MUGABE: YOU DO NOT BECOME A CITIZEN VIA COLONISATION

Pan-Africanist icon and Zimbabwe's first post-independence leader, Robert Mugabe, was born on this day, 21 February, in 1924.

The larger-than-life politician, who died of cancer at age 95 in 2019, was well-known for not holding back when calling out imperialists and their cronies. Mugabe was also passionate about ensuring that the British returned all land stolen during the colonial era to their rightful owners, Zimbabwe's indigenous people.

In this 2009 clip, the straight-talking Mugabe corrected CNN host Christiane Amanpour about Zimbabwe's land reform programme, clearing misconceptions that form the talking points of those against it. Mugabe asserts that one cannot become a citizen through colonisation and then claim a right to land.

This is a message we hope filters through to Zimbabwe's neighbour, South Africa, where, for decades, the government has hesitated to take steps to end glaring land-ownership inequalities between Black people and white settlers. More than 30 years after independence, white South Africans, who make up less than 8 per cent of the population, still own more than 70 per cent of South Africa’s arable land, according to a 2017 land audit conducted by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. 

Video credit: @cnn

SOURCES

https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf 

https://www.sagoodnews.co.za/land-reform-progress-or-not/#:~:text=South%20Africa's%20efforts%20at%20land,a%20state%20clearly%20lacking%20capacity

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/2/7/trumps-fear-mongering-on-south-africas-land-reform-exposes-his-hypocrisy 

https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=16716

https://www.gov.za/about-sa/south-africas-people