More Bloody Rain, Bunny Chow, Planned Trip, Uncertainty and Selfishness of 1998.

The sun is finally getting through the cloud this week. No doubt next week we will be wanting rain. That is the way of the farmer

Has it rained here in Portugal? Up here in the north, the dams have been filled for some time. Now, in the Algarve, the dams are at 88% capacity, a record following some twelve years of 25 to 30% deficit rainfall; last year 45%. 

“These numbers from the Algarve are a record.” - An official from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) 

When fishing for bass in the Algarve dams, since we arrived in Portugal, the almost empty dams reminded me of our 1992 drought, my first challenge in the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU).

Unlike Zimbabwe, we have winter rain here, generally with warm, dry springs, but this year it seems to have forgotten to get warm and stop raining. While we in Central Portugal have recently had temperatures not low enough for frost, our friends in the Alentejo, an area south of us and generally warmer, have had below-zero temperatures. They tell me they had to wipe the frost from their windshields last week, while the mountains north of us have had heavy snowfall. The forecast is looking better, though. While writing this, I took a quick break to spray my roses, which are showing signs of black spots from the constant rain.

Rozanne enjoying the bunny chow. Before you say it we improvised on the bread

A few weeks ago, my well-travelled friend John Tidey suggested he make ‘Bunny Chow’, but as he was in a temporary abode awaiting the completion of his new home, he asked Rozanne and I to host. All I had to do was prepare the desserts, which I did by producing a fruit salad, meringues and ice cream. The only work involved here was chopping the fruit. But luckily enough, fate intervened on the said morning, Easter Sunday, when our neighbour Lucilia, knowing my likes, presented us with a magnificent rice pudding large enough for twenty people, let alone six. So on Sunday, we, Nigel and Lorraine Jones, John and Margaret Tidey, Rozanne, and I enjoyed that famous South African curry dish. There are different interpretations on how it became a favourite for Indian and even indigenous people in Natal. The politest is that it was a convenient meal for the Indian labourers in the Natal sugar plantations during the 1940s. It is now considered a dish suitable for all. John managed to produce a bread filled with a curry that reminded us of what we had eaten in Africa by using the ingredients prescribed in an authentic recipe. We have not been so lucky in procuring biltong here, except when we receive homemade as a gift from Ian, a South African friend. Boerewors, we also have mixed results with. We will continue to try to secure the real thing. It appears many of these foreign products are produced by expat home industries from a country known for the specific product. Most unsuccessfully, and those that are successful, are soon closed down due to local laws regarding processing and selling foodstuffs, especially meat. Processing and eating for oneself in the scullery is OK, but not if you retail it. Inevitably, as their success grows, it seems they cannot avoid the temptation of advertising on the internet, bringing about their speedy demise. If they do not advertise, someone will go online praising their purchase, spoiling it for all.

“Generally, the days of rustic home processing of foodstuffs have passed in Europe. Luckily, some locals are skilled in circumventing the eagle eye of the food and drink police. Much to our benefit.” - Peter McSporran

Our house has a lot of excitement as we plan to attend our son Selby’s wedding in Edinburgh next week. It will be a quiet wedding at the City Chambers, with a celebratory wedding party scheduled for September in Italy. How have things changed from when I was a youth? Like many young and not-so-young people, Selby and his fiancée Maggie have been living together for years. Not quite as long as my eldest daughter, Storm, whose engagement to her fiancé, Duncan, seems to indicate their commitment to each other more than an intention to wed. Whatever, as long as they are happy together. Rozanne is particularly excited that her ‘wee boy’ is getting married, especially as she approves of his choice, having become a good friend with Maggie. It will be the first wedding of our children we will attend as Janine, our middle daughter, married her husband Nathan in America, during Covid-19, precluding any travel. Further, at that time, I was recovering from surgery. So there is excitement, and also trepidation. The trepidation is not about the wedding but my ability to travel without embarrassing myself. If it were not for it being Selby’s wedding, I probably would not have returned to the country of my birth. So, taking advantage of the fact we are going, I have arranged to meet Mike and Vari Clark, my college roommate and oldest friend, along with some other friends, including Drew Sheddon and Drew McLaren, who visited me in my early days in Rhodesia. It is also a chance to catch up with my siblings. Although I yearn more for Africa than Scotland, I no longer plan to return. The trip would have its challenges for me, and while the country is beautiful, and I miss my African friends, there is also the fear of melancholy of what could have been, and deep sadness about what has happened.

“So many friends who return to Zimbabwe remind me of how beautiful it still is, but also comment on the chaos they find due to poor and corrupt governance. The wise ones do not visit their old farms, that would just be a step too close to seeing the reality.” - Peter McSporran

Last week, I briefly mentioned the statement by the official Compensation Steering Committee (CSC), under the signature of Deon Theron. I was gratified during this past week that it was covered by so many news outlets and other means, especially online communication. It has garnered renewed interest. Hopefully, CFU and the other organisations representing us will confirm the Global Compensation Agreement Deed (GCD) is dead or, as they say in Scotland, it's ‘deid’, pronounced the same as deed.

“As I have said in the past, to get through to politicians or influencers, repetition is not a fault; it is a necessity to ensure you get heard.’ - Peter McSporran

I also mentioned that in November 1997, an extensive list of farms was gazetted for resettlement, bringing about a strange division in the farming community.  We were all shocked by the number of farms listed, especially with the knowledge that the Government could not properly resettle the land it had already acquired. Many farmers, to be proven wrong later, thought it would take years for the Government to deal with the issues regarding this extensive list, from legal challenges to the actual planning and implementation of resettlement. In their minds, they believed that if they kept a low profile, their property might avoid being listed as designation had become known as. Of the 1,471 farms listed, there were some 1,200 legal challenges. 

I said I would not guarantee going back to that dreadful year, but I have to, as the changes in Whitehall in 1997 directly affected us in Zimbabwe, especially regarding land. Britain had stopped funding the purchase of land due to the widespread corruption. Despite this, the Conservative Government had maintained dialogue with Mugabe and his ruling party. That was to end abruptly. That year, in 1997, Tony Blair and the Labour Party came to power in Britain. Approximately a week before these latest designations, in fact, on my birthday, the 5th of November, Clare Short wrote a letter to Kumbirai Kanga, the Minister of Lands, that was much blamed as one of the significant catalysts leading to the taking of land without compensation. The part so offensive to Mugabe was this paragraph;

“I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know we were colonised not colonisers.” - Clare Short

Clare Short

As far as Mugabe was concerned, it was up to the British government to pay for the land. As we know, Mugabe said there was no reverse racism. This letter infuriated Mugabe, and combined with Mugabe’s fear for his political survival, was partly to blame for the land debacle. Even the Zambian President Kaunda criticised the British stance, saying the Labour Government, in the form of a young girl, just washed their hands of their responsibilities. Many of us would agree with this.

Meanwhile, the first divisions started to appear in the white farming community. Those on the list were highly vocal in condemning the situation, the majority going to court to challenge their designation. Further, the more belligerent at the Farmers' meetings suggested withholding our produce to show the impact on the economy if there were no commercial farmers, thus instigating a rethink. Those unlisted wanted to stay below the political radar.I remember attending a Meeting in Nyabira in early 1998 when this was mooted, only to be shot down by a dairy farmer who said he required the income to keep farming, while a crop farmer or beef farmer could hold onto his produce without immediate loss. Covertly, those unlisted admitted they did not want to bring attention to themselves. By its actions, the Government had divided us; this was not just on the farms but within our leadership at the CFU and Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA).

Storm, myself and Janine in 1998

Many, not just those unacquainted with the Zimbabwean situation at that time, said we white farmers brought events on ourselves, and continue to blame the white farmer for the problem to this day.

The most common reasons givin are:

1. Why were you not willing to sell your land for resettlement?

2. Why did you not just give up a portion of your land? Share it.

3. Finally, why did you not just sell up and leave the country Storm, me and janine in 1998rather than wait until you lost everything?

Strangely, this perception of the situation still exists, and partially, no doubt due to time, most people I chat to say, “But surely you got compensation?” I think that is the problem we have, few care about learning, let alone heeding the facts.

For clarification of the three questions above, for the first one, the truth is that the Government already had more land than it could properly resettle. It was sitting on vast tracts of unused land, creating enormous opportunities for corrupt politicians to benefit individually. At that time, Nick Swanepoel was openly telling the Government he had many farmers willing to sell. For its part, the Government said the process was too slow, and they no longer wanted to pay for the land, back to it being the responsibility of the ex-colonial power.

The second one was just not practical. You may be able to give up land, but how do you share capital infrastructure? Most farming units were planned as viable units by CONEX, the precursor to AGRITEX. Like many commercial farmers, we had the original farm plan outlining what was suitable for the soils, area and climate of the area, even suggesting the required rotation and livestock numbers to be viable. For example, the bureaucrats and politicians had little understanding that producing top-quality tobacco with a good yield required at least a three-year grass ley rotation. They considered the rotational leys as underutilisation of the land. They were not alone in this surmise; plenty of NGOS supported this argument. They had a particular penchant for deeming game ranching as unproductive.

To the final statement, why did you just not sell? We could not sell our farms without a letter of ‘no present interest’ from the Government. Something all of us who had purchased farms post-independence had. They were no longer issuing this letter to allow you to sell, nor interested in buying the land. Remember, they wanted the British to do that. What would you do with the money if you were lucky enough to find someone stupid enough to buy? We were not allowed to purchase or externalise foreign currency while we lived in a country with 48% inflation that year. 

“With no real options, most farmers, despite the political threats, just got on with their business, hoping the Government would see sense or there would be some magical international intervention. Both would prove to be fanciful hopes.” - Peter McSporran

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