problem they identified was the party-political control of access to the forms for applying for land and partisan discrimination in the allocation of plots. The second was the key role of the war veterans’ Zanu-PF militias in distributing and allocating land, the same militias that are responsible for violence and intimidation against many who might otherwise apply for a plot. A third was the general exclusion of farm workers from the benefits of land redistribution. Although there is an official structure for allocating land through the civil service and elected officials, in many cases this system is superseded by informal processes governed by the war veterans, who may require demonstrated loyalty to Zanu-PF before allocating a plot. Working in concert with the ruling party militias, the police and army were identified as coordinating some of the land occupations. Some people from communal areas who genuinely need land to raise themselves out of poverty, as well as some middle class people from urban areas who wish and have the capabilities to enter commercial farming, have been among those who have obtained access to land for the first time. The extent to which real need has been a criterion is difficult to assess because of the difficulties of accessing fast track resettlement areas or talking to the ruling party militia often led by war veterans that control most resettlement areas. Nevertheless, the testimonies we received raise issues concerning the politicized nature of beneficiary selection and thus about the extent to which fast track land resettlement is really benefiting those who most need land. Because the “fast track” process of resettlement is being carried out so rapidly, short-circuiting legal procedures, some of those who have moved onto new plots or those who might otherwise do so, expressed concern about the lack of certainty that their title to land will be secure. Others who want land have not taken up the opportunity because they do not have the resources to plow the land and because there is little if any government support to assist new settlers. The absence of legal security and government assistance could leave them vulnerable to hunger and displacement. Development organizations following the crisis in Zimbabwe have noted that the disruption to commercial agriculture caused by fast track resettlement has endangered food security in Zimbabwe, usually a maize exporter. In many ways, those most disadvantaged by the fast track land reform program are landless farm workers: large numbers of farm workers have been laid off from paid work; yet farm workers have not been among the groups targeted to benefit from land reallocations. Those who are descendants of Zambians, Malawians or Mozambicans brought to Zimbabwe as indentured labor during the colonial period may have additional difficulty in accessing the fast track resettlement schemes. Despite government commitments to addressing gender inequality in land distribution, women, whose rights to land under customary law are weak, have also failed to benefit proportionately from the fast track process. The government has defied court orders requiring the police to remove those occupying farms where land was not acquired in accordance with procedures set down in the law and flouted the court ruling that commercial farmers be allowed to continue operations. It has interfered with judicial independence, in particular by forcing resignations from the Supreme Court, after the court ruled the “fast track” land reform program unconstitutional, and replacing judges with individuals perceived to be loyal to the ruling party. The new court accepted the government’s arguments that the rule of law had been restored to land reform by legislation attempting to retroactively validate occupations carried out in violation of legal procedures. The fast track program has thus violated rights to equal protection of the law, nondiscrimination, and due process. The violence accompanying land occupations has created fear and insecurity on white-owned commercial farms, in black communal areas, and in “fast track” resettled areas, and threatens to destabilize the entire Zimbabwean countryside. Where the blame should lie for the failure to change the racially skewed nature of land ownership in Zimbabwe over the two decades since minority rule was ended has been a key point in diplomatic interactions over the current land crisis. Zimbabwe received financial assistance for land reform during the 1980s and 1990s from various governments. But conditions were put on the way that the money handed over could be used. The British government in particular, the former colonial power responsible for brokering the agreement that led to the 1980 transition to majority rule, has been protective of white farming interests in Zimbabwe and in the early years Human Rights Watch 3 March 2002, Vol. 14, No. 1 (A)

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