The Zimbabwe Crackdown

July 3, 2005

The former British colony of Zimbabwe has been ruled by Prime Minister/President Robert Mugabe since 1980 through the organization ZANU-PF (BBC). Mugabe's regime won power as a result of a protracted guerrilla war and international sanctions regime directed against the Whites-only government of [South] Rhodesia; as a result of international revulsion at the Apartheid regime in Zimbabwe, the ZANU victory was widely celebrated, and PM Mugabe reaped a bumpercrop of goodwill.

However, Mugabe was obsessed with eliminating his opponents, whether ethnically based, or politically based. By 1987, real power was shifted from the PM to the President, and Mugabe had himself appointed president after having his predessor, Canaan Sodindo Banana, deposed. Also, early in the ZANU regime, Mugabe instigated a terror campaign against the minority Ndebele (and their ZAPU party, led by Joshua Nkomo).

In the years since then, Mugabe has held elections for the presidency and for parliament, with predictable results. Challengers are frequently accused of having "instigated violence" or defaming the president (Mugabe himself); Pres. candidate Morgan Tsvangirai (MDF, 2000) was accused of trying to assassinate Mugabe (the charges were dropped).

The refusal of the ANC government in neighboring South Africa to accept, support, or even tolerate criticism of Mugabe has been a chronic thorn in its human rights record. Despite an historic rivalry between the ANC and the ZANU, there appears to be a conviction in the RSA that Mugabe is the victim of a smear campaign, much like the one directed against Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez (Guardian; but see also Fanuel Jongwe). The rule of thumb is that NGO's and aid organizations generally have the harshest opinions of Mugabe's rule; neo-liberal multilaterals, such as the IMF in the 1990's, and far-left organizations generally, seem to have teamed up to argue that he's not the monster portrayed in the western media.

Following his victory in the April 2005 elections, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina, or "drive out the rubbish" (Head Heeb). The operation has been massive and has left perhaps a quarter million homeless; while the authorities have spouted stories about this being part of a giant urban renewal campaign, reports by observers suggest that the Mugabe Administration simply has no means of coping with large shantytowns and wants the population to disperse back to the countryside to resume farming.

Harare's population soared in the early 1990's as a result of (a) a liberalization program in the urban area, under pressure from then-friendly IMF, and (b) a devastating drought and locust swarm that devastated agriculture. Zimbabwe's farming is in a disastrous state, essentially failing to keep pace with the country's burgeoning population (Earthtrends). Dumping hundreds of thousands of urban residents in a big vacant lot is not likely to reverse this trend.

UPDATE: Special thanks to Jonathan Edelstein of the Head Heeb for this link to Sokwanele, a detailed description of the shantytown razing.

Observers have speculated that this latest policy is retributive: most of MDC's 41 parliamentary seats are in urban constituencies, and one aim may be to displace MDC supporters from urban centres into rural areas where they will be forced to tow the line by powerful, ZANU PF supporting traditional leadership, who control access to communal resources. Parallels have been drawn between what is happening in Zimbabwe and the policy of peasantisation under Pol Pot or Ceausescu. The prospect for democracy is increasingly grim.

One theory is that the current operation is part of a strategy to reallocate what is left of Zimbabwe's dwindling resources to those that the ruling party has to rely on to retain control. Already, vendors' licences are being reissued in Harare - but only to those who have a valid ZANU PF card. Similarly, in those areas that have been razed to the ground, such as White Cliff Farm, land is already being re-pegged, and the sites are being allocated to members of the army and police. Furthermore, people from MDC supporting cities are being displaced into ZANU PF strongholds in rural areas, where it is quite simple - those who do not support ZANU PF will not be allowed access to food this winter.