ZIMBABWE

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ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Fri Nov 17, 2017 3:17 pm

ROBERT MUGABE AND THE HISTORY OF ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe is the home of some of Africa’s most advanced ancient civilizations. The Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe endured from around 1000 AD to 1500 AD. The entire kingdom was built from stone, and its walls towered as high as 36 feet, making it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert. The Great Walls of Zimbabwe are as much of a mystery as the Great Pyramids of Kemet, for all of the stones were fit perfectly in place without mortar and using advanced principles of engineering.

When Cecil Rhodes sent in his agents to rob and steal in Zimbabwe, they and other Europeans marveled at the surviving ruins of the Zimbabwe culture, and automatically assumed that it had been built by white people.

The land of Zimbabwe is rich with coal, iron, tin, and other precious metals, ivory, cattle, diamonds and other precious minerals. This natural wealth gave rise industries and technologies capable of processing precious metals and raw minerals into finished goods – an important aspect of developing healthy economies and healthy kingdoms. Farming and cattle raising more than met the nutritional needs of the people, and trade with Arabs from the North and Indians from the seas of the East meant a diversity of goods were available.

This was the state of affairs until the arrival of the first whites in the 1800s. The Berlin Conference of 1884–85 officially ushered in the age of African colonialism, carving up Africa into territories to be ruled by European nations. What we know today as Zimbabwe would become the British territory of “Rhodesia” in honor of Cecil Rhodes, the British empire-builder and key figure during the British expansion into southern Africa.

In 1888 Rhodes obtained mineral rights from the most powerful local traditional leaders through illegal treaties and false promises. Once the new colonial government was in place, the native Africans were ruled by an all-white government in which they were not allowed to participate.Technological progress was brought to a halt, as was their ability to conduct their own affairs of trade and commerce. Farmlands were seized by British companies and the people who had lived on that seized land for generations were forced to work the land for their new masters.

Rhodes believed that the English had an inherent right to imperial rule because they were the “first race in the world and therefore the more of the world (they) inhabited, the better it would be for the human race”.

Life in Rhodesia was brutal and humiliating for Blacks. The progress that they had gained after generations of development was erased. Rhodesia became a white mans heaven and the Black mans hell.

Under colonial law, 6000 whites seized the best half of the land while forcing 600,000 black peasant farmers onto the worst half of was left. From 1890 to 1979, the white minority dominated and oppressed the native population and divested them of their land.

This was the world that Robert Mugabe and his countrymen inherited.

Robert Mugabe was born on February 21, 1924. As a child and young man, Robert Mugabe proved to be a towering intellect. While other children socialized and played, Mugabe read. According to his brother Donato his only friends were his books. By the age of 27, Mugabe had graduated from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa, where he had been heavily influenced in thought after meeting men like Julius Nyerere and Robert Sobukwe – first President of the African National Congress (ANC). Mugabe would go on to earn 6 more degrees, including 2 Masters Degrees from The University of London.

He traveled to Ghana to teach from 1958 to 1960, only one year after Kwame Nkrumah came to power. Nkrumah’s Pan-African ideals influenced Mugabe to return to his home country of Rhodesia and join the Revolutionary Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in 1963.

THE WARS OF NATIONAL LIBERATION

One year after the ZANU was formed, the group went to war with rival nationalist parties. A white farmer was caught in the crossfire and killed, leading the Rhodesian government to ban new Black political parties, and leaders, including Mugabe, were arrested and imprisoned indefinitely. From 1964 until 1974, Mugabe remained incarcerated until political forces moved to set him free. That same year, he was elected the leader of the ZANU and created a militant arm of the political party called the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). Robert Mugabe was now in control of the most revolutionary political group in the country. The ZANU/ZANLA was now ready to take on colonialism head to head, with Robert Mugabe leading the charge.

Black nationalists had been fighting white majority rule in Zimbabwe during the period of time that Mugabe was incarcerated, but the efforts were dis-unified. Guerrillas would strike and flee into neighboring countries that were free from colonial rule like Zambia and Mozambique. As colonialism and capitalism fell in the countries surrounding Rhodesia, Russia, Cuba, and other nations sympathetic to the revolution began arming and training African freedom fighters. With the battles won in their home countries, well equipped and well-trained guerrillas joined the fight against the Rhodesian government.

The battles were fierce, and in the early 1970s, it seemed that the colonial government had everything it needed to win the war. But they underestimated the determination of the Africans that they faced. No longer were the guerrillas the disorganized force they had been in the 1960s. Indeed now they were well-equipped with modern weapons, and although many were still untrained, an increasing number had received training in Communist bloc and other sympathetic countries – particularly Mozambique.

On 9 August 1976, 70 colonial troops disguised their vehicle and snuck into a ZANU-PF camp in Mozambique housing 5,000 guerrillas. During the early morning hours, the colonial forces pulled out a loudspeaker and shouted “Zimbabwe tatona” – “We have taken Zimbabwe”. The sleeping guerrillas awoke and began cheering and running towards the vehicles.The colonials then opened fire and didn’t stop shooting until nobody moved. More than 1,000 ZANLA died that day.

In retaliation, guerrillas on Mugabe’s side bombed trains carrying minerals and slaughtered white civilian farmers.

In November 1977, in response to the buildup of Mugabe’s guerrilla force in Mozambique, Rhodesian forces launched a surprise attack on guerrilla camps. The onslaught lasted three days, from 23 to 25 November 1977, inflicting thousands of casualties on Robert Mugabe’s ranks.

Total war swept over Rhodesia, and with Black soldiers defecting from the white ranks and fellow revolutionaries sweeping over the border, the colonial government began to realize its days were numbered. In March of 1978, the white government disbanded and renamed the country Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, and installed the country’s first black prime minister. But nothing had essentially changed – control of the military, police, civil service, and judicial branches of the government remained in white hands, and whites kept one-third of the seats in parliament.

Mugabe’s forces didn’t buy it and kept fighting. They would not stop until majority rule was established and the yoke of imperialism was removed. However, a temporary cease-fire was called under the conditions that a new election be held and nationalist guerrilla leaders were allowed to run for office. The Rhodesian government – weary from nearly 20 years of bloodshed – agreed. Elections were scheduled for early 1980. Only two prominent nationalist leaders stepped forward, Robert Mugabe of the ZANU and his long time rival, Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU).

After two decades of struggle for liberation, after more than 20,000 lost lives, and after the reduction of the nation into a war torn battlefield, in 1980, Robert Mugabe had done the impossible, winning election to the leadership of the new nation that he renamed Zimbabwe.

UNDER THE RULE OF ROBERT MUGABE

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One of the first acts of Prime Minister Mugabe was to revoke white privilege. Generous social welfare policies that covered white education and healthcare were cancelled and that money and those resources were redirected to the Black population that had been denied for so long. Jobs that were previously off limits were now wide open to Blacks in the nation.

According to a World Bank report,”Zimbabwe gave priority to human resource investments and support for smallholder agriculture,” and as a result, “smallholder agriculture expanded rapidly during the first half of the 1980s and social indicators improved quickly.” As a result, the country became known as the breadbasket of southern Africa.

Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe became an example to follow for the rest of the continent. His achievements included:

Reducing infant mortality rates from 86 to 49 per 1000 live births, under five mortality was reduced from 128 to 58 per 1000 live births,
Increasing immunization from 25% to 80% of the population.
Reducing child malnutrition from 22% to 12%
Increasing life expectancy from 56 to 64 years of age
Increasing the literacy rate of his people to 98% (a rate better than the United States. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S. can’t read. That’s 14 percent of the population)
Cutting HIV/AIDS prevalence in half
Because of these achievements, the world praised Robert Mugabe as the future of African leadership. Universities worldwide awarded him honorary degrees and he was Knighted by the Queen of England.

THE CRUSHING

Despite all of Zimbabwes achievements, the nation still suffered from political strife and division. In 1983, Mugabe fired Nkomo from the position of Vice President. Nkomo’s political party, the ZAPU, remained active and saw the firing as an attack on their interests – which it was: Mugabe sought to bring a one government rule to the nation, based on the advice of his mentor Julius Nyerere.

Tribes loyal to Nkomo began plots to overthrow Robert Mugabe and threaten the hard-earned peace won less than 3 years earlier. Mugabe went into action. From 1982 until 1987, he ordered his armies to crush armed resistance from the Ndebele tribes of the ZAPU, killing as many as 20,000 and securing his rule over the nation. Rather than continuing to war with rival political parties, Mugabe merged the ZANU with other revolutionary groups to create the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front, and he reinstated Nkomo as the Vice President within the newly created party. This unified front had achieved the support of the peasants, the strength of a respectable military, and consolidated Mugabe’s rule.

This was an impressive achievement on Mugabe’s part, but the international community refused to turn a blind eye to the Ndebele massacre. If they were troubled by the massacre, they were absolutely pissed about Mugabe’s Fast Track land reform

THE ARRIVAL OF THE ECONOMIC HITMEN

The United States was first to move against Mugabe in retaliation for his land reforms, which forced thousands of white farmers to turn land back over o Africans. In 2000, members of the Senate (including Hilary Clinton) froze the credit of the nation, forcing the Zimbabwean government to operate on a cash only basis and causing high inflation.The economy of the nation was destroyed. The Zimbabwe dollar fell. Tobacco – a major export – experienced an export deficit. No one would buy Zimbabwe diamonds.

The European Union followed behind the United States with sanctions on Mugabe and 94 members of his government, banning them from traveling to participating countries and freezing any assets held there.

Mugabe was stripped of many of his honorary degrees and his Knighthood was revoked. Zimbabwe was removed from the Commonwealth of Nations – 53 member states that were mostly territories of the former British Empire – thereby cutting foreign aid to Zimbabwe.

Because of these sanctions and climate change, the former “breadbasket of South Africa” experienced food shortages, and the people began to call for Mugabe’s removal.

Mugabe had to do something to regain control over the economic situation of his nation. In 2008, he signed the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Bill into law to give black Zimbabweans greater control of the southern African economy. “The indigenization and empowerment drive will continue unabated in order to ensure that indigenous Zimbabweans enjoy a larger share of the country’s resources.

”Mr Mugabe says giving black Zimbabweans control of the business sector is the next step and said the election result had given him a “resounding mandate” to do so. “We will do everything in our power to ensure our objective of total indigenisation, empowerment, development and employment is realized,” he told a public rally to mark the annual Defense Forces Day. He said the policy was the “final phase of the liberation struggle” and “final phase of total independence”.

Since then, Robert Mugabe has continued unabated in his economic reforms. He continues to survive the political manipulation of the west (who attempted to install a puppet leader in the form of Morgan Tsvangirai). He continues to fight on behalf of Pan-African movements, and continues to build the economic sovereignty of his nation.

https://www.panafricanalliance.com/robert-mugabe/
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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Sat Nov 18, 2017 3:53 pm

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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:31 pm

China, US knew of Zim coup
2017-11-19 05:56
Sipho Masondo in Harare-

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President Robert Mugabe. (Elizabeth Sejake/City Press)

The coup that led to the ouster of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was supposed to be executed in December, ahead of the Zanu-PF special congress, but had to be brought forward when vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa was axed.

City Press has learnt that the military, political players and diplomats had been hatching the plan for some time in order to prevent the ascendancy at the congress of the G40 faction of Zanu-PF. Its figurehead is First Lady Grace Mugabe. Several governments in the region and abroad had been made aware of the plan and had no objection. They insisted that there be no bloodshed and that the overthrow should not be characterised as a coup.

Mnangagwa’s axing from the Zanu-PF leadership and his government position was meant to pave the way for Grace to succeed Mugabe. But it had the opposite effect, speeding up her own demise and ending her husband’s 37-year rule.

Sources told City Press that a senior Zimbabwean diplomat “sensitised” regional governments “to the idea and necessity of the coup” and “received assurances that there would be no military intervention”.

Chinese interest

Yesterday, in Harare, thousands of people protested at a mass rally and, while chanting “he must go!”, marched to Mugabe’s Blue Roof mansion to demand that the 93-year-old leader step down immediately.

Similar rallies in support of the army’s action took place in other cities around the country.

The Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF), led by General Constantino Chiwenga, took control of the country on Tuesday night, placed Mugabe and Grace under house arrest, parked tanks outside key government buildings and took over the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

Army spokesperson Major General Sibusiso Moyo went on air to tell viewers that the military was in charge, in order to ensure that it dealt with the “criminals” in Mugabe’s inner circle.

“We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country, in order to bring them to justice‚” Moyo said.

The coup, sources told City Press yesterday, was given the tacit approval of China, Zimbabwe’s largest development partner. China was asked to provide the assurance that it would not stop its “economic and technical assistance” to Zimbabwe if Mugabe was deposed. It did so, on condition that its strategic interests in the country were not compromised.

“The Chinese were keen on knowing who would take over. When [the diplomat] informed them that it was Mnangagwa, they were thrilled as he is an old friend of China. He did his military training there,” a source said.

“I can confirm that at this stage, the United States was informed, but played no role in the plan.”

Last week, Chiwenga travelled to China and other countries in southern Africa to “consolidate the assurances”, having told Mugabe that “he was going for medical follow-ups ... but he was really coming for consultations”.

On Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma dispatched Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Bongani Bongo to Zimbabwe to hold talks with Mugabe and the generals.

Another source said that the coup was also brought forward by plans to arrest Chiwenga upon his return from his visits out of the country. The plan, City Press learnt, was to arrest him when he arrived at the airport in Harare. However, military intelligence learnt about the plan and thwarted it by waiting for him at the airport.

Another source said Mugabe was “very angry that no regional leader actually called for his restoration to office”.

“All statements were simply politically correct, saying there should be no violence and there must be a return to constitutionality, but without anyone saying ‘restore Mugabe to office’.”

Death and violence

Despite the calls for no violence and bloodshed, there were several deaths and other serious injuries during the ZDF’s crackdown on politicians they believe orchestrated Mnangagwa’s axing.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, soldiers shot dead a security guard when they stormed finance minister Ignatius Chombo’s house. On Thursday, an intelligence officer known as Munedzi died of his injuries at a military barracks in Harare, after soldiers severely beat him.

Zanu-PF youth wing leader Kudzanayi Chipanga was beaten. Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director of security and head of Mugabe’s security, Albert Ngulube, was hospitalised on Wednesday after soldiers assaulted him.

Three sources close to Zanu-PF confirmed the deaths. One said: “People are romanticising the coup and saying it was not bloody. It was damn bloody. People are being beaten badly. Obviously, this was well planned, which is why no one knows about the deaths and beatings.”

Ngulube refused to comment, but a close relative said that he was in his office on Tuesday evening with his boss, acting CIO director-general Aaron Nhepera, assessing the security and political situation after receiving intelligence about the movement of army tanks.

“He called the army to find out what was happening as the large movement of military equipment without the knowledge of the president, who is also the commander in chief of the army, was unusual. The military told him there was nothing. He kept pushing the army for answers, but they didn’t tell him anything.

“Later, he went to brief Mugabe about the situation, painting a picture that a state of emergency was developing,” the relative said.

After meeting Mugabe at his palace in Borrowdale, Harare, Ngulube headed to town to discuss rumours that the army had seized the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

“He noticed a car following him. Immediately, 10 soldiers ambushed him, dragged him out of his car and beat him up. They beat him with a gun and blood gushed out of his head. They kicked him and jumped on top of him,” the relative said.

They took him to the presidential guard headquarters where they continued beating him, said the source. The beatings worsened after Grace Mugabe made a call to his phone.

“They stripped him naked in the morning and they took him to military intelligence officers who released him when they found he had struggle credentials,” said the relative.

Another source said Grace Mugabe’s allies and members of Zanu-PF’s so-called G40 faction – higher education and local government ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere – were also targeted.

“The operation started at Chombo’s house in Mount Pleasant. They fired their way into his house and arrested him. A security guard who resisted got himself killed in the process. They arrested Chombo and took him to a military barracks,” the source said.

By midnight, Moyo received information that soldiers were coming to his house.

“He abandoned his mansion in Greystone Park, took his family and ran off to Kasukuwere in Glen Lorne, Harare. They hid there, fearing the worst. Around 2am on Wednesday, about 15 soldiers arrived at Kasukuwere’s house and started shooting indiscriminately for about 15 minutes,” the source said.

“They sprayed the house with bullets, which triggered the alarm. The soldiers thought the people were dead and they left, only to find that no one died. Everyone was hiding.”

Paul Chimedza, the premier of Masvingo province, was arrested and beaten while trying to escape to South Africa, said the source.

Mugabe cornered

Next week will be crucial to Zimbabwe as the Zanu-PF leadership of the country’s 10 provinces will make formal submissions to the party’s headquarters for Mugabe to be immediately removed as its leader. They will ask for Grace to step down as head of the Zanu-PF women’s league. The process of getting the provincial leaders to throw their weight behind the coup began on Friday and continued this weekend, with eight of the 10 provincial leaders behind the move.

By Tuesday, the provincial Zanu-PF structures will call for the reinstatement of party leaders Mugabe dismissed, because it was not done in accordance with the party’s constitution. Mnangagwa and others from his Lacoste faction “would have to be restored”, said a source with intimate knowledge of the situation. After that is done, Zanu-PF’s central committee is expected to state that because the demands for Mugabe’s recall came from all 10 provinces, it would be forced to adopt the resolutions and vote for Mugabe’s removal as party leader.

After that, the sources said, Mugabe would have no option but to resign, being forced into a constitutional corner that will leave him without the crucial support of the army.

“It is hoped that this resignation will take place on Tuesday. Should he not resign, MPs from both Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will impeach him in Parliament. In that case it will not be a resignation but a dismissal,” said a source close to talks within the party.

Thereafter, a transitional government headed by Mnangagwa will be placed in charge, which sources said, “will be inclusive of all major political leaders, including MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

“This interim arrangement is anticipated to last until August 2018, at which stage fresh elections are scheduled. This may change,” a source said. “The way this change was planned and how it is being executed is simply brilliant. This has been a master stroke,” said another source.

Isaac Nkama, a council member of both the SA Institute of International Affairs and African Futures Council, said while military intervention in politics should never be encouraged, the ZDF had exhibited both tact and discipline.

“Technically speaking, this is not a military coup in the traditional sense,” he said.

“What the defence force has done is to force Zanu-PF to address its internal political challenges through a well-thought-out process that has proven to be highly effective, yet devoid of any bloodshed so far. What is unique about this situation is that in all military coups, the military takes over because there are political problems. In this case, the military has forced politicians to resolve their own problems.”

Nkama said it would only be a matter of days before Mugabe was removed from office, and that it was positive that the ZDF had tried hard not to humiliate Mugabe.

Zuma’s spokesperson, Bongani Ngqulunga, said the South African government didn’t have any information about the developments in Zimbabwe before they happened.

“So, we could not inform the mentioned countries about something we didn’t know. As far as we know President Mugabe has not been removed from office and therefore we could not call for his ‘restoration’.”

https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/ ... 20171119-2

Not so 'bloodless' and not so popular as advertised. Ariel observation showed the crowds at the anti-Mugeba rally to be small, whites holding placards reading "Our Zimbabwe"(they're really 'asking for it').
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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Fri Nov 24, 2017 12:48 pm

Robert Mugabe Resigns – a sad political end to an illustrious life
Comrade R G Mugabe resigned the office of President of Zimbabwe amid much jubilation on the part of imperialism and its flunkeys – inside and outside of Zimbabwe. Much venomous abuse has been poured on him by the imperialist media, which have mindlessly described him as a brutal dictator who ruled over Zimbabwe through coercion, bringing nothing but misery, poverty and destitution to his people.

The truth is just the opposite. Robert Mugabe devoted his whole life to serving his people. He did a long term of imprisonment in the dungeons of the white minority racist rulers during the early years of the war of liberation, without the freedom-loving ideologues of imperialism and its paid hacks coming to his, or his fellow liberation fighters’ defence.


Chimurenga! The liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. Read this book to understand Zimbabwe’s history.
“The struggle against imperialism must be fought and fought – and fought in the intersts of the masses of Zimbabwe”

On coming out of prison, he guided the armed liberation struggle in Zimbabwe with skill and astuteness, forcing the British government at long last to arrange the Lancaster House Conference which led to Zimbabwe’s independence. At this Conference, the sticking point was the land question. Both the United States and Britain had agreed to fund the purchase of land from the white farmers, who had stolen this land at gunpoint from its lawful owners following the colonisation of the country by Cecil Rhodes’ armed hordes. This was a promise to be honoured in the breach rather than in the observance.

To the shock of its enemies, and a pleasant surprise to its friends, ZANU(PF) led by Robert Mugabe won an absolute and decisive victory in the elections held under the Lancaster House arrangement.

Robert Mugabe went on to form the government of new Zimbabwe. He and his Party did not have to share governmental power with any other party, let alone the representatives of the white minority, who had been allotted, quite unfairly, a disproportionate share of parliamentary seats.

All the same, forgetting all past differences and the cruelty inflicted by erstwhile white minority regime on the people of Zimbabwe, on the liberation fighters, and on him personally, Mugabe appointed two white members to his government as well as appointing his long-term opponent Joshua Nkomo as the Minister for Home Affairs.

Not being happy with that dispensation, Nkomo staged a rebellion in Matabeleland, which was rightly crushed by the government. Instead of blaming Mugabe for the resultant bloodshed, as the imperialist media and statesmen alike have done, the blame should be firmly placed on the shoulders of those who staged that provocation. Notwithstanding even that, Nkomo was subsequently invited to be part of the government, which he accepted.

When Nkomo died, Robert Mugabe paid an eloquent tribute to him, and he is honoured by being buried in the Heroes’ Acre, a cemetery close to Harare devoted to the patriots and freedom fighters of Zimbabwe.

Eventually, failing to get Britain and the US to honour their promise to fund the purchase of land from the white farmers, Mugabe’s government adopted the only course open to it, namely, confiscation of white farmers’ land and its redistribution among black Zimbabweans, mostly poor farmers. Had it not done so, the government would have stood rightly accused of betraying the people of Zimbabwe who had suffered and shed blood in the fight for liberation to be able to settle this historical injustice.


Mugabe’s government was by no means the first government to confiscate land. It had been done during the great French Revolution by the victorious bourgeoisie. And it has been done by socialist governments from the Soviet Union, through China, to the DPRK and several other countries.

What was remarkable was that Robert Mugabe’s government was the first non-communist government since the French Revolution to have redistributed land to the tiller. In doing so it set a very infectious example to other countries, especially neighbouring South Africa. It is for this reason, more than any other, that imperialism has poured its vitriol on Robert Mugabe.

Suddenly, from being a “perfect African gentleman” (in the words of Mrs Thatcher), he was transformed into a demon and a monster, and his government subjected to draconian economic and political sanctions and military threats.

His government was able to manage through a very difficult period thanks to the distribution of land which brought a modicum of prosperity to the countryside and the close relationship that the country had cultivated over the years with the People’s Republic of China.

During Mugabe’s period as President, life expectancy nearly doubled, education was made widely available with the result that Zimbabwe has one of the most literate populations in Africa. Health and other social programmes were put in place. Zimbabwe was even able to intervene militarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo to support a fellow African state threatened by mercenaries unleashed by imperialism. It cut off its ties with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which were bringing nothing but misery and starvation to the people of Zimbabwe.

These are the real reasons that imperialism made a special target of Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government, and did its best to destabilise Zimbabwe and overthrow that government by every means, including draconian economic sanctions – that modern weapon of mass destruction so freely wielded by imperialism, giving the lie to its alleged tender concern for ‘human rights’ – diplomatic and political intervention, notably lavishing multi-million pound and dollar funding and media promotion of the pro-imperialist ‘opposition’ MDC.

If all the efforts of imperialism to overthrow Robert Mugabe failed, dissensions within the ruling ZANU-PF have obliged Mugabe to resign. We do not know at the moment the direction the course of events will take. It is our hope that ZANU-PF will defend and safeguard the achievements made by the people of Zimbabwe during the long course of Robert Mugabe’s stewardship.

For our part, we honour his record and achievements which undoubtedly will go down in history as nothing short of remarkable. He has been an iconic figure, deserving of respect, love and admiration of all who love freedom and justice. Our admiration for his long record of service to the Zimbabwean people is tinged by sadness at the manner of his departure. We would have wished him four or five years ago to have made way for his successor and to have retired as an elder statesman at the height of his glory.

Imperialism sees opportunity in every crisis, and US & British agencies will be energetically seeking to influence the course of events to find pliable leadership that will pave the way for the return of their profitable exploitation of Zimbabwe’s people. Without power to influence the course of events, the workers of Britain and the CPGB-ML can only look on and advise the Zimbabwean people to be vigilant.

The course of struggle is long, convoluted and difficult to traverse, and not everyone has the steadfastness and courage for the fight. But at this time of transition, we would all do well to remember the words of another great comrade:

“The capitalists are our implacable enemies: their wealth is built upon our poverty; their joy upon our misery“

http://www.londonworker.org/robert-muga ... ious-life/

videos at link
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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Sat Nov 25, 2017 2:25 pm

Thursday, November 16, 2017
Not in defense of Mugabe but...
I would like to remember the Robert Mugabe I knew (from afar) as I was growing up. Robert Mugabe has an appeal not that different from that of Nelson Mandela for my leftist generation in the Middle East. Mugabe was a brilliant student who persevered in a grotesque racist system of white minority rule in Rhodesia. People have forgotten by now the nastiness of the regime of Ian Smith and how it was sponsored by Western government. After completing his education in many fields and adding to it through correspondence education, Mugabe led the movement of ZANU. This is the Mugabe that I remember: the principled and defiant leader of liberation struggle who supported Arab struggle for independence and who supported Palestinian resistance (and received aid from it too). Mugabe is a man who led the struggle for independence against two evil twin system of colonization: local and external. This was all before Mugabe became a leader of a country--not a virtuous or able leader but a leader nevertheless. Yet, the Western media coverage of the man was more like a caricature of him: and don't sell me the fake notions of Western outrage agent his tyranny: Western leaders go one-by-one and prostrate, literally, before every Gulf despot and you think that you rhetoric of outrage against Mugabe will stick? You think that corruption of the Mugabe is worse than the corruption of US puppet deposit in the Middle East region? Mugabe also championed the poor and was adamant about health care for all in Zimbabwe when 40 million remain without health care in the US. But the nasty (and disproportionate) Western media coverage of Mugabe is partly directed against his measures against white settlers who sole lands that didnot belong to him. He was not "magnanimous" like Mandela who was more than happy to apply pure unjust Western capitalism in South Africa.
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at 10:21 AM

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2017/11/n ... e-but.html

Ain't many so-called left pundits wanting to 'go there', comparing Mugabe to Mandela. It makes those lying scum uncomfortable to confront the end game of their affected advocacy: expropriation of the means of production. Try getting one of those sorry-ass DSAers to get on board with that...
Nope, Mandela the Peacemaker is all they focus on, never minding that it was a very bad peace. A peace whose results were predictable, as viewed from the US where black booj proved once again that class rules. Mugabe had none of that and when those asshole boers refused his first generous proposal he didn't fuck around. And that's why the capitalists hate him so and why every vindictive and lie was thrown at him.
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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:40 pm

Counter-revolution in progress...

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Zimbabwe in the right direction, says IMF
December 15, 2017 Staff Reporter Economic Analysis, Headlines 0

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HARARE, – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the softening of the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act is a step in the right direction and feels the 2018 budget is a good starting point in addressing excessive government expenditure.

The 2018 budget which was presented last week by Zmbabwe’s Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, is seen as tackling the widening fiscal deficit and implementing critical structural reforms.

The controversial local ownership law, which requires foreign owned companies to cede 51 percent to black Zimbabweans, was amended to apply only to the Platinum and Diamond sectors.

IMF spokesperson William Murray on Thursday said a mission had concluded its assessment of the country’s fiscal position.

“Our understanding as a result of this mission but also in our ongoing context is that the authorities are cognisant of the challenges facing Zimbabwe and have expressed their determination to address them,” said Murray.



“They presented their 2018 budget on December 7th and that budget stresses that the government’s intention to re-impose budget discipline, reform and open the economy and engage with the broader international community.”

Murray added that the IMF stands ready to support the southern African nation but stressed that Zimbabwe would have to pay up its arrears to multilateral lenders before it could receive any new financial support.

“In addition to a strong and coherent reform program, a concerted international effort will be required to revive and reintegrate the Zimbabwe economy,” he said.

“An IMF financial arrangement, for example, would only be possible, after progress is made in resolving Zimbabwe’s arrears to other international financial institutions and other creditors.” – Source

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/headline ... -says-imf/
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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:27 pm

the counter-revolution will be televised

**********************************

Zimbabwe Announces Massive Plan For Privatisation Of State-Owned Enterprises
By LEX VAMBE January 3, 2018 0 Comments

Zimbabwe has invited bids to buy stakes in up to eight parastatals, including telecomms firms, Air Zimbabwe, Zesa Holdings and the National Railways of Zimbabwe and is selling off its shareholdings in other private firms in a bid to plug its ballooning budget deficit.

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The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Terence Mukupe said that government is willing to totally divest from some entities.

“Yes, privatisation of parastatals is ongoing as it was mentioned in the budget. SERA (State Enterprises Restructuring Agency) is selling off some companies,” said Mukupe.

In the 2018 National Budget, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said that government will shut down technically insolvent enterprises.

“There is a lot more that is going on, we are diluting our shareholding in those entities and our shareholding might go to zero percent in some entities,” added Mukupe.

The southern African country has 92 SOE or parastatals, most of which have been making losses for years due to mismanagement, high operating costs and old equipment.

In 2016, 38 parastatals ran losses totalling $270 million according to a report released by the Office of the President and Cabinet last October.

So far government has published a priority list of companies including Air Zimbabwe, National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Cold Storage Company (CSC), Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), Posts and Telecommunication Corporation (Netone, Telone and Zimpost and POSB Bank), Finhold (ZB Holdings), Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ) subsidiaries, Olivine Holdings, Agribank, CAPS, ZDC subsidiary among others.

Government spending ballooned under former president Robert Mugabe, with more than 90 percent of the budget going on civil servant salaries, leaving precious little for the investment needed to boost growth.

The new government of Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to slash spending by selling off or privatising its loss making companies.

Zimbabwe’s budget deficit hit $1.82 billion or 11.2 percent of GDP in 2017 from an initial target of $400 million.

To cut a budget deficit projected at about 10 percent of GDP this year, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa last month said the government would retire all civil servants aged over 65 and close some overseas diplomatic missions.

The Zimbabwe government wholly owns Agribank, IDCZ and ZESA while other companies’ shareholding have been diluted by foreign and local investors.

Air Zimbabwe has debts of more than $300 million and recently has been looking to lease aircraft from Malaysia.

Government owns 51 percent of Olivine Industries while 49 percent is jointly owned by Singapore-based Wilmar International and Midex Group.

In August last year, South African logistics group Transnet won a $400 million tender to recapitalise the government-owned NRZ after a joint bid with Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group, a consortium of Zimbabwean investors living abroad.

Negotiations are yet to take place but Transnet is expected to provide funding to acquire and refurbish wagons, upgrade the company’s information communication technology and signalling systems and increase NRZ’s capacity to move goods.

The state-run pension fund, National Social Security Authority (NSSA) will invest $18 million in meat processor, CSC, in exchange for 80 percent equity. CSC has debts amounting to $25 million.

“We are working on those entities which have been put on the public domain. Some other institutions will be added in the current list,” said Mukupe.- The Source

https://www.pazimbabwe.com/business-440 ... rises.html

I find "90% of the budget went to civil servant salaries" unbelievable. This is what they did to the Soviet Union, in miniature and on steroids.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 13, 2018 5:55 pm

Zimbabwe faces bloodshed if 'illegal regime' stays, Mugabe ally says
Joe Brock

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe was sacked as president illegally and the international community must help remove the “military government” that has taken power or risk the country descending into chaos, an exiled Mugabe loyalist said on Friday.

Mugabe, 93, stood down last November, a week after the army and his former political allies turned against him, ending nearly four decades of rule marred by allegations of corruption, human rights abuses and economic negligence.

His former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, whose sacking prompted the military takeover that forced Mugabe out, was sworn in as president and the general who led the de facto coup, Constantino Chiwenga, was installed as his deputy.

Mugabe’s resignation came in the form of a written statement and he has not spoken since.

“The president was alleged to have resigned. There is no evidence,” Jonathan Moyo, a cabinet minister under Mugabe, told Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location, in one of the first detailed accounts from a Mugabe supporter since the coup.

“It is completely unsustainable for anyone to say Mugabe resigned voluntarily when we know the army took over all institutions of the state and confined him to his residence. You have to be applying a Banana Republic model to say he resigned.”

Moyo was the fiercely combative mouthpiece for a faction in the ruling ZANU-PF party that opposed Mnangagwa and backed Mugabe’s 52-year old wife, Grace, to succeed him.

Mugabe’s departure brought tens of thousands of jubilant Zimbabweans onto the streets and was widely cheered by leaders in Africa and the West.

But Moyo said the international community, including the African Union and the United Nations, was making a huge mistake if it legitimised a government that came to power via a coup.

“This is a military government. You cannot send the arsonists to be the fire brigade,” he said.

He said the public was currently living in unprecedented fear of the former soldiers who have taken political office but eventually the masses would not stand for an “illegal regime”.

“FLOODGATES TO CONFLICT”

“If you don’t intervene when there has been such an outrageous, brazen attack on a constitutional order, you are simply opening the floodgates to conflict,” he said.

“If they don’t act, just as the sun will rise tomorrow, Zimbabwe will be another Somalia. There will be bloodshed.”

Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment. But in response to earlier criticisms levelled by Moyo, government spokesman George Charamba said on Thursday the issue of legitimacy or illegitimacy did not arise.

He pointed to large demonstrations in November calling for Mugabe’s departure and “across the political spectrum support” for his replacement by a new administration.

“So really this is a bitter, bitter defeated politician,” Charamba said.

Many of Mugabe’s political allies were either arrested by the military in a series of spectacular raids in the early hours of Nov. 15 or they fled into neighbouring countries.

Moyo said he narrowly escaped with his life.

“This was not Mickey Mouse stuff. There was heavy gunfire for 15 minutes. They shot stun grenades in the house. I was there with my wife and children,” Moyo said, adding that he has since fled to another country over fears for his safety.

“They still have aspirations to harm me.”

Grace Mugabe’s accelerating presidential ambitions contributed to Mnangagwa and the military taking action to prevent her taking over from her ailing husband.

Moyo, a figure reviled in much of Zimbabwe for his often brutal verbal assaults on detractors, says he has no regrets.

“I will never, ever accept the proposition that those who use violence have outsmarted me,” he said.

“I would rather be hated for standing for my principles and believing in the rule of law than be feared that if people don’t agree with me I will unleash the tanks.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-zimba ... KKBN1F121N

Joe Brock and Reuters scoff and sneer, we can only hope that Mugabe and the people have the last laugh.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:20 pm

Only a racist could love this:

Prez Mugabe's exit brings hope to Zimbabwe's ousted white farmers
Reuters|Jan 30, 2018, 07.55 PM IST

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White landowners hope the post-Mugabe regime may address the land issue, either through compensation or returning land.

A new political dawn in Zimbabwe has sparked talk among farmers of land reform and the return of some whites who lost their land and livelihoods to President Robert Mugabe during a 37-year rule that drove the economy to collapse.

Mugabe, 93, resigned in November after the army and his ZANU-PF party turned against him, prompting optimism among some of the thousands of white farmers ousted in the early 2000s on the grounds of redressing imbalances from the colonial era.

For colonialists seized some of the best agricultural land that remained in the hands of white farmers after independence in 1980 leaving many blacks effectively landless and making land ownership one of Zimbabwe's most sensitive political topics.

Now some white landowners hope the post-Mugabe regime may address the land issue, either through compensation or returning land, and try to resuscitate a once vibrant agricultural sector boosting an economy once seen as one of Africa's great hopes.

"We are convinced positive signals will come quickly in terms of property rights," Ben Purcel Gilpin, director of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which represents white and black farmers, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"It would send a good signal to people outside Zimbabwe."

New president and long-time Mugabe ally, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has promised a raft of changes since he took office, including a return to the rule of law and respect for property rights.

Land ownership has been a key issue for decades in Zimbabwe dating back to British colonial rule in what was then Rhodesia.

At independence, white farmers owned more than 70 percent of the most fertile land and generated 80 percent of the country's agricultural output, according to academics.

Reforms began after independence with a "willing buyer, willing seller" system aimed at redistributing land to poor black subsistence farmers. In the 1990s, compulsory acquisition of land began with some funding provided by Britain.

But for many Zimbabweans change was too slow and Mugabe approved radical land reforms that encouraged occupation of some 4,000 white-owned farms. Land went to his supporters with no knowledge of farming and thousands of white farmers fled.

The violent farm seizures saw Zimbabwe forfeit its status as the bread basket of Africa and led to a collapse of many industries that depended on agriculture. Among those were paper mills, textile firms, leather tanners and clothing companies.

As a result the country failed to generate foreign currency, resulting in the central bank printing money which led to unprecedented levels of hyper-inflation and high unemployment.

NEW START

Now some white farmers are starting to reclaim their land.

"White commercial farmers, like all other Zimbabweans, could apply for land from the Government and join the queue or go into joint ventures," Mnangagwa told a former white commercialBSE 0.00 % farmer during a recent visit to Namibia.

The CFU's Gilpin - who quit farming and moved to Harare after his farm was compulsorily acquired by the government in 2005 - said sound policies from the new team could win support and help the economy. He said compensation rather than putting people back into their properties might be the best route as many farmers are now too old to farm, some had died and others migrated.

The current situation - where resettled farmers had 99-year leases - was also untenable as the leases were not accepted by banks as collateral against borrowing.

Gilpin said this effectively made the land dead capital, as banks could not sell if farmers failed to pay back loans, so the government should instead offer farmers freehold titles.

Property rights expert Lloyd Mhishi, a senior partner in the law firm Mhishi Nkomo Legal Practice, said although Mnangagwa spoke about compensating farmers whose land was expropriated, he did not give specifics and title deeds of the former white farmers had no legal force after repossession.

POLITICAL WAY OUT

"As far as the law of the country is concerned, the title deeds that the former white commercial farmers hold do not guarantee them title," Mhishi said in an interview.

But the lawyer said there were positive signs that the new administration realised land was a vital cog in the economy.

"I see there will be an attempt to make land useful, productive," he said. "The land tenure side needs to be addressed to make land useful."

Independent economist John Robertson, a former Advisor to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said, however, that any idea of compensation should be dropped and former white commercial farmers should get back to their land and resume work.

"I'd rather see them get back their land and start farming again than paid out and emigrating. We need their skills. If people who oppose that idea could be just successful, where have they been for the past 20 years?" he said.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 712514.cms
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Re: ZIMBABWE

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 30, 2018 5:41 pm

Three decades of agrarian reform in Zimbabwe
Sam Moyo
Pages 493-531 | Published online: 08 Jul 2011
Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2011.583642


Abstract

This article examines the empirical facts about the actual outcome of Zimbabwe's land reform, based on years of field research. It shows that the popular assumption about failed land reform in Zimbabwe is wrong on several counts: the character of Zimbabwe's land reform has been redistributive, and the extent of this has been wide enough to trigger significant progressive changes in the agrarian structure. This is despite some elites having benefited from the process and foreign-owned agro-industrial estates and conservancies being retained. The distribution of land among land reform beneficiaries has been relatively uneven, with some receiving larger land allocations than others, and this in turn influenced the differentiated access of these groups to farming services and infrastructure. Yet the productivity of small producers has grown slowly with output escalating recently. Three decades of land reform has recast land-based social relations in important ways, with the poor gaining more than previously believed.

Keywords: market-based land reforms, agrarian transformation, social differentiation, small producers, pluri-form land tenure, farm labour tenancy

Introduction

Zimbabwe now has a 30-year experience of land reform since Independence in 1980. While the achievements and limits of redistribution of Zimbabwe's earlier land reform, from 1980 until 1999, have been extensively documented (Kinsey 1983 Kinsey, B. H. 1983. Emerging policy issues in Zimbabwe's land resettlement programmes. Development Policy Review, 1(2): 163–96., 1999, Moyo 1995 Moyo, S. 1995. The land question in Zimbabwe, Harare: SAPES Books.
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); hence, missing in most analyses is the cumulative impact of land reform on existing agrarian structure. Even fewer have contemplated the possibility that the structural reforms initiated by the FTLRP could be historically progressive, with potentially positive effects on society and agrarian relations – despite its recognised democratic and distributional deficits (Bernstein 2005 Bernstein, H. 2005. “Rural land and land conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa”. In Reclaiming the land: the resurgence of rural movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Edited by: Moyo, S. and Yeros, P. 67–101. London: Zed Books.
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). Instead the debate has focused on the immediate political motives of the FTLRP, selectively highlighting its aspects of ‘violence’, ‘disorder’, and ‘chaos', claiming that the ruling Zanu PF elite and the state instrumentalised the FTLRP for electoral support and that only Zanu PF cronies benefited.1
1See Hammar et al. (2003 Hammar, H., Raftopoulos, B. and Jensen, S. 2003. Zimbabwe's unfinished business: rethinking land, state and nation in the context of crisis, Harare: Weaver Press.
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View all notes
By neglecting to examine the character and scale of redistribution of the FTLRP, and not looking at it from a longer historical perspective, the literature on Zimbabwe's agrarian reform is deprived of a crucial viewpoint.

It is casually assumed that Zimbabwe's agriculture was destroyed, and the cause of the collapse was the fast track land reform. Some critics of recent land reforms in Zimbabwe have argued that ‘crony capitalism’ has destroyed agriculture, and created a ‘humanitarian (food) crisis’ (Campbell 2008, Bond 2008 Bond, P. 2008. “Response to Lessons of Zimbabwe”. Available from:
http://links.org.au/node/815/9693
[Accessed 8 June 2011]
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). All of Zimbabwe's economic and farming woes are ascribed to the displacement of white farmers and related ‘misgovernance’, while the effects of diverse internal and external factors operating over time, before and during the fast track land reform, are ignored. The phenomenon of reduced agricultural production is treated as linear based on the presumed value of replicating the output mix of former large farmers. This assumption is without empirical basis, and detaches the analysis of land reform from the broader question of agrarian transformation, leading to flawed conclusions about the relationship between land ownership, land reform, and agricultural development.

Agrarian reform entails transforming the role of various agrarian classes in struggles for development and democratization, towards equitable land ownership and social relations of production, and developing the agricultural production forces to enhance food security, livelihoods and the accumulation of capital (Byres 1991, 1996 Byres, T. J. 1996. Capitalism from above and capitalism from below. An essay in comparative political economy, London: Macmillan.
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). The basic purpose is to ‘create the conditions for a rise in [agricultural] productivity, such that [the] raw materials and wage-goods needs of a growing manufacturing sector can be met, while labour is released’ (Patnaik 2003, 8). Land reform, as a key dimension of agrarian reform, is a necessary but insufficient condition for national development (Moyo and Yeros 2005 Moyo, S. and Yeros, P. 2005. “Land occupations and land reform in Zimbabwe: towards the National Democratic Revolution”. In Reclaiming the land: the resurgence of rural movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Edited by: Moyo, S. and Yeros, P. 165–208. London: Zed Books.
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), yet it is critical to agricultural and social transformation (Chang 2009). Agrarian reform requires state-facilitated land redistribution, building the productive and social capabilities of small producers, and support for agro-industrial growth and diversification (Evans 2009 Evans, P. B. 2009. “Constructing a twenty-first century developmental state: potentialities and pitfalls”. In Constructing a democratic developmental sate in South Africa: potential and challenges, Edited by: Edigheji, O. 37–58. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
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Re-orienting agricultural production to the home market and broadening the consumption of wage and industrial goods and services is essential to increasing intersectoral linkages and agricultural productivity growth, in synergy with rising domestic wages. For small and middle-sized farms to realize their employment potential there has to be a synergy between state interventions in industrial, trade and rural development policies, so as to enhance the potential multiplier effects of agriculture and increase aggregate demand. Accumulation from below is a key objective of redistributive land and agrarian reform. Politically, land reform implies restructuring the distribution of land ownership towards a more democratic agrarian structure in order to promote social, economic and political transformation, which creates security of land tenure for all (ANC Conference 2007). In former settler-colonial Africa, which suffered long-term racial minority rule, particular grievances over land alienation, and institutionalised race-class and ethno-regional inequalities, the politics of redistributive land and agrarian reform entail historically specific socio-political demands that have to be satisfied.

However, agrarian elites tend to be an economically powerful and politically reactionary landed class. They monopolise land and force the population into the role of landless labourers, and in turn reduce incentives among landowners and workers to invest (Evans 2009 Evans, P. B. 2009. “Constructing a twenty-first century developmental state: potentialities and pitfalls”. In Constructing a democratic developmental sate in South Africa: potential and challenges, Edited by: Edigheji, O. 37–58. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
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). For land reform to be redistributive it need not transfer all the landowners' land to the non-landed poor, but a substantive enough amount to alter social and agrarian relations (see Borras 2005 Borras, S. M. Jr. 2005. Can redistributive reform be achieved via market-based land transfer schemes? Lessons and evidence from the Philippines. Journal of Development Studies, 41(1): 90–134.
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, 2006 Borras, S. M. Jr. 2006. The Philippine land reform in comparative perspective: some conceptual and methodological implications. Journal of Agrarian Change, 6(1): 69–101.
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). But the diminished influence of agrarian elites after land reforms (as in China, Korea and Taiwan), relieves the conservative pressures on developmental policy formation, allowing opportunities for broad-based economic growth. It is widely claimed however that the prospects for redistributive land reform under neo-liberalism are slim due to institutional and political constraints (Borras 2005 Borras, S. M. Jr. 2005. Can redistributive reform be achieved via market-based land transfer schemes? Lessons and evidence from the Philippines. Journal of Development Studies, 41(1): 90–134.
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).

Understanding Zimbabwe's land reform in this broader context is therefore important. Was redistribution possible, and what were the outcomes and implications for longer term agrarian change? This article examines the nature of Zimbabwe's land redistribution outcomes and the pattern of agrarian change that has emerged. It first assesses the scale and social differentiation of access to land, including the resultant exclusions, as well as the reformation of land tenure relations and its social implications. Then it explores the trajectory of agrarian change, in terms of the focus and structure of agricultural production and emerging relations of production and distribution, and their implications for accumulation and social reproduction within the recent political and economic context.

Numerous local sub-district field surveys undertaken between 2002 and 2004 and a national baseline survey organised by the African Institute for Agrarian Studies (AIAS) between 2005 and 2006 (AIAS Baseline Survey 2009), followed by various field visits during 2007 and 2009, provide the basic data for this study. These are backed by multiple local and national sources of secondary data collected since 2000. The six baseline survey districts studied are of varied agro-ecological potential with generally diverse but mixed farming systems, ethno-regional and local political contexts. Questionnaire surveys, key informant checklists and interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and other opportunistic open interviews were used. The household interviews were conducted in both the A1 and A2 settlement schemes of the FTLRP, covering 2,089 households, with 79 percent of these being A1 settlers; the interviews covered a diverse range of socio-economic, agricultural and land issues. Up to 761 farm workers were interviewed – 414 former farm workers (or 54.4 percent of the total) and 347 new farm workers – about their socio-economic, labour and organisational situation. The focus group discussions examined critical issues faced by various segments of the sample area population.

The present article focuses on the macro picture of the land and agrarian reforms, however a separate paper looking into the wider details uncovered in the district level field surveys is being considered for publication.

more......

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. ... ccess=true&

Much more to this including some tables accessible thru links. Recommended. (the formatting is better there too.)
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