- They were feted by Robert Mugabe as patriots and pioneers
in a radical redistribution of land to redress colonial injustice. But
the war veterans who ousted white farmers have now themselves been
invaded.
-
- Last month, police units fanned across Trelawney, a rural
district outside the capital, Harare, and erased settlements with matches
and mallets.
-
- The devastation starts just north of Harare and stretches
for mile after mile with hundreds of homes wrecked, fields scorched and
families gone, leaving the landscape silent and empty. "Now we are
in the position the white farmer was. The authorities used us,"
Richard
Mapuringa, 33, said last week, sifting through the ruins of his
house.
-
- Across Trelawney and other districts there were thousands
like him, angry and confused over livelihoods reduced to ashes and a
promise
betrayed.
-
- No official explanation was given for the evictions,
but the suspicion was that senior figures in the ruling Zanu-PF party
wanted
to claim the farms, which had names such as Little England, for
themselves.
-
- "You can't accept a government that does this,"
said Mr Mapuringa.
-
- But it seems Zimbabweans do accept a government that
does this and worse.
-
- Inflation exceeds 300%, unemployment tops 70%, decent
food is unaffordable for many, freedom of speech and assembly have been
crushed and a repressive law muzzling civil society is on the way.
-
- Parliamentary elections are due next March but instead
of fighting for survival, the party that has ruled since independence from
Britain in 1980 is expected to coast to victory.
-
- Last year's general strike has not been repeated and
protest rallies have not materialised. "Mugabe is more secure in power
now than before," said one western diplomat, referring to the
country's
president.
-
- A sullen, resigned mood reigns in Zimbabwe. Since
narrowly
losing elections in 2000 and 2002, which international observers deemed
rigged, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has
floundered.
-
- Broke, exhausted and traduced by the media, the party
has no way of combating the government's ability to pay the forgers and
bully opponents. "We are cracking under the strain," said one
MP.
-
- Non-governmental organisations used to challenge the
regime but several have started winding down operations since being
targeted
by a new bill likely soon to become law. "People are disillusioned,
they can't see a way forward," said one United Nations
official.
-
- What happened at Trelawney shows how the government can
keep a tight grip on power despite chaotic policies and deep internal
divisions.
-
- Having mobilised the settlers in 2000 to chase away the
white farmers and their black labourers the government failed to supply
feed, training or equipment, prompting a national collapse in production
which has fuelled food shortages.
-
- "At least here we still coped. I was able to grow
maize, sorghum, ground nuts, paprika, and enough to feed my family,"
said James Hodzi, 58, a local Zanu-PF party chairman.
-
- But in mid-September the police destroyed
everything.
-
- Who gave the order is a mystery, since no minister has
publicly endorsed the policy. Earlier this month a high court halted the
evictions, prompting Mr Hodzi and others to return and try to
rebuild.
-
- But as commercial farmers learned four years ago, a court
ruling is no protection from the ruling party.
-
- Peasants in Trelawney accused Mr Mugabe's sister Sabina
and his nephew Joe of coveting their land. Others said it had been
earmarked
for army officers. Another theory was of a machiavellian plot to discredit
a faction within the party. Whatever the motive, invaders were no longer
wanted.
-
- "There is some poetic justice in their eviction
but you have to sympathise. They have been used. The small fry making way
for the bigger fry," said John Worsley-Worswick, of the white farmers'
group Justice for Agriculture.
-
- Not all sympathised. John Jones, one of the last white
farmers in Trelawney, welcomed the expulsion of neighbours he accused of
theft. "It's the way forward if we are to get commercial production
back on an even keel."
-
- However, a few miles further down a dirt track his
neighbour
Mr Hodzi, a self-styled invader, said he was determined to stay and rebuild
the burnt shell of his home. A member of Zanu-PF since 1980, he declined
at first to blame the party for his troubles but later suggested there
was cronyism in the leadership. Gesturing to his scorched fields he said:
"All this destruction, just so someone can give his girlfriend a
present."
-
- Eliciting praise from a white farmer and anger from
erstwhile
Zanu-PF supporters, the evictions appear an aberration but one that is
unlikely to threaten the party's re-election.
-
- With a near monopoly of the media and food stocks, and
with a population cowed by security forces, the regime feels assured of
victory.
-
- On a recent trip to Mozambique Mr Mugabe had a spring
in his step. "We are now, day by day, regaining a noteworthy political
and economic stability," he told journalists. In other words, the
possibility of his overthrow had receded.
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe
- /article/0,2763,1329721,00.html
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