By RFIPalled on 06-09-2019Modified on 06-09-2019 at 15:03
Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe died on Friday at the age of 95 in Singapore, where he was hospitalized. Fallen in November 2017, he led the country for 37 years. A reign that ended in a catastrophic economic record.
Robert Mugabe left power a little less than two years ago, leaving a sluggish Zimbabwean economy. Yet the first part of the Mugabe regime had achieved respectable economic growth. The plunge began in the early 1990s, about ten years after Zimbabwe's independence and since then the country has struggled to recover.
A brutal agrarian reform
The collapse of the economy has been gradual and one of the main factors in this descent into hell is the violent expulsion of white farmers from their land in the early 2000s. The new occupants, most of whom were "heroes" of independence , had not been prepared to exploit farmland. As a result, this brutal agrarian reform, which should have been spread out over several years, caused a collapse of agricultural production in this country, until then regarded as the breadbasket of southern Africa. Following this, Robert Mugabe is confused with Britain, the former colonial power and the entire West.
Sumptuous birthdays
Zimbabwe is sinking into the financial crisis. Unemployment is breaking records, inflation is sluggish, industry and the state are ruined. To cope with Western sanctions, Mugabe turns to Asia, which supports him. But he lets corruption gangrene his regime. An independence hero who as he ages, cares little about his country. This is reflected in the staggering spending on his birthdays, when most Zimbabweans live in poverty.
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