Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02HARARE998
2002-04-24 15:23:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Harare
Cable title:  

ZIMBABWE: VIOLENCE OF RETRIBUTION CONTINUES;

Tags:  PGOV PHUM EAGR ASEC ZI 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000998 

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
PARIS FOR CNEARY
NAIROBI FOR TPFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2012
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAGR ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE: VIOLENCE OF RETRIBUTION CONTINUES;
COMMERCIAL FARMERS BEING EVICTED EN MASSE

REF: A. HARARE 981

B. HARARE 789

C. HARARE 713

Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000998

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
PARIS FOR CNEARY
NAIROBI FOR TPFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2012
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAGR ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE: VIOLENCE OF RETRIBUTION CONTINUES;
COMMERCIAL FARMERS BEING EVICTED EN MASSE

REF: A. HARARE 981

B. HARARE 789

C. HARARE 713

Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk


1. (C) Summary: Ruling party militants continue their
campaign of violent retribution against opposition
supporters, six weeks after Zimbabwe's presidential election
ended. Since March 11, at least 18 people have died in
political violence, bringing the total for the year to at
least 54. The number of internally displaced persons has
soared in the last month; at least 100,000 MDC sympathizers
have been made homeless since early March, according to local
NGOs. Reports of systematic sexual abuse by ZANU-PF
militants against women are coming to light; one local NGO is
preparing legal action against ZANU-PF on this issue. On the
commercial farms, the forcible eviction of farmers and
hundreds of their workers is accelerating. In some areas,
the evictions are being conducted en masse, often with the
help of the police, to make way for military and GOZ
officials who were promised rewards for backing Mugabe. The
eviction of commercial farmers has spread and is now a
nationwide phenomenon. Property and legal rights are
essentially a thing of the past for Zimbabwe's white
minority, and basic human rights for the majority are
increasingly disregarded. End summary.

--------------
Political Violence Continues Unabated
--------------


2. (U) Six weeks after Zimbabwe's presidential election
ended on March 11, ruling party youth, militants, and war
veterans continue their campaign of violent retribution
against opposition supporters. According to the Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum, an umbrella group of local human
rights groups, 54 people have died in political violence
since the beginning of this year; by our count, 18 of these
were killed after the election. (Note: Three additional
deaths not mentioned in the Forum's report have been reported
to us by other sources, which indicates that the actual death
toll could be higher. End note.) The Forum's April 15

report showed that 35 of those killed were MDC supporters,
seven were ZANU-PF, two were war veterans, and ten were of
unknown political affiliation. At least five of those killed
were MDC polling agents, including Petros Jeka, who was
stabbed to death by suspected ZANU-PF supporters near
Masvingo on April 4. The April 23 edition of the independent
"Daily News" reported that ZANU-PF youth killed a 55th
victim, Brandina Tadyanemhandu, in her home on April 21 by
cutting her head off with an ax in front of her two young
daughters. A Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson termed
the report a "grandiose lie."


3. (SBU) Since January 1, the Forum's member organizations
have received reports of 945 cases of political beatings or
torture, 229 cases of intimidation or threats, 214
kidnappings, 143 unlawful detentions, 29 disappearances, and
5 politically-motivated rapes. (Note: The number of rapes is
likely much higher due to the social stigma against reporting
rape. End note.) The Zimbabwe Women Lawyers' Association
(ZWLA) stated in an April 18 "Financial Gazette" article that
it is gathering evidence of systematic sexual abuse of women
at the hands of ZANU-PF supporters for a legal case against
the ruling party. ZWLA stated that scores of women have been
raped in ZANU-PF militia camps around the country because of
their support for the MDC. Frances Lovemore of the Amani
Trust human rights NGO told poloff that the problem is not
necessarily increasing, but is only being reported more now
with the ZWLA's involvement. Many of the internally
displaced women who come to Amani do not report cases of
sexual abuse, many because they are afraid of being divorced.
Lovemore noted that farm workers are more frequently asking
NGOs for condoms, perhaps because they fear having relations
with a wife who has been attacked.

--------------
Number of Internal Refugees Skyrockets
--------------


4. (SBU) Speaking more generally of internally displaced
Zimbabweans, Lovemore told poloff April 22 that the problem
continues to spiral. Just since the election, 53,000 have
been displaced in Mashonaland West province alone, and 69,000
have been displaced from communal lands nationwide. Another
10-12,000 are homeless in urban areas, and thousands of
commercial farm workers have been displaced, most in the
Mashonaland provinces, Lovemore stated. She could not
estimate the total, but the figures she gave us put the total
number of internally displaced persons well above 100,000.
More continue to stream into Harare every day, Lovemore
reported; Amani Trust just set up another camp for 400
commercial farm workers from Marondera on April 22. Lovemore
informed poloff that local NGOs, partially with USAID
funding, are organizing a nationwide network of camps to
handle the increasing masses of displaced people. As another
example of displacement, in an April 19 press release, the
MDC stated that 12 of its supporters in Makoni North were
assaulted and evicted from their homes earlier in the week;
their huts were burned down in the presence of the police,
who made no arrests.


5. (SBU) Philip Muskwe, director of the non-partisan Uzumba
Development Trust (UDT) NGO, told poloff April 23 that
ZANU-PF militants have made at least 600 people homeless in
Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP) district (Mashonaland East)
alone. Twelve homes belonging to MDC supporters, including
three polling agents, were recently burned down. UDT is
cooperating with Amani and Tim Neill,s Zimbabwe Community
Development Trust to establish up to five refugee camps in
UMP district for up to 1,500 people, Muskwe stated. Although
there are not many commercial farms in UMP, many resettled
farmers there are leaving their plots for the Macheke area
(75 km to the south),where many commercial farmers have been
expelled. This is creating tension with the Macheke farm
occupiers, who complain that they are first in line for
Macheke property and the UMP settlers are "queue jumpers."
This merely reflects the chaotic and unorganized nature of
the farm seizures, Muskwe opined. Political violence
continues unabated in UMP, Muskwe added; an MDC activist,
George Kamudzanga, was so severely beaten in an attack last
week that he is now permanently wheelchair-bound. Many MDC
supporters, mostly youth living with their parents, are
attacked in the middle of the night and told never to return
to UMP.

--------------
Commercial Farmers Evicted En Masse
--------------


6. (SBU) The situation on the commercial farms continues to
deteriorate. Over the last several weeks, war veterans and
ZANU-PF militia, often with the aid of the police, have
become more aggressive in forcibly evicting commercial
farmers and farm workers from their homes. Many farm workers
have been beaten in the process. The farmers are usually
given only a few hours to leave and take what personal
belongings they can. They are not permitted to remove any
farm equipment, including tractors, trucks, generators,
irrigation works, or fertilizer (see REF A). Usually the
farmhouses are ransacked and looted, sometimes before the
farmers can leave, and any harvested crops, tractors and
trucks are stolen. The farm workers, homes are often burned
down. The Marondera area (about 60 km southeast of Harare)
has been particularly hard-hit, where nearly every farm (some
30 in all) has been invaded and pillaged, regardless of
whether the farm was ever listed for acquisition or the
farmer served with a Section 8 eviction notice. For every
farm attacked, 300-600 people have been displaced, according
to Mary Wood, a farmer in the area. The evictions appear to
be spreading; we have received reports that farms or ranches
in Mazoe (35 km north of Harare),Gokwe (Midlands province),
Muzurabani (Mashonaland Central),Gwanda and Beitbridge
(Matabeleland South) have been similarly attacked. In most
cases, the invasions appear to take place in the presence of
police details and at the behest of a local police commander,
government official, or military officer, who have been
promised plots or entire farms. When farmers plead with the
police to intervene, they are usually told that it is a
political matter or a land issue and they should contact the
local district administrator or the Lands Committee in
Harare. Some have done this, but to no avail.


7. (SBU) Below is a compendium of some of the more egregious
commercial farm reports we have received in the last week:

-- Ian and Kerry Kay, commercial farmers and MDC activists,
were forced off their farm on March 15 (REF C). They have
been living in Harare ever since. With the help of their
lawyers, they recently re-served the court order (initially
issued last year) requiring the farm occupiers to leave on
the provincial governor, provincial administrator, district
administrator and police. All refused to receive it. The
district administrator simply threw it back at them without
reading it. When Ian attempted to return to the farm last
week, he found two army details present; they would not allow
him to enter the property. He found out later that all of
his harvested tobacco and paprika and 250 head of cattle have
been stolen. All his workers are now encamped in Harare.
The farm has essentially ceased to operate.

-- On March 20, 15-20 occupiers locked themselves in the home
of Marondera farmer Mike Colahan, who summoned the police.
When they arrived, they were accompanied by Gerry Gatora, the
ZANU-PF provincial legal advisor, who orchestrated a
"kangaroo court" for Colahan. Gatora accused Colahan of
making pangas (machetes) and petrol bombs on his property for
the MDC, but could produce no credible evidence. On April
19, 25-30 militia members showed up, forced Colahan,s
workers out of their homes, and told Colahan he had two hours
to pack and leave. When he returned later, he found his
house ransacked, his workers, houses looted and his tractors
and farm trucks missing. His property has never been listed
for compulsory acquisition, he told poloff.

-- Guy Cartwright told embassy officers that on April 6,
retired brigadier general Ambrose Mutinhuri showed up at his
Waltondale farm near Marondera with two police details and a
crowd of drunken, violent youth. The youth threw most of his
personal belongings out of the house, and smashed or looted
what was left. Twenty of his workers were "severely
assaulted." The police escorted him back onto the property
days later to find his tractors and trucks gone; the police
told him he could not remove his tobacco crop, which is now
in curing sheds.

-- Angry war veterans, accompanied by embarrassed GOZ
agricultural extension officials, arrived on the Tamba ranch
in Gwanda district for the first time on April 20 by smashing
the gate lock, John Darlow told poloff. The war vets told
Darlow he should leave immediately as his property was being
pegged for resettlement. Darlow had received a Section 8
eviction notice on January 7 and has been fighting local
officials over it in the courts. Darlow reported that War
Veterans Association Secretary for Projects Andrew Ndlovu
arrived in the area two weeks ago and has been instigating
actions against farm and ranch owners. Three ranchers in the
area have already been forced off their property. According
to Darlow, Shannon Wheeler,s large orange orchard in
Beitbridge district, was recently invaded, and Wheeler has
not been allowed to leave his house. Occupiers there are
chopping down the orange trees and confiscating the oranges.

-- Mack Gloss, another Matabeleland South rancher, told
poloff that on April 19, governor Stephen Nkomo stirred up
trouble by making stops along the main road in the district
and telling youth and war vets to begin taking over the
white-owned ranches. Nkomo also warned the police not to
interfere. Gloss stated that at least 20 farms and ranches
in Gwanda and Beitbridge districts have been affected.
Poaching has increased markedly--at least 100 animals a day
are being slaughtered for sale to local abattoirs; even two
giraffes were recently killed by poachers, Gloss reported.
All of this is being sanctioned by local GOZ officials, who
are doling out plots to themselves, policemen and local
ZANU-PF-affiliated businessmen. Even Mr. Moyo, the dean of
Bulawayo Polytechnic Institute has been awarded a ranch.
ZANU-PF MP and Deputy Foreign Minister Abedinico Ncube has
already moved onto a neighbor's ranch after forcibly
expelling the rancher, Gloss stated.

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. (C) It is clear that Mugabe has no intention of cutting
back on political violence until he has eliminated his
political foes as a viable source of opposition. Following
this script, there appears to be no end in sight to the
significant human rights violations that occur daily in
Zimbabwe. Victims have increasingly little recourse as the
police more frequently turn a blind eye or dismiss acts of
criminality as "political matters." On the land issue, a
massive new land grab is currently underway, and this grab
appears to be more a political reward for well-connected
ZANU-PF supporters than a real attempt to resettle communal
farmers or landless peasants. Everyone from senior
government ministers to local government officials to
military officers are reaping the windfall of Mugabe's
tainted electoral win, sometimes at the expense of farm
occupiers who have been in place for two years. Property and
legal rights are essentially a thing of the past for
Zimbabwe's white minority, and basic human rights for the
majority are increasingly disregarded as a tiny elite
tightens its repressive grip on the country. End comment.
SULLIVAN