Final Thoughts on Italy, Mad Modern World. Division and My Letter to the Farmer Magazine in Late 2000.

Beautiful sunsets at home, but no rain. In saying that, we believe there may have been as much as half an inch the day after we left for Italy. The rains should have arrived to coincide with the grape harvest.

Since returning home to Portugal, I have received many comments regarding others' findings related to their travels in Italy. The consensus is that the north is superior in terms of food quality, infrastructure, and cleanliness. All my friends who have visited the Puglia Region, where we went, the ‘Heel of Italy', agreed with me, including Theresa Carew, who has sailed that coast extensively. Marc, the son of my late good friend Henry, and Squidge Bezuidenhout, old Darwendale neighbours, are currently travelling in northern Italy, so I asked them for an up-to-date view of that area. It was as we had been informed by those who visited the north, a complete contradiction to the south.

Vieste

“We did not find there to be much litter in the North/Tuscany region. The locals appeared extremely proud of their towns and history. Food & drink was expensive: slightly more so than even Australia, if you can believe that, but the food was generally excellent. The places we visited were Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena & Volterra.” - Marc Bezuidenhout

I should mention the taxis, or rather the lack of them, around Trani. There are no small Ubers, only large ones. The small taxis are deemed independent but are run as a cartel, by whom, I wonder? Both small taxis and large Ubers were challenging to find and erratic, with many not showing up at all, especially at night and early morning. Stranded party guests and missed flights occurred, and the costs were extremely high - enough grumpiness.

I must emphasise that the time we had there was wonderful with family and the guests at our son's wedding. I should have mentioned that having a wedding party post-wedding enables the newly married couple, in this case Maggie and Selby, to invite their friends rather than their parents’ friends or business acquaintances and relieves one of the inevitable family obligations. In the traditional wedding format, most of the guests were, and still are, friends of the parents, people you feel obliged to invite through business or work and worse still, relatives who are rarely seen between weddings and funerals. No worries about who sits at the top table; there wasn’t one, and importantly, no long, tedious speeches by elderly relatives who barely know you. At this wedding, speaking was voluntary, personal, and if choosing to do so, nobody could speak for more than five minutes.

I must reiterate, however, that some of the places we visited were amazing, especially in their historical buildings and rich history, and our trip to Vieste up the coast and back through the Parco Nazionale del Gargano was well worth it. As for the level of rubbish and litter to be seen, our experience at a petrol station for a coffee summed it up: a large rat happily sniffed around, unperturbed by our close presence as we sipped our coffee.

The ancient rock houses and cave residences in Matera

“Just because people of the present take no pride in their country, it does not mean the country cannot be beautiful, nor does it remove their heritage. Italy, at least in the south and Zimbabwe are examples of this.” - Peter McSporran

In my old age, I have been renowned for being grumpy. But the lack of logic in this modern world only adds to my sour demeanour. The first recent instance was at the Bari airport. Firstly, the express check-in would not accept our QR code, so we joined the priority queue to be physically checked in. We were the next person in line at that check-in desk when the attendant suddenly closed it, and we had to join another queue. We managed to do so by removing the tape barrier, despite the operator's resistance. We book our flights early to ensure a front seat close to the toilet, so I have easy access to it. I also request assisted boarding to facilitate access to toilets during boarding, regardless of the stage. I can walk, but if we are stuck for an extended time in the mobile port or passageway, I cannot find a toilet to unclip the mechanism to relieve pressure on my bladder. By getting assistance, I am assured that this will not happen, as when in a wheelchair, the operator can help you to a toilet, regardless of the circumstances, even after passing the boarding desk. Sorry, that was rather long-winded in the explanation. Unlike in Portugal, the check-in operator said I could not have the seats Rozanne booked at the front as I was assigned assistance. We explained that I could walk, as they knew, because I had indicated that I could walk up the stairs to the aeroplane. No, she said, as an assisted passenger, I could not sit near the door in case of emergency. I asked if I could keep the seat if I cancelled the assistance. She said yes. That is the crazy world of modern health and safety, no logic. I presumed that if I crawled up the stairs, I would still be allowed to sit, but not if I took a wheelchair to the aeroplane stairs. I just made it to the toilet while others were still boarding. Why do they make air travel so difficult?

Gargano Forest

The second instance of this mad world we live in is slightly different. More about the greed of the modern tax man. My old friend Roger Manley, who now lives in New Zealand, recently attended a Gwebi College course reunion. Gwebi was just down the road from where I farmed in Nyabira, and as a young farm assistant, I spent much time socialising with the students, who happened to be in his course at that time. Anyway, Roger sent me a cap from this reunion, which I was invited to as an honorary Gwebi member, unfortunately, I was unable to attend, only to find customs impounded the said cap. Of course, they wanted a description and value. This we supplied, and at the exchange rate they applied, it came to €4.50. They then charged me €9.56 to clear the hat, which was more than double the cost of the cap. Why? First, the charge for them, customs, and handling was €7.50; then the duty, which is only around € 0.90, and then VAT on the lot. As I was keen to have the cap, I was thankful that Roger thought to send it to me. I paid, but the logic of the charges for a low-value item was crazy. Up to a year or so, it was €30 tax-free; now it has gone to the extreme. I have no problem really with the duty and VAT, but why charge a handling fee? Surely our taxes are to pay civil servants to turn up for duty, why then, pay them to actually do something? I will get over it; it is just the principle of governments taking our money wherever they can that gets me.

The hat arrived, reminding me of friends and events from more than fifty years ago in the heyday of 'The College of Knowledge.'.

I mentioned in a blog post about two weeks ago that I wrote an article for the Farmer Magazine about ethnic cleansing. I have subsequently found a copy of it, and in fact, it was not an article but a letter that I wrote and was published in 2000. I include it verbatim, including typos. Part of it was instigated by the Government's actions, and partly by some in our midst who thought they could avoid their land being designated (the first step in the confiscation procedure) by paying or getting cosy with the war veterans. I remember getting very mad when the war vets arrived on my farm on one of my wealthier neighbour's tractors. At the time of writing, my farms had still not been listed, but I knew they would be by then. Like many others, I was approached with offers of help from politicos and senior civil servants if we paid them or offered them some land. Our farms could be removed from the lists if we complied with this extortion. Generally, it was a lie by chancers, but there is no doubt some survived by paying those senior enough within the party, ZANU(PF). I was told recently that all those who remained on their original farms had paid handsomely. I, like the majority, chose not to. 

“I often wonder if there's a difference between those who paid bribes or bent to the extortion to remain on the farms and those who now pay the illegal holders of our land for the use of that land?” - Peter McSporran

I have inserted the letter in full below. In reading the letter, you can see I was wrong. In 2000, I still had hope that good sense would prevail; more fool me. I see it is addressed, Sir. By this time, Brian Latham had taken the place of Felicity Wood as editor, but Felicity was the one who suggested I write it.

This is ethnic cleansing

Sir, It is with great concern I write to you about the plight of the white commercial farmer in Zimbabwe, this wonderful country of ours.

What was initially a programme of political intimidation has developed into a "programme" of what can only be described as "ethnic cleansing".

Ethnic cleansing does not necessarily rely on direct combat with opponents, but can be achieved by the demonstrative capacity of the violence that could be brought to bear. This has been clearly demonstrated in this country, along with the continued harassment of individuals and the disruption of their operations, which, in all likelihood, will bring about their economic collapse and destruction of their ability to continue to farm.

When this occurs, it leaves those people little choice but to pack up and leave. In the event of this happening, they will have exhausted both their mental and financial resources and will leave destitute. In other words, as refugees.

For those of us as yet unaffected or little affected, the message is clear.

Those affected are randomly chosen as victims and, as part of our community, require our maximum support in every way to remain on the land. This is a moral issue, but lets not kid ourselves in the event of those brave people giving up, a new set of victims will become the focus of the thugs' attention. Yes, it could well be you!

In the event of one person leaving his land due to force or intimidation, without being fully compensated in cash, will mean we have failed in our responsibilities lo each other.

The headlines in The Herald on Thursday, 30 November, is but further propaganda to create divisions among us. In saying that, however, those of us who believe that by parting with something that is rightfully ours by ownership will relieve the pressure and allow a return to normality l feel are woefully wrong. In the instances I have been witness to, those who have taken the option of bribery, be it in the form of land or what-ever, have given not only the receivers of the bribes an indication of their weakness but have also indicated to others of the same ilk a window of opportunity who in turn, have jumped on the gravy train.

These are extremely difficult times, but let's not forget our responsibilities to each other. Together we can defeat this evil that has befallen us.

Peter MacSporran

Darwendale

“Of all the things that divided us, Commercial Farmers the most was the designation lists. Those on it were desperate for a solution to get their names removed, while those not on it were intent on keeping a very low profile in the hope of not being included. The combined fear of appearing on the list and the threat of violence were how those who advocated compromise with the Government split us as a community and divided our leaders. The question will always remain whose side they were on?” - Peter McSporran

Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.