Mugabe against the white farmers - Straight through Africa | VPRO Documentary

The government of Zimbabwe expelled thousands of white farmers from their country. Right or not?
Zimbabwe is bursting with fertile soil and has an excellent climate for agriculture. Until about fifteen years ago only a few thousand white farmers benefited, because they had almost all the farm land in their possession. Now the situation is completely different. You will hardly find white farmers anymore. Most of the farms are divided into smaller units, where black Zimbabweans are allowed to grow their crops.

For example, the young brothers Solomon and Tony. They grow tobacco, and hope to earn so much that they can afford a pick-up truck and later a good education for their children. The plants are flourishing, but the drying of the tobacco is not yet smooth sailing. They have never learned that.

They are doing better than most new land owners in Zimbabwe. A lot of land is unused or hardly yields due to incompetence. With the white farmers also the knowledge of agriculture from the Zimbabwean countryside has disappeared.

Bram visits a white family, who now lives in a house in the city, with a garden full of rusting agricultural machinery. The years before the departure of their farm were terrible, tell the ex-farmer and his wife. Livestock was slaughtered, the dogs poisoned, groups of men came to the fence to claim the land. A friend was murdered and with their own (black) foreman it also went bad. Other staff have fled with them and still work for the family.

The ex-farmer finds it difficult to digest that he has lost his land. And if it had to be given to black Zimbabweans, then why not to the staff that already worked there? "At least those people know how to run a farm." But then, whoever worked for a white farmer was on the wrong side.

The expulsion of white farmers was not only the work of groups of armed men. The Zimbabwean state carried out a deliberate campaign to expropriate the country and give it to veterans who had fought in the war of independence. To give back, in the vision of many Zimbabweans, because during the colonization was it not taken from their ancestors?

The judge of the tobacco cooperative finds it right that the government intervenes, he says. "This land reform was necessary." He is less enthusiastic about the implementation: "The country was given to people who do not have the slightest idea of ​​how teams work. But they did want to own land. See how it is now. Here only grass grows. Sooner or later we will no longer have corn. We were the breadbasket of the region. But that is empty now. "
Episode 4. The right of Mugabe

The government of Zimbabwe evicted thousands of white farmers from their land. Were they right to do so or not?

Director: Doke Romeijn and Stefanie de Brouwer
© VPRO September 2014

On VPRO broadcast you will find nonfiction videos with English subtitles, French subtitles and Spanish subtitles, such as documentaries, short interviews and documentary series.

This channel offers some of the best travel series from the Dutch broadcaster VPRO. Our series explore cultures from all over the world. VPRO storytellers have lived abroad for years with an open mind and endless curiosity, allowing them to become one with their new country. Thanks to these qualities, they are the perfect guides to let you experience a place and culture through the eyes of a local. Uncovering the soul of a country, through an intrinsic and honest connection, is what VPRO and its presenters do best.

So subscribe to our channel and we will be delighted to share our adventures with you!
more information at www.VPRObroadcast.com

Visit additional youtube channels bij VPRO broadcast:
VPRO Broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/VPRObroadcast
VPRO Metropolis: https://www.youtube.com/user/VPROmetropolis
VPRO Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/VPROdocumentary
VPRO World Stories: https://www.youtube.com/VPROworldstories
VPRO Extra: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTLrhK07g6LP-JtT0VVE56A
VPRO VG (world music): https://www.youtube.com/vrijegeluiden
VPRO 3voor12 (alternative music): https://www.youtube.com/3voor12
VPRO 3voor12 extra (music stories): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtgVYRLGraeL9rGMiM3rBHA
www.VPRObroadcast.com

English, French and Spanish subtitles by Ericsson and co-funded by the European Union.

Видео Mugabe against the white farmers - Straight through Africa | VPRO Documentary канала vpro world stories