Two main aspects of the proposal were a strengthening of the power of the presidency and giving the government the constitutional right to seize white-owned farms for land redistribution, without compensation.

Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe campaigned for passage of the measure. He has been head of state since 1980 after an insurgency that he in part led resulted in a negotiated end to white minority rule in 1979 in what was then Rhodesia.

The referendum was overwhelmingly voted down in the cities, by a margin of 70 percent in Bulawayo and by three-quarters of the voters in the nation's capital of Harare. But it passed in six of the 10 predominantly rural provinces.

Two main groups campaigned against the measure. One is the opposition Movement for a Democratic Change, headed by Morgan Tsvangirai. This group is allied with the National Constitutional Assembly--the originators of the drive for a new constitution--which came out against the proposal when the government stacked a commission, which included the proposal to give Mugabe the right to dissolve parliament without cause, among other autocratic powers.

The other force was the Commercial Farmers Union, representing 4,000 mostly white farmers in the country. Among the country's population of 12.5 million, fewer than 2 percent, or 70,000, are white. But they control, as they have for decades, 70 percent of the land. Millions of peasants are crowded onto patches of the worst land.

When Britain negotiated an end to white minority rule in the "Lancaster House Agreement" in 1979, they forced a constitutional provision outlawing the confiscation of white farms. That constitution remains in place today.

Zimbabwe faces an increasingly difficult economic situation. Inflation is well over 60 percent, unemployment remains high, and fuel shortages are common. The International Monetary Fund, the hand at the throat of semicolonial countries for Washington and other imperialist powers, cut off funds to the country when it was disclosed that the government had underreported the cost of maintaining 7,000 troops in the Congo where they are a key part of defending the government of Laurent Kabila.

Zimbabwe has been under serious threats from imperialist powers every time the proposal to redistribute the land has been raised. The IMF contends the measure would harm exports. According to the World Bank, agricultural products account for 40 percent of export earnings.  
 
 
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