Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Smith's Rhodesia was better........

It's only taken them 33 years to work this out!



via �Smith�s Rhodesia was better� � Sunday Mail � Nehanda Radio by Gift Kugara OCTOBER 8, 2013

Zimbabweans on Sunday woke up to a shocking admission by the state weekly newspaper, The Sunday Mail, that the colonial government of Ian Smith had fared better at managing the economy that the ZANU PF government which has been in power since independence.

The Sunday Mail is widely regarded as a ZANU PF mouthpiece. It has been the chief propaganda platform for ZANU PF, the party led by President Robert Mugabe and has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years.

In Sunday�s refreshingly honest editorial, The Sunday Mail wrote comparing the post-independence and the Rhodesian governments, �The racist Rhodesian regime had its many blemishes but you have to acknowledge its ability to identify quick win economic solutions.�

The implication is that the ZANU PF government has not shown the same capacity over its 33-year rule.

Observers have said this direct attack on Robert Mugabe�s government which is made worse by comparing it unfavourably to their traditional punch-bag, the colonial government, is unprecedented.

�It is unthinkable that of all papers, The Sunday Mail would acknowledge and give credit to the colonial government and in the process attack ZANU PF by showing that the latter has fared worse�, said a commentator who wished to remain anonymous.

In the same editorial, The Sunday Mail castigated Robert Mugabe�s 33-year rule with brutal honesty regarding its poor record of policy implementation.

Commenting on the widespread power outages that have left domestic and industrial users without electricity for up to 15 hours per day, The Sunday Mail criticised Robert Mugabe�s government for failing to take pre-emptive measures to address the power deficit.

�Zimbabwe�s power deficit is not a new challenge�, wrote The Sunday Mail. It went further, �In the 1980s and 90s , the nation should have taken significant measures to address the power deficit. How we failed to do this is mind-numbing.�

This confirms criticisms that have been levelled against Robert Mugabe�s rule over the years, an observer noted. �Finally, we have a state newspaper that is rabidly pro-ZANU PF, admitting failure.�

The paper went on to describe Mugabe�s government record of policy implementation as �dismal�, further cementing criticism of the opposition MDC formations.

�There were all manner of high-sounding blueprints and well-articulated strategy documents, but all the plans came to naught because policy-makers and bureaucrats are good at policy formulation but dismal at implementation�

Mugabe was recently retained as President of Zimbabwe in controversial circumstances, for the seventh term since he was first elected as Prime Minister of newly independent Zimbabwe in 1980.

The MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, former Prime Minister in the Inclusive Government, has refused to acknowledge the results, arguing that the electoral process was manipulated in ZANU PF�s favour.

Although SADC and the AU have said the elections were peaceful, they have stopped short of describing them to be �fair�. The US, EU and other Western countries have not endorsed the results, further isolating and frustrating the Mugabe regime which is desperate for Western acknowledgement.

Throughout the campaign, Tsvangirai and the MDC argued that Mugabe and ZANU PF had failed dismally at managing the economy, which has shrunk drastically from a strong and diverse economy inherited from colonial Rhodesia at independence in 1980.

Julius Nyerere, Founding Father of Tanzania and strong supporter of Zimbabwe�s liberation efforts in the 1970s, is said to have told Mugabe at independence that he had inherited a jewel economy and that he should not destroy it. Nyerere�s words seem to have gone unheeded.

Facing serious economic challenges under Mugabe�s rule, ordinary Zimbabweans have often been heard to say, it was better under Smith, much to Mugabe and ZANU PF�s chagrin.

Although the recent election was supposed to usher a new era of hope, Zimbabwe is going through a period of gloom and uncertainty, with local and international confidence at its lowest levels.

Someone will get the chop for that one.

I agree that Rhodesia was better. Was independent financially, and everyone seemed well off. Sure, there were well offs, and not so well offs then, but today, everyone's not well off. Normal socialist/communist mentality.

Oh yes......

During the Smith years, they were a net exporter of foodstuffs. Since the takeover, they are in constant trouble, unable to feed themselves, by running the white farmers off their land. Sounds kinda like Detroit......

ALL, repeat ALL of the former British Empire colonies were FAR better off during the tenure of British rule than subsequently.

The English, with all of their eccentrities, sometimes annoying snobbery and occasional tragic errors made by a FEW of their civil and military personnel, i.e. "Amritsar"-1919, have shown a "genius" for government and the evolution of cultures which provide for and reward individual merit and endeavour that is far superior to any others in the contemporary world.

British civilization, while sometimes a bit "stuffy" and perhaps a little too concerned with social position, ALSO largely stopped slavery, initiated various social programmes to assist the less fortunate in society, sometimes taken advantage of by the indigent or substance-abusers and has consistently since the outset of the 20thC. TRIED to maintain international peace, while NEVER shirking from the horrific sacrfices entailed in fighting and winning against monsters such as Hitler, etc.

The greatest, most egalitarian and culturally successful nations on Earth, are ALL products of British colonialism and WE dominate and largely maintain such little "civlization" as mankind has managed to produce over the blood-soaked "progress" of human historical evolution. These are, the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and "tiny but tough", New Zealand.

So, there is NO rational disagreement with the only-too obvious premise that Smith's government in Rhodesia, WAS and STILL WOULD BE far "better" than the gang of murderous, corrupt and primitive "spearchuckers" under that bespectacled, genocidal savage, Mugabe, who has succeeded him.

However, even in quite recent times, certain "Western" political figures have eagerly and with an ignorance that is almost beyond comprehension, assisted in the rise to power of more such savages and we now see even more destruction of once-prosperous and peaceful nations by "Marxist" vermin to the profit of some of the planet's most vile groups and individuals. This, invidious process is not yet completed and we are paying and will pay the price for decades to come............

Spot on Kute..

if you have Netflix there is an interesting documentary called something like "Mugabe and the White Farmer" or something like that about one white family going up against Mugabe in an international court that is real sobering to watch and see just how they have taken the farms and whats become of the farms they took over and who is getting the farms....

Kute's fishing for an invite to the NAACP picnic. LOL!

Kute has more than the gist of it. Sometimes, the truth hurts. I'm positive someone will come along shortly and call you a racist.

Yeah, no doubt, but, I have been called worse names by far better people....so, my usual response is to just laugh!

Jimmy Carter and his UN Ambassedeur, Andrew Young, to be exact, had more to do with Rhodesia's downfall than any others. We denied them material support, and the UN fed and clothed "refuggees" who were in fact marxist guerillas preparing to infiltrate Rhodesia. From Wikipedia:

In 1979, Young played a leading role in advancing a settlement in Rhodesia with Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, who had been two of the military leaders in the Rhodesian Bush War, which had ended in 1979. The settlement paved the way for Mugabe to take power as Prime Minister of the newly formed Republic of Zimbabwe. There had been a general election in 1979, bringing Bishop Abel Muzorewa to power as leader of the United African National Council leading to the short-lived country of Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Young refused to accept the election's results, and described the election as "neofascist", a sentiment echoed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 445 and 448. The situation was resolved the next year with the Lancaster House Agreement and the establishment of Zimbabwe.[1]

Young's favoring of Mugabe and Nkomo over Muzorewa and his predecessor and ally, Ian Smith, was, and remains, controversial. Many African-American activists, including Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King, supported the anti-colonialism represented by Mugabe and Nkomo.[1] However, it was opposed by others, including civil-rights leader Bayard Rustin, who argued that the 1979 election had been "free and fair",[6] as well as senators Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I-VA) and Jesse Helms (R-NC). It was later criticized in 2005 by Gabriel Shumba, executive director of the anti-Mugabe Zimbabwe Exiles Forum.[7]

The Shona are brutal boorish people. Mugabe came from that background and has always been a murderer and communist. Here is how he started his reign over Zimbabwe in 1980.




"Robert Mugabe, then Prime Minister, had signed an agreement with North Korean President Kim Il Sung in October 1980 to have the North Korean military train a brigade for the Zimbabwean army. This was soon after Mugabe had announced the need for a militia to "combat malcontents." Mugabe replied by saying Matabeleland dissidents should "watch out," announcing the brigade would be called "Gukurahundi."[5] This brigade was named the Fifth Brigade. The members of the Fifth Brigade were drawn from 3500 ex-ZANLA troops at Tongogara Assembly Point, named after Josiah Tongogara, the ZANLA general. The training of 5 Brigade lasted until September 1982, when Minister Sekeramayi announced training was complete.

The first Commander of the Fifth Brigade was Colonel Perence Shiri. The Fifth Brigade was different from all other Zimbabwean army units in that it was directly subordinated to the Prime Minister office, and not integrated to the normal army command structures. Their codes, uniforms, radios and equipment were not compatible with other army units. Their most distinguishing feature in the field was their red berets.[4]

The 5th Brigade conducted public executions in Matabeleland, victims were often forced to dig their own graves in front of family and fellow villagers. The largest number of dead in a single killing was on 5 March 1983, when 62 young men and women were shot on the banks of the Cewale River, Lupane.[6] Seven survived with gunshot wounds, the other 55 died. Another way 5 Brigade used to kill large groups of people was to burn them alive in huts. They did this in Tsholotsho and also in Lupane. They would routinely round up dozens, or even hundreds, of civilians and march them at gun point to a central place, like a school or bore-hole. There they would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU, at the same time being beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended with public executions. Those killed were innocent civilians, ex-ZIPRA freedom fighters, ZAPU officials, or anybody chosen at random."

It's too bad he'll die in bed someday. He needs to be barbequed.

It's the ideology that gets the masses mobilized. It's the ideologists that screw the living daylights out of the masses who are beaten into place by dictators. Utter lawlessness within the law when the 5th Brigade invaded Matabeleland and executed hundreds of people those days.

Would be interesting to see where we are going to be in 20 years from now. Our Pres used USD 22 m of taxpayers money to upgrade his private house and I'm thinking: buddy, one wife gives me enough to keep me busy with, how do you get along with 6? And then there are about 4 or 5 illegitimate children with 2 or 3 different women while many people live in absolute squalor.

Like a local lady said: people deserve the government they get.

Pieter

You think it's bad now....... just wait until that mad prick Malema gets the job as one day he surely will.... & probably within the next 3 presidential terms at the very most.

He's promising the black electorate the world & they're going to be stupid enough to believe him!

Kute, you were spot on on most of your analogy,other than the part about the USA being molded around British colonization, think that's what we fought to free ourselves from. Just saying...

Pieter,

Sad to say, but I predict you're about 10-15 years behind the Zimbabwe model. Your disaster will be on a far greater scale, I'm afraid. RSA was a great nation once. As with all nations where blacks take over from former white governments, order and infrastructure crumble before the corrupt and greedy now in power.

Like our domestic race-baiters like Jackson and Sharpton, they need constant validation, using jealousy, greed, ignorance, and carrot-on-a-string handouts to hold onto power.

Just like in Rhodesia and soon here in the USA, the handouts run out.

That, is not exactly what I wrote and the historical record is very clear on the USA, being a nation that was founded by British liberals and your Constitution, is a result of "Magna Carta" and "The Protocols of Oxford". Colonel Washington, served as an officer under that valiant and steadfast English General Officer, Sir Edward Braddock, your "Founding Fathers" all had names such as Adams, Jefferson, and then there was Lincoln, ALL English in origin.

The Colonial Rebellion, circa 1775-1783, was largely a result of a major conflict among various British commercial interests and the problems in the Monarchy, as Geo.III, was both seriously ill and not overly wise in his administrative policies and edicts, hence, the "Tea PartY". The majority of British people and, especially, the rising "middle class", a result of the commerce from the colonial expansion, hated the war, were sympathetic to their fellow Britons in the "Thirteen Colonies" and this had a great deal to do with the final resolution of the entire affair.

So, all I am saying is that the USA, as with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, ARE nations that are a result of the colonial era in British history and, it is sadly obvious that, as these nations are less and less peopled by our founding groups, we are all declining in civilization....and, may soon be much like South Africa and Zimbabble.....

His Imperial Majesty, Obongo, anyone????.........

Actually Kute, it was the Irish. Edmund Burke's writings were quoted more by our Founders more than any other outside of Scripture. Burke did move to England but I'm sure he considered himself an Irishman.