Basil,

i heard a very good commentary on the radio today. The assessment was that
the results of the vote were more of a desire on the part of the people to
curb Mugabe's powers, and not actually a dissatisfaction with the plan to
seize land from White farmers.Infact, i think a majority oif Zimbabweans
would not be opposed to re-distribution of farm land that was more or less
illegally seized by these White farmers in days gone by.Prior to the vote,
people had clearly indicated that they wanted Mugabe's powers curbed and
thought they would get this, only to find later that this wwas not the case.
Their vote was to drive home the point that the people are not going to have
decisions made for them anymore. Mugabe has been advocating taking land from
the White farmers and re-distributing them for years, and a lot of the
Zimbabweans friend i have say that he has not delivered on this one.
Personally, i cannot see why the majority of Zimbabweans would be opposed to
that proposal. I spent many years in that part of Africa, and was in and out
of both Zimbabwe and South Africa, and saw the arrogance of those White
farmers, and how all the Africans were relegated to just farm hands.
Re-distribution would be justice, but they have to make sure that they
provide assistance in the form of trianing, etc to the prospective African
farmers so they can run these farms efficiently, and this will have to be an
unfolding process that has to be well planned.

Jabou Joh

n a message dated 2/16/00 10:49:33 AM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Hi Kabir,

 I have also been following the Zimbabwe referendum and I
 am delighted that Mugabe's yes vote was defeated. Here is a
 man who betrayed his comrades in the liberation struggle
 and has ruined and plunged the Zimbabwean economy into a
 spiral of corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency.

 He inherited a very buoyant economy from the White rule of
 Ian Smith and rather than building on it he dissipated the
 country. Africans are wising up and there is a limit as to
 political manipulations by leaders. Democracy will take
 hold in Africa and it is imminent. At the age of 75, why o
 why does he want to consolidate himself in power. The guy
 is already senile. Seizing white owned farms and giving it
 to the black majority will not solve Zimbabwe's economic
 problems. I wish he is booted out of office and held
 accountable in the forth coming elections.

 Basil

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------