Mugabe is the Mobutu of our time
Marian L. Tupy wishes that Zimbabwe would follow the lead of Botswana, a market democracy. For now, it swelters under the oppressive rule of a tyrant who is wrecking his country.
‘Nice shoes,’ said a young Zimbabwean looking wistfully at my $40 Nike tennis shoes that I wore when I encountered him sitting on the floor of a completely barren Bata shoe store in the town of Victoria Falls. It was last November and I was in Zimbabwe having crossed the border from Botswana earlier that day.
The once charming town that used to teem with travellers from around the globe was more derelict and much emptier than I remembered it from my visit in the early 1990s. About half of the shops were either empty or closed altogether. The main shopping centre looked more like a warehouse and offered a few strategically placed products in an attempt to mask the widespread shortages of consumer goods. A small number of backpackers, mostly bemused young students from the former British dominions, wandered around the town centre in futile search of edible food. They were clearly delighted to see another white face — cracking jokes and drawing comfort from our shared ‘hardships’.
Few of the locals would talk to me and those who did would look over their shoulders — worried that someone might be listening. Zimbabwe suffers from 150,000 per cent inflation, unemployment of more than 80 per cent, collapse of basic public services and the lowest average life expectancy on earth. What was once a breadbasket of Africa is now an economic disaster zone. What was once a reasonably free society is now a police state where armed gangs of government supporters harass, beat and kill opposition members with utter impunity.
As I reflected on what I saw, it struck me how much Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe resembled what I read about the Congo in the final years of rule by another corrupt and megalomaniac dictator — Mobutu Sese Seko. Like Mobutu, Mugabe came to power promising a new dawn for a nation that had just emerged from under a white minority rule. Like Mobutu, Mugabe will leave or be forced out of power amid political repression and economic collapse.
More articles from: Marian L. Tupy | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Imagine the terror of the Chinese officials
David TangDavid Tang reflects on his visits to Beijing in the run-up to the Games, where Western expertise has been harnessed to the ruthless efficiency of China’s government machine
Nudge, nudge: meet the Cameroons’ new guru
James ForsythThe economist Richard Thaler — a favourite of the Cameron and Obama camps — talks to James Forsyth about the power of ‘nudging’: small transformative acts of persuasion
The cross-party consensus on welfare reform echoes the Gingrich–Clinton revolution
Fraser NelsonFraser Nelson on the coming political week
The Falun Gong show that meek can be provocative
Lloyd EvansLloyd Evans joins the dissident movement in a ritual exercise near the Chinese Embassy. He is unsettled to find himself understanding why China’s rulers get so paranoid about them
Big Brother versus YouTube: let the Beijing Games commence
Mark LeonardMark Leonard, Britain’s pre-eminent analyst of modern China, says the Olympic genie is out of the bottle. The prospect of global scrutiny has actually increased repression as the authorities try to stamp out dissent. But digital technology is impossible to police
I feel for Ingrid Betancourt — I was kidnapped, too
Tristan Garel-JonesTristan Garel-Jones on being kidnapped and why the world should stand with Colombia
We have a duty to protect Zimbabwe
Peter OborneRobert Mugabe is murdering, starving and brutalising his people in the run-up to the presidential elections next week, says Peter Oborne. We should act now to prevent civil war and ethnic cleansing
A diplomat who could yet be the British Obama
Tim WalkerPaul Boateng, our man in South Africa, dismisses comparisons with the American presidential contender. But Tim Walker says he has unfinished business in Westminster
Boris is the kind of Tory I’d vote for: which means he can win
Rod LiddleRod Liddle urges his friend to stand for Mayor of London and demonstrate
what modern Conservatism can do — if you let it
‘All because of The Spectator’
Clemency Burton-HillLatest blog posts
sponsored links
Spend your next golf holiday at La Manga Club
Exclusive Vacations work directly with owners for an exceptional deal on accommodation at La Manga Club
Spend your next golf holiday at La Manga Club
Exclusive Vacations work directly with owners for an exceptional deal on accommodation at La Manga Club
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Roy
March 21st, 2008 8:24amTo give people an earthy grounding to Britain's complicity in the handing over of S.Rhodesia into the jaws of Marxist Leninist saboteurs. Read: "Bitter Harvest: The Great Betrayal and the Dreadful Aftermath", by Ian Smith. So great was Britain's wish to be rid of this jewel of Africa. So great was the anger of the then PM toward Ian Smith's unilateral declaration of independents. So great was the British torque for appeasement towards black Africa's advancing communists... They gave it away!! There were safeguards but they turned a blind eye. They just couldn't be bothered. The devil in their eyes was the white minority government ... who wanted more time before handing over to majority rule. Who ... we should ask, is the devil now?