land reform. A set of principles was adopted to govern “phase two” of land resettlement in Zimbabwe, including respect for a legal process, transparency, poverty reduction, affordability, and consistency with Zimbabwe’s wider economic interests. A technical committee worked on finalizing the details of the new system. 17 Nevertheless, relations between the donors and the government broke down. The Zimbabwe government accused the donors of not actually putting up the funds that they had pledged and of protecting the neo-colonial interests of white-owned agribusiness; the donors accused the government of continued lack of transparency and failure to adhere to the principles agreed at the conference. New conditions related to governance were attached to funding for land reform. Despite these difficulties, some progress was made: by the end of 1999, thirty-five farms totaling 70,000 hectares had been purchased, with others in line to be acquired. A draft land tax bill had been produced, and steps taken to limit farm sizes.18 While these debates were ongoing, many of those demanding economic and political reform came together in 1997 to form the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), an alliance of civil society groups which initiated a process of debate on the need for a new constitution. In 1999, representatives of a wide range of interest groups formed a new political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The creation of the MDC was the first time in Zimbabwe’s post-independence history that an opposition party had succeeded in creating a genuinely national movement, and thus represented a real threat to the ruling party. In particular, the MDC was the first party to attract support from white Zimbabweans, and received significant financial support from the white business and commercial farming communities. In addition to calling for national renewal on a range of issues, the MDC promised “people -driven land reform.” The party committed itself to purchasing “6-7 million [hectares] of land for resettlement through the acquisition of underutilised, derelict and multiple owned land, land already identified and designated for the purpose and corruptly acquired land.”19 At the time, the government’s policy was eventually to acquire five million hectares of land from the commercial farming sector for redistribution. 20 In an attempt to coopt the demand for constitutional reform, in May 1999 President Mugabe created an official government commission, consisting of almost 400 members, to rewrite the constitution. A large number of public meetings was held to solicit public views, though these were ultimately largely ignored. A draft constitution, including provisions that would greatly strengthen the executive at the expense of parliament, and extend the powers of the government to acquire land compulsorily without compensation, was adopted against the protests of a substantial number of members of the constitutional commission and submitted to a national referendum in February 2000. 21 The MDC campaigned for a “no” vote. The government was defeated in the referendum, by 53 percent of the 1.3 million votes cast. In the face of the challenge represented by the MDC and other increasingly outspoken critics of his government, President Mugabe and Zanu-PF responded on two fronts. On the one hand, the government revived 17 Technical Committee of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Resettlement and Rural Development and the National Economic Consultative Forum Land Reform Task Force, Inception Phase Framework Plan: 1999 to 2000, An Implementation Plan of the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme – Phase 2 (Harare: Government of Zimbabwe, undated (1998)). 18 COHRE, Land, Housing and Property Rights in Zimbabwe, p.20; Moyo, “The Interaction of Market and Compulsory Land Acquisition Processes with Social Action,” p.24. 19 MDC manifesto, paragraph 3; see also Agriculture, Land and Water Policy Statement, June 2000; both available at www.mdczimbabwe.com, accessed December 4, 2001. 20 The “inception phase” of “phase two” of the land reform and resettlement program aimed to redistribute one million hectares in a twenty-four month period; in the longer run, within five years, the objectives of phase two were to acquire five million hectares of commercial farmland and resettle about 150,000 families. Technical Committee, Inception Phase Framework Plan, paragraphs 1.1 and 1.2. The MDC did not state a time limit for its own distribution plans. 21 See Angela Cheater, Human Rights and Zimbabwe’s June 2000 Election (Harare: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Human Rights Research Unit, January 2001), pp.8-13 for a summary of the constitution-drafting process. The members of the NGO Forum are: Amani Trust, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Legal Resources Foundation, Transparency International (Zimbabwe), University of Zimbabwe Legal Aid and Advice Scheme, Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association. Human Rights Watch 9 March 2002, Vol. 14, No. 1 (A)