War veterans vow to stay on farms

Chenjerai Hunzvi, leader of the war veterans occupying white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, has said his followers would remain on lands they have seized as pressure mounted on President Robert Mugabe to stop the action and placate international donors, the weekly ‘Financial Gazette’ reported on Thursday.

It quoted Hunzvi as saying: “The land must go back to the people and we cannot retreat now. In fact, the government should move faster now and build on what has been achieved by the war veterans by giving more land to the people.” The newspaper said those pushing for the removal of the veterans include some of the ministers appointed to the new cabinet who see the issue as a prerequisite for Zimbabwe to lure back the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors.

The IMF suspended all aid to Zimbabwe last year because of the government’s failure to meet agreed targets under IMF-backed economic reforms and because of Zimbabwe’s costly military involvement in the civil war of the Congo. Hundreds of war veterans and supporters of the governing ZANU PF party have since February forcibly seized more than 1,000 white-owned farms. At least five farmers have been killed in the violence that has accompanied the seizures.