DATE=5/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ZIMBABWE / HUNZVI (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262564
BYLINE=PETE THORNYCROFT
DATELINE=HARARE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Zimbabwe judge has fined the leader of the
country's war veterans who invaded and occupied
hundreds of white-owned farms. But a jail sentence
was suspended. Peta Thornycroft in Harare reports
Zimbabwe's commercial farmers union asked the judge
not to send the protest leader to prison.
TEXT: The high court judge gave protest leader
Chenjerai Hunzvi a suspended jail sentence and a fine
of 262 U-S dollars for defying a court order to end
the occupation of white-owned commercial farms. Mr.
Hunzvi earlier had been found guilty of contempt of
court for failing to end the invasions.
The commercial farmers union, which had taken Mr.
Hunzvi to court, told the judge Friday that a jail
sentence would be inflammatory. Commercial farmers
had been told by high-ranking government officials
that if Mr. Hunzvi went to jail, violence would
continue on the occupied farms.
The seizure of Zimbabwe's productive commercial farms
began in February, after voters rejected a new
constitution -- the first political defeat for
President Robert Mugabe in his 20-year rule.
With parliamentary elections due at the end of June,
President Mugabe's supporters have unleashed a reign
of terror against supporters of opposition parties.
At least 23 people have died in the violence
countrywide.
Among the dead are four members of the farmers' union,
who were killed on their farms. In addition, one farm
foreman was tortured and died, and hundreds of farm
workers have been beaten by war veterans and
government supporters.
Most of those who have been attacked on the commercial
farms were supporters of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, M-D-C.
The invasion of commercial farms has disrupted the
agricultural economy and led to thousands of workers
losing their jobs in related industries.
President Mugabe, who supports the occupation of
white-owned commercial farms, has told Britain it
should pay for land occupied in the last century by
white settlers.
In the present volatile situation in Zimbabwe, many
local observers and diplomats from several western
countries have said they doubt whether Zimbabwe's
parliamentary elections can be free and fair.
(Signed)
NEB/PT/JWH/ENE/WTW
19-May-2000 11:47 AM EDT (19-May-2000 1547 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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