Back to Index    « Prev Page   Next Page »

Zimbabwe's election: the stakes for Southern Africa
International Crisis Group (ICG)
January 11, 2002

II.  A microcosm of state violence and repression: Mashonaland West

Many of the dishonoured promises – and central elements of the ZANU-PF electoral strategy – were evident during a recent ICG visit to the important region of Mashonaland West that extends west and north of the capital, Harare, to the Zambian border. At the political direction of ZANU-PF officials, war vets spearheaded the major wave of invasions in the Chinhoyi area in August 2001. Most violence was directed at black farmworkers, although white farm owners were intimidated and told to leave. Most of the 48 farms occupied forcibly were looted by farmworkers or new settlers as part of a strategy to widen complicity in the expropriations. This also drove a wedge between farmworkers and farm owners, a relationship the government sees as buttressing opposition electoral prospects. ICG visited farms subsequently listed for expropriation in direct contravention to the Abuja Agreement. None met the criteria for listing. Most are occupied by war vets and squatters, at the direction of three key ZANU-PF politicians, including the governor of Mashonaland West.

Police defer to war vets, indicating the extent to which the rule of law has been undermined, and the Police Support Unit, a paramilitary branch, is responsible for beating and intimidating potential supporters of the opposition MDC. The war vets work within the ZANU-PF machine but, one resident complained, they "are becoming unaccountable to the people who put them there, as they see that the police and even the military cannot overrule them". Huge areas of Mashonaland West will go unharvested or are being torched because of ZANU-PF’s actions, further exacerbating national food shortages. War vets in many cases will not let commercial farmers plant unless they also plant and harvest the war vets’ land. In other areas, forests are being stripped with no guidance from environmental planners. Many commercial farmers on listed farms are unable to get financing for basic activities, ensuring that the food crisis will not be limited to this growing season.

The land invasions are doing little to improve the plight of communal farmers, who are victims of an historic injustice. The resettlement process is highly politicised, with ZANU-PF loyalists being

rewarded with larger plots of expropriated land. Those communal farmers who are being resettled receive little and inconsistent support. Lines for occasional seed and fertilizer distributions are enormous. Controversy (read: corruption) has swirled around distribution processes. War vets distribute farm inputs in certain locations rather than the Grain Marketing Board, resulting in favouritism. Most communal farmers cannot borrow to invest in their new land, as they are not given title deeds, a prerequisite for commercial credit. This leaves them locked in the old cycle of poverty. The land invasions were initially popular with them, but the implementation has alienated many of its stated beneficiaries.

During the week ICG visited Mashonaland West, two MDC activists, Milton Chambati and Titus Nheya, were killed by ZANU-PF militia. Chambati was beheaded after being stabbed to death. A central target of the farm violence there, as nationally, is to prevent farmworkers – largely considered pro-MDC – from voting. ZANU-PF thugs focus on foremen and other leaders whom, after beating, they threaten to kill unless the vote turns out right. Vote-rigging strategies are also being deployed vigorously. For example, ZANU-PF officials have resettled people and are distorting voter rolls by allowing double registration. Chinhoyi officials were seen registering people on occupied farms far outside of their jurisdiction. If SADC or other monitors arrive only near election day they will have no way of checking or even learning of such abuses.

« Prev Page   Next Page »

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP