THIS PIECE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE 4-10 NOVEMBER ISSUE OF THE ZIMBABWEAN, leader p.10 (under my own name) Its a lazy way of blogging but no time for new thoughts today.
How much do most Zimbabweans really know about Nicholas Van Hoogstraten except that he is very rich, owns a lot of property and business in the country, was briefly jailed in England’s Belmarsh prison, and is a frightening character who admires Robert Mugabe and all his works – describing him as "100 percent decent and incorruptible”. (Hard to agree with him here).
Enlightenment comes, so long as you wait long enough, read enough and are lucky to have access to an array of information resources – not the least being TV and the internet. I watched last week’s close-up of the man on a BBC2 television programme with enormous interest because I wanted to make up my own mind about him - since his wealth helps to prop up a regime which has all but destroyed the gains of Zimbabwe’s precious freedom. All journalism is biased, just as every individual, including this writer, is almost unavoidably biased; therefore, I beg the readers’ indulgence if I presume to assess the character of Van Hoogstraten. I do this because I am intrigued by the mysteries of human nature, especially if it verges on the inhuman. For me, there is nothing so revealing as body language. Van Hoogstraten revealed himself to be full of contradictions and - if his uncontrollable twitch, his mouth continuously working nervously - is anything to go by, he is as insecure as hell. Clearly, he is also extraordinarily vain and yet absolutely terrified in his chosen, unlovable role as a `loner’, modelling himself on Attila the Hun. He is not nearly hairy enough. His boasts of his heartlessness - a set piece showed him shouting down the phone: “I don’t care if he [a man owing him rent] is being carried off in an ambulance, I want my money, NOW!” I think this sort of thing, like his threatening judges who he said `should never set foot in southern Africa or “they will never see the light of the day" is designed to frighten people. One fearless judge has called him a "self-appointed emissary of Beelzebub" (old Nick?) whilst his own bravery seems mostly to be directed towards people who want to part him from his money. Interestingly, but not related to the Van Hoogstraten programme, some professional psychoanalysts on TV were trying to convince viewers that what makes seemingly harmless humans dangerous, suicide bombers for example, is their mad desire to be part of a group – not their religion or race or their unhappy childhood. This would certainly not apply to Nicholas Van Hoogstraten; he prefers his own company.
He says he won’t be coming to live in Zimbabwe soon because he has five young children in England and he softens towards his eldest son who will be his heir. The pleasant-looking young man may inherit huge shares in Zimbabwe’s tourist, mining, banking and agricultural industries (if they ever recover from their present doldrums): 35 727 640 shares in the Rainbow Tourism Group, 32 percent of coal produced in Hwange, 20 percent of NMB, seven percent of CFI, Ltd., one of Zimbabwe’s biggest agro-industrial firms, about 600 000 acres of farmland – he is Zimbabwe’s largest private landowner. This latter holding was given in exchange, we are told, from some dodgy dealings regarding the regime’s defence requirements. His farms have been `spared from seizure apparently to thank him for financial support’ (Sadly for him his ownership has been ignored by carelessly enthusiastic squatters).
This strange man contradicts himself: talking of how he spends his money: "I don't need it but it's my money and if I choose to give it away I'll choose one of the charities I support in Zimbabwe”. Charity? Now there’s a softie! He has recently said that he is tired of making money and plans a career in politics: “I am already involved with politics... well, not in this country." Has anybody told him that, being white and, generous though he is towards Mugabe, he cannot bank on a place in Zimbabwe’s ruling class, not yet anyway. The ethnic cleansing around the farms and businesses has caught on amongst Mugabe’s violent young green bombers who are getting hungry and fast running out of new targets.
His `grandiose second palace’ in Zimbabwe … `to match his £30 million palace’ in England would be fit for a king. The absolute monarch who rules in Zimbabwe right now is about a quarter of a century older than Nicholas. Perhaps Mugabe’s present palace would not be good enough for a would-be, second Tzar Nicholas.
Copyright © 2004 Diana Mitchell
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