Reply to: $200,000 a day job anyone?

[Zippy]

Mugabe has given land and other assets to those who do not oppose him and has disenfranchised, tortured and imprisoned those who do - white AND black. These tend to be the people who know how to run the country.

Their African neighbours don't come out of this with clean hands either.

I would hope the old b@stard dies soon but wonder what would replace him and how many more people will die when Satan comes calling for him (cue Chico).

[Diver]

In the days just after the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, a former colleague of mine needed to get his sick grandmother over the border to SA in order to bring her back to England. Being a former member of the Rhodesian Defence Force, he rounded up a few mates, hijacked an ambulance at gunpoint, and drove it to the border. The South Africans were quite happy to let them cross, as long as they left the ambulance behind - they said that allowing stolen Zimbabwean government property across the border could have caused a diplomatic incident

I was there in 80 when the men of the RDF were disarmed and confined to barracks, We thought it was a prelude to Mugabi topping the lot of them, as soon as prince charles left the country.
A lot of them grabbed their families and crossed the border that april.

[richard-af]

well her mother is in her seventies - doesn't want upheaval of moving. At least I persuaded my neighbour not to take her kids with her! Or maybe it was the lack of bread and milk in the shops...

Hmmm... "doesn't want upheaval of moving"! But she must see, surely, that this isn't a run-of-the-mill moving into a granny flat situation?

[NickFitz]

I have a neighbour who wants to go to Zimbabwe to persuade her mother to leave. Getting a flight in is easy - getting one out is difficult.

In the days just after the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, a former colleague of mine needed to get his sick grandmother over the border to SA in order to bring her back to England. Being a former member of the Rhodesian Defence Force, he rounded up a few mates, hijacked an ambulance at gunpoint, and drove it to the border. The South Africans were quite happy to let them cross, as long as they left the ambulance behind - they said that allowing stolen Zimbabwean government property across the border could have caused a diplomatic incident

[ElectricChair]

Persuade? "Getting a flight in is easy - getting one out is difficult" should be persuasion enough!

well her mother is in her seventies - doesn't want upheaval of moving. At least I persuaded my neighbour not to take her kids with her! Or maybe it was the lack of bread and milk in the shops...

[richard-af]

I have a neighbour who wants to go to Zimbabwe to persuade her mother to leave. Getting a flight in is easy - getting one out is difficult.

Persuade? "Getting a flight in is easy - getting one out is difficult" should be persuasion enough!

[ElectricChair]

I have a neighbour who wants to go to Zimbabwe to persuade her mother to leave. Getting a flight in is easy - getting one out is difficult.

[richard-af]

How long before the (still alive) farmers are invited back to rescue the country's agriculture?

[The Lone Gunman]

Come on, LG, get with it.

It's all Whitey's fault.

The Black Fascist has said so.

Sorry, my mistake.
It is all the fault of the imperriallist pigs in the UK imposing sanctions and casting spells so the land is infertile. Freezing our assets and such.

[The Lone Gunman]

Why is this in Light Relief? It is a very serious subject.

Most of Zimbabwes troubles can be laid firmly at the feet of one man though his nationals seem deaf to the idea.

Zim used to be one of, if not, the most agriculturaly advanced and productive in Africa (Hectare for Hectare) producing food crops for local consumption and cash crops to sell abroad. This also made the Country economically viable and brought in foreign currency which helped stabalise the local currency.

With the land reform act all the commercial farms were carved up and given to local people, either as bungs to high ranking officials or as incentives to ex soldiers of the revolution (though many are far to young to have been involved).
The people who now own the land either have no idea how to farm it or are farming for subsistance purposes only. This means there is no surplus of food crops or any cash crops at all.
Mugabes consistant abuses have also earned sanctions for the Country which is not helping at all.

This goes further, but that is a good enough place to stop.

[Pondlife]

But... WHAT A HOUSING MARKET THEY MUST HAVE!!!!!

When there's blood on the streets ...

[Diver]

But... WHAT A HOUSING MARKET THEY MUST HAVE!!!!!

One correspondent recently told the BBC News website that one candle can cost twice the official government wage for a farm worker, while the price tag for a single banana is 15 times what she paid seven years ago for a four-bedroom house.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6922441.stm

[Ardesco]

But... WHAT A HOUSING MARKET THEY MUST HAVE!!!!!

[wendigo100]

What happened?

The locals thought they could run things better than the colonials. They seem to be as wrong as you could possibly get.

[thunderlizard]

Sort of, but it's more complicated than that.

I've heard that toilet paper is only slightly cheaper than its surface area in banknotes.