Assessment of the level of satisfaction of those resettled under the fast track program with their land is difficult, since access to those areas for outsiders is regulated by militia supporting the ruling party and often led by war veterans, and thus hard to achieve. Some journalists and NGO workers have been assaulted or narrowly escaped assault by these militia on trying to visit resettled farms.64 Undoubtedly, there are people who want land and have the skills and resources to farm who have taken the opportunity presented by the fast track program to obtain a plot. However, problems faced by families resettled during earlier land reform programs do raise concerns about the sustainability of the fast track process. There is a danger that the effect of the unplanned relocations of communal area residents can in some cases be their further impoverishment. In older resettlement areas, some of the land allocated has been abandoned or not fully utilized, due to lack of resources such as fertilizer or tractors, and in particular lack of access to credit. Assessments of the programs of land redistribution undertaken during the 1980s noted positive and sustainable results, benefiting some of the poorest people, increasing their incomes, and providing access to education and health services. However, they also noted that some areas remained without schools within walking distance or water supplies more than a decade after resettlement, as well as underutilization of land by new settlers, and recommended that these problems be addressed as the land reform program was continued. 65 At the Musasa resettlement scheme close to Harare, settled in 1986, for example, several household heads told Human Rights Watch that they were only able to plow a small proportion of the twelve acres allocated to them, for lack of resources. “People were very happy back in 1986, but now there are mixed feelings. The problem is just the question of inputs.”66 As a result, “out of twelve acres I am only using four acres because of lack of access to resources.”67 Interviews with some newly settled villagers confirm that, because of the hasty nature of the fast track program, there is a danger that this pattern is now being repeated: one commented to Human Rights Watch that she had no idea how she would get the implements and other resources to farm her piece of land, she would just hope that some help would come.68 A retired school teacher from the same district said, “In this country it’s very hard to get employment, but if they just get dumped on a piece of land that is worse.”69 Women and men interviewed from a resettlement scheme of the 1980s also disapproved of the fast track program, due in part to their feeling that the process was not fair, but also because of the adverse consequences for themselves. Some of their sons had taken the opportunity to take land on neighboring commercial farms, but this unregulated process was seen to generate problems rather than benefits for the existing community. This is a different administrative arrangement. It is jambanja [confusion, nonsense]. I did not attend the meeting. I am not part of those meetings. Some women went who wanted to hold land for their children…It [fast track] created lots of problems for people. There was cattle -thieving. The children who have gone into fast track no longer go to school. Some of them were employed in town but now they have no money. Crops left drying on drying trays are being stolen…In here it’s clear-cut that the jambanja people stay there so there’s no mixing. Conflict can arise with illegal hunting. In this village there is a policy because we think the way it is done, they were not properly settled. So we think if they go, they must go with their whole families, so we don’t have security problems.70 64 For example, three journalists and a driver from the independent Daily News were seriously assaulted in September 2001. “Lawlessness goes on as Mugabe party backs Abuja deal,” SAPA-DPA, September 18, 2001. 65 Assessments of the land redistribution programs of the 1980s were carried out by the British Overseas Development Association, the Zimbabwe Comptroller and Auditor General, and the World Bank, among others. 66 Human Rights Watch interviews, Musasa resettlement area, July 19, 2001. 67 Human Rights Watch interview, headperson, 1980s Resettled Area, Beatrice, Mashonaland East, July 19, 2001. 68 Human Rights Watch interview, settler, Chikukwa Resettlement Area, Chimanimani, Manicaland, July 31, 2001. 69 Human Rights Watch interview, retired school teacher, Communal Area, Biriwiri, Manicaland, July 17, 2001. 70 Human Rights Watch interview, headwoman, 1980s Resettled Area, Beatrice District, Mashonaland East. July 19, 2001. Human Rights Watch 17 March 2002, Vol. 14, No. 1 (A)