Timothy Stamps - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Stamps was born in Wales in 1936. After qualifying as a doctor in the UK he went out to colonial Rhodesia in 1962 to join its Public Health Service. He has spent the rest of his life in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. He was appointed as Deputy Medical Officer for the municipality of Salisbury in 1968 and was promoted to Chief Medical Officer in 1970. He was dismissed from this last post in 1974, allegedly for trying to switch the emphasis in healthcare provision slightly more towards the black community. At that time, whites comprised no more than 15% of the population of Salisbury but at least 60% of municipal spending on social services in the city was directed towards them.

After his dismissal, Stamps worked as a doctor in a number of community projects while becoming increasingly interested in development and political activities. He became Chairman of the 'Freedom from Hunger' campaign (a UN sponsored organisation) in Rhodesia.

At the time of Zimbabwe’s independence, an insurance funded healthcare system provided a first world provision for most whites. By contrast, most blacks enjoyed only the most basic of medical services. The only access to healthcare for blacks in rural areas was through mission station clinics or clinics provided by white farmers for workers and their families.

In the early 1980s, Stamps was active in raising finance from overseas sources (government, NGO and international organisations) to fund the construction of clinics and community hospitals in rural areas. The Zimbabwe government also sought to expand healthcare facilities and Stamps worked closely with the Ministry of Health on a number of projects. One thing Stamps found with these early projects was this it was less difficult to raise funds to cover the capital construction cost of a project than it was to cover its continuing revenue costs.

He also took an interest in wider social and economic problems facing Zimbabwe. The land tenure system which had been installed during the Rhodesian state had resulted in a situation in which most of the farming land in the country was either (a) individually titled and white owned, or (b) collectively owned for use by African tribes. Both of these forms of tenure presented problems that needed to be urgently addressed. Although most Zimbabweans agreed on the need for reform in general terms, conservative elements (including both white farmers and African tribal chiefs) would put up stubborn resistance to specific proposals for reform.

Stamps sought to develop a new model for land ownership and usage. In 1982 he acquired a formerly white owned dairy farm near Harare for development as a co-operative. Funded by a $2m grant from the German charity AgroAction, he was able to settle 2,000 people at this farm. Stamps claimed that Vuti farm became self-funding after eight years.