Last white farmers targeted
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Mobs loyal to President Robert Mugabe have launched a new offensive to beat
and intimidate the remaining white farmers, dashing hopes that the
government would keep its promise to restore the rule of law.
16.08.1104:28pm
by Chief Reporter
The latest officially orchestrated attacks come after a pledge by Mugabe to
end the seizure of white land. Accounts from rural areas indicate that Zanu
(PF) thugs have stepped up violence.
Mike Bishop, 44, who farms near Karoi, north-west of Harare, said his farm
was grabbed and when his workers and their wives tried to resist, they were
beaten. About 50squatters have occupied his land and closed the farm’s
school.
“I am no longer sure I want to stay in Zimbabwe,” said Bishop.
Squatters have prevented Bishop from working his fields and his farm is idle
at a time when 1.5 million Zimbabweans need emergency food supplies to avert
starvation.
Reports from the provinces of Mashonaland West and Central indicate that
Zanu (PF) mobs have forced thousands of workers to attend all night
‘re-education’ camps.
Roy Crawford, 58, was abducted from his farm near Banket, north-west of
Harare, on Friday and tied up with barbed wire. His offence was failing to
chant election slogans supporting Mugabe. Crawford was eventually released
after the police arrived, but his farm has been sealed off by the gang.
Mugabe has promised that violence on farms would be curbed and no more
illegal land occupations would take place.
“In my district alone, the agreement over land has been violated hundreds of
times,” said a Commercial Farmers’ Union representative in Chinhoyi.