WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2003-12-30 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 12/30/2003 6:03:40 AM
Zimbabwe beef cattle on verge of extinction
[Note. In the 1970’s, in Rhodesia, the national beef herd stood at about 5 million. The liberation struggle caused tremendous damage to the national beef herd which stood somewhere round about 1-1.5 million. Compare that with the current numbers and you will see the staggering decline in that country. Cattle are extremely important to everyone. There is also a breed of cattle specially developed by scientists in Rhodesia for local conditions. No doubt all this will soon be gone. Jan]
Zimbabwe’s commercial beef cattle herd, which until three-and-a-half years ago earned more than R14-billion annually from exports, is on the verge of extinction as a result of the country’s political upheavals. The national herd, bred over a period of 110 years for survival in Zimbabwe’s harsh conditions, stood at 1,4 million animals in 2000 when President Robert Mugabe launched his farm invasion strategy. The invasions initially benefited landless peasants. But they, in turn, were removed from properties when government ministers and their relatives, judges, diplomats and pro-government journalists began laying claim to farms. “By the middle of this year only 210 000 beef cattle survived. At the last count there were fewer than 125 000 animals, but the number will be lower by now,” Paul D’Hotman, chief executive of the Harare-based Cattle Producers’ Association, said on Friday. “The entire national herd is on the road to extinction and the whole gene pool is being wiped out.”
The looming disappearance of one of Zimbabwe’s most valuable assets is the most dramatic illustration yet of the meltdown that is occurring in a country with the world’s highest inflation rate (620 percent) and the fastest-declining economy. Dirk Odendaal was one of Zimbabwe’s top beef farmers until last year when he was given 48 hours to quit his 2 015 hectare farm and homestead with his herd of 1 200 pedigree cross Brahmin-Charolet cattle that he had bred over 22 years. “It was impossible to get such a large number of animals off the farm in that time,” he said. “It was heartbreaking.” Odendaal, whose farm, Condor “A”, lies 250km south of Harare in Masvingo province, said that in the first few hours many of his cattle were stolen as peasant settlers opened gates and broke down fences. “There was a complete breakdown of law and order and no police backup. Thieves were coming from all over.”
Odendaal, who bought his farm in 1981, one year after Zimbabwe achieved independence, said about 300 of his cattle were stolen. He managed to remove others to a neighbouring property and began selling them for slaughter. “Together with other farmers ordered off their land, I began going to the abattoirs and auctions to convert my animals into cash.” He estimates that in Masvingo only about 1 000 beef cattle survive out of the 54 000 still in the province less than 12 months ago. The now homeless Odendaal is camped with his last 100 beasts on a small property that has been lent to him. He intends selling most of the animals, but prices are down 40 percent since last week. “I’m not a viable unit anymore,” said 55-year-old Odendaal, married with three sons. “But I’m determined to stay here. I’m a Zimbabwean. I was born and grew up here, and my mother was born here in 1918.”
Source:Sunday Independent (SA)
By Fred Bridgland
URL: http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID…br>