The Nationalists Alliance Party (NAP) has made astounding claims that Zimbabwe’s current socioeconomic challenges were caused by the colonial settlers, who must compensate every rural household for US$20 000.
NAP party leader, Divine Mhambi-Hove, said it was necessary to highlight the colonial system as the underlying cause of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic crisis, otherwise, people will continue to treat symptoms.
“We want to address the crisis from a holistic point of view, the problems that we face can clearly be traced to the settler system,” he said at a press conference in Bulawayo Tuesday.
Mhambi-Hove, a member of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), noted colonial regulations such as the Native Land Act, the Animal Husbandry Act, and the Native Tax Act as laws that have held the majority of Zimbabweans behind.
“It all started with the borders that were called Zimbabwe, it’s the Rhodesia Act, we didn’t define Zimbabwe ourselves, we didn’t form Parliament, wards and constituents. There is no way you can ignore that our problems are primarily in our history, that’s what we are facing,” he said.
He cited that for instance, a lot of black people today did not have the capital to start businesses in Zimbabwe because they were disenfranchised by the colonial system.
“They cannot empower themselves without capital, they are not creating any meaningful jobs so there is no employment,” Mhambi-Hove said, explaining the “difference between tracing problems to a certain point and blaming that point.”
“The settler question is what happened. People didn’t just start coming to town, they came because of a certain reality that happened. There is a system that was created, which made towns look attractive and caused the rural areas to look unattractive. That’s a fact, introduce me to where there is water and electricity, I will naturally gravitate to where I think life is better.”
NAP’s economic plan primarily targets peasants, indigenous business people, and tenants who live in urban settings.
“Our manifesto is crafted around these three groups. There is logic there because we all know of the colonisation process that happened, it destabilised lives of natives from their economy and the liberation war that took place also disenfranchised them,” Mhambi- Hove said, claiming this is why people needed to be compensated.
“There is a real need for restitution in the form of compensation and as a party, we are saying, should we have the ability to influence government and be in government, we really need to look at the issue of compensation. This compensation is not based on whether you went to war or other criteria used now, we believe every rural homestead should get compensation for that reality of colonisation and effects of the war.”
Mhambi-Hove acknowledged some may ask how such would be possible but said the element of compensation was not questionable.
“When your body falls sick with cancer, the cost of treatment does not become an issue, the reality is you need to be treated whether you have money or not. Compensation is non-negotiable, it needs to be done to every rural homestead,” he remarked.
“We say every rural homestead must be paid US$20 000. This may shock you but it is what we are pushing for. We are not saying people must be given cash because we know we are balancing realities of politics, economics and circumstances. We are saying restore the agricultural space of the natives, as a priority. Agriculture requires inputs such as water, solar system and modern agricultural equipment.”
The NAP leader said their plan was to set up an agricultural commission that will promote agricultural activities.
“Because there was destabilisation in this country, we can’t watch people make money out of agriculture which they literally destroyed from the lives of natives so the agricultural commission will look at all agricultural produced in the country and reserve certain crops specifically for rural plots,” Mhambi-Hove claimed.
“We can agree that for instance cabbages, carrots, and tomatoes are now exclusively, by law, only found in rural areas not in big farms. We can also divide our farming zones to see which region can produce certain crops. The net effect is to reserve elements of agricultural produce for rural zone farmers, which creates a zone of exchange. We are keen on this because competition from big players is killing the potential of rural areas, where small-scale farmers are disadvantaged from the start.” The NAP leader admitted their ideology sounded radical and would need a lot of realistic explanation because the “settler system has really damaged the psychological bearing of a lot of natives where they feel some things are not achievable.”
“60 percent of our population is in rural areas and this is where we must pay attention. The rural area is still backward and systems are not working in their favour. You raise cattle to try to sell in the market only to be told it’s economy grade but can’t start a successful ranching business in the rural areas due complications,” Mhambi-Hove said.
