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Rainbow nation fears new bloodbath of whites ***WHEN Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994 he declared South Africa would be a "rainbow nation" free from the hatred brought by years of apartheid.

But now a very different African leader's influence threatens to shatter the dream of a racially-tolerant country with increasing numbers of white farmers being murdered by impoverished blacks inspired by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's policy of taking away their land by force.

In South Africa, more than 1,500 white farmers have been killed since 1994, compared to 14 murdered by Mugabe's supporters in three years of violence in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Most have died during robberies, but, according to a devastating report commissioned by South African President Thabo Mbeki's government, they are increasingly being killed by farm workers who want land of their own.

In Pretoria on November 4, a cross-section of that country's top security officers, academics and lawyers will meet to discuss what is seen as a serious threat to national security and the future of organised agriculture in South Africa.

They plan to tell the deeply worried Mbeki that he must take immediate action to meet the aspirations of millions of landless black South Africans.

A decade after the African National Congress (ANC) came to power promising blacks an end to white political and economic rule, some 40,000 whites dominate almost all aspects of food production. Mbeki recently condemned what he called the "two societies" that still exist in post-apartheid South Africa.

But black activists like Supho Makhombothi, of the Mpoumalanga Labour Tenants' Association (MLTA) which represents landless farm labourers in the impoverished Piet Retief and Wakkerstroom districts, are tired of rhetoric.

"We have waited long enough. Nothing has happened despite all the promises made by the African National Congress (ANC) about returning the land to us," he said.

"We are still living in slavery. We have therefore given the government an ultimatum to give us land or we will simply follow the example of our brothers in Zimbabwe and invade."***

Keep Mugabe out of Commonwealth councils [full text]Robert Mugabe has sought to justify his egregious misrule by depicting it as a black struggle against white neo-colonialism. The prime target has been Britain, the former metropolitan power and the supposed ally of the white farmers whose land has been seized. But, in the run-up to the current Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nigeria, the Zimbabwean president has added Australia and New Zealand to his list of demons, claiming that the three countries have formed an unholy alliance against him. Mr Mugabe has canvassed the support of other African members for Zimbabwe's readmittance to Commonwealth councils, from which it was suspended after last year's grossly fraudulent presidential elections. Having sought to portray the domestic crisis in black-white terms, he is now trying to do the same within the Commonwealth by pitting African and Caribbean members against Britain and the old white Dominions.

His characterisation is as crude as his political methods. Among black Commonwealth countries there are widely diverging views about Mr Mugabe, a rule of thumb being that the further you get from Zimbabwe the weaker the support for him. And at home the main victims of his tyranny have been not the small white population but the black majority. Who among the politicians and judges and journalists have borne the brunt of savage political persecution? Who face starvation because of the president's wrecking of the country's agricultural base? Who have no work as a result of that demolition? Who are suffering from the disintegration of healthcare and the educational system? Who have fled in their hundreds of thousands to neighbouring countries? The answer in all cases is, overwhelmingly, black Zimbabweans. Rather than standing up for the majority, the president has cruelly betrayed it. Since the shock of his defeat in a referendum on a new constitution in 2000, he has cynically played the race card to stay in power.

South Africa, Zimbabwe's all-important neighbour, has failed to counter Mr Mugabe's spurious characterisation of the crisis. President Thabo Mbeki has, rather, sown the false idea that talks are taking place between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and to insist, against all the evidence, that things are getting better. Unfortunately, his wilful misrepresentation of the facts has not dimmed Tony Blair's admiration of him as the potential leader of an African renaissance. Even George W Bush deferred to him as the "point man" on Zimbabwe during his visit to South Africa in July. The Prime Minister and the President are lauding someone who has the means to cut the ground from under Mr Mugabe but, out of misplaced solidarity with another former freedom fighter, has chosen to do nothing. It is that chain of mistakes that has made Zimbabwe into such a divisive issue at the Commonwealth conference.

Given that country's rapidly deteriorating political and economic situation, there should be no question of re-admitting it to Commonwealth councils. The failure by some African countries yesterday to have the New Zealander Don McKinnon replaced as Secretary General, on the phoney grounds of bias against Zimbabwe, was encouraging. Messrs Mugabe and Mbeki must be prevented from riding roughshod over the Commonwealth's commitment to democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. [end]