Can Simba Makoni save Zimbabwe?
posted at 11:49 am on March 2, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Robert Mugabe has driven Zimbabwe from a net-exporting agricultural and manufacturing nation to one of Africa’s poorest countries. Mugabe’s most notable accomplishment of late is to push the inflation rate over 100,000% with his statist policies. Simba Makoni wants to unseat him in Zimbabwe’s upcoming elections, and even members of Mugabe’s party have begun endorsing the challenger:
Two more political heavyweights rallied behind former finance minister Simba Makoni‘s presidential bid on Sunday, as he seeks to unseat longtime leader Robert Mugabe in elections later this month.
Wilson Kumbula, president of the opposition Zimbabwe African National Union – Ndonga (ZANU-Ndonga), endorsed Makoni’s candidature, while Edgar Tekere, a former minister in Mugabe’s first cabinet, vowed to work with him.
“I am appointing myself principal campaigner for Mugabe’s downfall,” Tekere said at Makoni’s campaign rally in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.
The statement of Tekere, an ex-commander during the liberation struggle, came a day after former home affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa and former speaker of parliament Cyril Ndebele endorsed Makoni.
Mugabe may face the challenge of his life in these elections — assuming they’re conducted fairly. His reputation as Zimbabwe’s liberator has almost completely unraveled over the course of his dictatorship. The collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy and its decline to pauper status has come so quickly that even the most efficient propaganda machine can’t maske Mugabe’s incompetence.
If Mugabe throws these elections, he may find himself very isolated. His former allies have already started to bail on his party, sensing the mood of Zimbabwe’s citizens. A rigged election may set a revolution in motion, and Zanu-PF figures have started ensuring that they won’t follow Mugabe up against the wall.
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It will take decades to undo the damage inflicted by Mugabe. Sadly things could get even worse before they turn around.
perroviejo on March 2, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Jimmy Carter will ride in to certify the election for Mugabe. Jimmy has never met a dictator that he would not lie for.
I am predicting a Carter certification of the 99.5% for Mugabe reelection.
Go Jimmy!!!!!!! Sacrifice what little dignity you still have to support a petty dictator.
americanranger on March 2, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Well, if Mr. Makoni is really smart, the first thing he’ll do if elected is to demand a recount.
Yes, we’ll miss Mr. Buckley terribly. What a loss.
SteveMG on March 2, 2008 at 12:08 PM
The challenger will win and then become the tyrant. That is how African politics work.
THE CHOSEN ONE on March 2, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Thank you for reminding us that the world is too complicated Ed. How does this little African election fit into my identity politics world? Are you trying to sneak in a little teaching or something? Keep writing, keep banging the drums.
Cold Steel on March 2, 2008 at 12:18 PM
If I’ve learned anything from Disney, it’s that you can never count Simba out.
emailnuevo on March 2, 2008 at 12:18 PM
I just had a serious Lion King flashback when I saw the guy’s name. Knowing next to nothing about Zimbabwe, or Africa for that matter, I can only hope that Simba cares more about the people he is hoping to represent then what kind of palace he lives in.
VolMagic on March 2, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I wonder if Bush will win the Nobel peace prize?
tomas on March 2, 2008 at 12:28 PM
I wonder if Bush will win the Nobel peace prize?
tomas on March 2, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Ummmmm, No. They’ll beat him with “FUZZY MATH”. They will deduct the hundreds of thousand of lives his African policies have saved from the 700.000 lives lost due to his “illegal war” in iraq. Result. Mass murderer by a few hundred thousand lives.
THE CHOSEN ONE on March 2, 2008 at 12:42 PM
A new African leader will end corruption and apply rational economic policy to his nation when pigs fly. I’ll assume that this is just the process of switching out the existing incompetent kleptocrat for a fresh one until the evidence proves otherwise.
Cicero43 on March 2, 2008 at 12:47 PM
That means that the price would go up between the time you were trying to buy something and the time you were finished paying for it.
Kinda reminds me of buying gas the other day……….
Seven Percent Solution on March 2, 2008 at 12:49 PM
I think any of us could have run Zimbabwe better than Mugabe.
SoulGlo on March 2, 2008 at 12:55 PM
i actually got to live in zimbabwe for a summer while working at children’s’ home there in summer 2001. even then it was bad. it will be a great day if and when anyone can avoid getting jailed by him long enough to win an election. it’s a beautiful country.
its vintage duh on March 2, 2008 at 12:56 PM
What do you mean by this? Bush has been trying for years to get neighbors, South Africa in particular, to apply pressure to force Mugabe out. Bush has pushed for international sanctions, travel embargoes, etc to try and help the people of Zimbabwe.
Just wondering what you meant…
JustTruth101 on March 2, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Jimmy Carter has dignity?
doriangrey on March 2, 2008 at 1:14 PM
Bush is trying but shoveling massive foreign aid to Africa doesn’t alleviate anything. Same thing with the EU. Most of it never reaches the people who need it, and food shipments have a negative effect on incentive to produce their own, plus creating a black market for a lot of the food which is looted and resold by corrupt bureacracy. It screws up the market system and just kicks the can down the road a little further.
a capella on March 2, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Which will then be blamed on Britich Colonialism. Maybe Obama can send Jesse and Al to straighten it out like he did last night on the SNL cartoon. (Editorial comments in the cartoon added by some Obama loser).
I’m not much up on my Zimbabwean politics, but anyone would be better than Mugabe.
SouthernGent on March 2, 2008 at 1:19 PM
a capella, a fellow by the name of Andrew Mwenda has become pretty famous in his challenge to the entire aid culture, saying that aid dependency is limiting Africa and supporting the corruption. The video of his TED presentation is here. He and Bono have gotten into it very publicly. I think Mwenda is correct; aid should be replaced with private investment in a systematic manner to build infrastructure.
michaelo on March 2, 2008 at 1:34 PM
The likes of Mugabe and Chavez will so tax and vex the private investment that its products will be either ‘too expensive’ or ‘too scarce’ because of ‘hoarding’ and then seize the investment for themselves. They’ll either deplete it to provide bread and circuses–more likely half-buns and street mimes–or else milk it to provide for themselves.
This is the difference between a Pinochet, Franco, or Fujimoro on the one hand and a Mugabe or Chavez on the other: the right-wingers left a relatively prosperous society ready to become free and healthy; the left-wingers leave a ruined society in which the property ownership is so screwed up that it will take at least a generation to make the nation self-sufficient. (Mugabe threw farmers off their land and gave it to thousands of city-dwellers who knew nothing of farming.)
By all means pray for a miracle. Hope for it if you must. Work for it if you will. But expect it at your peril–and the peril of all around you.
njcommuter on March 2, 2008 at 2:42 PM
I can honestly say that half of you here don’t have a clue about Mugabe, or what the hell is going on in Zimbabwe…and that is putting it mildly.
Chudi on March 2, 2008 at 3:24 PM
Dr Walter Williams has a very interesting article this week about this very subject. Here
Wade on March 2, 2008 at 3:36 PM
Instead of just insulting, could you perhaps clue us in, or point to some information with which we can educate ourselves?
shibumiglass on March 2, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Chudi’s right, shimbumiglass. Granted, he could’ve said it a little better.
It’s pretty easy to find information on Zim. Google Mugabe and you’ll have plenty to read.
I’ve been traveling to Zim for over 25 years and seen a magnificent country change into a horrible place. The trouble really started with Mugabe’s land reform policies where he nationalized the white farms and redistributed the land back to the indigenous citizens.
This resulted in farm production falling to record lows and changed Zim from a net exporter and the “breadbasket” of southern Arica to a country that can’t even begin to feed it’s own citizens now. At one time, tobacco production, and the resulting exports made up over 70% of the hard currency influx into the country. Since the land reforms, production has fallen from over 250,000 tons to less than 50,000 tons. Again, due to the land reform policies where inexperienced farmers with no capital or machinery try to farm. Now, there’s no money to buy fertilizer and other inputs, and it’s a downward spiral.
The fiscal policies are also a joke. Inflation is the highest in Zim than any non-warring country in history. My friends there live day to day and you can’t buy anything in the stores. Meat, flour and other goods are available if you have dollars, marks or euros to pay on the black market. Also, Mugabe set the “official” currency rate at a level that is laughable. What it means is if you are lucky enough to be in business and get hard currency in payment, once you put it in the bank, it will revert to Zim dollars at 500:1 or so, while the black market (true) rate is 2,000,000:1.
Power is intermittent, there’s no petrol, bottled water, bread, or worst of all, no beer.
I was there a couple of years ago when Mugabe was bulldozing the “illegal” housing on the outskirts of Harare. Those shacks had been there for years, and it was heartbreaking to see those folks holding their few meager possessions while the riot police protected the dozer drivers.
It will take generations to rebuild what Mugabe has destroyed. Someday, hopefully, the streets in Harare will again be paved and the folks there will be able to appreciate the beautiful Jacaranda blooms again.
The world should be ashamed for not helping sooner.
BacaDog on March 2, 2008 at 4:14 PM
If mugabe can hold out for one more year no doubt barry will bail him out and prop up his corrupt despotic regime. Everybody better get ready to really see our tax dollars at work.
peacenprosperity on March 2, 2008 at 5:30 PM
shibumiglass on March 2, 2008 at 3:55 PM
BacaDog on March 2, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Thank you for the information. I for one don’t trust newspapers and tv to give me correct information. Forums and threads illustrate several different points of view. I try to take as much information as possible, and it is good to see different stories. I, like probably many, am wrapped up in day to day things, so I try to glean from reading several different sites. So I appreciate your willingness to share your experience and piece of the puzzle. It does no good to insult and mock others for not having a “clue.”
Cold Steel on March 2, 2008 at 5:57 PM
It is the scale of transformation in Zimbabwe which is so horrific. This wasn’t some tinpot state dependent on bags of aid: this was one of Africa’s most prosperous and plentiful nations. So much of the infrastructure has been destroyed that it will take decades to rebuild.
Funny that for all the moonbats shrilling about Iraq you hardly hear a word from them about Mugabe. For them, everything is motivated by hatred of America.
Pax americana on March 2, 2008 at 6:40 PM
with in the next 100 years America will be just like Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is a classic story of liberal/progressive policies put into action.
TheSitRep on March 2, 2008 at 6:46 PM
Having spent a month in Botswana last summer, it’s obvious the problems of Zimbabwe extend well beyond its borders. Thousands of refugees are flooding the surrounding countries in hope of being able to have enough money for a loaf of bread or tank of gas. “Uncle Bob” has plundered his country and is reportedly working on a deal to live out his remaining days in luxury in Namibia. It can’t come soon enough for the people in all of southern Africa.
heddly_lamar on March 3, 2008 at 11:58 AM