The violence that preceded the parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe and resulted in the deaths of white farmers was instigated by the nation's ruling party as a campaign strategy and abated shortly after the incumbents won reelection, two Zimbabwe church leaders told an audience at Williamsburg Baptist Church on April 10.

John Mazvigadza said because the ruling party knew it was losing in the nation's cities. To discourage the opposition from voting, more than one-third of the polling places in the cities were closed to make it difficult for people to get to the polls. Those who did make the effort, faced long lines.

To win votes, party candidates went into the rural areas and promised the people the farmland. That emboldened "thugs" to kill the white farmers and take their land while making local officials and police reluctant to stop them.

Champion Chasara said the politicians promised something they had no right to deliver. And since they won the election, the politicians have stopped talking about grabbing land and the violence has subsided. And because the terms of office are for six years, there violence is not expected to flare up again in the near future.

Mazvigadza is the executive secretary of the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe and Chasaras is the president. They visited Williamsburg during a two-week tour of the East Coast because Williamsburg Baptist Church contributes to the convention's programs in Zimbabwe.

The men agreed that the government has not posed a threat to religious freedom. The church takes a public stand against violence, although Mazvigadza and Chasara admit they are careful not to point too directly at government officials as the instigators.

But the people of Zimbabwe do face serious problems. Employment in the country is about 60 percent and the inflation rate is 150 percent. AIDS has so decimated the population, Mazvigadza said, that most families have taken in relative's children who have been orphaned by the disease. The hospitals, which are understaffed, do not have sufficient medical supplies. And both men said they have adult children who have been educated and trained for work who cannot find jobs so they continue to live at home.

The country also faces a serious hunger problem, Mazvigadza said. First, the Minister of Agriculture sold the country's store of maize, the staple food. Then the year's crops were decimated by drought, which curbed the growing season extends from October to March.

"Our granaries are empty today," Mazvigadza said.

In addition to the money contributed by the church to the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe, individual members also contribute. For information on how to make a contribution, contact the church office, 757-229-1217, or Joan Phillips, chair of the National and International Mission Outreach Committee.