ...

Mr Mugabe desperately needs a few white farmers to lose their tempers and gun down
several "war veterans". Miraculously, not a single "war veteran" has been intentionally killed by
a white since those actions began 17 months ago. So Mr Mugabe has stepped up his campaign
to provoke them.

Mr Mugabe desperately needs a few white farmers to lose their tempers and gun down
several "war veterans". Miraculously, not a single "war veteran" has been intentionally killed by
a white since those actions began 17 months ago. So Mr Mugabe has stepped up his campaign
to provoke them.
(See article : The whites are not the main target of the thugs : pp 119)

(See also US Congress : Zimbabwe Democracy Bill : pp 98
Commonwealth gives Mugabe ultimatum pp 109)


14

ZIMBABWE - THE HISTORY OF LAND OWNERSHIP

Thursday 27 April, 2000
Author unknown

GEOGRAPHY
Zimbabwe is an independent country with an area of 390 580 sq kilometres or 150 803 sq
miles, situated in Africa between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. It currently has a
population estimated to be about 12½ million of which approximately 100 000 are European,
Coloured and Asian and the remainder are Bantu speaking blacks. These are predominantly
Shona speaking people but about 20% of them include Matabele, Batonka, Shangaan and
other sub groups. Zimbabwe consists mostly of a plateau called the high veld, averaging
about 4500 feet above sea level. Lower areas, the lowveld, include the Zambezi trough in the
north and the Sabi Limpopo lowlands in the south. The tropical climate is moderated by the
altitude. Most areas have between 25 and 35 inches of rain a year, although the Eastern
Highlands are much wetter. On the plateau the average temperatures are winter 57ºF and
summer 70ºF. In the lowveld the temperatures are much warmer.

Zimbabwe has a wide variety of minerals including gold, platinum, chrome, nickel, copper,
asbestos and coal. Despite this wide range of minerals, poor world mineral prices have made
the country more dependant upon agricultural products. Tobacco is the chief cash crop and
maize the main food crop. Other products include citrus fruits, sugar cane and tea. Flowers
and vegetables are being sold in increasing quantities in Europe and cattle ranching is also
important.

HISTORY
The earliest identifiable inhabitants were the Bushmen or San people, small groups of hunter
gatherers who lived in Zimbabwe for about 20 000 years and left behind them a delightful
legacy of painted caves. They were not cultivators and would have had no concept of land
ownership. After the Bantu people arrived they reduced in number and are now virtually
extinct in Zimbabwe.

The Bantu who are a people classified as such not by reference to physical characteristics or
to geographical occupation but simply by the language they speak, started to occupy
Zimbabwe from about 200 BC. They are believed to have originated from the area of
Cameroon and were pushed into a slow southward migration down Africa by population
pressures created originally by the desertification of the Sahara. In the course of their slow
journey southwards they developed the skills of cereal production and the keeping of cattle
and it was these skills which made the position of land assume greater importance and
permanence. In the area of southern Zimbabwe and the Northern Transvaal they developed
what has been called the "Central Cattle Pattern" and between the 7th and 13th Centuries
the people of this region kept very large herds of cattle. It was their successors who built
Great Zimbabwe in the south east of the country over a period of about 400 years from
about 1000 AD.

By 1400 AD the environment around Great Zimbabwe was feeling the strains of overpopulation
and over-grazing and the Zimbabwe Kingdom began to break up and groups of
people from it spread northwards and westwards and established new centres built in stone
in the Zimbabwe style at various locations dotted around the Mashonaland plateau. From this
diaspora there developed the Monomatapa Dynasty, an empire centred at the bottom of the
escarpment north of Centenary which spread eastwards until it encompassed most of the
Mashonaland plateau and across the low country which is now Mozambique, towards the
Indian Ocean. The Monomatapa Dynasty flourished for almost 150 years.

Enter the Portuguese who, following the efforts of Henry the Navigator, Bartholomew Diaz
and Vasco da Gama, rounded the Cape and in 1505 built a fortress at Sofala, south of Beira,
and thereafter attempted, not all that successfully, to edge the Arabs out of the Zimbabwe
gold trade. Antonio Fernandes, a convict based at Sofala, made three journeys into the
hinterland of Zimbabwe between 1511 and 1514 and it was he who revealed to his ruler the
first detailed information about the Monomatapa Kingdom. Trading between the Portuguese
and Shona commenced and was followed by religion in the form of Father Silviera who
visited the Monomatapa and in fact baptised him. He was martyred for this enterprise and
thereafter avenged by the invading forces of Barretto and Homen. A treaty was concluded
between the Monomatapa and the Portuguese whereby the latter obtained some form of
suzerainity over northern Zimbabwe which it held in a not very convincing or energetic


15


fashion for about 150 years. During this period the Portuguese established trading centres
over much of Zimbabwe and these were eventually over-run by the Rosvi, a Shona speaking
elite group headed by Changamire. Thereafter, the Rosvi ruled Zimbabwe without threat
from external sources for about 130 years until 1830 when large areas of the country were
invaded by three "Zulu" invasions from the south. These invasions were caused by the
Mfecane (the crushing) or the Difiqane (forced migration) created by Chaka’s reign of terror
in Natal. A group led by Zwangendaba eventually crossed the Limpopo and descended upon
the Rosvi with their short stabbing spears and after 5 years of devastating thuggery they
crossed the Zambezi and settled in Malawi as the Angoni.

They were followed by another Zulu group led by Shoshangane who occupied the eastern
portion of Zimbabwe, creating havoc and devastation and eventually settled down in the area
of Chipinge as the Shangaans.

A third Zulu group, led by Mzilikazi, followed on through the Transvaal into the south west
and settled in the area of Bulawayo where they established themselves as the Matabele
nation. This was a formidable power and in the period between 1838 and 1893 Mzilikazi and
his successor, Lobengula, ruled absolutely in what is now Matabeleland and with a disciplined
army of some 20 000 men subjugated the surrounding Shona. These three invasions
shattered the Shona nation and they were subjected to constant harassment and pillage and
had a miserable existence hiding in imperfect defences on the granite hills that characterise
much of Mashonaland.

What the white men found when they settled in Zimbabwe in 1890 is well described by
Frederick Courtney Selous in his book "Travel and Adventure in South East Africa" published
in 1893:

"As far as we can learn, the country we now call Mashunaland was in the early part of the
present century ruled over by the ancestors of the petty chiefs Makoni, Mangwende, Motoko,
Sosi, Umtasa etc, who were the rulers of large and prosperous tribes living in huts, the
foundations of which, where they still exist, show them to have been at least three times the
size of the miserable tenements which satisfy their degenerate descendants and whose
towns were, in the most part, surrounded by well built and loop-holed stone walls, many of
which still remain in perfect preservation today, especially in the country of Makoni, the chief
of the Ma-ongwi. Hundreds of thousands of acres that now lie fallow must then have been
under cultivation, as is proved by the traces of rice and maize fields which can still be
discerned in almost every valley, whilst the sights of ancient villages, long ago crumbled to
decay, and now only marked by a few deeper pits, from which the natives obtained the clay
used by them in plastering their huts, are very numerous all over the open downs, where no
stones were procurable with which to build walls around the towns. On almost every hill
traces of the stone walls will be found which once encircled and protected ancient villages. At
that time the inhabitants of this part of Africa must have been rich and prosperous,
possessing large flocks of sheep and goats and numerous herds of the small but beautiful
breed of cattle.

This state of things was not, however, destined to continue, for some 12 or 15 years after
the Cape of Good Hope became a British Colony, in 1806, some of the outlying Zulu clans
broke away from the harsh and cruel rule of Chaka and commenced their migrations
northwards; and wherever these ferocious warriors went their track was marked by the flight
of the vultures which feasted upon the corpses of the men, women and children they had
slain, and the flames of the villages they had set fire to. ... Thus the high plateau of
Mushonaland, which at no very distant date must have supported a large native population,
once more became an almost uninhabited wilderness, as the remnants of the Aboriginal
tribes who escaped destruction at the hands of the Zulu invaders retreated into the broken
country which encircles the plateau to the south and east."

WHITE OCCUPATION
The instigator for the white occupation of the country was Cecil John Rhodes. He was born in
England and came out to South Africa at the age of 17. He was attracted to the diamond
fields of Kimberley and by 1887, when he was only 34, he had the near monopoly on
Kimberley’s diamond industry and also very substantial interests in the goldfields of the
Rand. Rhodes believed that the English had a duty to control and civilize Africa and his
ambition was to ensure British domination from the Cape to Cairo. He used his financial
resources to further this ambition. He secured from King Lobengula a concession, the Rudd


16


Concession, which gave the grantees complete and exclusive charge over all metals and
minerals situated in Lobengula’s Kingdom, together with full power to do such things as
might be deemed necessary to win and procure the same.

Armed with this concession Rhodes obtained from Britain the Royal Charter of the British
South Africa Company, duly sealed under letters patent signed by Queen Victoria in October,
1889 "to acquire by any concession, agreement, grant or treaty, all or any rights, interests,
authorities, jurisdictions and powers of any kind or nature whatever, including powers
necessary for the purposes of government, and the preservation of public order in or for the
protection of territories, lands or property comprised or referred to in the concessions and
agreements made as aforesaid or affecting other territories, lands, or property in Africa, or
the inhabitants thereof, to hold, use and exercise such territories, lands, property, rights,
interests, authorities, jurisdictions and powers respectively for the purposes of the Company
and on the terms of this our Charter".

These powers were subject to the approval of the Colonial Secretary in Britian, who had a
right of veto on most of the actions of the chartered company.

The Charter gave the company other useful powers. It could raise its own police force and fly
its own flag. It could make roads, railways, telegraphs and harbours. It could establish banks
and conduct mining operations. It could settle territories that it acquired and it could irrigate
and clear land.

Having obtained the Charter, Rhodes’ next move was to organise the occupation of
Mashunaland by the Pioneer Column, consisting of about 200 pioneers and settlers escorted
by 350 mounted police and followed by approximately 400 black and coloured auxiliaries.
The Pioneer Column crossed into Zimbabwe on 5th July, 1890 and raised the Union Jack on a
patch of ground now called Africa Unity Square in Harare on 13th September, 1890.

What did the pioneers come to? A country which in its final definition was 39 million hectares
or 97 million acres in size, containing a native population of about half a million people i.e. a
population density of approximately 200 acres for every man, woman and child in the
country. The climate was in the main neither too hot nor too cold and the rainfall enabled the
successful production of crops in most areas. Of course agriculture was not the first priority
of the pioneers. Most of them had joined the venture in the hope of making their fortunes by
gold mining. Zimbabwe does have gold over a widely scattered area but the huge deposits of
the Rand were not found and very few of the pioneers made their fortune in this way. As the
country developed, however, numerous other minerals were found such as platinum, nickel,
chrome, copper and coal. All of these have had a substantial part in the subsequent
development of Zimbabwe. Two weeks after the pioneers arrived at Harare they were
demobilised to take up the 15 mining claims promised to each of them as well as a farm and
so it was that having received three months rations and being allowed to retain his rifle and
100 rounds of ammunition, each pioneer dispersed to stake his claims and find his farm.
Farming did not play an important part in the country’s economic life at first. There was little
or no market for the crops that could be produced and most of the pioneers settled down to
gold prospecting, trading and to transport riding. Hardly any of them managed to make any
money and in fact most of them later left the country. In his book "The Pioneers of
Mashonaland" Darter investigates the fortunes of 184 pioneers in 1914. Of these only 25
were still living in the country, 24 were known to have been killed and 45 had died a natural
death. This illustrates how few, if any, of the present day white farmers of Zimbabwe are
descendants of the original pioneers and inherited farms given to their pioneer forefathers as
pioneer grants. During the first years of the occupation of Mashonaland the number of farms
settled by whites were so small in relation to the size of the country that Africans at first
suffered very little pressure from the newcomers. Most of the early settlers selected their
land on the heavy red and black loams that are to be found on the plateau surrounding
Harare. The Mashona tribes sometimes worked red soils. On the whole, however, they stuck
to light coloured granite country sandy soils situated in rugged regions broken by kopjes
capable of affording natural defence in times of war. Their women, with hoes, could scratch
sand soils with less effort than heavy loams. These light soils were not sought after by
pioneers intent on growing maize and only acquired commercial value when tobacco farming
became important.

It was only after the conquest of Matabeleland in 1893 that the land issue came into focus.
Settlers received farms of 6000 acres in extent, double the size of those in Mashonaland as


17


the rainfall was lower and the defeated Matabele were moved away out of the areas surrounding
Bulawayo into two large blocks of land comprising 6500 square miles, known as the Shangani and Gwaai
Reserves.

Under the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council of 1898 the Imperial Government, while retaining the
right of Africans to buy land anywhere in the colony on the same terms as Europeans, placed a statutory
obligation upon the Charter Company to provide sufficient land holdings with sufficient water for Africans
living under the tribal system. Native Commissioners were charged with the duty of demarcating the
reserves and in general attempted to leave the indigenous people, as far as possible, undisturbed. Thus
it was that reserves were created where the population was most dense, the crescent of population
described by David Beech extending from Mount Darwin in the north in a half moon through Mutoko,
Mrewa, Hwedza, Buhera, Gutu, Bikita and Zaka through to the Masvingo Province in the south. Reserves
were also created in various other parts of the country to cater adequately for the population at that
time. In 1913 at the suggestion of the Colonial Office a Commission was established to investigate the
reserves question and a report was submitted at the end of 1915. The Commission’s recommendation
was that the total area of the reserves should be just under 20 million acres, about 1/5th of the
country’s total extent, an area equivalent to more than four times the size of Wales. The Commission
believed that the reserve system was a transitional arrangement to assist those Africans who could not
at once become assimilated into the new society and to act as a protection for the backward. The
amount of land in the country was limited. It was appreciated that the African population would go on
increasing but the Commission felt that no one could expect that every African as yet unborn must retain
an indefeasable right to land sufficient for all his traditional needs. If once this idea was accepted the
whole of the country would ultimately have to be turned into one gigantic reserve. The Commissioners
found that the allocation was sufficient to provide for an increasing tribal population in the foreseeable
future. In 1915 the best available statistics projected a doubling of the African population in 80 years i.e.
in 1995. In fact the population doubled in the first 30 years and is now 25 times the size of the
population of 1890. This massive population increase is a tribute, not only to the favourable natural
environment of Zimbabwe, but also to the care and concern given to the native interests by the Colonial
Government now so often criticised for its allegedly harsh practices. The true position is that it was the
introduction of medical services, improved methods of agriculture and the establishment of law and
order which created the conditions which resulted in this massive population growth. The Colonial
Government’s treatment of the indigenous population compares very favourably with the treatment
meted out to the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America and Canada
and the white settlers of Zimbabwe have very little to be ashamed of in this connection.

The country’s economy was adversely affected by the Boer War and the death of its founder, Cecil
Rhodes, and the white settlers began to criticise the administration of the country by the BSA Company.
Their most serious grievance was the extent of the mining royalties payable to the Company and
whether it was right that the Company should continue to demand payment for unalienated land. The
question was raised whether the Company owned the unalienated land in a commercial or merely an
administrative capacity. The Company sought to appease the settlers by reducing the mining levy and by
increasing the number of elected members to the Legislative Assembly. These palliative measures did
not help the Company and the settlers continued to complain about the Company’s government. The
Company was in a deficit position but the settlers opposed any suggestion that they should be
responsible for the deficit. The settlers wanted the country to raise loans for development but the
Company was not prepared to sanction this. The general mood was to get rid of the Company’s
administration but there was division as to whether the country should become a crown colony or
amalgamate with the Union of South Africa. The British Government decided to submit the question as
to who owned the unalienated land to the Privy Council and this was done in 1914. The case was
bedeviled by delays and became a four cornered contest. Originally the fight for ownership was between
the Company and the settlers but the parties were joined by the Colonial Office who, having made no
hint of a claim to the land for 25 years, suddenly claimed that ownership of the land vest in the Crown. A
claim that the land belonged to the Matabele was also put up by one of Lobengula’s sons. Eventually the
judgment of the judicial committee of the Council came out and it was to the effect (i) that those who
had been given title by the Company were entitled to keep their land; (ii) that the indigenous population
had lost by conquest whatever title they had previously possessed ; (iii) that the Company were not the
owners of the unalienated land and (iv) that this land belonged to the Crown. The effect of this decision
was that when the colony eventually obtained responsible government in 1923 it was
obliged to pay the British Government for the unalienated land.

SELF GOVERNMENT
In 1922 a referendum was held to decide whether the country should amalgamate with South Africa or
become a Crown Colony and the vote for a Crown Colony with responsible government was won by 8
774 votes to 5 989, and legislation was enacted to make the country a self governing colony of the
Crown. The Chartered Company thus ceased to rule Rhodesia but its contribution towards the country
was a notable one. It continued to be a very important commercial concern, even when its rights to
minerals had been bought out in 1933 and it lost control over the railway system. It was eventually
taken over on a friendly basis by the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa which continues to be a
force in the land, concentrating now on its mining interests.

The country was formerly annexed to the Crown as a colony and the new administration was headed by


18


a Governor who represented the Sovereign and acted as the country’s formal, constitutional and
ceremonial head. The country was given responsible self-government with certain safeguards for the
protection of African interests being reserved to the British Government.

The new administration took steps to encourage land settlement and this created concern for protection
of the land demarcated as reserves on the one hand and a demand for a type of segregation on the
other. The British Government agreed that it would consider changing the existing law if a full and
impartial enquiry should pronounce in favour of territorial segregation. In 1925 a Commission headed by
an Imperial Chairman, Sir Maurice Carter, previously Chief Justice of Uganda, was set up, and thereafter
produced its findings. The Commission’s report approved of a form of territorial segregation after finding
that Europeans and Africans both preferred things that way. The recommended that separate areas
should be set aside where Africans alone might buy holdings on individual tenure but they also
recommended that Africans would lose the right to buy land elsewhere in the colony. The relevant
legislation was thereafter passed and approved not only by the Rhodesian Government but also by the
British Government as the Land Apportionment Act. At the time of its passing the inequity of its
provisions does not appear to have been fully appreciated. The vast majority of the African population
did not have the financial resources to consider the purchase of farms. Indeed, by 1925 only 19 farms
amounting to 47 000 acres had been sold to Africans. In the circumstances in addition to the reserves
the 7 million acres reserved for purchase by Africans would then have seemed reasonable to deal with
the foreseeable future. The prohibition against Africans purchasing farms in the areas reserved for white
occupation and the prohibition against Africans purchasing urban properties is in retrospect morally
indefensible. In mitigation it should be realised that it was a product of its time and of its environment.
It was approved by the British Parliament and it should be judged in the light of the apartheid policies of
the country’s big neighbour to the south.

The effect of the Land Apportionment Act was to divide the country in 1931 as follows: European areas
49 149 000 acres; Native reserves 21 600 000 acres; Native purchase areas 7 465 000 acres;
unassigned land 17 793 000 acres; forest areas 591 000 acres; undetermined areas 88 000 acres.

Over the next 50 years, the amounts allocated for European occupation slowly reduced and the amount
allocated for African occupation slowly increased so that by 1980 45% of the available land was
communal land or land set aside for African commercial farmers and 39% was commercial farming area.

INDEPENDENCE
In 1980 Zimbabwe obtained Independence from Britain and President Mugabe came into power. Since
that time Government has acquired some 3,5 million hectares of commercial farm land for resettlement.
This has been facilitated by considerable financial support from the British Government. The land
settlement programme slowed down by the mid-1980’s and the reasons for this included the cost of
land, the decreasing ability of Government to finance the programme, inadequate restructuring capacity
and inconclusive evidence of successful farming. In reality, large portions of land that had been taken
over ceased to be effectively used for farming purposes. Anyone wishing to test this statement need only
drive out from Harare to Mutoko -- some 90 miles away. He will go through a large area which had
previously been occupied by productive European farmers and will find acres lying idle and homesteads
decaying, with the only agricultural activity being patches of mealies close to the homestead. A list
recently produced by a political opponent of President Mugabe, secured from Government sources,
shows that many of the acquired farms were allocated to political cronies of the ruling Government who
do not appear to have the will or the skills to farm effectively.

By the year 2000 the division of land was as follows: 30% of the country was held under freehold
tenure; 41% comprised the communal lands; small scale commercial farming took up 4% and the
resettlement areas comprised 9% of the country. The remaining 16% are National Parks and State
forests.

The productivity of the resettlement areas is low. In fact it is no greater than the traditional communal
areas. If resettlement continues without an adequate infrastructure, insufficient finance and skills, the
detrimental effect upon the economy of the country will be massive.

Zimbabwe’s economy has traditionally been agricultural based and because of its broad base in
producing a multitude of crops and commodities it has been able to contribute considerably to the export
earnings of the country, providing about 40% of the export revenue earned. Commercial agriculture
currently employs over one-quarter of the total labour force of the country. If the commercial farming
area is further depleted this will have a knock-on effect upon industry as its relationship between local
industry and agriculture in Zimbabwe is very close. About 60% of industry is agro-based and the
agricultural sector in turn consumes about 20% of the total output of industry.

In its efforts to facilitate the acquisition of further land, the Government has made several amendments
to the Constitution, inter alia to remove the requirement that land had to be under-utilised before it
could be acquired for resettlement and that compensation had to be paid promptly and to remove the
power of the High Courts to consider whether the compensation provided was fair.

In 1992 the Land Acquisition Act was promulgated and this enabled the Government to designate farms
for resettlement. No compensation is payable to a farmer whose farm is designated and the effect of


19


designation is to severely restrict the ability of the farmer to raise finance and to continue to develop his
farm.

Despite these increased powers the Government seemed incapable of acquiring further properties in an
orderly or lawful manner. In November, 1997 a list of 1471 properties was published in the Government
Gazette and declared subject to a preliminary notice of acquisition. Although Government had stated its
policy to be that farms to be targeted for acquisition would fall under the following criteria i.e. derelict
farms, under-utilised farms, farms belonging to absentee landlords, farms adjacent to communal areas
and farms owned by persons with other farms, it did not seem that these criteria were used in compiling
this list.

In the result Government failed to comply with its own legislation and apart from 50 odd farmers who
had not opposed the process, none of the farmers on the list lost their farms.

The recent history is, of course, that Government prepared a new Constitution which removed the
requirement that compensation had to be paid and declared that any compensation payable should be
paid by Britain. A referendum was held to approve the new Constitution and the new Constitution was
rejected by the majority of voters in Zimbabwe. Undeterred, Government has proceeded to amend the
Constitution so that unless compensation is paid by Britain, farmers will not receive payment. With
elections looming it now appears that even these new provisions do not satisfy the ruling party'’ desire
to be seen as the acquirer of land for the people. An orchestrated programme of land invasions has
taken place and in recent days this has resulted in farmers being abducted, beaten up and killed. Court
Orders declaring the invasions illegal have been ignored by the President who openly says that the police
are not to enforce such orders.

The effect of this behaviour is terrible to contemplate. The very heart of the economic system that has
made the development of Zimbabwe possible will be destroyed. The principle of secure, bankable
ownership rights will die; the poverty typical of the communal areas where individual land ownership
rights do not exist will spread across the country; thousands of farm workers will lose their jobs and
their homes; farming companies are bound to fail as will banks who have lent to farmers; investment
and tax revenues will shrink and export revenue flows will die away. The justification claimed by the
President, his Government and his party that the land is being taken from the descendants of pioneers
who stole the land from the indigenous people lacks any credibility when one realises that about 70% of
the commercial farmers in Zimbabwe acquired title to their farms since independence through a system
of land registration run by the present Government who received transfer duty for such transactions. For
most of the independence period Government has enjoyed a right of pre-emption in respect of all farms
sold and has consistently issued a certificate to the effect that it is not interested in purchasing such
farms. Although some of the current farm owners inherited their farms from their parents, the great
majority paid the market value of the same when purchasing them.

There is no doubt that land reform is required in Zimbabwe and indeed the Commercial Farmers Union
accepts this. If, however, land held under free title is transferred into State or communal ownership it
will lose value and productivity. If it is unlawfully seized Zimbabwe will no longer be regarded as a
country worthy of acceptance by the Community of Nations.


20


Mugabe's Mess

George B.N. Ayittey, Friday 28 April, 2000
Wall Street Journal

Robert Mugabe has followed the pattern of post-colonial African leaders: hailed as a national
hero and swept to power with a huge parliamentary majority, the adulation goes to his head
and he bans opposition parties, declaring himself president-for-life. He plunders the treasury,
wrecks the economy and gags the press.

· Having lost a February referendum to approve the extension of his 20-year rule by 10 years
(despite appeals to nationalism and the promise of free land), Mugabe postponed elections.
Members of his own party called for him to step down.
· Mugabe vowed retribution. He sent "war veterans" to occupy hundreds of white-owned
farms. He has refused to instruct the police to evict them despite court orders. The squatters
threatened civil war should Mugabe lose the elections.
· Disregarding the referendum result, Zimbabwe's rubber-stamp parliament passed
legislation allowing the seizure of white-owned land without compensation.
· It is true that 4,500 white farmers continue to own nearly a third of the most fertile
farmland. But when the government has distributed land, the economic consequences have
been terrible:
· More than 1 million acres bought from white farmers under compulsion have been handed
to 400 wealthy Zimbabweans, mostly Mugabe cronies. In 1994, 20 farms seized from white
farmers were grabbed by government officials. In 1998, 24 farms covering 300 square miles
in Matabeleland were divided among 47 officials, while 40,000 poor Zimbabweans remained
crammed into the neighbouring Semukwe Communal Area.
· The Lancaster House conference which negotiated Zimbabwe's constitution in 1980 also
established a land reform programme: land would be purchased from farmers for
redistribution to landless peasants. The programme was so grotesquely mismanaged that
Britain withdrew financial support for it in 1992. The current crisis has prompted donors to
suspend about $10 million in land reform aid.
· Mugabe would not live by the Lancaster Accords. He concentrated power in his own hands
and abolished the Senate, the upper chamber of parliament. In the July 1995 elections
Mugabe vowed to establish a one-party Marxist-Leninist state and referred to the constitution
as "that dirty piece of paper" while Zanu thugs beat and terrorised opposition supporters.
Intimidation and violence recurred in the 1990 elections.
· Mugabe has nationalised the media and presided over the swelling of the state
bureaucracy. In the early 1990s he appeared to embrace the free market to impress the
World Bank, but reform failed to happen and in 1994 he declared: "Socialism remains our
sworn ideology."
· The results are water cuts, power cuts, food shortages, fuel shortages, inflation at 60%,
fleeing foreign investors and a crashing Zimbabwe dollar. Per capita income has fallen below
pre-independence levels. Mugabe blames the IMF, greedy Western powers, the Asian
financial crisis and the drought.
· Donors are pulling back as western public opinion questions why aid should be extended to
a country with so little respect for the rule of law, and will spend it all on a foreign war:
Mugabe's decision to send 11,000 troops to the Congo is costing $1.2 million a day.
· The solution to Zimbabwe's problems is the peaceful transfer of power through a
democratic election. President Diouf of Senegal stepped down peacefully after 19 years
following free and fair elections in February and saved his country. There are currently few
reasons to believe that Mugabe will show similar wisdom.
Adapted from 'Mugabe's Mess - Zimbabwe's Story Is All Too Familiar' by George B.N. Ayittey,
Wall Street Journal, 10th April 2000


21

Zimbabwe squatters slaughter wildlife

David Blair, Daily Telegraph , Thursday 13 July, 2000

2,000 impalas, 365 other antelopes, 20 zebras, two cheetahs, two
elephants and one wild dog snared. ‘The animals die in absolute agony.’

SWARMING with flies, the rotting carcass was barely recognisable as an elephant.
For Roger Whittall, it was more grim evidence of the wave of poaching that has
engulfed his ranch since hundreds of squatters invaded the Save Valley
Conservancy in south-eastern Zimbabwe.

Black rhinos and wild dogs, two of Africa's most endangered species, are
threatened by the occupiers who have imposed "no-go areas", assaulted dozens of
game scouts and laid thousands of wire snares. Save was singled out for occupation
because 21 white farmers, who merged their land to form the world's largest
private game reserve in 1990, own its 2,200 square miles of rugged bush and
scrub.

Mr Whittall, whose Humani ranch forms part of Save, is appalled by the carnage.
Near the dead elephant, groves of acacia and mopane trees that once teemed with
antelope are now devoid of game. "This is nothing to do with land, it's a mass
slaughter and it goes on every minute of every day," he said.

On Humani ranch alone, covering barely 10 per cent of Save, squatters have snared
2,000 impalas, 365 other antelopes, 20 zebras, two cheetahs, two elephants and
one wild dog since April

Mr Whittall said: "The animals die in absolute agony. You can slaughter
unbelievable amounts of game with these things." More than 1,600 snares have
been removed on his ranch. During a five-hour sweep through an area occupied by
squatters, game scouts from the neighbouring Senuko lodge found a further 1,500,
many of them with trapped victims.

The squatters turned to poaching initially to feed themselves as growing crops is
impossible in Save's rugged bush country. But evidence has emerged that meat is
being sold and commercial poaching has begun. The tusks on the dead elephant
had been removed and scouts fear that the next step will be the targeting of rhinos
for their horns.

Scouts Edward Mashamba and Webster Bhangeni ventured into the no-go region
last month and paid a heavy price. A gang of 100 squatters captured them and beat
them with sticks and clubs.

Mr Bhangeni said: "They shouted, 'You are a traitor, you are working for the whites.
We don't want to see the whites in Zimbabwe.' Then they beat us everywhere, just
everywhere. On the back, the feet, the buttocks."

Because President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly backed the squatters, police are
reluctant to act and the atmosphere of lawlessness encourages anyone to kill
animals on occupied white land with impunity. In Save, scouts can no longer carry
rifles for fear of provoking the squatters. If they arrest a poacher, even outside the
"liberated areas", his comrades will demand his release with threats of violence.

Mr Bhangeni said: "If we try to arrest poachers, they will kill us. There is nothing
we can do. But we must try to carry on. It hurts me to see all these animals dying,
it's terrible."


22

Mugabe leaves white farmers to grim fate

Exodus from the north grows as mob attacks go unchecked
Chris McGreal in Johannesburg
Monday August 13, 2001

The Guardian

More white farming families joined the exodus from northern Zimbabwe yesterday as President
Robert Mugabe's supporters looted and burned homes. Farmers' leaders in the Chinhoyi area
said women and children have left about 130 farms, and dozens of men were grouping on
several properties to be ready to return to their farms if the situation stabilised.

"The men are torn," said one of the affected farmers. "They have sent their families
away because before long there are going to be more people killed, the way this is going on.
But they don't just want to run away themselves. They are not cowards. They are seeking safety
in numbers and will try to defend the farms where they can."

Some of the families were flown out in light aircraft using farm landing strips. Others
joined small convoys of trucks loaded down with people and belongings. Some of those who
fled their farms on Friday evening spent the night in the bush because the police prevented
them from driving to Harare. Most of those who have fled are from the Doma area, about 60
miles north of Chinhoyi town. Whites began to abandon their farms on Wednesday as the
attacks began after 21 farmers were arrested on charges of public violence.

On August 6 they had gone to the defence of one of their number who was besieged in
his home by men from Zimbabwe's "war veterans" movement and others, who had seized his
land. The farmers claimed they acted in self-defence but the government accused them of
attacking defenceless blacks - the ruling Zanu-PF unleashed militants against farms in the area.

Colin Cloete, the president of the almost exclusively white Commercial Farmers Union
(CFU), said yesterday that "marauding bands" were now wreaking havoc.

"Farms are being pillaged and looted openly and blatantly by lawless elements in
marauding bands of up to 300 [but] little action has been taken to recover stolen property.
Farmers and their families are vulnerable and unprotected as police turn a blind eye to assaults
that have taken place on their doorstep," he said. "It is apparent that the state of lawlessness
has reached a height that can only be contained by swift action at the highest level."

One retired farmer who fled to Harare said his house was looted on Thursday by men
who smashed their way in with sledge hammers. His family escaped with a few belongings of
sentimental value.

"We are in a state of shock but we are alive," he said. His son had stayed in the district.
"I don't know what he's going to do. Our lives are in ruin." If it became safe to go back "we'll
have to go and assess the damage and that's going to be absolutely heartbreaking," he said.

Farmers' leaders say that while there is no evidence yet that the violence will spread to
other areas, the situation is so volatile that they fear attacks to the 4,000 other white-owned
farms across the country. If any farmers thought the government would act, President Mugabe
disabused them. On Saturday, he announced new plans to increase the amount of land
targeted for seizure still further - to 9.5m hectares (24m acres) or 95% of that in white hands.
And he issued a warning:

"We have seen of late some of those who have not repented who are organising them
selves to attack the landless people who have been resettled on some farms. But we warn them
to desist immediately continuing in these kinds of organised attacks, they will of course
ricochet."

The Zanu-PF member of parliament for Chinhoyi, Philip Chiyangwa, claimed that whites
were fleeing their farms to discredit the government and to provoke a "worldwide protest". He
said the attacks were regrettable but the victims had brought it on themselves.

"The resultant attacks were out of anger after the farmers assaulted blacks who had
approached them for dialogue over a misunderstanding," he said.

Further evidence that the government intends to deal harshly with whites came with the
suspension of three police officers accused of "coddling" the 21 farmers whose arrest last week
for coming to the aid of one of their number under attack from squatters provoked the latest
crisis.
A superintendent, an inspector and an assistant inspector were penalised for making the white
farmers more comfortable by giving them additional prison clothing. Regional leaders holding a
summit in Malawi said they did not intend to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe because they
wanted to focus on "more positive issues".


23

Letter From A Zimbabwean Farmer

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,


24


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


25

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)


26

Topple Mugabe, Mandela urges

THE man who commanded the notorious Fifth Brigade massacres in Matabeleland in the
Eighties is masterminding Zimbabwe's violent farm invasions, senior officials of the ruling Zanu-
PF party have conceded.

Gen Perence Shiri, who now heads Zimbabwe's air force, is said to be co-ordinating the land
seizures and organising food and transport for the so-called war veterans who have invaded
more than 1,000 white-owned farms. Gen Shiri's name also appears on a list of 28 senior
government and military figures given farms seized from white farmers. These were supposed
to be handed to landless people.

The government and military have always denied involvement in the wave of occupations which
started 10 weeks ago and have resulted in the deaths of two white farmers and 15 labourers
and opposition workers. But some Zanu-PF officials, worried that the situation is getting out of
control, have now given a different version of events to The Telegraph. They say the invasions
were ordered by President Robert Mugabe after he lost the referendum on a new constitution in
February, and have been meticulously planned by the military. Gen Shiri, they add, has
deployed more than 1,000 troops in civilian clothes to lead the operations, and recruited others
on a daily allowance plus free food.

The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that the armed forces had not only been
directing the occupations but had also imported a big Russian arms shipment, including 21,000
AK47 assault rifles to distribute among the squatters. The paper cited farming areas such as
Beatrice, 30 miles from Harare, where army officers were on the ground running operations.

The army's involvement explains the squatters' surprising logistical capability, quickly moving
large groups of men to invade new farms. Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, the war veterans' leader,
travels between farms in a helicopter provided by Gen Shiri's air force. The military link also
explains why there are so many young people among veterans of a war which finished 20 years
ago and why they are so well equipped.

Last week, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, announced the suspension of Land Rover
sales to the Zimbabwean army after claims by white farmers that these were being used to
transport the squatters. Gen Shiri's name strikes fear into the hearts of many Zimbabweans who
remember his ruthless crushing of the rebellion in Matabeleland between 1982 and 1987.

Tens of thousands of people died in massacres carried out by his North Korean-trained Fifth
Brigade, and mass graves have been uncovered in recent years. Gen Shiri is one of 28 close
allies of President Mugabe named on a list obtained by The Telegraph as having received
farms, compulsorily purchased from white owners in the land redistribution programme, which
were supposed to go to landless peasants. The list includes government ministers, permanent
secretaries, provincial governors, army generals and judges. Those named include Cyril
Ndebele, Speaker of Parliament; George Charamba, the president's spokesman; Patrick
Chinamasa, the Attorney General; General Vitalis Zvinavashe, Commander-in-Chief of the
Zimbabwe defence forces, who oversees Harare's military involvement in the Congo; Border
Gezi, Governor of Mashonaland; Welshman Mabhena, Governor of Matabeleland North; and
Zenzo Nsimbi, deputy minister of transport.

Francis Maude, Mr Cook's Tory shadow, said: "This list is evidence of Mr Mugabe's bad faith
and proof that he has abused his land-reform programme to enrich himself and a small circle of
kleptocrats around him." He called for Mr Mugabe's assets to be seized and for Zimbabwe to be
suspended from the Commonwealth. Neighbours of Gen Shiri's 1,500-hectare Ruia Falls Farm
in Bindura pointed out yesterday that his is the only one in the area not to have been invaded.

Elsewhere, farmers reported fresh violence and intimidation yesterday in the deepening land
crisis. Meanwhile, repression of the political opposition appears to be growing in the run-up to
parliamentary elections, expected in June. On Friday night, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested after a campaign rally at Chiredzi.
He was released early yesterday after four hours in detention, but several of his aides remained
in police custody. An MDC official said: "Arrests late at night are deliberate harassment of senior
members of an opposition political party."


27


Eric Bloch Column

ONE week after Zimbabwe’s parliamentary election, President Mugabe was interviewed on
CNN by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. When she commenced a question with: "Given that Zimbabwe
is about to go bankrupt . . ." the president interrupted her with an almost hysterical laugh and
said: "Zimbabwe is not going bankrupt; countries don’t go bankrupt; Zimbabwe will never go
bankrupt; that’s just what our enemies say about us."
Clearly, therefore, either the president does not know the meaning of the word "bankrupt", or he
is unaware of the true Zimbabwean circumstances, or he has deluded and decei-ved himself
into non-reco- gnition of the realities.
Mr President, the hard fact is that Zimbabwe is bankrupt, Zimbabwe is insolvent. The Concise
Oxford Dictionary defines a "bankrupt" as being an "insolvent debtor", and defines the latter as
being one that is "unable to pay debts". And, as Zimbabwe is unable to pay its debts, it is
bankrupt.
The president may be under the impression that Zimbabwe can pay its debts, but, if he does
labour under that impression, he is misleading himself, for such an impression is grossly
erroneous. Zimbabwe has been in default of repayments due by it to the World Bank.
Such repayments having been due months ago, the World Bank having given prescribed notice
of breach of agreed loan repayments 30 days after repayment became due, again 15 days later
and, once more when the arrears were 60 days overdue.
World Bank regulations preclude any further support to the debtor nation until all arrears have
been made good. Despite receiving the obligatory notices of breach, and despite Zimbabwe
desperately needing continuance of World Bank programmes, as well as new and additional
ones, it has failed to honour its commitments.
Obviously, it has not made payment because it cannot. In other words, it is insolvent; it is
bankrupt!
The extent of the bankruptcy is loud and clear. The national debt continues to soar. As at May
31, it amounted to $263 billion, with external debt amounting to over $171 billion (more than
US$4,5 billion), and domestic debt approximating $92 billion (comprising $72,8 billion in
Treasury Bills, government stock of $8,7 billion, and Reserve Bank overdrafts exceeding $10,3
billion). External debt equated to 82% of gross domestic product (GDP), with domestic debt
approximating 192% of GDP. Overall, Zimbabwe’s national debt is now considerably more than
five times greater than GDP. Zimbabwe would have to apply all its GDP for more than five years
to the settlement of debt if it was to become debt free! Emphasising the extent to which
Zimbabwe has been accumulating burdensome debt is that in 1991 the external debt was 36%
of GDP. Another indicator of Zimbabwe’s insolvency is the ever-increasing state deficit. For the
first quarter of the current fiscal year, government’s expenditure amounted to $33,7 billion, while
its revenues totalled $19,7 billion, yielding a deficit of $14 billion for the three-month period!
Undoubtedly an equal or even greater deficit will have been incurred in the second quarter of
the year and, as the deficits are necessarily funded out of borrowings, the debt-service burden
in the months ahead will be greater still.
It is further of consequence that these deficits are before accounting for those incurred by parastatals,
whose debts are substantially guaranteed by government. In the month of May alone,
borrowings of parastatals increased by $2,4 billion.
The severity of Zimbabwe’s circumstances is demonstrated by the extent to which all sectors of
society are being adversely affected and are suffering severely. Recent reports indicate that the
Ministry of Health is carrying stocks of essential drugs, medicines and medications of less than
a half of those considered to be strategically required to assure that the needs of the populace
requiring health care can be addressed.
Admittedly, the ministry recorded that its hold ings are supplemented by those of hospitals and
clinics, but most of them are also under-stocked.
In Bulawayo, Mpilo Hospital’s vitally necessary equipment for cancer treatment has been out of
commission for months due to an absence of foreign exchange for essential spares. Patients
are, at the least, suffering major distress, and possibly their very survival is at risk. Only a
bankrupt state would fail to meet such a critical need.
The scarcity of foreign exchange is far greater than only an insufficiency for machine spares for
the health sector. For six months Zimbabwe has suffered immense shortages of fuel. Although
the president and his henchmen have, from time to time, ascribed a diverse range of reasons
for the shortages, the facts are that Zimbabwe has not had sufficient funds to buy the petroleum,
diesel, aviation fuel and paraffin that it needs, and has such poor credit repute that it could not
borrow sufficient funding.


28


The forex shortages are such that government is recurrently late in paying foreign allowances to
its troops in the DRC (albeit Zimbabwe should not be militarily engaged there).
Zimbabwe is so short of foreign exchange that its embassies around the world are frequently
unable to pay salaries when due, and repeatedly cannot pay their suppliers timeously. So
strained is the foreign currency resource that aircraft have to be withdrawn from service until
monies can be raised to pay for prescribed services and checks.
And so limited is Zimbabwe’s foreign exchange wherewithal that it cannot remit dividends to
investors (although it still expects those investors to invest!), and it cannot provide its residents
with their entitlement to business, holiday and medical travel allowances.
Mr President, are these not all indicative of the desolate state of the economy -- a desolation so
great that it can only be insolvent? Zimbabwe is bankrupt, and not even recurrent denial can
conceal that fact!
Fortunately, Zimbabwe can be rehabilitated. Zimbabwe can be redeemed from its depths of
penury. Assets still exist and can be productively applied to restoring fiscal well-being. Those
assets can lift Zimbabwe from its destitution and poverty.
The tangible assets include its very great agricultural potential, its mineral wealth and capacity
to be a world-leading tourist destination. They also include an economic infrastructure which,
although small by comparison with that of South Africa, and although lacking in much, is
nevertheless one of the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa.
A key element of that infrastructure is an esta-blished manufacturing sector, weakened by the
mismanagement of the economy during the last three years, but poised for recovery if an
economically conducive environ- ment were to be recreated.
The most positive of the assets which can drive Zimbabwe’s withdrawal from the abyss of
bankruptcy is that it has a large, able and willing labour force which desperately craves for
employment and, if that craving is catered for, will work with motivation and drive.
The capability of the very considerable labour pool is reinforced by Zimbabwe having one of the
highest literacy rates in Africa, with a significant portion of the population having undergone
secondary education, and many having advanced through Zimbabwe’s tertiary education
institutions.
The intangible assets available to Zimbabwe are of equal importance, including its geographic
prominence as a potentially key supplier of goods, services and technology to the region.
However, the most important intangible asset, because it can transform into the tangible, is that
the world at large remains disposed to support Zimbabwe and aid its recovery provided that
Zimbabwe recognises the need for responsible economic manage- ment, accountability, good
governance, co-operation and collaboration, instead of confrontation, corruption, economic
incompe- tence and bad governance, lawlessness and anarchy.
But first and foremost Zimbabwe needs to recognise and acknowledge harsh facts and realities.
It must accept that, throughout the last three years, if there was anything economic which it
could possibly do wrong, it did so and, as a direct consequence, it is now bankrupt.
No matter how much the president may protest to the contrary, Zimbabwe is insolvent. If that
can be recognised, then Zimbabwe can reverse those conditions.
If that cannot be acknowledged, Zimbabwe’s impoverishment will continue, and deprivation will
be the pronounced characteristic of the country for all time.


29

The account of the invasion of the Avenues Clinic by its director

Dear Friends and Relatives

The purpose of our e-mail is to say "We are OK". We are not so confident, so I must add "We
hope and pray". Those of you who have read articles in the press last week and then this week,
especially, will have been worried. We thank you for the telephone calls and e-mails. I am
appreciative also of those who have contacted my mother to offer support. We thank you for
your prayers. We need all the support we can get.

Some of you have parts of the tale, some other versions, so please forgive repetition. We would
like all our friends to know. We have a belief and hope that the more that know the safer we
may be. Even that some influence may be brought to change the course of history here. I am
hoping that by writing our story that some of it will be put to rest and some perspective achieved
in a troubled mind. If you do not have the time or the inclination to read further that is fine by me.
The important thing for you to know is that although we have been in a period of danger, today
we are OK. We have been close to running for the hills and across the border. We shall see
what next week brings. As a compromise we may sleep in a different place each night.

I have agreed to be interviewed by press and TV. Each time it has felt right to do so, a good
idea to speak out, speak the truth; however we experience anguish each time, fearing any back
lash. Somehow that terror was huge last week, but we have learnt to get used to that one and it
is not so bad this week. We hope it may be some protection as the press outside a "detention
centre" could aid the release. Perhaps we are being naive, but there are not many straws to
clutch at these days.

Since last year, Maureen and I have discussed the inevitability of what has happened in the
rural areas and to the farmers will come to town. It has ... and with a vengeance. It is very much
on our doorstep. It is minor in comparison to many of the horrors we know about; however it has
been pretty major on our personal Richter scale. The following is my version of what has
happened in the last two weeks of our lives:

Tuesday 24th April 2001

This could have been the worst day in my life, however I came out of it alive and unscathed
physically. I pray that is not speaking too soon.

We had read in the papers about the War Vets invading the boardrooms of vompanies. Well, it
was our turn, at the Avenues Clinic, commencing with a mob surging into my office at 9.30.
Reception warned my secretary and I just had time to give instructions for "May day" calls to be
made [Police, President's Office, Min of Health and British High Commission]. Then we had
twenty men burst into the office and I was surrounded by yelling men in ugly mood. We had
been in a Management Team meeting one minute and in terror the next. Some were definitely
high on something. All aggressive and insolent to different degrees. All impatient. Demanding
and very deliberately rude. Their leader introduced them as "ZANU PF, War Veterans
Association, Harare".

I managed to get the War Vets out of the hospital into the Boardroom, away from the patients, in
a separate building but on site, on the basis that we could sit down and talk in a larger room. It
has paid dividends, as on each of their return trips they have headed for the Boardroom
automatically. We made the painful decision as to who to go with them, if we had a choice. My
Principal Matron bravely volunteered. I hoped as a senior nurse she would have a stabilizing
influence [wrong], as did my Financial Director. We had a very real risk that whoever talked to
them would be dragged off to their offices, as had happened already to too many other directors
and managers. I needed Shona speakers with me.

We were harangued and threatened. "We will march you to ZANU PF office and put you in a
room with no doors. You know what will happen to you there". A room so described apparently
means a cell [one of their interrogation rooms] or a coffin. "Why are we wasting time talking
here? Let's take them away to the office and deal with them." Nice after-breakfast conversation.
When my Matron spoke, she was accused of "joining the oppressor". Both were accused of
being at the Clinic at the time of the illegal strike in 1995, which was the excuse for the "assault
upon us". To me, one screamed "I know you. You know me. I know where you are. I will get


30


you". I felt he meant it. I have worried where I have seen him before, ever since. I made note to
get a message home if and when I could break free. "This is not Rhodesia" and so on and on.
It became obvious that the two other members of my team could not talk as each fuelled
increased hostility, so it was down to me. They resorted to prayer that I would be guided to
"negotiate" a safe path. Terrifying, yet one manages to keep an objective eye and ear.
Negotiation skills were tested in full. Whatever one does, one has to hide the fear, mask the
anger and the contempt. Control the retorts to outrageous demands. I regret to say that we
settled. It has cost the company $6.3m, but no patients or staff were hurt, the former especially
had to be my paramount concern. There was already an agreement between the strikers of
1995 and the Clinic that they should receive a settlement, but not one as generous as extorted.

We had no back up whatsoever. The Police were called, but did not come. On Wednesday, I
eventually tracked down a Deputy Commissioner who told me that he had ordered the men to
be hunted down and arrested. I have since heard thru' sources that he was countermanded
from sources higher up. In the Financial Gazette on Friday, the police spokesman said that
there had to be a formal complaint before the police would act. How do you issue a formal
complaint when the WV have you locked up? The President's Office was called and said they
might send an observer. They did not. Two attended the next day and said they never received
the message! They asked plenty of questions and told me that they were there only because
the President was concerned. The Deputy Minister of Health said that it was "not a Government
matter" but I persuaded him it was on the basis that the government was still in control of the
country. He agreed to speak to people in the Party. He did, reportedly to the Speaker of the
House, but the people in the party were still considering the matter after we had been forced to
settle.

Our deadline from the WV was 2.30 Tuesday or we would have to take the consequences. Iron
bars to the head and beating up the PA seem to be the current trend. Still today the thought
process of the party has not been declared as to the need to defend health care institutions.
The British High Commission declined to send anyone but, at my request, undertook to look
after Maureen and the children, if something happened to me. I managed to contact Maureen
and send her into hiding with the children, taking two dogs and one cat, the other hid. The
domestic staff were sent off the property, instructed that they should not admit to knowing us.
So we left our beautiful home to an uncertain fate. A favourite War Vet tactic is to visit your
home and destroy as much as possible.

Exhausted and under pressured criticism for settling and not being beaten up, we said good bye
to the war vets at 3.30. They have been returning ever since to supervise the issuing of the
cheques to the 30 ex-workers, who lost their jobs after an illegal strike in 1995. I had managed
to negotiate the payment down to 30 and not 35 and limited the settlement to salaries and
increases, from July 95 to April 200, but nothing else [or so I thought]. The main partner in our
law firm repeatedly suggested that I bounce the cheques and go on holiday to Cape Town. I
cannot believe the man. Obviously he has no regard for the lives of my staff who would meet
the wrath of the War Vets in full vengeance.

We returned home on Tuesday late afternoon. No staff on site, but otherwise normal. We joined
friends for dinner out. Glad to be alive. Such is the dichotomy of life here. Scared and working
out problems in a lawless land and then out to a restaurant for dinner in a context that could be
a civilized country.

Wednesday 25th April 2001

The War Vets demanded to see me again. They were "requesting" the re-instatement of the
workers. I found a way of saying no to mob re-instatement without being lynched. I felt my grip
on sanity slip as I was given a round of applause for our generous settlement the day before.
That was my second round of applause in two days. It seems crazy that one minute you are
being threatened and harassed and next you get a round of applause. Another two and a half
hours of living on my nerves and constantly "dancing" and changing tack to ensure the mood
did not swing the wrong way.

Thursday 26th April 2001


31


If War Vets were not enough, I had staff problems with old grievances rising to the surface. The
200 plus workers who returned to work after the strike were docked two weeks pay for two days
away as a punishment. I found there were rumours of money to be paid the our staff and
rumours of our staff talking to the War Vets. "Thank you" for the support and concern for the
safety of the Management Team. I called a meeting. Someone was stirring up our workforce.I
was in the middle of describing the horrors of the days before to a hundred plus staff when the
war vets, no 1 and 2, "good guy and bad guy" walked in to the Boardroom. They apologized for
interrupting the meeting! I got up and greeted him exchanged pleasantries, shook hands and
sent them to another room for the supervision of the handing out of cheques to our ex-
employees. I was trying to divert my workers from calling in the War Vets to gain their two
weeks wages from 1995. I told them about the new relationship with management and asked
them for a week to consider the information new to me about the two week penalty. They
agreed or did some?

I went away and decided that it was expedient to pay out the two weeks. The deduction had not
been legal and was very ill advised. It has been a cancer burning in the sole of many for five
years.

Friday 27th April 2001

We are told by the War Vet leaders that the members of our staff have asked them to intervene.
"Great". Do those responsible really know the consequences? Do they care? I agreed that we
would repay the two weeks pay from 1995 in the next pay packet and without interest. The
deduction had been illegal and disastrous HR practice. I have much to "thank" my predecessors
for ! I stressed to this group the potential horrors of inviting the War Vets in. Next they will want
to run the hospital.

Saturday 28th April

Friends invited us to share a cottage in the hills to rest and recover. Blissful fresh air and walks.
Wretched dreams, but the mind has to clear out the rubbish somehow.

Wednesday 2nd May

Horror of horrors, the War Vets announce they are coming back to demand reinstatement and
more. Again the round of phone calls. The police passed me from one officer to another. They
were far more helpful and offered to send plainclothes police, but would they come? [No] An
officer advised me that a member of the Committee in the Party, which was set up last week to
control the company actions [yes, there is such a thing], had advised that our file was closed.
Good news that it was closed because we had paid up. Horrendous news that the official
committee had a hospital on the list in the first place. Question why the war vets were coming
again? Bad news that although the file was closed we were still on someone's hit list. The
commissioner to whom I spoke told me to be careful and not trust my staff particularly my Chief
Security Officer. That gave me a sinking feeling.

The Security Company were far more useful. I spoke with them direct. They sent a man so that I
would not go alone to the Police Station. I went to make a formal report, so that no one could
say that they could not act without such report. I had sent my Chief Security Officer to make the
report on Friday but he had come back stating that he could not do so as he was not the
aggrieved person. I am very suspicious. The security company offered me a "minder", which I
gladly accepted. We trebled the guards on site. At all doors and at each ward and department.
The Deputy Minister of Health was horrified and annoyed that we were to be hit again. He
promised to speak on our behalf.

Thursday 3rd May

After a night of dread, the next day came. The extra guards were on duty. My minder was there,
all 160 kg of him and my height. His hobbies are judo and juditso. He looks like something out of
the men in black. Dark glasses and all. The War Vets arrived. All the phone calls to the police
were in vain. The cell phones seemed to switched off. Surprise, surprise. The High Commission
were told and thanked me for the information and wished me luck. The man at the President's
Office was at the airport and said he could do nothing. I suggested firmly that as the President
was concerned he ought to use his cell phone and get a colleague to attend. Amazingly he did.

The demands were aggressively made for re-instatement plus bonuses for six years!! Two and


32


half hours later, we finished. I explained repeatedly we had acted in good faith and were making
payments to staff on the understanding that the "agreement" the previous week was in full and
final settlement, as signed by each recipient. I threatened to stop payments to the outstanding
eight ex-employees. They signed a fresh agreement to abide by the last one and it was
witnessed by the Office of the President's representative. Who knows if any piece of paper is
more than that!

Friday 4th May

The real misery starts when whilst I am in an emergency Board meeting discussing the War Vet
situation, my secretary advises me that she has received a call summoning me to the ZANU PF
HQ and for me to be there by 4.30 without fail, caller identifies himself as Mr Savanhu. The
Board's initial view is that I should go. I advise I expect damages if I go and am beaten up,
which I would expect. I know I should not go on my own, so I ask for volunteers. That drew a
blank response and then the only Board member not to have said that I should go, says of
course I should not go. There is collective relief and they all change their mind and leave it to
my discretion.

My earlier calls trying to find someone to stop this madness are continued in real earnest. I find
a senior Party member who tells me the call must be by a group meaning no good as Mr
Savanhu would never have made such a call. A feeling of dread. I speak to the supposed caller,
who denies he would have made such a call. The firm advice of both senior party members is
not to go and not to make myself available. I ring Maureen and tell her to stay with the friends
with whom she and the children were having tea. Maureen rings the BHC and the advice is that
I am now the target and time to go into hiding. The best tactic is to go public.

Maureen rings the BBC and the Daily Telegraph. I have rung the police and the security
company. The BBC, the Security Company, the Police Inspector, the Telegraph, the Times, my
PR lady, our friend with whom Maureen is in hiding, other press all arrive within half an hour.
Chaos! Me trying to balance priorities and arrange things. The BBC interview [but do not use].
The Telegraph overlap and interview further and do use in Saturday's paper. He incidentally
finds time to ring Maureen to tell I am safely out of the hospital. The policeman starts organizing
cover for the Hospital, which I tell him is my priority. The promise is to arrest.

Time is out and it is time to be whisked away. I leave in a friend's car with a tail to make sure
that no one is following. Nothing feels real any more. The Security Team ensures I am at the
safe house, after what seems like a lifetime, and I am with Maureen and the children. Is this
real? Was this an over reaction? The cell phone never stops ringing. Not one person tells me it's
a dream. No one says "wake up". The consensus is that to go into hiding was essential. We
came back home the next day, against some advice, but we cannot hide forever. The Security
guys think if the rogue element reacts to my failure to return to work it will be at the Avenues
Clinic next week.

Friday night I was numb. I have slowly recovered. Some advise us to go away a while. We will,
if there is further sign of trouble tomorrow. Maureen is to see the school heads tomorrow to
ensure extra security for the children and teacher control to ensure only we pick up. The papers
at the weekend have indicated a back down on company invasions and even published cell
numbers for Hunzvi and Chinotombo, prominent War Vet leaders, so that we can ring to check
the credentials of War Vets if they come to the companies! I hope that to be the case and we
will follow up on Monday. Who knows? Who is really in charge anyway?

Tomorrow I will go into work. Security is doubled and my minder will be there for the week.
Fingers crossed. I'll tell you more next time I write.

May you all have a peaceful week.
Malcolm


33

Zimbabweans are in captivity. The government they elected are the captors
Zimbabwe Daily News , Monday 29 May, 2000

We are told to hate whites even if some of them are beautiful friends

IF a man sets out to burn his own house, onlookers try to stop him. The general consensus is
that something has gone wrong with the man’s head. This is the situation in Zimbabwe at the
moment.

The government was elected by the voters. They have a mandate. The so-called war veterans
were not elected by anyone in this country except by their own ranks numbering not more than
50,000 .

Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, an avowed anarchist, claims to be the one distributing the land in our
country. A hate war has started. We are being told to hate whites even if some of them have
become beautiful friends.

The elected president of the republic has reduced himself to a spare president. The unelected
one, Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, runs the sponsored show, a political circus. Since when has an
unelected leader been given the power to distribute land in a country with a president who took
the oath of office in order to uphold the laws of the land? We are refugees in our own country,
prisoners without uniforms!

Zimbabweans are in captivity, and the government they elected are the captors, behaving like
rebels in a country which does not need chaos, a country whose landscape, vegetation, flowers
and wildlife tell stories of the love that resides in the hearts and minds of the people who inhabit
the land.

Zimbabweans have no time to admire the beauty of their landscape, those gifts from God and
the ancestors which no human being can make. They are busy staring death in the face, violent
death at the hands of youths who have been taught never to respect human life, any life.

First it was the white farmers, then came the honest rural schoolteachers, then came the blacks
who moved out of townships, and today it is Zimbabweans of Asian origin whose under-utilised
properties must be "peacefully invaded".

The police look on and gaze at it, powerless in the face of instructions from The Leader not to
intervene. We might as well be aliens temporarily living in this small space which itches our
nerves because of the possibility of death by torture.

Those who claim to have liberated us have now changed their minds. Instead, they have put
new chains of slavery and imprisonment round our necks and legs. But still the people laugh,
in pubs, at bus stops, in churches, in the annoying expensive supermarkets, at funerals of those
murdered, everywhere.

Even the many refugees scattered all over the land, they laugh and dream that one day this
madness will end. We laugh in order not to cry.

Daily News, Zimbabwe


34

COMMERCIAL FARMERS’ UNION

SITUATION UPDATE : 1ST MARCH, 2000.

On Tuesday 29th February, 2000 I, in the company of the Vice-President (Commodities) of the
Commercial Farmers’ Union, Colin Cloete, met the Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Republic
Police, Augustine Chihuri and two Deputy Commissioners at Police Head Quarters at 2.30pm

The purpose of the meeting was to deal with the proliferation of land invasions on commercial
farms around Zimbabwe that had occurred over the previous four days and to review the
disaster relief operations being conducted in Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South, in
the wake of the cyclone Eline.

By way of introduction on the subject of farm invasions I informed the Commissioner that the
Commercial Farmers’ Union and its members are extremely concerned at the level of escalation
of farm invasions over the week-end. I stated that on Monday morning we were aware of twelve
invasions on properties in Masvingo and Mashonaland (Central). By 8.00am on Tuesday when I
prepared a schedule of the properties and their owners for presentation to Cabinet by the
Honourable Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Kumbirai Kangai, the number of invasions had
increased to twenty-six in Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Midlands, Masvingo and
Manicaland

I informed the Commissioner that it was the opinion of the Commercial Farmers’ Union that his
support for the statements of various politicians that farm invasions were a political issue and,
therefore, not a matter for the police was perceived by farmers whose properties are being
invaded, and their operations suspended through intimidations, as unacceptable and that the
police had an independent duty to uphold law and order in Zimbabwe to enable citizens, and
farmers in particular, to go about their business in an unhindered and peaceful manner

Vice-President Colin Cloete informed the Commissioner that he was concerned that in Kwekwe,
where two farms had been invaded, and in Mashonaland Central and in particular the properties
Mavuradona farm, owned by Mr Chris Pole and McClaire farm owned by Mr Louis Malzer,
substantial losses were being incurred as the war veterans were not allowing the labour to work,
tobacco was going unreaped and the curing of tobacco was being interfered with

In the case of Maywood Farm, Kwekwe, occupied by Mr and Mrs Buchanan, war veterans had
pushed down the security fence taken Mrs and Mrs Buchanan into custody for five hours,
broken down the house door and trashed the house. Mr and Mrs Buchanan were only released
into police custody for protection at 6.30pm. From these incidents it was clear that the war
veterans invasions were going beyond a peaceful demonstration

Commissioner Chihuri responded that it was government policy that war veterans should not be
allowed to disrupt farming operations, or cause any damage to property and that he had briefed
his Minister of Home Affairs, Dumiso Dabengwa of this position prior to his attendance at
Cabinet that morning

Commissioner Chihuri said that farm invasions are a political matter and that the politicians
were going to deal with it. He said that he hoped that the politicians would put a stop to it and
that His Excellency Vice-President Msika was responsible for co-ordination this action on behalf
of government

Commissioner Chihuri said that he was pleased with the way the Commercial Farmers’ Union
and farmers were handling the invasions, by adopting a non-confrontational approach in order
to attempt to avoid any nasty incidents. In the meantime the Zimbabwe Republic Police were
keeping a low profile and waiting for the political issue of land invasions to be resolved. He said
that it required a peaceful solution and that he and his fellow commanders were not at all
convinced that the farm invaders, who were war veterans, required land. He reiterated that
disruption of farm work and damage to property would not be tolerated by the Zimbabwe
Republic Police


35


I explained to the Commissioner that it appeared that members of his force were not upholding
law and order by preventing disruption to farming operations and damage to property by war
veterans at that time

I then raised the matter of the Zimbabwe Republic Police refusing to accompany the Deputy
Sheriff of Masvingo in effecting the service of a Court order to evict specified persons from two
properties in Masvingo East, being Vredenberg farm owned by Mr McMurdon and Yettam\Mara
farms owned by Mr Stockil. The Commissioner responded by saying that he was not aware that
the Zimbabwe Republic Police had refused to assist the Deputy Sheriff in the execution of his
duties and that this was not his policy. I handed the Commissioner a copy of the Deputy Sheriffs
memorandum, addressed to the Provincial Magistrate in Masvingo stating that he was unable to
effect his duties, as required by the Court, due to the lack of police protection and co-operation

I then said to the Commissioner that the reasons given by the war veterans for invading farms
was in reaction to the no vote in the referendum, and that farmers had voted no was hardly
credible. Firstly, because there were only 4 0000 commercial farmers in Zimbabwe who could
not influence a national referendum and, secondly, in an analysis of the referendum result it was
the urban areas that voted no, rather than the rural areas, so it was not possible to apportion
blame for the no vote on commercial farmers

Furthermore, white farmers were being used as a scapegoat and unfairly persecuted by land
invasions when in fact commercial farmers had always supported the government of the day
and were substantial contributors to the economy, which should surely result in politicians
regarding farmers as allies rather than those who should be persecuted

Commissioner Chihuri then received a telephone call from the Minister of Home Affairs, Dumiso
Dabengwa and took a twenty minute brief from him as a result of the Cabinet meeting and
discussions pertaining to farm invasions. The Commissioner briefed us that the Minister said
that the politicians were to deal with the issue of farm invasions headed up by Vice-President
Msika, with Minister Dabengwa and two other Ministers. He had briefed his Minister on farmer’s
desire to obtain Court Orders to evict the farm invaders which he did not favour because the
Minister believed this to be confrontational. Minister Dabengwa had said that a peaceful solution
was being sought A meeting was to be held, to discuss the issue with Chenjerai Hunzwi,
Chairman of the War Veteran’s Association., on a strategy to calm the situation down and have
the war veterans withdraw from invading farms

Minister Dabengwa had requested the Commissioner to inform farmers that they should

Ø "Remain calm and be patient as government was doing all possible to resolve the issue

Ø Farmers should never use Court Orders as this was provocative

Ø In the event that Court orders were used the Minister said -- we are also going for elections
and if you go to Court we will fold our arms and watch these invasions continue

Commissioner Chihuri said that Cabinet had endorsed his recommendations that war veterans
invading farms should be stopped from interfering with farm operations and damaging property.
In the event that this occurred police were to act immediately and arrest the perpetrators

To conclude there was a brief discussion on the disaster relief operations and their co-ordination
in the East of the country with the Commissioner stating that from his on site tour of the affected
areas with His Excellency President Mugabe, there had been substantial infrastructure damage.
Many places remained isolated and people’s needs included food\shelter and drinking water

On Monday there were 12 invasions, by Tuesday 30 and today the number is 48.
The President met with the Army Commander this morning (1st March, 2000.) and I have again
spoken to Commissioner Chihuri on the deteriorating situation. We will be meeting with a
government delegation of Ministers this afternoon at their request to hear their plan of action to
arrest this situation and ensure farmers can go about their business unhindered

David W Hasluck

Director Commercial Farmers’ Union


36


ZIMBABWE : CHRONOLOGY OF ATROCITIES FROM MARCH 2000

27 March: Edwin Gomo dies after being hit on the head by a stone thrown by Zanu PF
supporters in Bindura.

28 March: Robert Musoni is killed by Zanu PF supporters in Bindura.

1 April: The National Constitutional Assembly march through Harare is attacked by ZANU-PF
supporters and so-called War Veterans whilst the ZRP watches. The ZRP prevents
demonstrators assembling and later takes steps to break up the protest. White passers-by
attacked at random.

2 April: Doreen Marufu, 6 months pregnant, dies after an assualt by Zanu PF supporters in
Mvurwi.

4 April: Const. Finashe Chikwenya of the ZRP is shot dead while carrying out his duty to arrest
war veterans accused of assault in Marondera.

14 April