A Brief History

The Country was founded and civilised by Cecil John Rhodes - benefactor of Rhodes Scholarships around the world. With Rhodes came the start of the Country’s infrastructure, you know the stuff the most of the sensible parts of the World either has or aspires to.

Having survived two insurrections at end 19th century/early 20th century, the Country provided thousands of personnel (both black & white) who fought and died for mother country (i.e. the United Kingdom) in two world wars. Post WWII, the modern country emerged from the federation of the two Rhodesias and Nyasaland in late 1950's - early 1960's.

Ian Smith declared UDI on 11th Nov 1965. Sanctions were slapped on Rhodesia and country descended into civil war in late 60's through to "independence" on 18th April 1980. Two factions involved in fighting Rhodesian security forces were Mashona (run by that angel, Mugabe) and Matabele (headed by Nkomo, noted for his democratic policies & robust stance on human rights - not!).

Mugabe made it clear that if he did not win elections in 1980, then he was going to take his ‘freedom fighters’ back to the bush, to continue the war. This of course is how all democratic countries work – imagine it, after the next General Election, fighting for the Conservative Liberation Army: although it would never have worked for the widely feared, Al Gore Sandinistas, they would never be able to get the trigger locks off the machine guns. Needless to say, Mugabe won those elections (overseen by the British Army) and all others subsequently - with a larger majority each time – can’t think of any new election pledges, well we’ll have to make do with the beatings & electrodes then.

Democracy in Zimbabwe

Lancaster House Agreement (brokered by the British Government) guaranteed seats in new Zimbabwe parliament for whites. Under the agreement there was to be no constitutional change for ten years. As soon as the ten years were up, guess what, constitution was changed; Mugabe got wider epaulettes & awarded himself another couple of handfuls of medals.

As soon as they got into power, the new democratic Zimbabwean government set about enriching themselves. This is of course a worldwide problem and not just limited to third-rate African dictatorships, but boy o boy, these guys really kicked the arse out of it and corruption plunged to new depths (or soared to new heights!). This is where the rot started to set in and the country’s infrastructure, physical, legal & economic, started to crumble.

The Land Question

From the very outset, Mugabe's government had the power to acquire land for "the masses" and indeed did so. It did not take very long for that land to be converted from productive use & turned into a dustbowl, due to appalling agricultural practices, lack of
infrastructure. Guess what? The more land that was wrecked, the more that was acquired.

There was a long-standing law that meant any farmer wanting to sell land had to first offer it to the Government. Government was obliged to pay the market rate for that land. A small amount went that way, but in most cases, a "Certificate of No present Interest" was issued and the farmer could then sell on the open market. This strikes me as a fair and transparent way of doing business.

Herein is one of the great lies. Approximately 70% of all white Zimbabwean farmers had bought their land in that fashion i.e. from the Government, under Zimbabwean laws, and had NOT "stolen" it in an imperialistic land grab, during former colonial times. The Mugabe apologists never let the facts get in the way of their arguments however.

Economy & Society

As corruption and mismanagement of the economy took their toll, there was only one card left to play - the land card. Take the land away from the white minority and give it to the landless masses. A real vote winner. Don't worry about the consequences and
keep attacking the imperialist white West for trying to subdue the African (Mugabe’s supporters are still wearing Western clothes, driving Mercedes , shopping in Western shops, receiving treatment in Western hospitals, stashing money in Western banks and receiving Western food handouts).

The economy is now in absolute tatters. There is minimal agricultural output. Illegal gold
panning is rife, destroying river systems. Cost of maintaining army in the Congo during mid-90 was prohibitive. Landless masses are still landless - farms are now owned by a rich black minority and lie dormant & uncultivated. AIDS is absolutely rampant an estimated 33.7% of the adult population infected - that’s about 2.3m people, or in real terms, about one person dying from AIDS related diseases every 5 minutes. Average life expectancy, is 39.01 years. There is a whole generation of orphans roaming the streets. Graves are robbed so that coffins can be re-sold.

Inflation is currently running at 134% & in terms of GDP, the economy shrank by 12.1% in 2002. 70% of the population live below the poverty line; pensioners earn the equivalent of 2 loaves of bread a month. There are no jobs available & people are dying of starvation. In 2000 the black market exchange rate was about ZW$60:£1 - now it is
ZW$10,000:£1

Opposition supporters being imprisoned tortured and killed. Independent newspapers have been closed down. Foreign journalists not allowed in to report. Zimbabwe has been
suspended from Commonwealth and so is threatening to pull out. Wild animals are slaughtered for food; trees are cut down for firewood - creating faster desertification of the countryside.

The white owned farms formerly supported about 2 million farmworkers and their families – these workers now have nothing, they are jobless & homeless; why?

Because the liberal-left wing alliance of politicians, media & do-gooders cant admit they made a mistake & do something about rectifying the situation.
One final statistic for you: there are few elephants left in Zimbabwe, but, there are more elephants than whites left in the country.

Note: Figures taken from CIA Yearbook 2003