|
HISTORY has it that any revolution is associated with undesirable immediate effects, but the foreseeable future will be a �flowery� experience. I bring this issue in the context of the ongoing agrarian reforms in Zimbabwe. One would ask why revolutions, including the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions of the 16th century in Britain were followed by immediate undesirable effects? Essentially, a revolution entails the complete overhaul of a certain old system and its subsequent replacement with a finer system of operation. The immediate results of any revolution are usually nauseating because the people who were benefiting from the phased out old structure will fight against the tide of change as they fight to reclaim their lost status. They pose the greatest threat to the revolution, exploiting any method available to derail the new structure. In similar fashion, unrepentant whites and their allies in Zimbabwe pose threats to the land reform process for they still want to monopolise a national resource they acquired by dubious means. They feel threatened and would like to derail the whole programme for their benefit, but nothing like that will happen at this point because the restructuring exercise is nearing completion. All they can do now is to comply and farm side-by-side with the newly-resettled farmers. When mechanisation became the mainstay of British industries in the 19th Century, the so-called Luddites, a consortium of workers who had lost their jobs to machines, barricaded the industries damaging new machines. Similarly, some of the greedy white farmers in Zimbabwe reportedly damaged irrigation equipment so as to ground agriculture. The situation in Zimbabwe is similar to a change management business situation. Change management involves all the processes that take place when a certain structure or code of operation is introduced into an organisation at the expense of an old system. For the proposed changes to successfully take place, all the relevant stakeholders involved should participate. The people of Zimbabwe are the prime stakeholders of this country and any positive development is premised on their actions. With the resource (land) they so required in their hands, it is only a matter of time and commitment before we witness an agricultural boom. In the business world, the factors hindering effective and successful change management usually emanate from the top executive in that if they (top executives) do not accept the change proposal nothing positive will happen. The Zimbabwean situation is wonderful, the Government fully supports the restructuring exercise and with all other things working normally, the land reform programme will sure not fail. The essence of change management is to increase company competency over competitors. It is a planned move geared at placing the company on a firm competitive plane that will guarantee its success in the future. Blacks in Zimbabwe had a long competitive urge before the restructuring process. They could not match whites in most aspects. Land reform in Zimbabwe is a revolution whose main thrust is to economically empower the people by redistributing evenly, a resource that was unduly in the hands of only a few people and to ignore the land issue is to be in contempt of the principles of the liberation struggle. A revolution is not a one-off event but a process. When a revolution reaches maturity stage, the envisaged benefits that triggered the whole process will be felt. The agricultural revolution in Zimbabwe has a forward-looking approach, as it knows no bounderies. Basically, it is an unselfish and conscious move to empower the black majority and incoming generations. Land reform has less to do with politics of the tummy but politics of inheritance and economic empowerment. Results of politics of the tummy are short-lived, whereas long-term and far-reaching plans of the land reform programme go miles ahead in trying to better the lives of the economically oppressed section of society. The high inflation rates, massive devaluation of the dollar, among other things, come about due to deliberate efforts by enemies of this kind of economic restructuring programme in Zimbabwe, whose interests are threatened by land reform. Prosperity and economic independence does not come on a silver platter. People have to fight and sweat for it and must be prepared to face criticism. A bright future is looming on the horizon if only Zimbabweans join hands and work together. The Mulindwas
communication group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" |
