What a misleading and uninformative thread title...
Anyone who thought Mugabe would accept the results of any election that went against him or anyone who thought Mbeki would suddenly do something after 6 years of doing such things as nothing and being inactive and not doing anything was deluding themselves.
Mugabe gets away with it because people's ignorance of what is going on in Zimbabwe is perfectly represented by the people in this thread
"things are pretty fvcked up"
yeah....80% unemployment
you want to know when it started...when Mugabe decided to kick out the white land owners who actually had the know-how to put the land to use....and handed it over to people with no experience whatsoever in running and maintaining farmland
now you have a situation where millions of people are denied food supplies by the government in order to try and force them to vote for them in order to get food for their children
or the recent raiding of the MDC headquarters where 400 victims of political violence by zanu pf supporters were hiding...they were all taken away...no doubt never to be seen again
My Aunt works as an accountant for Tyson foods one of the largest Agricultural producers in America. We get along.
Production in Industrial Agriculture has moved away from a labor driven model to A Mechanised model.
Before The Mid 90s The production of most of the Worlds silk cotton tobacco flowers grapes chocolate etc was dependent upon highly skilled people who passed their knowledge down from father to son.
Technology [GM seeds Hybridised seeds Professional soil testing agencies and equipment like multi tasking cultivaters which fumigate cultivate plant and fertilize ] means One or two men with no prior experience can hold a large farming operation together.
As it should be coz working a shovel is not most peoples first career option.
The Mechanisation of Agriculture was and is financed by Banks through Loans through their Agri Business departments or Mortgaging, where the bank secures liquid cash by staking a claim against the value of your acreage - thats where title deeds come in.
When The title deeds were recalled. Major Banks tripped and kept tripping coz they knew if they didn't other countries with a simmillar situation would catch on and they would start slipping.
This happenned in Uganda some time back.
Today The white farmers would not be able to resume farming without valid title deeds with which to source cashflow for essentials such as hiring/importing equipment chemicals milling plants altitude and climate specific hybrid seed varieties diesel greenhouses refrigeration units etc.
The africans many of whom worked in a deputy capacity as foremen and farm managers may have title deeds.
The finance houses will not recognise these untill Somebody buys out the mortgage agreements and unfullfilled loan agreements pertaining to the previous title deeds.
I understand The British govt signed an agreement to do just that, but pulled out of the deal in 1997? observing that The contract was with a previous government and therefore not binding.
Around that time relations between The two countries went apeshit.
my 2 cents. lol