The Swazi Observer
By Comfort
Mabuza
JUST the previous week I was privileged to have been on a
NIZA sponsored
trip to Zimbabwe on a fact-finding mission and attachment
programme.
MISA is currently embarking on a PEPSA (Pre-election Programme for
Southern
Africa) initiative. I was devastated beyond description about
things I
observed and was exposed to after having read so many disturbing
pieces in
the international media and Internet about the state of affairs in
that
great country. Zimbabwe is such a great country with so much potential.
Zimbabweans in general are just incredible people who are very much
warmhearted and forever welcoming to visitors and strangers, and at often
times you just wonder why on earth should such wonderful people be exposed
to such atrocities and hardships. They surely do not deserve the hardships
and economic doom they find themselves in. Zimbabwe has indeed become a land
of diverse disparities and if this is caused by fellow Zimbabwean leaders
then I wonder why the silence. Presently, it is not what the people fought
for and gave the present leadership their mandate to lead them.
This
trip comes after having attempted to undertake the same before on
several
occasions, but was somehow delayed by several engagements here at
home. I
finally flew in to this Great Nation with much anticipation, as I
was last
there a couple of years ago. Let me just say right from the onset,
I have no
points to score or any political ambitions whatsoever or any other
hidden
agenda to convey, but rather to share lessons and personal
observations that
could somehow assist those who have the future of a
country like ours at
heart and are not blind to the regional development
agenda. Hopefully this
will invoke a debate and critical reflections in the
minds of every reader
who desire to see a just and prosperous Swaziland,
region and indeed the
entire continent.
Flying into Harare International airport is a wonderful
experience and
feeling especially to those who find joy in sight-seeing.
While still
airborne, one cannot help but be immensely impressed by the
developmental
infrastructure of the entire town itself. It is structured so
well and I
guess the engineers and town planners during the colonial times
surely took
time in coming up with such a progressive idea and urban
infrastructure. The
town is so well-structured, the roads are well-designed,
industrial sites
clearly demarcated and positioned, suburbs and townships as
are
well-situated and the railway line into town and out are just
incredible.
The centre has big roads that are not that much congested, and
still allows
rooms to be increased further if there was much traffic in the
future. You
can tell that the colonialists were futuristic in their plans
and dreams and
somehow realised the importance of utilising the land
resource wisely as
that happens to be the greatest natural resource a
country can have.
I do not think it ever crossed the colonialists mind
that one day the 'black
majority' was going to take such well developed
infrastructure, as plans of
this magnitude are often than not found in the
first world countries, where
people are assured that they are there to stay
forever. If its in Africa
then you are assured that there were consultants
employed in the background
as advisors who are supplied by International
banks or financial
institutions like IMF, World bank or African Development
Bank. I hope by
saying this, one undermining the intelligence of the
Africans, but surely
our own town planners can learn a thing or two about
such infrastructure.
There is always sadness and much disappointment when
one visits some towns
in Africa. You always realise that there were not much
thoughts and proper
planning given or put in place regarding such important
national
infrastructure. Here I am talking about answering questions such
as, will
that infrastructure that is being developed ever be able to
accommodate and
bear the pressure of the future generations and populations.
I hope urban
authorities of Mbabane, Manzini and other towns will become
wiser and learn
from cities like Harare as to how best to plan progressive
and wisely even
for generations to come. I think ratepayers deserve the
best, not these poor
urbanisation structures we are seeing especially
between Mbabane and Manzini
Corridor. Informal structures with no plans in
place cannot be condoned at
this time and age, can somebody do something
about the informal settlement
in places like 'titimela' Matsapha and
surrounding areas (boMbhuleni,
eMahlabatsini and kaNdlunganye).
The
airport is well developed and one is welcomed by the attractive white
building that is like one was in another first world airport. It is a piece
of art and just incredible. I was told that in fact this is not the ideal
building that was initially planned as those who were in charge decided to
help themselves to the funds, and what we actually see is just a third. Yet
another classical example of how unfortunate we are in Africa, where those
who are entrusted with national wealth always like milking and stealing for
their own pockets themselves, 'batitfolela emantshontsho'. As to when will
we ever wean and get rid of corruption in Africa, only God knows, but I am
tempted to believe that for any evil to rise and thrive in the land, it only
takes a few good individuals to keep quite and fold their hands. Corruption
at the highest corridors of power is what is killing our nations, and may
God cause few good men/women to stand up and be counted, we cannot afford to
watch helplessly.
As we went through the passport and custom
formalities, I was a bit shocked
to be welcomed by the officers as 'Famous
Comfort' as it has never crossed
my mind that I was that well known. I
thought perhaps they knew me from my
broadcasting days at Trans World Radio
as we beamed a strong signal to
Zimbabwe. But to my dismay I was told I am
part of the people who have been
'black listed' by the CIB because of MISA
related activities. I was then
told that my organisation has taken the
Zimbabwe government to the African
International Court on Human Rights
violations, and as such MISA people are
not welcomed there. But I reasoned
with them only to find I was really
headed for further interrogation, but
being a responsible and respectiful
Swazi citizen, I was allowed in. After
all I belong in the Kingdom and I am
certain that whatever happens to me I
will finally be laid to rest at
Enkhungwini where my ancestors are buried.
After all, I have no desire to
rot in any foreign land; I am a proud Swazi
through and through (umsinsi
wekumbelwa). I decided not to allow this
experience and hiccup to cloud my
agenda and visit, but I must admit that
the 'guilty are always afraid'.
The drive from the airport to the hotel
was a totally the opposite of what I
had seen at the airport or even the
beautiful view I saw when I was landing.
As we were being whisked to the
hotel I could just tell something was
definitely not on. Zimbabwe had
changed drastically, it was not the land of
the milk and honey I last
visited. As we met and began chatting with people
we could see that they
were really suffering emotionally, socially and
economically, they exciting
and welcoming spirit was just not there. In
short 'Cry the beloved Zimbabwe'
(lifile lakaMzilikazi). When we finally
arrived at the hotel, I quickly
unpacked and prepared myself for the
following day. I then rushed to the
restaurant area to get some food before
retiring to bed. Then reality sank
in that something was seriously wrong.
The choice of food was limited, and
as wa hite meat eater, I was told there
was no fish or chicken available
that evening, they would probably order it
the following morning. I was also
told the choice of fruits or sweets was
not there that evening, then
curiosity that killed the cat, caused me to ask
questions. A four star hotel
without choices on food, why were we then
paying such a fortune? Then I was
told, 'My friend welcome to Zimbabwe'.
I went to bed hungry and angry,
and then my mind started to debate as to why
is Zimbabwe being destroyed
like this? I thought about the masses the poor
and vulnerable, and to be
honest I did not enjoy my sleep at all.
As a Christian and follower of
the teachings of Jesus I could not be blind
to this painful reality and no
sooner had I gone back to my room than a
certain level concern and empathy
arose in me. I then wondered what kind of
leadership Zimbabweans had that
could just allow things to deteriorate to
such low levels. Do Zimbabweans
deserve such a kind of leadership? God
forbid, I totally am angry and
rightly so that oppressive leadership and
regimes that thrive on anarchy and
confusion had led Zimbabwe to this state
of affairs. They continued
operating as if things were normal; surely they
are blind to reality. This
is very sad, and Zimbabwe does not deserve such
insensitive leadership who
are only interested in their selfish ambitions at
the expense of the masses.
I think justice and righteousness must come in
like a flood to liberate and
save the suffering people who are made in the
image of God.
I had to
wake up early and get ready for the activities and meetings for the
day. I'm
not a breakfast eater naturally, but seemingly I did not know what
was lying
ahead of me, I decided to take a chance and try the breakfast.
Lord have
mercy! As Anglicans and Catholics would say, there I was again in
a
breakfast table with limited choice and then I realised we are damn lucky
in
Swaziland, we still have a choice. With poor choices before me I quickly
ran
out of steam and there was no appetite for the breakfast at all, as I
became
more aware that surely things were definitely not going well.
I rushed to
the bank to get the local currency; then again I was asked by a
security
guard outside, why was I even contemplating changing money in the
bank as
there were people on the black market who could offer a better
exchange
rate. He assured me that the bankers themselves were actually
partnering
with the money launderers. Now imagine being told a story like
that within
the bank itself, and then I realised I'm in another country.
There I was
confused, but again I had to be careful because the guys at the
airport had
warned me that I was in bad books. I went inside changed my
R500, and then I
became an instant millionaire. It was not money that I was
given but Bank
Bearer checks dated to be valid until December 2006. Since
this was my first
time after so long, I found myself given a plastic bag to
carry the notes,
and I was even more shocked, had I known I would have not
exchanged
R500.
So there I was, ready for the meetings and other engagements, but
deep down
in my heart and in my basic instincts I had realised that surely
something
was not right. Inflation is presently sitting at 1020 percent, and
the
economists will agree with me that this is one of the highest in the
world.
I mean to put it in layman's language basic things a family of three
will
need in order to survive at least for a month will make that family
part
with not less than 10 million Zimbabwean dollars. A bag of 10kg mealie
meal
costs about Z$1.5 million , while the average salary of a civil servant
(teachers and nurses included) ranges between 10-15 Million Z$. A litre of
petrol costs 180,000:00Z$ that is equivalent to E12. People are presently
not using their cars and actually walking to and from work. Even the NGOs
personnel are organising themselves and use lift-clubs to get to
work.
Business is barely operational as those who continue to do business
are
crossing their fingers that the greater force from above will intervene
and
hopefully a miracle will happen. There are presently no informal
business
activities on the streets in towns following the clean up operation
to get
rid of all filth 'Operation Murambatshina' which I will attempt to
address
tomorrow.
In short, the economic realities of Zimbabwe point
to a bleak future, as
majority of the people are resigned to the reality
that nobody cares. In
fact all the people are just hanging in there for dear
life waiting for the
whole thing to collapse, but as to how long this will
go on no body knows.
Yet another indication that the truth of the matter is
that the Zimbabwe
economy was indeed very strong even after all these
problems that have
arisen.
I hope SADC and AU or even any UN agencies
will rise to the challenge, and
international intervention is crucial more
than ever. Does anybody care
about the Zimbabwean crisis, if so why the
silence? Perhaps it is time we
pray for a superior force's intervention and
the Ndebeles of Matabeleland
where I ended at (Kwa-Bulawayo) are crying
louder and with passion and
agony, "Vukani Ma-Africa ilizwe lethu lidliwa
izinja!!"
HoldTheFrontPage. UK
By
HoldtheFrontPage staff
Journalism student Kirsty Whalley has won the third
prize in a journalism
competition organised by the Jesuit Refugee
Service.
The second year undergraduate, studying Journalism and
Contemporary History
at City University, and Queen Mary, University of
London, wrote about
refugees from Zimbabwe in London. She is herself a
Zimbabwean whose family
fled to Britain five years ago.
The prize was
a trip to Brussels for dinner with members of the jury, who
are all
experienced journalists in this area, as well as visits to a
newspaper, the
Jesuit Refugee Service, and to the European Parliament.
But she could not
go on the trip because she was unable to secure a Belgian
tourist visa. She
would have been travelling on Zimbabwean documents and
there have been other
cases of Belgium refusing visas to Zimbabweans.
Kirsty said: "That may
give me another story!"
She said that working on her feature "Destitute
Zimbabwean asylum seekers
stuck in limbo in the United Kingdom", showed her
just how desperate the
situation was for any destitute asylum
seeker.
She added: "Faced with the prospect of destitution or being
deported back to
the country they fled from, many chose to sleep on the
streets in appalling
conditions.
"What struck me most when
interviewing Zimbabweans, however, was that
although many are destitute and
unable to work they get amazing support from
their community and
organisations such as the Red Cross, and for many this
an incredible morale
booster."
Kirsty was tutored in writing the feature by Melanie McFadyean,
a lecturer
in the journalism department who writes regularly for The
Guardian and
elsewhere about refugees and asylum.
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 23 May 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe dismissed claims
yesterday that the jailed alleged
mastermind of a coup plot in Equatorial
Guinea two years ago was set to be
extradited soon to the oil-rich central
African country.
Simon Mann was given a seven-year jail term, later
reduced to four years, on
charges of breaching firearms legislation after he
and 60 other men were
arrested when their plane landed at Harare airport in
March 2004.
Zimbabwe alleges the men were to pick up weapons to overthrow
President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Malabo.
Zimbabwean authorities
"have told us that within two months the extradition
process (for Mann) will
be in place", prosecutor-general Jose Olo Obono of
Equatorial Guinea said on
Friday.
Zimbabwean attorney-general Sobusa Gula Ndebele said: " I am not
aware of
the extradition arrangement".
Zimbabwean Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa also said he was unaware of
plans to send Mann, a
former member of Britain's crack Special Air Service
military unit, to
Malabo.
"I never met the prosecutor-general from Equatorial Guinea when
he came here
last week. I do not know of such an arrangement taking place,"
Chinamasa
said.
Most of the suspected mercenaries were released from
a Zimbabwean prison
last year, but Mann remains in a Harare
jail.
Eight other men are to go on trial in SA under its tough
antimercenary
legislation, introduced in 1998 to stamp out mercenary
activity and shed the
country's reputation as a springboard for soldiers of
fortune in coup-prone
Africa.
In Malabo, five of the eight South
Africans convicted over the attempted
coup remain in prison, including their
leader, Nick du Toit, who is serving
a 34-year jail term for attempting to
overthrow Obiang, who himself came to
power in a coup in 1979.
The
case exploded across the world's front pages following the arrest in
Cape
Town 2004 of Mark Thatcher, the wealthy son of former British prime
minister
Margaret Thatcher.
Last year Mark Thatcher was convicted by a South
African court for helping
finance the failed coup in Equatorial Guinea. He
was fined ?400000 and given
a suspended four-year prison sentence.
Sapa-AFP
IOL
May 23 2006 at
05:36AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare - Equatorial Guinea
has applied to Zimbabwe's courts to
extradite former SAS officer Simon
Mann.
They claim he was behind a coup attempt two years
ago.
Some of Mann's mercenary colleagues arrested in Equatorial
Guinea
shortly before he was detained in Zimbabwe in 2004 are serving life
sentences in extreme conditions in the West African country.
The application for Mann's extradition, confirmed by Zimbabwe's
prosecuting
authority on Monday, comes weeks after President Robert Mugabe
lavishly
entertained Equatorial Guinea's dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Director of Public Prosecution Matanda Moyo confirmed they had
received the
application and that "the paperwork seems in order".
"If the case proceeds it will be handled in the magistrate's court,"
he
said.
Gillian Dare, spokesperson for the British embassy in Harare,
said:
"We will be in court when the matter is heard."
Mann, who
is 53, was arrested with 69 South African mercenaries when
their plane
landed in Harare to pick up weapons worth R1,2-million that he
had bought
from Zimbabwe's semi-government defence industry.
Shortly after the
men were arrested, Zimbabwe said none of the
mercenaries could be extradited
for trial in Equatorial Guinea as there was
no treaty between the countries.
Zimbabwe has since amended its extradition
list to include the oil-rich West
African nation.
This article was originally published on page 3
of The Star on May 23,
2006
The Australian
Gavin du Venage,
Johannesburg
May 23, 2006
THE once-tight relationship between Robert
Mugabe's Zimbabwe and China is
beginning to fray as a series of unpaid bills
for aircraft, engineering work
and construction projects around the country
begin to mount up.
At least half a dozen Chinese firms have suspended work on
unrelated
contracts around the country because they have not been
paid.
At the same time, Zimbabwe's air ministry has defaulted on a $US12
million
($15.8 million) payment for two MA60 passenger jets it recently
ordered from
China's state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of
China.
A third aircraft, a gift from China, is standing forlornly on the
runway,
unable to fly because of a lack of spare parts.
"The current
economic situation in the country has made it impossible for us
to honour
our debts," a Zimbabwean government spokesman said.
"The Chinese have
been hit the hardest, since they are carrying out a number
of projects in
Zimbabwe."
China is virtually the only significant economic power that
still has close
economic and diplomatic ties with Harare.
Mr Mugabe's
regime has become increasingly isolated since 2000, when
traditional trading
partners such as Britain and the US began to shun his
Government in
retaliation for human rights violations and chaotic
land-nationalisation
policies that all but destroyed a once vibrant economy.
Mr Mugabe has
leaned heavily on China over the past year, buying guns,
fighter aircraft,
and radio-jamming equipment used to silence opposition
broadcasts from
neighbouring countries.
China has also been asked to provide
infrastructure development to revive
shattered agriculture and industrial
production.
For instance, China International Water and Electric
Corporation was
contracted to clear 100,000ha of much-needed farmland in the
southern
African nation but has pulled out because of lack of
payment.
China North Industries Corporation has also halted work on
upgrading the
country's ageing electricity supply infrastructure and
abandoned another
contract to retool Hwange colliery, the country's major
coal producer.
Chinese officials in Zimbabwe are especially unhappy that
Zimbabwe has not
paid for the aircraft, especially as Beijing was criticised
for the deal,
which flouted international sanctions against Mr Mugabe's
regime.
Zimbabwe has energetically promoted its relationship with China,
in what is
known as the Look East policy. Last year, Mr Mugabe announced
Harare would
abandon its traditional Western trading partners.
China
cautiously embraced Zimbabwe, lured by its promises of preferential
access
to agriculture, mining and engineering contracts.
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 23 May 2006
Dumisani
Muleya
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
STOCKBROKERS and dealers at the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
(ZSE) went on strike
yesterday in protest at government efforts to introduce
valued added tax
(VAT) to their business transactions.
The work
stoppage almost forced the bourse, which has 80 counters, to close,
with
only limited trading taking place.
ZSE CEO Emmanuel Munyuki was
not available for comment as he was said to be
in emergency meetings on the
issue.
The stockbrokers said they would intensify the strike, and
insisted that if
they paid VAT they would go bankrupt.
"The
government is demanding VAT backdated to 2004, and we are saying this
is not
possible because it will simply ruin most of the stockbroking firms,"
said a
senior stockbroker.
"We are prepared for a compromise and to start paying
VAT with immediate
effect from now onwards, but not to pay the amount from
our pockets."
Stockbrokers say if they were to agree to pay VAT backdated
to 2004 they
would have to fork out from their pockets, whereas if it was
charged from
now on it would come from deals made.
The government,
which is desperate for revenue, is already charging a
withholding tax on
dividends, 15% per individual shareholder. The amount is
deducted at
source.
Last year stockbrokers blocked government from reintroducing
capital gains
tax, abolished on January 1 2002. At the time brokers went on
strike until
government gave in.
Despite being beset by economic
problems, the ZSE remains one of Africa's
leading bourses. It was a few
years ago rated the second-best performer in
the world's emerging capital
markets.
The first stock exchange in Zimbabwe opened its doors shortly
after the
arrival of the white settler Pioneer Column in Bulawayo in 1896.
The ZSE was
consolidated and established by law in 1974.
Meanwhile,
Zimbabwe's central bank raised its key lending rate by 50
percentage points
as it tries to stop the world's highest inflation rate
from rising
further.
The overnight interest rate was increased to 850%, the Reserve
Bank of
Zimbabwe said on its website yesterday.
Inflation surged to a
record 1,043% in April from 914% the month earlier.
Central Bank governor
Gideon Gono said in January that the inflation rate
would peak at between
700% and 800%, before slowing to between 220% and 230%
by the end of the
year.
Zimbabwe's central bank last increased its lending rate by 50
percentage
points on April 25, adding to a 100 percentage-point increase a
month
earlier. With Bloomberg
May 23,
2006
By Andnetwork .com
NAMIBIA will expropriate land
to speed up its land reform programme if
the willing-buyer willing-seller
system fails to address the land imbalances
in the country, Namibian Deputy
Minister of Lands and Resettlement, Mr Isak
Katali, has said during his
visit to Zimbabwe.
He said Namibia would follow Zimbabwe's example
to economically
empower indigenous people by expediting its land reform
programme.
The minister, who is in Zimbabwe on a five-day official
visit, was
addressing journalists after meeting Zimbabwe's Minister of
Lands, Land
Reform and Resettlement, Diydmus Mutasa, and Minister of State
for Special
Affairs Responsible for Land and Resettlement Programme, Flora
Buka, in
Harare yesterday.
"The purpose of our visit is to come
and look and listen to our
colleagues in Zimbabwe on how they tackled their
successful land reform
programme. "We feel the speed they took the land is
commendable and we would
like to see how they did it," Mr Katali said. He
added that land reform was
an important aspect that needed to be urgently
addressed as most of the land
was still in the hands of the minority in his
country. "Land reform is
important to Namibia and we feel that the same
colonisers are the same
people who colonised Zimbabwe. We also feel that if
the people of Zimbabwe
did this we can do it in the same manner," he
said.
Mr Katali said the country was facing various challenges and
had
decided to use the expropriation system together with the willing-buyer
willing-seller policy. Namibia embarked on its land reform programme in 2002
but the process of acquiring land and redistributing it to the landless
majority has been slow. Namibia has managed to acquire about 829 486
hectares so far, short of the land resettlement target of nine million
hectares.
"Since independence, a number of people have been in
need of land. We
have managed to resettle a significant number and that is
why we are trying
to go with the willing-buyer willing-seller approach
together with the
expropriation system," he said. He said the Namibian
government has already
set aside funds to finance the programme. "In
Namibia, government has set
aside money every year for the purchase of land.
If government is
expropriating any property it will use its own money to
compensate," he
said.
Asked whether Namibia was not afraid of
sanctions from the West by
making such a move, Mr Katali said: "If they
come, what we have is land for
the people first. It's good to keep your
dignity rather than a full stomach.
Land is important." He also said the
opposition parties in Namibia were
supportive of the land redistribution
programme. "We are united on the issue
of land redistribution and even
opposition parties are very supportive of
our land redistribution
programme," he said.
Mr Katali, who is leading a delegation of
officials from the Ministry
of Lands and Resettlement in Namibia, will also
tour A1 and A2 farms. He is
also expected to meet senior Government and
Zanu-PF officials.
Source: The Herald
IOL
t
May 23 2006
at 01:37AM
By Tsegaye Tadesse
Addis Ababa - After a
12-year trial, an Ethiopian court rules on
Tuesday whether former president
Mengistu Haile Mariam is guilty on charges
of genocide that carry a possible
death penalty.
The Marxist, living a lavish but reclusive life in
exile in Zimbabwe,
is accused of killing thousands of people during his 17
years in power that
began with the toppling of Emperor Haile Selassie in
1974 and included war,
brutal purges and famine.
Political
analysts say despite extradition calls Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe is
unlikely to hand over Mengistu if he is found guilty.
Mengistu's army helped
train Mugabe's guerrillas during their 1970s fight
against white minority
rule.
But many Ethiopians hope the verdict will draw a
line under one of the
darkest periods in their country's turbulent
history.
In the so-called "Red Terror" campaign in 1977-1978,
suspected
opponents were rounded up, executed by garroting or shooting, then
had their
bodies tossed into the streets.
Mengistu, who fled to
Zimbabwe in 1991 after he was ousted by
guerrillas led by current Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi, has been tried in
absentia in Addis Ababa since
1994.
The prosecution says the trial has been lengthy because the
proceedings have been complex. It has presented evidence that has included
signed execution orders, videos of torture sessions and personal
testimonies.
"The incarceration of former military officials is
not meant to serve
as a vendetta but to register the message for the
succeeding generation that
organised terror and mass killing is
unacceptable," said an Ethiopian
lawyer, declining to be named.
"What the military junta did was a violation of the country's legal
system."
About 40 members of Mengistu's "Dergue" junta have
also been tried and
will be in court to face verdicts. Twenty more are being
tried in absentia.
They could also be sentenced to death if found
guilty of crimes
against humanity and genocide, which Ethiopia defines as
intent to wipe out
political and not just ethnic groups.
Major
Melaku Tefera, known as the "The Butcher of Gondar", was
sentenced to death
last year for genocide and abetting the murder of 971
people during the "Red
Terror". One of Mengistu's most feared aides, he was
administrator of Gondar
province.
The most prominent victim Mengistu is accused of killing
was Haile
Selassie, allegedly strangled in bed and secretly buried under a
latrine in
his palace. About 70 of the emperor's senior officials were shot
by firing
squads and dumped in a mass grave.
In 1984, Mengistu
denied for months famine was ravaging the north of
the country and aid
workers said he flew in plane loads of whisky to
celebrate the anniversary
of his revolution. One million people died of
starvation.
For
some Ethiopians, Tuesday's verdict is meaningless.
"What is done is
done. I don't see any point in further killings,"
said Ayeletch Seeifu, a
25-year old secretary.
"I would prefer to forgive and
forget."
Obituary
The Times, UK May 23,
2006
October 8, 1925 -
May 3, 2006
Rhodesian tobacco farmer who stayed in business
in Zimbabwe
after independence until forced out by his own
labourers
SANDY FIRCKS was a prominent tobacco farmer in
preindependence
Zimbabwe. His dynamic leadership as president of the
Rhodesia Tobacco
Association (RTA) and pioneering farming methods were
widely admired,
especially when the country faced tough economic sanctions
imposed after the
unilateral declaration of independence in
1965.
He encouraged placing black agricultural students on large
commercial farms where they were paid to gain experience. Fircks was one of
the first farmers to employ a black assistant, and his farm had a school, a
traditional store and even a beer hall.
However, 20 years
after the end of minority white rule, his farm
would be one of those to fall
victim of President Mugabe's land grab.
Alexander Fircks was
born in Nice in 1925, the only son of Baron
Dimitri von Fircks and Ursula
Fry, a cousin of the England cricketer and
all-round sportsman C. B. Fry.
Baron von Fircks's family was descended from
the Teutonic Knights and held
estates in what is now Latvia.
At the age of 10 his parents'
marriage broke up and Fircks was
taken to England. He attended his uncle's
school before going to St Edmund's
in Hertfordshire. He briefly studied
medicine at Guy's Hospital, and later
worked at Zwemmer's art bookshop on
Charing Cross Road in London.
Discovering that he was
stateless, Fircks became a British
citizen and was called up into the RAF in
1947. He was sent to Southern
Rhodesia to learn to fly and, after completing
his National Service,
returned to the country in 1951 and became a farm
assistant near Salisbury
(now Harare). He bought his own farm, Umsengesi, in
Umvukwes (now Mvurwi) in
1958.
Fircks transformed the
old-fashioned farmhouse, eventually
building a magnificent thatched
homestead - but not before providing modern
housing for his labour
force.
A natural leader and confident public speaker, Fircks
was
elected to the council of the RTA, taking over as president in 1971.
Increasingly frustrated by the stonewalling tactics of the Prime Minister,
Ian Smith,and his failure to reach a political settlement that would have
put an end to the crippling economic sanctions, Fircks arranged to meet
President Kaunda of Zambia in Lusaka. Kaunda felt that provided there was a
commitment to majority rule, the timetable could be stretched and urged
Fircks and his colleague John Strong to act as messengers to the Rhodesian
Government. However, their report to Smith was leaked to the press and both
governments issued strenuous denials of the dialogue.
In
1973-76 Fircks was a non-executive director of Grindlays Bank
and chairman
of the Tobacco Corporation. He demonstrated that he had the
skills to
supervise the trade and the annual tobacco crop as Rhodesia sought
to combat
sanctions. Along with his work in the Rhodesian tobacco industry,
he set up
a subtropical agricultural management consultancy and became
involved in
tobacco growing in Argentina, Brazil and Iran and also looked at
the
feasibility of growing it in Venezuela, Nigeria and Malawi.
In 1979 he set up a tobacco farm in the Po Valley in Italy, and
he and his
wife spent three years overseeing the project. Although they
spent
increasing periods in Europe, they always returned to Umsengesi, which
their
youngest son, Hugo, had taken over in 1992.
However, in 2000
white-owned farms began to be taken over by
groups of black labourers in a
move encouraged by Mugabe. In May 2002 Fircks
and his wife were given 60
days to get off their farm. A group of labourers,
some of whom had worked
for the family for 44 years, surrounded the
homestead and burnt hundreds of
acres of crops. The family had to lock
themselves inside the house for two
days until a ruling party official was
called in to restore
order.
Fircks and his wife moved to London that year. He is
survived by
his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1953, three daughters and two
sons.
Sandy Fircks, tobacco farmer, was born on
October 8, 1925. He
died on May 3, 2006, aged 80.