Given the vindictiveness of ZDERA, it was certainly not unexpected that Britain, US, Canada, Australia and the European Union member states should reject the 2002 Presidential elections results as flawed, writes Dr Felix Muchemwa in his book The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe (1890-2010) that The Patriot is serialising.

Conflict farms
UP until the end of the year 2000, European settler-farmers had, through the courts, stiffly resisted the Zimbabwe Government compulsory acquisition of the land.
However, from the end of the year 2001, the European settler-farmers adopted extremely violent methods in an effort to stop the Government from resettling communal peasants on their farms. They felt assured by the previous favourable Supreme Court ruling.
It was also discovered that part of the aim of the European settler-farmers of launching violence on the farms was to mobilise international military intervention against the Zimbabwe Government. (The Herald, August 29 2001, p.1)
The violence by the European settler-farmers erupted in very well-organised groups, assaulting farm occupiers, in particular war veterans as well as Agricultural and Technical Extension Services (AGRITEX) officials.
At Liston Shield Farm (Chinhoyi), which belonged to Antony Barkleyat, 22 white settler-farmers were arrested after assaulting and injuring resettled farmers. (The Herald, August 8 2001, p.1)
In Karoi, European settler-farmers at Ansdel Farm, owned by Rockwood Estates (Pvt) Ltd, and Perviril Farm owned by Marshall Henery caused violence in their attempt to evict war veterans and, the Government responded by deploying the army to peg farms and to ensure security and speedy land reform. (The Herald, August 15 2001, p1)
An Amendment to the Land Acquisition Act which was gazetted on November 9 2001, paved the way for the Government to immediately expropriate ‘conflict farms’ and by December 2001, about 700 European settler-farmers had been issued with the relevant Farm Acquisition Orders countrywide.
The affected European settler-farmers were given three months to vacate the farms.
Failure to do so would result in their being prosecuted since it was an offence for an owner or occupier of a farm to resist the Acquisition Order. (The Herald, December 24 2001, p.1)
Furthermore, during the three months grace period, the evicted settler-farmers were to remain confined to their houses, and not to interfere with farming operations or the pegging of plots on the farms.
Two such ‘conflict farms’ immediately acquired under the amendment were ‘Peveril Place, owned by Marshall Henry Roper and Ansdel Farm, owned by Rockwood Estates P/L’. The two farms totaled 22 852 370 hectares. (The Herald, November 12 2001, p.1)
Meanwhile, the Government slashed the farm sizes of agro-industrial properties, plantations and conservancies to ranges between 250 hectares and a maximum size of 2 000 hectares depending on agricultural region, and in the process, acquired any excess land.
The new Government regulations also affected ungazetted large scale farms, plantations, farms with Export Processing Zone permits and Zimbabwe Investment Centre Permits as well as foreign-owned farms and conservancies. (The Herald, November 20 2001, p1)
Supreme Court endorsement of Fast Track Land Reform Programme
On December 3 2001 the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), represented by Advocate Adrian De Bourbon, appealed to the Supreme Court to rule that the Fast Track Land Reform Programme was illegal. (The Herald, December 5 2001, p.1)
The Union hoped and expected that the Supreme Court would uphold the former Chief Justice Gubbay’s ruling on November 10 2000, since the current Supreme Court bench’s composition was virtually the same as before except for Chief Justice Chidyausiku. But, they were wrong.
This time around, before making its ruling, the Supreme Court was given statistics on land which showed that of the 33 000 000 hectares of agricultural land in Zimbabwe, 14 000 000 hectares of the best agricultural land was owned by 4 000 European settler-farmers, who were fully utilising only 40 percent of that land. (The Herald, December 4 2001, p.1)
The result was a landmark ruling in which the new Supreme Court of Zimbabwe reversed the ruling by the former Chief Justice Gubbay, on the legality of the Fast Track Land Reform programme. (Hungwe p.152)
The new Supreme Court, chaired by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, ruled that the land acquisition for resettlement by Government was lawful, and that the rule of law prevailed in Zimbabwe and on commercial farms.
More significantly, the Supreme Court ruled that it was satisfied with the Fast Track Land Reform programme as well as the whole Land Reform Programme (The Herald, December 4, 2001, p.1), and also that the land taken from the European settler-farmers was within legal limits.
In the new Supreme Court ruling, Chief Justice Chidyausiku, Justice Malaba, Justice Cheda, Justice Ziyambi concurred and only Justice Ebrahim dissented. (The Herald, December 4 2001, p.1)
In that manner, the ruling was a heavy blow to the CFU.
Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA)
Meanwhile, at the same time that Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court was ruling on the legality of the Land Reform Programme, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill was being passed into law in the US Congress.
The resultant Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, (ZDERA) directed ‘US officials working in multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to vote against any financial loans and grants to Harare.’ (The Herald, December 6 2001, p.1)
Under Section 4 (D) (3), ZDERA would be reversed only if:
The Government of Zimbabwe (has) demonstrated a commitment to an equitable, legal and transparent Land Reform Programme consistent with agreements reached at the International Donors Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe, held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in September 1998. (Ankomah, The New African, May 2007, p.69)
This was of course notwithstanding the fact that the American Ambassador, Tom McDonald, had refused to enter any agreement in September 1998 when he said that his country, the US, had laws which forbade financial support to countries which compulsorily acquired land even by law. (The Herald, September 12 1998, p.1)
And, if from 1992, the Zimbabwe Government had been developing laws to compulsorily acquire land (Zimbabwe Land Acquisition Act, Chapter 20.10, 1992) the US ambassador’s position had removed all chances of ever reaching an agreement at the September 1998 International Donors Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe, held in Harare.
ZDERA therefore only reinforced the original belligerent stance.
Given the vindictiveness of ZDERA, it was certainly not unexpected that Britain, US, Canada, Australia and the EU member states should reject the 2002, Presidential elections results as flawed.
In the 120 Zimbabwe Constituencies, Cde Robert Mugabe had garnered
1 685 212 votes to Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC)’s 1 258 401 votes which translated to a majority win of over 400 000 votes by the former. (The Herald, May 3 2002, p.1)