The hellhole that Zimbabwe has become

As Zanu PF bigwigs continue to bludgeon each other politically, while the stampede to succeed President Robert Mugabe gets ever uglier, the lot of the majority of Zimbabweans is getting worse by the day - with many living in squalor and abject poverty.

So bad has the situation become, that many Zimbabweans say the country has reached the debilitating depths of despair and suffering that were experienced in 2007/2008 when shops were empty and the attendant hyperinflation levels at the time made it into the Guiness Book of Records, with some people in rural areas surviving on wild fruits.

The only difference, if there is any, between then and now, even as the end result is the same - economic Armageddon - is that this time around shops are bursting with goods, and one doesn't need wheelbarrows of useless Zimbabwe dollars to buy a loaf of bread.

But now not only is money scarce generally, because there are no jobs, there is increasingly literally no money, as the currency of the "hated, imperialistic" Americans that our "liberated and proud" politicians surprisingly adopted and love so much is facing extinction in the country.

And so, Zimbabwe's precipitous decline - from once being seen as the regional breadbasket and "Jewel of Africa" 36 years ago, to a much derided basket case where university graduates can only aspire to become street vendors - continues unabated.

A visit to many high density areas in the capital Harare leaves one sad beyond words. Dry taps, rivers of sewage and heaps of uncollected garbage are a common sight that many people under the age of 30 take as the "norm".

Many ordinary Zimbabweans who remember how different and relatively bearable life used to be in Rhodesia (despite the oppression of blacks then) as well as in the early years of the country's independence, put the blame for the rot squarely on President Robert Mugabe's shoulders and his ruling Zanu PF.

Economic and political analysts who spoke to the Daily News yesterday said the country's dying economy, as well as the on-going cash crisis was a symptom of deep-seated problems emanating from Zanu PF's failed rule of the past three and half decades.

"What we are going through is largely a political process and unless and until we sort out our politics, there will be no economic recovery. To project what the future holds for Zimbabwe, there is need to take a look at the political dynamics in the governing party.

"It is clear we are in the last stages of the Mugabe era and if one takes a microscopic view of the political dynamics as amplified by the media, you will see it's is all coming to an end," prominent academic Ibbo Mandaza said.

Other analysts said it was "typical of Zanu PF to blame everyone else, except themselves" when the otherwise prudent Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, blamed depositors last week for fuelling the country's biting cash crisis, by allegedly keeping money outside the formal banking system.

"The liquidity crisis is a problem that we have to look squarely in the face and address.  We have to understand that we don't print the US dollar. We are a unique country - one of three countries in the world - that pays wages and buy small goods like mazhanje (wild fruit) in United States dollars and that comes with its own challenges," he said.

Chinamasa added that the "temporary cash shortages" were being accelerated by Zimbabweans refusing to embrace the use of plastic money.

But Harare-based analyst Issis Mwale predicted that the cash shortages would worsen given Zimbabwe's political climate and the country's lack of significant exports.

"From where I am standing, something has to give. If the prevailing economic and political conditions prevail, then the situation will get worse.

"Some companies are now even failing to perform the most basic of functions and defaulting on supplier obligations, which could even culminate in food shortages, seeing that Zimbabwe is experiencing a drought this year. So, the worst may not even have come yet," she said.

An analyst with Greeyps Risk Efficiency and Development Consultants, Cade Zvavanjanja, said the lack of a local currency was also working against the country.

"It is due to the fact that we are not using our own currency that we can manipulate and print to meet our circulation and economic demands. For us to access the hard cash we need to import it.

"Also, we need to have the money to buy the money, but currently our nostro balance is not satisfactory to make some of these payment, hence the challenges," he said.

MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said the cash shortages were an indication that the Zanu-PF government was continuing to fail dismally to deliver on its mandate.

"The Zanu PF regime is at sixes and sevens. They have too much negative energy. Most of their time is spent fighting puerile and purposeless factional and succession wars.

"President Mugabe himself is now too old and decidedly out of touch with the grim reality on the ground," Gutu said.

Economist Vince Musewe said the country needed to resort to plastic money to mitigate its cash challenges, or generate adequate export revenues.

"The main problem with our economy is that we are not generating enough export revenue. We are exporting a few things outside the country like platinum, chrome and tobacco, of which tobacco exports are yet to gain momentum," he said, adding that the high levels of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) were also contributing to the cash shortages.

African Development Bank statistics on Zimbabwe suggest that in the past decade alone, Zimbabwe lost $12 billion in IFFs, which made a few individuals and corporations richer at the expense of society.

"People know that you can come to Zimbabwe, a country using the United State dollar, an obviously superior currency to most, and then leave the country with the money undetected. In the same manner Zimbabweans themselves are externalising money. So, naturally this creates a deficit," Musewe said.