Widow forced off farm
I was appalled to read this story on The Zimbabwe Situation:
A 79 year old widow has been given a month to vacate her dairy farm and home of 50 years, or face a jail term, after she was convicted earlier this year for failing to vacate her farm.
Hester Theron, who runs a local dairy farm in Beatrice, was sentenced on Friday under the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act, for refusing to leave the land that has been her home since the late fifties.
She was sentenced to three months behind bars, suspended for five years on condition that she vacates the farm by 8 December 2009.
The news comes as more concern has been raised about the escalation of violence on commercial farms across the country, as the state sponsored offensive to conclude the so called land ‘reform’ program continues to gather momentum. (more…)
Zimbabwe cricket success
Charles Coventry this week set a new world record score for batting in a one-day international cricket match.
The fact he achieved it for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh means it has largely slipped under the radar.
It was a marvellous achievement. (more…)
Ray Price
I’m glad that Ray Price is playing for Zimbabwe again. I rate him as the best left-arm spinner in the world with Daniel Vettori.
He bowled well in the test against Australia that I saw in Sydney and he was a key player in Zimbabwe’s victory against the West Indies yesterday in Harare.
Price returned to Zimbabwe from England recently after rejecting a new contract with Worcestershire where he spent four seasons. In 2004 he was one of 15 players who went on strike to oppose Zimbabwe Cricket’s (ZC) regime.
He has taken 69 wickets in 18 Tests at 35.86, but in 2003-04 took 33 wickets at 22.42 from five tests.
He is said to have consulted Heath Streak, Trevor Gripper and other former teammates before returning. In my view Price would make an ideal captain.
Vale Ian Smith
The world lost a significant man today. I won’t call him a great man, even though I believe him to be one, because there is too much controversy surrounding him, and in terms of greatness, he failed his mission.
Ian Smith was a war veteran who led his country of Rhodesia through what many thought were its most turbulent years.
As the architect of UDI (the unilateral declaration of independence) he gave Southern Rhodesia the sovereignty which had been its constitutional right years earlier.
Many people forget that Rhodesia could have had independence or union with South Africa, except for some intransigence and historical quirks which linked it temporarily in the 1950s with modern Zambia and Malawi instead.
Zimbabwe inflation
When I visited Zimbabwe in 1991 the currency was stable and the country was relatively prosperous. The Zimbabwe dollar was worth about the same as the rand, almost two to one Australian dollar.
That’s hard to believe now, considering the inflation rate hit 7634 percent in June.
I bought this old banknote in Harare. It’s interesting to note the end of white majority in 1980 rule didn’t herald an economic collapse. Mugabe’s paranoia was responsible for that.
Zimbabwe tour cancelled
The Australian Government has forbidden our national cricket team from touring Zimbabwe later this year. I can’t recall such a decision ever being made before.
Sporting contact was banned with South Africa from about 1970 until the end of apartheid, but in terms of overseas tours I believe it was a voluntary decision of the sporting bodies.
I have previously opposed stopping cricket tours of Zimbabwe. The sport there was mainly played by the minority white population until recently, the Zimbabwe government took little interest and a ban would have been meaningless.
I still don’t accept the argument that a cricket tour would be a propaganda boost for Robert Mugabe, as claimed. I don’t think he cares.
It sends the wrong message though, if Australia does tour; that we condone what is happening in Zimbabwe. Certainly we don’t and for that reason I support the government’s decision.
Another sad story from Zimbabwe
There was a letter to the editor in The West Australian this week which moved me to tears, something which doesn’t happen very often these days as I become hardened to the world. I wish there was a link, or that I had the hard copy in front of me to reprint extracts, but I don’t just now.
A group in Perth plans a charity fundraiser to assist old-age pensioners in Bulawayo who are living in poverty thanks to Mugabe’s economic policies.
The letter writer astutely doesn’t say the pensioners are white, but refers to them as former policemen, teachers and railway employees. She made the point these people saved for their retirement but have seen their standard of living destroyed by hyper inflation.
The sentence that broke me was that many are “eating dog food and garden weeds” to survive. They rely on monthly gift packs from a charity to get small parcels of food.
The innocent casualties of Mugabe’s brutality are both black and white, of course. There is something especially tragic though about former public servants having to eat weeds because the state is incompetent.
My previous post that Britain should invade Zimbabwe drew quite a response, including a mention by The Radical Soldier.
For the record, I am Australian born and bred. My wife is South African, I have friends from Zimbabwe and I have visited the country.
