Zimbabwe
Growing up, I had the great fortune of traveling the world. In fact, I received my Bachelors degree from the University of Cape Town in 1990. In between the time that my final exams had concluded and the actual graduation ceremony took place, I went on a month-long road trip through Southern Africa: Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
It was one of the best times of my life and one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever taken. Not only was the scenery beautiful, but the people we met were warm and friendly. And Zimbabwe was held as an example of what a post-Apartheid South Africa could be: multi-racial, stable and democratic. Indeed, from the time between Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and when I visited, the country had experienced strong, steady economic growth and had make significant progress in reconciling the country’s African majority and European minority populations.
How times have changed. The decline of Zimbabwe – once the breadbasket of Africa, now completely reliant on aid from neighbors and the international community – has been tragic in its impact to her people and the slow, grinding pace with which it has robbed people of their dignity and self-sufficiency. I read an article today in the Otrib news section, telling of the depths to which this meltdown has impacted the ability of people to properly mourn and bury a loved one. You can read it here.
I look back on the promise of Zimbabwe – the natural beauty, her people and the relative prosperity they enjoyed – and I am saddened to think that over the course of the last decade Robert Mugabe has destroyed much of it. If a government cannot provide clean drinking water for its people, if the people cannot afford to bury their dead with dignity, then that government has failed on its most basic responsibilities and it should be replaced by a more responsible one. And that is what Zimbabweans voted for last year. But through violence, intimidation and outright theft, Mugabe remains in power. South Africa has coddled Mugabe. There is disunity in the SADC over how to handle the situation. So too with the African Union. And the UN has issued reports, but little measurable action. Meanwhile, innocent Zimbabweans die. And they can’t afford to bury their dead.
