South Africa's Mbeki defends Zimbabwe's controversial land reform
Africa News
Apr 6, 2007, 16:39 GMT
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Woking not so good. Apparantly, these countries can't grow enough food to feed themselves anymore.
If i was a commercial farmer in South Africa, i would sell while the selling is good before you get zip and dead. Trying to equate a comercial enterprise such as a huge agrofarm with landlessness is gonna come back and bite SouthAfrica in the butt. Not only are they going to divide these parcells and not free hold the land to the landless blacks. They are going to blame drought and lack of resourse as the the cause of decline of food production(hmmm....reminds me of Zimbabwe, hey mbeke look at the success of mugage land grab...yep pure genuis). just freakin set up huge goverment lands on the outskirts of the major city with small plots so the average joe can build a house and commute to a real job and not scratch the soil so you(mbeke) can say youve equalize the poverty for all(white and black)...yeesh this is gonna back fire so bad if he goes the way of Mugabe(racist). This has 'I'm with stupid' written all over it. Then of course missmanagement will be blamed on the evil west. Mean while china(smart)sneaks in dumps low cost stuff, harvest huge mineral consessions and the chinese tourist are a rare animal indeed.
When I first saw Thabo Mbeki on television, he was being interviewed a BBC Hard Talk. I was highly impressed with what he said. That was before I returned to Africa over 10 years ago.
Since then, I have watched this man closely. My conclusion is that he taylors every talk depending on his audience. That might seem okay to some, but what I have observed is that he will tell one audience that the grass is red and then move onto the next audience and say that the grass is black.
His latest utterance on land in Zimbabwe is a classic. I have no doubt that Mbeki is a die-hard racist. He pulls out the race card at every opportunity. His commentary on Zimbabwe illustrates just how one-eyed this man really is. I must say to white farmers in South Africa - beware your days are numbered. It is poignant to note that Mbeki knows how violent Zimbabwe's land theft was. He must know that at least one million blacks were made homeless as a result of Mugabe's violent land give-away. How disgusting can one get? Most Zimbabweans, who haven't escaped across crocodile infested waters to get away from Mugabe, are now starving. But Mbeki obviously thinks that this is okay. Al they have to do now is gget the farms working - so he says. I have news for him, it ain't gonna happen. Politicians and farming in Africa is a death-mix
All the land the whites have were originally stolen from the blacks. Once you are calling for righting wrongs done by whites you will be labeled a racist, You are only a 'good black' when you leave the injustices
Large, highly mechanized and well-managed farms under private ownership are the winning route if the desire is to feed ones populace and have plenty of ag products left over for export. It works great for us here in the USA. The troubles in southern Africa are the direct result of grossly inane meddling supported by clueless liberals in the UN and the world over. Hopefully, the grip these bozos have over popular opinion and policy will be broken before too many more fiascos ensue.
all land everywhere on the planet was stolen from someone somewhere once in time. I dont mind a group of native africans. If they could pool their money together and buy a farm then i dont see a problem with it. But to dissmantle a working comercial enterprise and make smaller plots and think this will increase food production is just plain nuts. Look at what happened to Zimbabwe, the peasent farmers(and thats what they are) are farming on reclaimed land with no deeds and no title. Only on leased land, no bank would lend money on land it cant use as collateral. so instead of titled deeded lands its lease, so the blacks still dont own the land but its in the hand of goverment. You know how well they govern(in any country). And those same said farmers are their not by the grace of their own free will but by the grace of goverment, so if you dont behave the goverment will toss you and you wont have recourse and you will be landless once again. If these African leaders quit preaching the past in racist terms Africa might have chance. India was once a colony(seems to be doing fine) hongkong was a colony and no resources(seems to be doing well) you dont see lamenting on the past colonial powers but joining the world in a proper manner....yeesh!!! Time to grow up Africa and quit asking for handouts.
Mbeki states 'it was urgent that new black African farmers in Zimbabwe be provided with agricultural supplies'.
Where have all the supplies gone? Who has mis-managed the whole economy? Who is responsible? It used to work, what has happened?
Do yourselves a favour and read 'When A Crocodile Eats The Sun' by Peter Godwin. You couldn't have the tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe laid out with more clarity or poignancy. The situation is way worse than any of us could ever know - there are no journalists allowed into the country, and anything/anyone that criticizes the brutal dictator Mugabe's regime is crushed.
The sad truth of the matter is, I believe, that Mbeki is trying to protect the ANC's power in South Africa. If he supports the MDC opposition in Zimbabwe, which has very strong Trade Union ties with CoSATU, then he may in fact be weakening the power of the ANC in the region. At the same time - by supporting Mugabe he appeals to that element in South Africa that still wants 'justice', African-style.
The fact that many of the Zimbabwe farmers re-purchased their farms from Mugabe's government after Independence in 1980 seems irrelevant. The entire situation is sickening. Each farm reclaimed (violently, by teenage 'war veteran' supporters of Uncle Bob) means the displacement of up to 20 000 employees, and the abandonment of free shools and clinics set up on the farms by the Zimbabweans, some of who have been farming there for over a hundred years.
At this stage there are only about 2% of white farmers remaining on their land. Most have been murdered, or have fled to Zambia and Nigeria - who, by the way, are welcoming them with open arms...
The US admitted openly for the first time yesterday that it was actively working to undermine Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.
Although officially Washington does not support regime change, a US state department report published yesterday acknowledged that it was supporting opposition politicians in the country and others critical of Mr Mugabe.
The state department also admitted sponsoring events aimed at 'discrediting' statements made by Mr Mugabe's government.
The comments are contained in the state department's fifth annual Supporting Human Rights and Democracy report. It sets out in detail actions the US government is taking worldwide to promote 'human rights'.
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With al this talk of how 'bad' Mugabe is by the UK and the US now many should remember that this call for 'democracy' has come about because of his call for the continuation of Zimbabwe's land reclaimation. The Zimbaweans should be free to do whatever they want with the land, it belongs to them.
If land is stolen nothing is right until it is returned to the owners, the Bandits have no determination as to what should be done with it.
put it this way.....if you dont own the land you are not going to empowered...you will be enslaved by the masters above(hmmmm...much like taxes, well ok the only taxes i like are the sales taxes, most fair taxes in the world)
Davy de Verteuil of Trinidad &Tobago.
America supports and practice terrorism so do Britain and Israel. Terrorist called opposition are bent on crippling Africa not only Zimbabwe. Mbeki is a level head guy that endeavours in very logical and pragmatic solutions similar to the peaceful brinkmanship that saw the back of apartheid I trust that his approach. White man let us solve our problems and come to terms with the fact that you are both historically and contemporary the main cause and should cooperate in the inevitable process of the imminent undoing-like it or not. It is your refusal to go as agreed and your obstacles through economic sabotage 'sanctions' organized provocations (demonstrations)the diabolical misuse of the Colonial UNSC and covert supplying of arms to opposition groups is the chief cause of instability war weariness. Leave us alone Africa wants no more Iraq type solutions.
It is sickening to read so much garbage out there on the horror Mugabe is said to have unleashed on Zimbabwe, an act many want us to believe is abetted througout by Thabo Mbeki it seems. Instead of puking on the glaring injustice of forcefully and brutally stealing 70% of the best land from its rightful owners for the benefit of a meagre 1% of the population, commentators here see the only devil in the Zibabwean crisis as the handiwork of Robert Mugabe, who had led a bloody anticolonial struggle to liberate his people from brutal, fascist, and racist, white colonialists. Driving the black population from their land and settling them into cramped and inhumane reserves for nearly a century under brutal white rule, the Lancaster House agreements sought to compensate hugely wealthy land thieves instead of their victims (!); an agreement that Mugabe honoured, but which successive British governments failed to respect. When Mugabe finally delivers on his promise to redistribute stolen land, the biggest reason many Zimbabweans died for in the liberation struggle, he suddenly became a demon! Instead of helping him to finally bring justice where injustice had prevailed for a hundred years, he is faced with sanctions and the full force of the West's media campaign to demonise him. Certainly, Mugabe must recognise dmocratic principles and the basic rights of the opposition. But to strip the Zimbabwe crisis of its historical and political context and pretend that peace is possible without justice is the propaganda strategies of the true demons in this conflict. What a shame!
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