Zimbabwe's breadbasket farms become spoils of power
May 23, 2009

THE harvest was dead and it was no longer his. The field of bleached corn was a great backdrop for a photo of ex-farmer Ben Freeth - forced off his land by the campaign of terror by "war veterans", yet the crop had been neglected and lost. It was a picture of futility.

As the shutter snapped, shouts erupted from the nearby mango orchard and three figures came dashing towards us: "Come here! Come here! We're going to shoot you!" We heard the dull thump of shotguns.

The war veterans - Robert Mugabe's footsoldiers in the 1970s war of independence - moved with surprising speed, but they had coils of razor wire to negotiate. Freeth, a tall man with a clipped moustache and military bearing, calmly turned away: "I think we better go."

Foiled by the razor wire, the veterans' shouts receded. "Stop! We want to cut off your heads!"

Anticipating a follow-up visit from a truckload of veterans, Freeth urged us to leave for Harare. Foreign journalists are banned from Zimbabwe and face automatic imprisonment in the capital's cholera-plagued and overcrowded jails.

Led by a thug with the unlikely name of Landmine Shamuyarira, the brother of a former information minister in Mugabe's old government, the veterans had waged a long campaign of violence and intimidation against Freeth, his elderly father-in-law, Mike Campbell, and their families.

Some of Freeth's 100 or so farm workers, who last month repelled Landmine's militia, were arrested and savagely beaten by compliant police. In an earlier assault, Freeth had his skull fractured. He maintains the police are taking orders from Landmine and his brother.

In Chegutu district, south-west of Harare, violence against white farmers and their workers has intensified in recent months as apparently desperate ZANU-PF politicians scramble over the spoils of power as the "inclusive" government gathers momentum. Eight of 15 farming families, the Campbells among them, have been forced out.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change - who in a bizarre arrangement shares power with Mugabe and his ZANU-PF - has bitterly opposed the invasions, saying they are wrecking the nation's agricultural base. He ordered that they be stopped, but Mugabe and his Attorney-General, the hardline Johannes Tomana, encourage them.

While the invasions persist, donor nations and the International Monetary Fund refuse to release hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to bail out Zimbabwe's failed economy and its health and education systems. Britain, France, the United States and the Southern African Development Commission have condemned the invasions.

The seizures have turned Zimbabwe from breadbasket to dustbowl. Seventy-five per cent of the population now depends on food aid, Few if any farms remain productive once invaded. Zimbabwe, the world's largest exporter of white maize in the 1990s, now imports it.

Figures obtained by the Herald reveal a massive decline in agricultural production since the invasions began in the late 1990s. Maize, wheat, tobacco, cotton and dairy production figures are 25 per cent of what they were 10 years ago and the nation faces ongoing food shortages. Rural unemployment also has leapt, as farms become unproductive retreats for the rich and powerful.

Last year, after heavily armed invaders broke into Mike and Angela Campbell's house on Mount Carmel Farm and abducted them in the middle of the night, the family decided to abandon one the nation's most productive agribusinesses. They were bashed and tortured for nine hours - to end the ordeal, Angela said she signed over the property. "The High Court says we can go back, but there is no law and order … police ignore the ruling," Mike said.

What is happening now at Mount Carmel Farm, Freeth says, is outright theft. "One hundred and twenty tonnes of mangoes worth $US120,000 planted by us have been harvested and sold. No compensation offered."

On Etheredge, a nearby property, police shot several workers and jailed the white owners on contrived charges of refusing to leave the land they owned. The orange grove was taken over just before harvest and the crop sold - not by war veterans, but by the Mugabe confidante Edna Madzongwe, the president of the Senate. She has ignored four court orders to leave and has made no comment on the death of a man caught stealing fruit on Etheredge.

Local farmworkers say he was beaten for five hours.

Ownership of seized farms seems to go not to war veterans but to the ZANU-PF elite that includes generals, a Supreme Court judge and the disgraced head of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono. Mugabe and his second wife, Grace, are said to own three farms.

GNU failing to craft long-term solutions

May 14, 2009
Jupiter Punungwe

ALMOST four months after it was formed, there is evidence that the GNU is running around like a confused cockroach in a bottle. Those of us who much earlier predicted that the GNU did not have a solid foundation of principles to stand feel more convinced that we were right.

The GNU remains dogged by controversy, including continued detention of human rights activists and a host of other unresolved issues. It has been unable to convince key donors that the Zimbabwe government has turned the corner and will govern responsibly from now on. It has been unable to come up with a convincing home-grown plan to tackle the problems created by the massive economic mismanagement of the last few years.

Beyond running around, hat-in-hand, nobody seems to have had a real strategy on what to do. People who clearly failed to fulfil their functions in the past, and my favourite example is Gedion Gono, remain firmly ensconced in their posts without even a slap on the wrist.

I complained much earlier that a GNU merely about the dividing of posts with no real commitment to principles could not to take Zimbabwe forward. My position seems to have been correct. Evidence is abundant that GNU participants do not even recognize the fundamental steps they need to take in order to haul Zimbabwe out of the hole it finds itself in. One perfect example of this is that they do not recognize the need to limit the costs that they impose on the fiscus. They should have done that by limiting their own numbers and making more prudent choices when it comes to acquiring things like cars and luxuries for their own use.

A notable example of the GNU’s lack of focus is the big fight over who gets cars and from where. The fight even saw senior government officials flighting adverts in national newspapers making insinuations about who was keeping government car keys in their offices.

The abuse of human rights and private property continues unabated and increasingly undebated. People remain incarcerated for the simple reason that they annoy a particular group of politicians. Evidence remains abundant that private property remains at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians whose paramount intention is to enrich themselves, not to solve Zimbabwe’s centuries-old land problem created by the British invasion and plunder of our territory in 1890.

It seems some politicians have developed a habit of invading a new farm every year where crops are ready for harvesting. True, the British invaded our land despite the tenacious resistance of our forefathers in the First Chimurenga. But there were no lush orange grooves on that land. I do not think Sekuru Kaguvi or Mbuya Nehanda would have encouraged anyone to steal even a single orange from a settler homestead. Our culture and principles have never been based upon theft of others people’s property. We have always pride ourselves as hard workers not thieves.

This new Gonoist phenomenon of people exchanging a kilogram gold for a kilogram of clay, calling it a fair deal, is foreign to our culture. Even our ancestors like Chief Mapondera and King Lobengula will turn in their graves when they hear that we are harvesting where we did not sow.

Industry is struggling to survive. Many companies remain closed and many people jobless. One of the key reasons why industry is not functioning is that there was massive flight of capital over the past half-decade as private individuals, companies and other organisation sought to remove their assets, especially foreign cash from within Gono’s reach. As long as Gono continues in place many such people will be reluctant to resume business activities in Zimbabwe.

The structural deficiencies that resulted in the plunder of our money remain firmly in place. An unaccountable and bloated central government is one such structure. The people behind the rape of Zimbabwe’s savings and pensions remain firmly ensconced in their offices and with their powers chiefly intact.

Gono once openly boasted that he could wipe out people’s wealth by declaring currency in circulation invalid at any moment. Now he has also openly admitted that he took people’s hard currency (gold) without their permission and gave them worthless Zimdollars (clay) in its place. What guarantees do investors have that such actions will not be repeated in future? Tsvangirai cannot even ensure the freedom of his own personal assistant. Therefore, why should investors have confidence that his presence protects their investments?

Not only would Gono take hard currency and replace it with purported money at an exchange rate he solely determined, he also determined how much of their own money people could withdraw from the bank. He even went to the extent of telling people when and how many times a month they could withdraw their money. The end result was that people would be saddled with Zimdollars unable to buy even a rotten bun. All the while he could dip into people’s hard currency accounts at will to buy whatever he wanted. He and his cronies used the priviledge they had granted themselves over people’s wealth to the hilt. The end result is that people who had a lot of money in savings, pensions and other liquid assets were left with nothing.

Meanwhile, not only could Gono himself buy luxury 12-cylinder Mercedes Benz cars himself, twincabs and tractors for his cronies and build mansions for himself, but he also managed to acquire massive wealth which he now calls his “family businesses” and even send his children to live in luxury penthouses of their own (like Bona Mugabe) in Australia until they were deported. The money that made that possible was money made from haemorrhaging the savings of ordinary Zimbabweans. He went to the extent of trying to hoodwink people by buying them measly scotchcarts, ploughs and hoes. What an insult to the many village pensioners who had lost fortunes.

Gono was abusing their money and they should have it back. They were soldiers for decades putting their lives on the line in the patriotic defense of Zimbabwe. They were policemen for decades protecting their country. They were teachers for decades breathing in chalk dusk and educating the children of their motherland, building its future. They were civil servants for decades ensuring the smooth running of their nation. They worked in the private sector for decades producing for their beloved Zimbabwe. Their sweat, their blood, their effort, their limps and most importantly their time went towards making the Zimbabwe I love, rich. They saved money while they were working. They contributed to pension funds. They subscribed to insurance policies. Where are those savings now?

Gono now claims he was faced with extra-ordinary times. The only extra-ordinary thing about the times is his profligate misuse, abuse and rape of their wealth. When he came along they had money, and he had his fair share of what he worked for. Now he and his cronies are extraordinarily wealthy and the people are penniless. He even has the audacity to openly admit that he took their money, from their accounts or the accounts of their employers without their permission.

But I digress. The bottom line is that the current GNU is not a solution to Zimbabwe’s core problems. True, it has managed to calm the situation, but it has not proffered any long term solutions, either. Tranquilising a hungry lion does not amount to effectively removing the threat against your livestock. Fundamental structural defects in Zimbabwe’s governance system need to be addressed.

To try and fashion a solution in a few words, power needs to be devolved from the centre to the people. Putting a different individual at the same still-too-powerful centre is not an adequate solution.

The hungry lion of Zimbabwe is tranquilised, but we can all see it is still alive and kicking.

GNU failing to craft long-term solutions

May 14, 2009
Jupiter Punungwe

ALMOST four months after it was formed, there is evidence that the GNU is running around like a confused cockroach in a bottle. Those of us who much earlier predicted that the GNU did not have a solid foundation of principles to stand feel more convinced that we were right.

The GNU remains dogged by controversy, including continued detention of human rights activists and a host of other unresolved issues. It has been unable to convince key donors that the Zimbabwe government has turned the corner and will govern responsibly from now on. It has been unable to come up with a convincing home-grown plan to tackle the problems created by the massive economic mismanagement of the last few years.

Beyond running around, hat-in-hand, nobody seems to have had a real strategy on what to do. People who clearly failed to fulfil their functions in the past, and my favourite example is Gedion Gono, remain firmly ensconced in their posts without even a slap on the wrist.

I complained much earlier that a GNU merely about the dividing of posts with no real commitment to principles could not to take Zimbabwe forward. My position seems to have been correct. Evidence is abundant that GNU participants do not even recognize the fundamental steps they need to take in order to haul Zimbabwe out of the hole it finds itself in. One perfect example of this is that they do not recognize the need to limit the costs that they impose on the fiscus. They should have done that by limiting their own numbers and making more prudent choices when it comes to acquiring things like cars and luxuries for their own use.

A notable example of the GNU’s lack of focus is the big fight over who gets cars and from where. The fight even saw senior government officials flighting adverts in national newspapers making insinuations about who was keeping government car keys in their offices.

The abuse of human rights and private property continues unabated and increasingly undebated. People remain incarcerated for the simple reason that they annoy a particular group of politicians. Evidence remains abundant that private property remains at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians whose paramount intention is to enrich themselves, not to solve Zimbabwe’s centuries-old land problem created by the British invasion and plunder of our territory in 1890.

It seems some politicians have developed a habit of invading a new farm every year where crops are ready for harvesting. True, the British invaded our land despite the tenacious resistance of our forefathers in the First Chimurenga. But there were no lush orange grooves on that land. I do not think Sekuru Kaguvi or Mbuya Nehanda would have encouraged anyone to steal even a single orange from a settler homestead. Our culture and principles have never been based upon theft of others people’s property. We have always pride ourselves as hard workers not thieves.

This new Gonoist phenomenon of people exchanging a kilogram gold for a kilogram of clay, calling it a fair deal, is foreign to our culture. Even our ancestors like Chief Mapondera and King Lobengula will turn in their graves when they hear that we are harvesting where we did not sow.

Industry is struggling to survive. Many companies remain closed and many people jobless. One of the key reasons why industry is not functioning is that there was massive flight of capital over the past half-decade as private individuals, companies and other organisation sought to remove their assets, especially foreign cash from within Gono’s reach. As long as Gono continues in place many such people will be reluctant to resume business activities in Zimbabwe.

The structural deficiencies that resulted in the plunder of our money remain firmly in place. An unaccountable and bloated central government is one such structure. The people behind the rape of Zimbabwe’s savings and pensions remain firmly ensconced in their offices and with their powers chiefly intact.

Gono once openly boasted that he could wipe out people’s wealth by declaring currency in circulation invalid at any moment. Now he has also openly admitted that he took people’s hard currency (gold) without their permission and gave them worthless Zimdollars (clay) in its place. What guarantees do investors have that such actions will not be repeated in future? Tsvangirai cannot even ensure the freedom of his own personal assistant. Therefore, why should investors have confidence that his presence protects their investments?

Not only would Gono take hard currency and replace it with purported money at an exchange rate he solely determined, he also determined how much of their own money people could withdraw from the bank. He even went to the extent of telling people when and how many times a month they could withdraw their money. The end result was that people would be saddled with Zimdollars unable to buy even a rotten bun. All the while he could dip into people’s hard currency accounts at will to buy whatever he wanted. He and his cronies used the priviledge they had granted themselves over people’s wealth to the hilt. The end result is that people who had a lot of money in savings, pensions and other liquid assets were left with nothing.

Meanwhile, not only could Gono himself buy luxury 12-cylinder Mercedes Benz cars himself, twincabs and tractors for his cronies and build mansions for himself, but he also managed to acquire massive wealth which he now calls his “family businesses” and even send his children to live in luxury penthouses of their own (like Bona Mugabe) in Australia until they were deported. The money that made that possible was money made from haemorrhaging the savings of ordinary Zimbabweans. He went to the extent of trying to hoodwink people by buying them measly scotchcarts, ploughs and hoes. What an insult to the many village pensioners who had lost fortunes.

Gono was abusing their money and they should have it back. They were soldiers for decades putting their lives on the line in the patriotic defense of Zimbabwe. They were policemen for decades protecting their country. They were teachers for decades breathing in chalk dusk and educating the children of their motherland, building its future. They were civil servants for decades ensuring the smooth running of their nation. They worked in the private sector for decades producing for their beloved Zimbabwe. Their sweat, their blood, their effort, their limps and most importantly their time went towards making the Zimbabwe I love, rich. They saved money while they were working. They contributed to pension funds. They subscribed to insurance policies. Where are those savings now?

Gono now claims he was faced with extra-ordinary times. The only extra-ordinary thing about the times is his profligate misuse, abuse and rape of their wealth. When he came along they had money, and he had his fair share of what he worked for. Now he and his cronies are extraordinarily wealthy and the people are penniless. He even has the audacity to openly admit that he took their money, from their accounts or the accounts of their employers without their permission.

But I digress. The bottom line is that the current GNU is not a solution to Zimbabwe’s core problems. True, it has managed to calm the situation, but it has not proffered any long term solutions, either. Tranquilising a hungry lion does not amount to effectively removing the threat against your livestock. Fundamental structural defects in Zimbabwe’s governance system need to be addressed.

To try and fashion a solution in a few words, power needs to be devolved from the centre to the people. Putting a different individual at the same still-too-powerful centre is not an adequate solution.

The hungry lion of Zimbabwe is tranquilised, but we can all see it is still alive and kicking.

good work reason,good work.am disappointed with a number of my fellow country people who have thrown all reasoning out of the window and think our saviours are the west.i still think its outright silly for such a great country 2 have to rely on others.can u take time in your next installment to furher educate Zimbabweans who think like so about the first lesson otf International Relations "there are no permanent friends or enemies just permanent national interests" IR 101

so als long as the west doesnt get anything, no aid will come wothout any strings.
once again, keep up the good work mkwenyana.lol

Dear Reason,

Keep up the good work exposing the truth behind the political and economic causes of Zimbabwe's struggle for self-determination as a sovereign state. I enjoy reading your articles in The Herald. Keep doing what you're doing.

Deitric Muhammad--United States