More talk and no action against farm grabbers

By Tererai Karimakwenda
12 December 2005

Echoing the warnings issued by his reserve bank governor Gideon Gono and vice president Joseph Musika earlier this year, Robert Mugabe blasted officials within the ruling party who have been grabbing farms illegally. But like them, his words sounded empty to Zimbabweans because none of the perpetrators have ever been prosecuted, and the recent farm evictions have been done by top officials using the local police and state agents.

Publicly, Mugabe has a habit of speaking as though he truly cares about his people. Yet his actions always have the opposite effect- they are truly evil if measured by the suffering he has caused to the majority of the population. According to his mouthpiece the Herald newspaper, Mugabe said ZANU-PF has no room for greedy and corrupt leaders who have abused their positions to become multiple farm owners at the expense of the multitude of land hungry Zimbabweans. He uttered this message to delegates and guests at the ruling party’s Annual National People’s Conference at Mzingwane High School in Esigodini. Many of the most recent culprits were sitting in front of him.

And while local villagers in Esigodini went to bed hungry during the conference, tonnes of meat were served up to the pot-bellied party cronies he was referring to in his address. Didymus Mutasa, Mugabe’s top man in charge of land reform and food distribution, made a public statement some months ago referring to the remaining white farmers as filth that must be removed. So how can he be taken seriously when he says people are hungry because they don’t have land. It is simply more lip service, and no-one on the ground believes for a moment that it is true.

Judges and ministers alike have snatched more farmland around the country in the last month, accompanied by the local police and state agents. Their names are well-publicised and they claim they were allocated these multiple farms by the government. Some have produced documents and others have told the farm owners land was nationalised and it now belongs to the state.

The Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 17, which ZANU-PF pushed through parliament, is being used to block any challenges to these illegal land acquisitions. Until the perpetrators are brought to justice, and mechanisms are put in place to stop the evictions in the first place, any rhetoric will remain just lip service. All talk and no action.