As our vehicle approached the roadblock, about 30 men jumped up and one motioned us to come closer. We thought better of it and began to turn around. The men then ran at us brandishing clubs and big sticks in the most menacing way. We managed to drive off with only a thump on the back of the truck from a thrown rock.
The thuggish gang of supporters of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe had closed Chifumbi Road, a public road just 25 miles north-east of Harare. They were almost certainly some of the 200 men who on Thursday burned down the homes of an estimated 1,000 farm labourers and who, in a frenzy of violence, beat to death the farm owners' dogs and other domestic animals. It did not seem wise to try to speak to the men. "They asked me what political party I support," said Tendai Badza, a young man walking along Chifumbi road. "I said I back the ruling party so they let me pass." It later turned out that Mr Badza is one of the invaders on a nearby farm.
Less than half a mile away, uniformed policemen were told of the roadblock and merely shrugged. They took no action to stop it.
The Chifumbi roadblock exposes as a lie the assurances given on Wednesday by Mr Mugabe and his ally, the "war veterans" leader Chenjerai Hunzvi, that there would be no more violence against white farmers.
Mr Mugabe said the farmers would be safe to return to their farms without any special police protection. It is clear he made the public statement for the benefit of the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and other international leaders concerned with the growing breakdown of rule of law in Zimbabwe. On the ground Mr Mugabe's followers are still on the warpath.
The Chifumbi roadblock is not an isolated incident. Similar roadblocks have closed off access to white farming areas in Enterprise, Arcturus, Macheke, Murehwa and Wedza across central Zimbabwe. Following the killings of two white farmers in the past week, farming families have abandoned their homes in increasing numbers. White farmers have left their properties across the provinces of Matabeleland North and South.
Reports are coming in that the thousands of workers on the large farms are being beaten and their homes ransacked by Mr Mugabe's supporters, many of them armed. The violent gangs accuse the white farmers, motorists and farm labourers of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The Nyamapanda border post north-east of Harare has been closed by Mr Mugabe's supporters because they say the customs officials support the MDC, according to a report in the independent Daily News newspaper. Nyamapanda is a key link on the highway that links Zimbabwe to the city of Tete in Mozambique and to Malawi.
While lawlessness reigns throughout vast swathes of Zimbabwe's land, the rest of the country appears eerily normal. Just a couple of miles from the club-wielding roadblockers, fields of peas and beans were being sprayed with water. A vast greenhouse covering two acres was being constructed. It appeared that life was going well, except for the shabby cluster of huts of thatch and plastic sheeting that belonged to a group of Mr Mugabe's supporters who were occupying the farm.
Ironically less than a mile away from the Chifumbi roadblock, a British army colonel was giving training in orienteering and mapreading to more than 50 officers in the Zimbabwe National Army.
"We are carrying out routine training to improve the Zimbabwe army's peace-keeping capacity," said Col Aubrey Fletcher, a member of the British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT). "We come to this area every year for this map-reading exercise. It just so happens that on this occasion there is trouble nearby." The colonel declined to and go look at the roadblock, saying "I think that would be frowned upon."
The club-waving men on Chifumbi road stopped journalists from visiting the Atlanta and Rudolfia farms, which Mr Mugabe's supporters invaded and vandalised on Thursday.
Alan Windrum, owner of Rudolfia farm, was Zimbabwe's largest tomato producer and he employed 1,000 workers before his farm was overrun by Mr Mugabe's invaders on Thursday. Mr Windrum was a supporter of the opposition MDC.
"He spent millions of dollars building those homes, putting in water, sewage and electricity. He looked after his labour well," said Horace Kirton, who works with farmers in the area. "Windrum left his farm to Mugabe's invaders. Now look what they've done, they've destroyed valuable property. They've destroyed the belongings of poor farm workers. Now 5,000 people are homeless. They are not doing this to get land. They are doing this to frighten people from voting for the MDC."
Mr Mugabe's henchmen are carrying out a scorched earth policy and destroying valuable crops on the farms they invade. Tobacco crops have been burned and fresh flowers ready for export have been ruined. "These are the export crops that are supposed to pay for the fuel we are importing and the electricity we are importing," said Mr Kirton. "This is crazy. This destruction will only dig this country deeper and deeper into a bottomless pit. Mugabe doesn't care about this country anymore."
A minister in Mr Mugabe's cabinet was asked at a private meeting yesterday why the government was not obeying court orders and was not upholding the country's own laws. "This isn't a legal matter, it is a political matter," said the cabinet minister.
Mr Mugabe and his supporters may find this a convenient answer, but his critics charge the policy is taking Zimbabwe towards an irreversible course of lawlessness.