Posted on 12/05/2001 12:08:25 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Aides to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe insist the visitors' sole task will be to update themselves on "our situation in the context of their protracted mediation efforts between Zimbabwe and Britain," the former colonial power that Mr. Mugabe blames for his problems. Mbeki spokesman Bheki Khumalo took a similar line, insisting there would be no talk in Harare of regime change. But a source in Mr. Mbeki's office told The Washington Times that things are "rapidly coming to a head." "Basically we have a situation where Britain, the United States and most of the Western world do not recognize Mugabe's presidency because they say he rigged last year's election," the official said.***
"The rogue regime has actively robbed you of your democratic and constitutional right to express yourselves peacefully against murder, rape, starvation, disease, violence and general misrule," the MDC said. "Don't be afraid. No force is stronger than you. Victory is in sight."***
Tsvangirai, the head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested June 6 on treason charges following a week of anti-government strikes that shut down much of the already fragile economy. Opposition officials said Tsvangirai was held in a filthy, overcrowded cell. They vowed to continue their struggle. "His incarceration has only served to strengthen the people's resolve to intensify peaceful efforts to tackle the crisis of legitimacy in Zimbabwe," opposition spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said. ***
For hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, the worst has already come. Millions of people are desperately hungry because the country's once-thriving agricultural sector collapsed last year after President Robert Mugabe confiscated commercial farms, supposedly for the benefit of poor blacks. But his cynical "land reform" program has chiefly benefited idle party hacks and stalwarts, not landless peasants. As a result, much of Zimbabwe's most productive land is now occupied by loyalists of the ruling ZANU-PF party, military officers, or their wives and friends.
The United States - and the European Union - has imposed a visa ban on Zimbabwe's leaders and frozen their overseas assets. We have ended all officialassistance to the government of Zimbabwe. We have urged other governments to do the same. We will persist in speaking out strongly in defense of human rightsand the rule of law. And we will continue to assist directly, in many different ways, the brave men and women of Zimbabwe who are resisting tyranny.
But our efforts are unlikely to succeed quickly enough without greater engagement by Zimbabwe's neighbors. South Africa and other African countries areincreasingly concerned and active on Zimbabwe, but they can and should play a stronger and more sustained role that fully reflects the urgency of Zimbabwe's crisis.If leaders on the continent do not do more to convince President Mugabe to respect the rule of law and enter into a dialogue with the political opposition, he and hiscronies will drag Zimbabwe down until there is nothing left to ruin - and Zimbabwe's implosion will continue to threaten the stability and prosperity of the region.
There is a way out of the crisis. ZANU-PF and the opposition party can together legislate the constitutional changes to allow for a transition. With the presidentgone, with a transitional government in place and with a date fixed for new elections, Zimbabweans of all descriptions would, I believe, come together to begin theprocess of rebuilding their country. If this happened, the United States would be quick to pledge generous assistance to the restoration of Zimbabwe's political andeconomic institutions even before the election. Other donors, I am sure, would be close behind.***
"If he's coming to dictate to us as to how we should run our countries, then we will say: 'Go back, go home Yankee'," Mugabe told supporters at a rally in the southern province of Masvingo. His remarks were carried by state television.
Last month, the United States urged southern African states to put more pressure on Mugabe to allow political change, warning that unrest and economic chaos in Zimbabwe would carry on threatening stability in southern Africa if they did not act.
Bush will visit two of Zimbabwe's neighbors, South Africa and Botswana, during his July 7-12 trip.
Washington has taken a hard line against Mugabe since he won presidential elections last year that Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and several Western states denounced as fraudulent. Bush has said Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, is not a legitimate leader. ***
Such a move would pave the way for Mugabe's exit as Zimbabwe's president and new elections by June 2004, the British daily said, without citing its sources.
It added that Mbeki's assurance to Bush that Mugabe will stand aside is believed to be based on a personal promise extracted from the Zimbabwean leader.
The Independent also said Bush had pledged a reconstruction package for Zimbabwe worth up to 10 billion dollars over an unspecified timeframe, if a new leader takes over.
The deal was discussed by the two leaders during a private meeting in Pretoria last week, the paper said in a report by its Southern Africa correspondent, Basildon Peta, who added that important differences remained. ***
And so it was last week when the most equal of all comrades and lord high chief of the Zany party said that the More Drink Coming party must repent before talks begin.
Puzzled foreigners asked why the More Drink Coming party should repent, but troubled central Africans, being fleet of mind, knew that the More Drink Coming party has to repent being beaten, bludgeoned, tortured, murdered, raped and otherwise suppressed by the Zany party.
That is the way it works in the troubled central African banana republic. And indeed in banana republics the length and breadth of the troubled continent. It tells us that if the troubled central African basket case has adopted nothing else from the bland, neo-liberal imperialists in the West, it has at least purloined Orwellian logic.
From the drug-crazed warlords of Liberia to the mad king of Swaziland, the situation, and the same upside down logic, is the same.
Those same neo-liberal western imperialists wonder why this doesn't worry troubled central Africans. They wonder too why troubled central Africans aren't turning into embarrassed central Africans, because the behaviour of the government is surely cause for deep embarrassment.
Well, it would be if anyone took much notice of government. Government might be important in the US, or Britain perhaps. It certainly is in Germany, where people fawn over their rulers. But troubled central Africans don't believe that government is anything more than a necessary evil, a bureaucratic stumbling block that must be endured and where possible undermined. ***
Property believed to be worth more than $100 million was destroyed in the pre-dawn raids, which began on Sunday morning.
According to government officials and resettled farmers who spoke to the Daily News yesterday, Windcrest Farm was invaded in 2000 at the height of land occupations spearheaded by war veterans and other supporters of the ruling ZANU PF.
The occupiers were officially allocated the land in August 2001, when the Masvingo provincial lands committee demarcated individual plots for the new farmers.
Government officials said the property, formerly owned by Magid Khan, was acquired by the state and officially demarcated for the settlers.
But the resettled farmers said they were told to leave the property last week because it had been bought by a Mr Mukumba, who is believed to be an employee at Zimbabwe's High Commission in London.
When they failed to vacate the property, the police moved in and set fire to huts and other property belonging to the new farmers, including several tonnes of food, furniture and clothing. ***
"What they have done is absolutely insignificant given the gravity of the problem," Chavez said, blaming globalization and failed neoliberal economic policies. "Neoliberalism has been defeated," Chavez proclaimed to audience applause. "Now we're going to bury it, starting this century."
Chavez and Castro are strong political allies and close friends. Chavez thanked the Cuban leader for technological assistance that he said helped sharply reduce Venezuela's illiteracy rates. Chavez contends that an "oligarchy" bent on ousting a democratically elected leader has sabotaged his efforts to fight for the poor.
The 13 heads of state and government from Africa and the Caribbean attending the U.N. conference also included the presidents of Zimbabwe, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Mali and Namibia and the prime ministers of Lesotho, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Many of the Africa presidents in attendance hail from countries whose independence struggles were aided by Cuba in the 1980s and 1990s.
"Coming to Cuba is to come to a country where there are true friends of Africa," Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said. Mugabe is the target of widespread international criticism. Zimbabwe was suspended for a year from the decision-making councils of the Commonwealth of Britain and its former terrorities because of concerns about human rights and disputed presidential elections Mugabe narrowly won last year.***
A government programme codenamed Operation Clean Sweep is reportedly underway despite statements by President Mugabe that his land seizures ended last year.
There has been no official confirmation of Operation Clean Sweep but an analysis of new lists of properties published in recent days by the state press show that vast swaths of land in or near urban areas have been earmarked for compulsory seizure.
In a notice published in recent days by the state-owned Herald newspaper, the permanent secretary for Local Government and National Housing, Vincent Hungwe, announced: "The Government has identified a number of peri-urban farms around major cities and towns of Zimbabwe for immediate acquisition to accommodate urban expansion.
"The identified farms will be acquired in terms of the law and held as state land."
The government has claimed it needs land for low-cost housing and other urban expansion projects. But opponents say the real aim is to consolidate illegal housing developments by so-called "war veterans" on private land in the cities.***
British businessmen and economists denounced the decision, which will force out more than 16,000 of Kenya's 25,352 working expatriates, along with their families.
Between 30,000 and 50,000 Britons live in Kenya, more than half of whom are thought to be British Asians, prompting comparisons with Idi Amin's expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972.
"This is a racist and economically suicidal move by the government," one British businessman said. "What is the difference between this and what Idi Amin did or what Robert Mugabe is doing?"
Aware of the damaging publicity a mass exodus would cause, the government said the expulsion would be implemented over the next two years.
"It will not be a blanket removal," said Ali Mwakwere, the labour minister. "The process has already begun, but we are honouring existing work permits until they expire."
Mr Mwakwere said he would target skilled and semi-skilled foreigners in the manufacturing industry, many of whom are Asians from Britain and the Indian sub-continent.
Asian-dominated commerce is also in the sights of the minister, whose ruling will be welcomed by poor, nationalist Kenyans. "Quite possibly British Asians and Asians in general are the target," a British High Commission official said. "We are watching the situation closely."
Non-Asian Britons are likely to be forced out too, as Mr Mwakwere said the clearout would sweep through the hospitality and tourism sectors.***
But now a very different African leader's influence threatens to shatter the dream of a racially-tolerant country with increasing numbers of white farmers being murdered by impoverished blacks inspired by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's policy of taking away their land by force.
In South Africa, more than 1,500 white farmers have been killed since 1994, compared to 14 murdered by Mugabe's supporters in three years of violence in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Most have died during robberies, but, according to a devastating report commissioned by South African President Thabo Mbeki's government, they are increasingly being killed by farm workers who want land of their own.
In Pretoria on November 4, a cross-section of that country's top security officers, academics and lawyers will meet to discuss what is seen as a serious threat to national security and the future of organised agriculture in South Africa.
They plan to tell the deeply worried Mbeki that he must take immediate action to meet the aspirations of millions of landless black South Africans.
A decade after the African National Congress (ANC) came to power promising blacks an end to white political and economic rule, some 40,000 whites dominate almost all aspects of food production. Mbeki recently condemned what he called the "two societies" that still exist in post-apartheid South Africa.
But black activists like Supho Makhombothi, of the Mpoumalanga Labour Tenants' Association (MLTA) which represents landless farm labourers in the impoverished Piet Retief and Wakkerstroom districts, are tired of rhetoric.
"We have waited long enough. Nothing has happened despite all the promises made by the African National Congress (ANC) about returning the land to us," he said.
"We are still living in slavery. We have therefore given the government an ultimatum to give us land or we will simply follow the example of our brothers in Zimbabwe and invade."***
His characterisation is as crude as his political methods. Among black Commonwealth countries there are widely diverging views about Mr Mugabe, a rule of thumb being that the further you get from Zimbabwe the weaker the support for him. And at home the main victims of his tyranny have been not the small white population but the black majority. Who among the politicians and judges and journalists have borne the brunt of savage political persecution? Who face starvation because of the president's wrecking of the country's agricultural base? Who have no work as a result of that demolition? Who are suffering from the disintegration of healthcare and the educational system? Who have fled in their hundreds of thousands to neighbouring countries? The answer in all cases is, overwhelmingly, black Zimbabweans. Rather than standing up for the majority, the president has cruelly betrayed it. Since the shock of his defeat in a referendum on a new constitution in 2000, he has cynically played the race card to stay in power.
South Africa, Zimbabwe's all-important neighbour, has failed to counter Mr Mugabe's spurious characterisation of the crisis. President Thabo Mbeki has, rather, sown the false idea that talks are taking place between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and to insist, against all the evidence, that things are getting better. Unfortunately, his wilful misrepresentation of the facts has not dimmed Tony Blair's admiration of him as the potential leader of an African renaissance. Even George W Bush deferred to him as the "point man" on Zimbabwe during his visit to South Africa in July. The Prime Minister and the President are lauding someone who has the means to cut the ground from under Mr Mugabe but, out of misplaced solidarity with another former freedom fighter, has chosen to do nothing. It is that chain of mistakes that has made Zimbabwe into such a divisive issue at the Commonwealth conference.
Given that country's rapidly deteriorating political and economic situation, there should be no question of re-admitting it to Commonwealth councils. The failure by some African countries yesterday to have the New Zealander Don McKinnon replaced as Secretary General, on the phoney grounds of bias against Zimbabwe, was encouraging. Messrs Mugabe and Mbeki must be prevented from riding roughshod over the Commonwealth's commitment to democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. [end]
More LINKED articles at source.
The authors of the videotape, however, are anything but. One is Alexandre Legault, an American who disappeared last year after being sought for extradition on charges that he masterminded a $13 million swindle in Florida.
The other is his business partner, Ari Ben-Menashe, a self-professed former Israeli intelligence agent who was described in a United States Congressional report in the 1980's as a talented liar. ***
"In the end all land shall be state land and there will be no such thing called private land," Lands Minister John Nkomo told the state-owned Herald.
"We want a situation whereby this very important resource becomes a national asset," he said. ***
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court heard a case on behalf of three farmers who claimed the constitution excluded confiscation of their land because they bought their properties after the colonial era ended with independence in 1980. The Supreme Court did not agree and quickly dismissed their application.
One of the farmers, Colin Cloete, a former president of the Commercial Farmers’ Union at the height of often violent land invasions seven years ago, was one of the applicants. He, like many of his colleagues, has been arrested, harassed and appeared in court many times, to try to stay on his farm.
Like most surviving white farmers, the cost of going to court to try to fight his eviction has been unaffordable. Looking back over the long and difficult years, Cloete, now 58, said his struggle to remain on his farm did not make economic sense.
“Economically we should have moved off then, at the beginning, as we would have been 10 years younger and that much more energetic,” said Cloete.
Cloete said he had begun looking looking for a house in Harare, not least so he could move his possessions to safety.
He said the land invasions launched after Mr. Mugabe lost a referendum in 2000 had hurt him and Zimbabwe’s economy, and no one had benefited from this except the elite in the ZANU-PF Party.
“We are treated like second-class citizens, we are treated like we are still just visitors to this place. My father was born in this country, before Mr. Mugabe, but I am still a visitor,” said Cloete. [end excerpt]
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