Idi Amin was funnier.
Posted on 01/20/2005 12:20:44 PM PST by FreeMarket1
Jan 20, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com
by staff reports
David H. Smith, Newsbriefs Correspondent
ZIMBABWE WANTS FAT AMERICAN TOURISTS TO WORK OFF POUNDS ON PLANTATIONS
FreeMarketNews.Com, Jan. 20, 2005 - Zimbabwe is lurching toward another in a series of domestic crises it has endured over the years, under the despotic rule of Robert Mugabe. Inflation is currently running at around 150%, interest rates exceed 100% and unemployment is over 70%. Even the IMF has refused to lend more money to the endless financial sink that this once economically vibrant and self-sustaining nation has become.
In an interview with Zimbabwe Independent, President Mugabe presented his view of the problem, even as he denied his government’s role in mismanaging the economy. He said, "A lot of inflation is not because of the goods we produce here. A lot of inflation is imported."
One could judge the President’s competency in discussing economic issues by looking at his government’s recent idea for turning things around. The so-called Obesity Tourism Strategy is a bizarre proposal to solve the food crisis that threatens much of the country with starvation. The government wants to set up a program to bring in some of the over one billion overweight people world-wide, and have them work off the pounds by doing free farm labor on land seized from white farmers.
A government approved organ The Herald, wrote, “Tourists can provide labor for farms in the hope of shedding weight while enjoying the tourism experience.”
When Rhodesia, later renamed Zimbabwe, achieved its independence from minority white rule in 1980, President Machel of Mozambique and President Nyerere of Tanzania said to Mugabe, “You have the jewel of Africa in your hands. Now look after it.”
Mugabe took this “jewel” which was a net food exporter and turned it into a country where millions now are in danger of starving.
Ray Matikinye, an eye witness, reporting on allafrica.com describes the before and after:
“It [Zimbabwe] used to be described as the bread basket of southern Africa, with neat fields of maize and soya growing in rich red soil and farmers notching up world records for yields. Rows of giant greenhouses sheltered roses that earned important foreign exchange, as did fields of miniature vegetables to sell in British supermarkets.
“In 10 years of visiting Zimbabwe, I have often been through Mazowe and its model farmland. Today it is a series of fallow fields, overgrown with grass, weeds and thorny scrub, as if some deadly scourge had swept through the valley. There are orchards of dead citrus trees, greenhouse frames stripped of their plastic roofs and the broken, twisted poles of what were once floodlights and irrigation systems.
“When indigenous trees were burnt to clear arable patches, fires blazed unattended even after the tree had fallen leaving vast swathes of scorched veld as a sad reminder. In numerous cases the settlers preoccupied themselves with selling firewood on the roadside for a living instead of engaging in productive agriculture.
“Only where photographic evidence was taken of an erstwhile pristine forest before it was chopped down, burnt and destroyed is it possible to comprehend what the now deforested land looked like before. Only then is it possible to grasp the devastation of wildlife as well as the ecosystem that relied on the forest.”
Matikinye concludes: “Reluctance to take corrective action by the government ............ Full Article www.FreeMarketNews.com
Mugabe is insane.
Idi Amin was funnier.
Wow! That sounds like fun! Sign up for a "tourism experience" in Zimbabwe, working on a farm seized from the white folks because the people who seized it can't make it work. Such a deal. But hey, you'll lose weight! Also makes me wonder what the meal plan will be for the tourist workers.
may they stew in their own juices.....
LOL - This guy is truly insane and seriously so. And to think Venezuela's Chavez is using this nut case's economic model as the blueprint for his own nations approach to starvation and anarchy!
Whatever it is they are drinking, it must be some good hooch.
may they stew in their own juices.....At first I thought this was a reply to Post #5. >:o
Mugabe has reached his dotage and thinks his fondest fantasies constitute natural laws, when they don't even resemble sane thought.
-Eric
With apologies to The Tick.
Some of those Duers will probably think it's a good idea. A rebuttal of corporate (McDonalds) America!
Well if Mugabe can find a large enough wheelbarrow for transportation I'm sure Michael Moore might be available. (Although his body guard may not be be).
SPOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!!!!!
Oh wow, this is such a great idea! Do you think Michael Moore will be the first to sign up?
Whoa, way too funny. Mugabe is a fool and a criminal, besides being a dangerous psychopath.
Now he invites foreigners to starve along side innocent Zimbabweans. How much do you want to bet the tourists are first 'liberated' of their valuables and belongings as part of the 'tourism experience'? Certain valuable tourists of course will be 'encouraged' to stay until family members pay for 'extended stays'...
Where is Carlos the Jackal when you need him?
Ummm...
Has anyone considered that Mugabe may be planning to use the fat turistas themselves as food for his starving people?
If I was a fat man, I don't think I'd be visiting any "Fat Farm" in Zimbabwe!
Another practical lesson in the results of socialism.
Hey, I'd trade a big, juicy double Cheeseburger for a sand salad and a few twigs anyday of the week. Who wouldn't for comrade Mugabe? Communist African tyrants and their imbecilic American enablers unite!
Seriously though, this is a good idea. Anything that gets a few more San Fran-ctyled socialists out of our hair and into someone else's is a good thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.