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Zimbabwean
Lessons What
we have learnt in 29 months of farm invasions 23rd
July 2002 ZIMBABWEANS
have learnt a lot in the 29 months of farm invasions in the country. First we
learnt a whole dictionary of new vocabulary. Arbitrary
men who came and forcibly took over our property were first called war veterans,
then land invaders, then squatters, then settlers, and now they are widely
called new farmers. As to the
actual takeover of the land, first it was called peaceful demonstrations, then
land invasions, then the Third Chimurenga, and now it is known as The Agrarian
Revolution. Even the
commercial farmers themselves have had their names changed a number of times by
the State media and the government. First we
were racist whites, then racist Rhodesians, then Selous Scouts. Later we
were called supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
British mouthpieces, white puppet masters, and now we are being called farmers
of European origin. It all
gets a bit confusing, doesn't it? The fact
of the matter, though, is that the white-skinned commercial farmers are what
they've always been - the people who grow our food and other crops which bring
in foreign currency to keep Zimbabwe afloat. The people
taking over the farms are also what they have always been - thugs, bullies and
ignorant pawns who have been used for political gain. So, aside
from vocabulary, I wonder what else the majority of Zimbabweans have learnt. Twenty-nine
months of land invasions have given us no maize-meal, cooking oil, sugar or
salt. They have
given us endlessly long queues for basic foodstuffs and regular shortages of
products we have always taken for granted, like milk, eggs and peanut butter. They have
given us no foreign currency, have spawned interest rates below 10 percent,
inflation rates of over 125 percent and unemployment of well over 65 percent. They have
given us massive company closures and a brain drain of enormous proportions. They have
given us the collapse of the health service and the unavailability of the most
basic health care in our hospitals and clinics. They have
made tourists an endangered species and led to huge retrenchments in the
hospitality industry. They have
given us broken homes, separated relatives, the destruction of trust, morality
and integrity. The price
of Zanu PF's Agrarian Revolution has indeed been high and I believe we have yet
to see the real cost. "There
is no going back on the land reform programme," is perhaps the commonest
statement our government makes these days. In just
over a fortnight's time, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural
Resettlement, Dr Joseph Made, says this Agrarian Revolution will be complete as
he summarily evicts 3 000 commercial farmers of "European origin". Zimbabweans
may not know this, but the commercial farmers have not been paid for what the
government has taken from them. At this very moment there are five men living in
my family's farmhouse and another 500 squatting in tin shacks outside the
security fence on our Marondera farm. We have
not been paid one single cent for our home, the borehole, buildings or any of
the infrastructure. The real
price of our Agrarian Revolution is yet to be realised, but in a fortnight's
time every Zimbabwean will begin paying. How much
does the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) stand to lose when 3,000
farmers and at least a million farm workers stop making monthly contributions? How much
does the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) stand to lose when
boreholes are stopped, irrigation equipment turned off and cold rooms closed
down? How much
will TelOne lose when at least 3,000 telephones are disconnected? How much
will the rural district councils lose when 95 percent of their revenue is
instantly gone? These are
the first losers in our Agrarian Revolution, we are the next because all our
tariffs, taxes, rates, levies and services will have to be dramatically
increased to cover the huge shortfalls in a fortnight's time. Zimbabweans
must not fool themselves into thinking that the new settler farmers can keep
NSSA, TelOne, Zesa and the rural councils afloat. Our new
farmers are already asking the government for free ploughing, free seed, free
fertiliser and free electricity. Undoubtedly
the government will find ways of giving our new farmers everything they demand. But it
will be you and me paying for it in a few weeks' time. Daily
News - Leader Page |