generalspeaking

Self-Adulating African Despots

"The public hospital system has collapsed. Citizens are dying like flies. The power blackouts are now permanent. Hyperinflation has spiralled out of control."
"But they sat and named roads after themselves."
Tendai Biti, vice-president, opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwe

President Emmerson Mnangagwa rose to power in 2017   Getty Images

Zimbabwe, once the regional breadbasket that produced agricultural crops to feed its population and ample excess to sell to less productive countries, now imports a huge proportion of the food its population needs for survival. Under Robert Mugabe who ruled like a typical African tyrant belying the belief that he would lead his country forward in development when he was viewed as a saviour in the first  years of his rule after independence, took the country down the path of total ruin.

The Rhodesian-era white settler-farmers who had farmed the land for generations, employing hundreds of thousands of farm labourers, feeding the nation, sending food crops abroad, loyal to the country, received a shock when their family farms were peremptorily expropriated by the state. They were forced from the farms, often violently, and some lost their lives in the process. The reason was to reclaim Zimbabwe's agricultural land and return it to its indigenous population.

Those who fought for independence monopolize power.  AFP

Black Zimbabwean farm workers lost their employment. The farms were given over to Mugabe's fellow 'freedom fighters' who had no idea how agrarian methods of raising crops would maintain a working farm. But they did relish the idea of land ownership. Even while the once-working farms lay fallow, no crops were grown because no one cared and no one knew how to proceed nor was interested in finding out how to restore the functionality of farms that once fed the nation.

patrick mpandawana

@patrick_mpa

Replying to

@larry_moyo

Breaking News: Prices Set To Fall And Exchange Rates Stabalise After Govt Announces New Street Names

2:12 AM · Nov 22, 2019, Twitter

Zimbabwe suffered sky-high inflation, unemployment soared, food and medicine became scarce, but President Mugabe saw nothing amiss and was disinterested in useful criticism while his people suffered. He is dead now; he almost ruled for life, but was eventually deposed and in his place is President Emmerson Mnangagwa whose administration has done very little to raise the  hopes and expectations of Zimbabweans that their long-suffering travails are over.

He is too busy renaming streets whose names reflect the colonial era. In ten of the country's largest cities and towns, Harare included, thoroughfares are being renamed to reflect the name of the president, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. Hughes Street, Etherton Road, and other British-type names are the past and are now consigned to the past. In their place will be Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Road, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Street, and so on.

And nor are members of the Zanu-PF leading party to be ignored; streets are slated to be named after them as well, including that of Solomon Mujuru a party kingpin whose collection of confiscated farms when white farmers were purged, runs to 16. But Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev will be memorialized by an Avenue and so will Fidel Castro and Chairman Mao. These are vitally important cultural, political and social steps forward for the country.


"All the other name changes are to cover up this wicked ambition", said Arthur Mutambara, veteran opposition figure, accusing the Zimbabwean president of striving to "immortalize himself." Like Robert Mugabe before him the current president is busy ensuring that he has the 'respect' of his fellow Zimbabweans, for whom he has done scant to ensure that their lives will see any kind of improvement any time soon.

He has other, more important things to take his time and notice and energy. As for example, the unveiling of a statue of himself in southern Zimbabwe, at Masvingo Airport. And no doubt many more in the planning stages.

Labels: Agriculture, Food Scarcity, Inflation, Political Realities, Zimbabwe

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 26, 2019