Maravi

[There was no nationalist government in 1974. He bought it under the illegal 'rebel' government of the racist Ian Smith.]

[Maintaining the 'old order' is a recurring theme in this documentary, something they did not manage to keep out.]

[Clever inversion of racism. 'Mugabe the racist'. You see it is black people who are racist, not rhodesians, who are kind, god fearing folk. With guns. And farm workers, who they give square deals.]

[Nice bit of editorializing. Frankly I didn't know landreform started as early as 1997, I thought 1999. However, the economy only collapsed in 2002, after the introduction of ZDERA. 1997 was the year Claire Short stated that Britain would not pay up compensation to the white farmers for the value of the land - as was the agreement under Lancaster House.

From the Secretary of State
"5 November 1997

I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know we were colonised not colonisers.

That was the origin and start of the switch from the Willing Buyer, Willing Seller land reform program to the Fast Track land reform program.]

[That can so easily be misinterpreted. There are plenty of white farmers who act like Zimbabweans instead of Rhodesians, which is really what they mean with White African, and have accepted a 250 hectare farm in the A2 scheme. But this misrepresentation aids them in their claim of 'racism'. Present Mugabe works with lots of white people. The person with the most companies listed for sanctions on the EU sanctions list is John Arnold Bredenkamp. Billy Rautenbach is on there too. The close associate of President Mugabe who set up Morgan Tsvangirai and put the words 'assassinate President Mugabe' in his dumb mouth was Ari Ben-Menashe, who is not only white but also Jewish and Israeli. The whole construct of 'Mugabe the racist' is another smoke screen to hide the fact that THEY'RE ON A 12,000 HECTARE ESTATE.]

[There were people killed on both sides, not just the MDC. The MDC acknowledged that in a collective statement made at the start of the Global Political Agreement that ushered in the National Unity Government that made Morgan Tsvangirai Prime Minister under President Mugabe. They left that out, of course. In total, 11 white farmers were killed. Compare that to neighboring South Africa, where at least 900 white farmers have been killed - without landreform.]

[Hyperinflation, the fall in cotton output, the first trade deficit did not occur when land redistribution occurred in 2000, but right after ZDERA was signed into law (December 21st 2001), in 2002.]

Trade Deficit in million US$
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
-295.6 -322.5 18.2 108.3 305.2 387.9 231.3

Agricultural exports, (US$ m)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
857.9 832.9 646.6 516 384.2 335.9 372.7

Tobacco Exports:
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
548.8 594.1 434.6 321.3 226.7 203.8

Source: Table 1: Zimbabwe - Key economic indicators, 2000–2007

These 'White Africans' (Rhodesians) were instrumental in the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy. And they did so only to get their giant estates back. Estates like the 12,000 hectare Mount Carmel 'Farm'.]

[Are you saying that 'your country' is not a normal country? I see both Zimbabwe and 1979 on the 'title deed'. The ZANU-PF government came to power in 1981, after the Februari 1980 elections.]

[I guess that is why Thom Hartmann would refer to Zimbabwe as a 'libertarian paradise'. The problem is, Thom Hartmann should know better than to take anyone who wants to keep hold of a giant estate with 500 'workers' word for anything. Can you say: conflict of interests? Or: these people have been involved in a grudge match with the African population for 100 YEARS. You think they would employ lying as a tool to get ahead? I guess they're 'just good Christian folk'. With guns. And servants. In fact within the first 14 minutes, they are off hunting Africans.]

[I saw the date 1979 on that letter, or whatever it was.]

[Ja baas, al se goe kom. 'The South Will Rise Again' - as someone once said. And of course, the return to the old order is in the dreams of every ex-colonial in history. There is an entire literature based on their fond remembrences of a time when they had power and wealth.]

[That is a blatant lie. Not only is the foreign funded and directed (wikileaks) head of the opposition not imprisoned or disappeared, he now functions as the Prime Minister.]

[Now, the answer to that leading question of course could easily be misrepresented as a statement that 'we will be winning all the time' because we will rig the elections all the time. Or, it could be taken at face value. That as long as the majority of the people vote, the ZANU-PF will win. Considering that unlike the MDC, the majority of Zimbabweans are not neoliberals, and like social services and the land that belongs to them. So was that really an 'admission'? The film makers seem to think so, or they would not have put it in there.]

[Namibia is the country with the lowest GINI coefficient in the world. Nearly all the land still belongs to the German settlers, and most Namibians can only look at their own country from the road. But they seem to be enjoying their ride.]

[That's not how Willing Buyer, Willing Seller land reform works. It is not 'Willing Buyer, Willing Seller' when you have bought your land off Ian Smith's government in 1974. And I don't know what happened in 1979, but the ZANU-PF government came in after the Februari 1980 elections. In the Willing Buyer, Willing Seller land reform program, the Willing Buyer is always the government, not another white farmer. Before 1980.]

[Transfer payments are payments made by the state to the farmer whose land is being acquired. ("the allocation that covers the actual purchase, planning and servicing of land"). Individual farmers in 1979 did not make 'transfer payments' to other white farmers as part of the land reform programme.]

[It was stolen, in 1890, at the point of a gun. Mike Campbell then bought it from the illegal rebel government of Ian Smith in 1974. Individual farmers at no time could BUY land as part of the Willing Buyer, Willing Seller land reform program.]

[Can you say: "I have been stalking you, mr. Chimada."? Is that why he was beaten up? The documentary doesn't say.]

[That's a lie. Several of the children of 'targeted individuals' have been expelled from schools in Australia, for instance. And he is telling the truth - the MDC are specifically underfunding the army and agriculture to increase Zimbabwe's dependence and vulnerability. And actually, I can now see how even individual 'targeted' sanctions strengthen the case for forcefully taking land from these folks. If the UK and US governments can do it, so can the Zimbabwean government. And 'freeze' their cars, paintings, machinery etc. too.]

[Well that is a lie. Zimbabwe's tobacco output is at record highs. That is Black Zimbabweans doing that. And maybe they're just asset stripping YOUR farm, so you won't come back. HINT!]

[Again - a lie. Read Myth 4 "Agriculture Is In Complete Ruins"
A new start for Zimbabwe? by Ian Scoones Ian Scoones, Challenges the myths about Zimbabwean agriculture and land reform 15 September 2008. There has been an obvious switch from large scale estate farming to small scale diversified farming.]

[In other words, he is hanging on because of pride. That's not much of an emergency if you ask me.]

[Well, after destroying the economy through an international credit freeze, which the white members of the MDC helped draft... And whites owned 2% of Zimbabwe? That is a blatant lie. Before land reform, the 1% of the population that is white owned 47% of the country. That is why landreform was and is inevitable. Again, Ben Freeth told a blatant lie, or he is talking until AFTER land reform, and he is being highly misleading. The Zimbabwean government however, is being completely consistent. They are redistributing large estates like 12,000 hectare Mount Carmel, and the fact that they are almost done and continue makes them consistent, not 'racist'.]

[He is talking about foreign and investment policy.]

[More likely because you're self righteous, racist, violent, superior a*holes.]

[BRAVO, Peter Chimada.]

[But of course not BEFORE 2000. That map would look more like this. This map of course is of Rhodesia at UDI in 1965, but Africans were being thrown off their land until 1973. Land reform did not start in earnest during the 1980s because a clause in the Lancaster House Agreement, insisted on by Ian Smith.]

[Well that's not even true either. There are a few (because there only were a few) black landholders who have had their lands redistributed. ]

[Now you know why white south africans loved to impose BANTU EDUCATION on the general population - so they would never have the skills to take over. The lawyer is lying, of course, lying for his client if we need to remember that. This is essentially the 'elite capture' slur that is levied against land reform. According to Ian Scoones:

Myth 2: The beneficiaries of Zimbabwean land reform have been largely political ‘cronies’

" Finally, there was a group, mostly given land on the A2 schemes, who were members of the security services – police, army, intelligence officers with strong political connections. This group made up three per cent of the total beneficiaries, and was the one which was probably most associated with political patronage and ruling party connections. "

So at least in Masvingo Province, the best evidence is that 'friends and cronies of Mugabe' make up only 3% of land recipients. Which would make sense, as over 320,000 families have received land. That would be a lot of 'friends and cronies'.]

[Could it be, counsel, that the reason farms are taken away from white farmers and given to blacks, is because... they were taken from blacks and given to whites? Would it then not follow that redistribution would take land from whites and give it to blacks? Perhaps he doesn't see colonialism and UDI has having caused this 'distinctly discriminatory' state of affairs when it comes to land distribution! Let's see that map again, and remember that whites only consisted 1% of the population.]

[But you didn't talk to President Mugabe, you talked to Peter Chimada. Maybe all Africans look alike to him? Also, in America and Australia, the native population have all but been wiped out - by the white man. Perhaps he is wishing that all the Africans had been wiped out too? Also, does mr. Freeth ever contemplate why he is disliked?]

[But... I thought 'Mugabe' was lawless, and a dictator and a tyrant? Certainly, he wouldn't stoop at obeying the law? Would he? I thought all the rules had been thrown out of the rubgy or soccer game? A not so small point of contradiction, I would think.]

[:)))) I invoke Godwin's Law. Changing the Constitution through a popular vote with a 2/3s majority is EXACTLY what democracies do. So much for 'tyranny' or 'dictatorship'.]

[How narcissistic do you have to be, to see an eviction order as God testing your faith?]

[Just what Mugabe wanted? So? Is he saying President Mugabe had the SADC tribunal in his pocket?]