Politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe 2000-2001
A report on the campaign of political repression conducted by the Zimbabwean Government under the guise of carrying out land reform
August 2001

7. Social and economic impact of the violence and land acquistion

7.1 Social impact

The violent campaign conducted throughout Zimbabwe by "war veterans", ZANU (PF) supporters and the State security agencies has had a devastating physical and social impact, especially in the rural areas. The violence that Zimbabweans have had to endure has included:

• Physical torture, including burning, severe beatings on the body, beating on the soles of the feet, electric shocks, and mock drowning;⁹⁰
• Psychological torture;
• Witnessing assaults on family members;
• Being forced to attend lengthy political indoctrination rallies during which suspected MDC supporters have been assaulted and threats made of dire consequences for anyone discovered by the "war veterans" to be supporting opposition parties;⁹¹
• The destruction of their homes and property.

The violence has spread fear and insecurity throughout the country. Most Zimbabweans live in a state of anxiety about their future and that of their families, their friends and their country.

Social services have been affected on a large scale. Nurses and doctors have been driven out of rural areas, suspected of being MDC sympathisers.⁹² Similarly, hundreds of headmasters and teachers have been forced to flee from as a result of assaults or threats of assault by "war veterans", and the impact on schooling in rural communities has been severe.

Programmes of benefit to the community, such as the paralegal scheme run by the Legal Resources Foundation,⁹³ have been closed down or disrupted. The National Constitutional Assembly’s outreach programme to bring about constitutional reform has also been disrupted by "war veterans".

7.2 Economic impact

The policies⁹⁴ of the Mugabe Government and the large-scale public sector corruption⁹⁵ have seriously damaged the economy of Zimbabwe. Factors reflecting this damage include the following:

• Unemployment stands at about 60%⁹⁶ and is rising as the economy contracts and businesses close or downsize; this has been exacerbated by the farm invasions which have resulted in large numbers of farm workers being put out of work;⁹⁷
• Formal sector unemployment has fallen by 90,000 (7%) to its lowest level since the mid-1990s;
• A large percentage of Zimbabweans suffer from poverty and the situation is deteriorating rapidly;⁹⁸
• According to the Zimbabwe Government Central Statistics Office, inflation stood at 64.4% in June 2001, having risen from 55.5% in May 2001. Inflation is forecast to reach nearly 100% by the end of 2001;⁹⁹
• The cost of staple items is set to escalate further following the increase of over 70% in the price of petrol in June 2001;¹⁰⁰
• Some 70% of the country’s GDP is required to service its foreign debt, and the Government has defaulted on foreign debt repayments;¹⁰¹
• The economy is forecast to shrink by about 10% in 2002; Foreign investment has plummeted;
• What were once growth industries, such as tourism, have been devastated; tourists have stopped visiting Zimbabwe because of the violence and instability;¹⁰²
• Several foreign Governments have cut, reduced or suspended aid to Zimbabwe to register their disapproval of the lawlessness that now characterises the country;
• There has been an exodus of black middle class professionals, including doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants and other people with skills that are badly needed; the small white population has also shrunk considerably.

7.3 Impact of fast-track resettlement

Fast-track resettlement has been carried out with little or no planning and totally inadequate financing. People have been resettled on land without the infrastructure, inputs and support necessary for them to make productive use of the land. Some of these people have not been able to sustain themselves and have returned to their communal land areas.

The inadequate support systems for resettled farmers and the major disruption to commercial farming enterprises has led to a drastic reduction in the production of export crops such as tobacco and of food crops such as maize and wheat. Independent, professional studies show that there will soon be considerable shortfalls in food crops such as maize. The Government, however, continues to maintain that there will not be any shortfalls,¹⁰³ although the Minister of Finance, Simba Makoni, has admitted that food shortages are looming, that there is no provision for food importation in the budget and that foreign currency has run out.¹⁰⁴

The Presidential Election is likely to be held at a time when many Zimbabweans will need food relief. As in the past, the ruling party may well use food relief as a political weapon. People facing starvation are likely to be told that they will receive emergency food supplies only if they vote for Mugabe in the election.

Despite the disastrous results of land acquisition and fast-track resettlement, in June 2001 the Government intensified the acquisition of commercial farms. In an eight-day period it designated a further 2030 commercial farms for acquisition; according to the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) only 1000 of these are new listings. The number of commercial farms acquired or about to be acquired now stands at about 4500 out of a total of 5500.¹⁰⁵  TOP

⁹⁰ In its report upon its visit in May 2001 to Zimbabwe to assess the situation the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims had this to say: "The types of torture seen were very similar to the torture seen in June 2000. Severe beatings all over, threats (including death threats), threats to give up political beliefs, threats with guns, mock executions, witnessing the torture of other persons, threats to family members, and humiliations. Thus, there were both physical and psychological forms of torture seen again. It was observed in June 2000 that mass psychological torture was occurring, and several cases again illustrate this deplorable situation." See its report Organised Violence and Torture in Zimbabwe issued on 24 May 2001.

⁹¹ In its report Organised Violence and Torture in Zimbabwe, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims says: "The forced attendance at political meetings, public humiliation of people for their political beliefs, threats and intimidation of family members, and being forced into hiding due to threats, all are forms of psychological torture. There is persuasive evidence from many sources that this has occurred and still continues to occur. Such torture must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and the Government and political parties must make every effort to put an end to this outrageous human rights violation."

⁹² In recent incident four volunteer doctors from the French organisation, Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) fled Inyathi, about 30 km outside Bulawayo, after being threatened by war veterans. The war veterans accused the doctors, who were working on an HIV/AIDS support programme in the area, of being linked to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the report said. The doctors, together with four local field officers and a co-ordinator, fled to the safety of Bulawayo. UN IRIN 30 June 2001.

⁹³ In a number of areas paralegal workers have been threatened and in some areas such as Mount Darwin and Guruve the paralegal scheme has had to be suspended.

⁹⁴ The hugely expensive military involvement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is just one of many decisions that have had highly negative economic consequences.

⁹⁵ The latest annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) compiled by Transparency International, an international anti-corruption body, shows that Zimbabwe remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world. This year, the country remained the 26th most corrupt, out of the top graft-riddled 91 countries worldwide. Standard 2 July 2001. In this report a Zimbabwean political scientist, Dr Mukumbe, attributed the deepening of corruption to the ruling elite who, facing a possible election defeat, have engaged in an asset-stripping spree to enrich themselves before being removed from power.

⁹⁶ Official Government statistics for the year ended March 2000 disclose that unemployment has risen by 22% and put the unemployment rate at between 35 and 40%. However since the farm invasions started at least another 75,000 jobs have been lost. Most of the early job losses were in construction, mining and manufacturing, but this has since carried through to commercial agriculture, where output is estimated to have fallen by a third in the past two years. Financial Times 3 July 2001.

⁹⁷ It is estimated that 130,000 of the 300,000 farm workers have been put out of work and rendered homeless, together with their families, as a result of the farm invasions. Only a few of these displaced workers have been settled on acquired land. Some estimates give a lower figure of 40,000 as the number of farm workers who have lost their jobs.

⁹⁸ According to 1998 Central Statistical Office figures, 63.3% of Zimbabweans were poor and 47% were very poor, whereas in 1991 40.4% were poor and 16.7% were very poor. In October 1998 the Minister of Finance stated that 75% of Zimbabweans were poor and 47% were very poor. Since then poverty has become far more acute. See also the UNDP Human Development Reports.

⁹⁹ Business Day (SA) 3 July 2001.

¹⁰⁰ Fuel prices rose by 73%. There has been massive corruption and gross mismanagement in the State-owned oil procurement company, Noczim. In early July 2001 Noczim revealed that more than half the cost of fuel is due to overhead expenses including debt service, a loan amortisation levy and foreign exchange losses. Its debt is estimated at $500m or 6% of GDP. Financial Times 3 July 2001.

¹⁰¹ The Zimbabwean Government owes more than $4.5 billion to the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank and a number of Western countries. It had also defaulted in debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund. BBC report 13 June 2001.

¹⁰² According to statistics issued in January 2001 by the State-run investment promotion agency, the Zimbabwe Investment Centre, foreign investment dropped by 89% in 2000 compared with 1999. Instability and refusal to uphold the rule of law in relation to property rights scared off investors. Pana News Agency report 24 January 2001.

¹⁰³ According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the country will need to import about 579,000 tonnes of maize and wheat. The Commercial Farmers Union has estimated that the country will have to import a minimum of 200,000 tonnes of maize. (Financial Gazette 21 June 2001.) Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex), the country's sole provider of crop forecasting figures, has dismissed Lands and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made’s claims that the country has enough food stocks. Agritex has defended its forecasts as accurate and says they should be relied on if Zimbabwe is to survive the looming food shortages. Agritex said estimates were that Zimbabwe would have a maize deficit of 154,570 tonnes by March 2002 and needed to import 654,570 tonnes, 500,000 of which should constitute the strategic reserve. An expert in the department said Agritex used six methods of crop forecasting and the resultant figures presented to the Government were the consensus of a number of expert inputs. "We have come up with these figure after using crop sample surveys, simple eye estimates, Central Statistical Office crop estimates, Commercial Farmers Union surveys, the SADC Early Warning Unit’s remote sensing, and the Scientific & Industrial Research & Development Centre (SIRDC) model. So our figures should be considerably accurate," he said. (Independent 22 June 2001.) SADC’s food security unit says Zimbabwe will harvest 1.5 million tonnes of maize in the 2000–2001 crop year, compared with 2.04 million last season. According to a report in Insider 27 June 2001, the problem will be compounded by the fact that a large proportion of the commercial maize crop is of poor quality and can only be used for animal fodder. The quarterly bulletin of NMB Bank for May reports that maize production is expected to be about 1.03 million tonnes, a 33.3% drop from last year. The bulletin says that on this basis the country is likely to have a deficit of between 400,000 and 600,000 tonnes. This is in contrast to a surplus of over 300,000 tonnes that was experienced in most years in the 1990s. Although the country had reserves of 525,000 tonnes at the end of January, according to the bulletin, utilisation of the reserves had increased from 20,000 tonnes a month to over 60,000 tonnes, which meant that the reserves would be exhausted by mid-June. Reports from South Africa say it will also have a reduced yield. It is likely to harvest nearly 7 million tonnes down from last year’s 10.1 million tonnes. It also has reserves of 2 million tonnes and has only provided for 300,000 tonnes to be sold to Zimbabwe. A spokesman for Grain South Africa said if Zimbabwe needed more than that, that would leave their kitty empty. But the bigger problem for Zimbabwe will be how to get the foreign currency to import the maize. The country has failed to build up any foreign exchange reserves and is saddled with a problem of procuring enough fuel which means even if the maize were obtained, there might be problems distributing it.

¹⁰⁴ Reuters report 6 July 2001.

¹⁰⁵ Guardian 3 July 2001. A Commercial Farmers Union spokesperson said that farms owned by 95% of the group’s 4000 members are now listed for confiscation without compensation.  TOP