US embassy cable - 02HARARE2625

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002625 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER, DCHA/OFDA/ARO FOR RILEY, MYER AND 
CHIKODZORE 
USAID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA FOR HAJJAR, HALMREST-SANCHEZ, 
KHANDAGLE AND MARX 
DCHA/FFP FOR LANDIS, BRAUSE, SKORIC AND PETERSEN 
AFR/SA FOR POE AND COPSON 
AFR/SD FOR ISALROW AND WHELAN 
REDSO/ESA/FFP FOR SENYKOFF 
GENEVA PLEASE PASS TO UNOCHA, IFRC 
PRETORIA FOR USAID/DCHA/FFP FOR DISKIN 
DCHA/OFDA FOR BRYAN AND MUELLER, AND FAS FOR HELM 
ROME PLEASE PASS TO FODAG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, EAID, ECON, ASEC, ZI 
SUBJECT: IDPS--FEAR AND LOATHING IN ZIMBABWE 
 
REF: A. HARARE 2529 
 
     B. HARARE 2403 
     C. HARARE 2318 
     D. HARARE 2310 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
1. On November 13 - 15 together with UN Senior Humanitarian 
Affairs Officer, Andrew Timpson, Poloff visited ex-commercial 
farm workers and their families in Tete province, Mozambique, 
northern Mashonaland Central province in Zimbabwe, and on a 
commercial farm near Harare.  The lack of food security in 
all three locations merits food assistance.  Although the 
reception for ex-workers in Mozambique seemed to be friendly, 
those remaining in Zimbabwe live in fear and are trying to 
stay out of sight, complicating the relief response effort. 
End Summary 
 
Displaced in Mozambique 
----------------------- 
2. Poloff interviewed about fifteen ex-commercial farm 
workers in the Mozambican towns Chikafa and Goho who reported 
that they knew of about sixty ex-farm worker families (about 
300 people) who had moved into those areas since September 
2002, and that more were arriving daily.  Justice for 
Agriculture (JAG), a Zimbabwe-based commercial agriculture 
advocacy organization, estimates that about 900 ex-commercial 
farm worker families, or about 4,500 people, have already 
moved into Tete province. 
 
3. All of the ex-commercial farm workers interviewed in Tete 
were born in other parts of Mozambique (none were from the 
Chikafa / Goho area), but had moved to live and work on 
commercial farms in Zimbabwe from between 1958 and 1986.  All 
had Zimbabwean identity cards, had voted in recent elections 
in Zimbabwe, and most said they had Zimbabwean-born wives and 
children (now with them in Mozambique).  All said war 
veterans forced them out of their residences on commercial 
farms, mostly in Guruve district, Mashonaland Central 
province, and told them to "go back where they came from". 
They said they heard rumors that village heads in Mozambique 
were granting land, so they hired private trucks to ferry 
them into the area. 
 
4. All the ex-workers had been granted twelve acres which 
they had cleared, erected traditional round mud-brick African 
huts with grass thatch roofs, and planted cotton, maize and 
tobacco.  (Note: Poor soil quality, and insufficient rainfall 
result in low agricultural productivity in the area off the 
Zimbabwean escarpment on both sides of the border.  End 
Note.)  Many had done day labor for their new neighbors, and 
community work for a food-for-work program with 
WFP-Mozambique, but, the expected WFP food delivery was 
already three weeks behind schedule.  In Chikafa, there was 
no electricity, no phone anywhere in the area, no running 
water, no paved roads, and no school.  The nearest health 
clinic and school were on the Zimbabwean side.  The nearest 
school in Mozambique was about twenty kilometers north.  They 
said they used their severance packages, anywhere between 
ZWD$150,000 and ZWD$340,000 (about US$88 - 200), to finance 
their transport, seeds and food, but all said those funds 
were essentially exhausted.  Their clothing was in average 
condition, and most of our interlocutors appeared thinner 
than average, but not wasting.  They reported that they 
bought basic foodstuffs and supplies on the Zimbabwean side 
with severance money, but these were sometimes confiscated by 
Zimbabwean police on the walk back to Mozambique.  (Note: 
When asked, the Zimbabwean police justified these 
confiscations as an attempt to combat smuggling, and insisted 
that only very small, personal amounts of foodstuffs could be 
exported.  End Note.) 
 
5. Although our interlocutors said they were hungry, and that 
there was hunger in this area, they said the people in 
Mozambique were friendly.  Some said they could send their 
children to school on the Zimbabwean side (which has 
instruction in Shona and English), if they had the school 
fees.  Others said they would try to send theirs to the 
Mozambican school (where instruction is in Shona and 
Portuguese).  The interviews were conducted in Shona; no 
ex-commercial farm workers spoke fluent English or 
Portuguese.  They seemed comfortable with their 
circumstances, and expressed disinterest in moving elsewhere. 
 They described their exodus and current hunger with a tinge 
of sadness, and seemed bitter at being forced out of 
Zimbabwe.  Due to that experience, and political tension, 
they said they would never move back to Zimbabwe even if jobs 
became available. 
 
Displaced in Zimbabwe 
--------------------- 
6. Although WFP reports that as many as 1000 ex-commercial 
farm worker families are already displaced in Mashonaland 
Central province (Ref C), near the border with Mozambique, 
and interviews were scheduled with dozens, Poloff was only 
able to interview two.  The others reportedly feared 
reprisals by war veterans for talking to international 
officials, and stayed away.  The two interviewed had been 
forced off a commercial farm near Guruve having received no 
severance packages, traveled by public bus to Chikafa (on the 
Zimbabwean side) and been allotted twelve acres under similar 
circumstances described above. 
 
7. They were born in Zimbabwe of Zimbabwean parents and had 
first tried to move back to their ancestral communal area in 
September, but were rejected by the community who said that 
as ex-commercial farm workers, and suspected MDC supporters, 
they could not accept them.  Although the village head in 
Chikafa had allotted them land, they could not buy maize or 
seed from the local Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depot, and 
reported a generally unfriendly and threatening reception by 
fellow Zimbabweans.  They said they had been eating forest 
fruit primarily these days.  Their compounds were mud-brick 
and thatch dwellings, and they seemed to be in the same 
physical condition as ex-workers in Mozambique--thinner than 
average, but not wasting. 
 
Eating Termites and Forest Fruit 
-------------------------------- 
8. On November 15, Poloff interviewed about fifteen 
ex-commercial farm workers on the Thanner farm in Melfort 
(about 25 kilometers southeast of Harare) who were eating 
dried termites and unripe forest fruit to survive.  (Note: 
Although dried caterpillars can be found in street markets in 
Zimbabwe and are occasionally eaten in a fried sauce over 
maize meal, these are not considered a staple.  End Note.) 
The ex-workers laid out mats on the ground and were drying 
what appeared to be a few kilos of termites in the sun, some 
with wings still on, others de-winged and ready for 
consumption.  During the interview, children were gnawing on 
small green forest fruit; the workers reported that these 
were the only food they had been eating in recent days.  They 
reported that they were not prevented from buying maize at a 
nearby GMB depot for political reasons, but rather, could not 
because they simply didn't have the money. 
 
9. There had originally been about 120 farm worker families 
at the Thanner farm; twenty had already left.  Those 
remaining were living in their original dwellings, simple 
mud-brick and tin roof huts with no electricity.  Some were 
working two days a week for ZWD$290 per day (about US$0.17) 
for the new settlers who had divided the farm into sixteen 
individual plots.  The ex-workers had only small vegetable 
garden-sized plots around their houses, far too small to 
support the annual food needs of a whole family, and no maize 
seed.  Six of the settlers, mostly civil servants living and 
working in Harare, had started to farm their 50 - 160 acre 
plots, but ten had never visited the location.  The 
ex-workers appeared to be in similar physical condition as 
their compatriots elsewhere--thin, but not wasting.  They 
complained of hunger and asked Poloff and his companions for 
food assistance.  Five to seven war veterans arrived from a 
nearby farm, and violently halted the interview beating the 
other members of Poloff's party, one severely (Ref A). 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
10. This is the first in a series of reports to characterize 
the situation for IDPs.  Due to time constraints, Poloff was 
unable to confirm the total numbers of ex-commercial farm 
workers recently resettled in the Tete province of 
Mozambique.  Based on the density of villages just across the 
border it could easily number into the hundreds of families, 
possibly even the JAG reported figure of 900 (4,500 people). 
Due to effective intimidation, Poloff was unable to confirm 
the plethora of independent reports suggesting that thousands 
of families have already moved to other locations within 
Zimbabwe.  (Note: We have no reason to doubt this estimate 
and the likelihood that it is increasing.  End Note.)  No one 
whom Poloff interviewed had been transported by GOZ vehicle, 
or involuntarily, though all said they had been "forced" off 
the commercial farms. 
 
11. Although the environment in Mozambique was friendly, it 
did not seem to be easy.  There was little infrastructure, 
and people seemed tired of all the work involved in moving, 
building a house, and planting on meager nutrition.  They 
moved and spoke lethargically.  They were not dying on their 
feet, but without some food assistance in the coming months, 
their plights will become dire. 
 
12. The situation for ex-workers in Dande (northern Zimbabwe) 
was worse.  They had huts, compounds, and farmland, but could 
not buy maize or seed from the GMB, and in the politically 
threatening environment could not rely on anyone to help. 
With meager resources at present, their need for food 
assistance seems more acute, and without seed this year, more 
prolonged. 
 
13. The situation for ex-workers in Melfort was also very 
bad.  Their biggest problem seemed to be that they didn't 
have enough land on which to grow their own food.  Working 
for US$0.34 a week was simply not enough to cover their 
family food needs.  They need food assistance, but, as Poloff 
and his party experienced, war veterans controlled the farm 
completely.  It would seem difficult to design a feeding 
program which did not account for the war veterans' control. 
 
14. The fear demonstrated by ex-workers who failed to appear 
for interviews with us, and the desperation and tension 
experienced on the Thanner farm suggest that the situation is 
bad for any ex-commercial farm worker in Zimbabwe.  This fear 
complicates response planning, as it appears ex-workers would 
rather remain unseen than identify themselves for 
international assistance, and the unwanted attentions of 
neighboring ZANU-PF zealots.  End Comment. 
SULLIVAN