Today’s New York Times (registration required) highlights the painful and escalating downslide of Zimbabwe. It’s sad, really, because it was predictable and because improving the situation now will not be easy or pain-free to accomplish.
The populist and patronage approach that Mugabe has taken for the last 27 years has taken a toll, and public institutions are now crumbling. Teachers, doctors, nurses, and other public employees (many now below the poverty line) are striking, leaving essential services in limbo. The electrical grid has deteriorated such that some cities only have power 4 days a week — if they can pay. Those cities that can’t pay have none at all. Hyperinflation is rampant, reaching 1281% p.a. last month.
The government response to rocketing prices demonstrates no understanding of the economics of the situation. For example, it provided support to farmers of low-cost fuel to revive farm production. Of course, the farmers realized they could make more money by reselling the fuel at its “real” price than by farming. The government response? The reserve bank governor went on the radio to declare such practices illegal. Too bad the electricity went out and no one heard. Price freezes planned for March will not help either. Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of the region, now fails to feed itself as a result of these kind of policies.
Famous for hanging on to power, Mugabe may finally be reaching the end of his era — his own government recently declined to extend his term by another 2 years. Regardless of how they rig the politics, though, one truth rang out in the words of a Harare-based analyst: “the big problem about Zimbabwe is that the one thing you can’t rig is the economy.”
Let’s hope that some Mugabe-wannabes around the world take heed, too, and avoid similarly predictable circumstances in their futures. It’s too painful for their people to bear.
Published Date: February 07, 2007