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Corn: No, I will really... I’m going to appoint more game scouts, and I’ll wipe them out. Wipe them out.

Those people saying things are wonderful in Zimbabwe, they don’t know, they need to have their heads read. Africa, Africa is for the Animal. I don’t know who the animal is, but “they” are the Animal

Andre: The last eland I saw on my farm had 7 dogs chasing it. 7. Fortunately I could shoot 5 of them

ST01: Somewhere in Zimbabwe…Nov 2002

Openingsmontage: Verskeie ongeidentifiseerde stemme praat oor verwoesting

According to the SA government the SA media is exaggerating the situation in Zimbabwe.

FF01 : Zimbabwe Ruins

Ryskoot, JB in syspieeltjie

JB: All these snares have been removed from this farm in only the last few days.

The irony is that it used to be game fencing, supposed to protect the animals. More than 60 kilometres of game fence have been stolen just on this farm. And, once they’re on the property they start stripping all sorts of things. This metal rod used to be part of a waterpump on a borehole. The pump is long gone, and the rod has been turned into a spear, for hunting

This is a giraffes leg, and here you can see how the snares do their work. Just 2 years ago, there were 135 giraffe on this ranch – today there are probably less than 10 left.

All these horns have been collected in the veld in the last day or so.

This giraffe’s head is still fresh.

Out of 12500 head of game in this area last December, 9 ½ thousand have been poached

Skakel: JB wys strikke, horings en kameelperdkop

00:02:51JB: My story is about the animals and humans on the receiving end of  president Robert Mugabe’s land reform policy. And in particular about one such man, a farm manager - Cornelius Kruger, 75 years of age, and living totally on his own on a cattle and game ranch. But it could just as easily have been the story of any of his neighbours.

WS: C kom aangestap, dooie eland in voorgrond

00:03:11JB: Cornelius meets me on the Zimbabwean side of the Beitbridge border post with South Africa. He has also just heard that the local filling station has diesel in stock, and they’ll let him buy 200 litres – Not enough, but it will help.

His employer is also a South African, who offered one of his three farms to the government for resettlement in an attempt to save the other two. The plan didn’t work.

On paper he is still the owner, but that’s about as far as it goes.

03:17:24 ST02:

No diesel means no water can be pumped

Ry, stop, gooi diesel in,

Ry weer

The farms have been taken over by so called A1 and A2 settlers. The government said each settler could claim a plot of between 20 and 50 hectares. In this arid environment it’s just about big enough to run two head of cattle. And then he must also clear 8 hectares of it to plant, even though he doesn’t have implements, and 35 years’ rainfall figures show that it is impossible to farm with maize here.

Corn: You can see how the fence is gone here. It’s been stolen. I’ll also show you some other places tomorrow so that you can see how things are going here. It’s terrible, we can’t go on like this. The game has been driven off by dogs, in packs of 5 or 6, chasing the game untill they catch them. Then they come and kill them with their spears.

03:41:13 ST03:

Each settler brought his family, donkeys, goats and on average, 20 head of cattle

03:50:02 ST04:

Maize needs 600mm of rain per annum. The average annual rainfall here is 324mm

Ryskoot: Settelaars se plasies

Pan: Settelaarlanderye

C wys waar drade gesteel is

Setlaars kom aangestap met mielies

04:21:16 JB:  The face of famine, caused by many more humans and animals than these parts can carry.

Corn: The grain marketing board brought some maize this morning to feed the black community because of the famine. They don’t have a place. The truck was supposed to have gone to the school at Welkom, but the roads there are impossible, so they asked if they could offload it here at my house. The people you see walking here now each got to buy one bag of maize today.

04:51:08 ST05:

Unemployment in this province is 94%

C verduidelik dat regering 1 sak mielies per familie verkoop by sy plaas

Meisie dra sak mielies op haar kop

04:57:09 JB: That night I don’t sleep well , and at five the next morning Cornelius wakes me.

It is the two-weekly farmers’ meeting today, and my (illegal?) camera has to go with. After coffee, I have a quick look around the house and out-buildings

05:02:21 ST06:

Drinking water has to be fetched by truck

Sonop

C skakel kragopwekker aan

C praat met sy hond en maak koffie

On this side of the fence are Cornelius’s labourers, and on the other side are the settlers waiting for more maize to be delivered. In the mean time they’ll just stay here, and this creates a security problem.

These snares all come from this farm over the last few days.

These legs are from a zebra that’s been caught in a snare. That’s where the snare was. You can see how the foot got swollen and then rotted. And that’s his carcass they’re cutting up

Skakel: JB met kamera, wys settelaars anderkant heining, draadstrikke, sebrapote en karkas wat geslag word

06:16 Fresh carcasses found in snares are brought to the house for meat for the labourers.

Tilt af: vleis word bewerk

06:22 And now to see a few of the kraals on the farm. This one, right next to house I dubbed cripplekraal, because the animals here all have one thing in common.

WS: JB en C stap in kraal in

Corn: You see there where the skin is black. The blood circulation was cut off, the foot rotted and the whole hoof fell off. This is typical of how a wire snare abuses an animal.

Johann this animal also got caught in a snare on her left hind leg. You can clearly see the scar of the snare, but the labourers found her rather quickly. They normally roar when they’re caught, then the labourers, who now all have pliers with them, run and cut them loose. That’s why she didn’t lose the whole foot, but only part of the hoof.

You see Johann, with a foot like this, even if she picks up weight, she won’t be able to carry a bull.

07:09:22 FF02

ALL THESE CATTLE WILL HAVE TO BE PUT DOWN

Skote van beeste wat in strikke was. C verduidelik koeie sal nie weer gedek kan word nie

07:18 JB:The next one I dubbed veggiekraal. The person who settled here sells vegetables and runs a mill for the others

Corn: And now he’s got a garden. There is the engine pulling water from the dam for his garden, and we can’t allow it. But if he brings his own diesel for water for his animals here at our pump, I don’t have a problem, but now he steals our diesel to water his plants and run the mills. 

Sementdam zm uit na groentetuin. Corn verd dat setlaar hule diesel steel

07:51 JB:And then, Locked kraal

JB: So these aren’t your cattle?

Corn: No it’s the cattle from the blacks at Welkom, who want to drink here, ours are inside the kraal.

08:02 JB: Welkom is one of the other 2 farms. The boreholes there have been destroyed, the settlers don’t have diesel, and their animals are thirsty.

The watertable is too deep for a handpump, and even a mono only delivers about 800 litres per hour, which again is heavy on diesel.

And even if he wants to help, Cornelius doesn’t even have enough diesel for his own animals

Corn: Excuse me for walking away, but I have to let my calves get out to their grazing

JB: Locked kraal, is a time bomb busy ticking…

Corn: You see Johann, I don’t have another option but to lock these black catlle out.We can’t pump water for every one. If they bring diesel I’m prepared to open the gate, and let their cattle drink.

08:05 ST07:

This is a Bonsmara-breed stud farm.

08:12 ST08:

Some settlers came from a foot-and-mouth disease area

Setlaarbeeste buite kraal. Corn verd waar hulle vandaan kom

Corn verd waarom hek gesluit word

08:55 JB: On route to the meeting we stop off at another place where Cornelius’s employer rents grazing. The cattle here are also having a hard time.

Corn: Johann I have to take 35 head of cattle out here, and send them to the abbatoir. But because of the drought I can see I won’t find 35 here. I’ll have to go and look at the herd. But I just want to put them through here, to have a proper look.

But at least he can walk

09:22JB: One more destined for Cripple kraal

Corn: This is what you get from wire snares that they…

Johann if these calves don’t get help soon, they’ll all die

09:06 ST09:

Over the past year the national commercial herd has dropped from 1.2 million head of cattle to 400 000

Corn verd beeste moet verkoop word, maar is te maer.

Beeste in drukgang word gemerk.

 Wys strikmerk aan poot

09:39 JB:In the competition for grazing and water, it is the game who lose first

Corn:Johann you can see the wire is broken here, the hanger is off, here is the wire. This young eland cow tried to jump the fence. She’s so weak, she couldn’t get up again, and she just died here.

I feel so sorry for these animals, just dying of hunger like this.

Here we are at a young giraffe who died here of hunger. He died because he is small, and the leaves they feed on are finished.

Bakkie stop by elandkarkas.

Corn verd eland het draad gespring, geval, en konnie weer opstaan nie

Corn wys kameelperd wat van droogte gevrek het

10:25 JB: The main aim of the meeting is to support one another. Although many are too afraid to talk on camera, a few are prepared to tell their stories. And every one’s have the same themes: suffering, destruction and financial imprisonment. Those who could have left long ago.

Buks Viljoen owns a big cattle and game ranch next to Ghonarezou, specialising in overseas hunters

No one comes here any more

10:30 ST10:

Of Zimbabwe’s 4500 commercial farmers barely 600 still remain

WS: Vergadering

Pan van agter oor vergadering

Buks en sy vrou kom aangestap

BUKS: We had lots of game but now… nyalas, eland, zebra, you name it… it’s all gone

ANDRE: Johann at the moment we don’t have…

10:40 Buks vertel al hulle wild is gestroop

10:52JB:For Andre Fourie life also isn’t easy

ANDRE: You know, any mopani tree thicker than 4 inches doesn’t get chopped down. It’s burned down. They axe it at the bottom and then make a fire inside it. And if it’s a big tree it could burn for two or three days before falling over, and then it doesn’t stop there. The whole tree is burned – in two weeks time it still smoulders, and then the whole tree is just ashes. There are thousands and thousands of tons of wood, and this is a hard wood area that’s just been burnt away. There is no sense of maybe we’ll need it tomorrow . Everything has been changed into ashes.

It’s not nice to witness such destruction, not nice at all.

We have nothing left at all today

Andre vertel hoe hulle alles verloor het. Vertel van hout wat verbrand word sonder om te bere vir more

JB: Mike is also a farmer who has lost just about every thing but his house. But for the past years he has also been a spokesperson for the commercial farmers around here, and maybe has a better idea of the bigger picture

Anonymous farmer: Ok, this is another one of our bulls that were caught in a snare. A double steel wire snare. Obviously they’re trying to catch kudus and big game with it.

The animal struggled. Here around the trees. He broke this bush as he tried to break free, but eventually he wound himself around that tree twice, and that’s what killed him. It’s the 47^th head of cattle we’ve lost since last November.

FF03: OFTEN THE POACHERS DON’T RETURN TO THEIR SNARES, AND THE MEAT IS LEFT TO ROT

Anonieme boer wys brahmaanbul in strik. Wys hoe bosse gebreek is in die gespartel. Dis ons 48ste bees sedert November

12:42 JB: Today, Ron and his wife are going back to their ranch. They were kicked off for the second time two weeks ago, and have taken refuge in a neighbour’s out-buildings.

13:14 JB: Cupi suffers from the same stress as every one else around here.

Ron pak landrover. “We had two hours to get off”

Cupi: I don’t want to go home

Vertel van dreigemente, moord op diere en hoe bome snags afgekap is.

“ethnic cleansing”

“ I don’t want to go to SA. The same thing is going to happen there”

14:55 JB: At their house every thing seems intact, but no one knows how long they’ll be allowed to stay this time round. Court orders don’t necessarily carry any weight around here

Cupi en Ron pak af by huis

“No damage inside the house”

Except for a cow dying on the lawn

15:32JB: This heiffer was too small to take a bull, now she can’t calf. The labourers have been struggling for hours, and Ron is getting desperate…

16:25JB: it’s almost as if something inside Ron also broke, and he decides to show me what is left of his life’s work. It’s not a pretty sight.

FF04: THE LOSS OF THE EU MEAT MARKET IS A HUGE BLOW FOR THE ZIMBABWEAN ECONOMY

ST11: This is his farm’s main watering point.

ST12: Ron has invested over a million US dollars on this ranch

Ron probeer kalf met landrover uit trek.

Riem breek

“No control over our bulling, then you get this. I’ll have to put her down”

JB en Ron ry. Stop by waterpunt, wat totaal verwoes is. Verduidelik

Ryskoot, Ron “if we leave now we leave penniless. Haven’t even been offered anything for the farm

17:53JB: My head spins on the way back, but the next morning there is the promise of rain in the air. It doesn’t seem to help Cornelius, who is in a foul mood today. Yesterday he found signs of two places where poachers had dragged their prey through the fence, and his game guards are in for it…

CORN: Oh, a gnu, how does he know? He’s lying, the bastard. He doesn’t even know what it was...

I get so angry when they do this to me..

Ryskoot Johan, harde musiek.

Oggendwolke, Corn praat met werker, ry in bakkie

Stop by 2 plekke waar Corn wildwagters uittrap

“hy lieg die bliksem”

19:07 JB: We also stop at another kraal.

CORN: See all the fences have been stripped here to use as wire snares. If we’d like to bring cattle back here, we’ll have to rebuild everything from scratch, and do you know what that will cost us? You heard yesterday what the price of wire is…but here you can see for yourself. It used to be complete kraals. We worked here with cattle, and now there is nothing. All because of them.

JB:It was the invention of PVC piping that opened this world up for farming.

CORN: Look Johann. This is how they destroy

You see the pipes coming from the borehole to the tank, and also to the dam.

This is how they operate. And if they have to come and fix it here – do you know what it will cost them? Thousands of dollars. And they won’t do it, I know. We are suffering tremendous losses here. And that is why a lot of farmers have decided it’s just not worth it, let’s pack up and go.

But I can’t do that. It’s not in my nature. I can’t explain it. To just let go and run. I can’t do it…it doesn’t work like that with me. I’ll fight. The only person who can get me off this farm is my employer. He can say I don’t have work for you any longer, you’ll have to go, and then I’ll go, but otherwise… I won’t be intimidated by anybody. I’ll push these blacks who keep worrying me. They can look for their own water. They can bloody well dig their own wells in the river. And use buckets to give water for their animals. I’ll appoint some more game scouts to help stop this.

ST13 On most of these farms water has to be pumped for kilometres.

ST14 Most of this network has now been destroyed

Corn wys skade. Draad is weg. Pomp gesteel. Waterpype opgegrawe en gebreek.

“Ek sal nie opgee nie. Ek sal hulle druk –hulle kan gaan water skep met emmers in die rivier”

21:30 JB: Then he takes me to the hunting base camp, built especially for the overseas hunters, but taken over by settlers before the first hunters arrived

ST15 Hunting and cattle farming has allways been this province’s main source of income

WS JB en Corn

Tonele by jagkamp.

21:47 JB:The main building now serves as a school – without chairs or a black board.

Mure vol grafitti

22:02 JB:At first they dug a well in the dry river bed for water

CORN: Johann he’s trying to dig and see if there is water left. But it’s a losing battle. The earth isn’t even damp any more

22:22 JB:Now the women have to use buckets at the camps’ well, to get water for their families and their animals

ST16: According to UN figures, 8 million Zimbabweans are currently dependant on foreign food aid.

Zambia grou in droe sandput

Vroue skep water. Diere suip uit emmer

22:58JB: And it is the animals who suffer most around here.

CORN: This donkey is also not going to make it. He’s going to die.

JB: Except for the thirst and the lack of food, signs of abuse can be seen everywhere . I can’t help but wonder what lot awaits this young one.

23:24JB: It is the first time I see the dogs responsible for so much of the destruction, but even though it is on their farm, it is too dangerous for Cornelius to do anything about them here.

23:48JB: It seems that their owner has come to hunt.

CORN: Johann, this man came through the river with these dogs. He doesn’t live here.

Corn: You see Johann – they’ve taken the complete fence between the camps. There’s nothing left here.

Nothing. The destruction… it’s terrible.

Maer donkie. Corn: “Hy gaan vrek”

Mishandelde donkie

Donkievul

Jagter met groep honde

24:10JB: Close to the camp we stop at an old carcass.

CORN: The snare was here. Like this. The eye was here, and the branches kept it. The giraffe came through. It’s not fresh, but you can still see it clearly.

24:27JB: And then, the dogs…

And so the dogs, like all animals here, become victims of the human struggle.

24:38 FF05: The most common hunting method is to chase the animal untill it collapses, and then killing it with spears and axes

Corn wys merk aan boom en kameelperdkarkas

Corn skiet eerste hond

Slaan hond dood

Sleep hom weg

25:00 JB:The poachers leave there mark everywhere…

But, before there is time for it to sink in properly, the dogs are barking yet again, somewhere deeper in the camp…

ST17: If the ears are marked, the head is simply chopped off

Beeskop aan boom

Soek honde wat iewers blaf

Skiet hond

25:56JB: It looks like a lost battle .

This big giraffe bull walked unsuspectingly into the trap, and no one used the meat.

FF06: Giraffes are particularly soft targets.

Groot kameelperd aan boom

26:13 JB:Back home, there is news

The poacher is brought closer…

And an axe…

CORN: Johann here is clear evidence. This is the axe with which they chopped up the giraffe. Here is the blood. It belongs to the other one, who ran away.

I get so angry, I’ll, I’ll…

Wildwagter verte stroper is gevang “with meat”

Bring stroper nader

Corn wys bloed op byl

26:40 JB:Now he has to take us to the scene of the crime

27:00JB: It is swelteringly hot, and all we really have to do is to follow the stench

CORN: See where the blood ran down its hind legs, when they stabbed him. Do you see it?

27:29JB: Yes I see – I mean it is the sixth dead giraffe that I see this week…

CORN: Yes, if the dogs cornered him here, there was no escape

27:41JB: The giraffe’s legs are evidence, and as the police don’t have transport, Cornelius has to take them the 40 km’s there, using his own diesel, even though the penalty is often so light, that the poacher will probably be back on the farm tomorrow.

JB: This is the police station of Mwenezi. They’ll have to do the paperwork.

JB: But I’m not supposed to be here, so my camera has to disappear.

ST 18: Many poachers hunt to sell, not out of hunger

Boei stroper agter op bakkie vas. Ry met hom.

Klim af. Stap tot by karkas

Corn wys bloed op agterpote “sien jy?”

Tilt op van kameelperd na stroper

Stroper dra pote tot by bakkie.

Bakkie ry tot by polisiestasie.

Kamera verdwyn

With the poacher for now behind bars, we have to rush off – it is almost time for the cattle auction to start.

About 600 head of cattle have been brought here over days. Even with no feedlots any more, and with the cattle in poor condition, a lot of farmers still want to sell off their cattle, just to try and get at least something, before the pressure caused by the settlers and their extra cattle causes even more deaths. The weight/mass and the prices are the lowest in years, and there aren’t many buyers.

The heat is tremendous, even in the shade of the old ebony trees, but every one waits patiently.

The area has been free of foot and mouth disease for years, but now settlers have moved their cattle here from contaminated areas.

And then we get the news. A sore was found in one animal’s mouth, and the auction has been cancelled. Even worse, all 570 animals have to be slaughtered immediately.

Another telling blow for the farmers and the animals

Ryskoot teerpad

Ryskoot verby beeskrale by veiling

Beeste word geweeg

Boere sit en wag vir veiling om te begin

Beeste in drukgang

28:12JB: The next morning the day starts on the by now familiar note. More snares removed from the farm yesterday, and more meat for the labourers – compliments of the settlers.

WS Corn by werkers.

Loop nader sien strikke

Karkas met draad om nek le op tafel

Then Cornelius rewards his game guards with a bonus for catching the poacher.

Corn oorhandig geld aan wildwagters

Then it is off to Locked Kraal. A whole group of settlers are waiting for us there.

Cornelius’s animals have been locked in all night and couldn’t get to their grazing.

The settlers’ animals are dying of thirst and they don’t have diesel .

Every one is difficult.

The ticking of the time bomb is getting louder.

I’m standing on the land rover’s roof, not noticing that the settlers seem to look at me differently today.

Matters seem to be getting out of hand where Cornelius is surrounded by the angry settlers. I jump off to go and help, but am suddenly grabbed from behind. Apparently they don’t like the colour of my skin or my camera, and I’m pegged to the vehicle while Cornelius is being pushed and shoved around. I put my camera away, and the emotions subside.

Cornelius goes home, while I move on to another farm for an interview, but on my arrival there I’m told that Cornelius phoned. He has been locked into his house by the settlers who are looking for the foreign journalist.

We all decide that it is getting a bit too dangerous now. Not just for the farmers who have spoken on camera, but also for my own safety. It seems better for me to immediately return to South Africa.

I hastily get my things together, but there is one small problem: all my precious, and of course incriminating footage is in Cornelius’s now surrounded house… but just then, while I’m still busy, he suddenly turns in through the gate…

JB: So you managed to get out of the house?

CORN: Yes Johann, they wanted to know where you are, so I said your Land Rover broke down, I’m taking the chain to go and to you back.

JB: Did you get my footage?

Corn: It’s all in your bag. From now on it’s your job to hide them, I’ve done my bit.

JB: Because of the severe heat the telephone system has gone down, and no one can warn the border post about my pending escape.

As I finish packing, Cornelius still has a last comment…

CORN: Johann Botha, I’d like to tell you one thing. Those people this morning want to tell me that 20 litres of diesel is enough to pump water for 180 head of cattle, 20 donkeys and a lot of goats for a month. That was how the argument started. In the end they forced me, pushed me around as you saw, and told me to take my cattle away because it is their, and I repeat, they say it is their farm.

I’d like to say to our 50/50 viewers, to South Africa, wake up, we are going through an incredibly difficult time over here, and we could really do with some sort of help.

FF07: Some of the settlers cattle are being run in a game camp with gnus. Their chances of picking up and spreading game diseases to the herd are extremely good

Beeste en oorlogsveterane om Cornelius

Settelaars loer onderlangs na my.

Nog beeste

Corn en setlaars

Groep draai in slo-mo en beduie na my kant toe

Ryskoot

Veteraanplasies

Ryskoot

Corn daag op met bakkie terwyl JB pak. Gee bagasie en beeldmateriaal aan hom

Corn: Suid-Afrika, 50/50, ons het hulp nodig

JB: I follow him for a while before he turns off, but for a long time afterwards I can still hear his voice in my head

CORN: It’s not easy. It is tough, tough, tough. Why I’m still here? I don’t know. It’s just that I love the Mopani trees, and I love the cattle, and I love the game. That is all

Ryskoot agter Corn se bakkie

Corn: Dis hard,hard, hard. Hoekom ek hier bly. Ek’s lief vir die diere en vir die veld

JB:On the other side of Beit bridge a lot of people are in big trouble. It seems that that the government there has declared war against it’s own people – and they have nowhere to run too.

On top of it a lot of them are South African citizens

I can’t understand why our government is allowing this to happen, and all my phone calls to our dept of foreign affairs, have been left unanswered.

Perhaps it will make sense one day, but by then it will probably be too late for thousands of animals, and for people like Cornelius Kruger. 

Rolling title 01:

SA’s minister of labour, Mr  Membathisi Mdladlana visited Zimbabwe in January.

According to media reports he afterwards said that SA can learn a lot from Zimbabwe regarding land reform …

Kameelperdkop op sand