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International-UN-NGOs
Weeds and wasted lives on the farm run by UNÂ’s rural kingpin
2007-06-27
It looks as if no one has lived here for years. Tall, dense elephant grass grows everywhere. There is a rutted track that passes a nearly empty dam where a truck has broken down and been left to its own fate.

Sheds and barns for curing tobacco are deserted. Gates hang open and there is scant fencing. A fallen tree lies across the track. The only sign of activity is a flock of sheep owned by a neighbouring white farmer who leases the unused grazing.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum says this week in a report that there is “a plausible case for crimes against humanity” having been committed in the past seven years by Mr Mugabe’s regime.
This is the farm of Francis Nhema, ZimbabweÂ’s Minister of Environment, who became chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development last month. He occupied Nyamanda farm, just south of the small town of Karoi in northern Zimbabwe in 2003, a year after its owner, Chris Shepherd, and his family were driven out by lawless ruling party militias.

On its 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres), Mr Shepherd had planted 80 hectares of high-grade tobacco and 200 hectares of maize. Cattle grazed on 300 hectares.

Last year Mr Nhema managed three hectares of tobacco and ten hectares of maize.

“This year there is nothing,” said a former farm security guard, who asked to remain anonymous. “There is a small patch of soya beans. The rest is weeds. The whole 1,000 hectares are weeds.”

Mr Nhema, who is now the world’s leading international authority on global policies for the prudent management of rural and industrial resources, has never been on the farm for more than a few hours and comes once every few months, said the guard. A relative lived in the house for a while “but he knew nothing about farming”, and it is now empty, he said.

The 4,300 farms seized illegally by President Mugabe since 2000 have followed the same pattern overwhelmingly, and turned one of the most robust and enterprising agricultural industries into a model of neglect.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum says this week in a report – the first detailed study on the human rights violations against white farmers and their black workers during the land grab – that there is “a plausible case for crimes against humanity” having been committed in the past seven years by Mr Mugabe’s regime.

“There is a compelling need for these to be investigated and the perpetrators to be summarily shot charged and tried,” it says.

More than a million people living on commercial farms suffered incidents of assault, torture, being held hostage, illegal detention and death threats, it estimates. More than 10,000 farm workers are believed to have died after their removal and the consequent loss of employment, housing, nutrition and access to health-care on the farms.
Posted by:lotp

#6  It is important to know that this is the left's idea of development. They hate the human race and this is what they want for each and every one of us and for the planet as a whole.

Yes, it is. Yes, they do. And there isn't anyplace left to flee. So, the time for fighting is near, anyone that still thinks that this goat-hump can be turned around without fighting is just kidding themselves, and delaying the inevitable.

And time is not on our side.
Posted by: Natural Law   2007-06-27 13:23  

#5  And yet the left demands for us to pour more aid into Africa.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-06-27 12:44  

#4  Damn! How I be gettin a good gig like that!
Posted by: Farmin B. Hard   2007-06-27 11:55  

#3  Failed businesman/farmer? Rabid anti-semite? Barking Moonbat? You may have a future as aun official. Sad very sad.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2007-06-27 11:12  

#2  It is important to know that this is the left's idea of development. They hate the human race and this is what they want for each and every one of us and for the planet as a whole. That is why we must commit ourselves to being against leftism in every respect all the time forever...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2007-06-27 10:55  

#1  "The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum says this week in a report – the first detailed study on the human rights violations against white farmers and their black workers during the land grab – that there is “a plausible case for crimes against humanity” having been committed in the past seven years by Mr MugabeÂ’s regime."

Gee, that's nice to know, fellas. Must be a great comfort to all those owners driven of their properties, and to all those starving rural workers.

Talk about a day late and a dollar short...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom   2007-06-27 08:14  

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