Hope against tyranny

This weekend, Zimbabweans will head to the polls to vote for their President. It is, by all independent accounts, unlikely to be conducted in a free or fair manner. The current President, 84-year old Robert Mugabe, has presided over a corrupt, despotic administration. He has sanctioned the brutal oppression of his political opponents, with torture by police and intelligence officials well documented. On Saturday Mugabe declared that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would never take power so long as he was alive. That Mugabe will do whatever it takes to hold onto power is no secret to ordinary Zimbabweans. Sadly, but inevitably, the more Mugabe tightens his grip, the more he destroys Zimbabwe.

Many in the rest of the world might well shrug their shoulders — tyrants like Mugabe are all too common in Africa. It is a wretched continent where prosperity is, to most people, a foreign notion. Yet Zimbabwe, by rights, should have fared better than others in the region. This was a country which once offered boundless economic opportunities thanks to its fertile soil, ripe for agriculture. For a time, it was the bread-basket of southern Africa, with developed world farming practices providing a rich assortment of successful crops. When Mugabe became Prime Minister in 1980, Zimbabwe’s annual per capita income was US$950. Certainly not the standard of a developed economy, to be sure, but a level of unimaginable wealth compared to today. Now, after nearly three decades of Mugabe’s rule (he was Prime Minister until 1987, after which he became President — a post he has held uninterrupted since), the average Zimbabwean is lucky to earn just US$500 per annum — one of the lowest rates in the world.

In truth, the cause of Zimbabwe’s economic woes is Robert Mugabe. His corruptly mismanaged process of land reforms commencing from 2000 turned Zimbabwe from being a net exporter of farming produce into a net importer. Successful white-run farms were raided by thugs loyal to Mugabe. Many farmers fled the country and those that didn’t risked death at the hands of angry mobs. Ruthlessly, their farms were dismantled, their land subdivided. Seemingly as retribution for apartheid, plots of land reclaimed from the white settlers were provided to poor, black Zimbabweans. Yet the recipients of the new land often had no farming experience. Agricultural output plummeted, with anything that was produced usually consumed by the growers themselves. 400,000 jobs were wiped out. As a consequence, profitable commercial agriculture was replaced by basic subsistence farming.

Not that Mugabe, of course, accepts any responsibility for this, instead blaming the country’s former colonial master — the UK — and its Western allies. Certainly, many developed countries have applied sanctions. But these have been directed at Mugabe and his regime, not at ordinary Zimbabweans. For the most part they relate to travel, with Mugabe barred from entering Europe or the US. Other restrictions have targeted luxury items which are favoured by government officials, but well out of the reach of ordinary Zimbabweans. Having a greater impact, however, has been the reaction of international institutions. The World Food Programme has previously withheld shipments to Zimbabwe, although it has still offered significant support on humanitarian grounds. The International Monetary Fund suspended financial assistance in 2004, when Zimbabwe halted its repayments on foreign debt. To counter this, Zimbabwean officials have instead opted to print money to meet their needs.