via Sata ‘makes U-turn on maize deal with Mugabe’ | News24 2013-10-25
Zambia has reportedly made a U-turn on its initial agreement to supply Zimbabwe with maize grain on credit, a move that is likely to see most Zimbabweans go hungry if the country doesn’t take swift action to contain the situation.
Mail and Guardian reported on Friday that Zambia was demanding cash upfront for maize imports despite its earlier promises to deliver the grain on credit.
Zambian President Michael Sata had earlier promised President Robert Mugabe that 150 000 tons of maize valued at nearly $25m would be delivered to Zimbabwe with no questions on payment asked as that issue was not a priority in the face of starvation, according to the report.
The report comes at a time when most parts of Zimbabwe are struggling with food shortages.
Recent reports have indicated that at least 2.2 million people in Zimbabwe face hunger and that they would need food assistance early next year.
Zimbabwe started experiencing serious food deficits over a decade ago after President Robert Mugabe’s government embarked on a violent land reform programme.
At least 4 000 white commercial farmers were evicted from their farms.
COMMENTS
UNWTO IS OVER! WHY SHOULD MS OBLIGE!
Following our successfull land reform our graneries are full to the bream. Someone is trying to discredit our land reform I guess the British and Americans.
LOL!! Sarcasm at its best!!!
We are always told that the land reform is a success,yet the begging bowl is always in Zimbabwe’s hands.Unless we get to be honest with ourselves and see and say the truth about the disoderly land invasions we shall forever be very arrogant beggers.
Where have you seen farmers who are given inputs every farming season to the extent that they now believe it their right to be given seed every year.Unless farming becomes a business with attractive incetives,I would rather brag about my farm I grabbed from the white man while I continue with my gold panning or selling fire wood for a living.Mugabe’s Zimbabwe for you !
Its called cutting your nose to spite your face. Mugabe made the populace believe that it was the white mans fault for the country’s woes. NO NO it was Mugabe hiding behind the pathetic childish skirt of so called racism. Guess what the whites that were racist left in really in the early 1980’s. The ones who stayed did so because they loved the country and its people. That is the truth because I am a white man and never had hair breadth of racist blood in me. Mugabe made me an enemy I never was. Unfortunately so many gullible blacks believed and backed the wrong man just like the foolish germans backing Hitler. Time will tell. I pray and hope that the majority of Zimbabweans of all races can see past the lies, and untruths spun by Mugabe and his henchmen who do so just to stay in power and live off the misery of he majority of the people, whilst they live a life of unbridled luxury. That is the truth and every sane man or women knows that!!!!
Joe, Mugabe indeed is largely responsible for the mess that Zimbabwe finds itself in. However, it is entirely dishonest to seek to claim that all racists left the country in the 80s. Many stayed behind and continued to farm and run their countries showing the same disdain towards their black employees as they did before the demise of white rule. As an education officer in the mid 80s to the early 90s I visited many farm schools and witnessed first hand the insults and humiliation visited on employees by their white employers. The irony though is that black employers, also treat their workers with disdain.
When I moved into the private sector I was paid less than my white subordinates. When I complained, the white MD told me and I quote, verbatim because the words were so hurtful that I will remember them until my dying day; “My black employees are happy with the salaries they earn. Who do you think you are? You eat sadza. White people eat salads and real meat. And by the way, if you are thinking of complaining to your black government just remember that I have friends in high places”.
Joe, the fact that some white racists did stay on does not justify Mugabe destroying the country in the manner that he did. You also have to admit that white farmers are partly to blame for the land distribution impasse that prevailed in the first 20 years. As a consummate megalomaniac, Mugabe was always going to use the land issue as insurance for staying in power. By constantly running to the courts, white farmers forgot that land was a moral issue. Many did not want to share. You had people like prominent economist John Robertson claiming that there was no question of white people having stolen the land because the country was sparsely populated. Many white people share this view. That is just hurtful given all the human rights abuses visited upon the indigenous populace.
My white colleagues used to gloat; “If you had told us all you wanted was to change street names, we would never have gone to war”.
Having said that, Mugabe did indeed cut his nose to spite his face. He is having to buy maize being grown by the same white farmers he displaced. If he had been smart, land should have been given only to blacks who could be productive.
Guess what though, I am more upset with my own government for plunging the country into chaos than I am with white racists. It is interesting that in all the comments that whites make about what went done, none accept they are partly responsible for the mess.
In the first paragraph I meant many stayed and continued to run their companies….
There are quite a number of whites and big business in Zimbabwe who think like this but are allowed to behave like this because of their financial connections with Zanu-PF. I have experienced the same racism and at the same time, I have watched them sell their souls to Zanu-PF.
It’s all about grabbing power and wealth and reaping what you haven’t sown. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t need to buy grain from Zambia and we would be able to feed ourselves. If our country, not individuals or military, received all revenue from diamonds, there would be no poverty in Zimbabwe.
There are a few things to note:
The land question was and is a moral issue, but to what avail has it been executed? The beneficiaries of the land are not given ownership, but 99-year leases. Because of this, they cannot use the land as collateral for financing for inputs and labour. Zimbabweans still do not own their own land.
As for the racist whites, yeah — you bet your arse they’re still in Zimbabwe. The man with the single largest land holding in the entire country is Nicholas van Hoogstraten, a man who has famously said that he doesn’t believe in democracy — only power. This, if his name didn’t indicate, is a white man.
As for that MD, he is a disgrace to my profession.
You know, I had the misfortune of meeting many older Zimbabweans abroad in the States and Europe who, in their advanced age, preferred the Rhodesian regime to what is happening now. That is the greatest failure of the present government, I believe.
But, there is a simpler explanation: it’s not racism, the hate of another person based on the colour of that person’s skin. No, that is secondary. It’s about control. It’s always been about control. Now, the only difference is that the slave masters look like Africans even in their European suits and Rolls-Royce executive vehicles.
I think… I think it’s just about time for whites to leave Zimbabwe for good. Sure, I do believe they belong there, but not everyone does. Rather, not many people do.
The truth will come when the perpetrator is no longer with us, immigration of white after independence reflacts the likes and dislike of a system. Since the year 2000, millions of Zimbabweans left the country because of their dislike of the new political and economic dispensation (property grabs and mismanagement of the economy), furthermore there was a decline in the standard of education whereas the powers that be were sending their children overseas for better education because they had no faith in the system they had created.
It goes without saying that everyone else followed suit and the result was further decline in the economy coupled with a huge brain drain which resulted in the engines firing the Zimbabwean economy seizing. No matter what they say, those responsible shall be accountable for the destruction of a generation.
Mugabe is just an idiot who doesn’t think zambia use to berg us for food now its the opposite way. You chase them now u buying maize from them same farmers who use b our farmers. Sata is saying u r a hero simply bcoz he knows that if he is going to give u a stick abt land reform u might reverse land reform then he will loose them zimbabwe farmers. Sekuru u need to think dip abt this
My heart mains that is this the Zimbabwe I fought for. To think that after independence, even peasant farmers in the rural areas were doing great farming in those arable lands. Some were even able to send over 100 tonnes to the GMB, but today it’s a different story. Many were able to send their children to school through farming, in the communal lands. Today, even the new farmer who invaded the fertile lands can’t produce even 5 tonnes. What a sad story we have written of our new Zimbabwe. Why have we become like this. Who are we to blame and for how long are we going to keep on covering our own failures by blaming others. The GMBs in rural areas used to be a hive of activity during harvest times, but nowadays they have become white Elephants. Back then cutting trees was a serious crime. Causing soil erosion was a crime. Nowadays we have become the largest consumer of firewood, soil erosion is rampant. Many water bodies have been closed by siltation. There is just too much deforestation and yet we cry that there is no more rain when we all know the cycle pattern of rain. Can we keep in blaming sanctions for all this.
Hondo wandichemedza. You said it as it is. As long as a man can not accept his mistakes – solution to the problem is far fetched.
Sata has realised that there is no shortage of cash in Zimbabwe, the problem it is in the hands of people who would rather see their countrymen starve than pay for imports.
Rudadiso, You really got it! Thank You.
White farmers owned vast tracts of land and some of them had more than one farm.if the land reform had been orderly we would have retained the white farmers and at the same time much more pple would have gotten land and we wouldnt be in this mess.thanx to mugabe and crew.
I agree, I actually hold a theory on this. I believe there is a point in the whole mayhem when whites were genuinely ready to talk. It is at that point that Mugabe should have entered into serious negotiations with them.
Harper you got it right the problem is too much power in one man’s hand
You got it right Rudadiso & Hondo. I always think that we all need each other Blacks and Whites. We both have made mistakes and should learn from them. The problem is Zanu-PF which doesn’t want to self examine itself and admit that mistakes have been made – using the race trump card to get its hands on wealth whilst the majority blacks suffer. We need a Re-Start and do away with politics of hatred.
Sata knows from experience that once an economy reaches Zimbabwe’s levels, it tends to operate on cash basis. His action is from an informed position than Mugabe’s arrogant hallow superficial talk when Zimbabwe is burning in the rain. That alone, it seems we all agree that there is need to move ahead despite our sad past.
Rudadiso, I appreciate your reply. I beg to differ where anyone can honestly say the action or words of of a particular individual of a particular race represents the sentiments of al in that particular race.
I could easily say that things were said to me by blacks that were disturbing and hence this represents black sentiment. That is nonsense. Why should I have a grudge against someone because he or she is black. should I do so because a white man or woman insists I do. No, that is why this vicious cycle of who is to blame will go around and around only to hound ourselves and the next generation.
My best friend with whom I resonate the most happens to be a black Zimbabwean. Does that mean I love all blacks? No it means a friend of mine happens to be black just like some happen to be whites, Indians etc. But I also have met my share of asshole whites, blacks, Indians etc. I judge each man or woman for who they are and not their color. Its a pity not more people think like this. This world would be a better place for all, without a particular race feeling superior or inferior or persecuted.
Joe it is obvious you didn’t bother to read my comments. You schemed through.
Firstly, I never said all whites are racist because I was insulted by one man. Secondly, I was insultef by many whites, and so where many of my friends, family and colleagues. What is nonsensical is for you to seek to claim that all white racists left in the 80s.
While I will not claim that you are a racist, having a black friend, Joe, does not mean ypu are the model of colour blindness. It is a common saying for people to claim none racism because they have a black friend or because their children have black friends. The issue of who is friends with who is completelyIirrelevant to what we are discussing.
You will also notice that I stated that Mugabe is largely responsible for the mess we are in. However, while you seek to lay all the blame on his door step, I maintain that white people share part of the blame in ad far as the land issue is concerned.
Joe, if you genuinely wish to engage in meaningful debate it would be useful to actually read other people’s comments.
We want Mugabe to accept responsibility for the mess. It is only fair we accept our share of the blame. The first step in solving any problem is to accept our mistakes. Sadly, you do not seem to believe white farmers made mistakes too and I repeat, many white racists stayed on after independence. That is a fact, though I don’t blame them for the mess.
Great posts on this one… can only imagine what could be accomplished if those posters could sit down together and work out a plan. Then, if that plan could be implemented by men and women of integrity, Zim would be on its way to returning to the glory it was meant to be.
Make it so.
it was not about land reform and empowering the people but power and staying in power
nothing for mahala! there is so much diamonds money being looted by the crony and powerful. Its good for Sata to demand cash upfront. It puts these guys in a position where we can judge whether they have the masses at heart or just their access to millions of diamond dollars to share among their fatselves!
Find money Chinamasa,” he said to loud applause from thousands of supporters. “You can’t say there is no money. Where is our platinum going? Where is our gold going? Where are our diamonds going?
Kasekuru kakupenga manje. Waivepi when money was disappearing … Still disappearing . Tenga magwere kune vaukadzinga wakanyarara. Wayeuka bako waniwa nemvura !!