Land is the anchor of Zimbabwe’s independence, prosperity
RHODESIA: Nyagomo (Negomo) communal lands in Mbire is a place of rugged terrain, where scores of rolling valleys interlock with hills and hillocks.
Here, white colonial settlers in Rhodesia made sure only black people settle by forcefully relocating them from a vast track of prime farming land situated between the ever-flowing Dande River and Mavhuradonha Mountain range, where fertile red soils abound.
Here again, homes of the resettled black people perch precariously on mountain slopes with patches on rocky fields as the only adjuncts to their agriculture.
Therefore, here, no meaningful crop production takes place.
Shaped like a horseshoe, the grand farming land usurped by white minority is aptly named Horse Shoe Commercial farming area.
This prime farming land becomes one of the greatest tobacco and maize production areas, while the relocated villagers slump into poverty, hunger and starvation. Lamentation!
There is a stark difference between these two lands. Negomo is on the rain shadow region of the mountains while Horse Shoe is the rain-ward side.
During the rainy season, it rains on a daily basis in Horse Shoe and yet Negomo is tinder dry. Bone dry.
While the villagers in Negomo are largely and openly subservient to the white farmers, providing cheap labour at times, they still remain pained and inwardly determined to take back their land.
The pain of watching the white flourish in their former land, while year in and year out, the villagers harvest nothing meaningful and end up providing cheap labour is horrible.
So, when war broke out in the 1970, many young men, men, girls and women from this area joined the liberation struggle. The land was at the centre of their struggle.
ZIMBABWE: Independent Zimbabwe has done much more than many African countries by pursuing the land reform. Zimbabwe reversed the historical land imbalances, taking back land from the minority whites and redistributing it to majority black people.
Negomo is just an example, this was a generic problem of white supremacy in Rhodesia. Every black person was hurt by the land question in Rhodesia.
The former colonial master Britain and its allies in Europe and the United States protested against the land reform and punished Zimbabwe by imposing illegal sanctions in 2001.
Understandably, land is life. Land is emotional. Land is politics. Land is economy and land is pride.
But Zimbabwe under Zanu PF has the right to answer the land question that saw thousands of black people killed in a protracted liberation struggle.
The US and its allies reacted badly but in a very systematic manner to bring the economy of Zimbabwe to its knees.
Despite the international donors’ conference on land reform and resettlement held in Harare that was attended by all major Western countries in September 1999, where pledges were made, but no subsequent payment was done, the US and its allies resorted to sanctions.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to honour the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement on land redistribution funding, and instead caused sanctions to be imposed by the European Union, where it was a member.
What is critical is that the antagonists started systematically throttling the country, immediately.
This led to the country’s isolation from international financial markets and lack of foreign direct investments.
Subsequently, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) was enacted in 2001 by the US.
1999: In September, the IMF suspended its support under a ‘‘Stand By Arrangement’’, approved the previous month, for economic adjustment and reform in Zimbabwe.
In October 1999, the International Development Association (IDA) suspended all structural adjustment loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.
2000: In May, the IDA suspended all other new lending to the Government of Zimbabwe. In September 2000, the IDA suspended disbursement of funds for ongoing projects under previously-approved loans, credits, and guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe.
The Government was unable to participate in programmes created by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the IMF to assist in the transformation and resuscitation of Zimbabwe’s economy.
Furthermore, they said exclusion of the people of Zimbabwe from the economic and democratic benefits laid out by programme donors, including the United States, was because of “economic mismanagement, undemocratic practices, and the costly deployment of troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo” by the Government.
2001: Tendai Biti and other MDC officials travelled to the US where they unanimously called for sanctions against Zimbabwe.
In March, ZIDERA was passed and ratified by the US Congress. Immediately Danish International Development Agency’s (DANIDA)withdrew aid funding towards various vertical health programmes to the tune of US$29,7 million. Swedish government withdrew US$6,4 million worth of grant towards supporting HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation, alleviating disability and health education. Access to the Global Fund grant was also turned down.
2002: In February, EU Foreign Ministers imposed “smart” sanctions against Zimbabwe.
EU said the bloc was cutting off 128 million euros in development aid for the 2002-2007 period.
2003: European Airlines like Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France, KLM and Qantas exited the Zimbabwe market. A transport sector support programme funded by DANIDA to the tune of US$48 million was discontinued.
In addition, a labour-based roads and rehabilitation works programme with the aim of rehabilitating 116 kilometres of roads, which was funded by the Swedish government to the tune of US$15,1 million, was discontinued due to sanctions.
2005: Addressing United Nations General Assembly in New York, late former President Robert Mugabe blamed “unilateral sanctions by countries that do not wish Zimbabwe well” for the country’s deepening economic crisis.
2006: IMF executive board upholds sanctions against Zimbabwe. It decided not to restore Zimbabwe’s voting and related rights and not to terminate its ineligibility to use the general resources of the Fund.
2007: A group of white farmers represented by Mike Campbell and Ben Freeth approached the regional court to appeal against their eviction under the fast-track land reform programme. The SADC Tribunal made several important rulings in favour of the white farmers, which the US senators behind ZIDERA now want enforced as a precondition for re-engagement with the US.
2008: China and Russia veto Zimbabwe sanctions.
2011: US added Marange Resources, Mbada Diamonds Mining and Anjin to its sanctions list.
Thousands of Zimbabweans attended a rally organised by former President Mugabe to mark the launch of an anti-sanctions campaign. Over two million signatures were collected to petition the removal of illegal sanctions.
2013: Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which had interests in companies such as Olivine Industries, Sable Chemicals, Chemplex Corporation and Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company (ZFC) suffered at the hands of America’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2013 when it secured a US$2 million loan from the PTA Bank for plant rehabilitation and raw materials for Olivine which OFAC seized.
Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO), through which Government funds the activities of small businesses to enable retrenched workers to support their families through enterprise, had its US$3 million blocked by OFAC.
Former President Mugabe at the UN General Assembly said: “Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country.”
2014: Former President Mugabe at UN General Assembly said: “Because Zimbabwe has thus been pre-occupied with the empowerment of its people economically, she has become a victim of the evil machinations of Western countries who continually apply unilateral and illegal sanctions as a foreign policy tool to achieve short-term political objectives, particularly regime change.
“Regime change is a diabolical illegal policy of interference in the domestic affairs of my country and no good can come from undermining our economy, or depriving our citizens of the necessities of life.”
◆ Read full instalment on: www. herald.co.zw