Mugabe and the White African

CinemaSerf

Sep 26, 2026 · via TMDB

★ 7.0

A part of the agreement that saw the eventual establishment of the Zimbabwean state was that the farmers who had settled for generations were to be left in peace. Robert Mugabe, however, needed to shore up his own declining popularity in the face of hyper-inflation and so promised the indigenous population more land - and that land was to be appropriated from the whites. One farming family rather defiantly thought to avail themselves of the legal protections to which they were entitled, and this documentary follows their efforts to keep their home against what appear to be increasingly insurmountable and violent odds. Now this isn't a balanced critique of the situation, it's fairly and squarely presented from the perspective of the farmers who felt disenfranchised in terms of their property and their rights. There are no contributions from the government or the judiciary, so we are left asking questions like who was there first and/or who made the land agriculturally viable? What promises were made to keep the successful farmers there? Is this a policy of overt racism or just an hangover from the days of colonial entitlement? Is it a policy of economic suicide? None of those are really gone into here, which is a shame. Instead, though, what I took most from this was more of an assessment of what happens when the rule of law counts for nothing. Their court hearings are frequently deferred and whilst they are awaiting a ruling, their staff and this family are left to defend themselves and are subject to verbal threatening and then to physical attacks that leave people severely beaten in hospital - all without hope of any prosection of those who offend. It rather effectively illustrates the polarisation of this society that, regardless of the rights and wrongs of what went before, seems bent on a path that leads to unneccessary and counter-productive conflict that could only serve to perpetuate the issues facing the ordinary citizens of a nation struggling to stave off bankruptcy. This showcases just how bloody-mindedness helps nobody, fuels resentment and in the end nobody succeeds.