The Law of The Land

The green, rich cattle, wheat and tobacco lands of Chinhoyi, 120 km northwest of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, are remembered as the scene of early skirmishes in the black guerrilla war more than two decades ago that ended white rule in what was then Rhodesia. Last week most of the 90 farms around Chinhoyi were deserted. Many had been looted and pillaged by mobs acting with the blessing of President Robert Mugabe. Farm equipment, seed and fertilizer were stolen, and livestock killed or driven into the fields. "I feel as though I've been raped," said a Chinhoyi farmer, surveying his ruined homestead....