Vol. 64/No.18 May 8, 2000

Economic and land crisis destabilize Zimbabwe

BY PATRICK O'NEILL and GREG McCARTAN

In the last several months political and economic tensions have escalated sharply in the southern African state of Zimbabwe. The country's president, Robert Mugabe, has come under pressure from British and U.S. imperialism to halt takeovers of large farms owned by wealthy whites. Mugabe is demanding Britain restart payments used to fund purchase of these farms.

The Mugabe government, in power since the country won independence in 1980, recently suffered defeat in a constitutional referendum that would have both extended the president's powers and allowed the government to seize white-owned land without compensation.

This was an unusual defeat for Mugabe's governing ZANU-PF party, and registered the deep discontent among working people in the country. The drive against the constitutional changes was spearheaded by, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which was backed by the Commercial Farmers Union, a white farmers organization. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for May.

Working people in Zimbabwe face a deepening economic crisis. The country remains marked by the backwardness imposed by a near-century of colonial rule, and by the imperialist exploitation and debt bondage it endures today despite its hard-won independence.

Zimbabwean society is characterized by deep inequalities of wealth and a growing economic crisis. Fully one-half the population is jobless and inflation is running at 70 percent. One adult in four has been infected with HIV. Gross Domestic Product is predicted to fall by 1 percent this year, after zero growth in 1999. The Zimbabwean dollar now stands at half its value of a year ago. The country's foreign debt is $4.4 billion, and its foreign currency reserves have plunged.

Mugabe came to power as a prominent leader of a national independence struggle that lasted more than a decade. The struggle against the racist white-minority regime led by Ian Smith, which remained a colonial outpost of Britain despite a declaration of "independence" in 1965,won wide support among African working people.

When the two main liberation organizations were legalized, hundreds of thousands celebrated in the streets of many cities and towns. A crowd of 200,000 greeted Mugabe on his return to Zimbabwe in January 1980, after several years of exile.

The settler government of Rhodesia--named after the leader of armed settlers who had invaded the territory in 1890--depended heavily on investment from apartheid South Africa. Funds from Rhodesia's southern neighbor continued to flow to the government during negotiations hosted by London in late 1979, while the Rhodesian air force bombed Zimbabwean camps in neighboring countries.

Under these pressures, the national independence forces finally agreed to Britain's demands that white farms not be confiscated without compensation, but with promises from Britain to help pay for farms needed for land reform. London has used the promised payments as a pressure point, and stopped them altogether in 1992. Other imperialist powers that contributed some funds, including Washington, suspended payments with the onset of the current crisis.

The spokespeople of British imperialism express the same arrogance today that they showed 20 years ago in their dealings with the movement that created Zimbabwe from white-ruled Rhodesia. On April 21 the British foreign secretary Robin Cooks warned Mugabe to halt the occupations. "It's time we got back to the rule of law and back to building the economy," he said.

Cook was responding to a declaration by several presidents of southern African countries who met with Mugabe on the same day. Afterwards, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, and Sam Nujoma of Namibia called on the British government to carry out its pledges to support land reform.

Land reform is a pressing need

The events of the past several months have thrown a spotlight on the landlessness of the Black majority in the country and the pressing need for a thoroughgoing land reform. According to a 1998 United Nations report, inequitable land distribution "constrains the human development of at least 60 percent of the population."

Some 4,000 white farmers in a country of more than 12 million people own one-third of the productive land. They devote their time to commercial agriculture, selling 60 percent of the maize grown on their land, and "retaining grain mainly to supply their workforce and for cattle feed," in the words of the Financial Times. In contrast, smaller-scale African farmers, who lack investment funds, a reliable supply of water, and marketing facilities, achieve one-fifth the yields per acre, and hold on to most of their crops for their own needs.

One study in 1998 reported, "A million black families are still settled on barren land after being forced to vacate their original fertile areas by the colonial rulers." After evicting Africans from their land the settler capitalists hired them to work as wage laborers at a pittance.

The government has taken only partial steps towards land reform, and the results have often benefited its supporters. According to the Financial Times, "In its 20 years in office the Mugabe government has resettled some 91,000 families--not much more than half the 162,500 households due to have been relocated in the first five years of independence."

The government and a state-owned agency together own some 750,000 hectares of former commercial land, which has still not been settled. But land acreage is only one ingredient needed to begin the necessary land reform. Explaining the need for funds for a "rural development programme," the Financial Times quoted "experts [who] put the cost of acquiring the land at less than a quarter of the total outlay for a resettlement scheme."

Opposition party gains strength

Mugabe is faced with an opposition party that is growing in support. The MDC has emerged as a serious contender for power since it was founded six months ago. The new party campaigned for a "no" vote in the February referendum, helping deal Mugabe a significant defeat. Morgan Tsvangirai, the new party's leader, worked in the nickel mines and rose to become the secretary general of the country's largest union coalition. He has built a following with promises to improve wages and end governmental corruption. Tsvangirai has met with top officials of the U.S. government in Washington. He and offers his party as a stable alternative to the Mugabe regime.

The farm occupations began after Mugabe gave the nod to his supporters when the constitutional reforms were defeated. They have involved peasants, villagers, and government supporters, who have been taken on buses from the capital. Often farm workers have been assaulted along with white farmers. This thuggery has also been used against supporters of the MDC.

Some 1,000 farms have been occupied, reportedly often targeting farmers who support the MDC. Two white farmers were killed in the second week of April, and beatings have also been reported. A MDC official and several other supporters of the opposition have also been killed.

Tsvangirai is raising funds among the white farmers, and has gained a following among the Blacks who labor on their farms. A New York Times correspondent described one rally in Bindura in an April 3 article. Tsvangirai "promised to improve wages and end corruption and farm invasions, then led the cheering throngs of farm workers in a rousing cry of "Change! Change! Change!" reported Rachel Swarns.

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