The latter was governed by Sir George Grey, castigated as "Satan" by Nongqawuse, just as British Prime Minister Blair is the "Great Satan" to Mugabe.
The population of the Ciskeian chiefdoms fell by 70 percent, much of the abandoned farmland taken over by German Crimean War mercenaries - the Libyans of the day, you might say.
The extent of the tragedy, which some say the Xhosa people have never recovered from to this day, is hauntingly like Zimbabwe.
We here have unmilked dairy cattle dying on their feet, croplands put to the torch, tens of thousands of workers thrown off the land, forests decimated, game ranches riddled with poachers' traps, destroyed homesteads, food crops abandoned in the fields, seedbeds left idle, irrigation systems rusting and a plethora of cellphone chefs' wives, who have not the slightest idea what to do on their stolen farms other than hold Saturday braais with their girl friends from the parish chita.
And this is only the beginning. Because the awful truth is that while Mugabe's regime can shout hatred, destroy and prance pompously on the world stage, there is not one of them who cares or has the slightest ability to do anything to alleviate the impending disaster facing Zimbabwe.
"Apocalypse now". Paul Tingay, Harare.
Please continue...
The population of the Ciskeian chiefdoms fell by 70 percent, much of the abandoned farmland taken over by German Crimean War mercenaries - the Libyans of the day, you might say.
The extent of the tragedy, which some say the Xhosa people have never recovered from to this day, is hauntingly like Zimbabwe.
We here have unmilked dairy cattle dying on their feet, croplands put to the torch, tens of thousands of workers thrown off the land, forests decimated, game ranches riddled with poachers' traps, destroyed homesteads, food crops abandoned in the fields, seedbeds left idle, irrigation systems rusting and a plethora of cellphone chefs' wives, who have not the slightest idea what to do on their stolen farms other than hold Saturday braais with their girl friends from the parish chita.
And this is only the beginning. Because the awful truth is that while Mugabe's regime can shout hatred, destroy and prance pompously on the world stage, there is not one of them who cares or has the slightest ability to do anything to alleviate the impending disaster facing Zimbabwe.
"Apocalypse now". Paul Tingay, Harare.
Please continue...