| Britain and Zimbabwe relations have had a ‘roller coaster' relation since the 19 th century when the former started establishing the later as a colony under the British Empire.The relationship degenerated by the unequal and skewed distributions of land where the white minority-owned the majority of the agricultural lands while the local indigenous people were relegated to the background and made farmhands on the White owned plantations.At independence,the British government,led by Margaret Thatcher,sought to compensate for this through the Lancaster agreement where Britain and Zimbabwe agreed to jointly fund the land reform that was to be undertaken by the newly independent government of Zimbabwe.Under the arrangement,some lands were to be purchased from the White owners and redistributed to the local Zimbabweans for farming and settlement purposes.This was what the British had committed to.From 1980 until the late 1990 s,the successive Conservative regimes of Britain,Margaret Thatcher,and John Major continued to pay for the reforms.However,from 1997,following the election of Tony Blair as prime minister of Britain,the land payment was stopped.As a consequence,diplomatic relations between the two countries have degenerated over the years.At the height of this deterioration,Zimbabwe was suspended from the council of Commonwealth,President Mugabe of Zimbabwe was stripped of his honor as a knight by the British Queen,the United States and EU placed economic and diplomatic sanctions on Zimbabwe and Mugabe-resulting in the country's steep economic decline.The objective of this study is to investigate the factors that accounted for the decision of the new labor government of Britain,led by Tony Blair to discontinue the land payments that was agreed at Lancaster in 1979.Secondly,the study sought to find out the political and economic ramifications of the discontinuation decision on Zimbabwe.In doing this,the study relied on both primary and secondary data sources.The research design was qualitative as it relied on reviewing documentations and official statements made by both the governments of Britain and Zimbabwe regarding the land question and other fallouts.These include statements from the British Embassy in Harare,The Zimbabwean ministry of land and rural resettlement as well as other primary sources.The analysis also factored into consideration the existing body of literature on the relations between the two countries with specific focus on the land question.The research finds that the factors that accounted for the decision to stop the payment for the lands in Zimbabwe were multifold.These were further classified under economic,political and ideological reasons.Economically,the late 1970 s through 1990 s were not the best of times for Britain.In fact,the country was reeling under serious economic crises and by the late 1970 s,Britain had to be bailed out by the IMF with a loan of $3.9 billion(which was the highest amount to be requested from the IMF).This crisis continued and did not completely heal in the subsequent decades.The effect was that Margaret Thatcher's commitment to pay for land reforms in faraway Zimbabwe with the British tax payer's money was growing increasingly unpopular.It was just a matter of time for a new government to discontinue it;and when Tony Blair came to power in 1997,he did just that.Politically,towards the middle and ending of the 1990 s,the relationship between Harare and London began to deteriorate.Questions about good governance,accountability,and transparency were being asked.Allegations of misappropriation of public funds became rife in Zimbabwe.These stories of misappropriation and corruption were soon to be used against the Mugabe administration as a pretext for the discontinuation of the land payments.Thirdly,the study finds that differences in ideas between the Conservatives and the new Labor government regarding the nature of the relationship that Britain should maintain with its former colonies were perhaps the most compelling reason for the discontinuation.The new Labor government of Tony Blair thinks that Britain should reconsider its relations with former colonies.For him,there was no reason for Britain to continue paying money to fund land reforms in Zimbabwe just on the basis of colonial past.It is clear from the study that the coming into power of the new labor government in 1997 was the last straw that broke the camel's back.In terms of ramifications,the study finds that subsequent to the discontinuation of the land payments,the Zimbabwean economy plummeted drastically.In form of recommendations,the study believes that there is the need for the two countries,Britain and Zimbabwe,to smoke the diplomatic peace pipe by sitting together in dialogue to understand the issues from each other's perspective.The incessant mistrust and diplomatic insults must cease.Secondly,there is the need for the two countries to understand and respect each other's respective sovereignties.Relations must be devoid of elements of paternalism and imperialism.The research is structured into four chapters.Chapter one reviews the literature and establishes the background of the research problem and questions,the method of data collection and analysis as well as the theoretical foundation of the study.Chapter two explores the colonial,post-independence and contemporary diplomatic relations between Britain and Zimbabwe.The chapter establishes the fact that throughout the various epochs,the land issue has always been at the center of relations between the two countries.Chapter three examines the factors that accounted for the decision of Britain to discontinue the land payments in 1997 as well as the consequent ramifications.The chapter finds that there were economic,political and ideological reasons behind the decision to halt the land payments.Chapter four deals with the recommendations and conclusion of the study.The study concludes that the search for normalized diplomatic relations should be collectively pursued by both Britain and Zimbabwe.Moreover,the study believes that the economic and political sanctions have proven and continues to prove ineffective in the sense that the political leadership of Zimbabwe is unfazed by it.It is rather the ordinary citizens who continue to bear the brunt of the sanctions.There is also the need for more political reforms in Zimbabwe in order to reduce the cronyism and bureaucratic inertia that continues to bedevil the economic prosperity of the country. |
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