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UK challenged to compensate blacks

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British Betrayal of Africans
By Aeneas Chigwedere
Published by Mutapa Publishing House (2001)
ISBN: 0-7974-2311-7

THE book by Aeneas Chigwedere, British Betrayal of the Africans, gives an account of how the British deceived King Lobengula in 1888 to sign the Rudd Concession.
“The Rudd Concession was not an end to itself, it was means to an end which was the Charter for the formation of a company to colonise Zimbabwe plus more. Towards this end, on April 30 1889, the future directors of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) submitted a letter to the British Government applying for a Company Charter,” Chigwedere writes.
“From this point onward, it becomes very clear that both the British Government and the founding fathers of the BSAC completely brushed the Rudd Concession.
They cast aside all pretence and started to show their true colours.”
To sanitise their seizure of the country, they signed the Lippert Concession in October 1891.
Hence they stole the land and legitimised the theft.
This resulted in early resistance through the First Chimurenga.
However, because the natives did not have sophisticated weaponry they were defeated.
All the areas with good soils and high rainfall were seized by the white settlers.
In 1918, the company computed the acreage under African control to be 19 000 000 acres.
The African population was estimated at 800 000 and the land under settler-control was put at 22 000 000 acres for a population of only 34 000.
“As more and more Europeans came into the country, Africans were shifted from crown land to the existing reserves which became more congested than before,” says Chigwedere.
In 1893, they introduced Hut Tax to force the Shona people to look for employment on the farms and in mines thereby solving the labour shortage as well as generating revenue for the settlers.
“The best avenue for impounding Shona domestic animals was that of Hut Tax. Because the Shona continued to resist employment, they did not raise cash for hut tax and their domestic animals were seized and became the property of the company,” writes Chigwedere.
“Between October 1893 and March 1896, anything from 100 000 to 200 000 cattle were seized from the Ndebele and forced labour (became) widespread.”
The whites, including those who were living in the cities, had black workers who were nannies and gardeners and these were subjected to inhumane working conditions.
“In the European areas, the blackman will be welcome, when, tempted by wages. He offers his services as a labourer but it will be on the understanding that there, he shall merely assist and not compete with the whiteman,” writes Chigwedere.
However, through a protracted liberation struggle, Zimbabwe gained its political independence in 1980.
Zimbabweans did not have any real property then, not even the land which was the real motive for fighting the war.
President Robert Mugabe, then Prime Minister, preached reconciliation and whites accepted this but on condition that they control the economy of the nation.
“What this meant was that Africans can recover their political sovereignty but the whites must maintain their economic sovereignty,” he writes.
“Phrased differently, it meant that the African would take over the Government offices and be called Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister and must take control of the political shadow of Zimbabwe while the substance remains under white control and this is precisely the situation that obtains in the country at the onset of the 21st Century.
“In substance, this means the continuation of Rhodesian racism after Zimbabwe has attained (African) independence.”
It was not until 2000 that the country began its Land Reform Programme that the British Government and white commercial farmers complained.
They (whites) demanded compensation for the improvements that they had done on the farms.
The Shona have an adage “Dindingwe rinonakirwa richakweva rimwe asi kana iro rokwevewawo roti mavara angu ozarevhu.”
Loosely translated, it means one would love to do evil to someone but is quick to complain when the other party reciprocates.
When the Africans were being robbed of their cattle and land, Britain never raised a finger against it because it was her precious white children getting the cream of the land.
But when President Mugabe sought to correct the colonial imbalances, the same Britain was up in arms. Other European countries joined in and slapped Zimbabwe with economic sanctions to cripple the Land Reform Programme which benefitted over 400 000 households.
The question of compensating white commercial farmers for improvements such as dams, the fencing, tobacco barns, farm compounds and farm homesteads still bothers many.
But these are improvements made out of profit from stolen property!
Zimbabwe was labelled a haven for human rights abuse yet it was worse during the colonial era.
Chigwedere puts it simply as, “Might is right and justice is simply the will of the stronger.
Judged by their performance in Africa, the British are undoubtedly the worst racists that have existed on the face of this earth.
When they talk of democracy, they mean it — but it is only democracy among the whites.
In a multi-cultural country like Zimbabwe, the talk of human rights and equality after 1980 is a strategy partly of protecting the economic supremacy of the white minority and partly of promoting the physical and property security of the same white minority.”
As a parting shot, Chigwedere tells Britain that, just as she took responsibility for the deeds and misdeeds of her children, she should compensate Zimbabwe for the inhumane treatment and for robbing the indigens of their cattle, goats, sheep and crops.
And also to compensate the white commercial farmers for the loss of the land that was in their hands.

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