The Zimbabwe Dilemma

Liberatethemind.com
By Jules Maarten, Member of the European Parliament
1 July 2009

Last week I took a job related visit to South Africa and Zimbabwe at the invitation of the German organization Friedrich Naumannstiftung für die Freiheit, which is affiliated with the political liberal FDP party, it is committed in spreading democracy and human rights throughout the world, and they are doing this excellently. During my visit to Zimbabwe it became clear that a great deal of work is still needed.
Zimbabwe is – on paper – one of the richest countries in Africa. Mother Nature has blessed the country with large, fertile agricultural areas, and a wealth of valuable minerals. In the ’80’s and the ’90’s this was gratefully and successfully used. With the agricultural and mining proceeds, Zimbabwe had a solid basis for decent economic growth. There was even an average annual economic growth of 5% during these decades. These figures are not bad, especially in comparison with other countries in the region of sub-Saharan Africa. This ´prosperity´ took place to a large extent under the current President Robert Mugabe.
However, from the year 2000, Zimbabwe collapsed fully under Mugabe’s. The dramatic decline started with the president’s largest land project. White farmers, who owned most of the land in Zimbabwe, were exiled. Their land and possessions were forcefully (and without any compensation) expropriated and given to black Zimbabweans who were close to Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party. Often, the expropriation was associated with violence and intimidation.
After 2000 the agricultural output plummeted, and the output of major crops such as tobacco, maize and soya halved or declined even more. There were severe food shortages throughout the country, and the price of food on the (black) market was going up consistently. This led to an unprecedented hyperinflation of the Zimbabwean dollar. In 2008, the annual inflation rate was estimated at several million percent. The paper on which the money was printed was worth more than the value it represented, and the economy came to a standstill. At this time Zimbabwe had an official unemployment rate of 80%.
With the appointment of the trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabweans got some hope. Tsvangirai, however, has not yet succeeded to prove that he is worth this hope. Draconian laws against freedom of expression and the media have not yet been addressed. He also seems – politically – to grow closer to Mugabe, and no longer behaves as his hard line opponent. His political friends in the Parliament seem to not have really engaged with their parliamentary work. In short: Tsvangirai still has much work to do, and has had a slow start.
In the recent weeks, the Prime Minister made a tour along the Western donor countries. Almost everywhere he has heard the same story: first show results, then the money will come. He came back to Zimbabwe virtually empty-handed.
Zimbabwe is for the West, one large dilemma. On one hand, funds will not be given if there is no assurance that it will be used for proper causes, and the West first wants to see the progress in the fields of freedom, democracy and human rights. Mind you, these reforms do not cost the bankrupt Zimbabwean government a penny. On the other hand, the new government, with a number of MDC ministers and a MDC Prime Minister, must have the opportunity to succeed. Otherwise we are back to square one; with survival artist Robert Mugabe.
I was a guest of the newly appointed Minister of Education, David Coltart. His ministry is a large building with at least twenty floors. When I visited, it had no running water, there were no toilets – not even for the minister – and in many cases there was no electricity. The bulk of the building was empty, because officials could not be paid, and because in recent years they were not needed anyway due to the fact that the previous ministers basically made no policy. Coltart is a man who clearly is on a mission. He wants to prevent a lost generation of Zimbabweans, a generation without education, and therefore an illiterate generation. He has no money to achieve this. Thus, no budget for school books nor even pens. He has set up a fund for this cause, but the interest and commitment from other countries is lacking. Coltart will be counteracted by supporters and members of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. If he fails, this is a victory for “the bad guys”. As he has established: “I have been put here to fail.”
Do we want that a passionate minister to fail, because he does not have the 30 to 40 million, which he thinks necessary to save the education system in Zimbabwe? That is the real dilemma for the West.