Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, September 2011

"Mr Forsythe, I presume"
From today's random photo feed. 

This was on our trip, back in 2011, from Cape Town to Cairo. I was with old sailing mate Gordon Ketelbey in his 1968 Ford Mustang, which he'd shipped over from Australia, and ten or so other cars all Classics (aka really old cars).

Simple itinerary: from Cape Town up the west coast of Africa. Across the middle. Up the east coast to Cairo, Egypt. 

I did a blog about it here.

Just before Zimbabwe we drove through Zambia. The healthy agricultural production in Zambia was obvious. Vast areas irrigated with those monster rotating circular sprinklers. Major plant growth. Everywhere green. 

Then you hit Zimbabwe. Dry and dusty. Most obviously poor, compared with next door Zambia. It’s a stark difference sharply divided, from one side of the border to the other. From one inch here, all fine, to the next inch there, all dusty. 

We asked about it. Zambians told us that they’d originally gone down the Robert Mugabe path of Zimbabwe: expropriated the land of white farmers and kicked them out. Result: not good. The Zambian government learned quickly. They invited the farmers back, offering healthy incentives. Result: good. Return to healthy production and exportable farm surpluses.

IOW it’s all about management. About governance. One practical and effective (Zambia).The other ideological and destructive (Zimbabwe).

Despite this, South Africa, a country I spent a wonderful year in, has been following the old, discredited, harmful, Mugabe-of-Zimbabwe path. Kick out the white farmers. Murder them if they resist. Give the land to mates and supporters in your tribe. Who know nothing about farming. And who promptly bugger it up. Result: from large surpluses to massive deficits. 

People don’t learn if their ideology tells them they must not learn. 

That is: Africa needs to get over its hatred of the white man. Zambia has done it. From what we saw and the people we talked to.  That’s good management. No longer can African governments, no longer should they, blame colonialism for everything. That is the way of embitterment and hatred. The result of that: penury. 

Wake up South African president Cyril Ramaphosa. True courage is needed — stand up against the ideology of hate. It’s not too late, but it’s getting there.