history of Zimbabwe

 

Zimbabwe
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The history of Zimbabwe began with the transition to majority rule in 1980 and Britain's ceremonial granting of independence.

1980 elections

Robert Mugabe's ZANU party won a majority in the elections in March 1980 with 53 out of 80 seats reserved for black voters, with Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU gaining 27, and Muzorewa's UANC only three. This, however, was unsurprising given the extent of intimidation used by ZANU to ensure their victory. The Republic of Zimbabwe came into being on April 18, 1980, in a ceremony attended by Britain's Charles, Prince of Wales. A song was written and sung by Bob Marley to celebrate the independence of Zimbabwe also called 'Zimbabwe'. He was invited to perform a concert at the country's independence festivities, and this song, was, of course, included.

As well as changing the name of the country, the new government changed numerous place names in 1982, starting with the capital, Salisbury, which was renamed Harare. The main street in the capital, Jameson Avenue, was renamed in honor of Samora Machel, President of Mozambique.

The new Constitution provided for a non-executive President as Head of State with a Prime Minister as Head of Government. The first President was Rev. Canaan Banana with Robert Mugabe as Prime Minister. In 1987, the Constitution was amended to provide for an Executive President and the office of Prime Minister was abolished. The constitutional changes came into effect on 1 January 1988 with Robert Mugabe as President.

The Parliament was bicameral, with the House of Assembly being directly elected and the Senate consisting of indirectly elected and nominated members, including tribal chiefs. Under the Constitution, there were two separate voters rolls, one for the black African majority, who had 80% of the seats in Parliament and the other for whites and other ethnic minorities, such as Coloureds (people of mixed race) and Asians, who held 20%.

This gave whites disproportionate representation, and in 1986 the Constitution was amended to scrap this system, replacing the white seats in with seats filled by nominated members. Many white MPs joined ZANU, which then reappointed them. In 1990, the Senate was abolished, and the House of Assembly's membership was increased to include members nominated by the President.

As Prime Minister Mugabe instituted a policy of reconciliation which was generally successful during the country's first two years of independence, as former political and military opponents began to work together. Although additional blacks were hired to fill new places in the civil service, there was no retribution for those whites who had worked for the Smith regime. Smith and many of his associates held seats in the parliament where they participated freely in debates. Likewise, Joshua Nkomo, Mugabe's rival as leader of the nationalist forces, was included in the first cabinet along with several other members of PF-ZAPU.^[1]

Splits soon developed, however. Following independence, the rivalry that had been fermenting between ZAPU and ZANU erupted, with guerrilla activity starting again, in Matabeleland (south-western Zimbabwe). Nkomo (ZAPU) left for exile in Britain, and did not return until Mugabe guaranteed his safety. In 1981, several MPs from Smith's party left to sit as "independents," signifying that they did not automatically accept his anti-government posture. In 1982, government security officials discovered large caches of arms and ammunition on properties owned by ZAPU, and Nkomo and his followers were accused of plotting to overthrow Mugabe's government. Nkomo and his closest aides were expelled from the cabinet.

As a result of what they saw as persecution of Nkomo (known as "Father Zimbabwe") and of his party, PF-ZAPU supporters, some of army deserters, began a loosely organized and ill-defined campaign of dissidence against the government. Centering primarily in Matabeleland, home of the Ndebeles who were at the time PF-ZAPU's main followers, this dissidence continued through 1987. It involved attacks on government personnel and installations, armed banditry aimed at disrupting security and economic life in the rural areas, and harassment of ZANU-PF members.^[2]

Because of the unsettled security situation immediately after independence and the continuing anti government dissidence, the government kept in force a "state of emergency,". This gave the government widespread powers under the "Law and Order Maintenance Act," including the right to detain persons without charge which it used quite widely.

In 1983 to 1984, the government declared a curfew in areas of Matabeleland and sent in the army in an attempt to suppress dissidents. Credible reports surfaced of widespread violence and disregard for human rights by the security forces during these operations, and the level of political tension rose in the country as a result. The pacification campaign, known as the Gukuruhundi, or strong wind, resulted in at least 20,000 civilian deaths perpetrated by an elite, communist-trained brigade, known in Zimbabwe as the Gukurahundi. The situation evolved into a low level civil war.

ZANU-PF increased its majority in the 1985 elections, winning 67 of the 100 seats. The majority gave Mugabe the opportunity to start making changes to the constitution, including those with regard to land restoration. Fighting did not cease until Mugabe and Nkomo reached an agreement in December 1987 whereby ZAPU was subsumed into ZANU-PF.

The constitution was then changed. The result was that Robert Mugabe then became the country's first executive president, and Nkomo became one of the nation's two vice presidents. The separate roll for white voters was abolished as reserved seats for whites.

Economy in the 1980s

The new government under Robert Mugabe promoted socialism under which racial and class inequality would be eliminated. The economy partially relied on international aid. The new regime inherited one of the most structurally developed economies and effective state systems in Africa. Initially the government followed a corporatist model where the government sought to manage the economy. Some of these policies were a continuation those created by its predecessor to deal with sanctions imposed in 1965. The State already had ownership of utilities and agricultural marketing agencies. The new government merely added to this by buying out more private companies. Existing protectionist policies were extended.^[3]

A whole range of new economic policies were propagated. A minimum wage was introduced and the right to fire workers was virtually eliminated. Expenditure on health and education rose by 10 percent, public-sector employment by 60 percent, civil service by 12 percent per annum over the course of the 1980s. Central government expenditure tripled and increased its share from 32.5 percent of GDP in 1979 to 44.6% in 1989. Interest rates were artificially capped.

The consequences during this time were rather mixed. Economic inequality within the population decreased and provision of education and healthcare became more widespread. However, economic growth was rather limited. During the 1980s GDP per Capita increased by 11.5%. The country was falling further behind the developed world. During the same time period the USA had a 38% increase in that time in GDP per Capita. Thus the relative poverty of the country actually increased during this time. This was in part, due to the economic policies described above as well as due to the exodus of white Zimbabweans who were often the most skilled and knowledgeable in the population.

There were several reasons for middling to low performance of the economy. Protection sustained existing high cost companies, but discouraged exports by raising the costs of inputs to exporters, leading to a critical shortage of the foreign exchange needed to acquire imported technology. Foreign companies were not allowed to remit dividends, and new foreign investment was actively discouraged. The need to get permission and licenses for new investment and the dismissal of individual workers imposed heavy time and transaction costs. Repressed interest rates discouraged saving and the state’s high propensity to borrow reduced the supply of capital to all but favored borrowers. The regime did not encourage, and even suppressed, the development of independent new African businesses because of the threat they were thought to offer to ZANU’s political monopoly.^[3]

Public spending skyrocketed, particularly in the areas of civil service employment, spending on social services, drought relief, and subsidies for government owned companies. This in turn generated a chronic budget deficit, a high tax regime, and a rapid increase in public debt - all of which created a drag on the economy. Private investment was crowded out by shortages of credit stemming from the fiscal deficit, high taxes and the shortages of foreign exchange. The overall effects of these constraints favored existing capital-intensive producers, biasing the economy against areas labor-intensive activities. Compounding the problem, all companies were effectively discouraged from employing new workers because of controls over wages and employment.

This had two politically significant consequences. First, it suppressed the emergence of a genuinely entrepreneurial African business class and reduced the political support of those that did make their way despite these problems. Second, it turned unemployment into a major threat to the legitimacy of the regime, especially in urban areas. Wages were actually allowed to decline over the decade.

1990s

Elections in March 1990 resulted in another overwhelming victory for Mugabe and his party, which won 117 of the 120 election seats. However, voter turnout was only 54%, and the campaign was not free and fair although the actual balloting was. Not satisfied with a de facto one-party state, Mugabe called on the ZANU-PF Central Committee to support the creation of a de jure one-party state in September 1990 and lost. The government began further amending the constitution. The judiciary and human rights advocates fiercely criticized the first amendments, enacted in April 1991, because they restored corporal and capital punishment and denied recourse to the courts in cases of compulsory purchase of land by the government. The general health of the civilian population also began to significantly flounder and by 1997 one quarter of the population of Zimbabwe had been infected by HIV, the AIDS virus.^[4]

During the 1990s students, trade unionists and workers often demonstrated to express their discontent with the government. Students protested in 1990 against proposals for an increase in government control of universities and again in 1991 and 1992, when they clashed with police. Trade unionists and workers also criticized the government during this time. In 1992, police prevented trade unionists from holding anti-government demonstrations. In 1994 there was widespread industrial unrest. In 1996, civil servants, nurses, and junior doctors went on strike over salary issues.^[5]

On December 9, 1997 a national strike paralyzed the country. Mugabe was panicked by demonstrations by Zanla ex-combatants (war veterans), who had been the heart of the terrorist incursions 20 years earlier. He agreed to pay them large gratuities and pensions, which proved to be a wholly unproductive and unbudgeted financial commitment. The discontent with the government spawned draconian government crackdowns which in turn started to destroy both the fabric of the state and of society. This is turn brought with it further discontent within the population. Thus a vicious downward spiral commenced.^[3]

Economy in the 1990s

By the end of the 1980s there was increasing agreement amongst government elites that new economic policies needed to be implemented for the long term survival of the regime. The new policy regime designed by the government and its advisors. It set out to encourage job-creating growth by transferring control over prices from the state to the market, improving access to foreign exchange, reducing administrative controls over investment and employment decisions, and by reducing the fiscal deficit. It had wide local support and was introduced before the economic problems had gone out of control.

The liberal experiment in Zimbabwe produced far worse results than its predecessor. Growth, employment, wages, and social service spending contracted sharply, inflation did not improve, the deficit remained well above target, and many industrial firms, notably in textiles and footwear, closed in response to increased competition and high real interest rates. On the positive side, capital formation and the percentage of exports in GDP increased and urban–rural inequality fell.

There were various reasons for the failure of the new policies. First, they were undermined by extremely unfavorable conditions. Drought reduced agricultural output, exports, public revenue, and demand for local manufacturing. Growth during three drought-affected years (1992, 1993, and 1995) averaged 2.6 percent; during three good years (1991, 1994, and 1996) it was 6.5 percent. The new ANC regime in South Africa canceled its trade agreement with Zimbabwe at this time and subjected its exports to punitive tariffs just as Zimbabwe reduced its own, contributing significantly to deindustrialization.^[3]

Secondly, the government’s failure to bring the fiscal deficit under control undermined the effectiveness of those elements in the program that were followed through. This led to growth in public borrowing, sharp increases in interest rates, and upward pressure on the exchange rate just as local firms were exposed to intensified foreign competition. Many firms failed, many others were forced to restructure, and new investment was discouraged in both the formal and increasingly important informal sector. The limited cuts that were made concentrated on the social services and led to serious reductions in the quality of health and education.^[6]

Thirdly the attempt to impose liberalization on a relatively weak and highly protected economy was made far too quickly. Uncompetitive industries were eliminated and overmanning was reduced but in a such a sudden and disruptive manner as to cause economic chaos. Policy-makers conducted very little planning and the whole venture was carried out very shoddily. A lot of similar problems occurred in Eastern Europe after the collapse of Communism, however the transition to capitalism was much better managed. The public reaction to the disaster only further undermined the economy perpetuating a vicious cycle.^[6] Fourthly, and quite ironically there is evidence that by the mid nineties the new economic regime was showing signs of working. Indeed prosperity may have been just a few years away. However, the patience of both the government and the people was exhausted. A new direction was taken.^[3]

In 1998 Mugabe's intervention in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)—purportedly to protect his personal investments—resulted in suspension of international economic aid for Zimbabwe. This suspension of aid and the millions of dollars spent to intervene in the war further weakened Zimbabwe's already troubled economy.

In part through its control of the media, the huge parastatal sector of the economy, and the security forces, the government has managed to keep organized political opposition to a minimum through most of the 1990’s.

Indigenization debate

By 1990 there were increasing demands for greater African participation in ownership of the economy were made against a background of continuing racial inequalities in the post-colonial economy. For example, by 1991, 50% of the population received less than 15% of total annual incomes and about 15% of total consumption, while the richest three percent of the population received 30% of total incomes and were responsible for 30% of total consumption. The government controlled economy of 1980s tried to redistribute wealth to the black majority, while emphasizing racial harmony. With the increasing economic problems at the end of the 1990s and new the new liberal reforms of the 1990s new complaints were heard about the unequal racial distribution of wealth. For the ruling party, there was also a political imperative as the emergence in the late 1980s of opposition parties such as the Zimbabwe Unity Movement and the Forum Party had demonstrated the potential for political opposition from disconcerted sections of the African middle class. This emphasis on redistrubution of wealth from whites to blacks was a policy that the government began to directly pursue in the mid 1990s.^[7]

Land reform

Although many whites had left Zimbabwe after independence, mainly for neighbouring South Africa, those who remained continued to wield disproportionate control of some sectors of the economy, especially agriculture. In the late-1990s whites accounted for less than 1% of the population but owned 70% of arable land. Mugabe raised this issue of land ownership by white farmers. In a naive, but populist move, he began land redistribution, which brought the government into headlong conflict with the International Monetary Fund. Amid a severe drought in the region, the police and military were instructed not to stop the invasion of white-owned farms by the so-called 'war veterans' and youth militia. This has led to a mass migration of White Rhodesians out of Zimbabwe. At present almost no arable land is in the possession of white farmers.

1999 – 2007

However, beginning in 1999 Zimbabwe experienced a period of considerable political and economic upheaval. Opposition to President Mugabe and the ZANU-PF government grew considerably after the mid-1990s in part due to worsening economic and human rights conditions.^[8] The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was established in September 1999 as an opposition party founded by trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai.

The MDC's first opportunity to test opposition to the Mugabe government came in February 2000, when a referendum was held on a draft constitution proposed by the government. Among its elements, the new constitution would have permitted President Mugabe to seek two additional terms in office, granted government officials immunity from prosecution, and authorized government seizure of white-owned land. The referendum was handily defeated. Shortly thereafter, the government, through a loosely organized group of war veterans, sanctioned an aggressive land redistribution program often characterized by forced expulsion of white farmers and violence against both farmers and farm employees.

Fraudulent elections

Parliamentary elections held in June 2000 were marred by localized violence, and claims of electoral irregularities and government intimidation of opposition supporters. Nonetheless, the MDC succeeded in capturing 57 of 120 seats in the National Assembly.

Presidential elections were held in March 2002. In the months leading up to the poll, ZANU-PF, with the support of the army, security services and especially the so-called ‘war veterans’ – very few of whom actually fought in the Second Chimurenga against the Smith regime in the 1970s – set about wholesale intimidation and suppression of the MDC-led opposition. Despite strong international criticism, these measures, together with organized subversion of the electoral process, ensured a Mugabe victory. The government’s behavior drew strong criticism from the EU and the USA, which imposed limited sanctions against the leading members of the Mugabe regime. Since the 2002 election, Zimbabwe has suffered further economic difficulty and growing political chaos.

Divisions within the opposition MDC had begun to fester early in the decade, after Morgan Tsvangirai (the president of the MDC) was lured into a government sting operation that videotaped him talking of Mr. Mugabe’s removal from power. He was subsequently arrested and put on trial on treason charges. This crippled his control of party affairs and raised questions about his competence. It also catalyzed a major split within the party. In 2004 he was acquitted, but not after suffering serious abuse and mistreatment in prison. The opposing faction was led by Welshman Ncube who was the general secretary of the party. In mid-2004, vigilantes loyal to Mr. Tsvangirai began attacking members who were mostly loyal to Ncube, climaxing in a September raid on the party’s Harare headquarters in which the security director was nearly thrown to his death.^[9]

An internal party inquiry later established that aides to Tsvangirai had tolerated, if not endorsed, the violence. Divisive as the violence was, it was a debate over the rule of law that set off the party’s final breakup in November 2005. These division severely weakened the opposition. In addition the government employed its own operatives to both spy on each side and to undermine each side via acts of espionage. Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2005 were held in March 2005 in which ZANU-PF won a two-thirds majority, were again criticized by international observers as being flawed. Mugabe's political operatives were thus able to weaken the opposition internally and the security apparatus of the state was able to destabilize it externally by using violence in anti-Mugabe strongholds to prevent citizens from voting. Some voters were 'turned away' from polling station despite having proper identification, further guaranteeing that the government could control the results. Additionally Mugabe had started to appoint with judges sympathetic to the government, making any judicial appeal futile. Mugabe was also able to appoint 30 of the Members of Parliament.^[10]

As Senate elections approached further opposition splits occurred. Ncube’s supporters argued that the M.D.C. should field a slate of candidates; Tsvangirai's argued for a boycott. When party leaders voted on the issue, Mr. Ncube’s side narrowly won, but Mr. Tsvangirai declared that as president of the party he was not bound by the majority’s decision.^[9] Again the opposition was weakened. As a result the elections for a new Senate in November 2005 were largely boycotted by the opposition. Mugabe's party won 24 of the 31 constituencies where elections were held amid low voter turnout. Again there was evidence of voter intimidation and fraud.

Operation Murambatsvina

In May 2005 the government began Operation Murambatsvina. It was officially billed to rid urban areas of illegal structures, illegal business enterprises, and criminal activities. In practice its purpose was to punish political opponents. The UN estimates 700,000 people have been left without jobs or homes as a result.. Families and traders, especially at the beginning of the operation, were often given no notice before police destroyed their homes and businesses. Others were able to salvage some possessions and building materials but often had nowhere to go, despite the government's statement that people should be returning to their rural homes. Thousands of families were left unprotected in the open in the middle of Zimbabwe's winter. The government interfered with non-governmental organization (NGO) efforts to provide emergency assistance to the displaced in many instances. Some families were removed to transit camps, where they had no shelter or cooking facilities and minimal food, supplies, and sanitary facilities. The operation continued into July 2005, when the government began a program to provide housing for the newly displaced.^[11]

Human Rights Watch said the evictions had disrupted treatment for people with HIV/Aids in a country where 3,000 die from the disease each week and about 1.3 million children have been orphaned. The operation was "the latest manifestation of a massive human rights problem that has been going on for years", said Amnesty International. As of September 2006, housing construction fell far short of demand, and there were reports that beneficiaries were mostly civil servants and ruling party loyalists, not those displaced. The government campaign of forced evictions continued in 2006, albeit on a lesser scale.^[11][12]

2005-2007

In September 2005 Mugabe signed constitutional amendments that reinstituted a national senate (abolished in 1987) and that nationalized all land. This converted all ownership rights into leases. The amendments also ended the right of landowners to challenge government expropriation of land in the courts and marked the end of any hope of returning any land that had been hitherto grabbed by armed land invasions. Elections for the senate in November resulted in a victory for the government. The MDC split over whether to field candidates and partially boycotted the vote. In addition to low turnout there was widespread government intimidation. The split in the MDC hardened into factions, each of which claimed control of the party. The early months of 2006 were marked by food shortages and mass hunger. The sheer extremity of the siltation was revealed by the fact that in the courts, state witnesses said they were too weak from hunger to testify.^[13]

In August 2006 run away inflation forced the government to replace its existing currency with a revalued one. In December 2006, ZANU-PF proposed the "harmonization" of the parliamentary and presidential election schedules in 2010; the move was seen by the opposition as an excuse to extend Mugabe's term as president until 2010.

Recent events

Morgan Tsvangirai was badly beaten on March 12, 2007 after being arrested and held at Machipisa Police Station in the Highfield suburb of Harare. The event garnered an international outcry and was considered particularly brutal and extreme, even for a regime as nefarious as Mugabe's.

"We are very concerned by reports of continuing brutal attacks on opposition activists in Zimbabwe and call on the government to stop all acts of violence and intimidation against opposition activists," said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.^[14]

A Zimbabwean freelance cameraman, Edward Chikombo, smuggled pictures of television pictures of the badly injured Tsvangirai out of the country. He was later abducted from his home in the Glenview township outside Harare, and his body was later discovered on the weekend near the village of Darwendale, 80 kilometres west of the capital, Harare. This has been part of a pattern of abductions and punishment beatings that has become a terrifying nightly ritual in Zimbabwe, where scores of opposition activists and their relatives have been attacked by government sanctioned gangs using unmarked cars and police-issue weapons.^[15]

Zimbabwe at the present time is in a terrible state. The economy has shrunk by 50% from 2000 to 2007. In 2007 the inflation rate was 2,200%. There are frequent power and water outages.^[16] Harare's drinking water became unreliable in 2006 and as a consequence dysentery and cholera swept the city in December 2006 and January 2007.^[17] Unemployment in formal jobs is running at a record 80%.^[18] There is widespread famine, which has been cynically manipulated by the government so that opposition strongholds suffer the most. Most recently, supplies of bread have dried up, after a poor wheat harvest, and the closure of all bakeries. ^[19]

The country used to be one of Africa's richest and is now one of its poorest. Indeed many observers now view the country as being a 'failed state'.^[20][21] The settlement of the Democratic Republic of Congo war has brought back Zimbabwe's substantial military commitment, although some troops remain to secure the mining assets under their control. The government lacks the resources or machinery to deal with the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which affects an estimated one-quarter of the population. With all this and the forced and violent removal of white farmers in a brutal land redistribution program, Mugabe has earned himself widespread scorn from the international arena.^[22]

References

See also

• Economy of Zimbabwe
• History of Africa
• History of present-day nations and states
• Land reform in Zimbabwe
• Politics of Zimbabwe
• Timeline of Zimbabwe history

External links

• Wikimedia Atlas of Zimbabwe, holding maps related to Zimbabwe.
• History of Zimbabwe
• From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: A history Overview
• Background Note: Zimbabwe
• Monomotapa
• 'Zimbabwe will collapse if you go, whites are warned' in The Guardian

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