Honey, I shrunk the food supply!
Some news stories just make you guy 'Duh!'
Take this one from the BBC.
A Zimbabwean minister has said that many of those given land since 2000 know little about farming and this has led to food shortages.
"The biggest letdown has been that people without the slightest idea of farming got land and the result has been declining agricultural output," said the country's deputy agricultural minister Sylvester Nguni.
I'm not sure which is more shocking: that a government minister offered something vaguely resembling a mea culpa after years of blaming Tony Blair and George W. Bush for famine, political instability and even bad weather. Or that a minister from a government that normally engages in Orwellian manipulation of information even acknowledged the obvious food shortages.
It remains to be seen how long Nguini remains in his post, or a free man for that matter, after stating the truth.
posted by Brian @ Friday, November 04, 2005
2 comments
2 Comments:
What's going on in Zimbabwe is a shame. Why on earth should a single man and his cronies hold a country to ransom? Honestly, Thabo Mbeki has failed with regard to his "silent diplomacy" which doesn't seem to have yielded ANY result.
Chippla,
It's more than a shame, it's a tragedy. How many lives have been ruined or lost because of all of the malfeasance by Mugabe and his mafia.
I had no problem with Mbeki trying 'quiet diplomacy.' But it's only useful to the extent it can get results. And it's clearly failed to get any results. Mbeki needs to admit that 'softly softly' has failed and it's long past due for a strong approach.
I think the problem is that, quite frankly, Mbeki doesn't have the guts to stand up to Mugabe. Frankly, it must be said that Mugabe's anti-colonial rhetoric is popular in much of Africa and Mugabe himself retains some sympathy with the ex-revolutionary elements of the ANC.
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