via Zimbabweans scared of whites: Charumbira 16/04/2014 NewZimbabwe
ZIMBABWEANS did not vandalise national highway property including fences which ensure animals do not stray onto the roads because they were petrified of white commercial farmers, Chief Fortune Charumbira claimed Wednesday.
Speaking at a workshop on traffic problems stemming from stray animals and the effects of the land reform programme on the country’s road carnage, Charumbira, president of the Chief’s Council, said stiffer penalties were needed to curb the scourge of stray animals on the country’s highways.
“Before the land reform programme Zimbabweans were terrified even to touch the fences around commercial farms owned by the whites.
“But now that the farms are owned by blacks they have turned on their own and vandalised everything including stealing the fences along the country’s roads,” said Charumbira.
“It is a very bad attitude we have because we seem not to have respect and regard for our own and the property that protects our people. The stray animals have caused massive suffering through accidents on our people.”
Transport Minister Obert Mpofu, who was guest of honour at the workshop, said the country’s roads have been turned into death traps by stray domestic animals.
“We have witnessed many lives being lost as a result of domestic livestock which have been left to roam freely onto highways resulting in most parts of our road network being turned into death-traps.
“This has the potential of affecting business due to limited hours of traveling as night driving has become extremely hazardous,” Mpofu said.
Mpofu echoed Charumbira’s sentiments that there was a mind-set problem with Zimbabweans who he said seemed to respect whites more than their black counterparts.
“While penalties during the colonial era were very low and remain in place, the colonialists were ruthless in the enforcement of these laws including meting out capital punishment.”
He added: “Government needs to review existing laws with a view to creating stiffer penalties for people whose animals would either have strayed or caused accidents because we have witnessed an uncanny behaviour by rural people who deliberately drive cattle onto roads with the aim of looting from accident scenes,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu said traffic accidents and the resultant deaths place a premium on the country’s economy and the family unit following the loss of bread winners as well as important human resources.
While the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe could not provide figures, an official said there had been a marked increase in the numbers of stray animals along the country’s roads.
“In this regard, we will consider all options of raising funds including increasing some of our fees to ensure that all major roads are properly fenced and that livestock owners are held responsible in order to reduce the road carnage,” Mpofu said.
COMMENTS
Another fund raising mechanism that will be “misappropriately” disbursed. Time for honest introspection about the benefits of colonialism. Have the courage to admit it was the best time when people where being picked up out of poverty by a benign administration. Read the history.
The problem is caused by theft. The people who steal the wire are thieves. Thieves should be prosecuted in an independant court of law and punished. The present Police Force (I used the word lightly) is more interested in milking the public at road blocks and beating up opposition members than upholding the law and apprehending the culprits. Get a decent well disciplined Police Force, led by dedicated men. Get an independant judiciary and prosecutors office who are not terrified of the ruling parties minions, family feuds and witchcraft and the problem will soon be solved. Unless you do this you are wasting time and money in your “workshops” discussing the problem.
In passing I was amused to see that Obert Mpufo was the guest of honour, talking about thieves one did not have to look very far!! However, maybe there is truth in the old saying “It takes a thief to catch a thief”. Go for it Obert, the mind boggles!!!
A nation of kleptomaniacs how can the ordinary man respect another’s property when the president Mugabe sets the example by stealing the nations wealth.
This is a microcosm of some of the serious problems facing Zimbabwe.
1. Property ownership. Ordinary people only own property with the blessing of their rulers. Therefore banks won’t lend, and few feel safe to invest in their properties.
2. Poverty causing criminality. Robert and his gang have taken all the wealth and left most in penury. If people have to stoop to stealing wire off fences, they are seriously desperate.
3. Patronage system. The police don’t need to perform professionally, so long as they support the elite. I bet no-one steels the wire off Mugabe’s fences!
4. Obsession with the Whites. Why can’t these idiots just get on and run the country properly and stop blaming everyone else but themselves for the hopeless state it is in?
The laws are there to punish offenders, The problen is the ZRP are more intent on fleecing Kombi drivers for not having triangles or trying to force motorists to buy ZBC licences. I stopped once at a roadblock and the cattle were grazing around the police. I asked why they do not try to find the owners and fine them. I was told by the seargent ” I am not a herd boy” ZRP attitude at its best. The fact is that the ZRP find it too strenuous to enforce fencing laws and and stray livestock. It would mean that they have to work for a living instead of sitting in a BMW.
why did anyone have to respect a fence along the highway when it was ok to take a whole farm worth millions of dollars. the chickens are coming home to roost. not only have people (fake farmers) stolen the fences, the DDF have closed road grids, that used to keep wild animals from mixing with domestic animals, with concrete. ZANU Pf politics have made us lose hunhu and we no longer have respect for public good let alone individual property. Zimbabwe will need morale education to be progressive
And the stolen wire is used as lining for washing. Lol
Strict they may have been but I have no recollection of previous regime “meting out CAPITAL PUNISHMENT” for such offences.
Most of the land invaders were untouchable. The stole Former Farmers properties whilst the Police watched. What has changed? The cost of life and suffering that has been caused by this chaos is alarming. Nothing has been done about it. Not Fortune one of the CHIEF thieves wants to make like he just found out yesterday. The black people were not afraid of the whites. There was still some sort of law and order then and there was a police presence. Would him and the obedient thief say that there are more muggings and crimes now because blacks were afraid of whites? No, there is no law and order plain an simple. Ask Mliswa who goes around appropriating peoples property and still boast about it in the media.
The obedient thief then says “government was moving with speed to harness resources for road fencing as “a long term measure”. THE SPEED OF A TORTOISE.
Simple. We are a nation of thieves. Just one sin of many. ‘Thou shalt not steal.” And we wonder why God’s displeasure rests upon our nation. A thief brings a curse upon his own house. And what example have the government set! The very ones who should be setting an example have led the way in this abomination!
The chief and the minister of transport are not telling the whole truth.It was not the fear of whites but it was the fear of the fair rule of law which was applied equally to all wrong doers in a court of law.
Was it not the chiefs and government officials who legalized violent destruction of farm properties for political gains?There is a saying which says what goes around comes around to haunt you heavily.The country is reaping the bad seeds we sow a couple of years ago for cheap political gains.Putting new fences will not help unless you tell the people that what we asked you to do a few years ago was totally wrong,and then spend heavily in changing their twisted mindsets.
No politician should blame the public for the destruction of the road side fences because they created the problem with their short term gains and misguided cheap political agendas.We worked so hard during the colonial era to teach our people to respect private property rights which was destroyed within hours and days to create the current problems.
I suggest the government must tell the new land lords to fence their seized properties not to tax the public for individuals’ properties.They own the seized land so its their responsibility to fence it.I must warn you its not easy to change people’s twisted mindsets because it took us years to explain to the politicians,the courts,the police and the perpetrators of copper and other metals thefts, that they were indirectly or directly responsible for certain deaths and economic sabotage.The process takes many years to start bearing fruits.
All proof that these zanu geriatrics are not fit to run a successful country, Its easy to wage war and destroy things but building them back again and setting the stage for sustainable development should be left to those that have the foresight and will to work for the betterment of all.
beche ramai vako charumbira urikukanganwa here kuti isu hatina chedu imi makatora zvese neZanu PF yenyu???saka kukubirai ndiko kuti muzive kugovana nevamwe. Chimwe chinhu ndechekuti zvakaiswa nevarungu mumafarms avaigara vaigadzirisa kana chavakupera basa saka imimi pamakapinda mumunda hapana chamakaita ipapo kunze kwekugohwa zvange zvarimwa kare then from there hapana kana chamakazoita saka mhuka dzingatadza sei kupinda mumigwagwa pasina fence?? gadzirisai zvinhu murege kuti vanhu vaitya varungu..hazvifadze zvamurikuita muchamama regai muone zvouchief muchaitira pasi sembambaira mbavha dzevanhu pfutseki
I know you cross my brother, but the lingo is a bit too heavy. Respect to other readers.
Yesss!!! Everything you’ve written is the most appropriate response to Thief Charumbira. When will these idiots, maggots and imbeciles think of the ordinary Zimbabwean as a stock holder? They, Thief Charumbira, Diamond Peddler Obert Mpofu and others, parcelled out the riches of Zimbabwe amongst themselves thinking the people would accept them as the new bona fide owners? Coming up with a system that still deny the ordinary person the right to graze his livestock in the former white farmer’s land, some even over zealously impounding villagers’ livestock demanding money for release!!! And you still don’t see why people have decided to pull down the fences??? Then you all must be the dreaded ” walking dead” terrorising the populace with your satanic powers, powers which the people have simple solutions in the form of equalisation, that is to say, if we all don’t come up with an equitable scheme there’ll never be respect of invaded properties as belonging to Thief Charumbira, Diamond Peddler Obedient Sano of The Commander In Thief of Thieves Robert Mugabe ~ Obert Bofu!!! People are not stupid!!! They’ll have their day, even all the thieves in ZANU know it.
A foolish & misleading headline. The issue is about lawlessness & it’s implications such the huge danger posed to motorists where fences have been removed/stolen. Please will journalists like this one stop giving a racial slant to what is simply a issue of theft.
I do not think it was fear of the law that kept the majority of people law abiding, it was the realisation that most laws were for mutual benefit of all. The subsequent behaviour of politicians has made people realise that the laws are no longer for mutual benefit so now its everyone for themselves, with Obert leading the pack.
The new land owners are the biggest culprits. They dont maintain anything. If they can maintain simple things like a fence, what more of compbined harvesters etc. They just found everything for free and dont care to even put a small effort into maintaining standards. The ZANU PF chefs are the problem. This chef mentality has killed the country!
Zimbabwe has turned into the racial capital of the world !!!!!
To blame a fear of the whites is totally misguided and especially from a chief. Blame the whites mentality again.
When we had the commercial farmers we had jobs. Now they have been driven away we have no jobs, no income and people who do not know what to do with land, so they start by selling the firewood and fencing and that is why we see no fencing. Many of the farm houses have also been broken down and the roofing, doors and windows sold.
The owner of the animal is responsible and the police should be looking for these people. May I suggest that as we have a hungry army and no food in our prisons, the government adopt a policy of shooting, at night, all animals seen within 30 meters of any road that does not have fencing. I bet after one week we will see the owners making sure they secure their animals especially at night.
The problem is the elephant in the room, Zanu. The problem is Obert and Charumbira. We get rid of these thieving idiots then we have no problem at all.
VaCharumbira, it seems you have no knowledge of the goings-on during the civil war that brought ZPF to power. So-called freedom fighers politicized villagers to vandalize anything to do with caucasians and government- and that included barbed wire fencing along the highways. It included the livestock in the farms ‘macabbage’, a euphemisms for meat during that war! To say Africans were fraid of whites is pure distortion vaCharumbira. The problem is that the after the war the people were not exorcised of the vandalism demon up to now and the the vandalism and asset-stripping by the current political leadership is not helping matters. Most of what the leadership of ZPF owns has been gotten in this way! The ‘ a looter continua mentality is not going away anytime soon.
Fortune Charumbira & Obert Mpofu are lying by attributing the vandalistic behavior of Zimboz to lack of fear of their own black people as opposed to their former fear of whites. This is hogwash & as usual necked attempt by zanu pf functionaries to run away form there shadows.
Truth is theft, vandalism and many other evils are a zanu pf culture, which was inculcated in the Zimbabwean masses by zanu pf from the dayz of the armed struggle to date.
I vividly recall how the freedom fighters (magandanga, now calling themselves war veterans)used to literally force people to risk their lives by going into heavily guarded cattle ranges (guarded by armed rangers or even solders) to vandalise paddocks and steal cattle. Those would be slaughtered in some bushes,in middle of the night. Again risking being shot by soldiers who would be on their routine patrols looking for the same guerilla fighters. Also, remember maGandanga aiti hatidyi murivo; and one would not be spared for telling them that ‘my goats & chickens makapedza muchidya saka ndakupai murivo’. That would literally invite horrible death for such a poor soul – kupa gandanga sadza nomurivo! They would argue that “mombe dzamabunhu dzakazara kumapurazi uko – takati torayi mudye; ndedzedu isu vana veZimbabwe……!”
After the struggle, zanu pf perpetuated the same spirit & acts of vandalism and theft. Zanu pf never put its foot on the ground in trying reserve the vandalistic & theft ideology they had inculcated in the masses.
This is the reason why even government officials have continued looting public resources and still continue to get support from the grass-roots. Very few see anything wrong with theft, vandalism, corruption, etc.. Those few who are truly against those evils are called names even by the common people – let alone the government and zanu pf functionaries like Fortune & Obert who will quickly jump to call any such dissenting voices “enemies of Zimbabwe; blaa, baaa,..”.
This is the really problem. It is not in anyway divorced to the official looting of public resources by the ruling clique of which Obert & Fortune are part of. Attributing this to fear or lack of fear, blaa, blaa, blaa,… is just a slliy attempt to hide behind one’s finger by these to fellows.
Always coming up with some funny reasons these Zanu PF crooks. I do not condone stealing but now that they have tasted stealing they can see how some people felt when they stole their property.
The people know the fence was put by somebody else and the new farmer did not pay a single cent. Now let the new farmer put his own fence.
What is unknown to Charumbira is that the original farmer took farming seriously, inspected the fences from time to time and repaired it promptly but the new farmer the thief does not check the fence and does not want to put a cent towards the upkeep of that farm.
Now innocent motorists and their passengers are dying as a result. Those people are dying directly as a result of miscalculated policies of the Mugabe regime.
Any farmer without appropriate fence must be fined. They wont do that because all the new farmers are Zanu supporters.
In a similar vein, the Black President hero-worships everything white and has since coming to power, killed more black people that whites. Even more than Ian Smith ever killed.
The Shona people will tell you they would rather learn to speak English and French than Ndebele. No Shona poplitician speaks Ndebele, a black language – but they all strain their lungs to speak English.
So, the difference is the same. Why respect black things?