Zimbabwe

At a time like this I have to make comment about the situation in Zimbabwe. After all it is the place of my birth and, although I spent a lot of my early years outside the country, we were in the surrounding countries and often visited there. I finished my education there and it was always a special place to me.

In 1980 when I left, it was now under the rule of ZANU PF and Mugabe was the new President. Everyone was wondering what would happen and what the future held. The country was self-sufficient, it could feed itself and export a surplus. It was rich with mineral and was referred to as the “bread basket” of Africa.

For a number of years, nothing really changed. The country continued along the same path but with new opportunities available to anyone willing to make something of themselves. Mugabe was focused on squashing his opposition and ensuring that the Matabele people would not rise up against him. Many people were slaughtered but nobody knew for certain what was going on and it was mainly in the western rural areas, far away from the main cities and industries.

However, eventually the people started to ask what was happening? They noticed that there was no real change and asked what happened to the promise of land. The traditional African tribal people only understand land. A place they can grow some food to eat and raise some cattle or animals.

Mugabe was not willing to allow his position to be taken form him easily and so he promised to make changes to the land ownership. This inspired his people again and he embarked on kicking white farmers off the land and giving it to people who knew nothing about farming.

At the same time the war in Angola was hotting up and he saw the opportunity to gain wealth by supporting Angola. The benefit was diamonds. He stripped the land of food to send to Angola and sent his armed men to fight in the war.

With lack of farming, industries started to fail and there started to be shortages. Shortages meant price rises and food increased significantly. Mugabe demanded that a cap be put on certain foods so that the people could afford to buy what they needed. What happened was industry couldn’t afford to produce and factories started to close down. Hungry people will find food my any means. Crime started to rise and so started the slippery slope that sees us now looking at a bankrupt country with the highest inflation in history and a state of near collapse.

Still Mugabe fights on by any means he can to stay in power. The truth is, he is yesterdays man with a yesterday mentality and old fashioned beliefs that have been proved not to work.

It was once said that “if you are a hammer, then everything you see looks like a nail”. If you are a warrior, then everything that happens requires you to conquer it and win the battle. Mugabe sees enemies in everyone that once supported him, just because they don’t agree with him now. He has the mentality of a fighter and so when things go wrong, he fights back. It matters not whether he is right or wrong, it only matters that he wins.

Unfortunately we have seen this many times before. The trouble with thinking that you are right, is that you don’t get to see the options available to you. You are too busy trying to prove that you are right. Such is Mugabe. Communism does not work, but he has not seen this because he is so busy fighting to make it work.

It is a sin to see a country that was once so prosperous collapse. It is a sin to see the people of Zimbabwe suffer at the hands of a tyrant. These are good people who want to enjoy their lives.

History will look at what happened here and ask why we allowed this to happen? Some of the worlds greatest resources of platinum, gold, tin and many others are being given away to China while the west looks on. Even after Mugabe has gone, we will have to live with the mistake we made.

The only good will be, if South Africa learns the lessons of reclaiming land and sees the damage this will do to a country. Land cannot be used for self-sufficiency farming. Farming is now a science and needs to be handled that way for feeding the population as a whole.