Zimbabwe ’s economic and political situation worsens each year, yet one of the biggest obstacles to turning things around is its own government.
‘Life really isn’t good here at the moment.’ Twenty-one-year-old Runako’s analysis is simple and bleak.
As a skilled welder in southern Zimbabwe, Runako should have a promising future. But for her, like millions here, every day is a struggle.
'As the situation has become less stable, Mugabe’s tactics have grown more shocking'
Zimbabwe today is a country of startling percentages. Inflation has exceeded 1,000 per cent, unemployment is more than 80 per cent, malnutrition is pushing 30 per cent, and the adult HIV rate is 20 per cent.
At 34, Zimbabwe’s women now have the lowest life expectancy in the world, and there are more orphans per capita here than anywhere else on earth.
It’s a mess. A country that was once relatively prosperous is now described as undergoing a process of ‘deindustrialisation’.
Much of the problem lies with Zimbabwe’s government. Poverty here is a political issue.
Robert Mugabe
President Robert Mugabe’s populist policy of land redistribution was supposed to benefit the landless rural communities. But it has backfired, sending the economy into a devastating spiral and driving a wedge between different sectors of society.
For the past six years, Zimbabwe has endured massive food shortages because of drought, HIV and the disruption to farming caused by the government's ‘fast-track’ land reform programme.
But year after year the government denies the scale of the problem, more concerned with maintaining control than with making sure its citizens don’t die of hunger.
And as the situation has become less stable, and the critics more vocal, Mugabe’s tactics have grown more shocking.
In 2005, the government tore down homes and market stalls across the country in a ‘clean-up’ campaign called Operation Murambatsvina (literally, drive out the trash). According to the United Nations the destruction affected 700,000 people, who lost their homes and/or places of work at the height of winter.
William used to be a TV and radio technician. ‘I’ve been badly affected by the loss of my shop,’ he says. ’I’m used to doing work. Now I just wake up and sit around doing nothing all day.’
William’s home and shop were bulldozed by his government. His wife and children left to seek shelter with their extended family.
With his family split up, his home and livelihood destroyed, he has been sleeping rough.
Liberator or tyrant?
The government claimed that the demolitions were needed to improve law and order. But critics claim that the destruction was a way of punishing urban voters who had supported the opposition in the recent elections.
Politics here are highly polarised. Zimbabwe is a young democracy, and many people still view President Mugabe and his peers as liberating heroes, like Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
Others, however, rate him as a power-hungry tyrant who has brought his country to its knees.
The ruling Zanu-PF party rejects any criticism as ‘neo-colonial’, but when Zimbabweans themselves speak out together, they cannot easily be dismissed. And the prophetic voice of the Church lends strength and legitimacy to any protest.
Turning point
For many years the churches in Zimbabwe have been hampered by the same political divisions as the rest of the country. But over recent years, as the government’s human rights abuses have worsened, more outspoken critical groupings have emerged.
For many, the 2005 clean-up campaign marked a turning point. Dismayed by their government’s contempt for its citizens, churches in the second city of Bulawayo defiantly opened their doors to the new homeless, despite firm orders not to.
‘As Christians we must be defiant,’ said Jonah Gokova, coordinator of Christian Aid partner, Ecumenical Support Services (ESS). ‘We should defy oppressive and unjust laws... if we are arrested, or jailed, so what?’
ESS is just one of several like-minded church organisations who are prepared to stand up for the rights of ordinary Zimbabweans, whatever the cost.
Another partner, the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, is now spearheading a new ‘Save Zimbabwe’ campaign.
This coalition, launched in July 2006, is made up of church and human rights groups, trade unions, student movements and opposition parties, all united by a desire for change.
Ray of hope
It is still very early days. But this kind of initiative provides a glimmer of hope. Despite intimidation, threats, arrests and beatings, there are still many in Zimbabwe who will not stay silent in the face of oppression. We will support them in every way we can.
It may take weeks, months or even years, but change will eventually happen in Zimbabwe. When that day comes, we want to know that we played our part.