Opinion / Columnist

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Lands Minister Douglas Mombeshora has announced that the black farmers who benefited from the white farm seizure of the last 15 years only for most of the farms to be left fallow soon thereafter can now enter into "joint ventures" with the white farms.There is still a lot of confusion as to what these joint ventures entail as recent as last month Mugabe was still wittering about no whites will be allowed to own land in Zimbabwe."But we need to see the contract before it is signed because we want to protect both parties and we encourage fair play, not manipulation of one party by the other," explained the Minister. "It is not true to say that government ever disapproved contract-farming and joint ventures… what government didn't approve of (and doesn't allow) even now is sub-leasing of land." Yes Minister it is as clear as mud!The worsening economic situation is certainly working its magic, the 90% plus unemployment rate, the 16% or 2 million now living in abject poverty and all the other grim economic realities are force the regime to accept the stupidity of its own policies. There is not going to be a flood of white farmers signing these joint ventures because Zanu PF is notorious for say one thing today and something else tomorrow, especial Mugabe. The single most important thing here that the regime ditching its own flagship policies. It is great that this is happen when Mugabe is still alive, kicking and of sound mind; the tyrant, Mugabe, is eating humble pie in his own life time!It is also important that the tyrant's hard-line supporters like Minister Kasukuwere, on the indigenisation laws, and the war vet leaders like Joseph Chinotimba ans Jabulani Sibanda, on the land issue, who made names for themselves for their passionate support of these tyrant's racism and myopic policies witness the tyrant himself made the landmark U-turn on these policies.Comrade Chinos and Sibanda, where are you now? You led the njambanja thugs in the countless white farm seizures with all that all-night drumming, lawless thuggery and, in many cases, wanton violence and murders. What do you say now about this about face U-turn by Mugabe on the one issue, above all others, has defined Mugabe and all he stood for as a black nationalist?After all these years of Mugabe breathing fire on the land issue now it turns out that he did not mean anything he said, it was all hot air. The collapse of the country's agricultural sector is the single biggest factor to cause the country's economic collapse from which the economy has yet to recover. And it was all for no purpose other than to gratify a tyrant's hot-air balloon ego.Millions of Zimbabweans have had their lives turned up-side down causing heart-breaking suffering and hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost unnecessarily to gratify a totally misplace stupid ego! It sickens me just to think of it. How did we allow ourselves to get into this mess and, better still, we must not waste a day to end this madness!