Land grab makes black farm workers homeless War veterans leave 20,000 to sleep by the roadside
Special report: Zimbabwe
Andrew Meldrum in Hwedza Wednesday August 22, 2001 The Guardian
Twenty thousand black farm workers and their families were thrown out of their homes this week as President Robert Mugabe's war veterans intensified their campaign to destroy Zimbabwe's white farming community.
The war veterans and other militant supporters of Mr Mugabe have brought 14 white-owned farms in the productive Hwedza district to a halt and forced the labourers to disperse. Many of the labourers have nowhere to go and can be seen by the side of dusty roads seeking shelter from the bitter winter nights.
At least five white farmers have abandoned their land under threats of violence and 20 more farms have been forced to stop all work. The war veterans go to new properties each day.
In Hwedza the campaign is led by man called Chigwedere, described by one farmer as "a war lord crazed by his own power".
"He is creating a humanitarian crisis here," the farmer added.
"His aim is to rid this area of white farmers and he doesn't care how much misery he causes to our workers. Our workers are frightened and suffering and Chigwedere is preventing us from even offering them any assistance."
Nearby a grey-haired man carrying a suitcase on his head stopped to catch his breath. He was too frightened to give his name.
"We were thrown off our farm yesterday and our family was scattered," he said.
"Last night we slept under a tree. We hope we can find some friends a few miles away where we can get some food and a place to sleep. Then we must keep moving because of all this trouble."
On the back roads there were more families lugging their belongings in duffel bags and satchels. Some were heading for the nearby towns of Marondera and Ruwa.
The war veterans are starting fires which are sweeping through hectares of dry grazing pastures. Columns of smoke can be seen rising from the rolling Hwedza countryside.
"It is a wave moving through this district and it might just engulf the whole country," a farmer said.
"They want to get all the white farmers off their land. Now they are hitting at our labour because they think that is our weak point."
The focus has moved to Hwedza since the war veterans forced about 100 white families to flee their homes in the north-western district of Chinhoyi last week. Nearly 50 homes were looted and vandalised.
Twenty-one white farmers who were arrested when they tried to help a besieged neighbour remained in jail last night despite Monday's high court order to release them on bail .
They were not released, because officials had not yet produce the warrants for their release, the official Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reported.
By forcing white farmers off the land Mr Mugabe hopes to regain the support of the rural black population. The presidential election is due in April and Mr Mugabe, already in power for 21 years, has announced that he intends to stand for another six-year-term.
The continuing disturbances caused by the land invasions are blamed by veterinary experts for an outbreak of foot and mouth disease that has hit the country and halted its once lucrative export trade of beef to Europe.
"The land invaders have cut fences across the country and cattle are roaming freely," a farmer said.
"We have already had anthrax and now it is foot and mouth. I am stuck on my farm with my cattle and no labour."
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition condemned the violence yesterday, saying: "The looming food shortages are a direct result of this state-sponsored anarchy. This is not land reform; this is thuggery."
The government admits that its land seizure policies are reducing agriculture production. The finance minister, Simba Makoni, told MPs that they had contributed to a 54% reduction in commercial planting of maize, a staple crop.