Senior army officers causing havoc on farms
By Lance Guma
03 August 2007.

The unbalanced wife of the army general, Jocelyn Chiwenga, on Wednesday revealed in an outburst what many in Mugabe’s regime are unwilling to admit publicly - the army is in charge. Remaining white commercial farmers are learning this the hard way, with official after official from the army abusing their position and harassing several who have braved the chaos to remain on their farms.

In Manicaland province, soldiers allegedly taking orders from a brigadier-general who illegally grabbed a farm there in February, are defying an order from Vice President Joseph Msika to vacate a property. The farm owner Charles Lock secured a High Court order in his favour but the police who went to effect it were sent packing by the soldiers who are now guarding the farm. So Karoi Farm in Headlands is now occupied by Brigadier General Mujaji.

The farmer has sought intervention from his MP and security Minister Didymus Mutasa. All Mutasa did was refer the matter to Provincial Governor Tinaye Chigudu, who simply forwarded it to Msika. All this has come to nothing since the soldiers have stayed put. Court documents show that the Brigadier has ‘cocked his weapon’ each time the police have come. The Vice President has contradicted his counterparts by saying ‘The policy document (on land) didn’t say all white farmers should be chased out. I am not a racist and I refuse to be racist.’

In another farming area an army general has also decided to take the law into his own hands, ordering the white farms owners out while personally throwing out their furniture from the house. The terrified family were held hostage for nearly an hour before being allowed to pack their things using a friend’s truck. Its thought Mugabe is trying to involve the army as part of a ‘command agriculture’ programme. Inspiration for the idea is thought to have come from China where the army plays a major role in agriculture and industry. Another possible motive is the consolidation of power through rewarding his cronies in the military and security services.

In the ongoing pricing crackdown on the business community soldiers are being deployed as enforcers, with some accused of buying goods themselves and hoarding them. Senior army personnel are milking the chaos and making a fortune. A price monitoring team last month bumped into a 30 tonne consignment of cement being hoarded by former army general Vitalis Zvinavashe in Harare. Reports say they were simply told to leave, which they did. Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka tried to gloss over the embarrassing double standards by claiming everything regarding the cement incident was in order.