via How to put Zimbabwe back on its feet 11/05/2014 by Eddie Cross in NewZimbabwe
OVER the next few weeks I am going to concentrate my weekly letters on how we can put Zimbabwe back onto its feet. In this edition I will concentrate on the general conditions which I think we have to put in place to get stability back and to lay the foundations for growth.
In 2012 I attended a seminar convened under the auspices of one of the UN Agencies to look at different scenarios for the future. In attendance were 50 individuals, all carefully selected to act as representatives of different ethnic, tribal, religious and racial groups living in Zimbabwe. Our diversity was amazing and I found the whole process very powerful and moving.
After 4 days of intense interaction and debate we concluded that Zimbabwe had to deal with two issues before we could expect to construct a State that was able to maintain stability and progress in all spheres of life. The two issues were:
1. We needed to heal the wounds of the past, to deal with the demons in our midst – all of them, the hangover from the liberation war, the genocide of 1983/87, the damage done by the collapse of the economy 1997 to 2008, the dislocation of Murambatsvina in 2005, the violent displacement of commercial farmers and their workers and the myriad of incidents of politically motivated violence over many decades.
2. We needed to agree on just who was a Zimbabwean and who could be classified as a Citizen of the country. In this respect we had to deal with tribal, racial and all other forms of prejudice and discrimination.
In my personal view the group was spot on – how can we move on with our lives if these issues are not addressed. They are like cancers that poison the very air that we breathe. At the end of the war of liberation in 1980, we simply ignored the savagery and wounds we had caused and pretended that it was business as usual. No attempt was made to either tell the truth or to deal with the demons of our past. We did the same after Ghukurahundi, the same after Murambatsvina, the same after the destruction of commercial agriculture.
You cannot do those things to each other and expect to come away unscathed. We are, all of us, both victims and perpetrators of these gross violations of human rights, associated in many cases with extra judicial killings and torture. I know from personal experience that the scars inflicted by these conflicts are as raw as if they had taken place yesterday. We need to be open and honest with each other, admit our failings and transgressions against each other and then seek forgiveness and some sense of justice. We would be fools to think that we can go into the future without dealing with our past – no matter how hard that might be.
When I grew up in Rhodesia I took it for granted that I was superior – our black servants were shadows without personality who did my bidding and called me Lord or Boss. I visited villages in the nearby Matobo Hills where elders still wearing the ring of Induna in their hair talked of the Shona people as dogs who could be killed at whim and were a subject and inferior race or tribe.
Now I live in Zimbabwe where as a white African I am subjected to racial prejudice and even hatred on a daily basis. I am discriminated against in economic terms even in employment. I must pay for everything – health services, education and social security. My State does nothing for me or my family. If I was Ndebele or Tonga, or Ndau I would feel equally hard done by as I watched the Shona use their political and other connections to make money, secure opportunities and privileges at our expense. We are not a united nation in any sense of the word and the demons of our divided past persist.
President Robert Mugabe made a start in 1980 with his reconciliation speech but after that he slipped back into the old ways and even worse. Genocide, mass deprivation of basic necessities and beatings accompanied the systematic discrimination of the people in power against everyone who was different, in any way.
We cannot go on like this, we need to take stock of where we are as a country and say to each other, we are, after all that has gone on in the past, all Zimbabweans and all of us hold equal rights and responsibilities to each other. The key lies in how we implement our new national Constitution. This states quite clearly, that I am a Citizen by birth, it says I can never lose that right and the Bill of Rights gives me a full raft of rights under the law and specifically prohibits any discrimination against me, by anyone.
But that’s on paper, it needs to be translated into action and made enforceable in the whole country, by every State agency and every institution and organisation that is active in Zimbabwe. If this had been the case in 1983, the genocide against the Zapu supporters in the country could never have happened. The genocide of Rwanda began the day the national radio called the Tutsi minority “cockroaches”.
The Holocaust in Europe was made possible when the Nazi’s made the Jews wear yellow Stars on their clothing. The smash and grab programme on commercial farms was made possible by removing State protection from farmers and their workers and treating the white minority as a group that had no rights. The mass human rights abuse that was Murambatsvina became possible when the State referred to the urban poor and disadvantaged as the “rubbish” to be swept away.
It is time to put the past behind us and say to each other, black and white, brown and pink, Shona and Ndebele, migrant descendant and indigenous, welcome to your home country, Zimbabwe. Welcome to our new society, created by our new Constitution where never again will you be treated as less than human or your rights and property abused.
We need to promise each other that we will stand together and face the future as one nation, one people. That before we acknowledge our ethnic, racial or religious background we will assert our national identity as Zimbabweans and we need to forgive each other for the hurt we have inflicted on each other in the past. Only then can we really expect to be able to build a better future for all of us who live in this beautiful country.
COMMENTS
Well said Eddy. Us ,the people are ready, ZANU is not.
So what can be done now? I see the ship of state,taking water, drifting amongst the icebergs, with no-one really managing it and, just amazingly, surviving somehow. Surely there are sufficient men and women of good will, energy and capability to begin to bring a little direction and order to the helm? Why does it not happen? Every initiative seems to become bogged in the mud and slime.
There must be a way.
Zim is in a pivotal position geographically in southern Africa to enable and lubricate the growth of prosperity for the entire region. Zambia and Botswna are leading the way with good governance, and investment in infastructure and education, underpinned by continuing industrial strength of South Africa.
The reactive legacy (read:chip on the shoulder)to colonialism is in retreat as the new generations mature and show that they are willing to put the past behind and create a future that they can prosper in.
If Zim was prepared to embrace a constructive vision for the future, the prosperity would be enormous. So many countries would be eager to invest in infastructure and education and the strategic location of the country in Africa would do the rest. All it requires is a genuine willingness to embrace good governance.
When will the people say: “Enough!” and take action?
Eddie Cross, what you speak of has been happening at our level. The people. Can you not here the people speak? Can you not hear the people say we need water,food and education for our families? Can you not hear the people say I don’t care who you are as we have the same problem?
Eddie, all due respect to you the hatred is now with the Politicians. The racism and Tribalism is now with the Politicians. They are using it to try and get mileage. It won’t work because we know that whilst there are Tribalists racists, and segregationist of all colors among-st us we the masses don’t subscribe to it. What we subscribe to is food on our tables,(we don’t mind whether it’s a white or black or blue farmer that makes this possible) We want jobs. It does not matter whether it’s an indigenous, foreign, black or White employer. It is not us Black, white or Brown that need to forget our differences. It is the politicians. I am Doctor do little and I am Zimbabwean.
While I agree with you in most of the things I Think you also want to avoid one very important item that the white commercial farmer did take land by force from the black and that too has to be dealt with because it is the major cause of conflict in the this Country. If we keep on avoiding it I can assure you No black Zimbabwean would want to listen to you. the land issue has to be dealt with once and for all. We did not sufficiently deal with it at independence, a lot of gaps were left out and when it surfaced in 2000 it was ugly, if we avoid it again we are simply pushing forward the real problem and it will re-surface again many years later may be in another name.
Sorry cannot agree with your comment that the “white commercial farmer did take land by force from the black”. None of them did – perhaps some of their ancestors can be “accused” of this, but not those on the land as at March 2000. In any case if you are to go down that road it achieves nothing. What about the “Matabebele” who invaded Rozwe held territory in the late 1830s when Mzilikazi chose to make what is now Bulawayo his & his tribe’s home, and then unleashed a reign of terror that lasted over 50 years? What about the Bantu who pushed the Bushman to the far reaches of the Kalahari where they now languish? Just because this is in point of fact “black on black” violence does that make it more acceptable and not some sort of a crime?
Indeed a sovereignly elected “black” government had overseen a legal system for 20 years that completely completely legalised the ownership of that land that the so called “whites” farmed; longer than the current lawless arrangement.
These self-same farmers were employing some 250,000 people and directly supported around a million people whilst contributing 40% to the GDP and contributed significantly to the fact that Zimbabwe was the grain basket of the region. Finally many of these farmers were Zimbabwean citizens, some with a heritage that went back to Lobengula’s time before the BSAC arrived. In short these farmers had made a massive contribution to the building of the Zimbabwe that Mugabe inherited in 1980.
Ironically one of Lobengula’s tribe with a close association to ZAPU, said to me in the early 2000s that the “white farmer owed the blacks nothing”; we had paid our dues unlike the Portuguese who had done nothing for Mozambique and Angola.
In truth the land invasion was never a spontaneous event but a politically contrived one as result of the “No” vote in the referendum in Feb 2000. Ironically, that self-same vote had rejected the forcible acquisition of the farms which made it a sovereign vote, an often over-looked fact. What’s left is a chaotic mess out of which only a handful of people have benefitted most especially Mugabe’s family who are estimated to “own/occupy” 55,000 ha!
So where does that leave us today? A country wrecked and ravaged by corrupt political leadership with not the slightest interest in putting their country first. Byo’s industries employed some 280,000 workers as of 1984; by November of 2011 there only 7,000 employed. What is more important jobs or righting a supposed historical injustice with another even grosser injustice. ZANU have completely failed the Zimbabwean people, still live on the 70s and run Zimbabwe as if it only belongs to them.
The sins of the father are visited on the generations.they were there as a result of lootin, whilst the masses suffered & perished as a direct result of that. Injustices had to be corrected. Mhosva hairove…..
I think if this debate must be productive people must stop being emotional. May I make it clear that the problem of Zimbabwe must be looked at in totality not because i am Shona, Ndebele or White. Lets not defend anything on racial or tribal lines the facts must be facts. Buying something stole does not make it legally your. Once you are caught the legal owner shall claim it at no cost. that is a universal principle period It must be appreciated that those of our White brothers and sister who bought land after independence did not buy it from any black person of Zimbabwe but from the white who had forced blacks out of it.
The issue of Ndebeles and Shona Zimbabwean must be understood that it was also distorted by the White by their divide and rule policy. The Ndebels were not as violent as purported by the documented History. The history portrayed them as violent for a purpose and that purpose was to divide the blacks in the country to rule them easily. I suggest we do not go into that if we want to solve problem. Lets not also blame others and refuse to accept the open truth against us. The present govt might have it contribution that cannot be disputed but we perhaps all have contributed one way or another. It is true that the British contributed to the development of the country but that does not take away the fact that they are responsible for most of the ills of Zimbabwe.
OK Ndebele let’s stick to the facts and not get emotional.
1)Please explain what a “CERTIFICATE OF NO INTEREST” issued by our Government was? Why was it given by our Government for land which was “stolen” property. DO REMEMBER THAT NO FARM COULD BE BOUGHT OR SOLD WITHOUT THIS CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY. British funds for resettlement were made available for the purchase of the very farm to which I refer but government did not see fit to utilize the funds for that purpose. They therefore issued the said certificate. I repeat WHAT DID THAT CERTIFICATE MEAN Ndebele?
2) Please explain why we now have ZANU MP’s who have no qualifications (nor should they have the time)to farm, owning MULTIPLE farms.
Let’s start with those 2 simple answers/facts shall we.
All those are the problem that must be talked about by us people of Zimbabwe. I did not suggest that ZANU PF people are doing well I simply added ONE PROBLEM among those that you mentioned and said you had left it out. It also NEED TO BR DISCUSSED just as those that you highlighted. Just as much as white people owned large pieces of land then so are some black people today. It was not wright then it is not wright now. lets not take it with the mind of self justification. That’s what I am saying.
No Nedebele I will not let you get away with that! There is a VERY VITAL difference between my brother owning a large piece of land with a certificate of no interest and the ZANU chef owning a large piece of land. That difference is that my brother borrowed money, worked to pay off that loan in the meantime building barns, installing huge irrigation after paying engineers to build a large dam on the farm, he built a school, a clinic and a his home ON that land and paid every cent back to the bank after 16 years of dedicated farming. In comparison our ZANU compatriot is GIVEN all of that….NO WORK, no loans no graft…..given it!
And we may well agree that THE LAND should never have been sold to my brother in the first place but the fact remains that he received not one cent for the barns, the house, the school the dam, the irrigation pipes, his tractors, his lorry….NOTHING Ndebele….squat! Sorry my man…..THIEVES is all we have left.
I wanted to avoid this but let me say it now. the white farmer bought stolen land, built good structure on stolen land come on. You STEAL an Item sell it with whatever legal documentation and whatever improvement you put on it. it STILL remains a stolen Property. It does not matter how much You claim you have improved it. the FACT remains you were improving STOLEN PROPERTY, it is not yours. Lets stop it and discuss improving the economy it us the people of Zimbabwe that are suffering at the end of the day, it is our children’s future affected pliz. That’s my last contribution to this I think I have made my point. Lets take all the problem and table them without self justification.
Run away Nedebele – you did not answer what was a certificate of not interest? OUR goverment controlled that piece of “stolen” land…our government could either take the compensation available to purchase that land or allow it to be sold on – THEY sold it! When that land was stolen from the SAN people by your tribe and then later by my tribe nothing was there but bush! Stop hiding…and running away from the issue. We do not ask for compensation for the land, even though it which was paid for by the way, we demand compensation for infrasturcture put there in all good faith that the TITLE DEED issued by our very own government was a legal piece of paper. You want discussion Nedeble? Well do not cop out!
You speak of “the white commercial farmer” as though all of them acquired their land in the same manner.
It is this kind of intolerable, indiscriminate brush-stroke painting that leaves little hope for actual dialogue.
Ndebele – the land was indeed taken IN 1900 ‘s and that was why the British agreed a land compensation package with ZANU. Only when it was revealed that the “compensation” they had been paying was being “diverted” did they withdraw from the agreement. At the time when the land grabs started there were literally thousands of hectares of commercial farmland not resettled upon which the willing buyer willing seller (using British compensation funds) that ZANU did not let “the people” know about far less actually settle on. My brother (born here, living here all his life) purchased his farm (with a bank loan) in 1982 after being given a Certificate of no Interest” from our (this) Government. He worked for 20 years to finally pay off that loan and be able to say he “owned” that farm. He built a home a huge dam, tobacco barns, raised excellent cattle etc. He “owned” his farm for less than 3 years before it was stolen from him. He lost everything – his tractors, pumps,irrigation system, crop in the ground, truck and his home.
So – now we have a theft of land in 1900 – compensation offered and given but stolen by our interminably greedy politicians and then we have more land stolen in 2000 – 2014. Two wrongs my dear Ndebele DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT. This issue will NOT go away for my family until compensation is made.
If a thief steal my car and sells it to someone else, when the car is eventually recovered by the police it will no doubt be returned to me. All the descendance arising from the British invaders are zimbabweans by defaulty. Cross is a wrong advocate to profer any solution to Zimbabwe moreso when he does not acknowledge the brutality and attrocities committed by his forebearers. The solution in my view lies in the cleansing of Zimbabwe of all symbols of British occupation like the repatriation of Rhodes’s remains from our sacred Matopos and the renaming of all places and structures with British history such as Vctoria falls.
Makotsi! What a great idea let’s “CLEANSE” the country of it’s history shall we. Let’s sart with the Parliament Buildings! Oh then let’s move on to the schools, clinics , roads. Oh I must not forget the Main Post office, the arches designed AND built by my own father (DAMM BRITISHER!)oh and then all the National Parks Infrasturcture…we must rid of that because that builder was also a stinking Britisher….Go on Makotse you want to cleanse Zimbabwe of everything that symbolises our past …yes OUR PAST (I AM A ZIMBABWEAN OF BRITsSH DESCENT) AND I gaurantee that your contribution to building our nation and my contribution to building our nation would bear some scrutiny. You cannot erase history my friend – but if you insist DO START BY DEMOLISHING THE PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS and then you better stop driving your car on almost every major road, stop using the hospitals and do like every other ZANU chef – send your kids to school and go visit hospitals in SINGAPORE!
Well said ndebele. There he goes tryina paint hims3lf victim again. Nxa. Had over a century of lootin & now you wanna say you looked after the people. Where in ban concentration camp looking shelters. Over a hundred years and thats all you could give back? Really? How can you even try to defend that? Ivhu nderedu!!! Ende harisi kudzoka!!! Period!!!
Doc I like what you write. Am on the same page as you and others on this forum. Lets put all this racialism, tribalism etc behind us and let us hold these destructive politicians accountable.
Gather around people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth saving
Then you better start swimming
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changing
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
Keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
Don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no telling who
That it’s naming
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they, they are a-changin’
Come senators, Congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand at the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it’s raging
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changing
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
Don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend a hand
For your times they are a-changing
The line it is drawn
And the curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fading
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changing
HE WHO HAS EARS LET HIM HEAR.
Duhhhh where has he been for 34 years?
The government only needs to leave the people alone. Stop doing damage. We will then get on with our lives and things will get better. Nothing special is needed. Just stop making things worse.
John Thomas
What you are saying is impossible.
Jack the Rabbit.Bob Dylan had the answer eh? Wish Zimbabwe would change for the better but not under the murderer and his moron thugs.Law and order needs to be the number 1 priority but when a country has unqualified political appointees fingering people for their opposition to a totally corrupt and despicable “government” what Hope is there.Rise up and be counted people of Zimbabwe.Your beautiful country has been destroyed and it will take many,many years to recover.Your children,if they live,may see a new Zimbabwe but it is up to you.Get rid of the evil or just lie down,give up and die.
These clowns are finished, the whole world can see them for what they are the money has run out, and the credit ran out long ago. No one is going to lend them a cent . They can last a bit longer by selling minerals for cash to pay the police and the army, but that is what it has come to. Rip ids
Eddie, u say for the next few wks. It seems u hv it all prepared but want to give us bit by bit. The concept might be right, but one cant keep hanging for the next few weeks to hear it all. Will u finally give a solution to the above problem? We know all the above n that the solution is in removing zpf who hv failed to improve for the last 34 yrs. Pls be practical n summarise 3 wks to 1 day otherwise it wl be a bore.
And we will be praying for you and this nation. may God raise u His own leader and may anyone with an iota of love for his/her country in Zimbabwe begin to come on board.
Yeah right. Dream on
Fine words.And supported by the silent majority for sure. But we’re always getting “advice” on WHAT needs to be done. The thing thats missing is HOW . Sadly the scene is now being set for a military takeover (too many hints and insinuations now ) and its just a matter of time unless public opinion can nip it in the bud quickly
The theory is ok, but the implementation is the problem!!Who will carry it all out, politicians have lost credibility with the population, will civic society stand up and use their muscle to provide an economy and not just more politicians?
I think Chematama can be a good leader to start this process. He has shown loyalty to the country and denounces violence. He has the support of the masses and has been preaching something similar but the people were more concerned about bread and butter issues.
Eddie-Zimbabweans agree with what you are saying but it threatens zanu’s hold on power and zanu will not accept that. Remember to zanu it’s power that matters and nothing else. Even if zimbabeans are to eat grass nothing matters as long as Zanu is in power. To zanu and Mugabe, it is power and everything else come after power. Zimbabwe will not move because of that attitude
Only when the Politicians start to act like servants of the people and not Kings ruling their Kingdoms. Only when they put the Economy before their pockets. Only when they start talking with the people instead of talking to the people. Only when the tribal and racial talk by them is stopped. Only when the stealing and looting is stopped. Only when the corruption is checked. Only when the Police start to Police. UNTIL THIS HAPPENS IT WILL REMAIN ALL BUT AN ILLUSION TO BE PURSUED BUT NEVER ACHIEVED.
Hutu while I appreciate your point of view I feel that we the people must be proactive in creating the kind of future we want for ourselves, our children & grandchildren. I believe this initiative should be led by the churches and civic society because like you I don’t trust any Zimbabwean politician who have let us down for more than 50 years. They may be well intentioned when they start out but then they allow themselves to be sucked into the toxic political system & forget about us.When we the people of all races start being effective by rebuilding the communities where we reside,only then will we make progress.
Mr.Cross. Your vision of a democratic Zimbabwe has been aspired to by many Zimbabweans since the liberation war. Sadly, whenever an aspiring politician that wants a genuine free Zimbabwe puts his hand up, he is very quickly dispensed with by dark forces of our Government.
As long as the current fiefdom is morally supported by other African States there is little hope for a united Zimbabwe.
We, the common people of Zimbabwe are terrified and intimidated by the Police, Army, and every arm of the so called Civil Service. Its hard to believe our neighbouring countries are not aware of our plight, yet they continually pander to this regime.
What is also astonishing is there is a vast demographic that do vote for this government! How does one reconcile that? There must surely be a mindset that needs to be understood. We have just witnessed the same thing happen south of our border!
Yes Mr Cross, there is not too much wrong with the Zimbabwean Constitution, but it has never been adhered to since independence.
On this forum I have seen calls for mass uprising, but who will be willing to pay the price of being beaten, gassed, tortured and ultimately murdered by our “peace loving” government ?
Jack the Rabbit…spot on. What is required is prayer, constant and continuous prayer and it will come to pass.
I also believe in prayer but I don’t think prayer alone will solve this.We need a leader whom we will support, listen ,love and pray for.
” We needed to agree on just who was a Zimbabwean and who could be classified as a Citizen of the country. In this respect we had to deal with tribal, racial and all other forms of prejudice and discrimination.”
The late Sally Mugabe became a zimbabwean citizen and do recall a mixed race ZIMBABWEAN woman trying to apply for citizenship for her FOREIGN husband and it NEVER WORKED until they Marriage broke down because she was living in zimbabwe and he was abroad. and she fought hard but it never worked HONESTLY DOES ONE HAVE TO BE A CERTAIN COLOUR TO BE A ZIMBABWEAN when you are born in the country or you can claim through a PARENT the feel am getting it is on the BASIS OF COLOUR
what is sickening is the FOREIGN NGOS ARE ASSISTING MOST PEOPLE WHO ARE PREDOMINATELY BLACK AND NOT ASSISTING THE OTHERS – THIS IS DISCRIMINATION OF THE FIRST DEGREE
No ORPHAN regardless of their SKIN COLOUR should pay for MEDICAL ATTENTION these ORPHANS from other races rely on families sending money from abroad IT IS NOT FAIR BOB IS NOT TAKING CARE OF ANYONE EXCEPT HIMSELF AND HIS THIEVING CRONIES THE REST OF THE WORLD ARE CHIPPING IN WHAT A BLOODY SELFISH PERSON HE IS
and EDUCATION AND TO GO T COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY
ZIMBABWE SITUATION please speak to the FOREIGN NGOS to start assisting ORPHANS FROM OTHER RACES
It goes to show that Politicians can sometimes be out of touch with their communities. A certain White man in a certain community who used to mix with his neighbours lost a child through circumstances I will not go through. Being someone that had gone on Pension during the bad times he was struggling like everybody else. He had his relatives who had problems of their own. The people in that community attended his house to share his grief as they knew this youngster as he played with the children in his neighbourhood. The people collected donations in the African Tradition and buried one of their own. This is a true story. My point is as I said earlier PEOPLE HAVE MOVED ON..THE POLITICIANS REMAIN STAGNANT.
MR. CROSS AND MR. BLOCH PLEASE BE THE VOICE FOR THE ORPHANS FROM THE OTHER RACES THEY ARE SUFFERING WHILE THE BUFOON IS BASKING IN GLORY
as well as MR. DAVID COLTART PLEASE ASSIST THE ORPHANS FROM THE OTHER RACES
One of the ORPHANS plays RUGBY and the other a girl his niece who was taken in by relative could be representing Zimbabwe her birth country in swimming if she could get a scholarship to go to a better school but no they cannot get assistance BECAUSE OF THEIR COLOUR OF THEIR SKIN
The girl is very intelligent and has had good grades
While the european countries feed and keep alot of people from Zimbabwe of BOBS colour in their countries hope this message is going to be received by the NGOS in Zimbabwe
Just shows the HYPOCRICY of those in POWER. they use the KRISTY COVERNTRY and the BRYON BLACK AND H IS FAMILY to promote THEMSELVES while KRISTY and BYRONS Community INCLUDING THE MIXED RACE suffer under Bob
Mr Cross, everything starts with the leadership. Those who are saying politicians must leave us alone are just daydreaming. It is their responsibility to choose the right leadership; the right politicians.
We dont need leaders who divide and rule; we need a Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela – one who can built a nation united in its diversity. I look around; sadly I dont see any in Zimbabwe at the moment.
Spelling correction: “build”, not “built” a nation united in its diversity.
Are we as Zimbabweans really ready to live as a truly homogenous society where everyone will be judged by their intrinsic worth? I think not. The Politicians play the Tribe and Race card because they know it has purchase and resonance with the people.
Until the people decide for themselves, that they will behave fairly and judge all men fairly, then and only then, the politicians will lose their power.
I’m sick and tired of being treated like a second class citizen in the Land of my birth because I am of mixed race. I’m sick and tired of ebing humilitated at road blocks by policemen yound enough to be my children because I can’t speak a particular dialect of this Country.
Who cares whether I say mamuka se or li vukile or howzit ex se?
Until we get to that point, where we celebrate our rich diversity instead of using it to divide each other, then we will never get out of the rut we are in and we will ALWAYS be pawn of the Politicians.
In short the current president must go and Law and order must return before Zimbabwe can begin to recover. The reason why the president is the former of the two solutions is because law and order can’t return until the president has gone.
Eddie, you foolishly seek a political solution when the group in power refuses to negotiate. And, why should they? They have nothing to gain…everything to lose. The only way to defeat this monster is to cut off its head(s) and burn its body.
By “Mugabe started well in 1980”, Eddie Cross means Bob left the whites with land whilst blacks did not have much land to till. The WELL is premised on the fact that nothing changed for the whites, and nothing changed for blacks. Bob was just given the keys to State House, and to Eddie Cross that is Independence.
Yes, the land reform program was chaotic, partly because a plea by Mugabe for land-sharing in the mid-nighties was met with fierce resistance by Swanepol and his CFU. That is when anger was triggered within the blacks, resulting in the chaotic re-occupation of white farms. The anger of the blacks during the chaotic land re-occupations should be understood in the context of land deprivation among blacks, and the realization that even if President Mugabe was trying to engage whites on the need to orderly share land, there was actually nothing coming. So the white farmers should also carry some blame for the disoder during the land re-occupations
If Mugabe started “well” the white farmers should have sincerely helped him by agreeing to offer some of their farms for resettlement. That way, white farmers would have remained with one farm each, whilst blacks would have been orderly resettled. Those whites should even have gone further by training their new black neghbours on good land usage.
Zimbabwe would have smoothly integrated its races without the blood and thunder confrontations that we witnessed. Eddie, are you reading?
Of course, corrupt government officials did not help matters when fat cats were allowed more than one farm each, at the expense of needy blacks.
Machakachaka please stop being a typical ‘I am not the one’ person by focusing on blame when we have a crisis on monumental proportions on our hands. Why not think of solutions instead? The results of the chaotic & violent land reform have brought us to where we are today.Our people are starving while many children are being condemned to be illiterate because they will never have the opportunity to be educated. Sorry to say but you sound no better than Mugabe who wants to focus on a small white minority while ignoring the desperate plight of the masses!
Idama iroro machakachaka. However its done now we need to rebuild. We as a nation look to history too much rather than to the future. The whites wanted to keep the land not looking at the future probable loss.
We need to start looking ahead more and only glance back to history once in a while
Dabengwa took over the Matebeleland Water project what happened to it?? Rumour also has it that his wife was also involved in those silly GET RICH pyramid schemes and got away with it what is the use of having people who have never assisted.
Disgrace even went the extra mile to attend Byron Blacks Fathers funeral SOME YEARS AGO – – KRISTY COVENTRY GOT A HEROS WELCOME AFTER THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS is it because they come from MASHONALAND –
Thst is why the Likes of Mr. Bloch, Mr. Coltart and Eddie Cross need to speak to the FOREIGN NGOS that the CAUCASIANS AND MIXED RACE PEOPLE ARE BEING EXCLUDED FROM ASSISTANCE ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM MATABELELAND- THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT NEED THE ASSISTANCE ASAP
IAN KHAMA MUST COME ON BOARD even if it has have BARACK OBAMA ONBOARD
Someone needs to pinch IAN KHAMAs Ear on what is happening on who is receiving assistance IT IS NOT FAIR
it would also be nice to hear how KRISTY COVENTRY AND BYRON BLACK AND HIS FAMILY ARE FEELING WHY THEY BLOOD and those of other MINORITY GROUPS are suffering under this BUFOON while they represent a thieving scrounging bufoon at international level
Males are considered head of families what future do these two boys have who do not have parents and cannot get assistance because of their SKIN COLOUR otherwise it would be nice for the Zimbabwe Situation to consider a fund for the affected Groups with Mr. Coltart, Mr. Bloch and Mr. Cross monitoring it the foreign NGOS are UNFAIR WE WANT A COMMENT FROM THEM
No only are the YOUNG PEOPLE from the Excluded Minority groups SUFFERING THE OLD PEOPLE ARE ALSO SUFFERING
IMIBSA must also come on board and by now it should be making appointment with the Southern African Dictators Club for a permanent seat. Imbisa talk to Ian Khama
Eddie, it was well while Mugabe was being invited for tea by the Queen. Anyone who thinks Mugabe ever cried for land issue, plizzz! The Svosve people who got jailed for their genuine cry for land come to mind. Zimbabwe will be fine when the evil in chief dies. I have never wished anyone dead, but this old man must leave us, please!
The problem is not just with Mugabe and his establishment. The whole Zim population now needs a total paradigm shift; a psychological reconditioning.
This way they will stop worshipping political leaders and focus on issues and leadership qualities. Race, tribe and region should not matter – but they still do today because of Mugabe’s politics of divide and rule that has become a part of the Zimbabweans’ psyche.
Without this shift, merely removing Mugabe and ZANU PF will never change a thing. Tsavngirayi will simply continue along the same lines as he and his supporters are following in the same footsteps!!
IF thre is supposed be this so calld Grand Coalition taking into account if it has been done properly they should try and start mobilizing the people and not just advertising one particular person
Comment still wanted from the FOreign NGOS
probably the problem is also lying with individuals from Minority Groups like the Rautenbachs Conventrys Blacks etc. supporting this thieving scrounging thug. The Culverwell family were also supporting the theiveing scrounging thug him until Joseph Culverwell became Minister for Education and did not do much for the mixed race people contrywide while they kith and kin are suffering
Mr. Cross should make enquiries from these Foreign NGOS why the MINORITY GROUPS LIKE THE MIXED RACE AND CAUCASIANS ARE BEING EXCLUDED via ZIMBABWE SITUATION