Saturday, October 10, 2009

Newsletter News Brief: What's Going On With Land-Ownership & The Economy In Zimbabwe?


It's often a miraculous feat to get accurate news stories on a national level; so getting accurate details on international news stories has to be just as difficult, if not a bigger quagmire. It's only been a couple of months since Zimbabwe's government lifted an 8 year restriction, and allowed CNN and The BBC to report freely from their country. I gleamed the following excerpt from a news story on The BBC's website. The excerpt led me to ponder exactly what is going on in Zimbabwe economically and politically.

"For many years Zimbabwe was a major food producer for neighbouring countries.

But the seizure of almost all white-owned commercial farms - with the stated aim of benefiting landless black Zimbabweans- has led to the collapse of the agriculture-based economy.

The country endured rampant inflation and critical food and fuel shortages. President Mugabe, however, always blamed the collapse on Western sanctions including an aid freeze.

He said the land seizures were necessary because after years of colonial rule, much of the country's best land was owned by a small number of white farmers." -The BBC

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