This is not a praise piece to Robert Mugabe but an
expression of my personal experience of the impact of his policies on my life
and my immediate community. I would like to highlight the positive aspects and
effects of the land issue and land reform.
I am deliberately leaving out the negatives which the so
called independent media have by now discussed, twisted, distorted and
exhausted the propaganda rhetoric on behalf of those the land was taken from.
This is the propaganda that has resulted in sanctions being slapped on
Zimbabwe.
My story, and this is the story of our people, began when I
started renting a bottle store at Tambawaguta Business Centre in 2005 and I am
still operating up to this day. This was in the midst and the height of the
land revolution and I could hardly sell a crate of beer of the low incomes of
the community around the business centre.
IMPACT OF THE LAND REFORM ON INCOME LEVEL
My sales were low in the beginning as most of my customers
were urban workers and few commuters who passed through the highway.Farm workers from Burma Valley and the Vumba made up part of
my customers but their incomes were very low but as the land reform progressed
some of the farm workers and members of the local community became land owners.
There has been a gradual increase in the income level of the people around the
business centre as reflected by increase in business.
The new farmers are into timber harvesting, tobacco, maize
and other cash crops and they can afford to stop and buy as they pass through
on their way to and from town.
The land revolution has had a positive aspect on the income
level on local households. Initially the people who were allocated land in the
Vumba began harvesting timber and sawmills were established at our business
centre. This development created employment for the locals especially the
youths, the income had a ripple effect on the immediate micro-economy.
The increase of income levels had an amazing impact as the locals were now employed as workers in
the timber processing industry. Those
who had land could afford to hire labour to attend to their fields and this had
a ripple effect on the immediate micro economy.
The locals would now afford to by basic farming implements,
fund electrification of their homes and improve their lives. Cellphones and
satellite televisions could now be afforded and the local shops were
electrified .The local shops could now be able to stock perishable goods as
electric freezers and microwave stoves were now able to
function.
CREATION OF MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT
The land reform program has created work and meaningful
employment for the locals as the
skills which the youth acquired in the Vumba on timber
processing are now being transferred elsewhere. Skills like machine operating,
logging, mechanics, welding and management and marketing which the locals have acquired have seen
locals working in timber estates in Nyanga,Penhalonga and Chimanimani.
The local economy is benefiting directly and indirectly from
the land reform program even though the timber in the Vumba has been depleted.
Income earned elsewhere is being ploughed back into the local community.
It is my hope that the new farmers in Vumba start replacing
the pine trees and create further continuous employment and income for the
local community.
THE LAND REFORM AND LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE
In 2005 the business centre had nine shops and of these only
one had electricity and four were operating. The local joke was that if you
want to see electricity you must go to Burma. The Burma electricity line was
for the white farmers and it passed overhead of the community.
Today as I write only three shops out of the nine do not
have electricity and eight shops are operating. The avaliabilty of electricity
is a direct result of the land reform program and Rural Electrification
program.Locals are now engaged in meaningful income generating
activities such as welding ,hairdressing and other activities that need
electricity.
THE LAND REFORM AND ROBERT MUGABE
It is my belief that those who doubt the land reform should
look around their communities and see the positive impacts and acknowledge its
successes. In my opinion we should applaud the country’s astute leadership and
the vision of Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
Let us discount the Rhodesian propaganda which has been used
to court sanctions against our country to the dustbin of history.It is my belief that without the illegal
economic sanctions and the chicanery of the Rhodesian sponsored opposition Zimbabwe would be in a better economic
position than where it is today.
(c)All rights reserved Thornbridge Investments 2014
