Zimbabwe, Tale of a Failed State

By Kenny Gan

Rhodesia was a British colony in Southern Africa until Ian Smith unilaterally declared independence from Britain in 1965 and ruled as its first Prime Minister, heading a white minority government. In 1980, power was handed over to the natives after a bruising civil rebellion which took 30,000 lives. In that year, Robert Mugabe’s party won the elections and he went from rebel leader to its first President. The country was renamed Zimbabwe, meaning “great houses of stone” in the Shona language.

The Jewel of Africa

The newly liberated country had many advantages left by its former white masters, including excellent infrastructure, transportation and banking systems and the best health care and education system in Africa. The Z$ was stronger than the US dollar. It had the highest literacy rate in Africa which reached 85 percent at its peak.

Zimbabwe also enjoyed bountiful natural resources, with rich minerals including platinum, gold and diamonds. It is the home of Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It contains vast game reserves, which attracts tourists. With the most fertile farmlands in the continent, agriculture became the mainstay of the economy, and the country became the breadbasket of Africa exporting wheat, tobacco, corn, sugarcane and beef to its neighbours and beyond.

Agriculture destroyed

Robert Mugabe acknowledged that he had inherited the “Jewel of Africa” and vowed to keep it that way. However he did not keep his promise. The country went slowly downhill from corruption, misgovernance, a pogrom against the rival Ndebele tribe and a senseless war with Congo which bled the country. But Zimbabwe still held up well until 2000, when Mugabe’s popularity began to slip and he lost an important constitutional vote. In his efforts to cling on to power, the country slid into the gutter.

Mugabe blamed the white farmers for supporting the opposition and immediately undertook fast-track land reform in 2000. This literally meant confiscating the best farms from white farmers and giving them to Mugabe’s cronies, few of whom had any interest in farming. As a result, agriculture virtually collapsed in a few short years, leaving a trail of economic destruction. From the fastest growing economy in Africa, Zimbabwe became the fastest shrinking economy in the world, beating many war-torn countries in the process.

Hyperinflation

The government’s tax base collapsed in tandem with agriculture. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe tried to make up the deficit by printing money. This led to the predictable effect of hyperinflation. Inflation reached 1000% in 2006, 10,000% in 2007 and quickly escalated beyond any attempt to quantify it. The Zimbabwe currency became worthless, with the citizens having to carry sacks of cash around for common goods. The government responded by first removing 3 zeros from its currency, then 10 zeros, then 12 zeros, before finally abandoning it officially in favour of foreign currencies.

Beyond the hyperinflation figures is a tale of sordid human misery and abject suffering. Crippling fuel and electricity shortages due to the lack of foreign exchange dealt further hammer blows to the economy and made life difficult. Water supply in even the largest cities shrank well below user requirements due to lack of money to buy water treatment chemicals. Water shortages resulted in sanitation problems and a cholera epidemic.

Healthcare and education collapsed. Unemployment reached 90% and those who still had jobs were commonly earning less than the cost of transport to get them to work. An estimated 50% of the population left the country to work illegally in neighbouring countries, and took with them most of the skills which the country badly needed.

The government tried to legislate against inflation by imposing price controls and goods disappeared from the shelves.  Zimbabweans had to cross the border to buy groceries or obtain them from the black market at high prices. To compound the suffering, the public was only allowed to withdraw a meagre amount each day from their bank accounts which often covered little more than their transport. Long queues formed daily outside banks before dawn. Many who could not access the money in their accounts for medical emergencies died.

Those who did not have access to foreign currency or did not have somebody outside the country supporting them starved. Nurses stole food from hospital patients and teachers sold trinkets or turned to prostitution to supplement their income. Malnutrition, previously unknown, became widespread and only the effort of international aid agencies prevented a major human catastrophe. From the highest life expectancy in Africa, Zimbabwe plunged to the lowest, at 34 for women and 37 for men.

Unity government of last resort

How did the 87 year old Mugabe hold on to power, while Zimbabwe declined from the bread basket of Africa to a basket case? Of course he could not do it alone. He had the assistance of an inner circle of ministers, commanders and administrators whom he pampered with the good life even as the people starved. He ran a huge secret police called the CIO to intimidate and oppress dissidents. Open violence was inflicted on opposition supporters by a youth militia and the violence escalated during elections. The government controlled all the mass media and food and grain were also used as election chips.

Despite the violence and the sham, Mugabe somehow managed to lose the parliamentary majority to the opposition in the 2008 election and did not manage to win the Presidential contest outright. As none of the Presidential candidates won at least 50% of the votes, a second run-off was required which Mugabe won by default after his opponent withdrew to save his supporters unspeakable violence.

Aware that the country was on its last legs, and with the civil service on the point of collapse, Mugabe agreed to a unity government brokered by the SADC, a loose alliance of nine governments in Southern Africa. He held on this his post as President while his political rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who yielded the Presidential contest to him, was appointed Prime Minister.

However the opposition in the unity government have little power and the wily Mugabe still controls all the strings, while using the unity government to scour aid from the West to prop up his regime. Goods have returned to the shops but only for those with foreign currency. As for parliament, Mugabe is striving to wipe out the opposition’s thin majority by dragging opposition MPs to court on trumped up charges.

Lessons from Zimbabwe

Although we may view the fall of Zimbabwe from the most promising nation in Africa to a failed state with fascinated horror, it must come with the chilling realization that no country, however prosperous, is immune to ending up like it, through bad governance.

Zimbabwe had a democratic system of parliamentary elections and a vibrant middle class. Within a space of only six years, the middle class was wiped out and impoverished, leaving only the desperately poor and the rich elite. It happened so fast that people still retain fresh memories of the good life before the calamitous fall.

Mugabe used the state apparatus to intimidate the citizens from rising up against him. But he was aided by the fact that Zimbabweans are probably the most docile people in the world, who accepted the most painful government edicts with stoic resignation. Such suffering inflicted on the public in most other countries would have led to riots and a change of government long before things got so bad, irrespective of the instruments of intimidation used.

The seeds of the Zimbabwe tragedy were sown by the breakdown of the rule of law, the bastardization of the institutions of democracy to serve the ruling party, unchecked corruption by the elite and wanton plundering and wastage of national resources. The people were ruthlessly exploited by a ruling elite who had no intention of giving up power or their luxurious lifestyle. Does this sound familiar in Malaysia?

We must be aware that a President or Prime Minister who is too powerful can wreak untold damage on his country. A system of checks and balances is critical to control a leader who is drunk on power and unable to give it up. If such a system is weak or non-existent, the country is in danger.

The best defence that a country can have against ending up like Zimbabwe is the vigilance of its citizens and the strengthening of the rule of law and democratic institutions. By far the best way to maintain a healthy democracy is a robust two-party system, where the ruling party has to compete for the votes of the citizens to remain in power.

Malaysia is no Zimbabwe, but nobody should think we are immune from suffering Zimbabwe’s fate.