From Derek Sparrow

I suggest that if there is to be any political solution to the farm seizures by way of compensation or reinstatement or by whatever means the massive Black and White  Diaspora should be urgently mobilised.

The imminent chaotic Mugabe succession issue provides a wider and urgent incentive for the involvement of the exiled citizens which should have occurred at the last election.

I am particularly depressed by the continuous deaths of the farmers mainly in Harare many of whom founded their outstanding commercial farms and contributed to the establishment of the successful agricultural industry. The sad announcements detail their surviving progeny who were born and brought up by their deceased ancestor who imagined that his farm would be inherited by them.

The appropriation of the commercial farms and the wider indigenisation of the other settler enterprises have destroyed the racial cooperation which in half a century created the "jewel of Africa" which Mugabe acknowledged he had inherited in 1980 and which was assessed internationally as an outstanding state.

I believe that an organised Diaspora could demand their citizenship rights and overturn the current predatory and corrupt regime and restore the former racial harmony but time will erode this opportunity.

The White exiles should acknowledge that their persecution lead to the exiling of millions of Black farm workers and persecuted political activists and others who disagreed with the racial and dysfunctional regime.

The Whites have alternative havens and can evacuate which the Blacks lack, most of whom having dependent families at home.

I have a forlorn hope that the current energy, expertise and funds continuing to be applied in pursuit of compensation might be diverted to organising racial combination of the Diaspora leading to the eventual return of the exiles to play predominant roles in the restored "jewel".

Sincerely

Derek Sparrow

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