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Zimbabwe - The New
Zimbabwe Ruins
[7 February 2003] - 36 min -
Teks |
Subtitels |
Beeld |
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 |
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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 47th 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 |