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FAMINE,THE HOUSE OF STONE REVISITED

In the south east of the African continent there is a country, which in one of its own ethnic tongues is called the big House of Stone the world knows that place as Zimbabwe. The word Zimbabwe is derived from two words in the “Shona” language, “Zimba” and “Ramabwe” and was the ancient name given to a royal house. One of the tribal descendants is now Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe.

Last year the government began a program of “Clearances” to remove the “Shanty towns” from around the outskirts of Harare`[formerly Salisbury] The “Cover story” was that they were an eyesore and Harare` must be returned to the beautiful place it once was. It was also claimed that there was a thriving “Black market” in these shanty’s controlled by a “Criminal element” and the removal of the townships would end the “Black markets” and drive out the criminals. [For black market read starving poor and for criminal element read ordinary Zimbabweans trying to survive] The program of clearances began with the Zimbabwe police bulldozing the townships in what became known as “Operation Dandelion”. There were approximately three quarters of a million people living on the margins of the outskirts of Harare` and they were expected to “Disperse” back into the countryside where they would no longer be a contradiction to Robert Mugabe’s assertion that all was well. Some would not leave and fell prey to the bulldozers, some could not leave because they were incapable, some were “arrested” and some were persuaded to leave by constant beatings from the Zimbabwe police.
The government, for public consumption put forth a plan to build new housing and improve living conditions but to date the “Improvements” show no sign of materialising, they said at the time that the plan might take two years but did not say what would happen to the 700,000 people that they had deliberately made homeless.
All that they would say was that “Eventually” there would be housing for rent available. The question is, ”How would the average Zimbabwean pay such rents?” there is very little employment [70% unemployment] and the current rate of inflation in the country is running at more than 1000%/annum. The seemingly impossible fruition of such a plan gave Robert Mugabe’s opponents a stick to beat him with; they maintained that the clearances were a thinly disguised plot to weaken opposition to Mugabe’s regime, which has become one of the most reprehensible in Africa. To put the inflation rate in meaningful terms a cab ride costing the princely sum of 30 cents [US] would cost Z$2,000 in Harare`

The townships around Harare` were known to be the power base of most of the opponents of Robert Mugabe and whilst in the past such opponents had been “Encouraged” to alter their views or die by the Zimbabwe police and the more clandestine departments of the Zimbabwe government they were for the most part
not immediately visible to the domestic political scene or to the reports of international newsgathering organisations, in the past they had suddenly disappeared and were rarely heard of again. The concentration of such opponents around the capital city made such disappearances “Difficult” arrests had to be explained and the one facet of government Robert Mugabe’s regime does not practise is coherent explanation. With the townships destroyed the political opponents of the regime were weakened and fragmented but whilst politically the regime was more secure economically and domestically it was not.

Many of the inhabitants of the townships were what was called the “Veterans”, the people Mugabe employed as political pawns to drive farmers and settlers off the land so that it could be taken back into government control. In a sense they were part of the cause of the problems that Zimbabwe now faces because whilst they were beating, killing and intimidating farmers into leaving the land there were no crops being planted and the expertise to maintain the production of food was being systematically eradicated from Zimbabwe. This country was once the most fertile place on the continent, capable of feeding itself and exporting its surplus to neighbouring African countries but today Zimbabwe faces famine.

When Mugabe came to power the hero of the hour he did improve health care and education to the extent that it became the envy of Africa but promises made to his supporters whilst fighting the war to overthrow White Colonial Rule was to be his nemesis. Mugabe wanted land reform and sought the co-operation of the British government to make it a reality but they refused. The government in Zimbabwe passed laws making it possible for the white settlers to be forced from the land and used the Veterans as the instrument of that force. What was not realised was that whilst what the African saw a wealthy white farmer living in the “Big House” and making piles of money the actual value of the white farmer to Zimbabwe lay not in what he had but in what he knew. If the transition to Zimbabwean control had been one of partnership rather than outright takeover then the production of food would have been maintained and his regime might not now be facing the collapse it is today.
Zimbabwe’s economy was to a great extent based on agriculture it was “What they were good at” but six years ago Mugabe’s Africanisation of the land there undermined the economy by driving out the expertise that knew how to make it work.
The indigenous population is learning but whilst they learn a drought, which is sweeping through Africa is taking its toll on their efforts and starvation seems an inevitable consequence. Many of the people living in the country areas can still grow enough maize to feed themselves but the risk is great, anyone caught with more than three bags of maize will have it confiscated and impromptu road blocks are set up for just such a purpose, to confiscate food from those who have it. The road blocks are also a source of revenue too because anyone found with more than Z$100 million will have it confiscated A Z$100 million bank note is worth $1000 US. The recovery of any agriculture based economy depends for it success upon farmers selling their surplus but in Zimbabwe that is a crime unless it passes through government hands first [for the rake off].
The impending famine in Zimbabwe has attracted international attention and relief agencies stand willing and able to help but a law passed last year forbids any NGO [Non Government Organisation] from operating in Zimbabwe without a licence and to obtain that licence the Zimbabwe government has the right to specify where aid can be distributed and where it will not. An area that has not curried favour with the present government would be unlikely to receive aid in much the same way as an area represented by a member of any of the parties in opposition.

As with all dictatorships and the regime in Zimbabwe is certainly that, suspicion and intrigue are commonplace. There are two political parties of consequence in the country one is in power ZANU-PF and the other the Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] is not. At the last election in 2005 ZANU-PF were returned to power having polled more than two thirds of the vote’s cast, a result that the MDC claims to be a fraud and a predictable outcome. Only three years earlier international observers and the opposition party [MDC] also considered the Presidential election of Mugabe himself to be seriously flawed but the result stood. The concerns of the MDC included intimidation of voters by ZANU-PF officials and the Zimbabwe police, the destruction of ballot papers in areas known to be sympathetic to the MDC cause, the prevention of the electorate being able to cast their votes by the closure of polling stations in areas sympathetic to the MDC and in one case the burning of a polling station along with all of the completed ballot papers.

The exodus of Zimbabweans has been steady, the professionally qualified and well educated have been leaving in increasing numbers and efforts to stop them are failing but these are the visible migrants, those who go on holiday and never return. There are those who do not have enough money to leave, there are those who cannot obtain exit documents and there are those who will never be allowed to leave. They walk, they have no other way but they face a journey that can end in imprisonment, deportation or death at the hand of units of the Zimbabwe police that operate outside Zimbabwe and inside the borders of neighbouring countries. The border towns of Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique [to use their well known names] all have units of the Zimbabwe police awaiting the arrival of Zimbabweans leaving their country. If they are captured by these units they are sent back to face the authorities, some are never heard of or seen again. No deportation procedure is followed, no due process, no right of appeal against what for some is almost certain death.

Some Zimbabweans do manage to flee successfully but then fall foul of immigration procedures in the country they escape to. In a town in the West Midlands of England there is a tower block containing more than 50 such escapees awaiting deportation back to Zimbabwe. They have been there for some time, the authorities are seeking assurances that the deportees will not be harmed upon their return but so far seem unconvinced that any will survive the torture, imprisonment and strictures awaiting them upon their return. The irony is that those Zimbabweans are much safer here than they would be in their own country imprisoned as they are.

Robert Mugabe is now 81 and his “Mistrust” of the west is becoming more paranoid with his advancing years, his need for absolute control took a new turn in recent times with a new law set before the Zimbabwe parliament for consideration. His politics and ideology find their roots in Chinese communism. In China they realised a long time ago that the internet could be an enemy over which they had little control so they have developed the means to control the output of the computers of the Chinese people and severely curtailed the associated freedoms that came with it, the same system is now being installed in Zimbabwe to control the growing dissent and all telephone conversations within Zimbabwe are monitored. The only right of appeal against such measures lies with the Zimbabwe minister for communications who also authorises the telephone taps and the interceptions, it is unlikely that any appeal will be successful. Brigadier Mike Sango was of the opinion that it would curtail the activities of Mercenaries, Organised crime and Black marketers but did not mention what it might do for the Zimbabwean governments efforts to surprises dissidents, undermine the opposition parties and thwart any movement against the existing dictatorship.

The sad reality of Zimbabwe is that it was once the breadbasket of Africa, a land of “Milk and honey” where starvation came next to startle in the dictionary but the startling reality here is that of the population of almost 13 million over a quarter are now feeling the pangs of hunger. Perhaps Robert Mugabe should consider the teaching of Mao when he said that democracy comes from the barrel of a gun and add “An empty stomach uses a gun far better than a full one because it is motivated”

JP.

Posted: September 6, 2006

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