Posted on 05/19/2005 4:24:48 AM PDT by Clive
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government is planning to offer former white farms for free to Chinese state-owned firms in a desperate bid to revive the key agricultural sector, ZimOnline has learnt.
Details of the planned land-for-investment scheme are still sketchy. But sources said Harare, vigorously pursuing a new "look-East" policy after falling out with the West because of its poor human rights record, was looking for a government to government deal.
Officials of state-owned agro-firm, China State Farms Agribusiness Corporation (CSFAC), were expected in Harare "soon" for talks with government officials on the modalities of the proposed farming partnership, according to the sources.
"Details of the deal are not yet clear as the actual talks are yet to be done. But both Zimbabwe and China seem keen to embark on the deal. The government is desperate to have agriculture back on the tracks," said the source, who spoke on condition he was not named.
Intelligence Minister Dydmus Mutasa, ordered by President Robert Mugabe last week to also oversee land reform, has been tasked to repossess all underutilised land and hand it over to the Chinese once the deal is in place.
The government is targeting unproductive land owned by blacks apparently because there was no longer enough land in white hands, after close to 90 percent of the former white commercial farmers were stripped off land under the government's chaotic and often violent land reforms.
"There is no longer enough land to grab from white farmers. So what will happen is that Mutasa will have to find land from blacks who are seen to have failed to productively farm. This is the land that will be given to the Chinese," the source said.
Mutasa refused to take questions on the matter accusing ZimOnline of seeking to upset relations the government was trying to build with the Chinese.
"You seem bent on destroying whatever good the government is doing. You don't want us to build any relations," Mutasa fumed.
It was also not possible to get comment from the Chinese embassy in Harare.
This is not the first time that the government has attempted to give land taken from white Zimbabwean farmers to foreigners.
At the height of fuel shortages three years ago, the government signed a similar deal with Libya under which Tripoli was to take large swathes of land in exchange for fuel. The deal collapsed as the Libyans preferred cash at that time.
Apart from seeking help from the Chinese, the government is also secretly approaching some of the expelled white farmers enticing them to return to the land with promises of compensation for equipment lost during the farm seizures and security from evictions in future.
Zimbabwe has since 2002 virtually survived on food handouts from international donors because of severe food shortages after a 60 percent drop in food production because black families resettled by the government on former white-owned farms lack skills and resources. - ZimOnline
So, after ripping off the Whites, those clowns need some China mens to do the dirty job.
Let's see, Mugabe says my slaves are a lazy bunch of idiots, who do not know anything how to harvest the land so, China bring in your slaves and we can split the Loot!
I will bet 1000 to 1, China will do it!
PS And one wonders why Africa is such a dump!
Seen this?
bttt!
Hey there CO. Glad to see you are still at it.
I came to cheer Jim Chilton's libel lawsuit against the CBD!!
Without a word to me, since returning to active posting duty, I get blocked after posting "one" article.
Found this:
http://home.sprynet.com/~eastwood01/quotes.htm
"Our aim is to gain control of the two great treasure houses on which the West depends: The energy treasure house of the Persian Gulf and minerals treasure house of central and southern Africa, and then we will dictate the terms of surrender to the United States and to the West." -- Leonid Brezhnev, 1973
Stay well.
ya mean , if they took control ,... they'll never be in the majority , that is why this fight for the judiciary is of the utmost importance
Look at it this way, it'll take care of the radical Muslim problem in Africa. The Chinese will wipe them out without blinking an eye.
Guess where all the refugees from Africa will go when the Chinese take over. The 21st Century will truly be the century of China. Pray for the Christian movement in China.
I have the feeling that the Chinese already have a perfect plan. If I were a dictator I would import a few Chinese families on the farm, start working. Then hire a group of Zanu-PF thugs to cause trouble since the Chinese somehow tick Mugabe off. Mugabe arrests said Chinese, then the Chinese have the perfect excuse to off Mugabe and seize control of the country.
Mugabe needs help propping up his dictatorship. He needs people who can actually operate a civilization.
Continue buying land, and paying for it with manufactored goods. Import young Chinese men of military age to operate the farms. Avoid conflict until you have a million men in Zimbabwe. Get "self-defense" arms smuggled in for the Chinese farm workers. The ZANU-PF thugs will not be anxious to fight the Chinese, and would be exterminated in a couple of days if they did
Then you have a million-man army right next to South Africa and the world's richest mineral supplies.
A quick thrust to take a South African port, and you have a hundred Chinese container ships offloading tanks and heavy equiptment to finish the job of conquering Africa
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