Maravi

[It is 'brave' within the context of the British press to diverge from the official lie that land only went to 'friends and cronies of Mugabe' (transl: higher ups in the ZANU-PF and army infrastructure), when in fact there are over 350,000 families that are the recipients of land under the Willing Buyer Willing Seller (pre-2000) and Fast Track (post-2000) land reform programs - well over a million people, counting direct relatives. This has always been stated by the Zimbabwean government, and has been confirmed by prof. Ian Scoones' survey of 400 farms in Masvingo Province, where only 3% of recipients could even be described as such. You should also ask - if land reform is such a bad thing, why do the official media have to lie about it by claiming that there is only an intra-elite transfer of wealth? It is because the MDC is based on lies and deception, and funded by the British and American governments. - MrK]

[Actually, Zimbabwe does not need any aid at all. They should be 'allowed' in this 'free trade' era, to sell their own diamonds. Of course, 'free trade' means a global monopoly owned by Anglo-American De Beers. So mr. Duval-Smith, why isn't Zimbabwe allowed to sell it's diamonds? - MrK]

[Or the 150,000 New Farmers. In fact, their 'problem' was how to ensure that the Zimbabwean government gave them financial support and made clear to the world how successful it is to have your own people working their own land. Because that would 'send the wrong message', especially with the corporate ownership of diamond mines in Botswana and South Africa, and with land reform being direly needed throughout the former British colonies, including South Africa, Namibia and Kenya. - MrK]

[We don't need 'snapshots', we need actual, honest and unflinching analysis of why the Zimbabwe Dollar was destroyed and to what purpose - the main being to try and make land reform fail. Let's talk about the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, and it's effects, like causing a credit freeze the year it came int force, from Jan. 1st 2002 onwards. - MrK]

[You mean 'war vet', they way rhodesians refer to the War of Independence as 'The Bush War'? The Zimbabwean people fought for and won their own freedom. They did not 'receieve' independence from anyone, they took it themselves. Like they took the land themselves. - MrK]

[A popular belief fed by lies in the BBC, CNN, etc. Like independence or land reform, this 'popular belief' did not spontaneously spring from itself. - MrK]

[Also, why not start repaying the Zimbabwean government for the economic damage done by economic sanctions, like ZDERA? - MrK]

[And that they too are under the financial control of the 'donors'. - MrK]

ZuluShaka 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

What Mr Duval has prejudice omitted is the true meaning of Western aid to Africa.We pay billions of exploitative interest only to IMF of which his country is the biggest shareholder.This dwarfs phantom aid purported by this article ,money spend on companies in donor countries .Here is this metaphor that explains it :

If a Western country donates aid to Africa consultancy companies within receives the money to provide advice on projects in Africa and charge a fee to the recipient .Mostly advice is privatization unaffordable with costs going to the suffering .The beneficiaries of such projects are Western companies who pay corporate tax back to their treasuries ..Tanzania dam project is a very good example .Food consumption such as rice ,tomatoes are a surplus from heavily subsidized agriculture ,an essential component to Africa trade barrier, which is then dumped to Africa undercutting local producers some not fit for consumption.The rest is for NGOs to prop up puppetry regimes .

Red nose day ,sponsor a child and oxfam is a farce and nonsensical endeavor .Africa had always potential through raw materials and working ethos .Our history, pre colonialism entails this .We don't need bread crumbs our ancestors built empires around the world reciprocal and violent coercion.

The devil is in the details when it comes to Africa ,from 1886 initiatives to ZIDRA .It is a match because we are black and a white man's burden therefore we definitely needs rescuing.They have also disapproved research from Darwin's evolution .

I am going to finish with two quotes:

"Blacks are mentally inferior ,by nature subservient ,and cowards in face of danger.Therefore unfit for combat ".(1925 US ARMY WAR COLLEGE STUDY)

"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people .I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.(WINSTON CHURCHILL BRITISH CONSERVATIVE PM)


RG_M 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

Mr Duval Smith this is a fair and unbiased piece of journalism.....the solid facts of what is actually transpiring on the ground in Zimbabwe, the real beneficieries of the land reform, the real lives and not the usual propaganda about the 'ZANU PF cronies' only benefited.


Rhodesianarmy 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

There's no need for Britain to be pouring humanitarian aid at the present moment in this country,after all those brutal attack and killings of white farmers and removing them from their properties,law and order should be maintained before these humanitarian aid assistance take place...

Zuda Madhara 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

But then from what Mark Duval is saying we can deduce thus; firstly The Guardian is a proConservative paper - what it says reflects the current thinking of the government. Secondly Britain is worried, very worried that the land reform seem to have succeeded without them being involved. What is the implication? This failure to get itself involved in the land reform process, to Britain, symbolises the cutting of the umbilical cord tying Zimbabwe to Britain. Where does the satellites schools come in the? Given Mugabe's already known knowledge of managing and growing education from nowhere, the satellites schools will soon chain out a new stream of academia who do not recognise Britain at all, as these sattellite pupils who will soon be in university, hyave never received any aid from outside the country - the only aid they know comes from Government's limited resources. Soon these anti-British satellite-educated students will be campaigning for political office. This is Britain's dilemma, reminiscent of the so-called Prisoner's Dilema; you damned if you and still damned if you don't. But most importantly this article is a veiled attack on the MDC by the British for not having told them the reality on on Zimbabwe. Rememeber the ZANU PF beneficiary mentality was promoted by the MDC at a time when no UK institution or individual was willing to go to Zimbabwe to verify the facts - they relied too much on what the MDC was telling them to the extent of passing whole policies based on falsehoods as they are finding out now that they are finally coming out of their cocoons to go and see things for themselves. What are seeing in Zimbabwe is quite defferent from what they used to think based on MDC reports. This writing is a intended to tell the MDC that the master is not happy for having been misled. Now wait for the unravelling of the real drama - this is only the beggining, the episode of the play, if you like. Meanwhile Zimbabwe is not begging for aid, but rather its message is to be allowed to trade freely on the international market without hindrance from sanctions, which themselves are fast becoming meaningless to their imposers - the West have awoken a giant unknowingly!

bantu_biko2 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

There is more positive results that have happened in Zimbabwe. We hear figures of donations that comes to zimbabwe , but we never here figures of loots that leaves zimbabwe to these nations.Any person with common sense wouldn't argue about the land reform, just look at the ratio of whites to blacks on the land process.Those uncle Toms who does not support land reform is because they are lazy , too lazy to go farming , only enjoys roaming in streets of the ghetto like zombies. Farming is a learning process, and results will get better every season. It took white farmers a century to get establish with cheap labour too, and we dont need a century to get there.

Pumba01 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

You could learn a lot sooner ,by getting the help from those farmers who have the skills!Yes land reform was necessary and overdue,but to impoverish you like Mugabe did,was his trump card to stay in power


FaceItmaZimba 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

Mr. Duval Smith, I am afraid you are going to be labelled a zanu pf apologist, a CIO operative, a paid zanu mercenary and any other derogatory name under the sun (not the newspapers) by your s truly MDC-T. They do not tolerate any alternative view that points out any success or good thing in Zimbabwe. All they expect you to talk about is zanu military chiefs and mugabe cronies got the land. The 750 000 people you are talking about are non-existant, MDC-T style.

chrismadondo 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

i disagree with you,not every mdc member is fanatical in their support of the party,i am an mdc supporter and i agree with mr Duval Smith's sentiments in the article above,may i also add that i have come across some pretty solid arguements by zanu pf supporters on this forum,i believe people that support zanu pf are merely exercising their democratic right and should not be demonised for being as such and the same applies to mdc supporters,everyone chooses a party they feel better represents their own interests given their individual circumstances,party affiliation is not a life time dogmatic commitment if you feel a party has lost its relevance to your own needs as an adult you should be free to choose another party that better represents your interests


maitiroenyu 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

Proves a point that you really do not have to be Zanu PF to make a lot of sense.