Zimbabwe: From bread basket to basket case

The whole history around the downfall of once prosperous Zimbabwe must surely be a lesson to all people on how a country should not be governed. It also highlights problems that become insurmountable when leaders stay in power to long. I am the first to admit that white rule in Zimbabwe did not nearly do enough to better the lives of the black population, but still these people were still far better off than any of their counterparts to the east, west or north.

Robert Mugabe became president in 1980, after the then Rhodesia became independent and was renamed Zimbabwe. He was renowned as a fearless fighter, but in all honesty not much of his actual exploits in battle is known. During his first few years in office, he did a lot to better the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans, while also being conciliatory towards the white people of that country.

In 1994, Britain even bestowed a knighthood on him and the whole world expected Zimbabwe to just go from strength to strength. Sadly this was not to last, as I time Mugabe started growing intolerant of any opposition to his thinking or party. More than 20000 Ndebele people were killed on his orders in the 1980’s simply for opposing his party and rule. He also sent troops into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to support that government in anti rebel operations. This proofed costly to the extreme for the Zimbabwean economy.

In 2000, Mugabe started the forced removals of white farmers from productive farms. He openly stated that these farms were in fact stolen from the Zimbabwean people by “neo-colonialists”. The fact of the matter is however that 80% of these farms were bought after he came to power in 1980. This was even confirmed on a recent BBC in an interview with Mugabe. All he had to offer was the excuse that whites had to pay and compensate blacks for all the bad things that happened during the colonial era.

These farm seizures were mainly orchestrated by him using so-called war veterans. The fact of the matter was than they were just doing his dirty work, but in the end most of those farms were not occupied by ordinary people, but fell into the hands of Mugabe, his family members and the ZanuPF elite. Very few if any of those farms still produce food today. The few white farmers who are left are in a life and death struggle to hang onto their land and to produce food for the population. Tales of brutal intimidation and violence against farmers and farm workers are reported on a daily basis.

The inflation rate in Zimbabwe has simply gone of the charts. Millions of Zimbabweans have simply lost all hope and are streaming across the southern borders to South Africa. Mugabe simply refuses to acknowledge the problems is caused by himself, but blames targeted sanctions for all Zimbabwe’s problems.

At more than 80 years old, it appears that this tyrant will stay in power until he dies. The ghastly price for his madness and the support he gets from neighboring governments are paid by Zimbabwean people on a daily basis. The world sits idly by and sees all this happen, but nothing is done, bar some shouting and silent diplomacy taking place. Maybe there is just no incentive for the international community to do anything. I wonder if oil was to be discovered in Zimbabwe, how soon this would change.

In the mean time the bread basket of Africa has been turned into a basket case and it appears nothing will change for the better in the near future.