Exactly ten years ago, an upstanding (and outstanding) Zimbabwean businessman, Nigel Chanakira, predicted that if Zimbabwe's hopes for democracy continued to decline, we would end up with warlord-ism.
The report of military personnel ignoring vice-President Joseph Msika's appeal to them to spare the remaining (white) farms and stop shoving out some (black) settler farmers who had staked their claims (legitimately or otherwise)to the best farms - comes as a forewarning of worse things to come. It confirms Chanakira's prediction. Added to the ultra-racist Didymus Mutasa's promise to remove every last vestige of white business ownership in Zimbabwe, the outlook for the future of a beloved country is very bleak. Will the Generals turn against each other next? Will they and their little battalions fight each other for the best businesses and loveliest farms? If this should happen, warlords will pillage what little is left of Zimbabwe's resources. Democrats within the country and those watching it anxiously from abroad will devoutly pray that this does not happen.
Copyright © 2004 Diana Mitchell
