E. Vengeyi, The Bible as a source of strength among Zimbabwean women ...resolved. Very few families got settled and basically the whole economy
continued to be run by former colonisers. As reported by the Human
Rights Watch, by 1999, some 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of
the best lands were still in the hands of only about 4,500 white commer-
cial farmers,^6 yet more than ten million had no land, hence continued to
suffer in poverty.
Compounding the situation is the fact that from 1995 to 1999, the gov-
ernment was forced by the IMF and World Bank to accept Economic
Structural Adjustment Programmes, (ESAP) that among other demands,
protected corporate companies against the people-driven policies and
compelled the government to privatize its companies, educational insti-
tutions and remove price controls on basic commodities. Since then
Zimbabwe experienced a series of economic challenges such as massive
retrenchments, resulting in high levels of unemployment.
These economic problems gave birth to a political party, Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999. Since then, political violence be-
came the order of the day as Zimbabwe African National Unity (ZANU-
PF) and MDC (main political parties) competed for political power. Con-
trary to political statements from the MDC, some academics have ac-
cused MDC of being a shadow of ZANU-PF in matters of violence.^7
While MDC gained support in the urban areas where a significant num-
ber of workers, students and intellectuals who had been hit directly by
these economic programmes reside, ZANU PF gained the rural support
where people rely on the land for survival. So as ZANU-PF activists
targeted MDC supporters especially in farms and rural areas, MDC
loyalists on the other hand targeted ZANU-PF supporters in urban areas
where they (MDC) had a strong presence.^8
(^6) ‘Zimbabwe’, http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/112239842449.htm, ac-
cessed 14 July 2010.
(^7) Blessing-Miles Tendi, Making History in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe: Politics, Intellectuals
and the Media, Oxford et al.: Peter Lang, 2010. Cf. ‘Preying on the ‘Weaker’ Sex: Politi-
cal Violence Against Women in Zimbabwe’, Report produced by IDASA (An African
Democracy Institute), the International Center for Transitional Justice [ICTJ] and the
Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU], November 2010, accessed 02 July 2011.
(^8) Cf. Vengeyi, ‘Mapositori Churches and Politics in Zimbabwe: Political dramas to win
the support of Mapositori churches’, Exchange: Vol. 40 (4), 2011, 351-368.