Zimbabwe Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Zimbabwe is a landlocked southern African country sharing borders with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia, with a land mass of approximately 386,000 sq. km. The population is 98 percent African, 1 percent mixed and Asian ethnicities, and less than 1 percent white. Although English is the official language, Shona and Ndebele are the prominent African languages spoken by the majority of people. Approximately 50 percent of the population practice a blend of Christian and indigenous religions, 25 percent practice Christianity, 25 percent indigenous religions, and 1 percent Islam. It is home to the world’s largest waterfall, Victoria Falls, a popular tourist destination, although because of the crises in Zimbabwe, visitors view the falls from neighboring Zambia.

The country is endowed with various mineral resources, which have replaced agriculture as the primary export, including gold, platinum, diamonds, nickel, asbestos, tin, iron, chromite, copper, and coal. Among Zimbabwe’s industrial products are iron and steel, cement, foodstuffs, machinery, textiles, fertilizer, and consumer goods. It imports machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, and fuels primarily from South Africa, Zambia, and China. Its major export partners are South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Japan, Botswana, the Netherlands, China, and Italy. Its agricultural products include corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, sorghum, peanuts, soybeans, and valuable hardwoods, including teak and mahogany.

British colonization began in the 1850s, establishing the territory of Rhodesia, which remained a self-governing colony until 1965, when the white-minority government, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith, unilaterally declared its independence from Britain. Increasingly violent guerrilla warfare, international economic sanctions, and the withdrawal of South African military aid led to a 1978 power-sharing agreement between Smith’s government and African leaders of the black majority. In 1980 the country witnessed the first multiracial elections, bringing Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) to power as prime minister, as well as formal independence under the name Zimbabwe. Mugabe has been in power ever since, becoming president in and Zimbabwe High Court, including the most recent in 2008, with a challenge from Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change. However, just before the runoff election, Tsvangirai withdrew, accusing Mugabe of supporting violence against him and his opposition party. International condemnation and economic sanctions by the United States followed. Mugabe and Tsvangirai then negotiated to end the political violence and engaged in talks to form a unified government. They reached an agreement in February 2009 that led to Mugabe remaining president and Tsvangirai becoming prime minister.

Mugabe’s authoritarian rule and disastrous economic policies have severely crippled the country. A corrupt and chaotic land reform program beginning in 2000 drove white commercial farmers from their land without compensation, leading to a sharp decline in agricultural production—51 percent between 2000 and 2007—traditionally the source of Zimbabwe’s exports, foreign currency, and jobs. Consequently, Zimbabwe faces shortages of food and other consumer goods, which were exacerbated by 2007 price controls, leading to a thriving black market. The currency shortage and fiscal deficit financed by prolific printing of money has led to hyperinflation, estimated by private analysts at over 100,000 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per U.S. dollar in 2003 to 30,000 per U.S. dollar in 2007.

Further contributing to the economic crisis was Operation Murambatsvina (“Operation Drive Out Trash”) in 2005 with the aim of redistributing people from urban to rural areas to combat illegal housing, crime, and sexually transmitted diseases. However, the destruction of homes and businesses of mostly poor supporters of Mugabe’s opposition, leaving thousands homeless, unemployed, and starving, led to allegations that the purge was politically driven.

By all measures, the country is devastated: a decrease in the population of 4 million people between 2002 and 2006 because of the economic crisis, political repression, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); a 40 percent decline in gross domestic product (GDP) between 2000 and 2007; 2007 unemployment rate and percent living in poverty rate around 80 percent; a doubling of the infant mortality rate since 1990; an increase in human trafficking because of the increasing vulnerability of the population; and an average life expectancy of 40 years, among the lowest in the world, primarily because of the AIDS adult prevalence rate, which has declined from 25 percent in 2001 to 15 percent in 2007. As a consequence of the country’s meltdown, between 1998 and 2007 direct foreign investment fell by 90 percent and little government money has been spent on improving the infrastructure, capital, and human investment, including education.

Bibliography:

Chikuhwa, A Crisis of Governance: Zimbabwe (Algora, 2004);
CIA, “Zimbabwe,” World Factbook, www.cia.gov (cited March 2009);
Raymond Gilpin, Depoliticizing Zimbabwe’s Economy Solutions for Two Million Percent, USIPeace Briefing (United States Institute of Peace, 2008);
Global Health Facts, www.globalhealthfacts.org (cited March 2009);
“Let’s Talk Again, Maybe,” www.economist.com (cited March 2009);
Tafataona Mahoso, “Focus on Zimbabwe: How Sanctions Are Making Zimbabwe’s Economy Scream,” New African (v.462/108, 2007);
Martin, Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe’s Future (PublicAffairs, 2007);
“Middle East and Africa—Zimbabwe—Blackening the Economy,” Economist (v.384/8546, 2007);
Andrew T. Price-Smith, Contagion and Chaos: Disease, Ecology, and National Security in the Era of Globalization (MIT Press, 2009);
Elizabeth Spiers, “The Long and Short of It—How Zimbabwe’s Ruler Ruined an Entire Economy—And Why It Will Bring Him Down,” Fortune (v.158/3, 2008).

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