[Tease]
JIM LEHRER [voice-over]: Robert Mugabe, the leader of Zimbabwe, caught in a war of words and blood with an old ally.
[Titles]
LEHRER: Good evening. In the African nation of Zimbabwe in the last 24 hours the country's seven Catholic bishops issued an Easter pastoral letter accusing the army of running a reign of terror caused by wanton killings, woundings, beatings, burnings and rapings.The government stoutly rejected the charge, claiming the bishops' statement was irresponsible, contrived and propagandistic. Also, in London, Joshua Nkomo, one of the two central figures in Zimbabwe's troubles, said the new atrocities report had caused him to delay his return to Zimbabwe. He fled three weeks ago, claiming an order had been issued to kill him. The man who gave the order, said Nkomo, was Zimbabwe Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. Nkomo and Mugabe: together they fought for and won independence from white minority rule in what was then called Rhodesia; Mugabe leading his guerrilla fighters from the Shona tribe, Nkomo his tribesmen from the province of Matabeleland. After independence, three years ago, Mugabe and his ZANU Party defeated Nkomo's ZAPU Party in a national election. Mugabe became Prime Minister; Nkomo joined the Cabinet. But they have since come to a violent parting of the ways, each now accusing the other of using murder, kidnappings and terror -- Nkomo to overthrow the Mugabe government; Mugabe to put down the Nkomo dissidents. Tonight, in a documentary report we look at Zimbabwe's troubles three years after independence; the reporter is Gavin Hewit of the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
REPORTER [voice-over]: In Zimbabwe the peace that was born with independence lies broken. But the rural African eking out a minimal existence is still looking for the benefits that he hoped independence would bring. [on camera] An abandoned white farm, the relic of a guerrilla war that was fought over the question of land.
A guerrilla commander once said, "Our people are naturally farmers; they love the land and yet they've been deprived of Zimbabwe's rich soil." So they fought to regain what they believed the white man had taken from them. Because of this the government of Robert Mugabe faces an acute dilemma. He has to satisfy his Africans' expectations, yet at the same time he needs the skills and expertise of his white farmers in order to feed his country.
[voice-over] These men are fortunate. They have been given land which was not being used by a white farmer. They are fortunate in that only 15,000 families have been resettled since independence. That has been done without displacing a single white farmer. If this is a revolution, it is painfully slow. Across Zimbabwe tens of thousands of Africans are squatting illegally awaiting resettlement. Mugabe the revolutionary has in reality been a model pragmatist. The slow pace of the land revolution has encouraged the African to seek his own solutions. Here, near the border with Mozambique, hundreds of squatters have set up home illegally, tearing down trees, often growing their mealy corn with lasting damage to the topsoil. It is almost impossible for the white farmers to have them removed. The white man is learning that this authority has gone.
Mike Boswell Brown produces kiwi fruits. When he confronts his squatters, he and the African knows that his words carry no force.
MIKE BOSWELL BROWN, farmer [to squatter]: Whose mombies are those up there? Could you come here a minute, please? Are these your mombies, the cattle up there? Not the owner of this village; you mean my village. You know you people are going to be moving soon, don't you? Well, very soon. Very, very soon.
SQUATTER: Why?
Mr. BROWN: Well, because you shouldn't be here. Look what you've done to the bush, and look on the way up from the Essex Road. Look at all the lovely trees that has all been cut down. Don't you feel it's sad, really? I mean, do you think Mr. Mugabe -- do you think Comrade Mugabe would like this? Would he like to see all this -- all this land and bush destroyed? 'Cause he doesn't like the squatters, you know.He doesn't like them.
SQUATTER: Who's squatter? It's our property. We have been born in here.
Mr. BROWN [to reporter]: Well, this is typical. Many of them feel that because their great-great-grandfather was born here they feel entitled to come back and come and squat here. But they've go no rights whatsoever on this land, and in time they will be moved.
REPORTER [voice-over]: But the estates and ranches are still great money-earners. They have largely been untouched by government reforms. Since independence only 45,000 whites have left the country; 165,000 remain. The farmers' wealth is in their land. If they were to sell out, the government would prevent the export of their fortunes. They, much like their cattle, are hostages in their own country. Here in Matabeleland, they are also caught in the middle of a new war, this time between black and black. If land was the Africans' main concern, it is being overshadowed by conflict, for tribalism, the scourge of Africa, is surfacing in Zimbabwe.
On the outskirts of Bulawayo, in the heart of Matabeleland, a troubled people consort with their witch doctor. They gather in fear that Zimbabwe may be on the brink of a tribal war in which they, the Matabeles, would be bitterly opposed by the more numerous Shonas. The message they hear and believe is ominous.
TRIBESMAN: There's a main war here, a big war that is yet to come.
REPORTER [voice-over]: Zimbabwe's main concern today is tribalism. The largest tribe, which is Shona-speaking, migrated from the north. By the 18th century they had consolidated an empire that included most of the present-day Zimbabwe. Later, a tribe that spoke Undabele settled the southern and western parts of the country, having fallen out with their Zulu brothers in the south. Today these Matabeles make up only 20% of the population.
The reputation of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe is threatened by tribal conflicts. His magnanimity on coming to power three years ago had raised great expectations. Now it is being asked whether the era of reconciliation is over. Mugabe, the Marxist ex-guerrilla leader, had been forgiving to the white community; partnership had been offered to his African rivals. Today he talks openly of crushing his enemies. At his rallies there is already emerging a youth brigade, a uniformed arm of Mugabe's political party. Slogans exhort the Fifth Brigade to defeat the supporters of opposition leader Joshua Nkomo. Many believe that Robert Mugabe is slowly but steadily creating the one-party state he has long believed in.
ROBERT MUGABE, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe: We believe a multi-party democracy is a luxury, that in fact, if you are to unite the people of a country who are one nation regardless of their ethnic groupings, of their race, of religious and political affiliations, you must ensure that there is a national government, and not governments. And that national government must derive from one political umbrella within which there is an in-built system of democracy. And so a one-party state is our choice.
REPORTER [voice-over]: Joshua Nkomo, grand old man of African nationalism.To these people he is King of Matabeleland. It is said that he never accepted the defeat of his ZAPU Party at the polls by Robert Mugabe. It is the rivalry between these two men that threatens Zimbabwe with tribal conflict.
JOSHUA NKOMO, leader of ZAPU: ZAPU is uncrushable, you know. A lot of people tried to crush ZAPU. They couldn't. They find themselves crushed. Now, all this behavior -- this behavior doesn't crush ZAPU; it crushes them.
ENOS NKALA, Minister of National Supply: He's no leader. He is one of the false prophets, a coward, a confusionist; a man dedicated to retardation of the progress of the African people. And what he has done here in Matabeleland I shudder to think of.
EMMERSON MNANGAGWA, Minister of National Security: They are now recruiting Matabele-speaking people from Zimbabwe, either in South Africa or from this country or those who are deserters from the army; they have been taken across South Africa and they are being trained to be sent back here. They have attempted to do that. Once they have sent in a group from South Africa to come in and destabilize this country, committing acts of robbery and so on, carrying the badge of Joshua Nkomo in their laps. But after conduct of our forces we captured some. We discovered that despite the fact they were carrying Joshua Nkomo's badge, they were not internally trained dissidents. They had come from South Africa.
REPORTER [voice-over]: So the government believes that Nkomo's supporters were planning to seize power. As evidence they cite these caches of arms which were found last year on Nkomo's farms.Prime Minister Mugabe says Nkomo is being helped by the South Africans. This sabotage equipment was found on three South African soldiers killed inside Zimbabwe last year.
Prime Min. MUGABE: And they had a mission to commit acts of sabotage, and so there is that evidence apart from individuals or pairs of people who have been infiltrated to do reconnaissance. We have had these two very disturbing incidents whereby the groups were sent on definite mission to commit acts of sabotage.
REPORTER [voice-over]: Landlocked Zimbabwe is especially vulnerable to economic sabotage. The vital rail link to the ports of Mozambique is regularly attacked by anti-Marxist rebels supplied by South Africa. Now, with Nkomo and the Matabeles increasingly hostile to the Mugabe government, South Africa has the opportunity to encourage and support subversion. Already some of the dissaffected are making the journey south to join an estimated 600 rebels that are being formed by the South Africans into a Matabele brigade. The fundamental question that exists in Zimbabwe today is whether Joshua Nkomo, the loser at the polls, has been plotting with his supporters and his former guerrillas to seize power.Or has the government been seeking a pretext to rid itself of a turbulent opponent and is now embarked on a ruthless and brutal campaign against Nkomo and his ZAPU Party?The discrediting of this aging man has almost become official government policy.
Prime Min. MUGABE: He's a wily creature, an old politician, we grant him that. But not always very honest, I must say, and so one cannot just read his intentions from his statements.
Min. MNANGAGWA: The council halls of ZAPU are also being used to stock arms and so on. Now, we don't believe that the machinery of ZAPU could be used to that extent without ZAPU leadership itself knowing, and in fact we have guests that have come into court which is sure that Nkomo is involved not only at the long-distance but practically giving advice to persons who have now been captured.
REPORTER [voice-over]: In Matabeleland some of Nkomo's former guerrillas who deserted the national army are paraded as dissidents -- bandits who rob and kill. The integration of two guerrilla armies was the great post-independence challenge. Here the rocket launchers are displayed as evidence that the dissidents are organized by ZAPU. Between three and five thousand of Nkomo's men are said to have deserted. Whilst they are rounded up the leaders of ZIPRA, Nkomo's former guerrilla army, are on trial.
Lookout Masuku was commander of ZIPRA for the latter part of the war. From 1980 he became a lieutenant general in the Zimbabwean army, but last year he was arrested for plotting the overthrow of the government. Dumiso Dabengwa was ZIPRA's chief of military intelligence. He is said to have struggled to keep the separate identity of ZIPRA alive and cement its links with the ZAPU politicians. Dabengwa is reputed to have an enormous following among the former ZIPRA guerrillas, perhaps rivaling that of Nkomo himself. The arrests of Dabengwa and Masuku prompted the desertion from the army of hundreds of former ZIPRA guerrillas.
The Herald newspaper has acted as a government mouthpiece against ZAPU. The people are said to be denouncing ZAPU in the thousands. Most damaging are the often repeated allegations that Nkomo is seeking support from the South Africans. The rhetoric has grown more strident.Mugabe insists the bandits must be crushed, and then one of his ministers states the message clearly: "ZAPU must be liquidated."
Sidingani Impafu [?] is a ZAPU district official who once bought arms for ZIPRA. On February the 8th his four sons were shot dead by government soldiers. His story was translated for us by Makatini Gedouza [?] of ZAPU's central committee.
SIDINGANI IMPAFU, ZAPU official [through interpreter]: They were asking for dissidents. Where are the dissidents?That's the question they asked.
REPORTER: Where are the dissidents?
Mr. IMPAFU: Then the one started to shoot four of the young children who were eating there, killing them all.
REPORTER: How old were these children?
Mr. IMPAFU: One only 12 years, the elder one.
REPORTER: Do you think it was because he is a member of ZAPU?
Mr. IMPAFU: [He says] partly yes because what they were doing, they were just killing everybody there.
REPORTER [voice-over]: Anxious faces await the outcome of yet another visit to the police station by Joshua Nkomo. Everyone knew, and the government confirmed to us, that they were preparing for him a treason trial. A week after this he had fled the country to Botswana, and from there to London. Dr. Nkomo did disown the dissidents operating in his name, but he accused the government of using its Fifth Brigade to murder his party officials rather than defeat the dissidents.
Mr. NKOMO: It's not the national army; let's make it plain here. It is the Fifth Brigade, and the Fifth Brigade says itself it is not a government organ; it is a party organ. But this killing thing i couldn't possibly keep quiet. Couldn't possibly. So I stand by that.
REPORTER [voice-over]: The Fifth Brigade, like the new militias, is drawn solely from Mugabe's own Shona-speaking tribe. It is asked why the Prime Minister is building a 20,000-man militia loyal primarily to his party while the army is overmanned. Like the Fifth Brigade, they are being trained by the North Koreans. [Korean addressing Fifth Brigade troops] Prime Minister Mugabe has given these North Koreans the task of training the units that will combat internal subversion. A government spokesman had earlier told us that the Koreans had left the country. For the first time, we have evidence of their continuing influence.
Prime Min. MUGABE [addressing troops]: I would like to pay tribute to our comrades in arms, the instructors from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, who with the assistance of instructors from our own Zimbabwe national army, have brought the men under their command to such a high standard. Once again, we have an example of the splendid generosity and cooperation of our brother, the great leader, Comrade Kim Il Sung.
REPORTER [voice-over]: In front of his North Korean instructors Mugabe identifies the enemy as Joshua Nkomo and the South Africans.
Prime Min. MUGABE: It is surely to the undying shame of Joshua Nkomo and his ZAPU that he and his party now seek the active support of south Africa in order to cause chaos in the country and so attempt to bring down the people's government.
REPORTER: We have spoken to a number of church leaders in Matabeleland. They are all too frightened to speak out publicly. Indeed, one senior churchman said, "I'm sorry, but I don't have the moral courage." But the accounts they've received from their mission stations and their clinics coincide; namely, that the soldiers of the Fifth Brigade have engaged in widespread cruelty and systematic terror against the Matabeles. "Quite simply," said one priest, "they are out of control." We have evidence that the government is aware of these reports but has chosen to ignore them.
[voice-over] A group of refugees compiles another list of the dead. No one has en accurate record of the number who have been killed. The churches estimate it is over 1,000. One report from the Catholic bishop of Matabeleland was given to the Deputy Prime Minister on the 14th of February. It was subsequently shown to Robert Mugabe. The Anglican bishop has called for an independent inquiry. That, too, has been ignored. Such are the horrendous tales that these people tell that already one Western nation has suspended its aid.
[interviewing refugee woman] How many people died in -- how many people were killed?
WOMAN: They were seized in one [unintelligible]. They asked that, "Where is your husband?" and then say "My husband is working at -- "They say, "You are telling lies. Your wife will be dissident," and then they cut him. And then was dead.
REPORTER: They cut the woman's --
WOMAN: Yes. They say this is a child of dissident so are killing a dissident inside the stomach.And then here are [unintelligible].
REPORTER: And you actually saw that happen?
WOMAN: Yes.
REPORTER: You saw this happen to this woman?
WOMAN: Yes.
REPORTER: [to Min. Nkala]: What about the accusations that are being made that in your drive against dissidents in fact it's children, women, people who are related to ZAPU officials who have been killed or who have been raped or who have been assaulted?
Min. NKALA: Joshua Nkomo lies. Nkomo is all out to discredit anything that stands for law and order.
REPORTER: And yet church officials in Matabeleland have made such a report and --
Min. NKALA: They have been told these lies by Nkomo and their dissidents.
REPORTER: But that --
Min. NKALA: If there is any church official who has made that accusation, my view is that is a supporter of Nkomo, a member of ZAPU, and therefore is a dissident. He is putting out dissident propaganda.
REPORTER [voice-over]: With Joshua Nkomo in exile the government is carrying a message to the Matabeles. If they choose to fight, the Fifth Brigade is already in place. The government's hope is that with Nkomo out of the country his influence will subside and the party split. Prime Minister Robert Mugabe has been the voice of moderation promising Dr. Nkomo that should he return he would be protected. But his ministers preach a different message, namely the liquidation of a political movement.
Min. NKALA: ZAPU should now be liquidated because it has no role to play in our country. The only role that ZAPU can play is one promoting rape, killing, burning of government equipment, retardation of economic progress. Nkomo is a coward, a wolf that walks during the night. During the day he pretends to be peaceful, sleeping under the shade. But let the night come.He runs about ravaging all that is there. That's Joshua Nkomo, the honorable comrade Joshua Nkomo.
REPORTER [voice-over]: Two months ago Joshua Nkomo was attending the wedding of his daughter. This is his home movie which he showed us before his flight into exile. His son-in-law, John Ndlovu, and his daughter are now under arrest for having helped Nkomo escape. The wedding was that of the daughter of a patriarch, with 20,000 in attendance. Many of the ZAPU officials present have either been killed or arrested. The question remains: can Zimbabwe live in peace if the Matabeles have been alienated? There are still in the national army 12,000 of Nkomo's former guerrillas. If they were to desert, Zimbabwe would face a new civil war. That, then, is Mugabe's gamble, that his opponents can be banished painlessly.
LEHRER: A couple of updates. First of all, that Western nation on aid was Sweden, and it has continued its aid. Also, Nkomo's daughter has since been released from jail. The other members of his family remain in custody, and as of tonight, Nkomo remains in London.
We'll see you tomorrow night. I'm Jim Lehrer; thank you and good night.
