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WARD 12, PARIRENYATWA HOSPITAL, HARARE – It is not often that my fellow inmate Mujubheki (so named on account of his many years spent in Johannesburg as a migrant worker on the mines) comes up with philosophical sayings.
But as we were basking in the sun the other day, he wondered aloud if the few remaining white commercial farmers have finally been driven completely bonkers and need to be locked up with us here and treated to zhing-zhong remedies (occasionally) and free cigarettes.
“It seems to me,” mused Mujubheki, “that the head of the CFU seems to be deluded that he is living in a reasonable society where he can make reasonable suggestions to reasonable people who will respond reasonably. How come he doesn’t know that such a thing has not been possible in
In his recent statement, CFU chairman Doug Taylor-Freeme talked of an ‘all-inclusive and vibrant agricultural industry that is sustainable’ and called on the government to end farm invasions and re-introduce protection of the law, thus enabling the country to grow food and earn forex.
“Is this guy for real?” guffawed Mujubheki. “Doesn’t he understand that Zanu (PF) does not want to go back to the days when everybody had plenty of food to eat. If people had enough to eat they would start thinking about things and thinking is dangerous. They might even get energy to do something drastic. Those with power much prefer things the way they are now – when everybody is worried, frightened, hungry, desperately trying to grow a few sweet potatoes on the banks of the Mukuvisi. This keeps them occupied and in many cases persuades them to get a Zanu (PF) card to that they can get some free mealie meal from time to time – especially at election time.”
He reminded me of the Chegutu farmers who raised millions to fund Webster Shamu’s election machinery in the last general election, in the forlorn hope of being remembered kindly when orders were given to the war vets and green bombers and other Zanu riffraff to invade more farms.
They soon found out that the other chefs, those like Didymus who are more powerful by far than Webster, were the ones they should have been giving the money to.
Don’t these poor deluded farmers understand that feeding a crocodile a piece of fish when you are trapped in the mud, in the hopes that he won’t eat you, is a futile exercise.
Didymus spelt it out very clearly last week. There can be no mistaking – no white man (or woman for that matter) will ever be allowed to own land in Mugabe’s