The Times 16 August 2004

"The spark that distinguished Zimbabwe from the rest of Africa has gone."

• There are 30,000 to 40,000 whites in Zimbabwe out of 12.9 million people
• The white population reached a peak of 270,000 in the early 1970s
• There were 200,000 whites in 1980, when Zimbabwe declared its independence*
• Zimbabwean diaspora: 3.4 million people, about 25 per cent of Zimbabwe's population, including 1.2 million in South Africa and 1.1 million in Britain**

* Zimbabwe, as Southern Rhodesia, was, of course, independent for many years before this, but under Ian Smith, instead of under Robert Mugabe. Not everyone believes that the change has been for the better. GD

** Can this last figure possibly be true? This is much more than the population of Liverpool. Where in the UK are all these Zimbabweans? GD

I will attach the full article: two sides of A4. It’s worth a read, if only for the approach of the authorities in Botswana to illegal immigrants. It is far simpler than the much-criticised approach of the UK government.

Almost full here until the end of August, then a week in St David’s.

Gerry