Zimbabwe -- Resettled farmers and the spectre of hunger

Daily News (Zim) ^ | August 8, 2002 | (Leader Page)

[Clive]

THE resettled farmers in Chief Chivero’s area in Mhondoro are probably not alone in complaining of the government’s lack of interest in their plight.

As reported in our news columns yesterday, the promised inputs from the government have not been delivered, a few weeks before the rains start in earnest.

One farmer sold her cattle to raise money for transport from Gokwe to Mhondoro. She now faces the prospect of tilling the land without draught power. She could use a hoe, but the chances of a bumper harvest seem remote.

She could not have bargained on ending up so desperate when she left her home in Gokwe, presumably for “greener pastures”.

The government propaganda during the much- vaunted Hondo Yeminda probably convinced her, as it did many other innocent but rather naive citizens, that this was not a political gimmick.

The story may be different in other resettled areas.

Some of the new farmers may indeed be fortunate to have received the requisite inputs to begin preparing their land for planting. Some may have enough food, unlike the new farmer in Zimbo, Mhondoro, who is pleading for help from the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), if starvation is to be averted.

But the chances of this prevailing in areas other than those from which Zanu PF bigwigs originally come are rather slim. The Mhondoro situation could be a microcosm of what is happening in most parts of the country.

This spectre of starvation has hung over the resettled farmers since the haphazard land reform programme was launched amid much brouhaha by a government whose popularity has hit rock- bottom in tandem with the disastrous decline of the economy, caused largely by corruption, mismanagement and the government’s arrogance of not honouring pledges made to donors.

Most analysts were not surprised that the government wanted to arm-twist the commercial banks into pumping billions of dollars to fund the next harvest, which would depend on the resettled farmers, since the large-scale commercial farmers were driven out of their properties two years ago.

If the government had prepared the land reform programme with the meticulous foresight that neutral, apolitical observers anticipated, there would never have been this need for what amounts to “emergency” funding for the programme, asking the banks to match the government’s promised $8,5 billion in inputs.

How could a government with the welfare of the people at heart make so much noise about a programme for which it did not have enough money to implement?

At the last minute, it turns to the commercial banks, who, quite logically, will not jump into bed with a government whose record of profligacy with other people’s money is, to say the least, frightening.

The resettled farmers of Mhondoro are understandably anxious about the government’s lack of action on the input front, but there could be politics at play here. In the 2000 election, they voted for an opposition candidate who now sits as their representative in Parliament.

There have been allegations of retribution against people who voted for the opposition. In addition to the suspicion of retribution, there is the government’s clearly biased distribution of relief food throughout the country. NGOs have complained that opposition supporters are being deliberately marginalised in the distribution of relief food.

In some areas, rural district council elections are looming and the suspicion may be justified that Zanu PF is playing politics with the lives of innocent people to boost its chances of victory. This is an unconscionable misuse of authority and must be condemned in the strongest terms.

It is now accepted that Zanu PF will not hesitate to use force and violence in an election campaign.

But to stoop as low as to starve to death opposition supporters must be beneath even this party which has proclaimed itself the “people’s party”, although the halo has hung askew on its head for years since independence.

[Clive]

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[backhoe]

I know I shouldn't be, but I continue to be astounded at the silence emanating from the media- press and entertainment- over Africa's spiral into chaos. I guess they are embarassed over supporting these thugs...

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[happygrl]

But to stoop as low as to starve to death opposition supporters must be beneath even this party which has proclaimed itself the “people’s party”,...

Nothing is beneath this party, as the atrocities of the election season will attest.

[Kenton]

But to stoop as low as to starve to death opposition supporters must be beneath even this party which has proclaimed itself the “people’s party”, although the halo has hung askew on its head for years since independence.

Don't you wish it was beneath them. Mugabe is of the same political ilk as Josef Stalin and his “people’s party”, for cripes sake! You might want to read up on what Stalin did to the Ukraine before you dismiss this as unthinkable.

"Ethic cleansing" through targetted mass starvation is as effective as setting up Death Camps but a whole lot cheaper!

I see almost all of these postings originate from The Zimbabwe Daily Press, and I realize you cannot freely speak your mind. I just wish I could hear what you had to say about this in private...