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(NEWZIMBABWE) Writer blames white farmers for Zimbabwe crisis

Writer blames white farmers for Zimbabwe crisis
by Staff Reporter
29/05/2011 00:00:00

WHITE farmers must shoulder the blame for the plight of Zimbabwe, according to one of the world's best-selling authors. Henning Mankell, creator of the Wallander detective series, has lived in Africa for the past 25 years. The Swedish writer is known for his strident political views and told an audience at Hay that Robert Mugabe should not be painted as the sole villain of the piece.

In a provocative talk, Mankell said: "In the early 1980s, every year Mugabe went and talked to white farmers and said, 'It's necessary for us to sit down and talk about the farms here'.

“And the reaction he got from white farmers was absolutely none. He tried year after year after year, and the only thing he was met by was arrogance. In the end, it became a very bad situation.

"I think when history is written, the white farmers at the beginning of the 1980s also have to take responsibility and blame for what really happened. Otherwise, when history is written people will believe that Mugabe was always crazy. He was not.

[And he isn't 'crazy' now. If he was, he would never have been able to hang on to power and outmanoeuvre the MDC, UK and US governments while in his 80s. - MrK]

"Of course, today I hope that someone takes him out of the position he's in because he is destroying the country. But if white farmers had listened to him at the start of the 1980s, I think the situation for Zimbabwe would have been much better."
Since 2000, Mugabe has systematically seized land from white farmers parcelling it out to the country’s black majority.

Critics say the programme precipitated the country's economic collapse.

['Critics', also known on CNN and Fox News Channel as 'some people', say a lot. That doesn't mean they are right. In this case, they don't know what they are talking about or are lying. Ask them about ZDERA. - MrK]

Labels: LAND REFORM, WHITE FARMERS

posted by MrK @ 10:28 PM