Land to the indigenous people of Zimbabwe, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever!

Land to the indigenous people, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever is the most appropriate way of reclaiming what belongs to the for the people.
 
In 2000, landless Zimbabweans began to receive land under the country’s chaotic fast- track land reforms of the year 2000 .
 
However because of the chaotic implementation of land reform by Mugabe’s Zanu pf, in which white commercial farms were violently grabbed from their white owners, redistributed to the people including multiple farms to Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats, the nation has been brought down to its knees.
 
Zimbabwe is a nation that was once envied as the ‘Bread basket of Africa’, feeding the whole continent, yet now its just a shadow of its former glory and a ‘Basket case’ for charity, having to import food and agricultural inputs from neighbouring nations in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region just to get by,
 
According to the former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president, now the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC T) president Richard Morgan Tsvangirai, the nation’s once beautiful agriculture, which before the chaotic Zanu pf land reform exercice, was the back bone of the economy, actually contributed at least 30 percent of Zimbabwe’s Gross domestic product (GDP) yet now this has been shredded down to a much less than five percent of GDP.
 
The MDC T leader Richard Morgan Tsvangirai strongly believes that the despot president Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his Zanu-PF stalwarts heavily contributed to the current entropy across Zimbabwe as they destroyed the Agricultural sector and by default, the nation’s economy in a bid to maintain their monopoly over wealth and power.
 
Morgan Tsvangirai, a man who does not own a farm at all , has vowed that if he comes into power, he will address the chaotic Zanu pf regime land reforms, basing his argument on a simple and straight forward land ownership policy of one person one farm to those in need and capable of productively utilising the land.
 
The ‘DISCERNING EYE, newzimbabwevision’ says there is a need to assure the nation that land to the indigenous people of Zimbabwe, was a correct initiative by the despot president Robert Mugabe . Chaos and entropy only filtered in because of the violent, racist and murderous nature in which the Zanu pf war veteran led land grabbing exercise was conducted,
 
This chaos led to many Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats gaining multiple farm ownership, an anomaly which can easily be addressed by a government in power with the financial and political will to resolve the crisis.
 
In 2018, we all hope that Mugabe and his Zanu pf will fall permanantly off the political radar and that the new government in power will swiftly implement a credible land audit nationwide and take back any extra farms in the hands of Mugabe, his Zim1 family and stalwarts, for redistribution to landless people of Zimbabwe irrespective of gender, race, colour, tribe , religion or creed.
 
Mugabe must be included in the audit as its widely alleged that
president Robert Mugabe has seven farms even though its well known that Mugabe is the power behind the propaganda, labelling Tsvangirai as a sell out who intends to reverse land reforms and hand over farms back to their former white owners.
 
Tsvangirai, has however assured the nation that MDC T will not reverse the land reform exercise, even stating that Whites know they need to share land , which is adequate for all people of Zimbabwe.
 
I will always say , no one whether black or white, Zimbabwean or other nation must ever fall under the illusion that Mugabe was wrong in taking back land from the white commercial farmers. We all correctly frown upon the chaotic, violent, murderous manner in which the exercise was implemented but the policy of ‘LAND TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’ was , is and will always be right and any government that seeks to reverse this, is actually against the people and openly pushing for war.
 
When it comes to Agriculture, Im well informed in this sector, going as far back as the 1890’s when the British coloniser Cecil John Rhodes and his fire power, forcibly removed blacks or indigenous Zimbabweans from fertile land and pushed them off to infertile, low raifall, overpopulated communal areas. The people of Zimbabwe lost their land to settlers, who shared vast tracts of valuable, fertile land which became the white owned commercial farms.
 
The indigenous people became landless, homeless and were simply reduced to farm labourers for the colonisers. White commercial farmers, built up multimillion dollar farming empires because they now had security in the form of land or farms, with title deeds while the indigenous people o Zimbabwe who were reduced to nothing were now crowded on infertile communal land, remember communal land has no title deeds.
 
The indigenous people of Zimbabwe lost the battle right from land ownership / title deeds as black from communal farming land could walk into a bank or funder seeking financial support, equipment and machinery such as irrigation equipment, combine harvesters, tractors, trucks, trailers, ploughs, pipes, farming insurance coverage in the event of poor weather such as low rainfall, pests attack and other farming disasters, yet whites could do this with. farm title deeds and offer security for any loans, while blacks could not.
 
The tile deeds were attained through violently and forcibly evicting blacks from land which belonged to them, which they rightfully owned at the height of colonisation, forcing them into destitution, therefore, while we do not condone vengeance or violence, we all stand behind President Robert Mugabe’s policy of land and resources to the people of Zimbabwe! Whichever opposition steps in after Mugabe, can never reverse this progressive long awaited, painful but necessary correction of past injustices.
 
I say so because after completing A’ level chemistry, biology and maths, I chose to do BSc Agriculture at the University of Zimbabwe from 1991 to 1993 because farming was a lucrative destination. After completing my first degree in BSc Agriculture majoring in economics and extension, I joined the the Agricultural and Technical Extension Services (AGRITEX).
 
From 1994 to 1996 I was head of the Training , Mass media and Extension department and because Im fluent in both Shona and Ndebele, I was free to relocate to Mhlahlandlela in Bulawayo. The job entailed translating writing, editing and publishing, pamphlets, booklets, posters and training materials for farmers and staff nationwide.
 
I travelled weekly, far and wide across remote farming areas in Zimbabwe, recording farming programmes and weekly had to record radio programmes at the ZBC Montrose studios for airing on ZBC channels. As head of Agricultural and Technical Extension Services (AGRITEX) Training , Mass media and Extension department, I was in charge of 7 radio programmes,1) Nhau Dzevarimi, 2) Tinokushevedzai varimi, 3) Kuchengetedzwa kwezvipfuwo 4) Izindaba zabalimi, 5) Sibiza abalimi, 6) Ukugcinwa kwezifuyo , and 7) Agritex Farm Diary. The radio programmes were aired weekly on ZBC radio, 1/2/ and 4. I therefore have extensive knowledge in farming and the issues surrounding the chaotic land reform programmes , all stemming from my academic and professional back ground and and confidently state all I have said on that basis as my involvement in this area, far exceeded a normal Zimbabwean’s exposure in agriculture.
 
By 1996 it was evident where the farming sector was headed to and I felt, I still had plenty to say about the issue so, I joined an NGO Popular Education Collective (PEC) as the Head of the Outreach Department. In this area I was heavily involved in translating writing, editing and publishing, pamphlets, booklets, posters and training materials for grassroots community groups across Zimbabwe’s rural areas and this again allowed me to travel far and wide and reach out to remote communities.
The job also included business management training of the target groups, and creation of Tin Trunk libraries at the community groups. Tin Trunk libraries were loaded with materials we published based on common grassroots views drawn from across the nation and this is why today I’m comfortable in using my knowledge and experience to develop the ‘DISCERNING EYE, newzimbabwevision’
 
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In conclusion I will say, an oppressed soul heals with time but the challenge is to silence the oppressed mind. Land to the indigenous people, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. The people’s silence will ultimately resonate in a united voice that is strongly opposed to oppression, readily challenge authority and fearlessly lobby for changes that create a better future for our children and descendants, coloured, black, white, any race, tribe, religion or political orientation.
I will always fight for justice, equal opportunities, peace, democracy and prosperity for all, thereby establishing a legacy whose benefits will live beyond generations to follow.
It is foolish of any one  not Zimbabwean,to claim that whites were feeding black Zimbabweans. Truth be told, the land belonged to the indigenous black people, who were forcibly evicted in a violent murderous white settler campaign of guns against spears in the 1890s by the white settler column led by Cecil John Rhodes.
 
Descendants of the same blacks were the people working the commercial farming land for the white masters. It is not that Blacks cannot farm or feed themselves, but simply that they were forced onto crowded poor land , low rainfall, infertile communal lands by the racist  white colonisers and so, after the chaotic land grabbing of white commercial farms, everything came to a halt as banks and sources of funding were not ready to finance any of the black farming activities because of ownership issues arising from lack of title deeds.
People worldwide must stop this falsehood that Blacks were  being fed by whites because the Blacks could not farm.  Blacks have great farming knowledge, skills and experience but no source of funding because of lack of security, the most basic being the issue of rightful ownership of the land they now possess, admittedly formerly owned by white commercial farmers but rightfully belonging to the Blacks and indigenous people. The ‘DISCERNING EYE, newzimbabwevision’ says on land and resources to the indigenous people of Zimbabwe, president Robert Mugabe was right,  Land to the indigenous people, yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever! ….DISCUSS!  By Sibusiso Ngwenya

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