- HARARE -- The exodus of whites
from Zimbabwe is gathering pace, with most heading for Britain or Australia.
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- Many of those leaving had put up with four years of persecution
in the hope that President Robert Mugabe would relent. But last week, when
he ordered the closure of private schools for a week for raising fees,
some lost their nerve.
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- Jeremy Callow, 55, a solicitor, said: "It was a
painful decision because this is the only home we know. I love Zimbabwe,
love the people, but can't take it any more."
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- Mr Callow said he succumbed to the "relentless"
grind of trying to help white farmers fighting to recover possessions through
the courts - and then struggling in vain to get the orders enforced.
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- "I spent 80 per cent of my time with farmers counselling
them," he said. "I am not trained for that, nor can I cope any
longer with seeing grown men cry."
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- Under a law introduced before the flawed presidential
elections in 2002, Mr Callow had to renounce his British citizenship to
vote. "It is costing an arm and a leg to get it back," he said.
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- Among about 350 white farmers who remain on the land
are some who had previously avoided the attentions of militants from the
ruling Zanu-PF party. They, too, are now abandoning their homes.
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- Hendrik Olivier, director of the remnants of the once
4,000-strong Commercial Farmers' Union, said: "We have recently noticed
quite a number who have been left alone the past four years but are leaving."
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- John Winward, 57, spent Monday night in police cells
in Karoi, a village 120 miles north of Harare.
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- Under pressure from Zanu-PF invaders to leave his farm,
Mr Winward went to the police with court orders stating that he was allowed
to remain until September to process his crops.
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- "The policeman didn't believe or understand the
court order and locked me up for the night," he said. "I wish
now we had quit when the heat was on a couple of years ago."
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- Chris Shepherd, 38, a father of four forced off his Karoi
farm 21 months ago, had hoped to remain in Zimbabwe and await a calmer
future. But, now struggling financially, he will travel to Australia to
seek work. "I do this with a heavy heart," he said.
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- David Coltart, an MP from the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, said: "This is ethnic cleansing, not in the Bosnian
sense of the phrase, as they knew they couldn't get away with wholesale
murder.
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- "It's more subtle, designed to drive out whites
because Mugabe believes whites provide funding and administrative support
to the MDC.
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- "The laws were changed to deprive whites of land.
Private schools were closed to get at whites even though most pupils are
black. Mugabe said whites were 'enemies of the people' and he is still
hammering away at them."
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- Rose McCullum, 39, owns Ocean-Air Packers and Removals.
"Top businessmen are going in droves," she said. "Most go
to Britain, Australia or New Zealand. A few go to South Africa but they
won't stay there as they worry about the future there as whites.
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- "My two best friends are leaving and we are unsettled
ourselves."
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- ï The International Monetary Fund has granted Zimbabwe
a temporary reprieve from expulsion, giving it six months to prove it can
turn around its economy.
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- The IMF said it was doing this in recognition of reforms
which have reduced inflation and progress in repaying debts.
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- But it said it felt "grave concern over the continued
and sharp decline in economic and social conditions" and "the
widespread HIV/Aids pandemic remains largely unchecked".
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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