Posted on 09/06/2002 2:43:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, left, his wife Grace, center, stand with the head of the World Food Programme James Morris, right, at a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002. Mugabe denied that his country's controversial seizure of white-owned farms had contributed to the massive hunger crisis that threatens half Zimbabwe's people with starvation. (AP Photo)
Zimbabwe -- Mugabe's sister wanted victim's house***"Mugabe said she knew that Paddy McCleary, Terry's aunt, had died a couple of months earlier and she wanted to take Paddy's house, on Terry's farm, for herself. "To avoid trouble, Terry let Mugabe walk around Paddy's house. Then Mugabe said that she would be moving into the house the next day and that she wanted the furniture as well. "Terry told Mugabe she couldn't do it. She said 'I can. My brother's the President and if you don't do it then heads will roll.' When Terry asked if she was threatening him, she denied it." Following Miss Mugabe's visit, Miss Rusike returned leading a group of war veterans and confiscated all his farm equipment. "They allowed him to plough, but then they planted their own crops in the fields he had prepared," said Mr Munro. It appears there was also a feud behind her intimidation of Mr Ford whose body was found with his dog refusing to leave his side, a scene shown in pictures transmitted around the world. ***
Zimbabwe -- 12 Mugabes to get white farms***Some of those on the list have been allocated three farms, despite the fact that they were given land during the first land reforms in 1998. There are at least 12 Mugabes on the list - including the president's wife, who gets two farms. Mugabe's sister Sabina gets three farms. One of these farms is Gowrie, where the owner, Terry Norton, was killed by invaders.***
SIX MILLION: Starvation of 6 million won't deter Mugabe's crack down on white defiance in Zimbabwe *** "Time is not on their side," Mugabe was quoted by state radio as saying. The increasingly authoritarian leader said his government would take action against those who defied its orders. Despite a looming famine in southern Africa, Mugabe has continued with the seizure of 95 percent of the white-owned farmland in the country, bringing to a standstill an industry that once helped feed southern Africa. ***
Zimbabwe -- Beware the U-turn***……….The key to understanding what Mugabe and his Zanu PF party are up to - for blacks as well as whites - is the word "leases." The ruling party moguls, security force chiefs and 54,000 others getting so-called "model 2" holdings, capable of being farmed on an individual basis, will not be granted the freehold their 5,000 white predecessors had (The first 2,900 seizure and eviction orders fell due on August 9 and scores of whites were detained over the past weekend for defying them, although their constitutional validity is heavily in doubt). At the first sign of political disloyalty the "new farmers", as Mugabe calls them, will be liable to instant eviction.
'I thought my boss was a devil. Not now, He was my saviour. '*** Charles Mushambati had always regarded Thom Martin as being among those "devil" Zimbabwean white farmers who grossly underpaid their workers and kept them in squalor. With hindsight, he now believes he was wrong. More than 60 white farmers had been arrested around Zimbabwe by yesterday as President Robert Mugabe cracked down on 1,800 farmers who were refusing to leave their land. His confiscation policy is supposedly aimed at helping people such as Mr Mushambati, but the 59-year-old labourer, like most of the 80,000 farm workers who have found themselves unemployed and homeless after their bosses went out of business, has lost his illusions.
Mr Mushambati had often quarrelled with Mr Martin over his wages, and was elated when he attended a rally before the 2000 parliamentary elections at which Mr Mugabe promised "land to my people". The labourer applied for a piece of land, but officials asked him for a Zanu-PF card, demonstrating membership of Mr Mugabe's ruling party, to attach to the application. He didn't have one. "They made it clear that no one would get land without a party card," he said. Mr Mushambati returned to work for Mr Martin, who paid him 4,000 Zimbabwe dollars (£50) a month. His wife also worked for the white farmer and they received free produce from Mr Martin, and sent their children to a school he built for his employees. "I used to think the boss was a devil, but with hindsight he was not. He was my saviour," said Mr Mushambati.
This is the future now facing Mr Mushambati - a plight often forgotten in the international attention devoted to the white farmers. Mr Martin told his workers last week he had given up the fight for his land and was emigrating to New Zealand. Mr Mushambati asked his employer to take him too. "Unfortunately, the boss said he will not own a farm any more. He is going to work in a hotel in New Zealand," said his employee of 20 years. He broke down. "I am finished. I have no future."***
The song that came to me was that Calypso number of years gone by that advised the listener to "Make an ugly woman your wife..."
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