GAPWUZ PRESS STATEMENT
BBC NEWS
The Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)
The Times
AFP - 21 March 2000

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GAPWUZ PRESS STATEMENT
GAPWUZ the trade union registered and certified to represent farm workers expresses its solidarity with them and notes with great concern what has been happening on commercial farms in Zimbabwe. Our Field Representatives have reported numerous cases of intimidation, assault, theft and destruction of property. These senseless acts not only threaten our very fragile agro-based economy but also the jobs of thousands of farm workers and the livelihood of their families and we therefore question the motives of the people behind them.
GAPWUZ have always supported land reform but not at the expense of the economy of Zimbabwe and not at the expense of farm workers. Farm workers are the backbone of the economy and are not pawns to be played with. They are people who should always be treated with dignity and respect and this is the stance that we have taken in the past and will continue to take in the future.
GAPWUZ would also like to express its condolences to all those who have suffered as a result of the effects of Cyclone Eline and in this connection our Employment Council is looking into ways in which it can be of some assistance.
GAPWUZ applauds the contributions made by farm workers and we thank them for their support to Zimbabwe especially in these very trying times and in the strongest terms we urge those people interfering with them to stop doing so immediately.

MR P MUNYANYI
GENERAL SECRETARY
GAPWUZ
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BBC NEWS

NEWS FROM THE INTERNET - TUESDAY 21ST MARCH 2000
Monday, 20 March, 2000, 23:48 GMT

Zimbabwe minister faces fraud charges - BBC NEWS
By Grant Ferrett in Harare

Zimbabwe's Land and Agriculture Minister, Kumbirai Kangai, has been arrested as part of the investigation into multi-million dollar fraud at the state-run Grain Marketing Board.
The minister is expected to appear in court on Tuesday morning.
Mr Kangai is the most senior figure to be questioned in connection with widespread corruption at various government bodies in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for next month.
The widely publicised arrest is a political bombshell in Zimbabwe.
Mr Kangai has served in the government since independence in 1980, and is one of the leading figures in the controversial Land Reform Programme.
Over the past few weeks police investigations have resulted in the arrest of increasingly senior officials, including the permanent secretary at the Minstry of Land and his counterpart at the Ministry of Transport and Energy.
But the arrest of Mr Kangai, as a long-serving member of the cabinet, is in an entirely different league.
Presidential approval? - Given the politicisation of the police in Zimbabwe it is highly likely that the decision was approved by President Mugabe.
Over the past year Mr Mugabe has repeatedly referred to the problem of corruption in his government, even making a humorous reference to it at the opening of Parliament last year.
It now appears that with parliamentary elections just weeks away, and complaints of corruption and mismanagement among his cabinet, the president is taking the opportunity to discard some of his senior colleagues.
At the end of last month the Energy Minister, Enos Chikowore, resigned saying it was the honourable thing to do in view of the severe fuel shortage which has brought parts of the country to a halt since last December.
The overall impression is one of a government in such a state of panic, following last month's defeat in a constitutional referendum, that it is in danger of tearing itself apart.
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Monday, 20 March, 2000, 17:19 GMT
Police delay over Zimbabwe farms BBC NEWS

Zimbabwe police say they have not yet received orders to evict thousands of government supporters who continue to defy a court order to leave white-owned farms.
The squatters, who have occupied more than 600 farms in the past month, say they will resist any attempts to evict them.
Police spokesman Inspector Bothwell Mugariri said the force would only move against the squatters when they received an order from the court indicating which farms had been affected.
"Once we have received the order we are prepared to act," Inspector Mugariri told Reuters news agency.
A court order issued on Friday gave the war veterans and their colleagues 24 hours to quit, but in the three days since they were ordered to vacate all the occupied farms several more farms have been invaded.
The war veterans' leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, told farm invaders in the south of the country that they should never be persuaded to leave.
He was backed by another of the movement's spokesman, Andrew Ndlovu, who declared "law is law, and politics is politics".
Officials neutral - For their part, government ministers say they respect the court ruling, but they have said little publicly to encourage the war veterans to comply with it.
The home affairs minister said he had absolutely nothing to do with the matter, insisting it was now up to the judiciary to resolve.
Our correspondent says the situation is in a state of paralysis, with everyone waiting for a clear statement from the only man with real power in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe.
In the absence of such a move the threat of violence increases.
In what was probably the most serious incident of its kind since the invasions began last month, a white farmer was attacked in his home on Sunday night by a group of war veterans armed with spears, axes and clubs.
He has left hospital after being treated for head injuries.
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'I Did Not Order Invasions,' Says Hunzvi
The Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)
March 21, 2000
By Staff Writer

Harare - The chairman of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association (ZLW-VA), Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, and the governor for Mashonaland Central, Border Gezi, on Friday dissociated themselves from farm invasions by ex- combatants.
The two-who appeared in the High Court as respondents in a chamber application by the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) which successfully applied to have the farm invasions declared illegal-instead argued that they went out of their way to discourage war veterans, who were later joined by villagers and farm workers, from invading commercial farms.
The other two respondents were the ZLWVA and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri. In his capacity as the chairman of the war veterans, Hunzvi said the invasions, which saw the occupation of over 500 farms, might have been inspired by land-hungry ex-combatants.
"I must categorically state that I am not and was not responsible for the occupation of the farms. The idea seems to have emanated from some ex- combatants and other individuals who were not satisfied with land distribution and resettlement," said Hunzvi in his opposing affidavit.
He added that he could not have participated in the invasions as his bail conditions, from a pending court case, constrained him to a radius of not more than 40 km from Harare.
"Subsequently my bail conditions were relaxed to allow me to go around to the occupied farms so as to explain to the ex-combatants that they should vacate the farms. I have since gone to some parts of the country and I have explained to the ex-combatants, some of whom appeared to have agreed to withdraw from the farms."
Hunzvi also said he did not have the power to control the activities of individual ex-combatants, nor did he have the mechanism to compel individuals to obey his advice. Gezi, who was cited as the first respondent, denied that he had discouraged police from discharging their duties.
"I also deny the allegations that I have been active in encouraging invasions as I have never been at any invaded farm myself. If anything, I have assisted commercial farmers who have sought my intervention in regard to the problems they have encountered with war veterans.
"For instance, Mr. Don Gibson of Nova Doma Farm telephoned me to advise that he was having problems with war veterans and I spoke with the war veterans concerned so that (he) could be released," said Gezi. He, however, admitted that he had accused commercial farmers of encouraging farm workers to reject the government-sponsored draft constitution in last month's referendum.
In a related development, the CFU has accused the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) of refusing to comply with a court order which gave the CFU the mandate to announce the court's ruling on radio and television four times a day on three successive days in Shona, Ndebele and English. "The ZBC is refusing to comply with the order of the court," David Hasluck, the director of CFU, told The Standard yesterday.
"They are saying that I should come and them on Monday (tomorrow) because their marketing department is closed."
Hasluck also welcomed the court order, saying the situation had improved by yesterday morning. "At this time the militancy has subsided and I am not aware of any new farms that have been occupied.
Yesterday I heard seven reports of militant invasions which resulted in the shutting down of farms, but this morning I only heard one," he said.
Asked whether he expected any swift action from the police should the invaders fail to leave the farms within the stipulated time, Hasluck said: "The commissioner only must act to evict them after 72 hours, which is by Tuesday morning."
He also said the court's ruling had restored confidence in the farming sector.
"Our members are very pleased that the court moved to uphold and reaffirm the laws of Zimbabwe in terms of the illegality of the occupation of the farms and are confident that all parties to the order will comply with the orders of the court because the order was granted by consent. The representatives of the attorney-general's office had no objection to the granting of the order and were very happy with its instructions.
"If the parties to this order do not comply, there will be de facto anarchy and this would be of grave concern to all the citizens of Zimbabwe, as well as other government who have nationals resident here."
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From the Times
March 21 2000
Violence after veterans defy Harare court
FROM JAN RAATH IN HARARE

A WHITE farmer was attacked with an axe amid growing violence and intimidation by Zimbabwe's war veterans in a campaign to seize land. The deadline set by the High Court for the former combatants to quit 600 white farms expired at sunset with no indication that Augustine Chihuri, the Police Commissioner, would uphold Judge Paddington Garwe's order. Yesterday Mr Chihuri told reporters to go "to the politicians for a response".
He is bound by the court to disregard any direction from Mr Mugabe. The President has frequently declared that he "will not brook the interference of any court" in his determination to seize white farms.
Mr Mugabe, 76, appears set on sowing fear and violence, coupled with a vengeful grab of white land, as his campaign strategy for parliamentary elections that he has scheduled for the end of next month.
Gerald Smith, 53, a former MP and head of the opposition Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe, the successor to Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front, had to have six stitches on Sunday when a veteran hit him in the back of the head with an axe.
A mob of about 30 had smashed the gate to his farmstead and stormed the house. He was wrestling with a veteran for his antiquated .303 bolt-action rifle when he was attacked. After they left him covered in blood they told his workers "they are not finished with me", he said yesterday.
"No-one knows what is going to happen next," he said. "I think we are just seeing the beginning of this thing. I cannot see them [the veterans] going away peacefully. Nobody trusts Mugabe any more."
In the Bindura area, 50 miles north of Harare, a farm worker was also hurt after labourers and the owner were forced into a barn to be harangued by a veteran promising that "we are going to kill you white people one-by-one".
Malcolm Vowles, the local official of the Commercial Farmers' Union, said: "There were dramatic changes at the weekend after the court order was issued. There were extremely hostile demonstrations. It has got pretty ugly."
Signs of resistance emerged for the first time as workers on at least three farms chased veterans off the properties. On Richard Pascal's farm, about 40 miles from Bulawayo, workers used hoes, axes, stones and fists to evict the squatters.
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HARARE, March 21 (AFP) - White farmers in Zimbabwe whose properties were illegally occupied by war veterans said there was no indication that a court order compelling police to evict squatters was carried out Tuesday.
"There has been no indication the order has been complied with," said farmers' legal representative, Alex Masterson. Thousands of squatters who have invaded hundreds of white-owned commercial farms in recent weeks, have ignored a High Court order which on Friday gave them 24 hours to leave the properties. If the squatters refused to leave, the police were to forcibly remove them after 72 hours, the court said. The deadline expired late Monday.
Tim Henwood, president of the 4,000-strong Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) told AFP there had been no indication of police moving in Tuesday to remove squatters but expressed the hope that they would do so in next few days.
"We hope they will move in in the next few days," Henwood told AFP.
He, however, said there had been some voluntary movements by squatters from some of the invaded farms, leaving 399 farms still occupied.
War veterans invaded 640 white-owned farms in recent weeks. The CFU has warned there will be anarchy if the police fail to act.
Masterson said CFU was preparing the paperwork to get the respondents in the court order who failed to comply with the order be held in contempt of court.
The order cited the police commissioner Augustine Chihuri, war veterans leader Chenjerai Hunzvi and senior ruling party official and provincial governor, Border Gezi as the three respondents to obey the order.
A coalition of civic and opposition groups has meanwhile called on President Robert Mugabe to ensure that a court order instructing the removal of squatters from white farms is carried out. "We particularly call on the minister of home affairs, the commissioner of police and the President ... to ensure that the High Court ruling is given effect," the coalition, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said in a statement Tuesday. The court order told police to ignore any counter-orders from authorities regarding the eviction in what was a clear judicial challenge to President Mugabe, who has voiced his support for the squatters. The NCA is a grouping of political parties, civic bodies, church groups, academics, students and workers unions. It campaigned against a draft constitution backed by President Mugabe which was rejected in a referendum last month. The proposed constitution would have given the government the power to seize white-owned land without paying for it.
In the statement, the NCA expressed concern at threats of violence from the squatters.
Last week war veterans warned that they would return to the bush if President Mugabe's party was ousted from power in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
"In our view the failure by the state to take visible reasonable and swift steps to deal with the warmongers and their threat to constitutional order is an abrogation of the basic duty of the state to uphold the rule of law," the NCA said.
The NCA said if the Zimbabwean authorities failed to remove the squatters from the farms, they should resign.
"Failing this, we will be left with no choice but to ask that they (authorities) resign for failure to uphold the rule of law and the constitution," the NCA said.

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