The Future of White Africans by Eddie Cross 1 March 2014
I was asked to take part in a panel discussion the other day on a local radio station with the subject being the role and behaviour of the local white community. They had asked several people to come and represent the community and got no takers but I have a policy of not avoiding such opportunities. I am hardly representative of the white community in Zimbabwe as my personal political views have been at variance with the views of the majority of whites in Zimbabwe for many years. But I am white, I am an African and I and my family live in Zimbabwe.
What had inspired the programme was a recent move by some 3000 white Zimbabweans to get together to demand the lifting of sanctions on the leadership of Zanu PF in Zimbabwe as well as certain restrictions by the USA on financial transactions. The producer/presenter wanted to know what had inspired this move. I was joined by the mother of two boys (black) on the programme whose children went to a local, exclusive, private school and had experienced racism and bullying at the school.
Nearly all Zimbabweans are migrants – the Shona people moving here after about 1200 AD, the Ndebele arriving in strength after about 1830, the whites from about 1700 (Portuguese and others) and the Anglophile migrations starting after about 1850 in the form of missionaries, hunters and adventurers. We all come from somewhere else.
In my own case my great grandfather arrived in the Eastern Cape in 1867 as a Baptist missionary – a great character who made an impact on South Africa during his life. Then my own grandfather who in turn became a prominent citizen, playing an important role in the South African government first as Chief Magistrate of the Union of South Africa, then as the Chairman of many important State agencies. In the great depression my father was forced to relocate from Cape Town to Bulawayo in Rhodesia in order to find work. I was born in Bulawayo several years later, my mother having emigrated from Canada.
White Africans in Africa come from many parts of the world. In South Africa the majority has Dutch and French origins, later migrations brought English settlers and these were followed by German settlers. In Zimbabwe 40 per cent of the settlers came from Scotland, another significant minority were Afrikaners from South Africa. In Mozambique and Angola, Portuguese were the dominant settler community. In Kenya, British settlers dominated although most of them regarded England as “home” unlike the settlers in Southern Africa who rapidly came to regard themselves as nationalist and loyal to their adopted States.
When Independence came, the different countries with a significant settler population adopted different policies. In Kenya they were dealt with, compensated and by and large withdrew. In the Portuguese colonies the decision was taken to drive them out and this resulted in a massive exodus from Angola and Mozambique despite “assimilation”. In Zimbabwe the settlers were dislodged by a military campaign supported by international pressure and following Independence in 1980, the white population declined rapidly from a peak of about 280 000 in 1977 to barely 50 000 today.
In South Africa the exodus has not been so rapid but the trend is the same, as white South Africans have left to seek greener pastures in other parts of the world.
What remains after these shifts in demographics is about 6 million white people of many different origins, but all the product of the colonial history of the continent and the historical process that resulted in their families putting down roots in the soil of Africa. The depth of such roots varies from the 5 centuries of whites in South Africa, roughly four centuries of Portuguese settlement and the 150 years of white settler activity in Zimbabwe.
Because they were dominant during the colonial period, these whites often became an elite owning land and other assets and dominating the economies of their different adopted countries. In South Africa the most powerful record of the link between political power and economic influence can be seen in the way the Afrikaner community in South Africa used the assumption of power in 1949, to back Afrikaner economic interests in the competition for space and opportunity. The effect can be seen today in that many Afrikaner controlled corporations are now global players in banking, media, consumer goods and services.
When the process of political change stripped the whites of political power, they adopted different attitudes towards the new dispensation. The Afrikaners decided to opt out of direct participation in the political process but to strengthen their position to influence those in power and protect their community interests. The strategy has been highly successful and as a result they are not seen as a threat to the new black political elites. Liberal English speaking South Africans have maintained their political participation through opposition parties and are seen as a threat.
In Zimbabwe the whites withdrew from the political arena, choosing to pursue their economic interests and maintaining their social structures. This resulted in the emergence of white dominated schools and clubs and perpetuated the insular character of the white community. Behind these walls racist attitudes were perpetuated although this has not been a problem as the new black elite has used their control of the levers of power to swiftly establish dominance. Where it has been a problem is that it has left what remains of white interests vulnerable to politically motivated activity to marginalize or even seize assets and market share.
In 2000 when the white farming community, who had survived the first twenty years of Independence rather well, decided to vote against the ruling party in the referendum and then in the election that followed, they invited retribution which was not long in coming. In the ensuing decade virtually all white farmers have been forcibly dispossessed of their assets, many are now destitute or living outside the country in dire straits.
For many whites of the next generation, these historical problems of the communities they come from are a hindrance and a burden that they hardly understand. The generation that follows them, even more so, they have black friends, speak local languages and have never known a segregated society. They are impatient to get on with their lives and want to make their way in the new world that they find themselves in. The white community in Zimbabwe may be growing slowly again and many young whites who have been abroad are coming home to try and make a life for themselves.
Many are lost in their new environment. The world that they grew up in has disappeared and they are unable to adjust to the new values and cultures that now dominate their societies. But somehow that famous bug that bites everyone who comes to Africa, remains in all of us and holds us to our different countries like a magnet. When I visited London several years ago with Morgan Tsvangirai, I was asked to arrange for him to speak to a group of young whites from southern Africa. We arrived at the hall to find about 700 young people waiting for us. When Morgan told them that they were wanted at home and would get their citizenship back on arrival, there were tears all over the hall. He said to me afterwards, “I had no idea these young whites loved their country like that”.
If we choose to make Africa our home, we must learn that we need to earn the right to be called Africans and to be fully accepted as citizens with all that that entails. That is not an easy process, but it’s one that we all have to go through if we are to find our place in the sun. This was not easy for my generation, it was easier for my children and I hope their children will find that, at last, they are really at “home” and are accepted in every sense of the word.
Eddie Cross
1st March 2014
COMMENTS
Nine months after the whites came to Zimbabwe, the so called ‘coloured’ people were born. Joke, but not so far fetched.. There are coloured families in Zimbabwe that go back five or six generations. They were marginalised by the whites in Rhodesia, and still are by the blacks in Zimbabwe. The liberation struggle was about equal rights for all people of Zimbabwe. Mr Cross speaks of white Africans, but not of mixed and other Africans, a label they gave to thier children with black mothers. Some people sucked up to the whites when they were in power just as some are sucking up to the blacks today. Those born in America are Americans irrespective of whatever colour they be, and the same should apply to those born in Africa, regardless of who says different!
Eddie Cross you are one of the most original politicians I know. The Zimbabwe situation is no longer about whites. The Ndebele’s might have the same argument for the Gukurahundi case. The racist attitudes you talk about are similar to the tribal attitudes. Eddie with all due respect to you please do not sound or look apologetic. If Mugabe could say the matabeleland massacres were a time of madness,the Smith situation was a time of blindness. What I am saying is we want the NOW.
Unfortunately Eddie once again avoids (trivializes)… misses the vital and legal aspect of the politically instigated theft of land assets. Theft is theft, whether it is perpetrated by the Shona or for that matter…. anyone else, under what ever the guise of rightful restitution of land or not…it still THEFT ! Many whites arrived in Rhodesia Zimbabwe as it is today and made something for their families, using only their skills, ability and hardwork…
The land was completely deserted (Uninhabited ) for many miles. In the early 30- 40’s labour was imported to work on the tobacco farms/ general farming from Malawi ! The Shona spent much of their time cowering or running away from the Matebele Impi, sent out on raiding parties from Bulawayo ! This is the factual and recorded history of many people, most of whom were impartial witnesses t that era.
The land issue remains and is morally WRONG and indefensible …many Zanu chefs have many stolen farms …including her worship Dis-Graceful herself, has at last count had 15 !
And now Zimbabwe has to import basic maize, foodstuffs when she was previously able to feed both herself and her region !
For the country to progressively proceed forwards, this matter must be resolved …professional farmers who appreciate conserving the land …this is urgently needed…not the hopeful fly by nites and asset strippers that have the land currently.
@Dean. It does not mean if a tract of land is not occupied it is vacant. In the same vein a lot of land that “belonged” to the white farmers was unoccupied hence it was taken. Your argument does not hold water Mr. Dean. Did the white occupiers ever take into consideration the local land ownership of the land. The people of the time needed large tracts of land for their normadic way of life, but the white came and took it anyway. Be that as it may, your reasoning does not explain the forced resettlement that was executed on the black populace to give way to the “new land owners” in 1800s. Even if there were vast tracts of “unoccupied” land then why did the whiteman move the blacks their from their domicilium to other areas. There is no justification at all.
However. I think the recent land reform was not done properly. Resettlement could have happened without taking everything away from the white farmers. We could have taken away most of it and left the farmer with the same size farms as were being given away to the new black farmer.
@Masvukupete, it’s your argument, or part of it, that fails to retain water. Many, many farms that were seized were highly utilised. The rest of your comment is more or less valid, but the unfortunate point is that the former “white” farmers had legal rights to those farms according to the laws of Zimbabwe itself. If the laws of the country are ignored by both the judiciary and police, then the entire government is called into disrepute. Land reform, if you recall, was initially a series of unauthorised, even illegal invasions.
Besides, those farmers belonged to Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans, not Malawi, Moçambique, Nigeria and Zambia. They were hugely successful and could have contributed greatly to agriculture in Zimbabwe today by being a part of that process rather than a victim of it.
@ Masvukupete
So can we please give the land back to the San people. The land was taken by force by the Bantu, and the San in the Kalahari want it back. They can use force if necessary – and we will arm them.
I couldn’t agree more. My husband’s family’s land and home of five generations rots to this day. Nothing has been utilized as they say. They forced them out with machetes. Any one who calls that a lawful thing is a tyrant. And should go hang out with Mugabe in hell where they belong.
The NOW should be the simple RULE of LAW as stated in the new constitution.This would allow all races to be treated the same and as Mixed Race I could take the government to court for giving us unfair National Registration Numbers which are discriminatory in nature.
Well said mixed race this is exactly what I am on about. We need to look foward as to what we want to be as a nation. Do we keep throwing stones, or do we use the stones to rebuild? Do we uproot or do we spread the roots of success? Do we fight each other or do we embrace each others ideas? All you guys on this forum help get to the target just by agreeing and disagreeing. Respect to you and all the others on this forum.
Man. I can see poor Eddie getting chewed to pieces on this one! Haha.
Just wait for the anti-white comments from the Gukurahundi brigade – see below…….
DONT BE APOLOGETIC! YOU HAVE AS MUCH RIGHT TO BE ZIMBABWEAN AS ANY OTHER PERSON!
A Ray of Light from White Smoke: Eddie Crossing the ‘T’s
I see that the writer has gleaned some honour from his history. You can be a real honourable, if you put your mind to it, Cde Eddie.
Yes, we all came to Zim from somewhere else but we now belong here and have undivided loyalty to Zim. Problem comes with those who never left the very countries from which they fled to find comfort in beautiful Zim. These find it easy to despise the country and its flag by:
1. fighting its govt by force of arms.
2. Inviting sanctions against its people.
3. Finding the negatives in anything and everything abt the country.
4. Finding redress and legal recourse against Zim in foreign courts.
5. Luxuriating in the country’s misfortunes.
These will find no comfort in Zim. Patriotic Zimbos will treat them like the traitors that they have decided to become.
As for the writer, there is a ray of light along the path of patriotism that he treads in this article.
Supporting non-democratic political parties who do not abide by the rule of law and whose members are nothing but kleptocrats stealing anything they can, is not patriotism it is treason!
Kevin
Who has the right to define non-democratic parties and who gives them that right?
The only bases of conduct in affairs of nations is their constitutions and nothing or no one else. No individual, organisation, political party or what ever has a right to determine who is democratic or who is not.
It is only the supreme law of the land – the constitution and the constituional court that are the final arbiters in this matter. Anything else is gukurahundism!!!
This is what civilisation is all about.
What happens when the government ignores the constitution, both old and new? ZANU-PF ignores the constitution and rigs the elections. This is what makes an undemocratic party!
SADC had a Human Rights Tribunal, but disbanded the court after ZANU-PF lost their case. Apparently, the HRT wasn’t supposed to do it’s job.
It hasn’t been the white man keeping blacks poor for a long time. It is the AU and SADC old boys clubs with help from Russia and China blocking any attempt to protect human rights at the UN level.
Mark Talbot
Yes they ignore the constitution, but then this why I say they have no right of telling me to be patriotic or how to be democratic. Gukurahundi ZANU PF are NOT Zimbabw; and are not the constitution of Zimbabwe!
Ndebvu
It does not matter how patriotic we all maybe.
If some among us make it their past time to unleash gukurahundism on fellow citizens who oppose them (a constitutionally enshrined right for that matter), under the pretext of defending national interests; whilst actually defending corruption; rape; plunder; tribalism; racism; regionalism; asset stripping etc – it is the duty of every well meaning citizen of any colour or creed to stand up and be counted against these gukurahundists.
If that means calling for foreign intervention, where we all find ourselves so overwhelmed with the military might of the gukurahundists, so be it!!
Eddie you are 120% Zimbabwean whether one likes it or not. It’s God who gave us this land on which were born.
Eddie Cross: What about me? I have tears in my eyes because I was born in Southern Rhodesia but am no longer regarded as a citizen of my own country! The fact that I have managed to acquire a British passport through hereditory does not make me less a Rhodesian.
Ndebvu what you represent is failure and degradation. You are a shame to yourself.
….they invited retribution? Nice one Eddie. So it’s “hallo I want retribution in turn for expressing my democratic rights?” . How atrociously written can you get?
We have whites that stayed in post independent countries like Zambia, and continued to contribute through farming, manufacturing and commercial activities. I had the opportunity to meet farmers and business people who had stayed and made Zambia their true home, with all its problems.(in the 90s). Like Eddie these people had been born and grew up in Zambia and totally identified themselves with all the good and bad about their country. Let me shoot to the hip, the white Zimbabweans only identify with this country only through their passports (for those that still have them) or their birth certificates. They have nothing else to show besides their unfortunate past and sour grapes for loss of their God given good life. So Eddie when yoiu said the -700 whites cried, it was not because they are that patriotic. Most likely this was out of nolstagia for the life of being pampered by nannies and garden boys. Our fellow white citizens are way different from the breed of whites I saw in Zambia. The sole creation of all these small racial enclaves called country clubs, private schools and gated communities is the breeding ground for this discord in our country. When the whites of this country stop identifying themselves as an endangered species who stand as a voice of pre-independence economic opulence and success, and start to contribute as citizens, in politics, economic development and social life. They have to earn the respect and not only because they have a lighter skin. There are only two prominent whites (Roy and Eddie) politicians in the whole if Zimbabwe, what a shame! Their greatest enemy is ATTITUDE.
Mukaronda, your letter is replete with racism.
Most whites in this country love Zimbabwe dearly – that is why they are still here despite being so ostracised over the last 15 years or so. Most love the beauty of the place, our awesome friendly fellow Zimbabweans, and the incredible wild areas of this magic country. All the vast majority of whites wish for is to be allowed to get on with their lives and to play a constructive role in taking Zimbabwe forward, without their businesses or farms being unfairly targeted.
With regards to playing a role in politics, the farmers started to play an overt role in politics and look what happened, partly as a result of that involvement.. Yes there are few white politicians – but there are also few whites in the country, and in proportional terms the community is probably quite well represented in that regard. Equally, in economic terms, the white community cannot exactly be accused of doing nothing – and would do a lot more if their businesses and farms were safe from jambanja. Lastly, in terms of social development, there are many projects and fund raising type events that testify to a significant contribution.
Yes, the white community could do more – and does need to get better at integrating. However, we could all do more – including you Mukaronda – and starting by letting go of the hate. We are all Zimbabweans, like it or not, and must live together and take our beautiful country forward.
I have to disagree on your numbers there Mukaronda…. Dave Colthart,Brian James make at least four. And yes, we all need to earn our rights to call ourselves citizens – regardless of race, sex or wealth.
The expression is “shoot from the hip”, not “shoot to the hip”. It means that you are firing fast after a quick draw and not aiming too well. You certainly didn’t aim very well in your comments.
While many white Zimbabweans have suffered and had the possessions stolen, many MORE black people have suffered that that. Hundreds of thousands of blacks lost their jobs and homes and access to food, healthcare and education.
Of course, these were just the farm workers and their families. The destruction of industrial farming in Zimbabwe also decimated the economy that was based upon it, having a knock on effect for many more blacks.
Of course the Zambian government did not violently force the white Zambians off their property; nor did the Zambian government remove their citizenships. Yes, white Zimbabweans have an attitude, and its not something to cling onto or be proud off. But Mugabe fostered this by his misrule and his racism.
Mukaronda you make the classic mistake of painting with a broad brush. Your attitude also needs to change
Doctor do little and mixed Race are absolutely correct. We need and want the NOW
The past holds us back. The bible teaches that all nations come from one blood and God has placed each person in his/her boundaries.
People like @Makaronda will never see good in any other race until they miserably die with hatred.Dream on with your outdated hatred.How come those farmers who moved to Zambia are tolerated there,if your comparison is correct about the whites from here.Think before you write cheap politics which is full of omissions.We know your type who gained a lot using misguided hatred speeches.
Interesting debate and gives a fair reflection of some mindsets.What is the difference between a settler and an expat?If you( as a white or of mixed race)decide to live and raise a family etc etc here then you have every right to stand up a claim your right of free expression and association.I personally do not agree with most of these zanu policies, their destructive force is plainly evident and so @Ndebvu following blind patriotism the zanu way is counter productive and excludes the vast majority of us Zimbabweans the chance to be inventive and progressive.Social imbalances could have been solved in more constructive ways, not the outdated liberation style of brute force.Long live Zimbabwe.
It is only the law that matters, not claims to being the original inhabitants blah blah blah. If that were the case it is the San people who are the only rightful citizens of Zimbabwe. Stop being primitive. In countries like America, Britain and Australia, black people, Asian people, whites and everyone in between enjoy full rights as citizens because they went through the legal process. Africa will never move forward while such primitive Nazi/Hutu/Gukurahundist attitudes continue. Wake up. This is 2014, not 1814.
History my Zimbabweans is history. Lessons should be learnt from history and move forward for the betterment of all no matter who. Unfortunately OUR FRIENDS ZANU AND CO Have installed hatred in some of our people. As Christians by following the Commandments will teach us all to love öne another. ERIC AS FAR AS we are concerned all people are the same and welcöme to stay wherever they choose. Thank you
The crux of the future of white Africans is that they have the right to belong. All Africans are recent migrants. Science shows that the Bantu migrated southward and displaced the indigenous San and so Mugabe and Zanu have no argument regards who is ‘indigenous’ or not.
White Africans could take that the UN. They have a good argument. And remember if zanu argues that the Bantu came first, then it opens a real can-of-worms because then the British could say ‘well we came first’ and kick out minorities, and so on.
Eddie Cross
I like the last statement of yours:
“If we choose to make Africa our home, we must learn that we need to earn the right to be called Africans and to be fully accepted as citizens with all that that entails.”
This is exactly the crux of the problem; why many whites are not accepted in Africa.
South African whites are even worse. They are not only insulting to anything African, but generally distance themselves from African cultures; languages and traditions. They know nothing about many parts of their country simply because the majority of the people who live in these places are Black. In South Africa, one is bound to meet a white foreigner who can show you around Gugulethu; Soweto or Tembisa than a local white South African.
Whites are only fair-weather-friends when it comes to being African. When there are problems; be they political or economic – they distance themselves from being African and suddenly being African becomes exclusively Black. When there positives, such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup, they suddenly become proudly African.
Surprisingly, whites in the West are never like this. Despite the floods in Europe, the whites there still remain European. Despite the tribal wars that have raged and led to the split of Yougoslavia/Kosovo; Czekoslovakia and now Ukraine – all these whites remain European.
Whites in Africa thrive on “us” and “them” attitudes. They ingratiate themselves to anything western, despite the fact that some of them, if not many have never stepped out of the shows of Africa since they were born. They never condemn western countries and their politics of patronage towards their claimed mother-continent Africa; instead they support everything about the west, but are always quick to condemn the East; China in particular.
They take ownership of discoveries or inventions by Europeans as theirs and brag about them to Black Africans – notwithstanding the fact that as individuals, they have contributed zilch to human progress.
STRANGE PEOPLE INDEED, THESE SO-CALLED AFRICANS ARE!!!!!!!
So, in order to be African, whites must assimilate into black cultures and worship the East?
God, could you be any more patently racist?
@Mukaronda said ” When the whites of this country stop identifying themselves as an endangered species who stand as a voice of pre-independence economic opulence and success, and start to contribute as citizens, in politics, economic development and social life” My word man are you asleep? Zanu pf does not allow them to do the things you say. Lots can be learned from black peoples culture and lots can be learned from our white countrymen who in earlier years were instrumental in charity functions that benefited less fortunate people. Cake sales, food kitchens in the street for street people by Peter Strydom , sponsored walks and such. Zanu pf will not allow such functions because they do not want people to be together. No matter what anyone says in my opinion our destinies are entwined irrespective of tribe, color, creed or race.
Just give Cross a pen and a paper and what a jam you get.
Its only Zanu pf stooges who seek to perpetrate the notion that white races are less African or worse unAfrican when a majority of them have known no other home other than Africa.
CAN WE, IF POSSIBLE GET BACK TO REALITY,FIRST OF ALL, WHAT FUTURE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE? PLEASE HELP TO BUILD MY CONFIDENCE,INCLUDING YOU EDDIE,& TELL ME, WHERE WE ARE HEADING in otherwords what future? under,- “NO MONEY,- NO CHANGE, ZANU” & OUR “NEVER AGAIN BE A COLONY” CHINESE MASTERS
Well said Mr Cross.Mugabe has done more than anyone else to divide Zimbabweans by race and tribe.He had truly corrupted the soul of the nation.I would go so far as to say that you and other patriotic whites I know are more Zimbabwean than I, a black person in the diaspora who despairs of the future of Zimbabwe.I’m happy though that the mixed race children I’ve had with a white woman here do not suffer the indignity of being called “coloured” and being put in that box as they would in Zimbabwe, which has complicated and rigid race relations
@Ripp off The Zimbabwe situation is not unique. This happened in Eastern Europe and that part of the world continues to evolve for the better. That you give a comment no matter how small shows that you care. I have said in the passed and will say it again. Zanu kills. They have the weapons. The Israelites marched around a certain city without weapons. We continue to march around this one without weapons except our consciences and God, and like the Israelites we shall succeed.
i like this it was around the walls of Jericho
Most white people who came to Zimbabwe were children repatriated from
homes after the 2nd world war. The scandalous program called “The lost children of the empire” was meant to depopulate orphanages. They can’t trace their roots back. The problem is our white people failed to shake their superiority attitude and continued to assume that the life of privilege was their birth right.
Racism is segregating against another race because you assume they are inferior. No black person thinks the white race is inferior. I have never met a racist black person but I know many people people who have been forced to adopt a defensive attitude against white people because of their experience with the racist attitude of these white people. What baffles me most is, how could the whites here have missed the golden opportunity presented to them by the policy of reconciliation? They were even warned that the hand offered in reconciliation if spurned, would turn into a fist! They spurned it and it was clenched. If only the local white people had realized that their biggest defender was the rabid Anglophile, Robert Mugabe. When they openly showed their hand, he stopped protecting them from the desires of the dispossessed masses. The kind of democracy people talk about in this forum is a fallacy and there will never be a restoration of the previous status quo. Such demands will only harden attitudes. That’s the cold reality. Victors law and victors democracy!
farai the worst Racist of them all is Robert Mugabe…maybe you the second.
I got a particularly good chuckle when you said no black person considers white people inferior.
Good stuff.
Zimbabwe has become a shining example of what happens when a dictatorship is tolerated for four decades by a weak willed, gullible population.
Nothing will change, even when Mugabe goes, the structure is already in place to perpetuate ZANU’s rape of Zimbabwe and its “sheeple”
I show colleagues in the middle eastern country I currently work in the picture of the 100 trillion zim dollar note and they cannot grasp the concept of how a country where a single Rhodesian dollar once bought almost 1.5 British pounds, at the height international sanctions, could in a 40 year period be reduced to a banana republic where the currency has become so worthless it has literally disappeared…
Eddie, I assume you have never been on the wrong end of a bread line my friend, you I guess have never gone hungry because you don’t have enough money to buy a half loaf of lobels and a half liter of milk… Hope,faith and all the other babble on “good intentions” you write about mean nothing to the masses who will stay hungry as long as they keep voting Zanu…
Good luck with (whats left of) Zimbabwe Ruins…
Farai should I say foolrai is back. Who cares farai all the people want is jobs, food and shelter. Robert Mugabe has failed on all counts. He can’t even repatriate 22 bodies from SA which is next door.
My word Farai. You are A lost soul. The only reason why they are supposed to have spurned Mugabe’s hand of reconciliation is because some white farmers came on CNN supporting the MDC.
Its this ” we came here and civilised you” narrative that we totally reject as enlightened black people. Most white people who originally came to Zimbabwe were low class scam seeking to make a fortune through looting and plunder. Another group were working class children repatriated from orphanages after the 2nd world war. The scandalous program since coined “The Lost children of the Empire” was meant to depopulate orphanages. So which of this group civilized us?
The problem is our white people believe they did us a favour by coming here. Which one of you had wealth before your came here? From the hills of Scotland and the Valleys of Wales? All the wealth made here was through exploitation and grabbing resourcing from local inhabitants! Take a chill pill and assume some modesty! You lot failed to read the situation and stuck to your superiority attitude and continued to assume that the life of privilege was your birth right. It was all victors law and victors democracy!
Racism is segregating against another race because you assume they are inferior. No black person thinks the white race is inferior and as such black people have no capacity to be racist. I have never met a racist black person but I know many people people who have been forced to adopt a defensive attitude against white people because of their experience with the racist attitude of these white people. What baffles me most is, how could the whites here have missed the golden opportunity presented to them by the policy of reconciliation? They were even warned that the hand offered in reconciliation if spurned, would turn into a fist! They spurned the hand and it clenched. If only the local white people had realized then that their biggest defender was an Anglophile. When they openly showed their hand, he stopped protecting them from the desires of the dispossessed masses.
The kind of democracy people talk about in this forum is a fallacy and there will never be a restoration of the previous status quo. Such demands will only harden attitudes and give the warmongers an opportunity to settle scores. This talk of people wanting to come back is because they have now realized that without institutionalized privilege, the rest of the world cant be bothered about them and is unwilling to offer any benefits. That’s the cold reality of the world.
Victors law and victors democracy is the only law in town, fit in or ship out the choice is yours to make!
Farai COPIED AND PASTED FOR YOU..Racism Against Black People in China
Racism against black people may be the strongest form of racism in China.
Many families in China would be horrified if their son or daughter married a black person. Some would even disown them outright.
It can be difficult getting a job teaching English in China if you are black. This is because of the perception of many people in China that only white people are ‘true Americans’ or ‘true English’ people.
Sadly, it’s often easier to get a job teaching English in China as a white person from a country where English is not a native language than as a black person from a country where English is the only native language.
Many people in China think most black people play basketball and are violent. If you are black, many people from China will perceive you as African. If you are not, you will have to repeatedly explain that you are from another country.
The most common slur against black people in Chinese seems worse than that used for white people – “black ghost” vs. “old ghost”. Many people in China also assume that if you are black, you have very little money.
Racism against blacks in China is also strongly linked to the class divisions and racism that exists within Chinese society. This is not a justification for racism against blacks in China, but for thousands of years Chinese people of lighter skin looked down upon those of darker skin, who often could not afford to be anything other than a peasant farmer.
READ RACISM IN CHINA
Farai the way your party is going I suspect you might be in for a little victors law before too much time has passed. For myself I fit just fine and I ain’t shipping out. Laura continua my dear brother
My husband’s family were tobacco farmers and forced off their land that they had for over 5 generations (still rots to this day). And my husband’s great-grandfather was knighted by the Queen of England. Don’t think that sounds like a reject now does it?
@farai-please read your Zimbabwe Achieves records properly because it does not say that all whites who came here were products of the second world war.This is not true and you admit in your comment that in your personal opinion democracy is only achieved by supporting your party,which the farmers did not want to do.This became their passport to deliberate victimization by misguided people like you who cannot accept opposing opinions.
What kind of democracy is that my friend?We are all visitors on this planet otherwise you farai would live forever if you could control your life destiny.Fortunately NO.
farai That’s where you are lost farai. There are a lot of racist out there,black , white ,Chinese Russian Indian they are there. It is a fact that Black Africans world wide and blacks in general faced the brunt of racism. It is also a known fact that white people that had convictions about racism were instrumental in the fight against racism and slavery. It is also a documented fact that is in our archives at the Herald and the Chronicle that when our football team was in China they were subjected to monkey chants. It is also documented that racism is a big problem in Russia. Documented as well is the Chinese beating up workers in Zambia, and guess where? Yes Zimbabwe. You just choose to call a chair a table because Mugabe says it is so.
You might want to read this on google “Shanghai “Black girl” Lou Jing racially abused by netizens” That Farai is in China.
In the USA there’s a hated, hateful, divisive fool called Faraikai (Farrahan), equally a bafoon.
Blacks not capable of racism? Ever heard of reverse racism. Mugabage is a black racist.
Now, about whites coming from overseas as orphans or scum, our family came as settlers after the 1st World War, with money, chattels and with dreams.
Our family BOUGHT three farms, one each for an Uncle, my father and my older brother later. We produced masses of tobacco, cattle, grain, cotton, livestock feed, legumes and seed.
When we took over the farms they were ‘virgin;, unploughed,uncleared and unplanted. My family, with the help of well paid, well fed and happy farm workers, developed them into “Jewels”.
That is why Zimbabwe – Rhodesia was called “The Jewel of Africa”. What had Mugaarbage and his goons done for the white or black man for that matter, in 40 years. Nothing, just raped and pillaged.
If Mandela had been our Liberator, Zimbabwe would be a Shining Country on a Hill, but instead this megalomaniac, tyrannical,Satanic, gluttonous old dodderer was Zimbabwe’s misfortune.
Talk about the one trillion dollar note. At the time, a sheet of Charmin’s single ply toilet paper in the USA was worth more than a Zim$ dollar, ha! ha! Well done ZANU-PF!
CRY MY BELOVED COUNTRY!
I myself am a black Zimbabwean living in Britain with British citizenship. I’ve come across slurs pertaining to my kindred, but nothing major. They were normally, ‘go back to your own country’, people saying ‘wala wala wala’ (my supposed friends), my own supposed friends laughing at my name and hair etc.. I don’t really get offended by that stuff, God will avenge.
Nonetheless, so where is my own country? Is it Britain? Well, legally, yes; I am an alien but I have as much of a right to be here as the whites, Indians, orientals etc.. but what did that ‘go back to your own country insult mean’? It meant that, I am black and Zimbabwean and that I should return to my own kindred, my own people, my own nation. No matter what, I will always be Zimbabwean, I was born there, my skin colour comes from Zimbabwean parents. However, does a white person have the right to be called a Zimbabwean even if they come from Britain, well their ancestors? Absolutely.
Zimbabwe is in Africa, where clearly the skin colour of the indigenous people is black. Likewise Britain is in Europe where clearly the skin colour of the indigenous people is white. So none of that “The whites are the true indigenous people, the blacks came and infiltrated the country.” The whole continent is full of blacks but somehow that one country and maybe SA have the true indigenous people of the continent.. That’s folly. That’s beyond the point.
If whites came from Europe and settled in Zimbabwe justly and fairly, that’s absolutely fine. They are Zimbabweans, end of.
God made blacks and whites, and yes there are bounds set; but that doesn’t mean a black can’t ever live in a white country or a white in a black country. An interesting thing I have found though is this: white people complain about blacks coming to their country and not respecting the culture i.e. learning the language. However, whites do the exact same thing in black countries, there may be some exceptions but how many white people do you see learning Shona and speaking it fluently; and how about them being immersed in Shona so much that they lose some of their ability to speak their first language which is English maybe? Please show me examples, not the exception to then rule, but large amounts. I’ve lost some ability to speak Shona, I can understand it, but I can hardly speak it, I guess I am an exception to the rule myself.
You see, there are distinctions between whites and blacks, cultural ones and ethnic differences.
Blacks and whites ARE Zimbabweans, but there will always be differences; although that doesn’t warrant one treating the other unfairly because of it.
KJVBibleStudent
Before you ask how many whites speak Shona; you have to start by asking yourself how many Shonas speak Ndebele? or even Venda, Khalanga, Nambya, Shangani, isiXhosa, Tonga etc?
It is far fetched for you to expect a people who are so culturally and linguistically different from you as an African (such as the whites) to speak your Shona, when you, who is even closer culturally and linguistically to your own fellow African citizens hardly speaks their languages.
This is so, despite the fact that there are so many words that are similar or interchangeable in the African languages, e.g. Ndevu in Ndebele/Xhosa is Ndebvu in Shona and in all these languages they mean the same thing.
The “go back to your country” insults you are getting in Britain are the equivalent of the “go back to South Africa” insults Mthwakazi gets from you people in Zimbabwe whenever we differ on issues. So, enjoy them and stop complaining!
I have read Eddies article and most of the letters that range from idiotic and rascist to great thoughts and hopes for a great nation. Though some speak of God in their posts, I do not see one letter that adresses the bitterness, resentment, hatred and unforgiveness that is destroying this country and this unforgiveness is sadly setting a platform that God cannot work from. There is so much division in the churches and the races and it is all about individual power and money. My gooodness look at the horrors of greed and the “love of money” as people in government enrich themselves beyond understanding! We are partnering with Godless people, the Chinese, that have no intention of doing anything fo this country without getting their five pounds of flesh back.
Really Zimbabwe, we have been divided too long and it is time we came together and worship The Living God together and living in love and harmony without destroying ourselves through this hollocaust of hatred and evil that is breaking down any hope unity. It is time to humble ourselves and pray, and I wish everyone could see the film on FIJI called “Let the sea Resound” Herewith a short verion.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yVjLknXHgA
Reverand
It is hatred of uMthwakazi people as a different ethnic group that led to gukurahundi, not the so-called dissidents. Even today, that hatred persists none stop. What do you say about that Reverand?
Reverend with all due respect to you. We have been battling with demons here. We have silenced some. Others rise . We do the same. As Do little said we carry on marching around this country till we defeat these demons. When the demons leave, all the bitterness will go.
Appreciate your comment Jack, but we have no chance to personally defeat the demons of this world. Do Littles words were actually quite profound in a quiet way as I do believe he was talking about the Israelite’s walk in the desert for 40 years until they got their minds right about who God was before they were allowed into the promised land, and they still balked at it because of the giants and it was Joshua and Caleb who came back and said they could take the land. I love what David said about Goliath “Who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” This was a kid of about 15 years old, while the rest of them shook in fear like us, because we have not learnt yet that David never killed Goliath, but God did, and he used a little boy to make the Philistine armies flee, and the day we get on our knees and call out to the same living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we may as well get used to the fact that we will continue in this hell hole with an uncircumcised fool like Mugabe. It is time for us all to humble ourselves and pray and get on our knees to receive Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, and watch the armies of evil flee.
Read 2nd Chronicles 7:14….If MY people………
I don’t rebbatal discussions but I enjoyed all our different views as Zimbabweans. For the record, I wish to point out that I “Hate” nobody in this whole wide,world but we may not have the same view points. We are different people and therefore we may not agree on certain issues.
Come on guys, black, white, lets just love our country and its people, regardless of race or political persuasion, why the hatred, disguised? We all live in this country, there will be consequences for victors law…victors are thinking only of today, the wholesale theft of farms and assets cannot be disguised as land reform. The truth will come out soon, those that really want to and deserve to farm regardless of colour and who are productive should be allowed to carry on, those productive businessmen regardless of race or politics should be allowed to help our nation prosper…land reform conducted since 2000 has not just been about land/racism but politics, we even see white south African citizens moving onto farms in Zimbabwe these past few years, how do we explain this? Lets join forces, unite and build a better future for our families both black and white….enough now, what future are we giving our children, what are we teaching our children…God created us all in His image, His image is LOVE!
Love one another
?
@Mukaronda-your last comment is well accepted in public debate but if you use wild statements,then you become destructive to a society which is moaning with so many bad things around us instead building the nation you want for your future generation.
I am telling black Africans here who provided right comment the way they can achieve their goals; the black Africans are 5 whom are; Sudan/Daud then Sudan delivered four boys called Ali which Tanzania, Musa which is Uganda, Hassan which is Zimbabwe and Hussein which is Kenya, back Noah’s ark the whites disobeyed their parents while the black Africans obeyed their parent and then blessed this resourceful land by the time we were blessed they started reviling us and it over 6666 years.
We’re sitting here in this land of African continent when six thousand six hundred sixty six subtract one hundred fourteen is equal six thousand five hundred fifty two years.
it’s 6666-114=6552years from Noah.6666 is the verses of holy qur’an. 114 is the whole qur’an.
Whites need to leave Africa..im black in America.i read bout the crime the deaseaes..just leave ur day is done
I was born and raised in the United States. I can’t say I know the entire history of Rhodesia then Zimbabwe. However, I do not see how taking and destroying my husband’s family’s land and home of five generations is making it fair for all Zimbabweans. You know what their land and former home has been used for ever since? Nothing even to this very day. It rots as we speak. They were tobacco farmers and lost the last piece of land my dear husband’s great-great-grandfather is buried on last year. And I don’t think showing up with machetes and forcing people off their property they have owned for five generations is peaceful. It’s not out of fairness it is a barbaric takeover. His family were kind people. They were not racist nor a threat to anyone. Shame on the corruptness that caused such terrible events. The greatest day for Zimbabwe will be the day Mugabe is dead and gone. He lives in riches rather than helping his people. He has driven his country into massive debt, sold his own country’s valuable resources, continues to drive his country’s currency into the ground. The day he is gone will be a great day for all that live there.
Im glad to know that Zimbabwean Coloureds are know on the internet though I havent met many in Holland.Im based in Th Hague. Visiting the UK Id really love that.
Im glad to know that Zimbabwean Coloureds are know on the internet though I havent met many in Holland.Im based in The Hague. Visiting the UK Id really love that.
Im glad to know that Zimbabwean Coloureds are know on the internet though I havent met many in Holland.Im based in The Hague. Visiting the UK Id really love.
B & B. Born and broken in R since 54.
Remember: Rhodoesians never die.
M from Sweden
I write all this in response to your statement:
“Remember: Rhodoesians never die.”
As a God-given right, Zimbabwe is a country which was given by God for black Africans to inhabit and own. Similarly, Britain is a country which was given by God for white Europeans to inhabit and own. So, let us be fair and say; Rhodesia was never a nation which emerged through natural means, but through man’s physical intervention.
I myself live in the UK at the moment; imagine if I said to everyone here that I want to take over this land and rename it Zimbabwia. People would be up in arms; so, why do people think Zimbabweans want their own country to be colonised? However, imagine if I were to say to the British, I respect your people, land, government, language etc.. and I would like to live among you peacefully as a foreigner. My reception would clearly be much better. How many Rhodesians do this? How many Rhodesians respect the people of Zimbabwe? The answer is not enough; which is why some people in Zimbabwe are vehemently opposed to Rhodesians; not because of jealousy or racism, but simply because of their desire to colonise Zimbabwe.
Now, if any foreigner wanted to come to Zimbabwe, they should be welcomed. I do not believe that they should be met with violence, that is simply evil. However, practically speaking, if any foreigner that went to Zimbabwe were to simply humble themselves and say; I am in a black land and will respect him in his own land; they should have no problems. When the Rhodesian will stop calling themselves as Rhodesians due to pride and will go under the umbrella of being a Zimbabwean, the native Zimbabwean will call them their brother or sister. But until that happens, surely, the Rhodesian will have problems; because that is seen as disrespectful in a nation which values giving respect to people.
Those are the main things I wanted to say, now I’ll answer the expected questions which may be raised: I never said that foreigners should not be allowed to live in Zimbabwe indefinitely. I never said that I agree with everything that happened in Zimbabwe to bring it to what it is now. I never said that the Rhodesian government didn’t benefit Zimbabwe in some ways. I never said that Rhodesians have not had wrong done to them.
You can keep calling yourself a Rhodesian if you want, but generally Zimbabweans do not like that name as it makes them think you are a colonialist.
Whites in Zimbabwe have always and will always be imposed citizens. They invaded the space against the poorly armed locals and sought to make it their own. They waltzed around for 90 years paternalising black people trying to keep them ignorant and servile, and hoping everyone else gets amnesia. If it was not for the dissenting attitudes of the Russians and Chinese towards western capitalist racist authoritanianism against blacks, indigenous african peoples would have lacked the means to defend themselves against oppression in their own lands. The Yanks and the Brits only learnt of equality by being reminded by the anti-capitalists of the similarities of their systems with that of the genocidal Germans. It took seeing bits of themselves in A-hole Hilter to realise they will be confronted for the inequalities they force on the world. Whoever bought a piece of land in Zimbabwe from the blackshirt Rhodesian government bought from thieves that lacked the right to sell so they should claim whatever lose they incured from the Brits who made the illegal Rhodesia happen. The only true white Zimbos are those who will earn their citizenship by processes of a mass endorsed constitution that reflective of the wishes of the rightful owners of the land like it happens in Europe. Those imposed citizens that keep misplacing themselves should be grateful they have been spared the jail time they clearly deserve. Long live the rights of the indigenous over this God-given land!
Racial separation is always best – especially for whites. Life in Rhodesia was better even for blacks than is life in Zimbabwe for the majority. Blacks were lucky to have Whites to bring our higher civilization and greater efficiencies to you. Now, without whites, you starve (I guess you survive from do-gooder White food aid).