HARARE, Zimbabwe%uFFFDMilitant ruling party supporters invaded whiteowned farms Monday, a day after President Robert Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to defend seized land, fanning fears he would stage a violent crackdown to retain power.
Invasions that began Sunday worsened with intruders entering at least 23 farms in southern Masvingo province and northern Centenary, said Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmers Union. “In Masvingo where the police have been very cooperative, every time they remove invaders, within five, six hours they’re reinvading,” he told The Associated Press.
“It’s very apparent that this is being coordinated from higher up the chain of command.” Workers were being rounded up on the farms and forced to chant anthems in support of the ruling party, he said, and many of the farm owners had fled out of concern about their safety. “The farmers are being told that everything on the farm is the property of those invading,” he said.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who claims to have won the March 29 election outright, was holding meetings in neighboring South Africa Monday, the same day he issued a call for international pressure to persuade Mugabe to step down.
Tsvangirai flew out of Zimbabwe Sunday evening, said Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, declining to give details. South African President Thabo Mbeki, who mediated failed preelection talks between Tsvangirai’s and Mugabe’s parties, was out of the country Monday.
Zimbabwean electoral officials have yet to say whether Tsvangirai or Mugabe won the presidential election, and the two rivals have adopted sharply contrasting strategies in response. Mugabe is already campaigning for an expected runoff on a platform of intimidation and fanning racial tension. Tsvangirai says he won, and has demanded Zimbabwean courts and the international community support him.
“We urge the International Monetary Fund, at its meeting this week, to withhold … aid to Zimbabwe unless the defeated expresident accepts the election results in full and hands over the reins of power,” Tsvangirai wrote in an opinion piece published Monday in the British newspaper The Guardian.
“This is also the time for firm diplomacy. Major powers here, such as South Africa, the U.S. and Britain, must act to remove the white-knuckle grip of Mugabe’s suicidal reign and oblige him and his minions to retire. “How can global leaders espouse the values of democracy, yet when they are being challenged fail to open their mouths?” Tsvangirai added.
A Zimbabwean court postponed an expected ruling on an opposition petition to force the release of the presidential election results. Mugabe’s ruling party has demanded a recount, and a further delay in the release of results.
The court did decide that it had the jurisdiction to hear the case, an aspect that had been in dispute, lawyer Alec Muchadehama said. Even that ruling will decide only whether the matter needs to be handled urgently, Biti said, arguing Mugabe’s party was working to further stall the process.
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