ZIM AND TERROR
By Sue Van Der Hout

President Mugabe’s refusal to relinquish control in Zimbabwe and the policies which have led Zim to collapse are destabilizing neighbouring countries. The current violence against «foreigners» in South Africa is not nationism, xenophobia, or racism but anger, frustration and a reaction to lawlessness.

Rhodesia was once the pinnacle of prosperity in Africa. No more. Since independence in 1980, this country of approximately 12 M people in an area slightly larger than Montana has a GDP of $520 (NY Times) and plagued by inflation of 165,000% (Reuters), it has plunged from modernism to feudalism.

…..plagued by inflation of 165,000% (Reuters), it has plunged from modernism to feudalism.

The story is as old as time. The people’s hero seizes the reigns of power and the only sound thereafter is that of the last dollar being pulled from the hands of the people into secret bank accounts of the few. As the NY Times reported last July, «No one outside of Mr. Mugabe’s inner circle, of course, can say with certainty why he has pursued policies since 2000 that have produced economic and social bedlam….Zimbabwe is fast becoming a kleptocracy…Zimbabwe’s plummeting currency…has rendered the salaries of Zimbabweans all but worthless.»  Penniless and starving, the Zims are flooding into the countries of their neighbours: South Africa and Botswana wrecking havoc with their economies, their security and their patience.  Twenty people have been violently murdered in the squatters camps in Johannesburg while 500 people reportedly sought shelter in a police station.

….Zimbabwe is fast becoming a kleptocracy….

As a visitor to Africa in May, I heard South Africans and the people of Botswana spoke with anger and frustration about the collapse of «Zim» and the violent, criminal acts engaged in by those in flight from their country and from Mugabe.   In Johannesburg our guide blamed the explosion of violent crime, muggings, home invasion and car jacking on the Zims.   He said that it was no longer safe to travel in downtown Johannesburg and that he himself refused to take tourists there.  Going downtown has become life threatening.  It is not us who have made the city centre uninhabitable, it is them, he told us.

In Jo’berg wealthier residents live behind high walls, barbed wire and electrified fences.  Gates open to homes and residents glance back nervously to ensure that no-one slips in as the gates slam shut.  Private guards patrol communities and security prevents access to neighbourhoods.  «The most basic right one has is to security,» a Jo’berg woman told me.  «A year ago a dozen friends would gather for dinner and one would have been mugged.  Now everyone around the table has that tale to tell.»  It is not just theft that is the problem.  It is the overwhelming hatred and a fear of rape or murder.  She said that her experience was typical: she and a woman who was 8 months pregnant were robbed at gunpoint.  Ordered into their car, she refused.  After more bullying they left.  «If you get into the car, you are raped then murdered,» she said.  «I’d rather take my chances with the gun.»  Afrikaners say that the hatred and violence came with the refugees.

«A year ago a dozen friends would gather for dinner and one would have been mugged.  Now everyone around the table has that tale to tell.»

Conditions are so desperate in South Africa that gangs are digging up electric wires for their copper.  South Africa had a system of timed electric blackouts to conserve energy.  All that this did was create a window for theft, violence and wire digging.  The policy was recently reversed.

In Botswana, locals spoke of the Zim threat.  They did so in whispers, fearful of retribution. While a number sympathized with the plight of the Zimbabwans, affirming the normal tribal willingness to help one’s brother, they said that a individuals could not save an entire nation and that the collapse of Zimbabwe makes the offering a token gesture at best. The refugees are coming in without food, money, skills or opportunity. «They are bringing us down with them.»
 

«They are bringing us down with them.»

The leaders of South Africa and Botswana look away from imminent collapse.  165,000% inflation is not an economy; it is a human disaster.

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