Following my writing, Angus Selby answered some of the legal issues around the proposed Farmers Compensation Agreement (FCA) and, therefore, the role of the PROFCA. Nevertheless, I leave the questions, or perhaps conjectures is a better term, to share my thoughts.
Why is the Government still talking about and acting on the (Global Compensation Deed (GCD) as if it still is a legitimate agreement when they themselves broke its terms? In doing so, the majority of TDHs rejected the agreement, as did the CFU and SAFCA.
If PROFCA is totally independent, unmandated by the CFU and non-signatory to the GCD, why is the Government using it as proof of the GCD's ongoing legitimacy?
Another question, although somewhat facetious: If we held 12.5% of the Kavimba shares, is the cash from our share of the sale now in an escrow account for our future use? Perhaps our representative director, Andy Pascoe, can answer that one.
Perhaps the Compensation Steering Committee (CSC), in its negotiations, should have asked for one per cent of the Kavimba shares to be released immediately to help the desperate and show good faith by the Government in its own offer. Using the $1.6 billion figure for the recent value of the sale of 35% would make the 1% worth $45 million. I apologise in advance for this stupid conjecture. There has never been any good faith on the Government's side, nor was the supposed shareholding ever allocated to us.
Last week, I touched briefly on the AGM of the Agricultural Recovery and Compensation Committee (ARAC). What struck me most was how well the present CFU council, led by its President, Liam Philp, planned to ensure its success. On reflection, evidence of these skills in planning occurred with the change of leadership of the CFU earlier in the year. Pascoe, the President at the time, had pleaded he wanted out of the job, but in the event, it was no easy task to remove him despite his claims to the contrary. There is no doubt in my eyes that at that time the CFU leadership, and for that matter, the council was being heavily influenced by the CSC, using the good names of some of the senior ARAC board members to legitimise this influence on the said council.
I should remind those who are reading this, these are my thoughts, they may not be in alignment with others but perhaps may promote some discussion.
“Plans only materialise from ideas, the more ideas considered the better, to ensure a strong and well-considered plan.” - Peter McSporran
Since the beginning of the Fast-Track Land Reform Program, the Government through our own intermediaries, official or unofficial, has emasculated the CFU by threatening us first with violence and latterly with the threat of breaking off talks on compensation.
The former was real; the latter more recently is an empty threat as they desperately need an agreement in resolving the compensation issue as one of the many requirements to open negotiations for debt relief and access new finance. Unfortunately, with our intermediaries' help, they hoodwinked us into the toxic GCD. To move forward, we need to extricate ourselves from the Deed. The rationale must be made clear to all, especially international governments and agencies, that it was because it had not been honoured by the Government. If not, the Government will surely say it was a unilateral decision taken in bad faith by the TDHs or their legal representatives. Untrue, but lies and deceit are their trade mark.
I read, not always attentively, some of the traffic that goes through a group known as the Compensation Awareness Group (CAG) on Telegram. Like all open internet sites, you have to separate the dross from the substance. It is not too hard a task, but it does seem to irritate some contributors or rather browsers. The silent majority rarely comment. It does not bother me so much, but then again being fairly immobile I have plenty of time on my hands to eradicate the junk. If I am facetious, the junk is easily separated by using the author's name without reading the comment. Needless to say, I believe CAG has an important role in disseminating news and receiving advice or intelligence regarding compensation. I certainly would have little idea of what is going on without CAG.
More recently, on CAG, some TDHs have been voicing concerns about the slow progress querying what the new team is doing. Events at the ARAC AGM should shed some light on this. We must not forget that not all council members are sympathetic to the present changes, and any actions such as those we saw last week require convincing the fence-sitters to buy into the new modus operandi for it to succeed.
Of course, a couple of actions do not make a whole, so we must await the next move. I would suggest that TDHs be patient. If the CFU has indeed changed its spots, let's not judge it unless it proves otherwise. It is no easy task they have taken on; goodness, when I was at the CFU, with hindsight, we had it easy. Further with the resources both in personnel and finance at hand to tackle the issues. Now, it is very much up to the individual.
A quick update on my health, I had my stitches out and my wound is healing well. This is done at the local clinic and this visit coincided with my normal six-monthly review which includes blood tests, heart
and diabetes check. I have type 2 diabetes. In calling me through our GP, a charming man, Dr. Cardoso, said he felt strange calling me by name as his cat is also named Peter, not the Portuguese Pedro. I told him I did not take it as a compliment. Next week, I meet with my surgeon for the biopsy results and my healing progress.
"My cancer is like the Russian onslaught in Ukraine. Every time you eliminate it more appears. It just strengthens my f--K you attitude" - Peter McSporran
Going back to my time as Vice President of the CFU I mentioned some of the major undertakings we initiated. These included finding the funds for recovery from the 1992 drought, formation of ZIMACE, the restructuring of the Union and investing and being part of Blackfordby Agricultural College, including the purchase of a new farm to relocate the college from the southern city boundary to rural Concession.
There is another task that kept Anthony Swire-Thompson busy, which I had completely forgotten. Just before Anthony took over the helm of the CFU, a loan facility for capital had been organised through the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), with the Government supposed to supply the necessary funds as a supporting loan to the facility. Through applications, vetted by the CFU, the farmers would be allocated funds to purchase from their preferred supplier capital goods such as tractors, combines and irrigation equipment. Simple, yes? No!! As the goods were coming from overseas or South Africa there was a long lead time before the farmer was required to pay the supplier with the AFC loan on delivery. All was very well, but then the equipment started arriving in the country with deliveries taking place but no payment to suppliers taking place as the AFC had not secured the promised funds from Government. Suppliers stopped delivery, and the desperately required capital equipment sat in their yards. Both the Government and the AFC said it was in hand, even putting it in writing that they would honour the commitment. On the back of this, we organised bridging loans from the banks to enable the farmers to pay the suppliers and have the equipment delivered. All were paying interest on loans they had not received, an untenable position. After about six months, I cannot remember the timelines exactly, the banks undertook to take two actions. Those customers with a good track record they would lend the money, be it at a much higher interest rate than the original facility or they would call in the loans which could have led to the foreclosure of many farmers. What a mess. To his credit, Anthony, as he had put together the facility when he was Vice President (VP), procurement being one of the VP roles, took on the task of resolving it. In the midst of it the AFC management fell out with the Ministry of Finance while Minister Kangia as the Minister of Agriculture, while sympathetic, said it was a finance issue. I think Anthony spent most of that year in the AFC, the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance. Luckily the Chairman of the Bankers Association, Isaac Takawira, who was also a farmer, helped in placating the individual banks. Anthony eventually succeeded against all odds in resolving the issue. Funnily enough, listening to the present President’s weekly report the AFC is still having similar problems, be it on a smaller scale.
We also carried out a myriad of more mundane tasks. Every farmer felt he had the right to walk into the Agricultural House and see either the President or the VP without an appointment.
We tried to accommodate them, although sometimes we were away on other business or in meetings. Interestingly, when it was a farmer’s wife at the door, they seemed to expect you to leave whatever you were doing to address the problem instigating her visit immediately, not all, admittedly but a few. Women are not scared to show their ire when required, good on them. We found their male counterparts at times were so reticent it sometimes was hard to identify the actual problem.
The most common task was reviewing a farmer’s business plans and acting as an intermediary with the bank to raise a loan or even reschedule an existing loan. This was to prove to be a priceless experience for me in establishing a personal new business model following the loss of my farms. I say this with pride: very few farmers lost their farms during my time in the Union. I can remember thinking occasionally in regard to some cases, that despite raising the funds required, the said farmer was unlikely to succeed. I felt no guilt here, after all our role was to represent the farmer, our paid up member. Fortunately failure was rare.
Water rights were something that always caused strife between neighbours, more so than infidelity which was another issue that came through our doors on occasion. We would find ourselves as a broker, a mediator, so to speak regarding water rights. As for infidelity, we deemed this outside of our role although we always listened and on occasion, made a discreet call as a private person, not a CFU representative. Infidelity did not always involve peers but staff members and it stunned me the blameless party would ask us to intervene rather for them just to walk away. Some days we would be flooded with personal non-business issues until one day I remarked to Anthony we could probably handle the job better if we had trained as priests.
“Always remember lending an ear even without offering advice can do much in removing an individual's anxiety and or stress.” - Peter McSporran
We would never represent one paid-up member to the detriment of another, a golden rule. The only exception was if one party had done something illegal and then our sympathy and efforts would be on the behalf of the party acting within the law. Not always something to easily discern.
I really enjoyed my time at the CFU and the people I met. Helping people made it feel that it was a worthwhile job and offered me, with hindsight, the ability, on losing my farms an alternate career despite being late in life.
Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.
Thanks Peter; as usual very interesting to recal the trials and tribulations of the past. Back to the present though, in your opinion; why the reluctance for both CFU and SAFAC to declare the GCD nul and void?