Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.....History lesson link:
Posted on 06/22/2002 4:18:43 AM PDT by Clive
Saturday 22nd June 2002
Dear Family and Friends,
It is with great sadness that I write this letter to you today.
On Monday morning 51% of Zimbabwe's commercial farmers will be confined to their homesteads and forbidden to continue operating. If they attempt to keep producing food these farmers face either 2 years in prison, a fine of Z$20,000 or both.
2,443 farmers have Section 8 letters of Compulsory Acquisition and from Monday have 45 days in which to pay off their workers, pack their belongings and get out of their houses.
This is an obscene and sickening irony in a country that has almost 7 million people facing starvation and needing international food aid.
Officials estimate that by the end of the year, when the remainder of Zimbabwe's farmers with Acquisition Notices have been evicted, 2 million people will be homeless and jobless.
On Friday night ZBC television interviewed a man described as a Zanu PF strategist and this incredibly young Brigadier General gave his opinions on the coming eviction of farmers and their workers. "We should not give these people even 2 days to get out. We want our land" he said, "we should move in with our security forces and just take it. What is the law for, we should just take it."
Zimbabwe's farmers are scared and confused and do not know what to do but, after listening to the Brigadier General's intimidatory speech, I suspect many farmers and their workers will throw in the towel.
To exacerbate the looming horror, neither the Director nor President of our Commercial Farmers Union have made any statements this week and have given no directives to the members whom they supposedly represent.
For 27 months the CFU have continued to say they can do nothing; they have dropped all litigation against the government and urged their members to negotiate with the very people who have stripped us all of our human, legal and constitutional rights.
They have urged the farmers to engage in dialogue and co exist with arbitrary men who have raped, murdered and beaten farmers and their workers, burned and looted their homes and crops and stripped them of every ounce of pride and dignity.
It is a tragic situation for us all and the paralyzed silence and inaction of the Commercial Farmers Union now leads the entire nation to widespread starvation.
To really appreciate the enormity of the tragedy in Zimbabwe, this week I paid a visit to our farm just outside of Marondera. I had been told that upwards of 500 people had been dumped there and that 2 people had died on the farm in the last week. What I saw was beyond all comprehension and I am still struggling to come to terms with the reality of it. Our farm was completely taken over by war veterans less than 6 weeks ago and is being used by the government as a dumping ground for squatters who have been evicted from other farms which have now been claimed by senior government officials. There are indeed at least 500 people on the farm now but they are not squatting all over the 1000 acre property, they are camped out in less than 5 acres on the driveway, in the house, tobacco barns, workshops, bulk feed rooms and in the milking parlour.
The homestead area is littered with plastic and tin shacks and children (estimated to number 200) barefoot and in raggedy clothes play amongst goats, chickens and ducks.
There are only 3 pit latrines in the homestead area of our farm and the local people say that the smell of human feaces is permanent and nauseating. They say you cannot walk in amongst the squatters because the ground is a sea of human and animal excrement. The war veterans who took over the farm 6 weeks ago burnt out the borehole so there is no water either and there are already fears of cholera.
The squatters say they were dumped on our farm by Marondera government officials. They have been told that they will be moved to other farms at a later date after they have completed the necessary government application processes.
These 500 people have been used for political purposes for 27months and have now been discarded like trash. There is a humanitarian disaster of massive proportions unfolding on our Marondera farm and absolutely no one to turn to for help.
In my book African Tears I spoke of foreseeing the day when there would be blood on our fields, never did I think that it would be urine or that children would run through our timber plantations with human excrement encrusting their feet.
Until next week, with love and tears, cathy.
Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.....History lesson link:
I spent some time in Zimbabwe in the mid-80s. There was a modicum of freedom and prosperity. Mugabe had only recently taken over the country and it was still viable. It was lush and while the people were dirt poor, they were certainly living better than their neighbors to the east and west, Mozambique and Angola. Both of those countries were saddled with wannabe communist dictators and they are basket cases today. Zimbabwe will end up the same way. It's a DAMNED shame. Zimbabwe will die an awful death by its own hand.
If it were me, I'd make it so that you couldn't grow anything there for the next 500 years.
2050? Hell, in urban areas its already happening...although its much more subtle and "civilized"; its called White Flight. Not to mention the "preferred" socialization of this country that you and I work so hard to pay for, brought to you by FDR, LBJ, and the likes of the Stain-maker.
In the late 80s I had the chance to chat with a CNN producer who had just completed a segment on Zimbabwe. I was amazed at how incredibly little this young man knew about the history of the country. All he had to say for his visit was that it was a quaint place in which they rolled up the sidewalk at dark and the people were friendly in the pubs. He knew nothing about the Marxist who had achieved power and the ominous future the country faced.
At the time I had an unfortunate feeling that this was going to happen based on the political turmoil in the adjacent Marxist countries. Why should Zimbabwe be different?
It is very painful to watch a civilized country disintegrate to barbarism.
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