A summary of Zimbabwe's recent history

Zimbabwe is a nation that over the last decade, has made the news headlines for all the wrong reasons. Blatant xenophobia on the part of internationally ostracized President Robert Mugabe had resulted in Zimbabwe's drastic fall from the title of "Africa's bread-basket" to "an empty basket". Once boasting the most prosperous economy in Africa, Mugabe's land reform program absolutely flung Zimbabwe and its people into poverty. Back when the country was under white rule, Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, boasted a practically first-world status. Ian Smith, then Prime Minister, had orchestrated this economic prosperity. However, behind the scenes, the black majority was truly suffering. While the white Rhodesians lived in wealth and luxury, the blacks were given the worst housing, and were ostracized from society. In addition to these, they were deprived of the many benefits a white Rhodesian enjoyed. However, there were freedom fighters in the country, who worked timelessly to earn independence for the black majority: Joshua Nkomo, known as Father Zimbabwe, and even Robert Mugabe himself. They manifested their resistance in the Rhodesian Bush War and Gukurahundi in the late 1970s, which ultimately led to Ian Smith's resignation and the inauguration of Robert Mugabe as President of newly-named Zimbabwe in 1979.

Bad blood was clear between Smith and Mugabe, and it was clear that Mugabe wanted to return the favour. In the late 1990s, Mugabe implemented the land reform system, in which land was distributed based on race, where affluent white land-owners were evicted, with their land being given to black farmers. However, that ten year period would be the worst from an economic standpoint in the country's history. Although the whites were known for their xenophobia towards blacks, it was their land and wealth that made Zimbabwe a wealthy nation. However, with all the whites being evicted and seeking solace in South Africa, the UK, the USA and the Netherlands, the many incompetent blacks to which the land was rewarded had little to no farming knowledge, and they themselves were living in poverty. As expected, the ratio of whites to blacks decreased vastly, and the economy was staggeringly plummeting, to the point where in 2007, Zimbabwe had become a failed state, a title shared with the likes of Pakistan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Laos. Poverty and unemployment were rampant, driven by the mind-boggling hyperinflation which the country suffered. Unemployment and poverty rose to 80%, while hyperinflation rose to an unfathomable rate of  231,150,888.87%, and in 2008, one US dollar was worth nearly 3 trillion Zimbabwean dollars. A nurse's salary in September 2007 was recorded to have been Z$12,542 (12 US cents), less than the cost of a soft drink. Supermarket shelves were empty, and cholera and AIDS spread through the country like a rash. This epidemic of diseases killed thousands of Zimbabweans, and the basic amenities like petrol were not available in the country. Corruption was at an all-time high, as only members and supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party received preferential treatment.

Staggering, isn't it? This can buy a few outfits.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister and leader of the rival MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) party had, and still has an acrimonious relationship with President Mugabe, and the questionable deaths of his wife and grandson had a part to play in this. Between 2007 and 2008, Tsvangirai met with the likes of Barack Obama, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the UK's then Prime Minister Gordon Brown to make the squalid conditions in Zimbabwe heard, while trying to secure loans to try and recover his country's severely damaged economy.

In 2009, Tsvangirai and President Mugabe developed a unity government between their ZANU-PF and MDC parties. The Zimbabwean dollar, then into the trillions, became defunct, and was replaced by the US dollar, with the South African rand and Botswana pula also accepted; a move which has continued to this very day. With this move, the economy stabilized and even improved significantly. This prompted the likes of Roy Bennett, a white land-owner and politician for the MDC, who was arrested and tortured by police while receiving death threats, to return to parliament, as well as David Coltart, another white MDC politician.

Roy Bennett

David Coltart

                                           
                           




            


From 2009, more and more wealthy white Zimbabweans returned to their home nation, and this clearly had a positive effect, as they united with the MDC to revamp the economy, and that it did. Supermarket shelves were full to bursting, basic amenities were available, clinics were established to treat Cholera and AIDS patients, and conditions vastly improved. Kind of gives an indication of where the money was coming from, doesn't it? Sport facilities were further developed, and housing, electricity and water were restored to their previous top quality. Xenophobia, as many are sure, is still very much present in Zimbabwe today, but substantially less overtly. Scenes around Zimbabwe are a lot more pleasant now in 2011 than they were a handful of years ago. Mugabe's ZANU-PF is still very much in control, and still has a large say in the lives of Zimbabwean people, but every cloud has a silver lining, right? Morgan Tsvangirai, even amidst the physical and mental torture which he suffered, still gave and is giving his all to restore Zimbabwe's economy. In the capital, Harare, the roads are presently in good condition, the streets, as they may have always been, are spotless, and the city sights are reminiscent of an first-world city, with more and more skyscrapers surrounding the beautiful jacaranda trees and Harare landscape.

 

 

Harare, the capital, certainly looks in good nick. Business buildings are now out of economic misery

 However, the situation is still far from perfect. Although the economy and standard of living has drastically improved over the last two years, many people in Zimbabwe are still living below the poverty line. Clearly Mugabe's plan for black affluence and supremacy didn't quite go as plan, as many blacks are still suffering, and the number of whites in Zimbabwe has risen. Not to mention that most, if not all white Zimbabweans are still living in luxury and wealth. Zimbabwe is clearly indebted to Mr. Tsvangirai, who has surely earned more support from his people, not just white Zimbabweans. Mugabe, now 87, surely will not be in power much longer, and when his reign of dictatorship in a democratic society ends, it will be a day of rejoice all over this nation, particularly those "supporters" who were paralyzed by fear and coerced into supporting him. Zimbabwe had once fallen to an all-time low, but now optimism and prosperity reign for more and more Zimbabweans each day. Hopefully, unlike Mugabe, Tsvangirai's current good intentions will not be replaced by corruption and abuse of power if, or rather when, the MDC take over from over 30 years of ZANU-PF supremacy.