[A-List] Zimbabwe: Chinese intervention

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

I'd appreciate Patrick Bond's views on this. There are lots of implications
arising, not least ecological and strategic.


Mugabe signs land deal with Chinese to tackle food crisis
By Basildon Peta Southern Africa Correspondent
The Independent
12 February 2003

Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, has awarded a contract to grow
food crops on more than 100,000 hectares to a Chinese company in a desperate
attempt to avert an unprecedented farming crisis.

The land was mostly seized from white farmers and is now lying derelict
after its new black owners failed to take it up because no agricultural
equipment was available.

Mr Mugabe's decision to approve the land allocations to the China
International Water and Electric Corporation, a state-owned company,
contradicts his claims that he wants to empower black Zimbabweans by giving
them land seized from white farmers.

State media said the deal would restore Zimbabwe's agricultural strength to
its former position of glory in Africa's agriculture sector. It proved that
Mr Mugabe's policy of co-operating with Asia and former Communist countries
in Eastern Europe at the expense of the West was paying dividends.

Mr Mugabe has said that his government will no longer work with the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank but will concentrate on
finding new friends in Asia.

But a senior government official said the deal was a direct indictment of Mr
Mugabe's chaotic land reforms. "I think what it proves is that our system of
chasing farm owners and confiscating their land has not worked,'' said the
official, who was interviewed on condition of anonymity.

"We are now stuck with a huge amount of derelict land, which could have been
under good use if the politicians had taken our advice to implement a phased
and systematic land reform exercise.''

Joseph Made, the Agriculture Minister, publicly admitted for the first time
last month that most of the seized land had not been taken by its new
owners.

In some of the most important agricultural provinces, less than half of the
land allocated to blacks has been occupied. New black occupants often become
frustrated by the government's failure to give them resources to farm and
return to communal areas, where there is infrastructure such as boreholes.

The government is trying to lure back commercial farmers displaced from
their properties by violent occupations and seizures, which began three
years ago and accelerated after the President was re-elected last year in
polls that independent observers said were rigged.

Mr Mugabe's government claims that it has drafted a memorandum of
understanding, which awaits signing. But farmers say nothing has
materialised from talks that began a few weeks ago.

As part of the deal, the government wants to give back to white farmers some
seized properties in exchange for farming equipment needed to help to
resettle black farmers.

The white farmers have rejected the offer, saying the government is not
sincere.

According to state media, the deal with the Chinese will yield at least 2.1
million tons of maize a year, enough to feed Zimbabwe's 12 million people.
The project, which is expected to start soon, would play an important role
in reducing inflation, which reached 200 per cent last month. The Chinese
are expected to bring in massive irrigation equipment for use on the
project.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the country's deepening economic troubles, a
parliamentary inquiry said the national airline was heading for collapse.
Silas Mangono, head of the inquiry, said two of Air Zimbabwe's six planes
had been grounded because there was no hard currency for spare parts.