Harare | Thursday
ZIMBABWE Home Minister John Nkomo said this week that white farmers and not pro-government war veterans are behind the recent upsurge in violence in the countryside.
“No war veterans have been causing any problems on the farms,” Nkomo said late on Wednesday.
“It is true the farmers have been attacking properly and legally resettled farmers,” he said.
Militant veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970s liberation war have for the last 18 months spearheaded the forcible invasions of white-owned farms, and have been closely tied to the political violence that has wracked the southern African nation, according to repeated reports by rights groups and international observers.
Nkomo insisted that only a criminal element was behind any violence tied to the occupiers, and he said authorities had dealt with those criminals.
“The public is being treated to a lot of propaganda, negative publicity, and we understand that it is a political gimmick,” he said.
But the farm violence has had a strong political colouring, and has been closely linked to the intimidation of opposition supporters.
At least 34 people died in political violence ahead of last year’s parliamentary elections, while rights groups say 19,000 were tortured.
Nkomo was interviewed on state television hours after a judge in the northern town of Chinhoyi delayed a hearing for 21 white farmers accused of attacking occupiers on a farm, citing security concerns at the courtroom.
The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) said the clashes began after occupiers barricaded a farmer inside his home outside Chinhoyi, 100km northwest of Harare, and his neighbours came to help.
Police said the farmers attacked the occupiers without provocation.
Magistrate Godfrey Gwaka remanded the high-profile case to Thursday and ordered the 21 farmers held overnight.
The official Ziana news agency said Gwaka was afraid that people at the courthouse in the northern town of Chinhoyi were likely to get violent, especially as it was almost dark when the farmers appeared.
Independent and foreign journalists were not able to enter the courthouse, as militant youths, identified by residents in Chinhoyi as supporters of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, chased them away.
Late Monday an eighth white farmer died after suffering an axe blow to the head in his home on Friday in central Zimbabwe. – AFP
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