Robert Mugabe and the Death of Zimbabwe
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"The damage to the country’s agricultural sector can be repaired, and the potential for tourism is enormous – Zimbabwe is, among other things, home to the Victoria Falls. All the tools are in place for the creation of a successful, prosperous nation – everything, that is, except its leader.
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By Eva Holland “Peace has come to Zimbabwe,” Stevie Wonder sang in 1980’s Masterblaster (Jammin’). “Third World’s right on the one. Now’s the time for celebration, ‘cause we’ve only just begun…” Stevie was one of many who saw the new Zimbabwe as a symbol of hope and promise. Mugabe’s victory in the 1980 elections, following the negotiated end to almost two decades of guerrilla warfare, was met with near-unanimous celebration worldwide. Even those few who had doubts about the former guerilla leader’s ability to lead the new country past years of inequality and civil war were won over by Mugabe’s first broadcast after his election victory was announced: “We will ensure there is a place for everyone in this country… I urge you, whether you are black or white, to join me in a new pledge to forget our grim past, forgive others and forget, join hands in a new amity and together, as Zimbabweans, trample upon racism.” Zimbabwe, with Mugabe at its head, was to be a model for all the other nations still struggling with the violent aftermath of colonialism. But the promise of 1980 has never been fulfilled. Instead, since early 2000 the world has watched as the country slumps deeper into violence and economic collapse. Squads of “war veterans” invade white-owned farms, sometimes killing the farmers – and large numbers of black labourers – that they find there. Opposition leaders and independent-minded journalists are arrested and beaten. And as land is seized, rights are restricted, inflation rises higher and higher, and foreign investors flee, a country that was once a net exporter of food is starving, and has become completely dependent on international aid. “I am often asked how the conciliatory, reasonable Mugabe the world once knew metamorphosed into the disturbed dictator of 2002,” David Blair writes in Degrees in Violence, his 2003 study of Mugabe. “I think this is the wrong question. The Mugabe we see today is the real Mugabe, the man he has always been.” Blair, who served as the Harare correspondent for Britain’s Daily Telegraph from 1999 to 2001, argues that Mugabe’s character has remained, apart from a few superficial gestures at the time of the 1980 elections, unbending and extreme – but that the international community, desperate for a hero in Africa, chose to ignore the warning signs. Read More... |
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deva,
I just located your excellent article on Zimbabwe, written a year ago. I congratulate you, it was well researched and written. I suspect that you have never visited Zimbabwe, but you did a good job nevertheless.
You mentioned several NGO's. My brother and sister-in-law run the non-profit ASAP AFRICA. They spent 11 years living in Zimbabwe setting up and supervising the many projects their organization runs. My husband and I have spent time there with them and observed how well the local villagers respect this couple and appreciate the work that is being done. The organization is presently on hold, the staff quietly waiting for the situation to settle down. My brother and sister-in-law are working from the US at present. It is too dangerous for them to be there now, with the country in chaos. They are working on new projects for Malawi and Zambia. We all hope that the political situation sorts itself out soon, before many more people are tortured, raped, maimed and killed.
Best wishes, Joan
Update: Robert Mugabe has just been formally endorsed as his party's candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, meaning he will be making a run for his sixth term next year. From the BBC story:
"Last month, the country's chief statistician said there were no longer enough goods in the shops for him to work out the inflation rate."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7142758.stm