Posted on 08/12/2002 7:54:38 PM PDT by Dog Gone
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- President Robert Mugabe told the nation Monday that the days of whites owning large farms in Zimbabwe were over but ``loyal'' whites who cooperate with his government would not be left completely landless.
The fate of hundreds of white farmers defying government orders to give up their land remained unclear after the anxiously awaited speech, which Mugabe delivered to commemorate the war that ended white rule two decades ago.
Against the backdrop of Heroes Acre, a burial shrine of nationalist politicians and guerrilla leaders, Mugabe said he would not tolerate opposition to his plans to redistribute white-owned farms to blacks.
He said black commercial farmers were expected to take up allocated land by the end of August.
``That deadline stands. Everyone interested in farming should be on the land by the time the rains come'' later this year,'' Mugabe said in the televised address.
But, he said, he would still be willing to do business with white farmers who cooperate with his government.
``All genuine and well-meaning white farmers who wish to pursue a farming career as loyal citizens of this country will have land to do so,'' Mugabe said.
Farmers prevented from working their fields during land seizures over the past two years were puzzled by Mugabe's remarks, said David Hasluck, director of the Commercial Farmers Union, representing 4,000 white farmers.
``That loyal Zimbabweans can farm is entirely new to us. The majority of my members have been trying to farm as loyal Zimbabweans, but they have been stopped from doing so,'' he said.
Mugabe also said whites would not be allowed to stay on large properties, own more than one farm, or cling to ties with Britain, the former colonial power.
Justice for Agriculture, a new group urging farmers to challenge farm evictions in court, said at least 1,000 farmers affected by eviction orders owned only one property of generally limited size. The group took no solace from Mugabe's speech.
``We would be much happier if words were met with action on the ground,'' said Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman for the group. ``Words don't feed people. Farmers do.''
The standoff between the government and the farmers came as half Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people face a severe hunger crisis, according to the World Food Program. The agency blames the crisis on drought combined with the agricultural chaos caused by the seizures.
In Washington on Monday, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker called the attempts to evict commercial farmers and thousands of farm workers ``extremely reckless and reprehensible at a time when 6 million Zimbabweans are without adequate food supplies.''
He said the United States was working with the U.N. World Food Program to get relief shipments to Zimbabwe and other drought-stricken nations in southern Africa.
A deadline for nearly 3,000 white farmers to leave their land expired last week, but the government has taken no action against them and Mugabe stopped short of calling for immediate action.
Still, he warned that those who ``want another war should think again when they still have time to do so.''
Despite international criticism, the government will never relent on its land program, Mugabe added.
``No enemy is too big or too powerful to be fought and vanquished for this land. Our people are the principle owners of this land. We will not budge,'' he said.
Some farmers said Mugabe was not as combative as expected, but uncertainty remained over the farmers' plight.
``There is some relief that it seems there won't be a mass avalanche of evictions,'' said Ben Zietsman, a farmers union official in the western Matabeleland province.
Some landowners have reported recent overtures by state officials suggesting they might retain small portions of land if they relinquished the rest.
Hasluck said white farmers who were left with portions of land that were too small to be viable might have to leave anyway.
``Farming is all about what is manageable and sustainable,'' he said.
The government has targeted 95 percent of white-owned farms for seizure in its often violent land reform program.
It says its program is a final effort to correct colonial era imbalances in land ownership. Critics say it is part of the increasingly authoritarian government's effort to maintain power amid more than two years of economic chaos and political violence, mainly blamed on the ruling party.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai criticized Mugabe's speech as yet another ``indecent partisan junket to spread a message of violence and hatred.''
The nation was suffering from political violence, disease and an impending hunger crisis, ``yet Mugabe's message to the nation was a promissory note for more misery and death,'' he said.
The state-run Herald newspaper said the agriculture ministry was deploying officials this week to check the status of the farms.
``Farmers who choose to remain should know the government would not hesitate to apply the law,'' Agriculture Minister Joseph Made was quoted as saying.
Actors and former T.v. stars appear crying before congress pleading for aid. The press blames some Republican, the President if we still hold the White House. The next Democratic President does not give armour to the troops he has playing meals on wheels. A black hawk goes down and so the cycle continues.... or something real close.
Anyone want to take a bet on that?
As the presidential poll draws near, Mugabe is wary over his security in the event of losing the do-or-die election that pits his 38-year-old Zanu PF party against the two-year-old opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The Libyans' role in the election has been unclear, though suspicions abound that they could play a crucial role in perpetuating the reign of Muammar Gaddafi's closest ally in the southern African region if the vote went against him.
"As far as I know, they are just involved with monitoring and improving the security of Mugabe who envies Gaddafi's intelligence network," a source said. The team will be in the country up to the time of the presidential election next year. "There are strong fears that something terrible could befall Mugabe if he loses. There is need to ensure his maximum security," the source said.
A British paper this week said "hundreds of Libyan troops", part of Gaddafi's elite forces, "known for their terror tactics, were being housed in secret locations scattered across the country". The Daily Telegraph, quoting intelligence sources, said there was a growing number of intelligence officers turning against Mugabe, forcing him to turn elsewhere for protection. The Libyans were to be issued with Zimbabwean passports by the Registrar-General's office to help Mugabe's presidential election campaign, the paper said.
Other press reports from South Africa suggest that Pagad, a Libyan-funded vigilante group which campaigns against drug lords on the Cape Flats, would be unleashed on the white commercial farmers in a terror campaign. The development takes place at a time when the country has mortgaged itself to Libyans after it sought a US$340 million loan to purchase fuel. The Independent reported recently that the Libyans were going to acquire major stakes in the country's two financial institutions and a major hotel group in addition to receiving 8 000ha of land for industrial and farming purposes. [End]
Well, Mugabe didn't lose. Mugabe appointed four of the five Supreme Court judges and then increased the court to eight members, adding three more judges loyal to his ruling party. Gaddafi sent in his henchmen and they set up terror squads. Gaddafi loaned Mugabe millions of dollars, bought up houses in Zimbabwe and made sure he won.
Most of the farmers had accepted that they would lose much of their land and were complying with the rulings to give over major portions of their farms but Mugabe wants all the land.
The opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) makes up just over a third of the parliament assembly. Their party had been strongly predicted to win the recent election even after a year of being terrorized by squads of roaming gangs. Finally Mugabe removed poll watchers, slowed down voting and assured his "reelection." 67 rallies canceled: Zimbabwe opposition members attacked, murdered Despite international condemnation of the stolen election and calls by the opposition party for a new election, Mugabe continues to drive off all farming, giving the land, homes and farms to his family, his cronies and to Libya (to whom he is deeply in debt). He has murdered farmers as they held on to what had been promised would be left to them. Despite the fact Zimbabweans are starving to death Mugabe continues to destroy the economy and uses his court to rubber stamp any law he wants. Evil Under the Sun
When killing accompanies elections/Zimbabwe's 'elected' dictator*** Mugabe's election victory was celebrated with an "anti-American" march in which a coffin of the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was paraded through Zimbabwe's capital with an American flag draped over it. Sheila McVey, a white Zimbabwean farmer who observed this celebration, told WorldNetDaily, "It was frightening and disgusting. Zimbabwe has gone mad. Where are the Americans and Brits when we need them most? Where is the United Nations?"
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF militia beat several MDC supporters to death. Darlington Vikaveka and farm manager John Rutherford were beaten to death on a farm near Mrondera. In Kwekwe, Mugabe troops killed Funny Mahuni at a torture camp in the Mbizo township. Witnesses said Mahuni's stomach was slit open with a knife. Many street vendors in Bulawayo were beaten and had their "for sale" items taken away by the Mugabe militia when they were suspected of voting for the opposition.
During the election, Mugabe's militia - bolstered by 20,000 new recruits based at 23 posts in Mugabe's tribal homeland of Mashonaland - spread out around the nation and prevented at least 500,000 registered MDC voters from turning in their ballots, about 15 percent of all registered voters. The militia set up roadblocks all across the nation and would allow only passengers with ZANU-PF membership cards access to voting stations. On one Zimbabwean farm, where a poster of Mugabe was ruined with graffiti, the militia reportedly threatened to send the black workers on the farm to one of Mugabe's "re-education camps."
Philip Chiyangawa, a ZANU-PF member of parliament was captured on videotape telling one Mugabe youth militia member to "get a hold of MDC supporters; beat them until they are dead. Burn their farms and their workers' houses, then run away and we will blame the burning of the workers' houses on the whites. Report to the police, because they are ours."***
The production of corn, the country's staple food, plunged by nearly 70 percent this year, the United Nations says. The production of winter wheat, which is harvested in October, will be down by as much as 40 percent. Nearly half of Zimbabwe's population is in need of emergency food aid. Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the country's leading opposition party, accused the government of destroying what was once one of Africa's most promising and prosperous nations.***
New Zealand renews demand for Zimbabwe to be expelled from British-led Commonwealth*** Clark - an outspoken critic of Mugabe - said she was "very, very shocked" by Mugabe's comments and angry the international community was being asked to help out an "outrageous" government. Zimbabwe "should have been suspended (from the British Commonwealth) quite some time ago and I would be very happy to see them suspended now," she added. In March, Zimbabwe was suspended for a year from the councils of the Commonwealth - a move that fell short of expulsion - for the "high level of politically motivated violence" that marred March 9-11 presidential elections.***
More than 100 families live and work on the farm where his plot is located. And there are other complications. Raymond says that though he has been promised seed and fertilizer from the government, he realizes the government has no money for such things. Seed for corn, he also says, is hard to come by because the government has taken all the seed-corn farms. But seed corn once grew on the plot where he's now building his house.
Raymond is a bit sheepish about settling on land that once belonged to someone else. He pulls a pink newspaper from his belongings and opens it to an article about white farmers being evicted from their land. "So sad," he says, displaying the article. "So sad." While the white farmers will lose their land and the decades of hard work they put into it, few will go away destitute. Most will drive away with a little savings and their personal belongings. It is the estimated one million black farm workers who stand to lose the most in the country's land reform. Most have nowhere to go. Desperate, many are refusing to allow their employers to leave until they pay compensation.
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