Weekend Reading

I know I haven't given you a more recent appraisal on just how bad life has become in Zimbabwe for ordinary people. This weekend, I encourage you to read We all Fall Down, an article by Mary Ndlovhu over at Pambazuka. Mary, a Zimbabwean activist, scintillatingly captures the harsh reality of life in Zimbabwe and astutely observes that:

Most governments confronted with such a situation, whether of their own making or otherwise, would either resign or scramble frantically to find solutions, but the Zimbabwean government is doing nothing of the kind. While blaming everyone from white farmers to the British Prime Minister and crowing constantly about the “turn-around” of the economy, our current band of ministers are fully occupied by two major activities:

1. Amassing wealth. This is done simply by pursuing purely private interests while in government offices, or more obviously, using their government contacts and positions to secure for themselves contracts, housing and land to which they arrange access. Price controlled goods in short supply offer welcome opportunities to make black-market fortunes.

2. Staying in power. ZANU PF must stay in power for two reasons: one is clearly to continue appropriating the little remaining wealth of the country for their own personal use. The other is to avoid the inevitable unpleasant consequences of their past and present illegal activities, should another government take power.

Read the whole article here.

Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Crisis,