Outlook dire as Zimbabwe faces uphill rebuilding and reconciliation battle
Institutions have been greatly damaged after virtual one-party rule
In a presidential address to the Economic Society of SA’s biennial conference in Johannesburg in September 2007, my subject was After Mugabe Goes: The Economic and Political Reconstruction of Zimbabwe. On rereading it a decade later, one can only be devastated by recognising how much further the Zimbabwean political and economic situation has deteriorated since then. By all the conventional socioeconomic criteria, Zimbabwe has retrogressed enormously, even losing its currency. The birth of Zimbabwe in 1980 was attended by great rejoicing and high hopes, but 37 years later, the country has been faced with institutional collapse and economic disaster. With Robert Mugabe now gone as president, it is worth considering the kind of intervention, both domestic and external, that will be needed to put Zimbabwe back on the right path. We are looking at least at a decade to repair the harm done to the Zimbabwean economy and society by an oppressive regime. However, will the latest development...
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