Posted on 08/12/2002 2:13:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Like the broken-down Zimbabwean army lorry in the centre of Bulawayo, President Robert Mugabe's order to evict 2,900 white farmers from their land was not running according to the official plan yesterday.
The soldiers - grinning sheepishly as they pushed the battered old four-tonner clear of a junction - were the only visible evidence of the heavy military and police presence threatened all last week by the Mugabe government.
The anti-white propaganda carried in the state-run media had cranked up the tempo steadily. Vice-President Joseph Msika threatened dire consequences for any "small clique itching for continued confrontation".
His sentiments were echoed by the Zimbabwean police force, which appears to have virtually given up investigating any crime committed against a white person. A spokesman said the eviction orders would be firmly enforced.
Over the weekend, however, there was no concerted police action. Instead, the organs of state appeared pre-occupied with preparing for today's Heroes' Day commemoration of the black victims in Zimbabwe's war of independence in the 1970s.
"Last week, we were told to get ready for evictions at the weekend, but now we have to go and get some cows to kill for a feast," said a senior member of the pro-Mugabe militia.
"We are going to the cold storage place, but we have a problem. After all the farm invasions, most of the cattle have already gone and we cannot find any."
Invasions of white-owned farms - often led by so-called veterans of the independence war - have been staged over the past two years as part of Mr Mugabe's radical land-reform programme. Some two thirds of the white farms have been listed for transfer to landless blacks without compensation.
About 2,900 of Zimbabwe's remaining 4,500 white farmers were given a deadline of last Thursday to hand over their farms. Farming officials say the bulk of these have so far defied the order to quit, and are quietly awaiting the government's next move.
On the farms yesterday, the atmosphere was tense. But the farmers have won support from an unexpected source. "War veterans" may have acted as land-reform stormtroopers in many parts of the country, but in Matabeleland - a traditional outpost of anti-Mugabe sentiment - some "vets" are now offering to help the whites.
"If Robert Mugabe sends the army or the police out on to the farms to take the land, then we will stand side by side with the farmers," said Max Mkandla, leader of the Zimbabwean Liberators' Peace Forum, a group representing the local Ndebele people. "If that means fighting, then we will fight."
Mr Mugabe, an ethnic Shona, remains unpopular among Ndebele, and men such as Mr Mkandla are angry at the failure of the reform process to deliver land fairly and transparently to the country's poor.
"The land has not been given out fairly," said Mr Mkandla. "It has gone to his friends."
One militia commander, who requested anonymity, said: "When we went in as a youth militia to seize land and drive farmers away, we were given promises, but these have turned out to be empty.
"That is all we ever got - empty promises - and now I can tell you that plenty of the militia are just running away from the whole process."
Although opposition has grown among some war veterans and sections of the militia, Mr Mugabe retains firm control of the army and police, and no one believes that there is a serious threat to his grip on power.
The tension of the weekend was relieved by at least some white farmers in Bulawayo when they carried on with plans for the city's annual show-jumping competition.
Scores of horses, riders and families - many from farming communities - gathered at the city showground for a weekend of competition.
"This is a chink of light in an otherwise very gloomy two-year period," said one competitor's proud mother.
While the numbers were down this year, there was one case of a happy ending. A teenage girl won an event on a horse she has cared for since it was given to her by a farmer driven off his land.
A sign at the showground urged any farmer forced to quit not to destroy their horses, but to give them up for adoption.
"War veterans" may have acted as land-reform stormtroopers in many parts of the country, but in Matabeleland - a traditional outpost of anti-Mugabe sentiment - some "vets" are now offering to help the whites..."The land has not been given out fairly," said Mr Mkandla. "It has gone to his friends."
May Mugabe continue to live in interesting times.
Hopefully, that will have a bigger impact with those who read then online, and mayhap a few will wonder, "how come I'm not hearing any of this from the TV?"
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