Zimbabwe: Who is who?

Thank you Prof. Mamdani for, one of the few comprehensive articles on Zimbabwe. My focus, however, will be a point by point rebuttal to some of the falsehoods that

3) Kashiri is correct. The constitutional project was in response to the NCA. And no, the NCA was not, and is not a "democratic force". 100% of its funding comes from the US and the EU. While many members honestly believe they are fighting for democracy, their sponsors have always been focused on regime change. The NCA gained prominence when the West decided Mugabe had to go for disturbing western economic interests by fighting off the invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Back then, there was no other credible political organization to use to get at Mugabe, thus the NCA became that vehicle.

4) True, there were Ndebele leaders/peasantscitizens in the liberation struggle.

5) True again, gukurahundi lasted between 1983 to 1987. While the atrocities that occured then (from both sides) were inexcusable, the war itself was justified. Many western nations SUPPORTED Mugabe during that dissident era. There is evidence to show that elements within Zapu were unhappy with being led by the "junior" that was Mugabe from the "inferior" Shona tribe. Sustained uprisings by these elements at Entumbane, Connemara, and the discovery of massive arms caches at Zapu farms (which Zapu now claims were for ANC use!!), made it imperative that Mugabe execute that campaign against the dissidents. Nkomo signed the Unity Accord (with the dissidents suspiciously dropping their arms at the same time!), not because he was pressured to (he was living good in exile in the UK), but because he saw the futility of this war.

6) ZCTU did not distance itself from Mugabe because of "corruption" and the other nonsense Kashiri says. I was there, I know!! Many of us were opposed to ESAP from the IMF and the low salary raises Mugabe's neoliberal Finance Minister, Dr. Chidzero, was recommending. He was trying to control inflation on the backs of the poor and was protecting business (largely white) as any neoliberal of that era would do. We broke away from Mugabe (who had agressively nurtured and helped grow the ZCTU since 1980) because he was now, thru ESAP, deviating from the socialist principles we all wished for (especially our leader, the now neoliberal Morgan Tsvangirai {an almost communist at that time}!)

7) Kashiri creates fiction here. The people of Zimbabwe were NOT strongly anti-Zanu in 2000. Sure, there were many who were against the party, but nowhere near a majority! If Kashiri remembers well, less than 900 000 out of a possible 6 million people participated in the referendum. While the opposition did their greatest campaigning amoung the 300 000 laborers at white-owned farms, Mugabe neglected his rural base and assumed they would still vote with him. The NO vote won with only about 480 000 people voting for it.
And no, there was no evidence of "rigging" in 2000 as Kashiri says. The commonwealth report on those elections clearly says so. However, they also claimed that because Zanu had unhindered access to the media, was more aggressive in its campaigns, and that the farm invasions had brought a "climate of fear", therefore they declared the elections "would not be free and fair". What the commonwealth forgot to include was the illegal funding of the opposition by foreign forces, a blatantly pro-opposition locally listened to foreign media (BBC, CNN, SABC, etc) and the strongly pro-opposition foreign-sponsored local "independent" media.

8) Prof. Mamdani is infact correct. Land reform as of 2000 was designed to go after underutilized land, lands near rural areas and multiple farm owners. The CFU (white farmers union) would not compromise, they took an all or nothing posture. Needless to say, Mugabe then took them on their challenge, where he obviously won!

9) Kashiri confuses "fast-track" with the longer-term land reform. "Fast-track" allowed for land occupiers to seize lands and remain on them. The reforms that Kashiri talks about which has gone on into 2008 no longer involve ad hoc peasant occupations, but are deliberative transfers that go thru cumbersome documentation processes before one is offered a farm or relieved from it for failing to be productive.

10) Food shortages in Zimbabwe have largely been due to "droughts" since 2001. I put "drought" in qoutations because of the unique nature they have occured. The total annual rainfall in Zimbabwe has not been that different from before. However, what seems to have changed over the past 10 years the the SPREAD of rainfall intervals. Rains continue to fall normally between November and early January. However, between January and late February, these rains have consistently disappeared, only to come back later in March, by which time the crops that were once vibrant have suffered from moisture stress and have withered.

Kashiri knows that pre 1999, Zimbabwe's rural population was 70% of the population and did not buy processed maize meal. That fact alone is enough to convince anyone that these peasants therefore produced at least 70% of the nation's food needs (for themselves, off course). Not only did they produce enough to feed themselves, they also had a little surplus that was sold for urban consumption, and in some good years for export. Kashiri also knows that most white farmers stayed away from maize production because of the controlled prices, limited profits and the better opportunity costs offered by cash crops such as tobacco.
If Kashiri knows this, and also knows that land reform ONLY affected commercial farms, not rural plots, what other reason besides drought does he think these hitherto very productive peasants were suddenly failing to produce the food they could before?

11) Kashiri's question has already been answered in 10) above.

12) Kashiri, here is your answer, one can buy sugar made in Zimbabwe from MOZAMBIQUE or ZAMBIA!! If you live in Zimbabwe, you fully well know that production of many Zimbabwean products has hardly decreased at all. What has changed is that many of our manufacturers are smuggling their produce to neighboring countries, prefering to sell their product in us$ there than at the controlled zim$ within the country! Now that the economy is dollarizing, I expect this trend to reverse and most of these goods to eventually start competing with the foreign imports currently on our store shelves.

13) Kashiri obviously looks like an opposition supporter, judging from the talking points he spews here. The opposition called for sanctions against the country. The country's education, healthcare, transportation system, etc was partly financed by NGOs and western aid. How does Kashiri expect the same standards of life to maintain once this source of financing was removed? Zimbabwe is now on its own, and unsuprisingly, its hospitals, schools, roads, etc will not be as good with sanctions imposed on it, and deliberate economic sabotage against it.

It seems Kashiri believes that if the rich in Zimbabwe stopped driving Mercedes Benz and Hummers, then there will be enough money to cover our current deficits!

What also needs to be made plain to readers here is that while there are a few rich Mugabe "cronies", the vast majority of people driving the posh cars Kashiri is talking about are infact opposition supporters in the NGO industry and in corporate Zimbabwe!! The remainder are alleged credit card criminals, stealing cards in the UK and using those funds to return to Zimbabwe in a life of luxury. Most of these people went to these western countries on the back of the opposition, claiming "prosecution" from Mugabe.