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ZIMBABWEAN
RUINS
(Zimbabwe Photo Gallery)
Zimbabwe
at independence had so much going for it. Tremendous tourist
potential with spectacular scenery, well stocked game reserves,
spectacular tourist attractions such as the Victoria Falls
(one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World), a pleasant
temperate climate, tremendous natural resources, gold, platinum
and other precious ores, a modern banking sector, skilled
manufacturers and an efficient road and railway network.
The Zimbabwean people were among the best educated in Africa.
And Zimbabwe was blessed with one of the most productive
and efficient agricultural economies in Africa.
Yet 24 years after independence, Zimbabweans are dramatically
poorer and have greatly shortened life expectancy. At independence
a Rhodesian dollar was worth more than an American dollar.
Today it would take 20 000 Zimbabwe dollars to buy one US
dollar.
What went wrong?
The answer to that question hangs on the wall of every office
and shop in the country. Portraits of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's
marxist president, stare down upon the long-suffering Zimbabwean
people who have experienced one of the most shocking economic
collapses of any country in history.
Despite Mugabe declaring himself a marxist and inviting
North Koreans to train his army, many Western governments
chose to shower Zimbabwe with aid. Because of the extravagant
generosity of these Western governments, Mugabe was able
to maintain his incompetent and corrupt regime amidst an
illusion of prosperity. However, the longer the Mugabe regime
was in power, and the more corrupt his cronies became, donors
grew tired of handing over money just to see it squandered
and embezzled.
In 1997 ZANU 'veterans of the Liberation War' rioted when
it was learned that the fund intended to compensate them
had been looted by ZANU officials. By printing more money
Mugabe was able to calm the rioters while also inflating
the currency. That was the same year Mugabe promised to
seize, without compensation, land belonging to the white
commercial farmers.
Even as the Zimbabwe Dollar plunged at the news, Mugabe
decided to send a quarter of his army to fight in the Congo
to prop up fellow marxist dictator Kabila. To fund this
foreign military adventure, he printed even more bank notes,
causing massive inflation and rapid impoverishment. Soon
a worker's bus fare cost more than his monthly earnings.
Workers complained that the Zimbabwe government grabbed
half their wages in taxes and then eroded the value of what
was left by printing too much money and causing astronomic
inflation.
Mugabe's solution to much of the economic chaos, caused
by his socialist policies, has been price fixing. When the
local currency collapsed, he tried to fix the exchange rate
– expecting people to willingly exchange hard currency
for the now hugely overvalued Zimbabwean dollar. Naturally,
no one with hard currency wanted to be robbed, so the supply
of hard currency dried up. When Mugabe ordered bakers to
sell loaves for less than they cost to bake, the stores
ran out of bread. Price fixing is rather like jumping off
a tall building while shouting: “I abolish the law
of gravity!”
Mugabe's disregard for the laws of economics have also been
matched by his contempt for private property. 5000 productive
farms have been seized by government organised mobs. Vast
herds of cattle and wildlife have been slaughtered. Crops
and stores burned. Farm houses looted. Many people beaten
or murdered.
One of the most productive agricultural economies in Africa
has been systematically destroyed. Not only did these farms
feed the entire nation – they also exported food, providing
the highest percentage of foreign exchange earnings. These
commercial farms were also the largest employer of labour
in the country and provided homes for over 2 million farm
workers and their dependants.
Those who claim that Mugabe is involved in “land reform”
need to go and actually visit those farms that have apparently
been “settled”. What were once some of the most
productive farms in Africa, providing employment, filling
the market place with food, providing produce for export
and bringing in foreign currency are now derelict and deserted.
The mobs came in, to loot, pillage and destroy, and in most
cases, after killing off the livestock and wildlife, returned
back to the shantytowns near the city. Some farms have become
personal residences for ZANU officials. (When Vice President
Joshua Nkomo died in 1999, it was found that his estate
included 16 farms.)
Along with Mugabe's land invaders vandalising farms and
breaking farm worker's legs, Mugabe's campaign of terror
has also destroyed the tourist trade. Those companies that
have gone bankrupt have been accused by Mugabe of “deliberately
sabotaging the economy”. The so called “war veterans”
(many of whom were too young to have fought) have been portrayed
in state owned media as “a spontaneous expression of
land hunger”. But these invaders arrived in ZANU trucks,
were paid and fed by the security forces and organised by
CIO officials with cellphones.
The millions of farm workers and their families who have
lost their jobs, and often also their homes, have been a
prime target of government organised thuggery. Youth militia
and war veterans armed with pangas, guns and clubs have
compelled farm workers to attend political “re-education”
sessions. This re-education includes listening to hours
of Marxist diatribe and singing revolutionary songs. Mugabe's
thugs have set up road blocks to check that passengers on
passing busses each have their ZANU party membership cards.
Tens of thousands of ordinary people in Zimbabwe have been
beaten and terrorised by the ZANU youth brigade and the
war veterans.
Now that Zimbabwe is undergoing a severe food shortage and
famine, Mugabe is blaming the weather. However, now that
the commercial farmers who had safely seen the country through
all previous droughts have been driven off their lands,
drought inevitably leads to famine. People are dying of
starvation in Zimbabwe today while the ZANU government seeks
to monopolise all food distribution, loudly proclaiming
that they will ensure that supporters of the MDC opposition
starve. The population of Zimbabwe is about 12 million yet
one senior ZANU-PF leader Didymus Mutasa has declared: “We
would be better off with only 6 million people, with our
own people who support the liberation struggle. We don't
want all these extra people.”
“Their mouths are full
of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed
blood; ruin and misery mark their ways.” Romans
3:15-16
“They promise them freedom, while they themselves are
slaves of depravity.” 2 Peter 3:19
“He who works his land will have abundant food, but
the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.”
Proverbs 28:19
Peter
Hammond
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WorldNet
Daily article 'God help the Animals'
Related Site:
African Crisis
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