SW Radio Africa (London)
Alex Bell
22 June 2009
In comments to the international media Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has once again moved to downplay the severity of the farm invasions, creating a ripple of anger across the commercial farming community.
In an interview on Sunday with the UK's BBC 'Andrew Marr Show', Tsvangirai again referred to the current wave of farm invasions as isolated incidents, saying: "The incidence of so-called farm invasions, I can count them." He also moved to dismiss the critical fact that farm production had been halted in Zimbabwe, saying the farm invasions are "not an explosion that it is almost like we have started all over again to disrupt farm productions." Tsvangirai then said during an interview on Monday with the BBC's Radio Four, that the political parties had agreed to a land audit, as an answer to the current land attacks, despite the fact that a comprehensive land audit will take several years to complete.
In May, Tsvangirai shocked the embattled farming community by referring to the ongoing farm attacks as 'isolated incidents' that had been 'blown out of proportion'. Observers argued that Tsvangirai was merely fulfilling his role as the country's money magnet, as the farm attacks have critically swayed Western governments away from handing over developmental aid to the unity government. But while the government has treated the often violent land attacks and illegal prosecution of farmers as a mere embarrassment, the offensive against the farmers has intensified.
Trevor Gifford, the President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), expressed great concern that the Prime Minister has again dismissed the attacks, saying Tsvangirai is playing a 'game' in an attempt to secure government funding. He explained that the attacks on farmers are likely to intensify, saying the government "has always wanted the remaining commercial, white farmers off farms." Gifford continued that farmers "are being persecuted and abused," in farm attacks that have been "all but legalised in terms of the law, because of offer letters."
Chegutu Farmer Ben Freeth at the same time expressed concern that the "truth of the farm attacks has become the biggest casualty in this situation." Freeth's Mount Carmel Farm has come under repeated attack this year by thugs working for ZANU PF top official, Nathan Shamuyarira. Freeth, his family and his staff have been repeatedly and violently threatened, while his farm has been taken over by invaders. Freeth's farm stock, including thousands of US dollars worth of maize and mangoes, have been sold off, and local police have done nothing to prevent the attacks from taking place.
"When the truth becomes a casualty then everything starts to fall apart," Freeth said. "Our country is in dire need to locally produced food, and simply anyone who eats is now the loser in this fight."
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ho ho Gonzo nachin'ai zvatosvorana, i wonder what the MDC promised these farmers, the picture will become very clear very soon, and we will begin to hear about funds that were abused by the MDC leadership buying houses in SA for MT and Australia for Biti. Why dont they release the land audits that have been done in the past before they waste money and embark on another audit whose results will be kept under lock and key again. Those with more than one farm must be prosecuted, simple and languish in prison!!!
"Those with more than one farm must be prosecuted, simple and languish in prison!!!"
How many does grace have? 3? What about Mugabe?
THE DONKEY OF ZIMBABWE'S WARPED CONSTRUAL OF 'EQUALITY': THE SLOW BUT STEADY DESTRUCTION OF THE COGNITIVE MOJO OF RED, LOONEY, SMITHY AND "ZIMBABWE IS A PATHETIC PIECE OF CRAP" COMRADE AWT-DEPENDENT.
"The flunkies of my leader, the GREAT LEADER, racist and autocratic and xenophobic Ian Smith had thousands of farms, which he passed down to know nothing rhodist farmers. Can't agree more that if graceless grace and murky mugarbage have a right to own SOME farms. Cant agree more."
The Donkey cannot help but insert its nose into any possible hole: rhodism has no moral or political authority to pass on the land question. That is the judgment of the people of Zimbabwe.
If the Donkey disagrees or, what he calls the "West," disagrees, well, they are cordially invited by the collective, overpowering will of the people of Zimbabwe to go hang.
Monsieur Donkey, comment allez vous in the "zoo", that you have now determined as "a pathetic piece of crap"?
IDIOT!
Another badly written piece of crap from DickinSon. His mouth should simply be labled "crap factory" due to the constant stream of crap that comes out of it.
Now DickinSon, its clear to all here that your only goal is to stifle any meaningful debate from competant and intelligent contributors from both sides of the argument by clogging up these boards with relentless attacks of individuals. Childish. Very childish.
But it does show one thing. That you arent capable of staying up with the play and it shows that you dont have any decent arguments to put forward about the issues in hand.
Instead you try to hide your blatant stupidity when it comes to these issues by calling people names. Like a bully on a playground. Well that may work at the age of 7, but unfortunately for you, we're all a little more grown up now, and can see through this behaviour.
Time to grow up a bit dont you think?
POLEMIC ON RED, LOONEY, SMITHY-RHODIST, "ZIMBABWE IS A PATHETIC PIECE OF CRAP" comrade awt-dependent: presenting the iterative, stuck in the mud rhetorical loop of the DONKEY OF ZIMBABWE, THE ARCH IDIOT.
"Whenever Dickinson, jallohlaw or jellyboobs quotes me correctly, my tape recorder, goes into a loop: I say the same thing over and over and over and over again, again, and again. And everyone knows (I am able to know what everyone one knows) that I AM THE ARCH DEBATE DERAILER on this site. And everyone knows that I do that with my culturally acquired lexicon from the terrorist state of Rhodesia: I call everyone an "IDIOT," as my master, my leader, the terrorist, autocrat, hard core throw democracy under the train, Ian Smith used to call ALL BLACKS."
What a pathetic and idiotic red, small intellect: the dude can't even write, for crying out loud, and yet he---I meant the DONKEY---wants to debate "politics."
Only fellow unter-donkeys will attribute the potentia of debate to THE DONKEY OF ZIMBABWE.
IDIOT!
It would be prudent if you were to APOLIGIZE TO THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE FOR CALLING ZIMBABWE "a pathetic piece of crap."
But you won't: the arch idiot is stubborn and stupid, corroborated derivative predicates of idiocy.
Exactly Awt, I've asked the same question often. This shows beyond doubt that DisGrace Mugabe is an enemy of the nation and should be in Chikurubi now slopping out. Bob must divorce the whore now.
Tsvangirai is not "downplaying the severity" of so-called “farm invasions" because there are none at all. This is just an imagined thing which Tsvangirai saw with his own eyes to be false and is just meant to demonize the country and its leaders. Tsvangirai is only being diplomatic by saying that they are just "isolated incidents" which he can count.
The truth of the matter is that no farm has been invaded since 2005. What we had between 1998 and 2005 were just land demonstrations about the slow pace of land reform and these stopped the moment government agreed to speed up the process by way of the "Fast Track Land Reform Programme".
Anything that former colonizers like Zungairwa, Euro35 and Julhman and current colonizers like Awt or anybody else for that matter may say is just hogwash; it is bullshit and should be treated as such as it is coming from those who are bitter for loosing the privilege they used to racially enjoy over black Zimbabweans.
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