Black power amidst White wealth

The Sunday Indian - India's Greatest News weekly

Mugabe’s political naiveties have led to economic hardships for the common man

The Mugabe Government is facing an ever deepening economic & political crisis. While the Zimbabwean politics continues to be mired in racial riots – its economy is witnessing a freefall. Internal debt stands at about 50% of the piffling GDP. The current inflation rates, hovering at 3,600% are slated to rise to 10,000% by the year, necessitating harsh fiscal measures. But the dilemma is that tough measures have already led to political unrest & discontent. Going by the IMF analysis, Zimbabwean dollar is overvalued by 200%. The paucity of foreign currency in the country has led to ordering commercial banks to sell all their foreign currency to the central bank until further notice. This extreme measure is to enable the government to acquire hard currency to pay its overseas debts, including diplomatic salaries & outstanding rent of foreign missions.

Inflation is devastating the already crumbling lives of Zimbabweans. Looking closely, one finds that during the past decade, real incomes have got reduced by about 80%. A report published by African Union suggests that over the past decade the percentage of the population living below the poverty line had increased from 42% to as high as 76%. Things are not good on food front either. Zimbabwe has been traditionally a net exporter of food, but there are growing fears that this year there could be a shortage of food supplies. Commodities like bread, sugar & transport are beyond the reach of growing numbers of people.

To counter that the Mugabe Government has compensated 800 White farmers for property seized during controversial land reforms, Zimbabwe launched its controversial & often violent land reforms seven years ago. Under the land reform policy, government seized at least 4,000 properties that were formerly run by White farmers and pledged to redistribute them to landless Blacks. “We are sceptical of the moves of Mugabe regime. We have serious doubt on the high figure being quoted. It is not more than 300,” Emily Crookes, spokesperson of the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe (CFU), the group of White farmers opposing authoritarian rule of Mugabe, told B&E. Her claims were seconded by Kuda Ndora, the Chief Economist of CFU, who told B&E, “Farmers are in dire straits. This compensation is a media circus. The price they are paying for the land is not more than 5-12% of the current market value.” Despite his Left –sounding rhetoric, Mugabe was the political representative of a narrow layer of aspiring Black capitalists, who saw the independence struggle as a means of securing their own advancement against the British backed White regime of Rhodesia. He is merely manifesting their ideas..

B&E edit bureau: Saurabh Kumar Shahi

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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