Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Reuters on Nelson Msndela

Dear Professor Ochonu,

Please forgive overindulgence in long-windedness taking up your valuable time:

With the gift of hindsight, perhaps you will answer the only question I ask here?

 Isn't it great, that we're still talking about contemporary history – if there's such a term - within living memory (ours) – just as for the generation before ours it was the WW2, Korea - we know all about Apartheid, Vietnam, the Congo, " the wind of change blowing over Africa",  Ian Smith and the unilateral declaration of white minority settler independence – the first demonstration I ever took part in -  the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah and his flight to Conakry, the Six Day War and the Liberation of Jerusalem, the Biafra War,  Jerry Rawlings and everything that's happening and been happening in Algeria, Egypt, the Sudan , ever since

The academic assessments and post-mortems about what transpired  - that's one thing  - the extraordinary  emotional  support that  bolstered Mugabe throughout the crisis, not only within Zimbabwe  - but perhaps even more so  outside of that country,  throughout the African continent (Black  Africa – I mean South of the Sahara – excluding some of the wazungu in Kenya and Boers in South Africa) the support for Mugabe's vicious land reform was extraordinary – because  Robert Mugabe ( known as" King Bob" by the  helpless White Settler Zimbabweans ) was able to successfully play the emotive  "Papa's Land" card and anybody who opposed the idea  especially Morgan Tsvangirai became a traitor and  an uncle tom, and everybody ( it's all supposed to be comic play-acting ) included especially the likes of me.

"a compromised settlement that kept economic power and influence in the hands of "departing" colonial countries" yes, and Mugabe, "belatedly and unilaterally embarking on the so-called Fast Track land redistribution scheme when he found himself in political trouble, his power threatened."– threatened by the rising tide of economic discontent (poverty) that mostly resides in the masses of course

A question arises and some further explanation/s called for here dear professor to further enlighten us - re- "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."

The classic formula is economically sabotage a nation any nation - – it could be through sanctions – as with Iran – and you bring them to their knees – in time those who feel the pinch most will rise up against their leader  - supreme or not so supreme, and overthrow him – if they can  

Q:  What should Mugabe have done, to nudge Britain, without giving in?

You insist that "Mugabe chose to do a fast track right around the time that his grip on power was at its most brittle"

Still backed by his army, Mr. Mugabe "losing his grip on power" must imply that he was losing ground to the Shona opposition and to growing economic discontent of the lumpen masses

We know that in 1981 the Zimba dollar was going for about US$1.15 and that around 2007 US$ was going for some 600, 000,000 zimba dollars

So – and that was all before the advent of the Zimbabwe diamonds– but back then it would seem that the only compromise possible was  total submission to his masters in Great Britain even after he had already told them,

"We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood" to protect the nation, So Blair, keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe!"

I predict that after the gathering of African leaders at Madiba's funeral on 15^th December, due to self –consciousness and the smiles and frowns he will receive in Johannesburg, octogenarian Robert Mugabe will relinquish his passion for contesting for yet one more term as president of Zimbabwe, ands announce his retirement...

Sincerely,

We Sweden

On Saturday, 7 December 2013 01:30:01 UTC+1, MEOc...@gmail.com wrote:

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 <cornelius...@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,

We Sweden

 

 

On Friday, 6 December 2013 18:38:18 UTC+1, MEOc...@gmail.com wrote:

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."

mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9B418320131205?irpc=932

- Ikhide

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There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.


---Mohandas Gandhi

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