EDITORIAL: Zimbabwe fairy-tale ends quickly
Hopes snuffed out that SA's neighbour is open for business
How do you solve a problem like Zimbabwe? Fourteen months after Robert Mugabe stepped down as president of SA’s northern neighbour, another cash crunch and more violent protests met with the deadly, oppressive arm of Zanu-PF, has put an end to any illusions that the country may finally be “open for business”. It shouldn’t be this way. In August 2018, shortly after Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner of a hotly disputed election, the World Bank said Zimbabwe “can easily become an upper middle-income country” in as little as five to 10 years. Speaking to Bloomberg, the World Bank’s vice-president for Africa Hafez Ghanem explained the country, where unemployment is estimated to be as high as 90%, has “huge potential”, “some of the most educated people on our continent”, and abundant natural resources. What it doesn’t have, however, are politicians with any real appetite for reform. Zanu-PF, who came to power at independence from the UK in 1980, has a long track record of quashin...
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