CMI BRIEF
June 2010 Volume 9 No.3
Zimbabwe’s Multilayered Crisis
All photos: zimbabweinpictures.com
Once a vibrant and dynamic society, Zimbabwe has since the turn of the
millennium gone through a complex multilayered and pervasive series
of catastrophes. Political instability, lawlessness, misgovernment and
a relentless economic meltdown has transformed this leading southern
African nation into an international pariah. While measures have been
taken to improve the situation, there continues to be a constellation
of factors that challenge the ability to come to terms with the current
political confrontation between the regime and the opposition.
GENESIS OF THE CRISIS
The long-term origins of the crisis lie in the
90 years of colonial rule and the stark racial
inequalities that prevailed under the white
minority rule that continued after the 1965
declaration of independence. An armed struggle
to liberate Africans from the clutches of this
oppression culminated in the end of white
minority rule in 1980. However, armed liberation
also laid the foundations for an anti-democratic
ruling party intolerant of dissenting view points.
The formation of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in 1999, which challenged the
hitherto unrivalled political dominance of the
Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF), created a sense of panic within
the ruling party. They responded with ruthless
violence designed to destroy this opposition
threat to the regime’s longstanding postliberation incumbency.
The deteriorating economic conditions that
prevailed from the early 1990s onward
contributed to the rise in popularity of the
MDC. Arguably, the decline began with the
World Bank/IMF-inspired Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in the early
1990s, which led to rapid de-industrialisation,
growing unemployment and severe erosion
of living standards. In October 1997,