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Preface & Acknowledgements
- Weaver Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
xiii Zimbabwe occupies a special place in African politics and international relations. Its politics and socio-economic policies have been subjects of intense national introspection as well as international debate over the years. One sign of the preoccupation was the outpouring of theses and publications in the form of books, polemical tracts, reports and journal articles over the past quarter century. It was scarcely surprising that the country hogged the headlines for many years. Zimbabwe was a major ideological issue for those who believed that it valiantly stood against imperialism and neo-colonialism, and those that pointed out that it trampled basic civil rights and values through repression of its people. Its octogenarian leader for more than 30 years, the articulate and combative Robert Mugabe symbolised the fortunes and misfortunes, the rise and decline, of a country that was described as a ‘jewel’ when it attained independence in 1980. Here was a rare African leader who stood up against the powerful countries of the West, reminded them of their colonial past and railed against their imperialist machinations. But here was also a leader who plunged his country into economic decline and poverty, violence and widespread trauma. It would be fashionable but simplistic to explain the rise and decline of Zimbabwe solely in terms of the leadership and role of Robert Mugabe. Historical, structural and systemic factors should loom large in any explanation. But it would be naïve to ignore the strong imprint of Mugabe’s policies, decisions and personality on the direction and fortunes of the country. There were initially high hopes for the potential and future of Zimbabwe at independence in 1980. With one of the best infrastructures as well as impressive literacy and education levels, the country was the second most industrialised country on the continent. Endowed with a strong agrarian base and a relatively skilled and educated population, the prospects for the country’s development were much better than elsewhere in Africa. There were even hopes for a possible Zimbabwean model of transition to industrialised development. Furthermore, there was a belief that Zimbabwe would learn from governance and developPreface & Acknowledgements xiv Zimbabwe’s Lost Decades xiv ment mistakes made by its neighbours and peers in Africa. It did not. In less than two decades, Zimbabwe became mired in deep political and economic crises. Towards the end of the third decade of independence , the economy has collapsed, transforming the country into a basket case. Between 2000 and 2008, Zimbabwe effectively developed into a repressive authoritarian state in which state-sanctioned violence was a major instrument of containing dissent and manipulating the electoral system. How can we explain the country’s decline during these ‘lost decades’? Less endowed countries, including its neighbours, have managed their politics, economics and societies better while Zimbabwe stagnated or declined. To the west, Botswana experienced one of the longest sustained booms while to the north, Zambia steered a largely democratic transition involving changes of government. How should Zimbabwe’s ‘exceptionalism ’ be explained? It is clearly not sufficient to carve some ‘conspiracy theory’ in which the West and sanctions play a dominant role in Zimbabwe ’s slide into authoritarianism and underdevelopment. This book seeks to explore the factors that contributed to the entrenchment of authoritarianism, underdevelopment and poverty during the lost decades. It attempts a sustained critique of the post-colonial state and its leadership but does not spare the white colonial state which laid the conditions for a fundamentalist version of African nationalism in the 1960s. It is argued that Zimbabwe’s lost decades date from the 1950s when opportunities for moderate African nationalism and peaceful transfer of power were squandered. As is argued elsewhere in relation to the culture of political violence, the roots of narrow and exclusive nationalism underpinned by intolerance of diversity and opposition were laid during that period. While independence provided opportunities for notable progress in the social sector (chiefly in education and health), mismanagement in later decades made such progress unsustainable. Due to lack of coherence in policies, there was a large mismatch between education and opportunities for employment. Developments in human capital formation were cancelled out by large-scale migration in which a quarter of the country’s population participation departed. Zimbabwe became a training ground for teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, accountants and technicians for other countries including those in the West. Capacity in public and private sectors shrank. During these lost decades, Zimbabwe declined from middle- to low-income status. [18.234.165.107] Project MUSE...