Zimbabwe – A Tragic Reminder

I long ago gave up being frustrated and bitter with the ineptitude of both British and American politicians, who thought they had the knowledge and wisdom to define for Zimbabwe (Rhodesia as it was then) how it should organise itself.

This article, though, is a stark reminder, if any were needed, just how badly the British in particular, but ably assisted by the Americans, managed to totally screw up a country that was one of the most productive in Africa.

And that was at a time when Africa as a whole was a lot more productive than it is today.

A few facts:

Between 1966 and 1980 (the year Mugabe came to power thanks to a corrupt election which the British, through Nicholas Soames, turned a blind eye to) Rhodesia boasted:

• Sub 5% inflation
• Sub 5% interest rates
• A positive current account balance
• The highest spending per capita in Africa (including South Africa) on education
• The highest spending per capita in Africa (including South Africa) on health
• A thriving agricultural economy that exported food to surrounding African countries
• A thriving textiles industry that exported clothing and clothing materials.
• A thriving mining industry
• A top class university in which 60% of the students were black African
• A highly effective military and police force of which the membership (of both) was 60% black African. (Rhodesian counter terrorist forces were acknowledged as among the best in the world).
• Many hugely successful black African owned businesses.
• No legally based racial segregation. (The right to vote was open to people of all races provided they paid more than a prescribed amount of tax annually).
• From 1978 onwards, a multi-racial government, headed by Abel Muzorewa.

This was a country that was a net contributor to the world economy, despite years of mandatory international trade sanctions imposed by the United Nations at the request of Britain after Rhodesia declared UDI in 1965.

And this is the country that the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher forced Mugabe onto, at the Lancaster House conference in November 1979 and the subsequent election in 1980.

An election that was universally acknowledged as being corrupt, but which the then interim British governor, Nicholas Soames, and the British government, turned a blind eye to.

All because they wanted a tick on the Foreign Policy bed post, so they could get a problem off their hands.

I often wonder whether Margaret Thatcher and Peter Carrington (British Foreign Secretary at the time) feel any guilt about the results of their actions back then.

But I doubt it.

Just in case you didn’t get it, Mrs Thatcher and Lord Carrington: Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, as it was called by then, already had a multi-racial government and a multi-racial society that was at peace with itself.

It was only your insistence on pandering to the so-called Patriotic Front and turning a blind eye to a clearly corrupt election that resulted in the mess we have today.

And, by the way, re the Patriotic Front…

It was, if you recall, an alliance between the two major tribal groupings in Rhodesia at the time – the Mashonas and the Matabeles.

Lifelong enemies.

As soon as Mugabe (a Mashona) was in power he set about sidelining Nkomo (a Matabele and his so-called Patriotic Front partner) and massacring 10′s of thousands of Matabele in Matabeleland, South Western Rhodesia.

Saddam Hussein would have been proud.

So pat yourselves on the back. Your actions and decisions resulted in the comprehensive destruction of the bread basket of Africa.

Maybe I am still bitter and frustrated after all…

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