- Note - After single-handedly
destroying what was arguably Africa's finest agricultural infrastructure
by evicting tens of thousands of whites from their farms, Mugabe is now
bringing in the Chinese to farm the land. What's wrong with this picture?
- ed
-
- Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, has awarded
a contract to grow food crops on more than 100,000 hectares to a Chinese
company in a desperate attempt to avert an unprecedented farming crisis.
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- The land was mostly seized from white farmers and is
now lying derelict after its new black owners failed to take it up because
no agricultural equipment was available.
-
- Mr Mugabe's decision to approve the land allocations
to the China International Water and Electric Corporation, a state-owned
company, contradicts his claims that he wants to empower black Zimbabweans
by giving them land seized from white farmers.
-
- State media said the deal would restore Zimbabwe's agricultural
strength to its former position of glory in Africa's agriculture sector.
It proved that Mr Mugabe's policy of co-operating with Asia and former
Communist countries in Eastern Europe at the expense of the West was paying
dividends.
-
- Mr Mugabe has said that his government will no longer
work with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank but will concentrate
on finding new friends in Asia.
-
- But a senior government official said the deal was a
direct indictment of Mr Mugabe's chaotic land reforms. "I think what
it proves is that our system of chasing farm owners and confiscating their
land has not worked,'' said the official, who was interviewed on condition
of anonymity.
-
- "We are now stuck with a huge amount of derelict
land, which could have been under good use if the politicians had taken
our advice to implement a phased and systematic land reform exercise.''
-
- Joseph Made, the Agriculture Minister, publicly admitted
for the first time last month that most of the seized land had not been
taken by its new owners.
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- In some of the most important agricultural provinces,
less than half of the land allocated to blacks has been occupied. New black
occupants often become frustrated by the government's failure to give them
resources to farm and return to communal areas, where there is infrastructure
such as boreholes.
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- The government is trying to lure back commercial farmers
displaced from their properties by violent occupations and seizures, which
began three years ago and accelerated after the President was re-elected
last year in polls that independent observers said were rigged.
-
- Mr Mugabe's government claims that it has drafted a memorandum
of understanding, which awaits signing. But farmers say nothing has materialised
from talks that began a few weeks ago.
-
- As part of the deal, the government wants to give back
to white farmers some seized properties in exchange for farming equipment
needed to help to resettle black farmers.
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- The white farmers have rejected the offer, saying the
government is not sincere.
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- According to state media, the deal with the Chinese will
yield at least 2.1 million tons of maize a year, enough to feed Zimbabwe's
12 million people. The project, which is expected to start soon, would
play an important role in reducing inflation, which reached 200 per cent
last month. The Chinese are expected to bring in massive irrigation equipment
for use on the project.
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- Meanwhile, in a sign of the country's deepening economic
troubles, a parliamentary inquiry said the national airline was heading
for collapse. Silas Mangono, head of the inquiry, said two of Air Zimbabwe's
six planes had been grounded because there was no hard currency for spare
parts.
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=377578
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