Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Poisoned pledges of the West

Poisoned pledges of the West
Francis Phiri―Opinion
Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:02:00 +0000

APPARENTLY the Department for International Development (DFID) will commit another £44m to Zimbabwe during this financial year. This week a further £9m has been designated for Zimbabwe bringing a total of over £220m spent in humanitarian commitments to Zimbabwe by Britain since 2001 in a mere eight years.

These constant political gestures of how much Britain is going to contribute now and then amounts to the same gesture as removing the knighthood of President Mugabe who now owes Britain nothing. The knighthood was the last vestment of any imperialist connections they might have had with him and it was their choice.

But how far will the £9m stretch when there is rent to be paid on plush office suites and secure staff housing with 24-hour security guards, computers, telephones, stationery, etc and staff salaries as well as vehicles purchased or imported and leased to provide transport and fuel which must be secured. The question arises: exactly where do they access the fuel stored for these purposes, when the remainder of the country has a problem getting any fuel?

Whilst these benevolent financial acts may be viewed by some as positive, to the average Zimbabwean it is patronising. Why has the Zimbabwean Government further been coerced into growing Jatropha, a biodiesel fuel that will not sustain the nation one iota as it is definitely not a nutritious food crop? Furthermore, the soil will be poisoned forever after so any intentions of growing nutritious crops thereon after must be dashed to the ground immediately. This is a non-starter.

Western reporters insist on claiming that the country has had the worst crop in 15 years and yet again has failed to produce sufficient grain, while harping on about Zimbabwe facing a “deepening humanitarian crisis as a direct result of the general economic collapse, poor governance and a lack of investment in agriculture, combined with poor weather.”

This is a total contradiction of the above-mentioned reports! There are organic vegetables on some shelves of UK supermarkets imported from Zimbabwe. More recently, just before elections, the President was seen to be distributing tractors in the rural areas. But the fuel sanctions by Botswana against Zimbabwe make it impossible to utilise such machinery. In the current climate, good old fashioned hand tools would have been more appropriate as Botswana is now directly responsible for the starving millions it purports to support. Has anyone thought that perhaps this is why the farmers are failing to produce grain? Zimbabwe’s enemies are quick to point fingers but few research to find out exactly why things are purportedly as bad as they make out?

These negative reports contradict the evidence of excellent rains last season while glossing over the fact that in the face of sanctions it is impossible to freely import spares and raw materials which would sustain thousands of factories now standing idle after being strangulated from operating by sanctions. The obvious question is why such spares and machinery cannot be imported from China to maintain the country’s industrial sites immediately arises? If they can send us weapons of warfare, they can send us spares and machinery.

It is common knowledge that Zimbabwe is doing business with Eastern countries that manufacture tools and machinery, so why are the nationals of Zimbabwe unable to access their urgent requirements that will apply as ointment to the wounds of factories and vital industries such as The Wankie Colliery Mines? The broken down machinery at Wankie Collieries has had disastrous effects - right down to thousands of trees being felled for fuel, trees that once acted as a windbreak, trees that stopped the winds blowing sand up from the Kalahari through southern Zimbabwe, winds that are now filling and choking some dams with sand.

During the days when the white state of Rhodesia faced sanctions, one of the most exciting challenges during its time was for the world all over to get involved in sanctions busting! Now, Zimbabwe is facing yet more sanctions and the world instead prefers to watch and wherever it gets the chance, to put the boot in.

Francis Phiri
Brighton, U.K.

Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, DFID, SANCTIONS, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 4:49 PM