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"internal' ' settlement, would garner
41 seats. He won only three.
The party of Mr. Mugabe's Pa–
triotic Front compatriot, Joshua
Nkomo, won 20 seats. Mr. .Nkomo,
considered the father of Zimbab–
wean black nationalism, has accept–
ed the cabinet post of Minister of
Home Affairs.
Mr. Mugabe's biggest problem at
the moment would appear to beeducat–
ing bis former guerrilla fighters to the
etiquette of parliamentary debate.
lt
will not be easy for them to take over
supervision of one of Africa's most
advanced societies.
Mugabe's Platform
Mr. Mugabe is a self-proclaimed
Marxist, with an avowed commit–
ment to African-adapted socialism.
Yet, by initial appearances, the intel–
ligent prime minister (approaching
bis mid-50s) will tread lightly down
the road of economic reform.
Mr. Mugabe clearly wants to keep
as many of Zimbabwe's remaining
212,000 whites in the country, specif–
ically in their primary fields of tech–
nical and managerial expertise: agri–
culture, commerce and industry.
As evidence of bis intentions he
appointed Denis Norman, spokes–
man of the nation's 5,700 white
farmers, to be minister of agriculture
and another prominent white, David
Smith, to be in charge of the ministry
of commerce and industry. (In an–
other remarkable development, Mr.
Mugabe asked Lieutenant General
Peter Walis, chief of the Rhodesian
army, to retain bis post and preside
over the integration of the Patriotic
Front units with the regular army.)
Nearly 65 percent of Zimbabwean
industry is owned by foreign inter–
ests. With unemployment exceeding
20 percent Mr. Mugabe does not
want to see a sudden withdrawal of
outside money, drying up both funds
and jobs. The new government espe–
cially needs to retain a healthy min–
ing industry, which generated half of
Zimbabwe's exports last year.
Farming has traditionally contrib–
uted the other half of the foreign
exchange earnings. The new agricul–
tural minister said, befare bis ap–
pointment: " Mugabe recognizes as
much as anybody the importance of
4
keeping up agricultural output. We
bave the example of Zambia [Zim–
babwe's northern neighbor] which
used to feed itself and cannot now."
Forced to Accept Reallty
Often in the past the ascetic, intellec–
tual new prime minister (he has five
college degrees, three obtained while
in prison for
lO
years) talked about
expropriating white land holdings,
nationalizing prívate industry, set–
ting up a one-party Marxist state and
dispensing with future elections as a
"luxury" his country could no longer
afford.
Now, however, bowing to reality,
Prime Minister Mugabe foreswears
nationalization and vows not to inter–
fere with prívate property. Only pres–
ently unused farm land will be dis–
tributed to rural blacks-and present
owners will be compensated for it.
It
is felt that Mr. Mugabe has not,
down deep, disavowed bis Marxist
principies. His current approach,
admits an adviser, is "tactical rather
than strategic." Mr. Mugabe himself
speaks of "gradual phases" in the
transition from the "reality" of free
enterprise toward the goal of bis own
brand of socialism.
Knowledge of what has taken
place in the various African "front–
line" states that suppor ted the Pa–
triotic Front forces has no doubt bad
a great deal to do with moderating
Robert Mugabe's previously held
radical views.
Zambia, for example, is in terrible
economic shape, beset with shortages
of every kind. The Lusaka govern–
ment is beholden to the world's bank–
ers for loans and debt rescheduling.
Tanzania is in even worse shape.
Its experiment in
ujamaa
(social–
ism)-including forced collective
agriculture-has left the country
destitute. Its citizens are considered
to
be
the most undermotivated people
in the world.
To meet both its domestic and
international obligations Tanzania,
according to one source, "has mas–
tered the art of living on the interna–
tional dole."
It
has assiduously culti–
vated the guilt complex of the West–
ern world.
Mozambique, to the east of Zim–
babwe, resorted to harsh Marxist
rule after its independence in 1974.
As
a result, whites fted the country in
a wild stampede, severely crippling
the economy.
Mr. Mugabe, whose guerrilla
army fought from bases inside Mo–
zambique, apparently learned sorne
lessons from bis host country. Mo–
zambique president Somora Mache!
reportedly told Mr. Mugabe, as he
left for Salisbury to contest the elec–
tion: "Don't make the same mistakes
1 did."
Relatlons wlth South Afrlca
Immediately after Mr. Mugabe's
election triumph, the government of
South Africa warned that it would
not tolerate the new Zimbabwe
becoming a staging area for guerrilla
activity directed southwards.
Prime Minister Mugabe, in turn,
promised not to harbar or arm anti–
South African terrorists.
"What the blacks in South Africa
decide to do is entirely their own
affair," Mr. Mugabe told
Time
mag–
azine. Stating further that "South
Africa is a different proposition from
Rhodesia ... South Africa is not a
colonial problem like ours," he
understands the differing histories
and social fabrics of the two coun–
tries, differences that most people in
the West fail to take into account.
While not approving of South Afri–
ca's interna! policíes, the new leaders of
Zimbabwe intend tokeepopen the lines
of trade, transportation and communi–
cation between the two countries, the
same way Marxist Mozambique does
with SouthAfrica.
The realities of trade throughout
southern Africa transcend ideologi–
cal or racial differences. For exam–
ple, nearly all of landlocked Zam–
bia's copper-her prime export earn–
er-reaches the world markets by
way of raíl across Zimbabwe and
South Africa. In return, Zambia
receives vast tonnages of South Afri–
can grown maize (corn), an indis–
pensable food staple.
Nearly all the nations of Black
Africa trade, overtly or covertly, with
South Africa, a nation aptly called
Africa's powerhouse. Without access
to South African manufactures,
food , medical and veterinary skills,
(Continued on page 40)
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