Farm invasions: When will it end?
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw
Monday, 30 May 2011 12:00
“THERE is enough for everybody’s need not for everybody’s greed,” said
Mahatma Gandhi. How true indeed.
I think it is a tragedy that more than 10 years down the road, there appears
to be no end to Zimbabwe’s land reform process.
As isolated the incidents maybe, farm invasions are continually happening
with about 100 white commercial farmers throughout the country reportedly
under pressure to leave their farms.
Recent media reports of farmers in Chipinge, Manicaland and Pomona in the
outskirts of Harare are a case in point.
Much of this current programme of farm evictions and harassment is being
driven by greed and senseless acquisition and nothing else. There is a lot
of prime land which now lies uncultivated and derelict. Why not move there?
Why do these perpetual new farmers, brandishing so called offer letters,
want to force commercial farmers off their farms just as the crops are ready
to reap? Crops that these cellphone farmers would not have put into the
ground themselves in the first place? Talk of sharks waiting to reap where
they did not sow!
In the face of this endless programme of harassment of committed commercial
farmers, is there any hope of bringing stability, security, progress and
productivity to Zimbabwean agriculture?
This is the question that is in the uppermost of my mind everyday. For how
long can this continue? Can Zimbabwe turn around its fortunes when farming
operations are disrupted season after season?
I am sure a lot of my countrymen and women particularly those in positions
of power and influence may want to ponder these questions I am posing.
The fact that we have the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and
Integration is an acknowledgement that our land is in need of healing. Is
this the way to heal it? Clearly, the political leadership cannot afford to
sit back and do nothing.
We need to stop the farm invasions. It is that simple! The inclusive
government has to show leadership. The answer simply lies in the hands of
the political leaders particularly the Head of State and Government. Our
land needs to be healed Mr. President. The invasions are not doing our
country any good at all.
The supreme lesson of this day and age is that people who are free go right
ahead through sacrifice and self-effort and not loot other people’s wealth
and strip their assets.
There is indeed enough for everybody’s need and not for everybody’s greed.
Most Zimbabweans feel morally outraged at the conduct of these farm invaders more than 10 years after the onset of the land reform programme.
We cannot continue chasing citizens of Zimbabwe who have the knowledge,
expertise and capital off the farms.
It distresses me to be a citizen of a country where there is no rule of law
and where some people are free to confiscate anything someone else has
worked and sweated for.
Land is invariably linked to the crisis in Zimbabwe and therefore cannot be
separated from other fundamental issues like the economy, peace, the rule of
law and good governance.
We have a crisis of confidence when people both at home and abroad perceive that the Government of Zimbabwe is not committed to democracy, property rights, human rights and the rule of law.
It is a fact that has consequences on foreign policy decisions and financial
decisions by investors and institutions across the world.
Land is a finite resource that should have a time frame in terms of
distribution and should equally be distributed in a transparent and
accountable manner for the same land will be needed by future generations.
It cannot be done haphazardly and with no end in sight. Zimbabwe cannot
develop in a situation of endless violence and instability. That is why the
continued instability on the commercial farms has become a matter of
national concern. The fact that the remaining white Zimbab-wean commercial
farmers have risked everything to put in a crop year after year since the
year 2000 is really due to their extreme resilience.
I want to conclude by pointing out that the time for real action to stop the
farm invasions and solve our own problems is long overdue. This country has
to move on. What matters in the final analysis is not how you and me feel
but how the government acts, how our rulers act. They have to show real
leadership.
Our neighbours, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries appear to be giving up on us because they feel we cannot be helped.
SADC is becoming fed up with us on all fronts – political, economic and
everything else. Our intransigence in the face of our neighbours wanting to
genuinely lift us out of our man made hole has become legendary.
What kind of people are we, what kind of leadership are we that create
crisis after crisis? Have we become children of a lesser God?
May the Lord our God empower the political leaders of this country with the
wisdom, courage and the strength that is needed for our time!