Chapter 343: Land Reclamation
Because of preparations for war, the East African government decided to slow development in Zambia and prioritize Zimbabwe.
First, they plan to build a telegraph line from Southern Salzburg Province to Zimbabwe, separate from the existing line between Southern Salzburg and Lusaka. It will run directly from Southern Salzburg Province to the north bank of the Limpopo River, then extend along the riverbank in both directions, ensuring the central government can stay informed about the frontline at any time.
Second, they will organize the local Shona population to build a simple north-south road to guarantee smooth transport of food, weapons, and personnel to the front.
At the same time, the East African Kingdom will construct a series of fortifications within Zimbabwe. Although a Boer counterattack is unlikely, they want to prepare for any possibility. In particular, Bulawayo—the former capital of the Matabele Kingdom—will be kept as a military stronghold, tasked with securing the main supply routes.
Finally, they will intensify land reclamation ("land-settling") in Zimbabwe. The East African government is confiscating former Ndebele lands for its own use. The Shona people within this territory remain "propertyless." East Africa, as the new landlord, has the right to tax the Shona for using its lands.
However, everyone knows Africa's situation: if you want African people to engage honestly in farming, you have to adopt certain "special methods." With the Ndebele removed, the Shona can live off the many wild animals roaming about—this clashes with East African "values," though.
If they all go hunting, who will develop the farmland? The East African authorities therefore declared that all wildlife in Zimbabwe belongs to the government; "illegal" hunting is forbidden. In principle, the land belongs to East Africa, so everything on that land—Shona included—are assets of the kingdom.
As for what constitutes illegal hunting? Any hunting carried out by Africans in Zimbabwe without official permission is illegal. Anyone caught will be turned into a slave.
And who says that just because the Shona have lived there for centuries, they own the land? After all, East Africa took it from the Ndebele. If you want to argue land rights, it should be the Ndebele discussing it—but they've already been sent off to dig the Central Canal, where they face a near-fatal labor scenario.
East Africa's farming push ("land-settling") in Zimbabwe mainly aims to address frontline food supplies. The kingdom expects to mobilize fifty thousand troops against the Boers. Adding the border garrisons guarding against the Portuguese and over ten thousand policing troops, Zimbabwe will house at least seventy thousand soldiers who do no productive work.
Feeding seventy thousand troops solely by shipping food from elsewhere would be disastrous; the transportation system can't handle it. So they need farmland in Zimbabwe itself to meet most of the food demand.
Ernst can already imagine how the natives will farm. He recalls seeing local Tanzanians working farmland in his previous life—highly rough methods. They'd toss seeds on the ground and forget about them, yielding dreadful harvests, but the Africans themselves don't mind, so long as they can eat enough. They are indeed somewhat lazy, but at least they're not "stressed" like certain labor forces in the East.
Naturally, lacking scientific knowledge is also crucial. Tanzanian authorities once tried to root out feudal superstitions among rural people, but it had little effect. Many natives reject science, refusing to use chemical fertilizers or pesticides even if they go hungry. Promoting hybrid rice is extremely difficult. Nonetheless, Tanzania counts as a "model state" in Africa. Its relatively responsible government and stable regime rank well above its neighbors.
All this shows that the Far East's foreign-aid approach still had some impact. In the earlier world, people from the East often mixed up East African states with West African or Southern African ones. Everyone knows West Africa is effectively a French preserve, even in the 21st century, while Southern Africa is mainly British territory—especially Cape Town. Even if they're independent, Britain still exerts major influence. From there, South Africa extends its economic reach to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia.
Meanwhile, East Africa is special. Although it's still "Black Africa," it was under Germany and Portugal for a long time. Germany's stint in East Africa ended with World War I, when the region discovered how feeble the "great" British Empire could be. Portugal's image was tarnished after World War II—her colonies lost to India, Indonesia, and even Angola. So East African states that became independent ended up faring relatively better than those in West or Southern Africa. They also tend to be more anti-Western.
In the previous era, "clickbait" once noted that among the African countries voting against the Far East retaking its UN seat, almost all were from West and Southern Africa. That gave rise to snide remarks like, "So much for those 'Black brothers'!" But in reality, the Far East never had particularly friendly relations with those areas, a bit like ROK and Japan. They had no real autonomy. Early Far Eastern aid was focused on the East African region, so during UN voting, their African supporters were mainly from North and East Africa. Meanwhile, West Africa took cues from French interests, half voting "no" and half "yes," hedging so they wouldn't offend either America or the Far East. In Southern Africa—South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland—everyone voted "no," plus Malawi, and the rest either abstained, all echoing South Africa's pro-British stance.
You see, Africa is no monolith. But people from the Far East often treat it as one. Ernst's experiences in Africa gave him a different view of East Africa. At least he's met plenty of decent East African folks. Some disliked Asians, of course, so it's a mixed bag. For that reason, Ernst generally wouldn't try to exterminate the East Africans entirely. But to avoid future troubles, it's best if they leave East Africa eventually—nicer for both sides.
Returning to Zimbabwe, even with East African oversight, the Shona's farming output will likely be meager. Yet even low yields from two million people can help ease the food-supply strain. Besides the military factor, farmland expansion in Zimbabwe is primarily about clearing the land. The old Ndebele landlords used it mostly for herding, so farmland is sparse. Now the Shona will open up fields, and once future settlers arrive, they can more easily reclaim the land. Clearing fields is tricky: local slash-and-burn tactics may work at first, but eventually you need immigrants to properly convert it into farmland.
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