Mugabe declares war?
So, was just on the phone with Albert. Apparently everybody’s favourite syphilis-addled tyrannical dictator has just declared war on the rest of Africa.
Well, the man’s completely out of his tree, so I don’t think it’s actually impossible.
I just really, really don’t want it to be true. Because if for-real war breaks out in Zim-against-the-world, South Africa will be standing bang behind old Mad Bob. Because they were all terrorists together in the war against colonialism/imperialism/apartheid, and once you’re brothers in the Struggle you’re brothers for life. And it doesn’t matter that the only difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist is that freedom fighters have already won – because here at the arse end of Africa, the terrorists have all won. And they’re sitting in positions of power remembering the good old days when they could necklace people for telling the truth about them.
Do you know what necklacing is, by the way?
They put a car tyre around your body. They fill it with gasoline. And then they light you on fire, and turn up the music so they don’t have to listen to you scream.
If you’re a man, that is. Only then do you get off that easily
If you’re a woman, you can expect to be raped a few times before they actually get around to the tyre part. Like Maki Skosana, who was still a child when they forced broken glass into her vagina and set her on fire.
And these are the people who run the country, who decide whether we go to war or not. People longing for the glory days of murder and mayhem…
People who believe, whacked-out as it may sound, that Mugabe is actually an okay sort of guy with some good ideas – they’re even adopting some of his land reform practices here! The same land reform practices that saw white farmers murdered, milliions of dollars worth of crops destroyed and the people of Zimbabwe set on a downward spiral of opppression, starvation and abuse. Brilliant, right?
July 7, 2008 at 3:39 am
Okay, the activities of the UDF in South Africa were atrocious. At the same time, anti-apartheid activists of all colours were being tortured by the Security Branch of the South African Police. Quite a number of people defenestrated from the 6th (or was it the 10th) floor window of John Vorster Square. Most of them probably in quite an involuntary manner. There was Vlakplaats, etc, etc.
Neither side was clean, and the TRC only did a partial job of sorting out the mess. It’s a wonder that South Africa has been as peaceful as it has since 1994.
I agree that the concept of LRAD (Land Reform for Agricultural Development) is seriously flawed. It will take decades to develop seriously capable black commercial farmers, and it’s quite insane to allow good farm land to degenerate to subsistance farming when there is a worldwide shortage of staple foods.
Ownership of land does not, per se, guarantee wealth. Far better results are obtained where the owners of the land co-operate with commercial interests. A good example is the area from Nelspruit to Komatipoort which is now almost entirely black owned. There are a couple of huge farming concerns growing sugar, mangos and other fruit in that area, and they haven’t skipped a beat, except that now the black land owners share in the profits. There is a lot to be said in favour of that sort of partnership. With some thought and planning, food production in South Africa can be increased at the same time as land ownership is transferred to black people. It doesn’t have to be a disaster, but it will be if the process continues to be driven by ideology rather than practical reality.
July 7, 2008 at 4:10 pm
My basic question on the matter of land reform is why? Why is the government so intent on taking land away from white farmers?
Yes, fine, Black people also have the right to land ownership. I understand that. But one race’s rights cannot be enforced at the cost of the other, that was basically part of what the Struggle was about. (I respect their ideals, by the way, apartheid had gone hideously wrong by that time, but I cannot bring myself to agree with their methods. Terrorism is never excusable. Under no circumstances.) By the way, do you know that there cannot be a valid land claim on much of the Limpopo area? That’s the reason for the new laws they’re trying to push though – when Mzilikazi came through he depopulated much of the Transvaal area. The only people wit valid land claims on the Transvaal area (people who were driven off their land by the Voortrekkers or the NP) are living in Zimbabwe, because that’s where Silkaats took his tribe.
If the ANC government takes away land from white people who have been living on said land for generations, what makes them any better than the Apartheid government, who took land away from black people? It doesn’t, actually.
Your last point is a perfectly valid one, but from a purely practical point of view the idea of land reform is still a very bad one. You end up with a segment of population that has been dispossessed, with very little or no compensation. It’s not going to be a pretty sight. It’s going to be much worse. Because the Afrikaners are not the Rhodesians. We’ve warred to hold on to this country before. We’ll do it again if we’re forced into it.
Oh, and SA’s peacefulness since 1994? That’s not a miracle. That’s pure Madiba Magic. One man can make a difference, if he’s the right man. And Madiba? Was the right man in so many ways.
Thank you for taking the time to comment on my post. You’re very kind.