  Zimbabwean farmers face enormous difficulties Love of the land inspires them to persevere  The Presbyterian Layman Tuesday, January 12, 1999 BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe – Farming in any country is no picnic, but under a one-party dictator determined to eliminate every vestige of colonialism, white farmers in Zimbabwe face enormous odds. Because the heart of this country’s economy is rooted in the land, this contest is no private affair. Mary and Jim Oxford (whose names are pseudonyms) are third-generation Zimbabweans. “We’ve never lived anywhere else,” he says, “so when government officials tell us to go home, where do they expect us to go?” Loving the land Carved out of the rich Zimbabwean soil, the Oxford’s farm reflects their love of the land. Contours are carefully terraced to prevent erosion by fierce African storms. Crops are rotated to ensure that nutrients remain in the soil. Cattle are moved from one pasture to another, and grazing areas are systematically re-seeded. Irrigation waters many hectares of citrus trees during the dry season. The Oxfords made the brick that shaped their home. “We dug the clay out of ant hills,” says Jim, “because ants remove the sand and we get better bricks that way.” Mary’s tiny flower garden receives superlative care. “I love my flowers, she says, “They remind me of God’s goodness and this bountiful earth. When we treat the land with care, God rewards us with beauty.” Farm dependents Dozens of black people live on the Oxford’s farm. In addition to being paid the minimum wage – a government requirement – workers are given incentive bonuses and land for their own gardens. Years ago, Jim’s parents built a school for area children on farm property, and teachers are paid from farm income. Jim and Mary purchase medicine and provide medical care for all of their employees and their families. “It’s the only health care available,” says Jim. “The nearest clinic is a long way from here, and there’s no public transportation.” Nothing comes easily for a Zimbabwean farmer. Mechanical parts are hard to find. If equipment breaks down, one had better be able to fix it, or find another way to get the work done. This is a pioneering kind of life. “If you break your leg, you’re going to need to set it yourself. If the black mamba strikes, just say your prayers. You’re going to be dead before help can arrive.” Sharing the harvest Hard work and sweat equity over several generations have paid off, not only for the Oxfords, but for hundreds of others who share the benefits of their harvest. A ready market for their crops has produced cash to cover their costs, money for investing in additional enterprises, and savings for the lean years that they know will come. “Lots of people depend on our success, says Mary, who keeps the books for the farm operation. Zimbabwe has one of the highest tax rates on the African continent. The Oxfords pay sales tax, a fifty-percent income tax, property taxes and inventory taxes. They pay road maintenance taxes that government officials use as personal income, while their roads deteriorate from neglect. And they pay a social-security-type tax on each worker which, like the road tax, disappears into the bureaucracy. Reverse racism When President Mugabe – he prefers the title “Comrade” – came into power, he promised land redistribution for millions of Zimbabwean blacks. The Oxfords were not opposed to that idea. “There is not a white farmer out here who doesn’t understand the need for land redistribution,” says Jim. “The government is sitting on millions of hectares of unused land. And there are millions more in the hands of absentee owners, people from other countries who own it and are doing nothing with it. This is the land that should be divided among people who have none. It is good land, and with proper care, it can produce.” But that’s not what Mugabe has in mind. He is apparently after land like that owned by the Oxfords, productive farms that have been developed and tended over the years. Several of these farms have been confiscated and given to Mugabe’s friends and government officials. Precious few have been divided among the landless poor. Land abuse The problem with simply turning over farm land to Zimbabwean blacks lies in the fact that they must overcome huge cultural differences in order to make the land productive. The idea of investing is foreign to the African tribal mindset. These Zimbabweans come from nomadic ancestral stock who measured their wealth by the number of cattle they owned. Their practice was to move into a grassland area and graze it until there was nothing left. Then they moved on, assuming that Africa offered a limitless supply. This tendency of exploiting whatever you can get today with no thought of what will be needed tomorrow is the death knell to farming. In areas where the Zimbabwean government has resettled landless blacks, the land has been ruined. Farms that had been productivity showplaces have stopped producing anything more than subsistence crops. Grass lands have been overgrazed. The new occupants have allowed erosion to wash away precious top soil. Once-fertile maize fields are now ribbed with deep gullies and exposed rock. Having failed at their resettlement efforts, many occupants are simply moving away, now that the land can no longer sustain them. Mugabe has apparently learned nothing from these results. Time Magazine reported that on November 28, 1997, with his aim set on 1,503 productive farms like the one owned by the Oxfords, he declared, “The colonial exercise of robbery will be corrected once and for all.” Writing for Time, author Remer Tyson reported, “Zimbabwe’s white farmers, who produce 40 percent of all exports and employ 337,000 black workers, are shell shocked.” Religious rhetoric The Oxfords have been reading reports of the World Council of Churches meeting in Harare, and they are baffled by the rhetoric. “They seem to be accepting Mugabe’s lies,” said Jim. “Mugabe told them that the country’s economic problems are due to colonialism. How long is he going to blame the failures of his government on something that ended 18 years ago? This country was a lot better of before Independence. Just ask anyone. Everything here is falling apart. The roads are crumbling. Telephones don’t work. We have power failures every day. Inflation is almost 40 percent. It is getting harder and harder to live in Zimbabwe, and the poor are suffering most of all.”
The WCC resolution does call for an end to government corruption in third world countries and the establishment of controls by creditors in any future loans. But it also says that cancellation of the debt should not wait until those controls are enacted. No strangers to adversity, most white Zimbabwean farmers are tough, and they will not just walk away from this land that they have loved. But with eviction a distinct possibility, they may not have a choice. They are beginning to feel like an endangered species, and they don’t see how resolutions from the World Council of Churches will make their lives any easier. |
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