SADC TEAM DUE IN ZIMBABWE TO EVALUATE LAND REFORM
By Tererai Karimakwenda
21 November 2005

There are reports that a team of regional ministers from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) was due in Zimbabwe Monday on an invitation by the government to audit the land reform programme. Robert Mugabe is alleged to have consented to a six-member team that would assess the results of what he called his ''highly successful'' land programme. According to reports, the team will stay for two days! It is difficult to imagine how such a vast countrywide undertaking could be evaluated in just two days, but Zimbabweans on the ground, farmers’ organisations and civic groups operating in the country say this year will be worst agricultural season ever. Their description of the situation paints a bleak picture of a country whose farms are laying idle while the people starve. In 2 days only, this SADC team will not be able to travel much, and will most likely be shown government reports about improved production on one hand, while the same government begs the United Nations for food. Farmer Eric Harrison has seen many farms around the country this year. He told us that the rains have come and for the most part the ground has not yet been prepared. He said inputs like fertiliser and seeds are not affordable, and that is when you find them. There is no diesel or any fuel to drive tractors and irrigation pumps. Harrison said there are people occupying these farms who are inexperienced. Asked what this SADC team would see should they be allowed to roam around freely, Harrison said there is very little to show. He believes they might see an odd farm here and there where the original commercial farmer is still producing. We were not able to find anyone who knew which SADC ministers had been invited and exactly what they were going to be shown. The lack of such basic information has also raised suspicions that the whole trip has been planned to show Mugabe’s land reform in a good light. But Zimbabweans will not forget that several white farmers were killed and hundreds of thousands of black farm workers were displaced. It is not known whether the SADC ministers will publish a report of their findings.One report said the Movement for Democratic Change was sceptical that the SADC visit would change anything. It quoted MDC presidential spokesman William bango saying: ''Whatever observations SADC will have, it will have little impact on the ground. It's given that Mugabe is sticking to his guns, but all pressure will be good.''