Terence Simbi, Author of the book: Zimbabwe – Installing a Democratic State, says the British government has outsmarted the locals in Zimbabwe because they have a “long game”.
Simbi said during the Lancaster House negotiations, the British had the long term objective to retain the land and where land was repossessed, they wanted it to be paid for by the new Zimbabwe government.
Simbi said, this is why in the early days of the new Zimbabwe, there were disturbances in Matabeleland, This was meant to keep the new government busy while the 10 years within which the willing buyer, willing seller applied expired.
Simbi said internal divisions and lack of a clear vision has led the Zimbabwean government to sign a bad deal where former commercial farmers will be paid $3.5 Billion Dollars.
Simbi said this is a bad deal because when this land was taken, no one was compensated even though they had developments on the land.
Simbi said the solution to this is for Zimbabwe to put in place a governance system in which every Zimbabwean feels that they have a part to play.
Simbi said in his book he dealt with this issue and concluded that Zimbabweans will always be outsmarted because they play the short game, are divided and lack unity.
Simbi said Zimbabweans need to be united to succeed in future.
