Zimbabwe farmer falls victim to terror

Terry Ford's horribly battered body lay doubled up beside the gate of his farm homestead all yesterday morning, with his dog curled next to him, until the police reluctantly arrived to bundle the latest victim of Robert Mugabe's political terror into a tin coffin.

It was swiftly apparent that the police had no interest in investigating the only real mystery of the killing - did the 55-year-old Zimbabwean farmer fall victim to rival claims on his land from the "war veterans" who occupy the land, and an army colonel who arrived last month and announced the farm was his?

Mr Ford was the 10th white farmer murdered in Zimbabwe since the land crisis began two years ago. His was the 35th life claimed by political violence of one form or another this year. Last night there were fears the death toll was about to rise further after two farmers were abducted in the Marondera area.

Mr Ford's murder at Norton, about 20 miles west of Harare, had added alarm for Zimbabwe's beleaguered farm dwellers - black and white - because it capped a week of rising conflict on the land since the presidential election, and came just hours after Mr Mugabe said in his inauguration speech that he intends to speed up redistribution.

Last week one veterans' leader, Andrew Ndlovu, called for the government to "intensify the revolution" by nationalising all white-owned land in Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe said he would do just that.

The "new settlers", as the government calls them, responded to their president's victory by giving fresh ultimatums to farmers to get off the land. In Mashonaland ruling party youths ordered 15 farmers to leave their properties within six hours. Five of the homes were then looted.

Near Marondera, the Zanu-PF militia beat a farm security guard, Darlington Vikaveka, to death. The farm manager, John Rutherford, was badly injured in the attack.

War veterans and Zanu-PF militia have stormed dozens of farms since the election, torturing and beating labourers they accuse of supporting the opposition. Some have been branded or burned. Others were forced to watch their wives raped on farms in Masvingo.

In Banket, about three dozen war veterans looted workers' homes on Braeside farm, beating up workers and threatening to kill those who resisted. On Chevy Chase farm, government supporters razed homes and kitchens of the workforce.

In Mwenezi, war veterans demanded that workers on Lumbergia ranch get out of their homes because "new settlers" wanted them. In Lifton, farm workers were so badly beaten that many were unable to walk. Many white farmers and their labourers expect the situation to worsen in the coming weeks.

In Norton, Terry Ford's death was already causing some farmers to consider something they had pledged not to do - leave Zimbabwe.

Mr Ford's body was found just inside the fence ringing Gowrie farm's homestead by his domestic worker at dawn. His body was terribly beaten before he was apparently finished off with a shot to the head from his own revolver.

His truck stood near the gate with a smashed windscreen and the front covered in blood. His shoes were some way from his body, and footprints suggested a dozen or more people had been in pursuit.

Like many commercial farmers, Mr Ford did not usually sleep on his farm because he had been repeatedly threatened by Comrade Wamba, "the resident war veteran in charge" on Gowrie farm. Instead, he spent the nights in Harare and found part-time work as a school groundsman.

But Mr Ford was expecting his son, Mark, to arrive from New Zealand yesterday. He knew they would spend some time together at the farm house so he had gone to clean it up.

Shortly before midnight, Mr Ford phoned a neighbour to say some people had broken into his house but he had scared them off with a gunshot.

"I phoned Terry just after 1 o'clock to make sure things were still OK," said Graham Hatty, vice-chairman of the Norton farmers' association. "He said he was fine. I suppose they must have come back."

Mr Ford's partner, Naomi Raaff, believes the murder was premeditated but she is not certain by whom. "This poor man's been harassed for months but wouldn't talk about it. Comrade Wamba was always threatening to kill him and telling him to get off the farm," she said. "Then about a month ago a colonel from the army came out here. Terry was greeted by this colonel who said he was the 'new owner' and Terry had to get out quick."

When Comrade Wamba heard he was furious. The war veterans confronted the colonel in the lounge of Mr Ford's home. Guns were drawn and threats exchanged. Both men demanded the farm.

Mark Ford stepped off the plane from New Zealand yesterday morning to be told of his father's death.

Mr Hatty said that the murder had forced a rethink among farmers in Norton. "Yesterday, I would have said we were staying. After this, who knows," he said. "I've been farming in the area since 1963. At my age do you just pack up and go? I suppose you always think it won't happen to you."

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