2000 in Zimbabwe - October

October

• Morgan Tsvangirai, politician, visits South Africa
• 4 October - Armed police raid Capital Radio studios in Harare, confiscate equipment, dismantle aerials and search shareholders' homes.
• 5 October - European Union imposes an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
• 6 October - Government gazettes new broadcasting regulations using Presidential Powers to ensure that 75 percent of all programming should have Zimbabwean content. Regulations exempt state-owned ZBC and ZTV.
  • 77 farms gazetted for compulsory acquisition.
  • A Karoi court messenger is given a death threat adter serving eviction notices on squatters and war veterans.
  • Macheke farmer, Alan Don, is attacked by war veterans. He is hospitalized with head injuries, a gunshot wound in his leg, three broken teeth, extracted fingernails, ruptured eardrum and severe bruising.
  • President Mugabe proclaims an amnesty for political prisoners. Clemency Order No 1 of 2000 grants a free pardon to every person liable to prosecution for politically motivated crimes committed between 1 January and 31 July 2000.
• 9 October - Morgan Tsvangirai is questioned by police in Harare on his return from South Africa, about his involvement in treason and is released shortly afterwards.
• 12 October - Noczim (National Oil Company of Zimbabwe) debt to suppliers rises to Z$11 billion.
• 16 October - Karoi's Superintendent Mabunda is transferred to Harare after repeated accusations of biased policing.
  • The war veteran accused of murdering opposition supporters in Kariba during the elections is released on the grounds of "insufficient evidence". The war veteran proceeds to a farm in Karoi, evicts the owners and moves into the homestead. The owner, Mr Slim Botha, dies of a heart attack days after being forced off his property.
• 17 October - Bread riots break out in Harare after a 30 percent price rise is implemented.
• 18 October - Bread riots spread to more suburbs in Harare.
  • Armed police assault an opposition member of parliament and his family accusing them of inciting food riots.
  • Army and police assault four South African journalists covering the food riots. Forced to lie on the ground, the four are beaten with batons and electric cables.
• 19 October - A 14-year-old schoolboy is hospitalized with two bullets in his ankle after being shot by riot police in the aftermath of the bread riots.
  • The Matabeleland Chamber of Industries states that 50 percent of its members face closure at the end of the year owing to the harsh economic climate. Analysts estimate 200,000 jobs will be lost.
• 20 October - The Harare High Court order that ZANU-PF is not to disburse $30 million it obtained under the Political Parties Finance Act. The money should by law be given to the opposition.
  • 108 farms are gazetted for compulsory acquisition.
  • A maize shortage is imminent as planting is down by 40 - 60 percent.
• 22 October - Bindura farm manager, Keith McGaw, is severely assaulted by war veterans. Beaten with axes, pick handles and sticks, Mr McGaw has a fractured skull requiring 18 stitches and widespread bruising and lacerations.
• 23 October - President Mugabe refers to white Zimbabweans as "cheats" and "crooks" in a BBC radio programme.
  • On farms in Trelawny and Darwendale, convoys of government vehicles arrive and start distributing plots of land on unlisted properties. On one farm a convoy of 14 vehicles arrives, including army, air force and other government vehicles.
• 24 October - Victims of political violence are forced to flee their homes after being harassed and threatened by their assailants, pardoned by President Mugabe.
• 26 October - The opposition tables a motion in parliament to impeach President Mugabe.
  • South African President Thabo Mbeki publicly condemns Zimbabwe's land grab for the first time.
  • President Mugabe threatens to revoke the policy of reconciliation and prosecute whites for war crimes during the fight for Independence.
• 30 October - Macheke farmer, Herman van Duren, is hospitalized with head wounds after being attacked and robbed by armed assailants.
  • An air force helicopter circles tobacco seed beds on a farm in Norton to check that the owners had complied with their owner not to plant.
  • 97 prisoners have now been released under the Presidential Amnesty. 89 of the beneficiaries had already been convicted and were serving sentences in prison.
• 31 October - Shamva farmer, Guy French, and five of his workers are attacked by war veterans with sticks and nail-studded clubs when they try to plant their ploughed field. Mr French is hospitalized with severe concussion, bruising and lacerations; his workers are admitted to Shamva Hospital.