A Letter from Zimbabwe
Ngara, Emmanuel
Independent Zimbabwe was born in 1980 on the ruins of Rhodesia. For some fifteen years the guerrillas of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Joshua...
...it is not lacking in beauty spots and has the unique advantage of seaside resorts on the shores of both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans...
...The meeting of the two chief executives formally closed an unhappy chapter in U.S.—Zimbabwe ties and led to an American promise of substantial developmental aid...
...Thus the demise of apartheid will be a mixed blessing for Zimbabwe...
...The fundamental objective of economic reform in Zimbabwe is to improve living conditions, especially for the poorest groups, according to Harare's 1991 "Framework for Economic Reform...
...its economy is more diversified and much richer in mineral products...
...Mugabe became party leader and also executive president of the country...
...Across Zimbabwe's southern border moves are afoot to bring about a final resolution to the enigma of apartheid...
...Despite its relatively developed hotel industry and many tourist attractions, including the famed Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe Ruins—the latter a testimony to great African achievement, independent of Western technology and influence—Zimbabwe has the major disadvantage of being landlocked...
...When Mugabe visited George Bush in July 1991, the American president praised his 414 • DISSENT A Letter from Zimbabwe Zimbabwean counterpart for abandoning MarxismLeninism and for this program of economic reform...
...it has a more sophisticated industrial base and a conceivably more developed infrastructure...
...Mugabe's ZANU-PF swept the country's first elections in 1980, and as prime minister he introduced a policy of reconciliation...
...all will be concerned to temper South African dominance, especially when it joins the SADCC...
...Black Zimbabweans dominate the public sector, and civil servants fear retrenchment...
...Second, South Africa is likely to become a major economic power dominating the entire region and may in the process neutralize the position of relative strength that Zimbabwe has enjoyed...
...For some fifteen years the guerrillas of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (PF-ZAPU) fought Ian Smith's white government, and their triumph raised hopes that colonialism was finally to be banished from Africa...
...Also, some socialists complain that "structural adjustment" means that the government has officially said goodbye to socialism: the poor will become poorer and the rich will become richer...
...Ironically, however, the greatest threat to Zimbabwe's present political and economic position in Southern Africa is a free and democratic South Africa, which could become a member both of the Commonwealth and SADCC...
...In contrast, Botswana has gone out of its way to retain its own academics and to attract skilled labor from Zimbabwe and other African countries...
...The official position is that only inefficient and unproductive employees need be concerned...
...Yet there are murmurs that blood is thicker than water: some bureaucrats might victimize employees on ethnic grounds...
...It also has a more advanced industrial base, a better infrastructure, and is a great deal more independent of South Africa than its western neighbor...
...Since the beginning of 1992, however, much has happened that has changed the picture considerably...
...In recent years Botswana has proved to be something of a rival because it has experienced an economic boom...
...Some SADCC states are resentful of Zimbabwe's relative strengths...
...Health facilities have been improved for the majority of the people, and there has been an extraordinary expansion of education...
...By way of brief conclusion, it may be said that Zimbabwe has enjoyed relative political success since independence, and, though it has suffered from economic stagnation during the past decade, it has also avoided the disasters that have plagued many an African country...
...Further, another veteran politician, James Chikerema, seems to be on the verge of launching a new party, posing yet another threat to ZANU-PF...
...Second, a severe drought has hit the whole region and has adversely affected Zimbabwe's new economic policy, and opposition parties such as Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) and the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole's ZANU (Ndonga) are capitalizing on the new situation...
...In late 1987 Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Nkomo's PF-ZAPU merged...
...Zimbabwe is arguably the most economically viable of the ten countries that form the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC...
...Relations soured in 1986 after Zimbabwe assumed the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement and were aggravated further after a Zimbabwe government minister attacked American policy on South Africa in the presence of former U.S...
...Consequently, a balanced approach to regional development will be imperative...
...Once solutions to these problems are found, two things will happen to the entire Southern African region: first, it will become one of the most attractive regions of the world and the most developed part of Sub-Saharan Africa...
...This policy took the white population by surprise: they were accustomed to hearing that Mugabe was a Marxist devil...
...Botswana poses a real threat in this regard and has become attractive to professionals...
...Mugabe's government has achieved much in the sphere of social services...
...This policy of "structural adjustment" is the brainchild of Bernard Chidzero, senior minister for finance, economic planning and development, and it has the support of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the American government...
...A discussion of Zimbabwe at this historical moment must consider the country's place alongside a post-apartheid and peaceful Southern Africa...
...Much of the socialist talk was in fact rhetorical, and the country's capitalist economy remained virtually intact...
...The new prime minister's posture prevented a sudden exodus of whites, which could have led to a serious disruption of the country's economy, which they had controlled...
...While there are signs of decline at the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Botswana is gradually becoming a strong and academically attractive institution...
...Yet some with socialist leanings argue that the economic reform has nothing to do with the abandonment or promotion of socialism, but aims to take the country out of economic stagnation through encouraging economic growth and generating employment...
...At the same time there has not been much economic growth, and the rate of unemployment has risen to disturbing proportions...
...Among the majority of urban black Zimbabweans, there does not seem to be much enthusiasm for the economic reform...
...Both are rich in natural resources and have attractive seaside resorts that might hurt Zimbabwe's growing tourist industry...
...The unity pact brought to an end dissension between the government and some of Nkomo's supporters, who had retained control of parts of the two Matebeleland provinces, making it virtually impossible for these areas to develop at the same pace as the rest of the country...
...At this moment, however, it has one major disadvantage: it still carries the albatross of apartheid around its neck and is engulfed in political turmoil...
...Regional trade has been very much in favor of Zimbabwe, despite shortages of foreign currency and in spite of the fact that its economy has not experienced much growth during the last eleven years...
...Blacks and whites who had been locked in battle for so many years were urged to beat their swords into ploughshares and work side by side as members of one nation...
...More recently, the government has adopted a new economic reform program that includes trade liberalization, domestic deregulation, and cuts in recurrent government expenditures...
...Its population is well over thirty million...
...The last remaining task was to destroy the apartheid system of South Africa and to end Pretoria's illegal occupation of Namibia...
...Zimbabwe has a more sophisticated and more diversified economy, being considerably rich in both agricultural and mineral products...
...However, retention of skilled labor has SUMMER • 1992 • 415 A Letter from Zimbabwe become a problem because of Zimbabwe's economic stagnation...
...This includes the loss of many academics leaving the university for greener pastures in the private sector and in other countries...
...President Jimmy Carter at an American Independence Day celebration...
...First, white farmers have not been amused by a new land bill that empowers the government to designate land for redistribution...
...Harare's new economic policy was initially widely welcomed by white industrialists, and by adopting it the ruling party seemed to have successfully pulled the rug from under the feet of the opposition parties, giving the impression that ZANU-PF was poised for yet another election triumph at the polls in 1995...
...Foreign investors also became suspicious, although the government sought vigorously to allay their fears...
...With the prospects of peace in Angola and Mozambique, Zimbabwe could face stiff competition from these two Portuguese-speaking members of SADCC...
...South Africa's economy is more powerful than that of the ten member countries of SADCC put together and is therefore that much stronger than that of Zimbabwe...
...There are today real prospects of peace in nearby Angola, a country that has been engulfed in civil strive since the Portuguese abandoned it in 1974...
...Zimbabwe's population of over nine million is much larger than that of Botswana, and its education system is superior to that of any of the other members of SADCC...
...This has resulted in disappointed murmurings in some sections of the population, among them ex-combatants who think that the country's socialist program has not been faithfully implemented...
...Besides, South Africa has all that Zimbabwe can offer plus much more...
...The rising cost of essential goods seems to lend credence to this view...
...The success or failure of the government's efforts to revamp the economy is likely to be a major factor determining whether or not Zimbabwe will enter the twenty-first century as a leading African country...
...A 1991 study conducted by the present writer and colleagues from the demography unit of the University of Zimbabwe revealed that Zimbabwe has suffered a brain drain since the late 1980s...
...However, there have been shortages of goods such as motor vehicles and electronic equipment...
...These measures are intended to boost regional and international trade and attract local and foreign investment...
...On the other hand, when the government declared itself "socialist," thereby winning many friends among communist countries and in Africa, it unsettled many white Zimbabweans...
...With a population of just over a million, this country, which was once regarded simply as an extension of the Kalahari Desert, has benefited enormously from the development of its mineral resources, principally diamond reserves...
...Fortunately, the country is almost self-sufficient in food so that—save for times of drought—it has to import only items such as rice and wheat...
...Mozambique has experienced continuous conflict since the late President Samora Machel closed its borders with Rhodesia in 1976, but the FRELIMO government and leaders of the Mozambique Resistance Movement (RENAMO) are now talking about possibilities of peace...
...Another crucial factor, as we have seen, will be South Africa, for change there will bring change in the balance of forces in the entire region and, indeed, the whole of the African continent...
...416 • DISSENT...
Vol. 39 • July 1992 • No. 3
