The London Telegraph reported today that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's government has begun seizing farms from blacks in the southern part of that country.
For years, Zimbabwe's white farmers have felt the wrath of Robert Mugabe, as they have been thrown off their land to make way for soldiers and ruling party cronies. Now, black farmers have also become the focus of his unwelcome attentions.
Lot Dube's crops of onions, tomatoes and sweet potatoes were growing nicely when soldiers marched into Insiza district, in the south of the country, set up camp and declared that all crops other than maize [corn] would be destroyed.
"They told us, 'We are taking away your fields from you' ," said Mr Dube, 63, who has farmed 10 acres, 80 miles south of Bulawayo, since 1982. The soldiers ploughed in the market vegetables which he grew to raise cash to pay school fees for his children, and told him to plant maize.
That was in November. Now Mr Dube, and other farmers like him, have been told that they must sell almost their entire harvest to Zimbabwe's Grain Marketing Board, for a price yet to be determined, as part of Mugabe's drive to boost the nation's supply of the staple food.
But Ephraim Masawi, Zimbabwe's deputy secretary for information, said reports of soldiers destroying farmers' vegetables had "never come to my ears". He added: "These people have invited the army to try to help them because some have no collateral to go to the bank for loans."
Riiiight... When I have trouble with my crops and need collateral for a loan, the first thing I do is call in the army to help me. Mm-hmm. Yep. The army.
The article offers a possible explanation for the interference in black-owned farms:
For southern farmers the military presence is reminiscent of the mid-1980s, when a North Korean-trained unit of the Zimbabwean army massacred up to 20,000 Ndebele, the predominant ethnic group in the southern region, crushing support for an alternative to Zanu-PF [Mugabe's ruling party].
With inflation in Zimbabwe now at over 1000% and crops at only half the expected size, the country's only remaining independent (non-Zanu-PF) Member of Parliament is predicting a possible "slide into anarchy." Even though Mugabe's actions make anarchy sound like it could be an improvement, it wouldn't be. Hope is razor-thin in Zimbabwe now.
2 comments:
Thank you for posting this article on Zimbabwe. I am a white native of Zimbabwe, now living in Southern California, my sister lost her farm I lost my business...these are very real issues, thank you for highlighting the continued plight of Zimbabweans. The suffering currently being experienced is unbelievable, the people of Zimbabwe are beautiful, and very soft natured, and live in total fear of the dictator Mugabe - our prayer is that the Lord continues to provide for the suffering multitudes who have no sight of victory at this time.
Vic,
You live in my neck of the woods now.
I've had a heart for Zimbabwe for years, since I first got an email reply to one of my devotionals from someone with ".zw" on the end of her email address. Her first name suggests that she's probably white, and since Mugabe first started his "land reform," I've been concerned for her safety.
I'm thankful each time I hear of someone who has managed to get away from Mugabe's clutches. I'm glad your whole family was able to escape.
Each time I see an article about conditions in Zimbabwe, I post it. Unfortunately, America's news media tends to ignore events in Africa. But that won't happen on my blog.
God bless you and your family. Maybe sometime I'll stop at your print shop and say Hi.
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