"Africanization of the land." How Zimbabwe and South Africa will nationalize the land of European farmers
Once, areas in the very south of the African continent attracted European colonists — the Dutch, the Germans, the British ... The largest settlements of Europeans arose on the territory of the modern South African Republic (South Africa). It formed a special nation of "African Europeans" - the Boers, there was even a new language - Afrikaans. Less numerous were the settlements of European colonists in Southern Rhodesia. However, the power of the white minority in Rhodesia and South Africa did not like the black majority of the population - representatives of local African bantu-speaking peoples. Formed national liberation organizations, formally considered socialist or communist, but in fact expressed the interests of the tribes.
In the end, not without the support of the world community, in 1980, the political independence of the new African state of Zimbabwe was proclaimed. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the leader of the African National Union of Zimbabwe (ZANU), who won the election, became its prime minister, and since 1987, the president. Unlike many other leaders of the national liberation movement in South Africa, Robert Mugabe focused not so much on the Soviet Union, as on China and North Korea. However, in the domestic economic policy, Mugabe was very pragmatic. For a long time, he preferred not to touch the white farmers, who constituted an impressive minority of the country's population and made a huge contribution to its economic prosperity. Although Mugabe promised Zimbabweans to “nationalize the land,” that is, redistribute the property of white farmers to black peasants, he tried not to fulfill his promises during the first decade and a half of his rule.
Obviously, Mugabe, a thin and pragmatic politician, was well aware that without white farmers, the country's economy would quickly "die down" and Zimbabwe, which inherited many of the positive achievements of Southern Rhodesia, would quickly fall into the level of most of its neighbors - poor underdeveloped countries that are completely independent in economic respect. Zimbabwe was a rare exception from the general panorama of poor African countries - and the main explanation for this is not even rich natural resources (many other African countries, such as Sierra Leone or Niger, which nevertheless exist in extreme poverty, are no less rich in resources. ), and the presence of a “white” sector of the economy. Over 70% of Zimbabwean lands, and after independence, the country remained in the hands of white farmers - the British, Germans, Boers. Naturally, this caused a negative reaction from many veterans of the national liberation struggle, who considered themselves deprived. But until a certain time, Robert Mugabe did not allow to touch the white farmers. And they were not touched - until the middle of the 1990s, they felt quite comfortable in Zimbabwe, although, of course, their position was no longer comparable to what it was during the existence of Southern Rhodesia.
The second half of the 1990-s was for Zimbabwe the beginning of the “black band” in modern stories. The economic situation in the country has worsened, a rather active opposition appeared, dissatisfied with the 15-year stay in power of Robert Mugabe. Under these conditions, the head of state needed support from the majority of the population, the most active group of which was veterans of the national liberation struggle - people who had real combat experience and who were ready, at the direction of their leaders, to proceed to violent actions against anyone whom the “masters” would point out. To satisfy the aspirations of the poorest strata of the Zimbabwean population, Mugabe could only one way - nationalize the land from white farmers. Twenty years after the declaration of independence, the very nationalization of the land, which Mugabe spoke about in 1980, became a reality.
Agrarian reform was scheduled for February 2000. In its implementation, Robert Mugabe needed the help of "social activists" - and she came. The main driving force behind the "Africanization" of Zimbabwean agricultural land was the Association of Veterans of the Fight for Independence - a military-political organization that received special privileges from the country's president. Recall that the Association of demobilized fighters ZANLA (military wing of the party ZANU) and ZIPRA (military wing of the party ZAPU) was established immediately after the proclamation of Zimbabwe’s state sovereignty - in 1980 year. She united over 30 thousands of people who took part in the national liberation war in Southern Rhodesia as commanders, political workers, ordinary soldiers. As members of the Association were virtually all the leaders and senior officers of the Zimbabwean security forces, she received unlimited support from the army and the police. Robert Mugabe created a special Ministry of Veterans Affairs, knowing full well that it was yesterday’s independence fighters that were his main and most reliable support. It was the members of the Association of Veterans who had to implement the agrarian reform, good for this they had all the necessary resources - aggression, combat experience, readiness for violent actions, weapon and, most importantly, support from the Zimbabwean authorities.
The Zimbabwean politician Chengerai Hunzwi (2000-1949), also known as Hitler, quite speakingly, served as chairman of the Association of Veterans of the struggle for independence in February 2001. Coming from the Shona peasants, Hunzvi was a tribesman of Robert Mugabe himself. According to Hitler, in his youth, at the age of sixteen, he participated in the national liberation struggle, was a partisan. However, in fact, the history of the real participation of Hunzvi in the national liberation struggle is very vague. But it is known that in 1974, the 25-year-old Rhodesian Chengerai Hunzvi went to Europe to continue his education. He studied in Romania and Poland - then the socialist countries, received a diploma in medical education. More than medicine, Hunzwi attracted a political career and he quite happily worked in the diplomatic field, acting as a representative of the ZAPU in the Polish People's Republic, and in 1979, one of the representatives of the rebel movement of the peoples of Southern Rhodesia at the Lancasterhaus conference in London, during Through the mediation of Great Britain, negotiations were held between the government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and the rebel movements ZANU and ZAPU.
In Zimbabwe, Chengerai Hunzwi returned only in 1990, ten years after declaring political independence, and remembered his diploma - he began working as a doctor at Harare Central Hospital, and later managed to open his own private clinic in Budiriro. In Zimbabwe, Hunzwi joined the Association of Veterans of the Struggle for Independence and, although unlike many high-ranking former partisans, Hunzwi’s personal participation in the guerrilla struggle was very contradictory and fragmentary information, he managed to make a dizzying career in the Association and become its chairman. The oratory gift of Hunzwie and the ability to convince people played his role. The role of the leader of "Hitler" fit much more than any other activist of the Association. In 1997, Chengerai Hunzwi took the chair of the Association. He immediately began to actively lobby the interests of veterans. In particular, Hunzwi launched a campaign for paying one-time allowance in the amount of 4000 US dollars and monthly state allowances in US 2000 to the veterans of the national liberation struggle. Hunzwi also demanded to extend veteran benefits to women who did not participate in hostilities, but were informers of the national liberation movement. Of course, such fabulous sums by the standards of Zimbabwe, which Hunzwi said, no one veterans did not pay, but the payment of one-time allowance in 2500 US dollars and monthly allowances in 100 US dollars became a reality. So Chendzherai Hunzvi was even more popular among veterans of the national liberation struggle, and the country’s financial system was dealt a serious blow — veterans and people involved in the struggle for independence in Zimbabwe are quite numerous and in order to pay them regular benefits, considerable amounts were required by the standards of this country . Get them and supposed due to the robbery of white farmers.
The idea of nationalizing property belonging to members of other racial groups has been implemented repeatedly in the modern history of the African continent. Thus, the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada under the same slogans of "Africanization of the economy" plundered the property of the numerous Indian diaspora, which played an important role in the economic life of Uganda. In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi nationalized the property of Europeans. Therefore, Robert Mugabe was not a pioneer in the redistribution of property of European or Asian entrepreneurs in favor of the African population. Since Mugabe was embarrassed to act with the hands of the army and the police, the paramilitary units of the Association of Veterans, who were commanded by yesterday’s doctor Chendzherai Hunzvi, nicknamed “Hitler”, were to play a leading role in the nationalization of the land.
At the beginning of 2000, the city of Changzherai Hunzvi demanded that the redistribution of land be accelerated in favor of the veterans of the national liberation struggle. Otherwise, "Hitler" threatened a carnage, which he reported directly to Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the British Commonwealth. By the way, the farmers themselves - most of them Englishmen - initially counted on intercession from the UK and other European countries. Indeed, the British government, Tony Blair, severely criticized Robert Mugabe’s policy and organized the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the British Commonwealth for a period of one year. In addition, the European Union imposed sanctions against Robert Mugabe and several other high-ranking officials of the Zimbabwean government, arresting their bank deposits and banning entry to Europe. But these measures did not lead to a change in the policy of "Africanization of land." In Zimbabwe, mass attacks against white farmers began in order to seize their property. Moreover, the bulk of the militants of the Association of Veterans, of course, were not veterans, whose age should have been at this time at least 35 years old, but teenagers and young men born after independence. Despite their young age, they seemed to be veterans and shamelessly robbed the white inhabitants of Zimbabwe. Not only “community activists” participated in the robbery of farmers, but also military personnel and police officers. Many murders have been documented, and the victims were not only white farmers, but also blacks - employees of farms, with whom their tribesmen massacred without any regret. During the land nationalization campaign, 4500 farms were seized from white farmers. Approximately 30.000 residents of Zimbabwe of European descent, fearing for their lives and the safety of the last property, were forced to leave the country.
But the nationalization of agricultural land did not bring the desired well-being to the African people of Zimbabwe. As a result of the actions of the militants "Hitler", the Zimbabwean agrarian industry was virtually destroyed. The production and export of agricultural products fell sharply, as the new owners were unable to organize and manage agricultural production. A further decline in the standard of living of the population followed, but this caused only a backlash in the form of further growth of nationalist sentiment and continued attacks on the remaining white population of Zimbabwe. White Rhodesians began to return to the UK en masse, some moved to neighboring Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa. By the way, the authorities of Mozambique, knowing full well that the arrival of white farmers could improve the country's agriculture, began to allocate to them (it is forbidden to sell land here) significant agricultural land area.
Participation in the campaign to nationalize the land finally turned Chengerai Hunzvi, nicknamed "Hitler" and his militants from the Association of Veterans into the main public support of Robert Mugabe. In fact, Hunzwi became the second most influential person in the country, although he did not hold any government posts. But on July 4, 2001, at the age of 51, Chengerai Hunzvi died suddenly. Officially reported that he died from malaria, unofficial sources put forward as one of the most likely versions of the death from AIDS, very common in southern Africa. But it is also possible that the dangerous leader of the Zimbabwean “storm troopers” simply got rid of those who did not want to further increase its political influence.
However, despite the fact that for Zimbabwe, getting rid of white farmers was a powerful blow that led to a serious crisis in the agricultural sector, the example of "Africanization of land" was infectious. So, in June 2016 in the Republic of South Africa a law was passed, according to which white farmers should sell land to indigenous people at a fixed price, without the possibility of giving up a deal or bargaining. So the South African authorities decided to accelerate the transfer of land from white farmers to black peasants. As in Zimbabwe, a mass movement began in South Africa in the 1990s to return land to African peasants. It was also accompanied by violence. Only for the period from 1997 to 2007. 1248 white farmers and workers of African descent working on their farms were killed. Sharply increased white re-emigration from South Africa. Currently, South African people of European descent leave for Europe, Australia or New Zealand.
In the end, not without the support of the world community, in 1980, the political independence of the new African state of Zimbabwe was proclaimed. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the leader of the African National Union of Zimbabwe (ZANU), who won the election, became its prime minister, and since 1987, the president. Unlike many other leaders of the national liberation movement in South Africa, Robert Mugabe focused not so much on the Soviet Union, as on China and North Korea. However, in the domestic economic policy, Mugabe was very pragmatic. For a long time, he preferred not to touch the white farmers, who constituted an impressive minority of the country's population and made a huge contribution to its economic prosperity. Although Mugabe promised Zimbabweans to “nationalize the land,” that is, redistribute the property of white farmers to black peasants, he tried not to fulfill his promises during the first decade and a half of his rule. Obviously, Mugabe, a thin and pragmatic politician, was well aware that without white farmers, the country's economy would quickly "die down" and Zimbabwe, which inherited many of the positive achievements of Southern Rhodesia, would quickly fall into the level of most of its neighbors - poor underdeveloped countries that are completely independent in economic respect. Zimbabwe was a rare exception from the general panorama of poor African countries - and the main explanation for this is not even rich natural resources (many other African countries, such as Sierra Leone or Niger, which nevertheless exist in extreme poverty, are no less rich in resources. ), and the presence of a “white” sector of the economy. Over 70% of Zimbabwean lands, and after independence, the country remained in the hands of white farmers - the British, Germans, Boers. Naturally, this caused a negative reaction from many veterans of the national liberation struggle, who considered themselves deprived. But until a certain time, Robert Mugabe did not allow to touch the white farmers. And they were not touched - until the middle of the 1990s, they felt quite comfortable in Zimbabwe, although, of course, their position was no longer comparable to what it was during the existence of Southern Rhodesia.
The second half of the 1990-s was for Zimbabwe the beginning of the “black band” in modern stories. The economic situation in the country has worsened, a rather active opposition appeared, dissatisfied with the 15-year stay in power of Robert Mugabe. Under these conditions, the head of state needed support from the majority of the population, the most active group of which was veterans of the national liberation struggle - people who had real combat experience and who were ready, at the direction of their leaders, to proceed to violent actions against anyone whom the “masters” would point out. To satisfy the aspirations of the poorest strata of the Zimbabwean population, Mugabe could only one way - nationalize the land from white farmers. Twenty years after the declaration of independence, the very nationalization of the land, which Mugabe spoke about in 1980, became a reality.
Agrarian reform was scheduled for February 2000. In its implementation, Robert Mugabe needed the help of "social activists" - and she came. The main driving force behind the "Africanization" of Zimbabwean agricultural land was the Association of Veterans of the Fight for Independence - a military-political organization that received special privileges from the country's president. Recall that the Association of demobilized fighters ZANLA (military wing of the party ZANU) and ZIPRA (military wing of the party ZAPU) was established immediately after the proclamation of Zimbabwe’s state sovereignty - in 1980 year. She united over 30 thousands of people who took part in the national liberation war in Southern Rhodesia as commanders, political workers, ordinary soldiers. As members of the Association were virtually all the leaders and senior officers of the Zimbabwean security forces, she received unlimited support from the army and the police. Robert Mugabe created a special Ministry of Veterans Affairs, knowing full well that it was yesterday’s independence fighters that were his main and most reliable support. It was the members of the Association of Veterans who had to implement the agrarian reform, good for this they had all the necessary resources - aggression, combat experience, readiness for violent actions, weapon and, most importantly, support from the Zimbabwean authorities.
The Zimbabwean politician Chengerai Hunzwi (2000-1949), also known as Hitler, quite speakingly, served as chairman of the Association of Veterans of the struggle for independence in February 2001. Coming from the Shona peasants, Hunzvi was a tribesman of Robert Mugabe himself. According to Hitler, in his youth, at the age of sixteen, he participated in the national liberation struggle, was a partisan. However, in fact, the history of the real participation of Hunzvi in the national liberation struggle is very vague. But it is known that in 1974, the 25-year-old Rhodesian Chengerai Hunzvi went to Europe to continue his education. He studied in Romania and Poland - then the socialist countries, received a diploma in medical education. More than medicine, Hunzwi attracted a political career and he quite happily worked in the diplomatic field, acting as a representative of the ZAPU in the Polish People's Republic, and in 1979, one of the representatives of the rebel movement of the peoples of Southern Rhodesia at the Lancasterhaus conference in London, during Through the mediation of Great Britain, negotiations were held between the government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and the rebel movements ZANU and ZAPU.
In Zimbabwe, Chengerai Hunzwi returned only in 1990, ten years after declaring political independence, and remembered his diploma - he began working as a doctor at Harare Central Hospital, and later managed to open his own private clinic in Budiriro. In Zimbabwe, Hunzwi joined the Association of Veterans of the Struggle for Independence and, although unlike many high-ranking former partisans, Hunzwi’s personal participation in the guerrilla struggle was very contradictory and fragmentary information, he managed to make a dizzying career in the Association and become its chairman. The oratory gift of Hunzwie and the ability to convince people played his role. The role of the leader of "Hitler" fit much more than any other activist of the Association. In 1997, Chengerai Hunzwi took the chair of the Association. He immediately began to actively lobby the interests of veterans. In particular, Hunzwi launched a campaign for paying one-time allowance in the amount of 4000 US dollars and monthly state allowances in US 2000 to the veterans of the national liberation struggle. Hunzwi also demanded to extend veteran benefits to women who did not participate in hostilities, but were informers of the national liberation movement. Of course, such fabulous sums by the standards of Zimbabwe, which Hunzwi said, no one veterans did not pay, but the payment of one-time allowance in 2500 US dollars and monthly allowances in 100 US dollars became a reality. So Chendzherai Hunzvi was even more popular among veterans of the national liberation struggle, and the country’s financial system was dealt a serious blow — veterans and people involved in the struggle for independence in Zimbabwe are quite numerous and in order to pay them regular benefits, considerable amounts were required by the standards of this country . Get them and supposed due to the robbery of white farmers.
The idea of nationalizing property belonging to members of other racial groups has been implemented repeatedly in the modern history of the African continent. Thus, the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada under the same slogans of "Africanization of the economy" plundered the property of the numerous Indian diaspora, which played an important role in the economic life of Uganda. In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi nationalized the property of Europeans. Therefore, Robert Mugabe was not a pioneer in the redistribution of property of European or Asian entrepreneurs in favor of the African population. Since Mugabe was embarrassed to act with the hands of the army and the police, the paramilitary units of the Association of Veterans, who were commanded by yesterday’s doctor Chendzherai Hunzvi, nicknamed “Hitler”, were to play a leading role in the nationalization of the land.
At the beginning of 2000, the city of Changzherai Hunzvi demanded that the redistribution of land be accelerated in favor of the veterans of the national liberation struggle. Otherwise, "Hitler" threatened a carnage, which he reported directly to Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the British Commonwealth. By the way, the farmers themselves - most of them Englishmen - initially counted on intercession from the UK and other European countries. Indeed, the British government, Tony Blair, severely criticized Robert Mugabe’s policy and organized the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the British Commonwealth for a period of one year. In addition, the European Union imposed sanctions against Robert Mugabe and several other high-ranking officials of the Zimbabwean government, arresting their bank deposits and banning entry to Europe. But these measures did not lead to a change in the policy of "Africanization of land." In Zimbabwe, mass attacks against white farmers began in order to seize their property. Moreover, the bulk of the militants of the Association of Veterans, of course, were not veterans, whose age should have been at this time at least 35 years old, but teenagers and young men born after independence. Despite their young age, they seemed to be veterans and shamelessly robbed the white inhabitants of Zimbabwe. Not only “community activists” participated in the robbery of farmers, but also military personnel and police officers. Many murders have been documented, and the victims were not only white farmers, but also blacks - employees of farms, with whom their tribesmen massacred without any regret. During the land nationalization campaign, 4500 farms were seized from white farmers. Approximately 30.000 residents of Zimbabwe of European descent, fearing for their lives and the safety of the last property, were forced to leave the country.
But the nationalization of agricultural land did not bring the desired well-being to the African people of Zimbabwe. As a result of the actions of the militants "Hitler", the Zimbabwean agrarian industry was virtually destroyed. The production and export of agricultural products fell sharply, as the new owners were unable to organize and manage agricultural production. A further decline in the standard of living of the population followed, but this caused only a backlash in the form of further growth of nationalist sentiment and continued attacks on the remaining white population of Zimbabwe. White Rhodesians began to return to the UK en masse, some moved to neighboring Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa. By the way, the authorities of Mozambique, knowing full well that the arrival of white farmers could improve the country's agriculture, began to allocate to them (it is forbidden to sell land here) significant agricultural land area.
Participation in the campaign to nationalize the land finally turned Chengerai Hunzvi, nicknamed "Hitler" and his militants from the Association of Veterans into the main public support of Robert Mugabe. In fact, Hunzwi became the second most influential person in the country, although he did not hold any government posts. But on July 4, 2001, at the age of 51, Chengerai Hunzvi died suddenly. Officially reported that he died from malaria, unofficial sources put forward as one of the most likely versions of the death from AIDS, very common in southern Africa. But it is also possible that the dangerous leader of the Zimbabwean “storm troopers” simply got rid of those who did not want to further increase its political influence.
However, despite the fact that for Zimbabwe, getting rid of white farmers was a powerful blow that led to a serious crisis in the agricultural sector, the example of "Africanization of land" was infectious. So, in June 2016 in the Republic of South Africa a law was passed, according to which white farmers should sell land to indigenous people at a fixed price, without the possibility of giving up a deal or bargaining. So the South African authorities decided to accelerate the transfer of land from white farmers to black peasants. As in Zimbabwe, a mass movement began in South Africa in the 1990s to return land to African peasants. It was also accompanied by violence. Only for the period from 1997 to 2007. 1248 white farmers and workers of African descent working on their farms were killed. Sharply increased white re-emigration from South Africa. Currently, South African people of European descent leave for Europe, Australia or New Zealand.
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