Human Rights Watch slams land grab

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has placed the blame for Zimbabwe's ongoing political and social instability squarely on President Robert Mugabe's "fast track" land reform programme, claiming it has harmed the very people it was designed to assist.

In a statement released on Thursday Human Rights Watch slammed Mugabe's handling of the land question and the violence and human rights abuses that have accompanied it. A report on its findings was to be released Friday, on the eve of Zimbabwe's critical presidential elections on 9-10 March.

"Militia groups affiliated with the party of President Robert Mugabe have carried out serious acts of violence against rural dwellers and landless workers on commercial farms," the organisation said. It also said it received reports of discrimination, on political grounds, in the distribution of land.

"Many of the people who were supposed to benefit from this reform have actually been targets of the violence," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, was quoted as saying.

While the organisation acknowledged the "unjust situation which saw colonial policies of expropriation giving white farmers huge, free tracts of fertile land in what is now Zimbabwe, while rural black people were restricted to crowded tribal reserves of little agricultural value". It said little had been done to change the situation from independence in 1980 up to 2000.

In 2000, President Mugabe's government passed new laws allowing expropriation of land without compensation, and encouraging landless peasants to occupy commercial farmland.

In the 40-page report, "Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe", HRW provides testimonies from people who said that many of those who wanted land under the government programme had to show support for the ruling ZANU-PF party and that those who supported the opposition were denied land.

"The landless labourers who live and work on the commercial farms have been largely excluded from land redistribution. Among the most disadvantaged Zimbabweans, they have also been particular targets of state-sponsored violence.

"The government also failed to ensure that women, particularly married women, benefited from the land reform, despite its stated commitment to gender balance," said the HRW report.

It called for the post-election government in Zimbabwe to bring to justice those responsible for abuses, and to take steps to ensure that the violence does not recur. Additionally, any
government-sponsored land reform must respect the rule of law.

The report will be online from Friday at:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/zimbabwe/.