Uncertainty haunts Zimbabwe's white farmers

By Andrew Meldrum

GOROMONZI, Northern Zimbabwe: The hope and anxiety with which Alan Hart regards his newly ploughed fields matches the mood of Zimbabwe following the parliamentary elections.

"I hope to plant new crops soon, but the future is uncertain," said Hart. "I don't know if law and order will be restored so that my family can move back onto the farm. I don't know what the government will do about the land situation. We don't have enough diesel to prepare our fields and we don't know when the fuel will be available."

In Hart's opinion, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) did very well in the elections, considering the "violence, intimidation and rigging" that they faced.

"But I don't know if the results will guarantee a return to normality for the country or a return to conditions that will allow me to get on with farming."

Hart and his wife and three children left the farm in May after he received death threats from government officials because of his work to the MDC. Unlike many other white farmers, Hart decided to keep supporting the MDC and to evacuate his farm.

"I just didn't see any future for the country under Zanu-PF," he said. "They have bankrupt policies that have taken the country to the brink of collapse economically. They have broken down the rule of law. It amounts to rule by a bunch of gangsters. I felt I had to stand up and support something better for the country."

Like many of Zimbabwe's white minority, Hart had not taken an interest in politics since independence. "Most whites accepted the status quo as long as we were in our comfort zone," he said. "But now I believe if we want to stay here then we must be involved in politics."

For two years Hart developed his farm as a producer of paprika and marigolds, both for export. "It is a small property and I have used the land intensively, with irrigation. I think it is the way forward for agriculture in this country. I think we must work with small-scale African farmers to get them to produce these export crops as well."

Hart's efforts to work with black farmers and to support the MDC were thrown into disarray in May when David Stevens, a white farmer from the nearby Macheke area, was murdered by Zanu-PF supporters. Over the next few weeks four other white farmers were killed. After that, Hart had to take it seriously when his name appeared on a "hit list" circulated by top Zanu-PF officials.

The president, Robert Mugabe, based his party's electoral campaign on the land issue and concentrated on painting the country's white farmers as demons. He repeatedly said that white Rhodesians stole land from black Africans without paying any compensation and therefore it was time for Africans to take back their land. Mugabe incited his supporters to invade white-owned farms and claim them as their own.

But there are many who do not fit Mugabe's definition of white farmer equals white racism. Hart is one of them. He is leasing his 25-hectare farm from a black African woman. He believes he is a good and fair employer and has ambitious plans to help black Africans start up similar small export operations.

After the threats, he had to reduce his staff from 15 to 12 employees and could only safely visit his farm for a few hours every two weeks.

On Tuesday Hart returned to the abandoned farmhouse to oversee the preparation of fields for a new crop of marigolds. Now that Zimbabwe's elections are over, Hart wants to move back onto the farm with his family, but he is not certain if he will be safe from the violence of state-sponsored war veterans and Zanu-PF supporters.

"Once they've let the genie out of the bottle that brings violence and intimidation, it will be hard to put it back in. Zanu-PF has made promises they can't keep and that does not augur well for a return to normality."

The future of Zimbabwe's agriculture is equally uncertain. More than 1,400 farms are occupied by Zanu-PF supporters. On Mugabe's orders, police have refused to protect the mostly white owners.

Mugabe has taken steps to seize 804 farms without paying compensation and he vowed repeatedly during the election campaign that poor blacks would be moved onto those farms quickly.

A great deal is at stake. The commercial farms are Zimbabwe's largest employer with more than 300,000 full-time jobs. It is also the country's largest earner of desperately short foreign exchange. The widespread violence on the commercial farms has contributed to a more general breakdown of law and order.

But it is not clear if Mugabe will order his followers off the occupied farms or begin land redistribution program. Some officials say Mugabe is determined to pursue the course he has begun.

"It is more than just the future of commercial agriculture that is uncertain," said David Gollach, director of a firm which processes paprika for export. "We don't know if Mugabe will change the economic policies that are ruining this country. We don't know if he will pull our troops out of the Congo war. We don't know if he will order the police to restore the rule of law."

But Gollach is optimistic. "This is the beginning of the end for Mugabe and the beginning of a viable democracy," he said. "The MDC achieved more than simply winning 57 seats. It attracted support from blacks and whites, Shonas and Ndebeles, urban and rural people. The MDC is a truly national party and that is a great achievement.

"In contrast, Zanu-PF is not nearly so impressive. Mugabe won the election but he destroyed the country and the economy to do it. He will find it very difficult to rule over the shambles he has created."

-- Guardian News Service