A black farmer’s story

The grasslands of Nyamandlovu, 80 kilometres north of Bulawayo, are a farmer's dream - rich soil, good drainage and a temperate climate. White farmer Clive Anderson certainly thought so, and he cultivated Mavel Block farm successfully for many a year... until 2001, when Mugabe's men threw him and his family off the land, and he returned to his native Scotland.

Not all of Mavel Block farm ended up in the hands of some fat-cat government minister, to be used as a good place to come and drink beer at the weekend. Some genuine attempt was made to divide up the fields among black farmers.

Bruce Sabanda, a practicing accountant with a yen for farming, was allocated three acres of Anderson land. He changed his life and became a farmer, cultivating maize and