ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT says all remaining white commercial farmers will be issued with 99-year leases.

Image may contain: one or more people, people standing, people sitting and outdoorThe Lancaster House Agreement, which was signed up to by the parties present on 21 December 1979, at Lancaster House in London, enabled the establishment of the Republic of Zimbabwe, which replaced the ‘internationally unrecognised’ state of Rhodesia which came about because of the racist white Rhodesian Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.Image may contain: 3 people, people standing, crowd and outdoor

The parties represented during the Lancaster House conference were the British Government, the Patriotic Front led by Robert Mugabe ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union), Joshua Nkomo, ZAPU (Zimbabwe African Peoples Union) , Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Dr Silas Mundawarara for the Government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia and the racist white Ian Smith.Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, standing and outdoor

The United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Lord Carrington chaired the Lancaster Conference from 10 September-15 December 1979 which held 47 plenary sessions.Image may contain: 1 person, smiling

The conference reached a cease-fire agreement signed by all the parties present on 21 December 1979. Lord Carrington and Sir Ian Gilmour signed the Lancaster Agreement at the conference held in London on behalf of the United Kingdom, while Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Dr Silas Mundawarara signed for the Government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo for the Patriotic Front.Image may contain: 1 person, text

The elections which came up because of the Lancaster Agreement were held in February 1980 and won by the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) led by now deposed former president Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe was granted independence in terms of the Constitution signed up to at the Lancaster House conference in London, making the election winner Robert Mugabe the prime minister to Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980 the date of Zimbabwe Independance.Image may contain: 1 person, text

However, critical to the Lancaster House Conference, disagreements on land reform pressured Robert Mugabe and his supporters into signing up to and agreeing upon waiting for ten years before instituting land reform exercise in Zimbabwe.Image may contain: 1 person

It is known that Robert Mugabe was forced to sign, up to this and he was assured that the British and American governments would compensate white farmers for any land sold as part of reconciliation based upon a ‘Willing buyer, Willing seller’ basis.Image may contain: sky and outdoor

White farmers, many of whom were spread across massive rich Tobacco farm lands owned private jets and air strips on their farms, while their landless black labourers and unemployed families who had virtually nothing but free sunshine, air and water, were sadly nothing more to filthy rich white farmers than tools to enrich them.Image may contain: outdoor

It is right to say up to the 90s, there was never really any transfer of vast rich agricultural, white-owned land to poor indigenous blacks in Zimbabwe. The constitutional bar in place by the Lancaster House Conference only became obsolete in 1990No automatic alt text available.

The real crisis for Mugabe and Zimbabweans was that white farmers were fully aware that land redistribution should be on a willing buyer willing seller basis and so they were not under pressure to sell and if they felt like it they would heavily inflate their prices knowing that the government had little choice but to pay if it needed land and they counted themselves as allies of Mugabe.Image may contain: 4 people

In 1997 the liberation war veterans began receiving ZW$50,000 each for their participation in the armed struggle. This was amajor drain uopon the economy which was already strained by Zimbabwe’s involvement in the DRC war and Economic Structural Adjustment (ESAP).Image may contain: text

These programmes drained government revenue , arm twisting Mugabe the leader of a now broke Zanu pf regime to declare that the forced acquisition of land under Section 8 would now begin. This led to the forced eviction of the white commercial farmers under the ‘failed’ Zanu pf redistribution policy.

The problem with Zanu pf land redistribution was that it was partisan distribution benefiting originally high placed and Zanu aligned key figures such as at the 100,000-acre Battlefields Estate which was broken into a total of 27 plots. The beneficiaries included the partisan, Zanu pf mouth piece, Robert Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba.

The land redistribution exercise was a necessary process to address a past imbalance which favoured the colonising white Rhodesian settlers, while disempowering indigenous blacks and leaving them and their children and descendants poor and landless and no more than ‘slaves’ as paid ‘labourers’…no change!

Mugabe allowed the forced eviction of white farmers in the early 2000 because he realised that the people and war veterans were feeling deceived, the government was broke and Zanu pf had nothing to offer.

However as I warned before, Mugabe was tactical in the whole game, because he always warned, grab the land, do your farming but do not construct permanant structures. This should have been a clue that the Zanu pf government was not committed to Land redistribution.

It became more obvious in the failure by Mugabe’s Zanu pf government to issue title deeds to the properties or land taken from white farmers, meaning that Zanu pf simply used blacks to enrich themselves as only the Mugabe, Mnangagwa families Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats and those aligned to them seized the opportunity to loot and amass wealth for themselves. Millions of Zimbabweans in 18 years since the Zanu pf land redistribution exercise began, still remain landless and even poorer than before.

Zanu pf parcelled out land without properly drawn up policies on helping new black farmers. Remember, farms were managed mainly by black managers while owned by white farmers. the whites had the title deeds to the land and property and could walk into banks and get farming loans using their title deeds then depend on their black farm managers to manage their farms using good farming calenders and generating great income for the white farmers using the black labourers.

Mugabe’s efforts were to help backs, regain their legacy, the land they lost through forced eviction 100 years ago, and help them become land owners, establish business and secure food sources and stable futures by redressing a past imbalance brought about by colonisation.

This great initiative was overtaken by greedy Mugabe family, Mnangagwa, Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats and propaganda who all became filthy rich through the deliberately created entropy after Mugabe began feeling deceived by the British through the Lancaster House Agreement, where people like Mugabe were keen not to sign up to the peace settlement as they wanted land to the blacks.

It is because of the British commitment to redistribution of land to blacks that Mugabe was forced into signing even though he was willing to go back to war over it. The Mugabe, Mnangagwa, Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats are the only beneficiaries of this ;mother of all cons by Zanu pf’ now that the new Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa says he will compensate whites who were stripped off land possession less than twenty years ago by the Zanu pf land redistribution exercise while blacks, their children and descendants were never compensated for the forced eviction brought about by colonisation and continue to date to wallow in poverty. Mnangagwa has proved what I have always warned about, that Zanu pf are a con and used the people to enrich themselves and continue to do so now by attracting the west through compensating white farmers while the indigenous people who are the original victims have still not been compensated.

I believe that blacks are equally capable farmers, and those comitted to farming simply need title deeds to farm land they hold, proper farm training and support from the Ministry of lands and agriculture through AGRITEX. People should not rush into claiming that blacks misused the fuel, seed and other they received. However, look ate the issue carefully. Land was parcelled out to all and many balcks moved not necessarily to farm but because they were focibly crammed into Tribal Trust lands which are poor agricultural land, with low rainfall and no hope or opportunity in life and therefore first and foremost moved for necessity which was the need for space, fertile land and property ownership.

Most white farmers did not own the masses of property as wrongly assumed by people. Property such as tractors, combine harversters, irrigation equipment, trucks, trailers and other equipment were simply bank owned as they were under Lease Agreement. White farmers had access to them and banks could risk financing their farming ventures with this equipment because they were covered by property title deeds and the whites managed to use this and black labour to make millions. Its not that black farmers are a failure, its simply that they were denied the resources and means with which to farm.

Previously government policy directed that the remaining white farmers who add up to 200 white commercial farmers could only be issued five year leases.

President Mnangagwa declared that white former commercial farmers who were evicted through the white farmer eviction of the early 2000 and who are willing to come back are free to do so, but they must apply for land nust like every other Zimbabwean.

This development is the downfall of the Mnangagwa, Zanu pf stalwarts and securocrats regime as Mugabe was calculating in ensuring no title deeds were allocated to new black land owners, ensuring they would always feel indebted to Zanu pf for the farming land and remain Zanu pf supporters, vote Zanu pf and keep the oppressive Zanu pf regime in power.

Mnangagwa should have focused on establishing farming policies that churn out training and support through AGRITEX to black farmers and aid them to secure bank loans for their farming activities. The government should have effective monitoring programmes on the farming and outputs and loan repayments especially through the Command Agriculture programme. Blacks were denied stability and support through the deliberately created entropy and now that Zimbabwe is calm, the government should genuinely assist these farmers establish themselves and not demonstrate that the people were conned by Zanu pf. No one will ever accept reversal of land from the indigenous blacks. It was painfull and no one wants us to go through that again but whilst im an avid anti Mugabe activist, I maintain that on land to the indigenous people f Zimbabwe was , is, and sill always be a right policy in addressing a past imbalance created by colonisation. Lets rebuild Zimbabwe, help balcks become fully fledged farmers through title deeds, training and support.

I was born Rhodesian, ‘Sibusiso Ngwenya a.k.a Nyamangara, /Gushungo proudly 50% Ndebele, 50% Shona 100% Zimbabwean! ONE ZIMBABWE, for all coloureds, blacks, whites ,all races and all tribes.Family history shows that my great grand dad Nyamangara relocated from Zvimba communal lands just over a century ago to Matebeleland and changed his name to Ngwenya.Image may contain: one or more people, people standing, people sitting and outdoor

The family totem is Gushungo and due to this rich history, I see no difference between a Ndebele and a Shona person because I was born and raised lovingly by Zimbabweans who respect unity .Image may contain: 2 people, people standing, crowd and outdoor
This is why I will always proudly speak out for a united Zimbabwean people whether coloured, white, black, any race, tribe, race or religion against an oppressive Mugabe and his Zanu PF.

I pride myself in being 50% Ndebele and 50% Shona and absolutely no room for tribalists or racists in all I do and having withstood the relentless tribal divisions and assumptions all along that would have diverted my attention to the issue at stake which was to remove Mugabe and his Zanu pf.
We have succeeded in removing Mugabe! However the new Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa must not rush to speak nonsense over land as he was not elected by the people of Zimbabwe to be a president and can only be a legitimate president if he wins the harmonised elections, which I can assure you he stands no chance if he continues fighting to reverse the gains of the blacks who feel better empowered now through land ownership.

The land issue is important for all Zimbabweans to wade into, as it determines our future with regards to food security and the economy as Zimbabwe’s economy is an Agricultural based economy. I have always been passionate about land even though I did Maths Chemistry and Biology for A level so I did BSC Agriculture Economics and Extension at the University of Zimbabwe in the early 1990s because Agriculture was a good area.

Immediately after completing my UZ studies, I was employed by Agriculture and Technical Extension Services, (AGRITEX) as a Specialist Trainer in 1994. I was the head of training through Mass media and my role covered writing, editing and production of pamphlets, posters, booklets and other farming materials. i was responsible for translating these materials into English, Shona and Ndebele languages because im fluent in all three languages.

My duties also including extensive travel throughout commercial and rural farming areas weekly, country wide sometimes to remote and inaccessible areas to record farming programmes, which would then be presented on national radio. As head of mass media training I was responsible for the following radio programmes, 1) Nhau dzevarimi 2) Izindaba zabalimi 3) Ukugcinwa Kwezifuyo, 4) Kuchengetedzwa kwezvipfuwo, 5) Sibiza abalimi 6) Tinokushevedzai varimi which were presented on ZBC Radios 2 and 4 weekly and 7) English Farm Diary on radio1.

This massive involvement at this level in agriculture nationwide after my UZ study left me with a deep understanding of issues surrounding land in Zimbabwe, but I moved to a Non governmental Organisation (NGO) after feeling stifled by government because of my rebelious nature in information disemination. my role in the NGO was Project Officer heading the Outreach departments, focusing on information disemmination and this was a walk in the park for me because of my passion in information disemination. I churned out massive materials, with some of the books I wrote pictured below.

We travelled nationwide, through communities I was already familiar with in my work in AGRITEX so it wasn’t a problem for me, gathering information, writing about it, and training communities in those issues. This background is what drives my passion and led me to establish www.newzimbabwevision media platforms for the people. these are platforms where everyone is respected and can freely share their views, opinions, misgivings, support or otherwise through mature, respectful and accomodating debate.

INFORMATION IS POWER!-please join us on newzimbabwevision media platforms for regular updates, inclusive debate that has respect for all. All budding writers are welcome to send, original News articles, covering, religion, business, celebrities, fashion, politics, sport, girl child, good governance, democracy, equality, service delivery, health, education, housing, transport and other issues directly affecting the ordinary street person, to us, so we can publish them for you on our site for global readership. All articles must be original, writers name and source acknowledged and where the writer needs to be protected, we will not publish your details. Please email all your articles, photos and breaking news, to newzimbabwe.vision@yahoo.com or whatsapp to
Mr Sibusiso Ngwenya 0044 749 1 333 603
for publication on the constantly growing online groups, currently standing as follows

1)Zimbabwe News 4 us Zimbabweans 128,272 members
2) ZIMBABWE NEWS, BUILDING A PROSPEROUS POST 2018 VISION 30,944 members
3) New Zimbabwe Vision group 18,613 members
4) Newzimbabwevision.com website 22,015 likes and
22,014 followers
5) 5000 friends and 10,710 followers, on my timeline. By Sibusiso Ngwenya.

Leave a Comment