Posted on 08/14/2002 2:21:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe eased his verbal attacks on white farmers, in a nationally broadcast speech that offered a glimmer of hope that he might shy away from heavy-handed tactics in evicting them.
Mugabe, who is rarely seen in public in Zimbabwe, addressed the nation's military in his second nationally broadcast speech in as many days.
Mugabe again insisted that his violence-wracked land redistribution program was nearing completion, and said members of the armed forces would benefit from the scheme.
But he did not ask the defence forces to evict white farmers and issued no new threats.
"At home, the land redistribution programme which is empowering the hitherto marginalized black majority is being finalized," Mugabe said.
"The program giving real ownership of land to indigenous Zimbabweans has also benefited officers of the defense forces and will continue to benefit more," he said.
The softer tone contrasted with his fiery speech Monday, when Mugabe said he would stick to an August deadline for giving white lands to blacks.
"We shall keep a watchful eye on what is happening on the farms," he said, warning whites not to seek "another war."
"All genuine and well-meaning white farmers who wish to pursue a farming career as loyal citizens of this country have managed to do so. We have been generous. No farmer, we said, need go without land," he added.
So far, no farmers have reported any forced evictions. Police have said they will enforce the law, but declined to say how.
A farmers' advocacy group, Justice for Agriculture, said in a statement: "We take to heart that the president acknowledges the existence of loyal farmers. Amongst these there are 70 percent who bought their land after independence in 1980 and have invested heavily in their farming operations."
It added: "These are people who along with their loyal workforce have nowhere to go and vow to stay put."
About 1.5 million people have remained on white-owned farms despite eviction orders that came into effect last week, according to JAG.
That number includes not only defiant white farmers and their families but also the hundreds of thousands of farm workers and their families who depend on the farms for their housing and livelihoods.
JAG has urged farmers to prepare new lawsuits to challenge the eviction orders.
Mugabe is already under Western sanctions over state-backed violence and claims of fraud in the March election when he was reelected.
His speech Monday brought new criticism from the United States and New Zealand, which condemned his move to evict farmers at a time when six million Zimbabweans face famine
March 18, 2002 - Mugabe sworn in after tainted vote - new vote fraud numbers revealed - 55 white farmers-wives arrested *** Most of his speech, however, was devoted to the two main issues of his campaign: land reform and sovereignty. Both themes emerged two years ago as Tsvangirai's fledgling Movement for Democratic Change scored a sudden victory against Mugabe just five months after being formed, leading voters to reject the president's proposed new constitution in a national referendum. Smarting from defeat, Mugabe unleashed veterans of the liberation war and other party supporters in a violent campaign against white-owned commercial farms. In the subsequent two years, nearly 1,700 farms were occupied and 4,526 were listed for forced acquisition by the state.
Barely visible behind a bank of microphones yesterday, he said the final phase of his land reform program - resettlement of the acquired farms by black peasant families and aspiring black commercial farmers - ''must proceed with greater strength and speed.'' His words have already been backed by action. In the nine days since the polls first opened, dozens of white farmers and their wives - 55 people in all - have been arrested and detained on a broad range of conspiracy charges. Others have been driven off their land in recent days by militant ruling-party youths. ***
March 18, 2002 - Zimbabwe farmer found dead after 'attack'*** Harare - A white farmer was shot and killed near his homestead early on Monday, apparently while trying to escape an attack by settlers and war veterans, said a farm community spokesperson. Jenni Williams of the Commercial Farmers' Union said Terry Ford of Gowrie farm, about 40km southwest of Harare, was found shot through the head. He was the tenth white farmer to be killed since President Robert Mugabe's supporters began the seizure of white-owned commercial farms, two years ago.
March 20, 2002 - Zimbabwe farmers brace for further land seizures*** At an international donors conference in 1998, the CFU agreed to sell back 2.5 million acres of land with another 12.4 million to follow in a phased plan. But international funding dried up after donor money was instead lavished on Mugabe's cronies. Restless for a share of the land, the war veterans launched farm invasions in 2000.
"I very much doubt that there is a single farmer in this country who does not agree that there is a need for land reform - and if there is, they don't belong here," says Mr. Goosen. "But let's do it properly. The money was available, the farmers were in agreement, the government and the international community seemed happy.... Then the opportunity was thrown away." Meanwhile, the policy affects far more blacks than whites. The industry employs around 1.5 million black farmworkers, many of whom are now living in the bush after being driven off the land by armed squatters.
Goosen, a fourth-generation Zimbabwean, owns 4,700 acres at Nyamandhlovu, northwest of Bulawayo. He bought his farm in 1985 with full government permission - as did many of today's farmers. Last August it was invaded by 70 self-styled war veterans who fired 59 of his 83 workers and threatened them with spears, axes, iron poles, knives, chains, and knobkerries. Farmers like Goosen are being prevented from preparing the land for the May wheat crop, despite a nationwide food shortage.***
April 12, 2002 - No end to the land-grab in Zimbabwe**** Cartwright, who inherited his farm known as Waltondale from his father who bought it in 1934, said his property had not been designated for redistribution. The farm, which produces tobacco and maize and has 700 head of cattle, is estimated to be worth Zim$400-million, including its tobacco crop. "All of which the brigadier has announced now belongs to him," said a despondent Cartwright, who is a Zimbabwean citizen. Cartwright said he had built homes with water and electricity for his workers, constructed a farming school attended by 400 children on his property and donated millions of dollars worth of medical equipment to the local hospital over the years. It was taken away in a flash when he went out for a drive with his wife last Saturday night.****
June 6, 2002 - Mugabe dishes out goodies to cronie*** "The United Nations says this is our longest dry spell in 20 years, and yet all our dams are almost 80 percent full. Our dams are so full because the water has not been used to irrigate crops. There are no crops in the ground because government supporters stopped farmers from growing food because they wanted the land for their masters - and now 6 million people face starvation. What a sickening irony." Buckle said that last week, Zimbabwean Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said that any white farmer who did not put a crop of wheat into the ground would have his farm listed for seizure. ***
"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."***
July 26, 2002 - Evil under the sun***It is not often that you see a human face devoid of hope. Last Wednesday morning in a dusty wood outside Harare in Zimbabwe I looked into many such faces. These were the forgotten victims of Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, just a few of the 85,000 'displaced' black workers thrown violently off their farms. Their few possessions have been taken from them, and most will never find work again.
Among them are frail and elderly men and women, retired after a lifetime's work, and children whose worlds have been turned upside-down, hanging around in the sun with no prospect of an education. I saw about 100 such people. A 45- year-old foreman had been forced to leave behind the beef herd he had worked with for 15 years. He was a skilled stockman of the sort highly valued in any agricultural economy. He is unlikely ever to tend cattle again. A 54-year- old farmhand, whose father and grandfather had worked on the farm before him, had lost the only home and working environment he had ever known - and Zimbabwe had lost another skilled hand. An 80-year-old wizened and lame retired worker, expecting to live out his declining years in relative tranquillity, was stumbling around the tents and the open fires, lost. A mother pointed to her ten-year-old child and said, "No school now. No more school ever."
From what I heard she is probably right. The numbers are rocketing. If the land grabs continue and the 2,900 white farmers are required to leave their farms on 9 August, the number of 'displaced' black farm workers could rise to 300,000. Robert Mugabe couldn't care less. His government sneeringly describes the victims as Malawian or Mozambican, ignoring the reality that they have been in Zimbabwe for generations. My colleague Richard Spring, MP, and I arrived at an almost empty Harare airport at about 9 a.m. Because the Zimbabwean authorities did not know we were there, we were able to see troubling sights. A whistle-stop tour of the farmlands north-west of Harare showed us that hectare after hectare of highly productive farmland is lying unprepared, unplanted and vandalised. The sheer evil of this deliberate waste, at a time when six million Zimbabweans are malnourished and the threat of famine is just around the corner, was made starker by the evident success of the few farms still in production.***
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