Mugabe and the White African

Documentary

First Run Features

R1 DVD

President Robert Mugabe’s land reform has evicted 4000 white farmers in Zimbabwe. In too many cases the land was given to political friends, High Court judges and Army members, not to those who knew anything about farming and could keep the land productive. Thousands are now starving. The white farmers have largely been replaced with black landowners and the bulk of the population is worse off – no farming jobs to be had and no idea how to manage a farm anyway.

The new owners will often seize all the farm equipment and dismantle it for parts. If you don’t know anything about farming this is often more lucrative. The contents of the houses will simply be looted or destroyed.

Historically the seizure of large landowners’ properties and their breakup into smaller units has been hailed as a step forward for democracy. In practice these schemes have often failed as the new landowners either didn’t know how to farm their land or didn’t have enough land to be productive. One such scheme that comes to mind was the Soldier Settlers Scheme of post-World War I Australia, where land for small farms was taken from the large pastoral holdings. In most cases the farms went broke and were bought up again by the big landowners.

In Zimbabwe most farms have been kept intact but given to people with political influence and little or no farming experience. It was once described as “the breadbowl of Africa” but Zimbabwe is now a net importer of food. Inflation is rampant. The little village farms that remain cannot support the population of the cities, and even these people are being chased away from their villages. Mugabe still proceeds with his irrational anti-European campaign in the name of land reform, though, and reserves a special hatred for the British. He has bought his political power with the promise of land for all and is now almost impossible to dislodge. Is this really “land reform”?

The documentary follows the story of Mike Campbell, one of the few remaining white farmers. He is now forced to carry a gun when away from the farmhouse. In the face of continued harassment and intimidation he has taken Mugabe to the Supreme Court. He is using as his grounds racial discrimination. With an election looming Mugabe must be beaten in court, for another electoral win would make him unassailable. The Campbells are due for forcible eviction within a week. His wife retreats into that old standby “we must trust God”, who doesn’t appear to be listening. The rest of the family are a little more practical but still relatively powerless.

Five hundred people, black and white, live on the Campbell farm. Many have been with him since the early days when the farm was first started. Many have learned farming trades like tractor driving. Without Campbell, these people will be unemployed and their future will be bleak. Campbell’s farm has been officially confiscated by the government and Campbell has been prosecuted for continuing to live in his house of his farm. It all depends on the court case against Mugabe.

Then comes a last-minute blow. With the election close the Court postpones the case. They do at least instruct the government not to take eviction action until after the case. On their return to the farm, though, the Campbells find the son of a government minister about to take over possession of “his” house. They win the argument but they know he will be back supported by the “militia”, a bunch of armed government-sponsored thugs. Following the savage beating of Campbell, his son-in-law and daughter they pack what they can and prepare to move (temporarily, they hope) to Namibia where they arrive nine days later.

On the day of the court hearing the case is again held over.

The election draws closer and Mugabe continues with his irrational ranting against the English. This is his main election policy, to vilify the British even though they have no influence or involvement in Zimbabwe. It is highly reminiscent of the Nazi campaign against the Jews during World War II. So is the violence and intimidation against the British. Mugabe, of course, wins the election as he is the only candidate.

The case finally resumes with Campbell’s son-in-law still in a wheelchair. Mugabe’s lawyers ask for a further extension but surprisingly the Court refuses another deferment. The defence team then walked out of the Court to “receive instructions from the government” in defiance of the court. Finally four months later the Court delivers its findings.

Part of the problems of Zimbabwe must be laid at the feet of the white landowners themselves. For generations the native people have been the farm labourers, not the managers or agronomists or even farm mechanics that the country now needs. The whites have seen no reason to change this.

Although the people of Zimbabwe are still suffering under Mugabe’s increasingly dictatorial rule, they also must accept part of the blame for what their country has become. The have allowed their democracy to die in spite of paying the price. They continued to vote for Mugabe long enough for him to consolidate his power. Now they are in desperate poverty and only international intervention can save the country. This point is not made in the documentary, perhaps because it isn’t fashionable to point the finger at victims and say “but you let this happen”. Basically, just as George W Bush’s “weapons of mass destruction” ploy managed to hoodwink Americans into going to war, Mugabe has used “evil British landowners” and the people of Zimbabwe fell for it. I would have been interested to see how this came about, but the Question and Answer section in the Extras explains that it was hard to interview black Zimbabweans because of their fear of being identified.

The documentary is a good example of the rise of dictatorship allowed by the gullibility of the voters. It is a grim lesson in that it cannot offer answers to the problems of Zimbabwe.

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