The invasion of the Save Valley Conservancy
September 1, 2012, 4:30 am
We were told this week that the results of the census will be announced
at the end of the year. Those figures will show the racial composition of
Zimbabwe’s population and we will see just exactly how many whites are left
in ‘Mugabe’s Zimbabwe’ – as he likes to think of it. He and his Zanu PF have
certainly done all they can, short of actually expelling them, to ensure
that whites feel unwelcome in the land of their birth. I was still living in
Zimbabwe when the farm invasions began and I well remember driving into
Harare from my home in Murehwa and seeing one of the highly productive farms
that had been renamed ‘Black Power Farm’. It was around the same time there
were war veterans from their headquarters in Murehwa town toi toi- ing past
my house in the dead of night. Mugabe was intoning his hymn of hate even
then, the truth is that the tune has never really changed in all the years
Zimbabwe has been an independent black African country. Mugabe and Zanu PF
are no less racist than the white supremacist Smith regime; the only thing
that has changed is the colour of the dominant key.
It is no coincidence that the people who have invaded the Save Valley
Conservancy are Zanu PF supporters. They acted, they say, in the name of
‘black empowerment’ and, Mugabe’s declaration that conservancies are
‘dominated by whites’ no doubt spurred them on. It may well be true that
white people were prominent in animal conservation but there is no evidence
that those same whites enriched themselves excessively in the process. Their
motives appear to have been genuine concern for Zimbabwe’s natural resources
and a desire to conserve the animals and their environment. The same cannot
be said of the new land invaders; the 25 men who invaded the Save Valley
Conservancy led by two Zanu PF MPs whose motives are clearly political. They
have vowed that they will not move from the Conservancy; they are
‘correcting colonial imbalances’ they say. The Conservancy replies that 2/3
of their shareholders are in fact black. White or black, it is tragic that
the fate of innocent animals is caught up in this racist one-up-manship.
The invasion of the Save Valley Conservancy has caused widespread
dismay and the prediction that if it happened it would risk western business
investment in the country is proving correct. International conservation
circles have expressed their profound alarm and diplomats have said that the
invasion might lead to withdrawal of UN support for the World Tourism
Conference due to be held in Zimbabwe next year. The EU has threatened to
withdraw all aid from Zimbabwe if the invasion of the world-renowned Save
Valley Conservancy is not stopped. Money is short everywhere and, as hunger
worsens in Zimbabwe, there are already signs that the appeal to aid agencies
for funds is not yielding the anticipated results. In a related development,
it has been announced that Zimbabwe has no funds to move animals to Victoria
Falls where the conference will be held. Animal numbers in the Vic Falls
Game Park have fallen considerably owing to drought and the organisers of
the World Tourism Conference had wanted to show the international delegates
a sample of the magnificent wild life to be seen in Zimbabwe.
Instead of turning the issue into a racial slanging match, for political
purposes, it would be more to the point if Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF found
some way to make the World Tourism Conference a reality, thus giving
Zimbabwe a boost to its sadly diminished international reputation.
Preparations for the Tourism Conference have not even started apparently,
one year after the government won the bid to host it in alliance with
Zambia. As part of the deal Zimbabwe is expected to upgrade the Vic Falls
Airport, to revamp water and sewage systems in the town, to resurface the
roads and to rehabilitate the local hospital. Quite apart from all those
tasks, there is the question of Air Zimbabwe, the bankrupt national airline
which, we hear, is reduced to just one aeroplane! It’s hard to see how
visitors, be they black or white, will be transported to and from Zimbabwe
without planes to carry them!
Yours in the (continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson