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Africa: Southern | ||||
The persecuted Scots who are transforming an African nation | ||||
2003-10-25 | ||||
The Army of Steve™ thanks Frank for the tip! EFL. FARMER Peter MacSporran has proved more resilient even than the crops he has managed to grow under the blazing African sun. But the tenacious Scot’s continued role in one of the blighted continent’s rare success stories is now being threatened by Zimbabwe’s despotic leader Robert Mugabe.
How, how ... thuggish! Zambia has become an agricultural success almost overnight. Its farmers have produced a record maize crop of well over 1.2 million tonnes this year. About 50,000 tonnes was grown as a first time effort by the white victims of Mugabe’s "land reform" programme. Elizabeth Phiri, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, said: "That’s double the quantity Zambia produced the previous year." Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, farm productivity has declined rapidly in the wake of the eviction of 4,500 white farmers from their land. Aid agencies blame the policy on the food shortages which have left millions of Zimbabweans on the brink of starvation. Lots of people + no agriculture = starvation. Last week MacSporran and the 150 white farming families in Zambia — at least half of whom have Scottish backgrounds — were once again the focus of Mugabe’s sinister attention. Reports in Zimbabwe’s Mugabe-friendly newspapers accused the white farmers of trying to re-colonise Zambia. One of the president’s leading spin doctors, Nathan Shamuyarira, has even accused them of trying to re-colonise Africa and has urged the Zambian government to expel them. Powerful bunch, those 150 farmers.
Kenny’s old and doddering, it wouldn’t be hard. MacSporran, who was born in Irvine and brought up on the Isle of Mull, left Scotland in 1972 to attend a friend’s wedding in what was then Rhodesia and decided to stay. He soon became the country’s best known farmer and was elevated to the presidency of the country’s farmers union in 1994, a post he held for two years. He was shocked by Mugabe’s land-grabbing policy which devastated the industry he and his fellow white farmers had built. "I never ever dreamed it was possible that President Mugabe would embark on such a lunatic and chaotic course of action," says the 54-year-old father-of-three.
Too bad we couldn’t arrange for him to get a visa to America. "One day I just packed my bags and drove to the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia," recalled MacSporran. "I drove to Lusaka and took up an offer to start again. Soon I joined forces with other Zimbabwean farmers and we formed a company that helps others from Zimbabwe to set up farms here. Now, there are hundreds of Zimbabwean farmers working in Zambia and in years to come, there could be thousands." MacSporran’s company, Agriculture Advisers International, works closely with the Zambian government and is given financial support from, among others, the European Investment Bank and Barclays Bank International. "A Zimbabwean looking for land and work in Zambia has no collateral but most have excellent financial track records," he said. "I know these guys are some of the greatest farmers in the world. About 50% of the CFU members in the mid-1990s were of Scottish origin. It’s in our blood to kickstart things, to move on when the going gets tough, not to give in. This is the Second Great Trek, if you like. I’m proud to say it’s led by Scottish Africans." Two black commercial farmers have also found their way to Zambia from Zimbabwe and MacSporran expects more to follow as the economic situation across the border worsens. Not just the white farmers being attacked in Bob-land? Ya don’t say! MacSporran, who grows crops on the 1,000 hectares of land he leases outside Lusaka, added: "At long last the Zambians have decided to make farming the driving force in the economy. We’ve been told that we are more than welcome. We did not create the Zambian success story but we are proud to be part of it. Even though many of us are living very humbly in Zambia, we have hope in our hearts once again." Although he still has a love for Scotland and recognises the threat posed by Zimbabwe’s tyrannical president, MacSporran has put down roots in Zambia and is determined to stay. "When things were really grim in Zimbabwe, after my farms were taken over, I contemplated returning to Scotland,. But no longer. I’m a Scottish African." What a great guy.
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Posted by:Steve White |
#5 Good post! expected nothing less from the army of Steve :-) |
Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-25 9:11:26 PM |
#4 A great black thinker, economist Walter Williams, writes that often property rights are more important to prosperity than democracy. South Korea is a great example. |
Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-25 8:35:19 PM |
#3 Mr MacSporran may have only spent 30 years in Zimbabwe, but the majority of the other farmers in Zimbabwe and Zambia are local born. It's unfortunate that a Briton has been feted as the representative of Zimbabwe's 'expat' farmer community as this reinforces the image of white farmers in that country as being 'foreign', when the fact is that most have spent as much of their lives in that country as black Zimbabweans of the same age. Mugabe's persecution of them is nothing more than racism; a pogrom of causcasians. They're Zimbabweans in every sense and shouldn't have been compelled to leave, for any reason. |
Posted by: Bulldog 2003-10-25 6:53:38 PM |
#2 All in all, it seems like a job well done for the forces of multiculturalism in Zambia. Nothing breaks down racial barriers like cooperation, hard work, and success. Success does breed envy, so I hope these Scots have their kit bags packed for the next tribal purge. The term "Scottish African" is sublime and avoids the knotty context of colonialism, but will it draw fire from conservative African groups because of its racial ambiguity? |
Posted by: Mr. Torrent 2003-10-25 4:08:05 PM |
#1 The contrast with the article below is beautiful. People who care about their workmanship do a much better job. |
Posted by: Dishman 2003-10-25 2:56:14 PM |