Medical Update.
Last week, like the previous week, I said I would give a medical update, but I am afraid there is not much to tell. I had a consultation with the surgeon, a very capable young lady, who carried out my emergency appendix operation and in doing so checked on my now well-scarred stomach to ensure the wounds from the latest surgery had healed properly. No problem there but when I asked her why she only removed the one lump, which was a proven tumour on biopsy, she said it would have been too dangerous to remove the smaller one as the surgery required could have possibly allowed for cross-infection from my burst appendix. Dr Monteiro, the senior surgeon who carried out the original operation, will review my subsequent CT scan on the 27th of this month and, after consultation with the oncology panel, will decide if anything should be done immediately or to just wait and observe for a while.
Meanwhile, on the 1st of April, I have a consultation with my prostate surgeon, no doubt with follow-up tests to monitor where I stand with cancer progression if any. So, lots going on but little to report. Hopefully, on the 1st we will discuss possible solutions to my bladder incontinence, which on having shared my problem on my blog many who have had radical prostatectomy inform me they suffer the same problem in different degrees. Interestingly, Dr Monteiro informed me his father's prostate cancer returned after seven years and he suffers from incontinence. When I asked him how he was bearing up with it, he said he was happy to be alive. A short but good answer.
“In later life the term, ‘Small Mercies’ are the epitome of understatement.” - Peter McSporran
My cousin Linda Hamilton and her husband Robert spent time with us last week, and to be honest, while we went out for meals I do still feel rather uncomfortable due to this problem. Lunches are easy, but extended dinners require management, which is possible. I mention this as you may be surprised, as I was at how many men and women suffer from incontinence and manage their lives around it. At worst, I would say it makes me rather more grumpy if that can be imagined, but Rozanne gives me huge support.
I finished the blog last week by saying I did not think Mugabe cared what happened to the Zimbabwean economy or its citizens when he had his minions acquire productive farms, which he listed prior to and in 1993. I do however think at that time, 1993, he was using it more as a tool to try to get Britain to come back to the table and fund the resettlement and land purchases. Like many, I think his attitude changed when the land was the only thing he could offer the people for his personal survival as a leader. This would be further exacerbated by Tony Blair and a letter from Clare Short in 1997 making it clear there would be no more funding from the UK until the rule of law returned.
“In chess, a good player will be willing to sacrifice his minor pieces to win or protect his king while in the real world, despots like Putin and Mugabe will not just sacrifice the pieces but destroy the whole board for survival.” - Peter McSporran
It should be said that Britain, in its haste to have a settlement, was both negligent and guilty of not ensuring the security of the land tenure of all Zimbabweans, black and white, was not included within the Lancaster House Agreement. Remember many of Zimbabwe’s white citizens were British or descendants of British people whom they were happy to send or attract to the then self-governing colony Rhodesia seemingly grateful for them to sacrifice their lives in two world wars. A gratefulness from expediency rather than any empathy.
For us at the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) we tried to work on the parameters for land identification as agreed with Government to no avail. They simply ignored the agreements while playing lip service to them doing the opposite.
“Many have said that white commercial farmers should have offered more land to the Government to relieve the land pressure. This would have only been true if Government was willing to take up all or at least some of the land on offer. It was not, rather targeting properties with eyes blinded by self interest and greed.” - Peter McSporran
It was disturbing to us that designation was taking place outside the agreement with Government when there were farms for sale and derelict (unused) land available which they simply ignored. I include a photo of a double page spread of farms for sale in the Karoi district in August 1993 all of which the Government said it had no interest in as an example of what was actually transpiring which many may have forgotten while others prefer to ignore or treat as being untrue when told. Many will note Roy Bennet's old farm on the the sale advert.
I have used perfidious Albion to describe the British in earlier blogs, and the more I think about it, the happier I am at using the description. It is interesting to read the adverts to attract young people to the colonies, especially Rhodesia. After McMillan’s speech ‘Wind of Change’ in Cape Town in 1960, the British had little time for their African colonies. We living there they just did not understand or perhaps were loath to comprehend that for the sake of expediency, little thought was being given to their former colonies' governance or its peoples’ welfare. Many must think I was stupid to go to Rhodesia in 1972, perhaps I was but Rhodesia and later Zimbabwe offered me an amazing life, fantastic experiences and wonderful friendships with like-minded people that I would never have had in Scotland. I have no regrets.
‘To measure your life's success, do not just consider the wealth you have accumulated. Rather, include all the sights, experiences, and friendships you had or made that you would have missed if you had not taken the road you chose.’ - Peter McSporran
ZIMACE is Born.
ZIMACE is one of my life successes. As the team leader for its establishment, we succeeded in officially launching it in 1993. It was only in 1994 that it became a proper trading platform, but much of the work was done in 1993 to achieve this. The one major hurdle was getting the Government buy-in, which was helped by the enthusiasm of the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Agriculture, Tobias Takavarasha, who was able to explain this unknown concept to his Minister and the Minister of Finance.
In 1993 a board was put in place to run ZIMACE with Alan Burl as the chairman. Alan, some three years earlier, as Vice President of the CFU had muted the possibility of an exchange which at that time was deemed premature by the Council. He was more than happy to take up the role with the board, including the late Mark Tumner, the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and well-known stockbroker, the late Nigel Prior, Rory Beatie, the Executive Chairman of Olivine Industries, Quentin Harrhoff outgoing Chairman of the Grain Producers Associanion and David Lake a lawyer were all great enthusiasts of the exchange. Tobias Takavarasha sat on the board representing the Government. The exchange was to be funded by traders taking seats and commission on trades, but as Zimbabwe at that time had no commodity traders we had the individual commodity associations each take a seat to enable its formation and financing. A couple of fledgling commodity brokers such as Croplink took up seats, and its Managing Director, Ivor Prior, an exchange enthusiast, brought many of the early trades to the exchange. If I remember correctly a seat cost about Z$16,000 at start-up. Not all commodities were happy, some like wildlife opted out due to finance and what they deemed would be for something of little use to them although surprisingly one of the first trades on the exchange was the sale of a herd of Zebra. In later years other livestock including wildlife, was traded along with crop commodities. To run the fledgling exchange Stu Cranswick was retained as the CEO and later assisted by Kelly Beverely. Stu, a very successful entrepreneur, would, after the exchange’s establishment, hand the reins over to the more than able Ian Goggin, who was to become the continent-wide expert in establishing and running African Commodity Exchanges. By the late nineties before the land invasions, ZIMACE was trading some $800 million in commodities along with providing warehouse receipts for crop storage security. It had not developed into derivatives but I am sure it would as SAFEX in South Africa had.
Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.
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