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Robert and Darren Smart, father and son, pose with some peasants on the area of 7,000 hectares, 250 kilometers southeast of the capital Harare. Two years after their violent expropriation, they returned to their farm
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Harare – He is still incredulous Kanyimbo, the old skeleton guardian of Lesbury Estate, a 7,000-hectare estate in Manicaland, 250 kilometers southeast of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe . After months of waiting, at the door of the property, the forms of two men materialized: white, Bermuda shorts and cowboy hats on the head. Sufficient information for those who knew them for life and anxiously awaiting their return. They were Robert and Darren Smart, father and son, the first white Zimbabwean landowners to be able to return to the property that had been taken out two years ago. After months of waiting, at the door of the property, the forms of two men materialized: white men, Bermuda shorts and cowboy hats on their heads. Sufficient clues for those who know them for life and anxiously await their return A decision made by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the new president of Zimbabwe, who last November, with the support of the army, has a substitute Robert Mugabe the man who ruled the country with an iron fist for 37 years and who, between 2000 and 2017, expropriated land from about 4,000 peasants whites to redistribute them to the magic circle of military and politics
The Racial Shock
The emotion is cut off in the air. The news spreads and in a few minutes, the whole village flows to the gates of the estate. The narrative of the racial clash ridden by Mugabe collapses to see children and seniors fighting to kiss Robert and Darren. The Smart Family here, is synonymous with work and education, until one night two years ago. "A group of armed men came into our house and started destroying everything, I had time to take my six-year-old son and my wife and run away on a hill that surrounds the property – remember Darren Smart, farmer White of Zimbabwe – we stayed there for hours, terrified, while they looted our house and fired savagely.After that night, the estate pbaded into the hands of a prelate of the Pentecostal Christian Church, a friend of Mugabe, and unable to harvest.A dynamic distribution across the country, costing $ 17 billion to the already dilapidated public funds and which led to the collapse of the agricultural sector of Zimbabwe once considered the "breadbasket of Africa" A chain effect that brought thousands of white peasant families and hundreds of thousands of workers on the sidewalk, this that will swell unemployment by nearly 90%, one of the highest in the world.
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The Old Barn of Africa
"These were difficult years, given our knowledge we received many offers to go to work in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, but we are from Zimbabwe, we decided to stay to fight with our people and now we are ready to rebuild the future of this country, "says Darren Smart. His father Robert scours the fields on the horizon, the huge expanses of tobacco, of which Zimbabwe is one of the world's leading exporters in quality and quantity. "I hope someday to be able to come back to see my property as lush as before-told Robert, the dean of the Smart family – we had wheat and tobacco, but they are very expensive and, for at the moment, we can afford to grow only potatoes. "The Association which brings together white farmers from Zimbabwe has already asked the new government compensation for damages amounting to 10 billion dollars, but everything will depend on Monday's election result.A long-awaited event of historical significance, given that for the first time since independence in 1980, Robert Mugabe's face will not be on the ballot. Mnangagwa, her right hand for 30 years will see her with the young prophet Nelson Chamisa, representative of the Movement for Democratic Change (Mdc), for the first time, international observers, including the EU, sero Admittedly, very critical of the Mugabe administration, punished heavy economic sanctions for not respecting human rights. Yesterday, Mugabe, 93, reappeared in public, surprised, stating that he would not vote for his successor Mnangagwa: "He took power illegally," he accused. But, he badured, "whoever wins will accept the result."
The challenge of polls
Net consultations without fraud the shock could be decided for a few thousand votes, even if "The Crocodile", as it is nicknamed Mnangagwa, because of its not too democratic methods, seems in head especially in rural areas of the country, Zanu-Pf strongholds, the only party to have led Zimbabwe in the post-colonial era. "You breathe a new air and we must thank President Mnangagwa who allowed us to take back possession of at least part of the estate – says Darren Smart, owner of Lesbury Estate of Matare – but now we ask the new government funding will be put in place to rebuild everything that has been destroyed. " It's not a coincidence that one of the last election rallies of current President Mnangagwa was just with a group of white landlords, to try to convince them that what happened under Mugabe is irreplaceable and without them the attic of Africa "will barely continue to bear fruit
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