I am really tired of zanu and its propaganda. This article and this paper "The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)" smells of the same rhetoric that i have read from the herald and was hoping i would not have to be subjected to outside of zim. Ofcourse whites in zim led a life that was privileged and did not incooperate the majority blacks. However, that has nothing to do with the current suffering that mugabe and zanu are subjecting its citizens too.

GIVE ME A BREAK MAN!!! I am black too, but at this moment i am just praying for the old man to step off or die so that my fellow blacks can leave in peace and have food on their tables. Afterwards, thats when we may need a round table discussion with whites to address this race issue.

I thank God that there are whites concerned about the blight of blacks in their country - or a country they are concerned about. This writer obviously has no sympathy for her fellow blacks. I don't actually believe that but think she is paid only if she can produce propaganga for the ZANU-PF machine. At home like the rest of us she is cursing the Government when she has to skip bread and make a stew of a few leaves from the garden. I bet you feel great about your job. I pray you get a concience before the next government comes in.

"You really need to be a little smarter upstairs to grasp this ugly inconvenient truth."

Like you?

"The majority of Zimbabwe's white community still live in the Rhodesian era up to this very day. They will not mix with blacks. They have their own social clubs, schools and will reside in certain specific areas where the likelihood of having a black neighbour is close to zero percent. They will accept a black person if he/she comes into their lives as a servant, a maid, a gardener or a poor farm worker."

This must be a record. You just managed to tell 7 lies in 4 sentences. Uncle Bob must be proud of you!! WELL DONE!!!

"Most decided to relocate to the western world - where the laws are even harsher when it comes to racial discrimination."

Maybe they decided to relocate because it's civilised. Maybe not all of us has such an appetite for machetes, you know.

"The rules of the game in the western world are quite different from those in Zimbabwe."

Yes, law and order prevails, people have food te eat, people's houses aren't burnt down, people aren't tortured.

"Whilst it was not a secret that most white farmers broke immigration rules by importing illegal foreign nationals from Malawi, Mozambique etc, for exploitation on their farms, far much worse exploitation than the so-called sweat shops in Asia, with impunity."

It's funny, the black farm workers that have crossed my path, tell a different story. At least you are consistent...in lying.

"I don't remember seeing a sizeable number of our white community attending football matches"

Yeh, those damn white racists. Not liking soccer is a tell tale sign of racism. Good for you!!

"which probably explains the noise behind Zimbabwe cricket - it is now mostly black."

Why don't you listen to what a "black" Zimbabwean cricketer have to say, someone with a conscience:

http://paradiselostpodcast.blogspot.com/

"It is no surprise that even on most Zimbabwean online papers; we rarely read contributions made by our white communities."

Since I'm also a little smart upstairs - like you of course - I'll take the liberty of pointing out yet another one of your lies.

No-one with a conscience cares to contribute to the government mouth piece, regardless of colour, race or creed. Please stop insulting your fellow Zimbabweans who are also a little smart upstairs, and don't fall for the government propaganda and rhetoric anymore.

"Most people appear to be of the mistaken belief that if President Mugabe goes, and then Zimbabwe will go back to the Rhodesian era of patronage on the basis of skin colour."

Oh, you took the liberty to speak "on behalf of" most people.

"Our white community must reform, accept to live side by side with a black neighbour in peace, even inviting each other for tea, making turns to collect each other's kids from school, allow the kids to mix, and generally reforming their minds from Rhodesian to a new Zimbabwean which is inclusive , which sees no colour of skin."

Did you throw this in so that the guys who are not so "smart upstairs" would be fooled and not notice your agenda behind this article.

"Mugabe may have his faults, but his policies resonate with the majority of black Zimbabweans"

You don't get out much, do you?

"You really need to be a little smarter upstairs to grasp this ugly inconvenient truth."

Like you?

"The majority of Zimbabwe's white community still live in the Rhodesian era up to this very day. They will not mix with blacks. They have their own social clubs, schools and will reside in certain specific areas where the likelihood of having a black neighbour is close to zero percent. They will accept a black person if he/she comes into their lives as a servant, a maid, a gardener or a poor farm worker."

This must be a record. You just managed to tell 7 lies in 4 sentences. Uncle Bob must be proud of you!! WELL DONE!!!

"Most decided to relocate to the western world - where the laws are even harsher when it comes to racial discrimination."

Maybe they decided to relocate because it's civilised. Maybe not all of us has such an appetite for machetes, you know.

"The rules of the game in the western world are quite different from those in Zimbabwe."

Yes, law and order prevails, people have food te eat, people's houses aren't burnt down, people aren't tortured.

"Whilst it was not a secret that most white farmers broke immigration rules by importing illegal foreign nationals from Malawi, Mozambique etc, for exploitation on their farms, far much worse exploitation than the so-called sweat shops in Asia, with impunity."

It's funny, the black farm workers that have crossed my path, tell a different story. At least you are consistent...in lying.

"I don't remember seeing a sizeable number of our white community attending football matches"

Yeh, those damn white racists. Not liking soccer is a tell tale sign of racism. Good for you!!

"which probably explains the noise behind Zimbabwe cricket - it is now mostly black."

Why don't you listen to what a "black" Zimbabwean cricketer have to say, someone with a conscience:

http://paradiselostpodcast.blogspot.com/

"It is no surprise that even on most Zimbabwean online papers; we rarely read contributions made by our white communities."

Since I'm also a little smart upstairs - like you of course - I'll take the liberty of pointing out yet another one of your lies.

No-one with a conscience cares to contribute to the government mouth piece, regardless of colour, race or creed. Please stop insulting your fellow Zimbabweans who are also a little smart upstairs, and don't fall for the government propaganda and rhetoric anymore.

"Most people appear to be of the mistaken belief that if President Mugabe goes, and then Zimbabwe will go back to the Rhodesian era of patronage on the basis of skin colour."

Oh, you took the liberty to speak "on behalf of" most people.

"Our white community must reform, accept to live side by side with a black neighbour in peace, even inviting each other for tea, making turns to collect each other's kids from school, allow the kids to mix, and generally reforming their minds from Rhodesian to a new Zimbabwean which is inclusive , which sees no colour of skin."

Did you throw this in so that the guys who are not so "smart upstairs" would be fooled and not notice your agenda behind this article.

"Mugabe may have his faults, but his policies resonate with the majority of black Zimbabweans"

You don't get out much, do you?

You have to be a little smarter upstairs, a poltically correct assession that beats reality. The reality is that most white Rhodesians are so closed minded and ultimately the lost tribes of Europe. They do not mix well with the majority. It is always I'm the "bass" and you are the servants. Some who immigrated to Zambia found it very difficult with the locals and most of the farmers who migrated to Zambia just could not make it. As usual they blamed everybody around town. I met some in London and was introduced by a Briton to meet this white African from Zimbabwe. I met a very mesirable woman, who could not fit in and worse missed his black maids.

Was he a man or a woman? I can't tell from all the confusion in your fictional story. You met, a "very miserable WOMAN who could not fit, in and worse missed HIS black maids"? Really phiri if your going to make something up make it plausable.

Nancy, I wonder how many white Zimbabweans you actually know. This kind of mentality coming from you is Rhodesian. By which I mean you sound like you have a big chip on your shoulder. This is the 21st Century and I find it incredible you should even care what the white community thinks, we make up less than 1% of the population. Sure there is some bitterness, as generations of hard work have been destroyed by certain political pawns, but this is not exclusive to the white community. Many people have lost more than farms and businesses in our current political turbulance, many have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their political choices.

After almost 30 years of Independence I find it amazing you are not looking toward the future with a more positive attitude but seem still to have a real insecurity about your ethnicity. I think you will find that any community tends to stick together anywhere in the world as a general rule, as they share a common cultural affinity. Shonas stick together socially, Matabele stick together socially, Tonga stick together socially, but all come together to work and play sports etc. Why do you treat the white community as anything different? Is it because they are pigmentally challenged?

My generation of white Zimbabweans, while we may live with a chequered cultural heritage, do not have the attitudes you portray in your article. Sure many of us lived the good life in Zim when the economy was still going, but we were not just takers, we put back into Zimbabwean society as well. A great deal.

I went to a private shcool where there was a good ethnic mix, and we did not even think about the colour of our friends. It is an attitude from both black and white guys on which the future Zimbabwe will be built and it is a shared cultural heritage on which Zimbabwe was moving forward.

I think you will also find that it is not just the white community who is in exile, there are over 4 million black Zimbabweans living in "Western" and SADC countries.

I hope you can change your attitude towards white Zimbabweans. I would happily invite you over for a braai, if there were any beer, meat or condiments left in the country. We could then exchange some views and challenge some preconceptions.

Looking toward the future, I am optimistic. Once there is a change of government we will be in a much better position than South Africa to form a fully inclusive society. There is no white domination of Agriculture, or Business in Zimbabwe as we no longer have either a farming sector or any economy to speak of. There is no white dominance of cricket or rugby. There is no white priviledge whatsoever. It will be a clean slate and so we should no longer need any social engineering from government. This should also mean there should be no favour shown to any particular ethnic grouping, no BEE, no quotas. It ought to be a society where merit, ambition and endeavour are the driving factors for advancement. We shall see if this comes to pass, or if white Zimbabweans will continue to be treated like second class citizens or foreigners by the government. If the latter occurs, you will find that we can always make a plan.

Lastly I would say that this is not a time for divisiveness, it is a time where you should stop looking at the pettiness of skin colour and start looking at the real issues of food on the table, medicines in the hospitals, books in the schools and a stability we can all build a future on.

All africans out there... there is no way racism can just go away. It will be with us for years to come - this is a hard fact.

Definately Race is an issue.. that is the reason why the Zim crisis is being reported worldwide whilst some crises are being swept under the carpet because whites are not involved.

Africans just work up ... the western funded NGO's are misleading you big time!

If you want race issues to go away then how about telling the Herald to stop blaming the whites for every problem in Zim?