I found this striking photo while looking for information on Google on Zimbabwe’s White farmers. They were brutally expelled nearly twenty years ago by the country’s dictator, Robert Mugabe. Mugabe was a thug, who had previously butchered and brutalised the Ndebele people, as well as his Black political rivals and opponents. I gather that there had been some kind of scheme to hand over the White-owned farms to Black Zimbabweans with money paid by the British government. Mugabe claimed that the money had not been paid, and sent in the army and his supporters to occupy them and expel the Whites. This was accompanied by murder and savage beatings, and I can remember being shocked by the images I saw on the BBC. Mugabe’s followers could no more run commercial farms than they could the rest of the economy. The result was that a formerly prosperous country that had been the breadbasket of Africa suffered massive, crippling inflation and starvation. Many of its people fled to South Africa. Meanwhile, Nigeria offered to provide land and sanctuary to the White farmers.
I gather that the situation has now been reversed, with Zimbabwe inviting the farmers back with promises of compensation. I found the photo particularly interesting, as the slogan says ‘Mugabe Killed Our White Farmers’. It shows that Mugabe’s ethnic cleansing has been condemned by at least a section of Zimbabwe’s Black population. A hopeful sign of racial reconciliation and solidarity amongst all Zimbabweans, regardless of colour.
Tags: Armed Forces, Assault, BBC, Ethnic Cleansing, Farmers, Massacres, Ndebele, Robert Mugabe, Starvation, Whites
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
December 29, 2022 at 2:48 pm |
I wonder whether Lauren Southern (given her apparently skewering exposé on the fate of SA’s Afrikaaner farmers) has picked up on this? I did see something recently- I think I caught it on the red button- that said that there had been riots in SA about Zimbabweans taking natives’ jobs? I am amazed the BBC covered it at all (it’s not the most PC narrative!).
December 29, 2022 at 3:04 pm |
I didn’t see that story, but I gathered something’s going on down there and that they’re forcibly repatriating Zimbabwean refugees.
December 29, 2022 at 6:48 pm |
Humphrey Gibbs, Smithy, Wilson, Callaghan and Thatcher are all responsible for Mugabe’s misdemeanours. Gibbs cd have nipped UDI in the bud if he’d acceded to the (white) Army Chief Of Staff’s offer to arrest Smithy and cabinet for treason. Following the Australian example, Gibbs cd simply have sacked Smithy and installed a caretaker govt of his own choosing. Smithy cd have nurtured those black Rhodesian politicians – Nkomo, Sithole etc who were prepared to play the democratic game, instead of sidelining them, thus leaving the field clear for Mugabe and his terrorists to win hearts and minds. Smithy also turned down Wilson’s offer to give him independance virtually on Smith’s own terms, providing he returned to the fold. Thank goodness Smith did turn it down, or Wilson wd never have recovered from the ignominy. Callaghan and Heath ignored the issue, Heath being too busy overthrowing democracy in Uganda, and Thatcher wanted to wash her hands of it ASAP. Hence Mugabe.
December 29, 2022 at 6:54 pm |
Thanks, Brian. I have zero knowledge of UDI, except I vaguely remember it, Ian Smith and the controversy on the news when I was very young. I’ve also heard that Smith himself said that Mugabe was the best man to run Zimbabwe after independence. This shows either that Smith was a poor judge of character, or that Mugabe was originally very plausible. Or both.
December 30, 2022 at 3:51 pm
Slightly off topic, but Putin was once sane enough to be a respected member of the G8 (or G20)- with Blair cosying up to him! Although Tbf, I think things are coming out about Zelensky which makes me wonder why we didn’t stay the hell out of the conflict? I remember how we all idolised Aung San Suu Kyi a few years back…