Oga Cornelius,
You're right. Not only did the Brits drag their feet; in fact they declared flatly (although not in so many words) that as long as Mugabe remained in power and didn't allow "democratization" to occur (a euphemism for essentially relinquishing power to their preferred candidate) they would not provide the money for the agreed compensation. Without money for the compensation of white farm owners, the slow-track, phased land redistribution agreed at Lancaster was impossible to accomplish, hence Mugabe had a legitimate reason to fast track land reform and to do it unilaterally. Having said all these, the fact remains that it was no coincidence that Mugabe chose to do Fast Track right around the time that his grip on power was at its most brittle. That he chose a unilateral track at a time when his hold on power was slipping and his public support eroding speaks volumes, especially since Britain had delayed the provision of compensation funds to start the land reform component of Lancaster for several years after it came due for implementation and Mugabe, secured in power at that time, did absolutely nothing to either nudge Britain or go it alone.
On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
Only "when he found himself in political trouble, his power threatened"?
Not absolutely correct – at the height of the forcible farm seizures, I attended a whole day seminar conducted by Professor Adebayo Olukoshi and some of the folks from the Zimbabwe embassy here in Stockholm, where they meticulously and systematically and painstakingly took us through the terms of that Lancaster House agreement and the history of Great Britain dragging her feet in keeping her part of the bargain.
The fact: also - ten years after the Lancaster House promises were made, they had still not been fulfilled.
I still don't know why the legal road was taken by Mugabe - why instead of violent farm seizures and beatings by Zimbabwe's liberation war veterans, an act of parliament didn't give those farmers a reasonable timeframe within which to hand over the farms?
Once again dear Professor, only Cornelius Ignoramus wonder-ing!
Sincerely,
Fair, if hackneyed, critique of Mandela's settlement with the white establishment. But how is Mandela different in this respect from the overwhelming majority of African nationalist actors who led their various colonial territories to independence? Was Mandela not simply following in the footsteps of previous African nationalists who, in decolonization negotiations, were forced to choose between a delayed or denied independence and a compromised settlement that kept economic power and influence in the hands of "departing" colonial countries or gave them privileged economic access while preserving the dependences that imperiled the economic futures of Africans/blacks? Even in colonial territories where decolonization negotiations occurred because of armed struggle (the Portuguese colonies, Zimbabwe), the nationalist figures faced a variant of this tough choice. Even radical Mugabe reluctantly embraced a settlement at Lancaster House that effectively preserved while economic privileges and dominant land ownership, belatedly and unilaterally embarking on the so-called Fast Track land redistribution scheme when he found himself in political trouble, his power threatened.Mandela did exactly what other African nationalist figures, facing a tough choice imposed by the white oppressors, did; he pragmatically chose political freedom, trading economic freedom for it. In other words, like Nkrumah and other nationalist predecessors across Africa, Mandela embraced the mantra of "seek ye first the political kingdom and all other things shall be added onto you." The failure of the latter part of this mantra to materialize in South Africa cannot be blamed on Mandela alone.On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 10:38 AM, Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com> wrote:"Mandela kept on saying: 'I am here for the people, I am the servant of the nation.' What did he do? He signed papers that allowed white people to keep the mines and the farms," said 49-year-old Majozi Pilane, who runs a roadside stall selling sweets and cigarettes.
"He did absolutely nothing for all the poor people of this country."
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