[Clive]

" I wonder if it was "prime farmland" BEFORE the whites arrived and made it so."

Actually it was not.

The incoming settlers (Mainy Brits, not Africaaners) took the veldt red soil less productive land which the native farmers did not want and did not know how to farm.

The natives kept the rich black alluvial soil which they had traditionally farmed. I suspect tht the "peasant" was not a peasant as the term is usually knows. T he farm workers are in the main loyal to their employers. After all, like any employee anywhere, they get paid for their labour whether or not the farmer brings in the crop and is able to sell it at a profit.

The so-called "peasants" are actually Zanu PF thugs who have invaded the farms.

In numbers, the most victims are among the farm workers who have been displaced from their homes and are living hard in the bush and who as a result were not able to vote because they could not prove residence.

[BlackVeil]

The details you provided about the history of farm settlements are informative. You also mentioned the black farm workers - I saw some interviewed, and they were distressed. They now face chronic unemployment, and along with the white farmers, many have been killed by thugs. What do you want to bet that there is a famine in Zimbabwe within the next decade?

[Wonder Warthog]

"The incoming settlers (Mainly Brits, not Africaaners) took the veldt red soil less productive land which the native farmers did not want and did not know how to farm."

Thanks for the details--I fully expected something of the sort was the case.