Posted on 07/10/2002 10:03:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE, Zimbabwe - A leader of Zimbabwe's war veterans, who helped lead the two-year occupation of white-owned farms, has been sentenced to three years in jail for taking bribes.
Andrew Ndlovu, and official of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association, and secretary Anna Paradza had been convicted of accepting three cars for personal use from a Chinese businessman in return for placing a vehicle order with him on behalf of the association.
Judge Mohammed Adam sentenced them Tuesday to four years in prison with one year suspended on condition of good behavior. Adam said evidence showed the veterans' association had been "rocked by divisions."
Ndlovu claimed the charges were politically motivated.
Riot police maintained a strong presence around the High Court to prevent Ndlovu's supporters disrupting proceedings, which they had done in past cases involving President Robert Mugabe's "fast track" land reform program.
Ndlovu had been a strong leader of the war veterans, who, along with ruling party militants, occupied the farms and demanded they be redistributed to blacks.
In April 2000, Ndlovu threatened to "take the country back to war" if the opposition Movement for Democratic Change won elections.
(mh,rn)
"I'm not sure where the minister has been these last two years, because he has already listed 95 percent of Zimbabwe's farms for government takeover," Buckle explained. "There are now only 308 farms in the entire country not listed for state seizure. Neither Dr. Made nor any of his officials are prepared to offer any written guarantees to a farmer that he will be able to grow, reap and sell his wheat before the government moves in and takes the farm over. The 6 million starving Zimbabweans have Dr. Made and his government to thank for their plight. We have become like Somalia and Ethiopia and are holding out our begging bowls to the world. A world that would rather feed us than help us to get a democratic government who care for their people."
So who has taken control of Zimbabwe's formerly white-owned farms, one might wonder.
"Last week, the government in Zimbabwe announced that settlers and squatters were being evicted from commercial farms in our nation. All week we have been waiting with bated breath to hear from the Commercial Farmers Union that this is in fact the case and that commercial farmers have begun picking up their lives and getting some food into the ground. From all reports, though, it appears that this is not what is happening. Squatters and settlers are being moved off some farms - those that have been given to Zimbabwe's VIPs," Buckle said.
"Lists of the new owners of Zimbabwe's prime and previously most productive commercial farms have now been made public. The list runs at the moment to 187 names, and it is shocking. … The new owners of Zimbabwe's commercial farms are not farmers at all. They are not graduates from our agricultural schools and colleges. They are not young men and women who are ready to toil under the baking African sun tending crops and livestock." Buckle said that the new owners of Zimbabwe's farms include government ministers, members of Parliament, police officials, military brass and judicial officers. Members of the media friendly to Mugabe have also collected prime property.........
"The SAPS, SANDF (the new South African National Defense Force) researchers and several commissions are adamant that farm attacks are simply acts of crime. Will future presidents release these 'criminals' due to their contribution to the 'extended struggle'? Has membership of the ANC Youth League become the latest qualification required for amnesty, or should farmers read more into it?"
Continued the spokesman, "If this is the case, the 'Mugabe signals' in Zimbabwe are clearly recognizable as party members receive the benefits, whilst opposition members are held in modern maximum-security prisons and those outside intimidated and murdered. The president owes the farmers of South Africa an explanation regarding the implications of his decision, namely, are the attacks on farmers politically inspired? Are farms - and therefore farmers, their families and workers - targets of the 'extended struggle'? And finally, are farm attackers classified as freedom fighters?" "President Mbeki is leaving his flanks open to a 'Mugabe label,'" the spokesman concluded.****
Zimbabwe -- Mugabe's hungry and unpaid stormtroopers threaten violent revolt***"We've turned ourselves into killers and thugs - and for what?" asked David, 35. "We have no money, no jobs and no future. All we have are hungry stomachs and bad dreams about what we've done." He described the missions of murder, abduction and arson on which he sent young men and women earlier this year to help keep Mugabe in power. "We did everything they wanted," he said. "We won the election for them, but they have treated us no better than donkeys. They have used us and thrown us away." .... "I don't want to do those things any more," said Sam. "My parents are so unhappy." David added: "We're in a jail of our own - never free to leave and always being punished for what we do. We'll never have our lives back until Mugabe is gone." ***
Zimbabwe -- Mugabe 'paid Israeli spy to frame opposition leader'***Mr Tsvangirai was shown in the video saying what sounded like incriminating statements about "eliminating" Mr Mugabe. The opposition leader denies the charges, claiming that the video footage was carefully edited and manipulated by Mr Ben-Menashe to frame him and two of his party officials who attended the meeting.
The controversial Israeli operative is being investigated by Scotland Yard for allegedly trying to sell false information on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, casting fresh doubt over the credibility of the allegations against Mr Tsvangirai.
Canadian police have dropped their own investigation for lack of evidence that Mr Tsvangirai plotted in Canada to eliminate Mr Mugabe……. There are fears that Mr Mugabe's courts could convict Mr Tsvangirai on the basis of the videotape, notwithstanding the questionable credibility of the former Mossad spy. Mr Ben-Menashe cold not be reached for comment yesterday.***
The new ruling class, in short, and not a dirty fingernail in the bunch. They're forgetting the first rule of kleptocracy: there has to be something there to steal.
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