The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU), the main representative body for white farmers, said a majority of evicted farmers had been able to return to their properties in recent days. But the organisation said the situation on farms remained tense and unpredictable while war veterans continued to harass and intimidate farmers and their workers.
CFU president Trevor Giffords said: “Since April 5, we have had 134 farms affected by the new wave of farm invasions, of these farmers two were black farmers and the remainder were white. One of the black farmers and the majority of white farmers have been able to return to their farms and continue farming.
The CFU said about 30 farmers were battling to be allowed back on their farms, adding that intimidation and harassment persist across the farming community with war veterans routinely assaulting and victimising farm workers.
War veterans began re-occupying white farms after Mugabe lost a March 29 presidential election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai claims he defeated Mugabe with more than 50 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off election. But ruling the ZANU PF party and independent election observers say the opposition leader won with less than 50 percent of the vote, warranting a re-run of the ballot.
Analysts see the new farm invasions and resurgent politically motivated violence in some parts of Zimbabwe as part of a well-orchestrated plan by Mugabe to regain the upper hand in rural and farming areas, where ZANU PF surprisingly lost several seats to Tsvangirai’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
Zimbabwe’s government has since 2000 seized most of the farms owned by the country’s about 4 000 white commercial farmers, ostensibly for re-distribution to landless blacks. However, many of the former white farms ended up in the hands of Mugabe’s top officials some of whom grabbed up to six farms each.
A SADC Tribunal is due to make a ruling in May on whether Zimbabwe’s land re-distribution programme violates Article 6 of the regional treaty that bars member states from discriminating against any person on the grounds of gender, religion, race, ethnic origin and culture.
A ruling declaring land reform illegal would have far reaching consequences for Mugabe’s government, opening the floodgates for thousands of claims of damages by dispossessed white farmers.
Such a ruling could also set the Harare on a collision course with its SADC member governments, particularly if it – as it has always done with court rulings against its land reforms – refuses to abide by an unfavourable Tribunal judgment.
Farm seizures are blamed for plunging Zimbabwe into severe food shortages after the government displaced established white commercial farmers and replaced them with either incompetent or inadequately funded black farmers. – ZimOnline
NEWS FOCUS: Political stalemate douses Independence Day euphoria
Edith Kaseke
HARARE – Zimbabweans will tomorrow commemorate Independence Day uncertain of their political future and gripped by fear that a three-week election stalemate could spiral into open violence, as President Robert Mugabe looks determined to hang on to power despite losing last month’s vote.
The 84-year-old Mugabe was handed his first election defeat in the March 29 polls when his ruling ZANU PF party lost its parliamentary majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, (MDC) for the first time since independence in 1980.
But electoral officials are yet to issue much the awaited results of a parallel presidential vote, which ZANU PF acknowledges Mugabe lost to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, although they say a second round of voting is required to settle the contest.
The MDC says it won outright and wants Mugabe to hand over power immediately.
People are afraid, they are uncertain and you will see that there will not be much in terms of celebrations we have seen in the past, said John Makumbe, a senior political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.
People are not talking about independence but about the results. But even from the government side, there is nothing much pointing towards independence celebrations. It is time for reflection and the mood in that camp shows you all is not well, said Makumbe.
Mugabe will make his first public appearance on Friday when he leads the nation in the celebrations and is widely expected to set the tone for his campaign during the expected run-off period, which Tsvangirai says will only participate in if international observers are present.
But events on the ground already point to a campaign of violence and intimidation in rural areas, where thousands of supporters rallied behind Tsvangirai.
The involvement in the campaign of the military and, especially the hawkish Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga and Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri, has raised fears of bloodshed ahead of the run-off.
I am really scared with all those stories we are hearing from the rural areas, especially in Mashonaland East, Tariro Kamocha, a Harare-based trainee accountant said, echoing fears among many Zimbabweans.
Mashonaland East province, a ZANU PF stronghold where the MDC made significant inroads, is bearing the brunt of the ruling party’s violent retribution campaign that has blighted the festive mood that normally accompanies independence celebrations. Â
That and an economy with the world’s highest inflation rate above 164 000 percent, unemployment above 80 percent and shortages of foreign currency, food and water have combined to douse the independence euphoria seen in past years.
As political temperatures hot up inside Zimbabwe, the world is grappling with how to avoid bloodletting such as seen in Kenya in the aftermath of that country’s disputed December elections, which left more than a 1 000 people dead.
The United Nations Security Council was on Wednesday expected to discuss the Zimbabwe situation although South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was to chair the meeting, and other African countries, were expected to block a resolution.
But this has not unfazed Mbeki’s ruling ANC party, whose leader Jacob Zuma yesterday said events in Zimbabwe were causing apprehension and could destabilise the southern African region if not properly handled.
That fear is deeply ingrained among Zimbabweans themselves as they reflect on 28 years of independence, which has lately given birth to worsening poverty, political polarisation and a brutal crackdown on Mugabe’s opponents by security forces, war veterans, youth militias and hired thugs.
The feeling among Zimbabweans at this particular moment is that there is very little to celebrate on Independence Day, Eldred Masunungure, a leading political analyst said.
I think what is occupying the minds of many people is when this election deadlock will be resolved and if there is a re-run whether it will be free of violence. But there is no doubt that the overwhelming majority would want to celebrate a form of a fresh start, he said.
But Mugabe, who faces his biggest ever political crisis and has not made a single public comment since election day, is trying to reverse that new beginning, which appeared to have arrived with an MDC opposition victory.
We fought for one man one vote and that whoever wins should govern. The MDC won and it should be allowed to govern. This is what I understand to be the meaning of independence, an MDC supporter who refused to be named told ZimOnline. – ZimOnline.
Wayne Mafaro and Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO – A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday sentenced a British journalist to six months in jail with an option for a fine, as police held for the second day a local journalist they suspect of freelancing for foreign media.
But two more journalists, an American and a British, were cleared of charges of covering Zimbabwe’s March 29 elections without official accreditation.
Zimbabwean authorities barred most foreign media from covering the elections and in recent weeks have arrested several foreign journalists they accused of sneaking into the country to report on the polls illegally.
Briton Jonathan Michael Clayton, held in jail since his arrest last week, was found guilty by a magistrate’s court of contravening Zimbabwe’s immigration laws when falsely declared on arrival at an airport in Bulawayo city that he was a tourist.
He was sentenced to six months jail or a fine of ZW$20 billion, equivalent to nearly US$670 000 at the official exchange rate of one American dollar to ZW$30 000. The figure comes down to a paltry US$250 at the widely used parallel market rate of one greenback to ZW$80 000 000.
In a sign that authorities were not about to ease the crackdown against reporters, police kept freelance journalists Frank Chikowore in jail with no laid charges against him.
Chikowore was arrested on Tuesday morning from his home in Harare’s Warren Park suburb.
His wife was. Karen. allowed to see him briefly on Wednesday but the journalist’s fate remains unclear with the police not saying a word about when he might be brought to court or what charges they might prefer against him.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) condemned Chikowore’s arrest as baseless and intended to intimidate journalists from exposing any flaws they may detect in an anticipated second round run-off election between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Union president Mathew Takaona said in a statement: The arrest is baseless and illegal and we believe it is intended to harass and intimidate journalists out to cover the presidential election re-run.”
Takaona said ZUJ believed the run-off election will most likely turn out into an unfair, violent and flawed election if the media, particularly foreign and local independent journalists, were prevented from covering the poll.
Earlier on Wednesday a Harare magistrate acquitted New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak and British freelance reporter Stephen Bevan on charges of reporting Zimbabwe’s election without official accreditation.
“They have been acquitted. The state failed to prove that they had committed a crime,” said Beatrice Mtetwa, a lawyer for the journalists.
Both local and foreign journalists must be accredited with the government’s Media and Information Commission in order to practice their profession in Zimbabwe, with those failing to do so facing arrest and imprisonment.
Zimbabwe is widely regarded as one of the most difficult countries in the world for journalists to work in.
In addition to laws requiring journalists to seek accreditation in order to work in the country, newspapers are also required to register with the state media commission, with those failing to do so facing closure and seizure of their property by the police.
Another law, the Public Order and Security Act, imposes up to two years in jail on journalists convicted of publishing falsehoods that may cause public alarm and despondency, while the Criminal Codification Act imposes up to 20-year jail terms on journalists convicted of denigrating President Robert Mugabe in their articles. Â
Repression against the independent media usually peaks during elections.
Meanwhile, police have released on bail a 60-year old Bulawayo-based blogger who was arrested last week on Monday on allegations of practising journalism without accreditation.
The woman, Margaret Kriel, spent eight days in prison before her release on bail on Tuesday this week.
Kriel runs an online social forum, Morning Mirror, where Bulawayo residents post death and birth notices and any other issues pertaining to the city. – ZimOnline.
Post published in: News