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Green Hills Far Away
Those of us who have chosen to stay in Zimbabwe and to "tough it out"
are
variously regarded as "heroes", "stupid" and all sorts of things in
between.
The truth is, we each have our own reasons for staying and fighting it
out.
I sometimes wonder if the grass is greener on the other side? Last time
I
seriously looked was 25 years ago. At that time "the other side" did
not
impress me. The one thing it did do for me was to reinforce my feeling
of
being "African". There was no doubt when I got off the plane in Harare
that
I was "home". That has not changed for me and most who have flown the
nest
have found themselves hankering after their African roots.
This past week, while the MDC seems to have been on the path to self
destruction over the Senate issue, I was in South Africa, not in a
city, but
out in a rural district taking a break on a small farm with my wife and
daughter and our grandson. I should have been at the MDC bun fight but
this
short holiday had been planned for some time and in my life, family
comes
first whenever I can chose.
It was instructive to see the South African underbelly - not the sort
of
face that it puts on for the world to see and not in a mainstream
tourist
area. It was not encouraging. I saw a major tea estate abandoned by its
owners, the tea rank and in some areas dying from the withdrawal of
irrigation. I asked why and was told that the estate was the subject of
a
land claim and was also a target by local Labor Unions who were
demanding
conditions of service for staff that the estate simply could not meet.
The farm we stayed on was also the subject of a land claim - mounted by
some
of the staff on the farm. The owners who had been there for 23 years
said
that there was no basis for the claim and that the organisation dealing
with
land claims had ruled in their favor. However there was ample evidence
that
they were holding up maintenance and the replacement of assets on the
farm
with a consequential loss of production and damage to the local
economic
environment.
But it was in the social sector that I was most disturbed by what I
saw. The
wounds of apartheid are still there for all to see. Racist's attitudes
persist, the staff housing on farms is generally appalling and worst of
all
are the "homeland" slums created by the apartheid regime over the
previous
40 years are still there with little or no sign of any form of
transformation. The housing being built by the State was simply a more
sophisticated (and probably less comfortable) shack under a bare tin
roof.
No sign of any sort of security of tenure that would encourage the
occupants
to upgrade their shacks or even build their own homes. A wide modern
highway
connected these sprawling rural slums to the nearby provincial capital,
a
modern City with all the trimmings. People still had to commute 30
kilometers to work each day - not the urban middle class or rich, but
the
absolute poor.
For a country in a hurry to transform itself after decades of
oppression and
discrimination, South Africa is simply not moving fast enough. Big
companies
are building up their relationships with the new elite and exporting
their
surplus cash abroad as an insurance against any future shocks. Many are
now
major global players - South African Breweries are now number three in
the
world, Anglo is a resources giant with as much invested in the USA as
in
South Africa. Rembrandt is a global tobacco company - one of the eight
majors and Barlow's stretch across the globe. But they are not
investing
anything like what they could be investing in South Africa itself. New
legislation for the diamond industry seems like a warning shot across
their
bows, that caution is justified. The fact that De Beers is now only
producing a small part of their global output in South Africa and is
headquartered outside the country that gave its birth is simply a fact
of
recent history.
White and black South Africans show few signs of any kind of real
integration and reconciliation. There is a great deal of overt racism
and
those of us who come from Zimbabwe still feel a racial tension that
somehow
never was a part of our life "back home".
I listened to the cultured voice of the IMF representative in South
Africa
saying in a speech in Johannesburg that the South African policy of
retaining a strong Rand was "entirely appropriate". What utter bull,
the
experience of every country that has achieved rapid growth in the past
50
years is that you must undervalue your local currency to achieve the
kind of
home grown investment and development that will transform the living
standards of the majority. This kind of ideological nonsense, which
favors
the rich at the expense of the poor, is why when we finally find our
feet in
this Zanu PF mud hole, that we must be careful to maintain our
independence
of policy and development strategies and avoid being dictated to by the
industrialized countries and the multilaterals.
Well after our break away, it was back to the mud hole - what a relief
to
get back to empty roads and silent vacant farms. It was a bit of a
shock to
find bread at Z$25 000 and maize meal at Z$8 000 a kilo, but where else
in
the world does your home staff pick up your dirty clothes, wash them
and
iron them and repack your wardrobe? Where else are people with nothing,
so
cheerful and generous so caring and concerned? Where else can you walk
into
the customs and immigration and be greeted by your first name and
welcomed
home - even if they then try to stick you with a huge customs bill.
As expected, the annual rate of inflation in September rose 100 per
cent.
Scary stuff and I remain very apprehensive about all those who are
economic
prisoners here and are on fixed incomes. If you know of anyone in this
category - please keep your eyes open and help when you see signs of
stress.
If you have relatives at "home" and are not helping - then start doing
so.
There is no doubt now in my mind that thousands are going to die in the
coming months. This is going to be our most "silent" spring season
ever.
As for the Senate debate in the MDC - I was just as confused as you
were by
what I heard. Hopefully the mature and sensible leaders that we have in
the
Party are sorting it out. I remain convinced that we are right not to
participate and are glad that the majority who wrote to me after last
weeks
note agreed. But we need to make these decisions in the right way and
then
get back to the real fight, which is how to stop Zanu PF digging their
own
grave in that mud hole.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 17th October 2005
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