Eye on Zimbabwe

At independence, Zimbabwe was touted as one of Africa's most promising countries. Early investments in health, education and agriculture meant that by the 1990s, Zimbabwe boasted one of the region's highest literacy rates and a robust health system, and was poised to become a regional breadbasket. This potential was quickly squandered by the autocratic rule and economic mismanagement of President Robert Mugabe. In the course of the past decade, controversial land reform policies and inflation of percentages running into the millions have driven the economy into the ground; a growing proportion of the population is dependent on emergency food aid, and health indicators have plummeted.

The situation in Zimbabwe took a turn for the worse in March 2008 when violent, fraudulent elections hurled the country into nearly a year of even deeper economic and political turmoil. On top of a surge in political repression and violence, a cholera epidemic resulting from the collapse of the water and sanitation system left nearly 4,000 people dead, teacher strikes closed school doors for months, and a spiralling economy left more than half the population in need of food aid. By February 2009, international outcry over the emergency helped ratchet up pressure for a resolution to the political crisis. On February 11th, a power-sharing agreement was formalised with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sworn in as Prime Minister, Mugabe remaining President, and Cabinet positions split between the ruling party and the opposition.

It is too early to determine how this power sharing agreement will work. Robert Mugabe remains at the helm and some have speculated he only agreed to "share" power with Tsvangirai in order to appease the international community and open the door for donor assistance. Only time will tell if the state of democracy in Zimbabwe truly changes, but if it does, Zimbabwe will have the potential to regain some of its lost years of development.

The cholera epidemic is slowing and teachers have ended a year-long strike, reopening schools across the country. But this progress is fragile, and real change will not happen until the government is functioning enough to deal with the development crises that have stunted life in Zimbabwe for the past year. Zimbabwe needs strong support from its neighbours, the African Union (AU) and the rest of the international community to keep things moving forward and eventually win back some of the success it achieved in its early years of independence.