SomaliNet Forums

Zimbabwe is a disaster area. It just hasn't been ripped by war yet. Food shortages are rampant, inflation is ridiculous........... Zimbabwe is in serious trouble.

Wallahi, some of the skinnies are starting to cry and sweat. Face the reality.

Somalia: No paved roads, not one square block.
Zimbabwe: Thousands of square miles of paves roads.

Robert Mugabe for President of Somalia.

He should have let the whites run it and eventually develop the expertise indigenously ala Chinese w/ Hong Kong.

Sadly, black people are too emotional and don't want to roll up their sleeves and work hard. It's not the white man's fault.

[quote="Gedo_Boy"]He should have let the whites run it and eventually develop the expertise indigenously ala Chinese w/ Hong Kong.[/quote]

This is the sick irony is that there ARE black farmers in Zimbabwe who know how to farm as well as the whites did. They are the farm workers who worked for the whites for decades.

When Mugabe gave the farms to his friends, they were all fired, because they protested against Mugabe's unfair redistribution of land. They are the "traitors" that Mugabe likes to blame all the country's problems on.

It wasn't just know how, of course, but technology, the money for technology.............. but you are right, there were plenty of blacks who knew how to farm, but they were not on the A team. Mugabes legacy is going to be one of economic collapse, nepostism and violence.

well, I guess by expertise I also meant economic power as well.........but it would have been hard since I hear the British have a strong influence in Zimbabwe via the white farmers.

I work w/ a guy from Zimbabwe and he was telling me many of the most successful farmers were the whites, however through taxes they were providing good income for the country as well as surpluses of food which were being exported.

He told me neighboring countries enticed those ousted farmers and they are the ones now exporting maize.

He should have used the money to develop agricultural colleges & vocational schools to eventually develop a group of people who could take the helm and then reach some sort of equitable nationalization agreement with some of the lands of the whites.

It's true the whites had a competitive advantage / virtual monopoly but that doesn't mean they didn't work hard or invest in the country either.............they shouldn't have their pockets turned inside out either.

the highest building in somalia must b 5 foot

Well most of the land in Zimbabwe is owned by the Queen of England and white farmers. I think he was right to address the problem of land in Zimbabwe but wrong in kicking out those white farmers. Africa is still being colonized (NEO)up to today and I think Mugabe just got fed up.

You need to be real smart to deal with the west politically!!!!!!

Even if black farmers with the right skills and money replaced those white farmers, where would they have exported their products? Didn't all the white countries place sanctions on Zimbabwe when the white farmers were kicked out? White people are racist and evil and they should be kicked out of all African nations.

QansaGabeyle
True. They need to export their products to other markets other than the west i.e other African nations, Asia etc. Africa needs to free itself from the west to be able to eradicate poverty and grow economically just like Asia did.

Leila,

The biggest export commodities were tobacco and corn. I seriously doubt that corn ever makes it to the West from Africa and wonder how selling tobacco elsewhere than the West is going to help Africans. Like oil, tobacco has an international market.


http://www.american.edu/TED/ZIMTOBAC.HTM

Agriculture employs three-fourths of the labor force and
supplies almost 40% of exports. The manufacturing sector, based on
agriculture and mining, produces a variety of goods and
contributes 35% to GDP. Mining accounts for only 5% of both GDP and
employment. Table 2.
Zimbabwe Export Commodities: 1993

Tobacco 20%
Other 15%
Manufactures 20%
Gold 10%
Ferrochrome 10%
Cotton 5%

Grant
The west protect their market through subsidies. Africa doesnt do that much export to the west today anyway.

Tobacco is getting a very negative image, legislation, and soon it wont be that important.

You have to agree that Zimbabwe has a major land problem that needed to be addressed. What Mugabe did was wrong but still needed to be addressed.

Zimbabwe is along with Eritrea the only AFrican countries that have rose up against neo-colonialism.


It is not the fault of Zimbabwe having the economic expertise...it is they were banned from all lucrative Western markets because Mugabe refused to be like Mozambigue or Uganda, been dependent for more than 50% of their budget on Western aid, been a neo-colony.


If this did not happen, Zimbabwe would perform as well as or even better than the most African countries.

Excellent thread. But I tend to see things the same way Jimmy D did in his first post.

I wanted to show just one thing in this topic:

In the year 2007, what does Somalia have to show for itself? We live in a world much like a high school reunion. At the end of it all, when all parties come to the tables, every man must show for his work, he must show for what he has done in the last 10, 20, or 30 years.

Zimbabwe, say what you want about it, but damn that shit looks good and the photo is from the last few years/months. Somalia...put it this way, our best city looks like the world's most expansive shantytown and nothing more. Mogadishu looks like a regurgitated penis. Just abhorrent in every way.

And no paved streets, absolutely none.