Mugabe: the Problematic Thorn in Zimbabwe

LOS ANGELES Even way over here in the U.S., thousands of miles from Zimbabwe, I can clearly see the root of that nation's problems. It's spelled in six letter: M-U-G-A-B-E. The shared power arrangement that Zimbabwe has invoked will not work --- not as long as Robert MugabeRobert Mugabe, who lost the election fair and square, is linked to Zimbabwe's government.

Now, Zimbabwe has refused to comply with a regional tribunal's order to allow 78 white farmers to keep their land.

The tribunal of the South African Development Community(SADC) last year ruled that the 78 farmers could remain on their land, which was targeted for resettlement by black farmers under Mugabe's land reform scheme.

Mugabe's land reform scheme? That's just it --- a scheme. Rule under Mugabe saw the nation degenerate from a flourishing economy to ruin.

Ordinarily, I would encourage more black power in a nation that formerly was a racist regime called Rhodesia, where the government and the nation's vast natural resources were controlled by whites, who had no intention of sharing power with the indigenous blacks.

But black rule under Mugabe has been a sham and a shame. If the 78 farmers lose their land, those farms will go under. The farms should not be made into "Black Power Farms" for the sake of black ownership. The farms might as well be bull-dozed over under inexperienced black ownership.

I agree with the lawyer for the farmers, Jeremy Gauntlett, who urged the court to recommend sanctions or Zimbabwe's expulsion from SADC.

"We urgently ask the SADC tribunal to put this matter before the next summit of the SADC heads of states next August for possibly imposing sanctions against Zimbabwe, laying down a timetable for compliance -- otherwise expulsion from SADC," Gauntlett said.

The lawyer quoted Mugabe, who publicly said earlier this year that the ruling was "nonsense and of no consequence."

Mugabe has been a saber-rattling thorn, encouraging violence against the farmers, threatening their lives over the past weeks as their crops rot on their land. Despite the tribunal ruling of last November, there have been forced and aggressive invasions on some farms

Eight years ago Zimbabwe began seizing white-owned farms to resettle them with landless blacks, but the chaotic program was plagued by deadly violence and some farms ended up in the hands of Mugabe's allies.

In Zimbabwe and many neighboring countries, white settlers took most of the best farmland during colonial times. Now African nations face a dilemma in how to bring black farmers back onto the land without disrupting food production. Under inexperienced farmers, food production is Zimbabwe has fallen sharply, making the nation heavily dependent on foreign food aid.

Secretary of State Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton expressed last week a reluctance for the U.S. and its allies to provide monetary aid to Zimbabwe, for fear the assistance will fall into the wrong hands.