historic date for Zimbabwe ...
(snip)"Zimbabwe runs out of bread
Harare admits land reform has failed as the deadline passes for the last white farmers to leave their land
Chris McGreal, Africa correspondent
Monday October 1, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag.../01/zim372.jpg
Zimbabwe's bakeries have shut and supermarkets have warned there will be no bread for the foreseeable future as the government admitted that wheat production had collapsed following the seizure of white-owned farms.
The agricultural ministry announcement that the wheat harvest is only about a third of what is required, and that imports are held up by lack of hard currency, came as a deadline passed today for the last white farmers to leave their land or face prosecution for trespass.
The maize harvest is expected to be equally dire and price controls to contain hyperinflation have emptied the stores of most other foodstuffs. The World Food Programme says at least 3 million people - one in four of the population - will need food aid in the coming months. It describes hunger in some parts of the country, which used to be a food exporter, as "acutely serious".
Last week, the government said it plans to import 100,000 tonnes of wheat but acknowledged that a shipment of 35,000 tonnes was held up in Mozambique because of a shortage of hard currency to pay for it.
The agriculture minister, Rugare Gumbo, has blamed the food shortages on black farmers who have taken over formerly white-owned land.
"I am painfully aware of the widespread theft of stock, farm produce, irrigation equipment and the general vandalism of infrastructure by our new farmers," he said.
"I am disappointed that our new farmers have proved to be failures since the start of the land reform programme in 2000. In spite of all the support government has been pouring into the agricultural sector, productivity and under-utilisation of land remain issues of concern."
The ministry of agriculture has also blamed electricity shortages for the wheat shortfall, saying that power cuts have affected irrigation and halved crop yields per acre.
The power shortages are likely to continue. Mozambique has reduced electricity supplies to Zimbabwe because of a $35m (£17.1m) unpaid bill. Shortages of coal and spares for power stations and mining equipment have also hit electricity production and power cuts are now a regular feature of daily life.
Zimbabwe, once the world's second largest exporter of tobacco, has also seen production of its main cash crop nosedive, further undermining its ability to buy food from abroad. This year's crop is not likely to be much better than recent harvests, with many farmers saying that their seedlings have died for lack of irrigation.
Cigarettes are only available on the black market at many times the official price, and now cost more than marijuana - a cash crop that does not appear to have been severely affected by the crisis.
The government's admission that the land redistribution has failed to deliver the promised boost to food production coincides with a deadline for the last white farmers to vacate their land. The farms were nationalised last year and the handover to the state was set for today.
Any farmer remaining on their former land faces prosecution for trespassing on state property. About 50 farmers have already been summonsed by the courts.
White farmers say that senior ruling party, military and intelligence officials have been touring their former properties to lay a claim and that they have little confidence the land will be distributed among the poor as the government claims.
Zimbabwe's economic problems are likely to be compounded by a law passed last week that compels many publicly owned companies, including foreign firms, to sell a majority of their equity to black Zimbabweans.
Critics say the legislation amounts to expropriation because it effectively forces the companies to hand over half of their value by taxing them to raise the money to "buy" the 51% stake for black investors approved by the government."(snip)
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Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
Yep, that place is fucked. Knew it when they started chasing all the white farmers off their lands. This put a bunch of people (white and black) who worked the lands out of work - hence anyone who had a clue about farming was ineffective. Throw in the crazies running around with "black pride" destroying everything "white" while shooting up the place and there is quite the mess there.
Personally, I think the people there got exactly what they deserved supporting that idiot.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
^^^ but hey the Zimbabwe stock market was the biggest percentage gainer of all of the developing countries in the entire world !!!! You can't knock that can you ? Except if you subtract the currency inflation, it was also the biggest LOSER in terms of actual value / purchasing power.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
This is the ugly downside of democracy. The People got what they wanted, a ruling Black Party. Unfortunately there is no evidence of the Party providing any of the mentioned benefits that were campaign promises. Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) used to be a new exporter of food, and an example of a developing central African nation. Now not so much.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
I can't say that the next US presidential election is going to be all that far removed from Zimbabwe in terms of promises being made by politicians versus actual results / unintended consequences once those politicians are placed in 'complete' power.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
I am not sure I understand the meaning of the word "democracy" any more...
I need to catch up on my history reading...
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
One of the Truisms that forecasts the Fall of a Republic; is when the citizens realize they can vote themselves a portion of the Treasury.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
Quote:
One of the Truisms that forecasts the Fall of a Republic; is when the citizens realize they can vote themselves a portion of the Treasury.
... or more specifically in the current context, when a majority of registered voters realize that they can vote themselves a large piece of the assets / incomes / profits of the voting minority which they can now control via the ballot box.
However, from Ancient Rome to today's Zimbabwe to perhaps California / NY of the future, in the absence of a death threat or imminent gov't action, the affected voting minority usually takes some unilateral action as well to protect their assets / incomes / profits to whatever degree is possible. This typically involves the hasty transfer of the voting minority's assets outside of the country (state), voting minority members hastily moving outside of the country (state) themselves, or at the very least voting minority members devoting far less energy to operation of their businesses in the knowledge that the extra work thus extra profits generated will only be confiscated away from them and given to someone else.
From a constitutional standpoint, America was never intended to be a democracy. The founding fathers were very particular in establishing a Republic rather than a democracy - with a clear requirement that 'registered voters' would not include every single person living in America, but only those persons who (in general) had a personal 'stake' in the country's success as a whole plus a level of understanding re actions and reactions - which originally amounted to educated property owners.
(snip)"“A Republic,... if you can keep it”- Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father, 1787.
Mr. Franklin was responding to a question asking what kind of government had been created for the American people in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was at once announcing the formation of a Republic, a government ruled not by men, but by laws, and warning that keeping that form of government would not be an easy task."(snip)
(snip)"The founding Fathers recognized that a “Democracy” was bedlam, a dangerous process of majority rule and something to be fearfully avoided. They chose instead a Republic, a nation of law, knowing that a “Democracy” could, and would, turn into “Mob-ocracy”, then tyranny."(snip)
from
In the intervening 200+ years, America has steadily expanded the 'registered voter' requirement to eliminate both property ownership and educational level requirements - and as a result has brought America much closer to being a Democracy in the Ancient Roman sense, thus much closer to Mob-ocracy, and arguably to the threshold of 'tyranny of the majority' in economic terms at least.
~
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
This gets even better. The current Zimbabwe govt. is going to (and i shit you not) put white farmers on trial with a possible outcome of two years in prison. Get this for growing food. In a country with 6,000 (undoubtedly more now) percent inflation and millions about to starve unless fed by the UN. Good luck hungry people -
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
^^^ yeah, well, this is what usually happens when political ideology trumps common sense !!! And/or this is what happens when gov't officials care more about personal gain than the overall welfare of their citizens !!!
from your link ...
(snip)"Didymus Mutasa, the lands minister, has said that the few hundred remaining white farmers will be forced out, one way or another.
"The position is that food shortages or no food shortages, we are going ahead to remove the remaining whites," he said recently. "Too many blacks are still clamouring for land and we will resettle them on the remaining farms."
In fact many farms were given to members of the government and their cronies, and one minister has admitted that the new farmers have failed in their cultivation efforts."(snip)
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
Gee and when Mugabe first took charge Zimbabwe had one of the healthiest economies in Africa and was a food EXPORTER !
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
An excellent example of what racism will do.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Deogol
An excellent example of what racism will do.
It's not racism so much as SOCIALISM coupled with Mugabe's one man rule.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Deogol
An excellent example of what racism will do.
An excellent example of how money alone does not solve problems. Doubly so when it's other people's problems.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
I am struck by the denial of racism in the mix of things over there.
Re: historic date for Zimbabwe ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Deogol
I am struck by the denial of racism in the mix of things over there.
There is racism involved to be sure. It is only white-owned farms that are being confiscated BUT it is Socialism coupled with Mugabe's one man rule that enables the racism. Many Zimbabweans KNOW that his policy is a dumb idea that is killing the economy but can't do anything about it. He rules as a dictator. And a vicious and repressive one at that.