Fourthwrite .......................Issue No. 11

 Zimbabwe...A battle for land

  Margaret O'Neill examines the dispute over land ownership in Zimbabwe

The Scramble for Africa, written by Thomas Pakenham should be made de rigueur reading for every citizen of this state. In this powerful and compulsive book first published over a decade ago, Pakenham traces the colonisation and the rape of the African continent by mainly European business. Dealing in a systematic and chronological manner with the fate of each area and homeland Pakenham described the trek organised by Cecil Rhodes, by which Rhodes sought to establish the country that would become known as Rhodesia. With these words Pakenham attempted to explain the character of person that plundered area that is now known as Zimbabwe.

What were the aims of the 200 pioneers as they splashed across the Motloutsi on 27 June 1890..for many it was the lure of the 3,000 -acre farms to be given away free,. But the main attraction was obviously gold - the fifteen gold claims to be given free to each pioneer.

Pakenham attributed to this vanguard of white colonial expansion no altruistic rationale or motive but rather rooted their actions firmly in exploitation and greed with a conscious, if troubled at all, massaged by the spurious ideas of Kipling. However when almost ninety years later Lord Soames watched the lowering of the Union Jack down the flagpole to be replaced by the red, black, green and gold flag of Zimbabwe the native population had clearly still not learned to heed their now imperial advisors. The favoured choice of the Thatcher Government had been decimated at the polls and the reins of independent government passed into the hands of Robert Mugabe. Britain and indeed her western allies were embarrassed and they have never forgiven this.

Today, two years of drought places vast numbers of the Zimbabwean population in danger of famine. The country shares this fate with five other neighbouring countries all effected by the adverse climatic conditions. Food production shortages are further compounded by a large numbers of the 4,500 wealthiest farmers/landlords, apparently scoring political, if certainly not moral points, by failing to generate foodstuffs on their prime agricultural holdings. The imminent food shortages are further exacerbated by the ailing economy, which has meant the virtual collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar. Add to this a people devastated by the HIV/AIDS, which currently affects 25-33 per cent of the entire population. This virus has left over half a million children in 'child-headed households' who are increasingly turning to prostitution in order to purchase even the most basic subsistence.

This then is the country in which President Mugabe wishes to re-distribute the land wealth. Notwithstanding possibly valid criticisms regarding the past and indeed current behaviour of the Zimbabwean government, the underlying principle is a just and equitable one. Yet the media has combined to demonise Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean people. The Sunday Times (that well known tool of British covert forces) links Mugabe and Nichols van Hoogstraten, under the headline "A Tale Of Two Tyrants" purporting to expose nefarious dealings by the Zimbabwean President. Be that as it may, but it does not negate the simple fact that most of the country's commercial land is controlled by 4,500 white farmers/landlords.

However, this ubiquitous support for the ‘plight’ of the white settler is not just confined to the British broadsheets but can be found in the Dublin equivalent, a series of articles from their correspondent in Bulawayo followed in a most gushing andsympathetic fashion the misfortunes of one white farmer/landlord. Giving him an almost heroic dimension, the Irish Times staffer eulogised the plight of Colin Shand. The Shand family had been seriously discommoded by the proposed re-distribution of the country's potential agricultural wealth. Indeed so discommoded were they that Mrs. Shand had to retire to the safety of London, leaving her proud, defiant husband to defend their estate with only the family's faithful retainer, a 68-year old female cook called Steady, to administer to his needs. In the course of his interview Mr. Shand expounded on his love of Zimbabwe and his relationship with his fellow citizens. Remarkably, when Shand explained that his daughter would never marry a black man, the Irish Times reporter did not feel the need to question the inherent arrogance that mandated such an assertion.

Whilst it could be claimed that Britain feels the need to avenge the ‘insult’ of twenty years ago when this nation disregarded the advice of the Iron Lady, surely a respected Irish publication should not demonstrate the same weakness. Surely repugnance for the landlords system should be deep rooted in the Irish psyche. Or has the Celtic Tiger so completely bought our soul that we no longer understand the most basic human need to feed oneself from ones own recourses. Has a generation grown up that never learned about the system of landlordism that almost destroyed this country through the evils of absenteeism and extortion. Or maybe the correspondent from Bulawayo was also like the British - seeking revenge on an ungrateful peasantry. Only this guy has had to wait much longer than twenty-two years to do so.