SubscribeFirst of all, it is not the white farmers that do the farming in Zimbabwe; the African people are the farmers, but the whites, which were given title to the land by the international financial community, are the ones that can get financed for the modern equipment that is needed to produce larger harvests. With equal equipment, the African farmers could produce an even greater harvest to that of the whites who mainly supervise farm workers.First of all I love your assumption that all black Africans have the "farming gene" as if farming would come naturally to a black accountant the second he leaves city limits or for that matter to rurak. As I mentioned before, it was not just white farmers who were evicted but their black farm workers as well. About 4000 farmers were evicted but an estimated 500 000 black farmworkers were chased off as well. Secondly you assume the war veterans actually wanted to farm. Most were merely paid to chase whites off their farms... and that's about as far as the plan went. Thirdly most of the farm equipment was left on the farms because it was made illegal for farmers to remove it and the Zimbabwean government has shown no qualms about printing currency to finance other ventures (like their ill timed army foray into the DRC which hit their reserves in a big way and is a lingering contributor to their hyperinflation) so the excuse that if only they had access to equipment and capital everything would be fine is ridiculous.
This is not a case of “taken the white man’s farms and left them homeless” as CNN, BBC and other news agencies have reported. The policy is “one farmer, one farm.”No it's not. As mentioned there were about 4000 white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe, that number is now down to a fraction of what it was an estimated 60 further being evicted off their farms after the se oast elections.
Those that had four, ten or twenty farms had to select the one that they would keep, and return the others. you would think that poor white folks were being thrown out of the country with no place to go.Well they did find some place to go. Many farmers just went next door to Zambia (which was more than happy to take them - "Tobacco production has increased in the last three years because of the white Zimbabwean farmers who have introduced highly mechanized farming in Zambia," says Finance Minister Ngandu Magande.) some went to Mozambique, some to Malawi even going as far north as Nigeria (Obasanjo was literally begging the farmers to settle in Nigeria).
The government has defended the Chinese consignment of arms destined for Zimbabwe which is on board a ship in Durban harbour.
The An Yue Jiang, which is reportedly loaded with 77 tons of mortars, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades, was boarded by SAPS explosives experts on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe's government on Thursday accused opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai of treason, saying he had plotted with former colonial power Britain to bring about regime change.
Citing alleged correspondence between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tsvangirai, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Tsvangirai was begging for military intervention in Zimbabwe after last month's disputed polls.
"It is clear from the correspondence that Tsvangirai along with Brown are seeking an illegal regime change in Zimbabwe and on the part of Tsvangirai this is treasonous," Chinamasa told the Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece.
"There are no doubting consequences for acting in treasonous manner," he added. "The correspondence confirms Tsvangirai is not his own man and that he is working for the British interests to recolonise Zimbabwe."
"It is time for Africa to step up," Rice told a news conference in Washington. "Where is the concern from the African Union and from Zimbabwe's neighbors about what is going on in Zimbabwe?"
Opposition to a shipment of arms being offloaded in Durban and transported to Zimbabwe increased today when South Africa’s largest transport workers union announced that its members would not unload the ship.
SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) general secretary Randall Howard said: "Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.
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posted by allkindsoftime at 12:41 AM on April 9, 2008