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Zimbabwe's Mugabe says government will take over all diamond operations

TheDemSocialist

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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday that his government would take possession of all diamond operations because existing miners had robbed the country of its wealth.
Mugabe's comments came a week after the ministry of mines ordered all mining companies to halt work and leave the Marange fields, saying they had not renewed their licenses. At the time it denied it was seizing the mines.
"The state will now own all the diamonds in the country," Mugabe said during a two-hour interview with state broadcaster ZBC TV.
"Companies that have been mining diamonds have robbed us of our wealth. That is why we have now said the state must have a monopoly," Mugabe said.
The largest diamond mine in Marange, Mbada Diamonds, on Monday sued the government at the High Court and was allowed to take control of its mining assets.


Read more @: Zimbabwe's Mugabe says government will take over all diamond operations

Well Mugabe just made a huge and risky move... Will often see his Chinese allies challenging this...
 
He pulled the same stunt with foreign-owned agriculture (~1995), and the country went from a leader in Africa with self-sustaining food supply to the disaster we see today.

Mugabe disguises paying off cronies with nationalization. When he took the farms from white people, he didn't give them to local farmers, he gave them to cronies and the harvest plummeted. We can expect national income from diamonds to plummet similarly as cronies take possession of businesses they know nothing about.

It's sad that CAMPFIRE (an ecologic justice program that was wildly successful and copied in nearby countries) and food security were turned into the hellhole we see today.

Don't believe for one second that Mugabe is interested in justice for his people or even their welfare. He's paying cronies and the nation will suffer.
 
He pulled the same stunt with foreign-owned agriculture (~1995), and the country went from a leader in Africa with self-sustaining food supply to the disaster we see today.

Mugabe disguises paying off cronies with nationalization. When he took the farms from white people, he didn't give them to local farmers, he gave them to cronies and the harvest plummeted. We can expect national income from diamonds to plummet similarly as cronies take possession of businesses they know nothing about.

It's sad that CAMPFIRE (an ecologic justice program that was wildly successful and copied in nearby countries) and food security were turned into the hellhole we see today.

Don't believe for one second that Mugabe is interested in justice for his people or even their welfare. He's paying cronies and the nation will suffer.

Well he is apparently finally realizing his mistake of kicking out white farmers, he is actually giving leases to the very few that remain, sadly it is too little too late.
 
Well he is apparently finally realizing his mistake of kicking out white farmers, he is actually giving leases to the very few that remain, sadly it is too little too late.

His mistake was not so much kicking out white farmers as giving the land to cronies. There were local farmers that could have maintained yields.

The same asshattery should be expected regarding the diamond business.
 
He pulled the same stunt with foreign-owned agriculture (~1995), and the country went from a leader in Africa with self-sustaining food supply to the disaster we see today.
thats not true people were starving under british rule while their land was used to grow cash crops
Mugabe disguises paying off cronies with nationalization. When he took the farms from white people, he didn't give them to local farmers, he gave them to cronies and the harvest plummeted. We can expect national income from diamonds to plummet similarly as cronies take possession of businesses they know nothing about.

It's sad that CAMPFIRE (an ecologic justice program that was wildly successful and copied in nearby countries) and food security were turned into the hellhole we see today.

Don't believe for one second that Mugabe is interested in justice for his people or even their welfare. He's paying cronies and the nation will suffer.

he distributed it slowly compared to other african nations and gave the land away to over quarter of a million families

As of 2011 237,858 Zimbabwean households have been provided with access to land under the programme. A total of 10,816,886 hectares have been acquired since 2000, compared to the 3,498,444 purchased from voluntary sellers between 1980 and 1998.[5] By 2013, every white-owned farm in Zimbabwe had been either expropriated or confirmed for redistribution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform_in_Zimbabwe


rhodesia was a slave colony, they were not "better off" under british rule
 
thats not true people were starving under british rule while their land was used to grow cash crops

I'm not referring to British rule, I'm referring to 1980+ post-independence food security. Zimbabwe had it.

he distributed it slowly compared to other african nations and gave the land away to over quarter of a million families

The vast majority of land was squandered on cronies. Giving an acre to families is inconsequential.

rhodesia was a slave colony, they were not "better off" under british rule

Zimbabwe was better off from 1980-1995, before Mugabe lost his mind.



You are mistaken to believe I was apologizing for colonization. I was referring to 1980-1995 policies and food production compared to post 1995. I get my information not only from historical fact, but from Dr. Childress, the son of the founder of CAMPFIRE, a professor and acquaintance of mine. He was born and grew up in Zimbabwe. He left shortly after Mugabe lost his mind.
 
thats not true people were starving under british rule while their land was used to grow cash crops


he distributed it slowly compared to other african nations and gave the land away to over quarter of a million families



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform_in_Zimbabwe


rhodesia was a slave colony, they were not "better off" under british rule

Rhodesia then Zimbabwe was known as the bread basket of Africa due to how much it produced and now it is facing famine. Most of the land went to Mugabe's friends and family, then they did literally nothing with it and let it squander.

Zimbabwe was objectively better off under independent white rule from 1965-1980. Ian Smith left Mugabe with a well managed and economically powerful African nation and Mugabe ruined it.
 
I'm not referring to British rule, I'm referring to 1980+ post-independence food security. Zimbabwe had it.



The vast majority of land was squandered on cronies. Giving an acre to families is inconsequential.



Zimbabwe was better off from 1980-1995, before Mugabe lost his mind.



You are mistaken to believe I was apologizing for colonization. I was referring to 1980-1995 policies and food production compared to post 1995. I get my information not only from historical fact, but from Dr. Childress, the son of the founder of CAMPFIRE, a professor and acquaintance of mine. He was born and grew up in Zimbabwe. He left shortly after Mugabe lost his mind.

but less than 5% of the land went to party loyalists? and what is the significance of 1995?
 
but less than 5% of the land went to party loyalists?

Oh, please. Anyone not a "party loyalist" was long ago disposed of.

and what is the significance of 1995?

That's around when Mugabe starting killing white farmers and giving their land to cronies.
 
From your (wiki) source:

Conflicting reports emerged regarding the effects of Mugabe's land reform programme. In February 2000, the African National Congress media liaison department reported that Mugabe had given himself 15 farms, while Simon Muzenda received 13. Cabinet ministers held 160 farms among them, sitting ZANU-PF parliamentarians 150, and the 2,500 war veterans only two. Another 4,500 landless peasants were allocated three.[2]The programme also left another 200,000 farmworkers displaced and homeless, with just under 5% receiving compensation in the form of land expropriated from their ousted employers.[33]
 
Oh, please. Anyone not a "party loyalist" was long ago disposed of.



That's around when Mugabe starting killing white farmers and giving their land to cronies.

the 2000 land reform act, was a big issue you sure your not thinking of that?.....there was a drought in 1995?
 
no it wasn't

Of course it wasn't. One needs to be horribly ignorant to consider slavery better than freedom. Zimbabwe was at its strongest from 1980 (post independence) - 1995, when it was food self-sufficient.
 
the 2000 land reform act, was a big issue you sure your not thinking of that?.....there was a drought in 1995?

It was around 1995 when Mugabe began killing farmers and giving their land to cronies (as my quote above, from your source, illustrates).
 
It was around 1995 when Mugabe began killing farmers and giving their land to cronies (as my quote above, from your source, illustrates).

no my source was about the 2000 land reform act
 
no my source was about the 2000 land reform act

Your source clearly stated that the land was given to cronies, as of 2000:

In February 2000, the African National Congress media liaison department reported that Mugabe had given himself 15 farms, while Simon Muzenda received 13. Cabinet ministers held 160 farms among them, sitting ZANU-PF parliamentarians 150, and the 2,500 war veterans only two. Another 4,500 landless peasants were allocated three.[2]The programme also left another 200,000 farmworkers displaced and homeless, with just under 5% receiving compensation in the form of land expropriated from their ousted employers.[33]
 
Your source clearly stated that the land was given to cronies, as of 2000:

yeah in 2000..... i was asking why you said 1995..... the only thing i can find of any significance from around that time is that in 1996 the british officially stopped financially assisting the land (at that time completely voluntary) re-aquisitions, as that source says there is conflicting accounts about what actually happened in 2000, but i don't know where your getting "1995 is when Mugabe began killing farmers and giving their land to cronies"
 
yeah in 2000..... i was asking why you said 1995..... the only thing i can find of any significance from around that time is that in 1996 the british officially stopped financially assisting the land (at that time completely voluntary) re-aquisitions, as that source says there is conflicting accounts about what actually happened in 2000, but i don't know where your getting "1995 is when Mugabe began killing farmers and giving their land to cronies"

In 1995 he went nuts against gays and the violence against farmers began. In 1997 Britain cut funding and things got ugly. In 2000, things got ugly on a large scale.

So I put his madness starting circa 1995.

I presume you no longer contest that the farms went to cronies.

I suppose I should limit the glory years of Zimbabwe food production from the late 80s to mid or late 90s.

as that source says there is conflicting accounts about what actually happened in 2000

As the source says, those are farms reallocated as of 2000, meaning they had to have been reallocated before that date. The numbers from that source can hardly be mitigated.

99% of farms went to party members. 2 farms went to vets. 3 farms went to peasants. Less than 5% of 200k native farmers got any land at all.
 
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In 1995 he went nuts against gays and the violence against farmers began. In 1997 Britain cut funding and things got ugly. In 2000, things got ugly on a large scale.

So I put his madness starting circa 1995.

I presume you no longer contest that the farms went to cronies.

the fact is mugabe was celebrated when he came into power, like all of western europes former colonies, when they gained independence there was civil wars, strife, famine, disease etc etc, colonial powers went to great lengths to make sure that would happen if the local populations ever revolted, the rwandan genocide was committed by black leaders, but it was entirely the fault of belgian colonists, Haiti's capital port au prince was at one point wealthier than paris, when they gained independence they collapsed as well, it has almost nothing to do with poor leadership of the new independent government.

even just compared to their neighbors zimbabwe handled the transition to independence quite well. the rhodesian bush war saw only around 10,000 deaths compared to over 200,000 deaths in americas revolution against the very same british government
 
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