Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe A landlocked country in southern Africa, originally consisting of Mashonaland (home to the Shona people) and Matabeleland (home to the Ndebele/Matabele people). In a treaty with the Ndebele of 1889, agents of Rhodes secured exclusive rights for the exploitation of minerals in Matabeleland for Rhodes's British South Africa Company (BSAC). Declared a British protectorate in 1891, most Matabele and Shona resistance was overcome by 1894 (though sporadic insurrections occurred until 1903). Named Rhodesia in 1894, it was administered by the BSAC, which divided the land and gave the fertile half to the White minority (less than 5 per cent of the population), and the infertile half to the Black majority as Tribal Trust Lands (TTL). The TTLs were unable to provide adequate subsistence for the Blacks living on them, who were thus forced to become a cheap labour resource for the Whites managing the fertile farmlands. Economic inequality became reinforced by the spread of the apartheid ideology transmitted by White immigrants from South Africa. Following a referendum by White settlers against entry into the Union of South Africa as a fifth state, BSAC rule ended in 1923, whereupon the country essentially gained self-rule as Southern Rhodesia in 1924.

In 1953 Southern Rhodesia became part of the Central African Federation, together with Nyasaland (Malawi) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). When the federation broke apart in 1963, owing to Malawian and Zambian strivings for independence, the Southern Rhodesian settlers were quick to assert their desire for independence through the racist Rhodesian Front (RF) of Ian Smith, who was elected (by the Whites) Prime Minister in 1965. Since the British government refused to grant independence unless Blacks were given an appropriate (i.e. majority) share in government, Smith made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Sanctions imposed by the UN and Britain were at first largely ineffective, since they were ignored by Rhodesia's main trading partner, South Africa, as well as the neighbouring Portuguese colony of Mozambique. Internal resistance emerged under Nkomo's ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) and Mugabe's ZANU (Zimbawe African National Union). Their respective guerrilla movements fought with increasing bitterness, particularly after the breakdown of negotiations with Smith in 1976. Despite continuing rivalries, ZANU and ZAPU united to form the Patriotic Front (PF), which opposed a new settlement in 1978 whereby the Whites would maintain a pivotal role in the political and administrative system. Following the elections of April 1979, Muzorewa became Prime Minister. After continued international pressure and PF opposition, a final compromise was reached at a British-sponsored agreement at Lancaster House, 21 December 1979.

For four months, Rhodesia reverted to the rule of British authorities, which monitored and ensured fair elections in March 1980. These were won by Mugabe (63 per cent of the popular vote), while Nkomo's ZAPU received 24 per cent. Independence under the name of Zimbabwe followed on 18 April 1980. In the following years, Mugabe's careful and moderate policies produced remarkable racial harmony between the prosperous Whites and the poor Black majority, despite the civil war that had claimed over 30,000 lives during the 1970s. Tensions between ZANU and ZAPU, which sometimes erupted into violence, were finally settled in 1987, when ZAPU joined ZANU to form the ZANU-PF. In accordance with the Lancaster House agreement, Parliament voted in June 1987 to end White over-representation in Parliament, which for a transitional period of ten years had guaranteed them (1.2 per cent of the population) 20 per cent of the seats. Nevertheless, most of these seats were filled again by Whites after the 1990 elections under the banner of ZANU-PF, and two White ministers were appointed.

Under Mugabe's rule, education was made accessible to all, while sanitary provision and health care were improved considerably. Nonetheless, the persistently strong economic performance relied on continued inequality between Blacks and Whites. Because of the differences in agricultural fertility, White farms yielded more than six times more income per head than those owned by Blacks. Four thousand white farmers owned more than 30 per cent of the fertile arable land, obtaining over 40 per cent of the country's exports, and employing over 65 per cent of the workforce. Meanwhile, cheap Black labour continued to guarantee the competitiveness of Zimbabwean agricultural produce. In 1994 the High Court approved an exappropriation law (against compensation) originally passed in 1992, though few steps were taken to put it into effect, partly because of the already existing high debt of the state. In 1997 this debt increased further as 11,000 Zimbabwean troops became involved in the war in the Congo (formerly Zaïre), at a cost of over $100 million per year. As the economic problems deepened and unemployment rose to above 50 per cent, Mugabe hoped to restore his popularity by encouraging militant loyalist Blacks to take the law into their own hands and occupy farms owned by Whites from 1998. In that year, the government for the first time expropriated, without compensation, hundreds of white farmers. International aid was frozen as a result. Official and unofficial expropriations continued, despite a High Court ruling in 2000 ordering the return of farms to their white owners. Mugabe's increasing extremism failed to halt the erosion of his popularity, and he ensured re-election in 2002 by electoral fraud and the persecution of opponents.

By 2003, unemployment had risen to around 70%, while severe droughts had worsened the economic conditions still further. Inflation was the highest in the world, at over 500% in 2003. Against this background, Mugabe increased political repression. In 2003, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was charged with treason, and foreign reporters were expelled.