Zimbabwe to recall expelled white farmers, revive country's collapsed agricultural sector

Quotes of the day:

"The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind."
--Thomas Paine

"Rulers do not reduce taxes to be kind. Expediency and greed create high taxation, and normally it takes an impending catastrophe to bring it down."
--Charles Adams [this also holds true for all other types of government seizures]


This brings us to Zimbabwe. Apparently, Robert the Terrible got the memo that maybe, just maybe it wasn't such a good idea to steal all of the land from white farmers. 1/3 of his subjects facing starvation, Bob Mugabe is now reported to be attempting to lure white farmers back to his little despotic realm.

"The farmers will be compensated for property and equipment destroyed during the government's chaotic and often violent land reform exercise and not for loss of revenue. But the farmers will receive immense support and preferential treatment from the state to reestablish themselves on the land, according to the sources. As well as luring white farmers back to the land the government shall also select another group of farmers whom it will compensate at market value both for loss of land and equipment during the farm seizures."

Well, that's nice and I wish ole Bob were doing it out of the kindness of that piece of flint that passes for his heart, but this is not the case. As Scrappleface cleverly puts it: "Under Mr. Mugabe's leadership . . . Zimbabwe has become a recognized world leader in unemployment (70%), inflation (~620%) and HIV adult prevalence rate (33.7%). Thanks to this popular, legally-reelected, leader, the average lifespan of a Zimbabwean has gone from 61 years to 34 years in just the past 15 years, making his nation one of the most rapidly-youthful in the world." A major cause of Zimbabwe's current crisis is the fact that under Bob's so-called "land reform", Zimbabwe has gone from being a food exporter to not having any food at all. Unless you consider Elephants to be food, that is. In any case, Bob is in trouble and now he needs the white farmers he wronged to bail him out. And he'll do what it takes to get that help -- including act like someone who actually cares about property rights and the rule of law.

It looks like a really good deal that he's offering the white farmers if they come back, too. I'll tell you what, though, if I'm those farmers, I'm not coming back unless I get an extra couple of million so I can hire Swiss soldiers to shoot anyone (even the government) who comes onto my property and threatens my life.

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 10:59 AM

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