Threats, intimidation and Zimbabwe’s defiance of SADC rulings

In open defiance of the ruling of a tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the government of Zimbabwe has tacitly given the green light to a new wave of terrorism against the opposition forces and have included the few remaining white farmers in the country. All part of a campaign of violence and intimidation launched when the government of Robert Mugabe realized that it had lost the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections.

In late March, the five-person SADC tribunal, sitting in Windhoek, Namibia, ordered the government to halt the eviction of 74 farmers and take no steps to interfere with peaceful residence and beneficial use of the farms pending the outcome of a mass hearing set for May 28.

But as the Mugabe regime cracks down on Zimbabweans in the run-up to what most believe will be a run-off election, dozens of white-owned farms have been invaded and harassed, including four specifically protected by the SADC ruling.

Last Saturday, Gary Godfrey, the son-in-law of the owner of Highfield Farms in Nyamandlovou, 80km from Bulawayo, was called to a meeting with the new farmers who had been resettled on what had been his family’s land until 2000. Until that year, Highfield property included 42,000 acres. Now, Godfrey farms fewer than 500 acres.

For the past eight years, relationships with the “new farmers” have been extremely cordial. But since the election, the new farmers have been warned by government-supported thugs that Godfrey is involved in an opposition-led plot to poison their livestock in order to push them off their newly-acquired land, so that Godfrey can re-acquire it. Coincidentally, or not, Highfield is located in the parliamentary constituency recently won by ZANU-PF MP Obert Mpofu, Minister of Industry and International Trade.

“Move into town and return only after the results of the presidential results are issued”, Godfrey was warned over the weekend. But the local police advised him not to give in to the threats by quitting the premises.

After two days, during which Godfrey’s workers were not permitted to go to work and the family was subjected to constant harassment, Godfrey and his wife Debbie sent their three children, including one infant, into town as they attempted to care for their 7,000 chickens, 200 sheep, and 100 beef cattle on their own.

In a country staggering under the weight of growing hunger, Highfield produces 12 acres of tomatoes, 45 acres of onions, and 90 acres of maize used for mealie meal, the staple food, as well as supplying eggs and beef to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, and tourist establishments at Victoria Falls.

A group of agressive youths are camping at the gate to Highfield and Godfrey has been told directly by the farm’s head war vet, Moses Moyo that if Godfrey remained on the farm: “You are on your own lookout.” On Sunday evening he was also warned by one of the district’s chief war vets Khamezwe that if he remained, the compound for his workers would be burnt down.

On Wednesday the farm workers, settlers, headmen and local villagers were called to a meeting where they were told by militia who had come in from Harare that they had in their possession a document from the MDC that outlined the opposition’s plans to rig elections, buy out election agents and most sinister of all, that the party was supplying poison to white farmers to enable them to poison water points and so kill the settlers’ cattle in order to easily remove them from the land.

The alleged war vets have also begun to issue direct threats against the livelihoods of Godfrey’s 90 workers and their families. First Godfrey was told to produce a list of his workers and their job descriptions and to select which ones he would fire. When he refused, the war vets vowed to create their own list, allegedly to limit the number of workers available to poison the water points used by neighboring resettled farmers.

The local and provincial police were handed a letter on Monday outlining the SADC legislation that protects Godfrey and they were informed that the current situation directly violates the Tribunal ruling. Inspector Chibangu from the local police station has been called repeatedly to assist with the removal of the threat to Godfrey and his workers but has been told that the police cannot act unless property is damaged or people are hurt. Godfrey and his family are determined they should remain on the property because they know that others in similar predicament have left and returned to farms sacked and looted.

Godfrey and the other farmers facing similar psychological torture are issuing affidavits to the SADC tribunal in an attempt to find urgent relief.

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This entry was written by Sokwanele on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 1:15 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.