The land question returns to the heart of Zimbabwean politics, haunting Robert Mugabe, writes Gamal Nkrumah It was a difficult call. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had set himself a forbidding task: to do justice to his people whose forebears were forcibly dispossessed of their land. He was determined to redress the historic wrongs committed against his people. Social justice was the point he set to hammer home. The land reform policies of Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) became a touchstone, a point of reference that could not be ignored; a mould-maker for the new post- independence Zimbabwe. The Chimurenga, or "War of Liberation", was pumped into the bloodstream of Zimbabwean society and all southern Africa. When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, 70 per cent of the country's arable land was in the hand of 4,000 European settler landowners. Defenders of liberty have, unfortunately, played into the hands of the very people who lie at the heart of the root problem in Zimbabwe -- the European settlers. This may be sad for history. The legendary Reggae star Bob Marley sang triumphantly at Zimbabwean independence, the hopes and aspirations of Africans in Zimbabwe and throughout southern Africa and the African Diaspora across the world were running high. Barely two decades later, the former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu derided Mugabe as a "caricature of an African dictator". Yet elections are regularly held in Zimbabwe, and opposition figures take full advantage and speak their minds. The problem, however, is that when they do they are physically assaulted. Last week, Morgan Tsvangirai, the veteran trade unionist and leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was badly beaten at a rally for questioning Mugabe's land policy. Apparently, Mugabe and family have plenty of property freed from white hands: the Highfield Estate, in Norton, near the Zimbabwean capital Harare; the Iron Mask Estate in Mazoe and Gushungo Farm named after Mugabe's own tribal clan. To be sure, Mugabe is not the first African leader to own property, and he is entitled to be a fully-fledged property- owner. It seems that his principal crime is that he expropriated white-owned land. Mugabe is accused of giving the green light to Chejerai Hitler Hunzvi to seize white farms and assault white farmers. The personal attacks on Mugabe are not limited to gossip columns and bloggers. His own wife, Grace Marufu, his former secretary and 40 years his junior, is scoffed at for her shopping sprees abroad at a time when inflation in Zimbabwe is running at a walloping 1,700 per cent added to an unemployment rate of 80 per cent. In short, the Zimbabwean economy is in shambles. Who, however, is to blame? The West points an accusing finger at Mugabe who is systematically portrayed as a veritable bête noir in the Western media. It is a calculating move, and nothing short of character assassination. After all, he legitimised African civil rights, including the right to own and farm the most fertile lands of the country that in the past were the exclusive preserve of the European settler minority. At least he will go down in history as having smashed the phalanx of racial prejudice. Zimbabwe is a democracy where political, religious and civic groups have political clout. His rise to power was phenomenal. Here was a teacher who could lead from experience. His was a vindication of the rights of dispossessed Africans. He ditched the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) led by the late charismatic ethnic Ndebele leader Joshua Nkomo to form his own ethnic Shona-dominated ZANU. Ethnic tensions ensued, however, culminating in the dreaded Gukurahundi in which Mugabe's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade cut down an estimated 20,000 Ndebele. Today, Mugabe's main rival, Tsvangirai, is a fellow Shona. Mugabe defeated Tsvangirai at the last Zimbabwean presidential polls in 2002. Mugabe secured 56 per cent of the vote, Tsvangirai 42 per cent. The latter after an initial rejection of the vote, reluctantly agreed to play the role of responsible opposition leader. However much the West tarnishes Mugabe's image, his stature is quite high in Africa, and few African leaders would dare say a bad word about him. Indeed, they can hardly criticise Mugabe since many of them also habitually beat up boorish opposition figures. It would be a case of the kettle calling the pot black. In 2004, the popular pan-African monthly magazine New African conducted a curious but telling poll asking readers to nominate the most influential African leaders of the 20th century. Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah came first, South Africa's Nelson Mandela won second, and Mugabe wrenched third place. Be that as it may, his detractors charge him and his family and hangers-on of gobbling up white land. Matters came to a head when it became apparent that the British rescinded on their pledges to return the land to their rightful owners, the African people of Zimbabwe, according to the stipulations of the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. A case can be made that this arrangement worked quite well for a decade or so after independence. Today the British betrayal spells disaster. Politically, Zimbabwe is sliding into chaos. Western sanctions have severely hurt the Zimbabwean economy. At last Sunday's rally in Harare, Tsvangirai was badly beaten up. MP and MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa was beaten at Harare airport as he prepared to board a plane. Sekai Holland, a member of the ruling ZANU-PF who defected to the opposition, was also assaulted. Quite frankly, it is a bare-knuckle fight. The beatings may have a practical purpose, but they do Mugabe's cause no good. But there are risks in a situation in which all opposition politicians owe their positions to foreign intervention or the moral and financial backing of the European settler minority. Widespread poverty and inequality in Zimbabwe are direct results of the legacy of European settler colonial rule. For the European settler minority in Zimbabwe, a catastrophic demographic collapse compounds their problems and threatens their very existence. And, in a separate but related development, Zimbabean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi threatened to expel Western diplomats an bar opposition figures from foreign travel. "I summoned [Western} ambassadors and told them that Zimbabwe will not allow interference in its internal affairs," he towas quoted as saying on Zimbabwean state television. The crux of the matter is the unjust global economic system. When the European settlers decided that exporting flowers to Europe is more profitable than growing maize, African peasants and farm workers suffered. They cannot eat flowers -- the seeds of discontent and hunger were sown. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 27 years and his term of office expires in 2008. His political foes charge him with vote-rigging and voter intimidation. Tsvangirai is no Mugabe. And there is much speculation over whether Tsvangirai formulated his party's ideals himself. Be that as it may, Zimbabwe will not emerge from its current political crisis unless the land question is properly addressed.
