I find it an extraordinary turn of history when Rhodesian farmers receive international sympathy. As someone who lived in Zimbabwe through most of the 1980s, I can say with certainty that most white commercial farmers showed little compassion for farmworkers and contested at virtually every turn the efforts to redistibute land.
The genuine war veterans (not the present brigades of imposters) were one of the most marginalised sectors. While a small layer managed to enter the corps of the elite, most languished in unemployed poverty. This was a primary contradiction of Zimbabwean society that those who had fought for the land continued to suffer while the ”settlers” prospered.
Now the war veterans have been converted from a progressive, anti-poverty, mass-based organistion to a paramilitary reactionary force. They have managed to make mobilising any genuine alternative to President Robert Mugabe a very difficult task.
In its early days the Movement for Democratic Change was looking at sort of a Reconstruction and Development Programme for Zimbabwe. But they, too, have shifted. They now seem to be trying to head Zimbabwe back to a rule of law under a market-driven economy. While this may win some important gains in terms of political freedom for Zimbabweans, like the previous models it is unsustainable. An MDC-led market-driven economy will do what it is supposed to do provide opportunities for the rich (especially multinational corporations) to get richer and the poor to get poorer. Dr John Pape, University of Cape Town
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