Supping With The Devil

The potential of the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe to not only feed the population but also to export the surplus, is immense, as proven by the commercial farmers in the first twenty years after independence.

Then came the vicious, violent and destructive landgrab.

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And we have to remember that Mugabe labelled white farmers 'enemies of the State', although they annually provided food and exports for the nation. So I am not so sure that Mugabe will welcome this move, even if it does see and improvement the agriculture sector's participation in the sagging economy.

The landgrab has seen the agricultural sector of Zimbabwe implode.

"At least 120 white farmers in Zimbabwe have returned to the land by setting up farms under leasehold deals with the black beneficiaries of Robert Mugabe's land tenure seizure policies.

The emergence of a new group of white farmers has drawn bitter criticism from the victims of Mr Mugabe's violent occupation of properties sold under colonial era leases.

"These farmers handed Mr Mugabe victory," said former Zimbabwe Tobacco Association president, Andy Ferreira.

In the ten years since Mr Mugabe ordered 4,000 white farmers off their land, Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed. A recent revival in agricultural production appears to have resulted from younger white farmers restoring fallow land to agriculture.

Mr Ferreira has called on international traders to shun tobacco grown on contested land as "blood tobacco".

Mr Ferreira, an evicted farmer, said this new generation of white farmers did deals - often with Mr Mugabes cronies in the ruling ZANU PF party "because they like the life" and rewards of farming in one of Africa's most fertile nations."

Of course, we have to remember that just as they did initially, Mugabe can have the leaseholders thrown off the land and grab the spoils of the soil for themselves.

An article last week, indicated that ZANU PF now holds even more land themselves than the white commercial farmers - those 'enemies of the State - and yet the ZANU PF 'farmers are incapable of working the land and producing anything like what is required just to feed Zimbabwe.

Much of the land lies fallow, a symbol of the tyranny practised by Mugabe and ZANU PF, while the people that the landgrab was originally intended to benefit, the 'landless' blacks, now find themselves without work or land and living in abject poverty.

"Hendrik Olivier, director of the Commercial Farmers' Union said, in some discomfort: "Yes it is happening. We advised these (white) farmers not to move onto land without permission from original owners". Some farmers are paying leases to the ZANU PF beneficiary and the original owner. Others are only paying the ZANU PF person who 'acquired' the land and its improvements for free."

These white farmers, whilst they want to bring some sort of stability to the agricultural sector and also secure some decent sort of income, should realise that entering into agreements with anyone from ZANU PF is like supping with the Devil. These farmers are best advised to partake with a very long-handled spoon.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man