The Hindu Business Line : Zimbabwe's unenviable plight

The promise of redistribution of land to landless blacks, following the 2001 decree amending the Land Acquisition Act has turned out to be hollow. Black Zimbabweans have reverted to subsistence. They have returned to the bush. In an unsurprising u-turn by the government, white farmers have been invited to return to Zimbabwe and to apply for land. Zimbabwe is keen that white farmers should get back to the land and lift the economy. Most white farmers are uninterested.

Zimbabwe was once the breadbasket of southern Africa. It is now a basket case. It is struggling to keep its tattered society and economy afloat. It is a tough struggle. Zimbabwe has earned a painful distinction. Its society is collapsing. Its population was once 14.5 million. Now it is a little over 10.5 million. Three million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa. Nearly a million are in Mozambique and Botswana. A quarter of a million have fled to Britain.

Zimbabwe is also the world's fastest-collapsing economy. Its gross domestic product (GDP) has shrunk for six years in a row. Its official annual inflation is 913 per cent. It is perhaps 1,500 per cent in the estimate of others. Therefore, annual interest rates are very high. The official interest rate is over 750 per cent. Therefore, the Zimbabwean dollar (Z$) has continued to fall like a loaded stone.

At the official exchange rate, Z$50,000 is the equivalent of 50 US cents. A decent home cost about Z$25,000 in the 1970s. A big, whole chicken now costs nearly Z$1 million. A chicken today could have bought 40 lovely homes thirty years ago. An 815-hectare farm cost about Z$50,000 a few years ago. A single egg now costs Z$25,000. A single egg could have then bought 408 hectares of fertile land!

The problems Zimbabwe faces are not the results of avian flu. They are the results of history and policy. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980 after independence. Rhodesia had a horrendous history of land seizure. In 1890, whites from South Africa marched in and took over millions of hectares of fertile land after defeating the native African ruler. The whites then systematically and heartlessly stripped huge tracts of land from black Africans through `land acts.' The best agricultural land was reserved for the whites.

Ownership of farmland by whites became a central issue after independence. Farming was the backbone of the economy. It accounted for a third of GDP. It earned 40 per cent of its foreign-exchange earnings. It was the country's largest employer of black Zimbabweans.

Forced flight

In 1997, the Zimbabwe government targeted about 1,500 farms owned by white farmers spread across 11million hectares for expropriation after the harvest in mid-1998. The policy of nationalisation and redistribution was seen to be necessary by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) to set right many of the principal wrongs from the past. The expropriation could not be executed smoothly. So, a decree was passed on November 12, 2001. The decree amended Zimbabwe's Land Acquisition Act. White farmers could be forced off their land with immediate effect. They had to stop farming immediately.

Farm invasions began with unprecedented fury. Supporters of the government killed dozens of farmers, threatened thousands and tortured thousands of black farm workers who had worked on white farms. They then occupied the white-owned farms. They demanded that the farms be redistributed to landless blacks. White farmers fled.

Things go awry

Though ZANU-PF claimed that land would go to the landless, the principal beneficiaries were party cronies. The most influential got the best farmlands.

They had little farming experience. They allowed irrigation systems to crumble. Farm machinery was stolen. Buildings were razed to the ground. Once-fertile fields are now fallow. Dust storms carry away the fertile topsoil. Blacks who worked on the white farms suffer the most.

Dust storms have swept away the dreams of the landless blacks. Land was redistributed to them under five-year permits. The permits do not grant title deeds. So, they have not been able to use land as collateral. They lack knowledge, experience, finance and tools. Little has been offered to them in the form of farm support services.

Without tenure, credit, training and incentives, it has been an arduous experience. Unsurprisingly, black Zimbabweans have reverted to subsistence. They have returned to the bush.

A typical white farmer provided jobs and homes for 100 black Zimbabweans. They in turn supported more than 200 dependants. Now they are all in the bush.

Agricultural output has plummeted. Fertile land now supports fewer Zimbabweans. It produces very little purchasing power. There is massive hunger. But millions of hectares remain uncultivated. Prices continue to rise all the time. Zimbabweans celebrate when inflation dips to around 200 per cent.

Invited but uninterested

In an unsurprising u-turn by the government, white farmers have been invited to return to Zimbabwe and to apply for land.

Zimbabwe is keen that white farmers should get back to the land and lift the economy. This idea came from Dr Gideon Gono, the Governor of the central bank.

Dr Gono sees the return of white farmers as a significant solution to Zimbabwe's economic crisis. But only about 200 of the more than 5,000 white farmers that had been forced off their land have applied.

Most white farmers are uninterested. First, they are reluctant to return to Zimbabwe to take part in joint ventures with those who vandalised and grabbed their land. Second, they are unsure if the rule of law will prevail.

Third, many farms that were wrecked when occupied by government supporters will take a long time to become productive. Whites are worried that impatience and high expectations in such circumstances could trigger a new round of violence.

Fourth, many young whites have moved on in life with new careers. Consider Mr Eddo Brandes. Mr Brandes or `Chicken George' is the world's most famous chicken farmer. He was born in South Africa. He made his livelihood in Zimbabwe as a chicken farmer and cricketer.

Chicken George masterminded Zimbabwe's shock nine-run win over England in a 1992 world cup league match. He took a hat-trick against England at Harare in 1997.

But this white chicken farmer emigrated to Queensland. He works as a cricket coach. It is not surprising that chicken and eggs have become very inexpensive in Zimbabwe.

(The author is a financial analyst. Feedback may be sent to indiagrow@yahoo.com and pari@thehindu.co.in)