News from Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is an interesting and tragic example of government gone bad.
The current president Robert Mugabe nationalized all the farms, kicked the white owners off their land and proceeded to install not farmers but political cronies. (the locals call them cell-phone farmers)
The upshot is that Zimbabwe which used to be a major exporter of food and had a vibrant economy is now on the U.N. dole, begging for foreign aid for 'development' and now imports the bulk of its food. Any funds for 'development' go into the pockets of Mugabe &co...
I just ran into a website called Southern Cross which focuses on South Africa but also covers the rest of that continent. Two links of interest here:
bq. Both the
M&G and the
SA Sunday Times are running a SAPA article about the positive effects that Zimbabwean farmers who've moved to Mozambique have had on that country. Apparently 100 or so Zim farmers have moved to the Manica province of Mozambique, creating over 4000 jobs in the process.
bq. Interestingly, the article claims that all land in Mozambique belongs to the state and thus the farmers are having to lease the land. This seems a rather precarious basis upon which to establish a commercial farm although, given the vagaries of 'private' property in Zimbabwe, perhaps not a bad thing.
Each article outlines how about 100 displaced white farmers have leased land in Mozambique, started farms growing staples like maize and cash crops like cotton and tobacco. Good for the economy...
Taking a look at the CIA World Fact Book for 2002 (latest figures) we can see that the Gross Domestic Product for Zimbabwe is -13% but for Mozambique is +7.7%. The unemployment rate is telling too. Z is 70%, M is 21%.
And yet the U.N still supports Mugabe and props up his dictatorship.
Posted by DaveH at January 19, 2004 1:18 PM