As more whites migrated into Southern Rhodesia at the end of the first World War, the Bulawayo Chronicle of November 15, 1918 reported the following under the heading ‘Our future farmers, the fittest will always survive’: We want to do all possible for the returned soldiers, and if they get settled on land we must do all we can to help and advise them. Young soldiers had left offices and banks. They do not want indoor life again.
In order to create space for the new farmers, indigenous people were forcibly evicted and placed on unproductive land. Later, the Hut Tax Ordinance of 1894 was introduced to push as many males to leave their homes to seek employment in towns, farms and mines. For each hut, or wife, a male adult was charged ten shillings. Yiyo indlela esabuyangayo enkomponi madoda.
The land reform offered us the opportunity to return to the land of our fore-fathers. However, during a visit to farming areas recently, I found the notion that the land has been taken by people who don’t really need it to be true. From one farm to the other, it was the same story: the owner is either employed or looking for a job in Bulawayo, Harare or South Africa. History tells us that those young white soldiers who occupied the same land had quit employment and had opted for outdoor life. Their success was inevitable.
I write and speak to many people about farming, but now I constantly ask myself whether people have the right attitude to receive my weekly rumbling. The fundamental question we must ask ourselves is that; are the people (seedbed) ready to receive the message (seed) at this moment? We often broadcast seed onto an unprepared seedbed; the clods and weeds chock the young plant during germination.
The human seedbed is the attitude. Attitude is learned and not inert. Therefore it is wrong to say a certain type of people have an inherently bad attitude toward something. Someone has robbed them of the most important ingredient for success. In this case we have underestimated the effects of colonialism on us all. We simply have the wrong attitude to farming hence the proliferation of cell phone farmers.
Let us face it, how many people are struggling to stay in towns? Every year they are bailed out by selling the few animals left, to pay off rentals, electricity and water bills. The threat of eviction, water and electricity cuts is always looming. The question remains, why stay in town if you have to deplete your asset base to stay there? The answer is always the same: it is fashionable.
Another lot is selling livestock in order to buy liabilities such as cars, clothes and excessively priced education to keep up appearances. Our tendency is to invest in liabilities. A real capitalist defines liability as something that takes money out of your pocket. True luxuries are the reward for investing in and developing a real asset that generates income. Never trade your children’s inheritance for a luxury that soon fizzles out and is heard no more.
Young and energetic people can do better when they are schooled about the glorious life they can get out of the land. They are opting to sell fruits on street pavements, do running battles with city police, queue for jobs and lose any form of dignity in the process. Soon they give up, shrivel and die. They lack the vision and the audacity of the young white soldiers who came to a foreign land to pursue their dream.
People are discouraged to go all out farming because someone said it is not easy. The easy way is often the tougher way out. What is not easy in my view is the cut throat competition at the flea markets, emergency taxi routes and grocery shops. You need to decapitate someone’s child to succeed. Kumele ubengumthakathi ukuze uphumelele.
There are no more bright lights, no clean water, no jobs, no peace, hey, what is the attraction in these towns anymore? Let us pack our bags and go back to the land. Asibuyeleni emanxuweni siyedinga impilo eqotho, hatshi umbolekwa wenkomponi.
FEEDBACK:
· Masuku, help us out. In BeitBridge, the local leadership especially councillors are the biggest “Judas Iscariots” of communal farmers. Basebenzela ‘izikofu.’ Mudau
· Batshele Masuku, ungabayekeli sibili, sesiphelelwe yizifuyo. Nkomazana
Mr Luphahla, local Mangwe Farmers Association member at the Hobodo sand abstraction site
Man at work at the Smithblock communal feedlot as Dr Ronny Sibanda extreme left watches the procedings.
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