What is the issue?
37-yearlong rule of Robert Gabriel Mugabe in Zimbabwe came to an end after an Army coup. Click here to know more.
- The Zimbabweans obviously hope that their sufferings will be buried at Mugabe’s resignation.
What is the demographic characteristic of Zimbabwe?
- Before Mugabe’s rule Zimbabwe was known as the bread basket of southern Africa.
- Its well-planned agriculture was highly productive.
- The country grew virtually everything - fruit and plantation crops in the highlands such as maize, wheat and cattle elsewhere.
- Its maize and wheat yields of over 8 tonnes per hectare were among the highest in the world.
- Most of the grain and dairy/beef production came from some large farms owned by white settlers.
- Zimbabwe also had a wealth of minerals from coal, iron ore, gold, platinum, and rare earths.
- Zimbabweans possessed excellent skills and coped well with ageing machinery in the period of sanctions.
- Many young Zimbabweans were prized teachers in the newly independent African countries where they sought exile.
- With a per capita income of about $750 in 1980 (although with a highly skewed distribution), Zimbabwe was second only to South Africa on most economic metrics in Africa.
How was Mugabe’s reign?
- By the 1990s, Mugabe made himself the President and the country, a one-party state.
- Zimbabwe became isolated globally, trade and agriculture declined, contrary to government claims.
- The once-lush fields became wastelands. But that did not deter Mugabe from spending huge sums on military intervention in the Congo.
- Zimbabwe’s Bankruptcy in the last decade led to the worst case of hyperinflation in modern history.
- The country could not even afford for food, and most of the country slid into a barter economy.
- Disease and hunger were rampant, with a raging AIDS epidemic.
- Grain and dairy production fell to a quarter of that in the 1980s.
- The Zimbabwean economy registered a negative growth of 6 per cent a year between 1999 and 2009.
Source: Business Standard