While Robert Mugabe runs Zimbabwe into the ground, southern African countries dither. They must tell him that the time has come for him to step aside, and then take responsibility for managing an electoral process whose result Zimbabweans will recognize as fair, thereby providing the legitimacy needed for recovery to begin.
At least for purposes of public consumption, southern Africa’s political leaders continue to stand by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, despite his country’s ever-deepening economic crisis, which is directly attributable to his tyrannical rule. Indeed, years of economic mismanagement have produced an unemployment rate of 80%, with annual inflation nearing 5,000%.
Though Zimbabwe was once known as “the breadbasket of Africa,” many of its citizens now go hungry and depend on international food donations for survival. About 3,000 people flee the country every day, often risking their lives when crossing the crocodile-infested Limpopo River – celebrated in Kipling’s tale of “How the Elephant Got Its Trunk” – and scaling a border fence to enter South Africa.
By now, emigration is more than three million, about a quarter of the population. Yet when Mugabe was introduced at the most recent meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, his fellow heads of state heartily applauded him.
At least for purposes of public consumption, southern Africa’s political leaders continue to stand by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, despite his country’s ever-deepening economic crisis, which is directly attributable to his tyrannical rule. Indeed, years of economic mismanagement have produced an unemployment rate of 80%, with annual inflation nearing 5,000%.
Though Zimbabwe was once known as “the breadbasket of Africa,” many of its citizens now go hungry and depend on international food donations for survival. About 3,000 people flee the country every day, often risking their lives when crossing the crocodile-infested Limpopo River – celebrated in Kipling’s tale of “How the Elephant Got Its Trunk” – and scaling a border fence to enter South Africa.
By now, emigration is more than three million, about a quarter of the population. Yet when Mugabe was introduced at the most recent meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, his fellow heads of state heartily applauded him.