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Pauperization of Zimbabwe By Babatunde Adenodi New Jersey
My generation got inspiration from the likes of Robert Mugabe, Abel Muzorewa and Joshua Nkomo, the Zimbabwe trio that fought Ian Smith to a standstill. Before these was Nigeria’s trio: Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello. Not to talk of Nelson Mandela, the greatest of them all! There was the dare-devil Wole Soyinka who would confront a sub-machine gun with a mere pen. He dared the usurpers in an adventurous confrontation at the WNBS studios in Ibadan in 1965.
Robert Mugabe dared Ian Smith, the rebel Prime Minister of Rhodesia who made a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain. Ian Smith was averse to the fact that the Africans of Rhodesia had demanded for universal adult suffrage and had boasted that the black man would not rule Rhodesia in his lifetime. Well, the black man has ruled Zimbabwe for more than two decades and Ian Smith has seen it all! He has seen even more than he can bear!
Mugabe was a fire brand guerilla freedom fighter. He was also a firebrand in rhetoric. And if rhetoric were to be an effective instrument of governance, Zimbabwe would be a paradise today! The problem is that Mugabe still believes that the guerilla war with Ian Smith has not ended 25 years after independence! In his senile mind, Ian Smith is still a Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, and he, still guerilla freedom fighter in the Rhodesian wilderness. He edged out Nkomo with his ZANU-PF and became the President of independent Zimbabwe. He has since ruined the country he fought so hard for and loved so much so, that he was willing to die for. Yes, Mugabe was a good fighter for Zimbabwean independence, but he is surely a bad governor of his country. He has failed to bring happiness to his people. He has brought to his country men and women socio-economic hardship of catastrophic proportions.
Ian Smith handed over to Robert Mugabe a nation rich in agricultural produce. Fresh vegetables were pruned from Harare’s neighborhood farms and sold in farmers markets in Liverpool by 8:00 am the following day. Such was the precision of economic activity in Smith’s Rhodesia. Not any more! President Mugabe chased out the white farmers, the back-bone of the economy and allocated their lands to black Africans who knew next to nothing about mechanized farming. Thus, large scale farming gave way to subsistence farming as practiced by our fore-fathers for thousands of years! The result is diminished farm yields that brought economic collapse, hunger and deprivation that we see in Zimbabwe today!
Zimbabwe is now a carcass of its old self. A teacher’s monthly salary is barely enough to buy a loaf of bread enough for a meal for two! And queues for such commodities are most times miles long! A banker’s salary is only enough to take him to work and back once! Inflation is the highest in the world at 2000 percent per annum! In other words, merchandise bought today at N1.00 will be sold this time next year at N2000.00! Traders are faced with the nightmare of the calculation of replacement cost of sold goods. Planning is only good enough for a day at a time. All trade with Zimbabwe is at unofficial level. Source of foreign exchange is money brought into Zimbabwe by those in the Diaspora. The middle class is extinct. Zimbabwean whites have fled and the blacks are not far behind. Soon enough, the whole of Zimbabwe will be in South Africa and surrounding countries.
Meanwhile, the king is dancing naked in the market place. He is delusional. He surrounds himself with sycophants who tell him only what he wants to hear. He is completely out of touch with realities. To him, the west, led by Tony Blair, now Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, is reason why his country is going down the drains. He has no hands in his country’s misfortunes! And, I almost forgot, the United States, led by George Bush is also responsible! Soon, Mugabe will have no one to harass since all his opponents would have fled Zimbabwe leaving him with only his cronies.
He whom the gods want to destroy, they first make mad! Mugabe attended a conference in Lagos when Obasanjo was the military Head of State in Nigeria. Nigeria’s press, consistent with their practice, lambasted him for his repressive activities in Zimbabwe. He was so incensed that he made a report to Obasanjo who promptly showed him an uncomplimentary report published about him in that day’s Nigerian Tribune. Mugabe told General Obasanjo that he (Mugabe), would not tolerate such thing in his own country. He has since lived up to his word. Mugabe is now Zimbabwe. And Zimbabwe is Mugabe. His word is law. His solution to inflation is to print more money! The higher the inflation, the more money he puts into circulation! At 81 years of age, he is determined to take Zimbabwe to the grave with him! The problem is that he appears not to be in a hurry to die soon. The longer he lives, the longer it is that Zimbabwe has to suffer! He wants to follow the footsteps of Nnasemgbe Eyadema of Togo and Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire who killed their countries on their death!
How much more harm will Zimbabwe endure before the world stands up to Mugabe’s tyranny? How much damage is acceptable to Thabo Mbeki of South Africa? Or to the Venerable Nelson Mandela? Watching him give a speech at the last session of the United Nations General Assembly, he appeared as if he was drunk. At 81, he cannot go to that kind of forum drunk with alcohol. But he was high on something: Power! Yes! Power corrupts. But, it’s only when fools are in control of power that they corrupt it absolutely!
In Nigeria, and in other parts of Africa, we have had our share of the lunatic in power! Or the ludicrous. We have even had some buffoons in power! But Mugabe has outshone them all! He has led his country into a cul-de-sac. Going forward is as tough as going backward. But the people are crying for help. Need there be another Liberia at the door-step of Mandela?
Ian Smith will be smirking with derision wherever he is. Or is he dead? The only change in Zimbabwe is the color of the predatory class. The yoke of the people is even much heavier. Their situation in life not any less hopeless. Yes, contrary to Ian Smith’s wish, a black man has ruled his Rhodesia in his life time! And yes, his fears are true! Everything the black rulers touched has decayed in their hands. The expectation of the white of black people is now confirmed! And we have merely proved to them that they may be right. No! In my soul, I know that they are not right! Some of the great inventors are black. High intellect is not the exclusive preserve of white people.
But why is Africa so backward fifty years after independence? India got their independence in 1948(?) and Pakistan a little later. These are now nuclear powers in Asia. Korea is emerging as an economic giant in the Asian continent. And Indonesia, which imported palm produce from Nigeria in the 60’s exports the same commodity back to Nigeria in 2007! Where did we go wrong?
The problem is that the British handed power to the wrong people in most of Africa. Let me put that sentence in another way: the wrong people took over power in Africa at independence. While Mahatma Gandhi, the father of modern India was the natural and logical successor to the British at independence, he conceded power to Jaw Aral Nehru, who was no less a patriot. Both of them established an enduring legacy of secular democracy in the largest and very complex society in the world!
Not so in Zimbabwe! And not so in most of Africa! Those who took over in Nigeria did not know what self-governing meant. They did not know what to do with power. They had no experience in democratic governance and did not have the patriotism needed in managing complex societies of conflicting interests. Ditto in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe knew how to fight a guerilla war but has failed miserably in the governance of his people. He, along with leaders of Nigeria and most of Africa, has brought shame to black people of the world. Let Mandela rise from retirement. Let Nyerere and Kaunda rise up. There is work to do in Zimbabwe. Nyerere did it in Uganda by chasing out Idi Amin and restoring Milton Obote to power. Let Mandela motivate Mbeki to lead a South African contingent to Zimbabwe to dislodge the tyrannical ruler in Zimbabwe. Let them restore some sense of dignity to black people of the world!
After Zimbabwe, it is Darfur in the Sudan.
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