Dear Editor,
While I am sure that many people would agree with Baldeo Persaud that ‘Africa suffers from poor leaders’ as he highlighted in his letter (SN, 5.5.08) I would like to point out that Africa has done as well as China and India on the economic front. It is a perception that has taken hold of people who believe that Africa is poor and downtrodden.
The situation with President Mugabe is a thorn for some. From my viewpoint it started when the opposition MDC was being supported by the white farmers, so Robert Mugabe turned loose his supporters on these white farmers. Hence, he took over their land (albeit for the landless poor of Zimbabwe).
But he found out the hard way that it is one thing to give people land but quite another for them to develop an industry.
Hence, the food industry in Zimbabwe collapsed because the organizational ability of the white farmers (who were in the business for generations) was not there.
Yours faithfully,
Sean Brignandan
