Ambassador McGee, addressing a Press conference in Bulawayo yesterday (Saturday 19 Jan 2008), said the infamous land redistribution programme had brought the Zimbabwean economy to its knees.
He said the newly resettled farmers, hand-picked by Government on party (Zanu PF) affiliation lines, were failing to produce enough food for the country’s exports, let alone its domestic consumption.
The American ambassador gravely noted that because of the biased land redistribution programme, Zimbabwe had quickly slumped from being a net food exporter to a net food importer within a short space of time.
The most complex issue we have in the country now is how do we get to where the system was before? Ambassador McGee said before an army of local journalists at a city club.
The old system did not work and what is on the table is not working. It is making life more difficult for every Zimbabwean.
He said Zimbabwe’s food security needs drastic improvements urgently.
He nevertheless said the way colonialists took land from indigenous Zimbabweans was also bad.
But two wrongs make no right…we understand the emotion on land but what I am more concerned with is that Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food. The World Food programme bought food from Zimbabwe to distribute in other countries…Zimbabwe provided grain to feed other countries.
In 2006 things changed. Zimbabwe is now a net importer of grain, Ambassador McGee said.
He reiterated that the country’s food security systems needed to improve but again wondered how that could be done.
The ambassador said Zimbabwe could never go back to the old systemâ€â€before the land redistribution programme where it produced food in abundance.
He said this was especially made more difficult by the fact that the land redistribution programme was irreversible.
Just how do we get back to that? he mused.
The ambassador denied it that it was sanctions imposed by his government and other western countries that had brought the country’s economy to its knees.
Sanctions? That is the most foolish thing I have ever heard. The US has no sanctions against Zimbabwe. What we have are targeted sanctions, sanctions against individuals, not Zimbabwe and its people, he said.
Ambassador McGee said many American citizens visited Zimbabwe as tourists. He said that would not be happening if the US had slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe.
On the oncoming elections, the ambassador said the US government had no role it could play in the elections but merely wanted the election results to reflect the true opinions of Zimbabweans.
Our position on Zimbabwe is very clear, we want good governance, human rights and a return to the rule of law. Once we see these things being addressed, we will be ready to reengage Zimbabwe, he said.
He ruled out a repeat of the Kenyan carnage over election results saying Zimbabweans were mature people who would not kill their relatives over elections.
We do not have much of a role in the oncoming elections. We are just out to promote the democratic process…I do not think there will be a repeat of the Kenyan situation in Zimbabwe. Here we have thoughtful people who would not want to kill their brothers because of the elections.
We hope the true reflections of the majority of the people will be the result of the elections, he said.
Ambassador McGee, recently posted to Harare by Washington, was on a three-day familiarisation tour of US government-funded projects in Bulawayo and to listen to the people’s concerns in the city.
Post published in: News