The closure of The Farmer magazine in early 2002 was orchestrated by the existing CFU administration and its own Board of Trustees. The erroneous excuse given for its closure was ‘financial constraints.’ In fact after canvassing of the CFU membership the vast majority agreed to pay for the magazine and insisted it continue publishing. The subsequent business plan showing income exceeding expenditure and provided to both the Union and The Board of Trustees was conveniently ignored and shelved.

So why was The Farmer with its proud history of serving Zimbabwe’s large scale farming community over decades and through wars pestilence and severe droughts silenced?

The simple answer is that neither the Union or its Board of Trustees were able to influence the magazine’s content or compromise its independence. Being too timid to sack the editor it was decided to remove the publication instead.

The manner of the closure itself was a shameful example of duplicity and Machiavellian conspiracy between the CFU and Board of Trustees.

To avoid severance pay legitimately due to the loyal and long serving staff because of forced redundancy CFU and The Board of Trustees connived together to present the Trust as the employer and not CFU. As the Trust had no reserves of capital this meant staff, some with over thirty years with the magazine, would leave with nothing.

A letter from the CFU’s own lawyers clearly stating the employer as CFU forced both parties to back down and admit defeat.

The Farmer is no more: sacrificed on the altar of expediency by those that should have known better by setting higher standards of morals and integrity to a Zimbabwe government that was destroying their own livelihoods.

Later CFU administrations realising the folly of their predecessors have tried with European Union funding to bring back The Farmer under a different guise and title without success.

It is easier to tear down than to build up. Destroying things is easier than building them.