not being utilized; but that is not the case, and you find land that is already being utilized being taken. 129 The councilor suggested that an initial emphasis on fairness from the district administrator (DA) had in practice yielded to political considerations in implementation: When the land program was announced, the DA’s emphasis was that although council members were mostly Zanu before MDC was formed, we don’t want Zanu only to benefit; he said it was not a party thing but a government program. But when it comes down the chain some councilors, most of whom are Zanu, don’t do what they were told by DA and it happens that the people to be resettled are only Zanu. I know it happens, a particular individual is doing such a thing. 130 In some cases, the political function of the war veterans appears to override the administrative role of local government, influencing the selection criteria for beneficiaries of land redistribution along party-political lines. An ex-district administrator claimed that party-political control of land allocation undermines local government authority: In practice it’s the war veterans and Zanu-PF who are running the show, doing the selection procedure, deciding which farms to invade…It’s not a committee. It’s a rally. 131 Testimony from rural people showed a widespread perception that the dominant role of Zanu-PF and the war veterans in the process made support for Zanu-PF a criterion for beneficiaries. It is also clear that the local government structures are not in full control of the war veterans directing land occupations. In some cases, when the official structures have ruled that occupiers should leave a farm, since the occupation was against the official criteria set down, police charged with ensuring that the occupiers leave have been forced to back down in face of threats from the war veterans militia. In addition, many fear the consequences of becoming involved in a process in which a substantial role is played by people responsible for visiting violence on them and their neighbors. Many villagers from communal areas said they needed land but felt that it was difficult for them to apply now because they did not feel comfortable with the central role of the war veterans in allocating land. Some opposition supporters indicated that they would like to get land under different political circumstances but couldn’t participate now given the political violence in the country. A thirty-three-year-old woman villager who had been beaten by war veterans said she wanted land but did not feel she could apply: We are scared that we might be settled near those war veterans. The war veterans are still around. If it were safe, I could go running. [Did you ever apply?] No, we are just afraid because it’s a Zanu-PF thing. 132 Another respondent told how opposition supporters felt they could not approach the war veterans for land: The war veterans clearly show us that they don’t want to include us in the process. It is against our party [the U.P.] policy because the way they are attacking the farms, that is not our policy. They clearly told us that we from other parties are not eligible.133 129 Human Rights Watch interview, councilor, Chimanimani, Manicaland, July 17, 2001. Ibid. 131 Human Rights Watch interview, ex-district administrator, Matabeleland South, August 2, 2001 132 Human Rights Watch interview, villager from communal area, Harare, July 16, 2001. 130 Human Rights Watch 28 March 2002, Vol. 14, No. 1 (A)