Zimbabwe


Figure 1.--his photograph was taken in the then British colony of Rhodesia during the early 20th century. It shows a mother and her five children in front of their traditional home.

Cecil Rhodes obtained mineral rights from African chiefs (1880s). The British occupied the country (1890). The British separated the colony into northern and southern colonies (1923). Northern Rohodesia eventually became Zambia. The south had a substantial white minorityqhich helped turn Rhodesia into the breadbasket pf Africa. Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing colony dominated by the white minority. There was a federation with Nyasaland. Rhodesia was a prosperous colonies with bright prospects as an independent country. Ian Smith's right wing party won elections (1962). Britian refused to grant independence without a degree of blak majority participation. Smith's party won a sweeping party won a sweeping victory (1965). He declared Rgodesia independent. Britin refused to recognize this and asked the United Ntions to apply sanctions. The result was the Bush War and international sanctions. The Lancaster House Agreement ended the War and provided a transitin to majority rule (1980). Britain granted the clony independence with a new name--Zimbabwe. The Government dominated by guerrilla leader Rober Mugabe gradually turned the country unto a dictatorship. Under his rule, the once productive economy steadily deteriorated and by the 2000s Zimbabwe was one of the poorest countries in Africa. Today mamy Zimbweans are surviving at subsistence levels and children wearing rags. We have a page on Zimbanwean schools.

Geography


History

Cecil Rhodes obtained mineral rights from African chiefs (1880s). The British occupied the country (1890). The British separated the colony into northern and southern colonies (1923). Northern Rohodesia eventually became Zambia. The south had a substantial white minorityqhich helped turn Rhodesia into the breadbasket pf Africa. Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing colony dominated by the white minority. There was a federation with Nyasaland. Rhodesia was a prosperous colonies with bright prospects as an independent country. Ian Smith's right wing party won elections (1962). Britian refused to grant independence without a degree of black majority participation. Smith's party with a largely white electorate on a sweeping victory (1965). He declared Rhodesia independent. Britain refused to recognize this and asked the United Nations to apply sanctions. The result was the Bush War and international sanctions. The Lancaster House Agreement ended the War and provided a transition to majority rule (1980). Britain granted the colony independence with a new name--Zimbabwe. The Government dominated by guerrilla leader Rober Mugabe gradually turned the country unto a dictatorship. Under his rule, the once productive economy steadily deteriorated and by the 2000s Zimbabwe despite its brighr prospets has become one of the poorest countries in Africa. Among his many statements, "The only white man you can trust is a dead white man." Increadably there were even worse statements. Mugabe with the weconomy in ashables was driven from power 2017). Today mamy Zimbweans are still surviving at subsistence levels and children are wearing rags.

Economics

Zimbabwe despite its political problemns at the time of independence had a strong economy and a real chance of sucess. It was seen as the breadbasket of Africa. Robert Mugabwe became Prime-minister (1980). His 37 year dictaorial rule soon changed the country's high hopes. Dictatorship combined with economic mismanagment was a recipie for diastrerthat many new African countries shared. Not only had Zimbabwe been producing food for the domestic market, but also for export. The turning point for Ziambabwe came wgen Mugabwe's thugs began forcing the white commercail farmers off the land as part of a chaotic, coersive land reform (2000). The land was given to Zimbaweans who had no idea how to farm. Usually person connected politically to Mugabwe, not Africans who had been working on the estates. And Mugabwe's racist oriented land reformers made no effort to train the people whomgot the land how to farm. Harvests quickly plummeted and Zimbabweans began to go hungary. It was not just the agricultural sector that declinned. All sectors declinned. And eventually Mugabwe set off the greatest inflation spiral in all og history. Billion dollar bills appeared and werEventuall there were hunderd trillion doillar bills. As far as we know this were the highest denomination bills ever printed and they were soon worthless. The country's economy and people were devestated. Mugabe was forced from power (November 2017). There was euphoria about the future. But the immense damage done by his 37 year rule will not be easily repaired. The United Nations office in Harare had to launch an appeal for more than $300 million in emergency funds to prevent starvation in a country with some of the richest agricultural land in all of Africa (August 2019). U.N. Ambassador Bishow Parajuli that the funds were need to care for some 3.7 million people in despeate need. Zimbabweans live in a country where there is electricity for only 6 hours a day at best. There are long lines for gas--when it is available. Stores including grocery stores have little on the shelves. And few customers can aford even the basicson the rare occassions when they are available. Incredably the Government banned the use of the dollar and other foreign currency and than had to admit that they lacked the funds to have a new national currency printed. Frustration is building because the hoped for improvements after the removal of Mugabe have not occurred. Mugabe ally Emmerson Mnangagwa is the current president, but has failed to make major changes. And like other Soclilists (Cuba and Venezuela) the failures are all blamed on outside forces (America, Britain, and Australia). Socialists tend to fail at just about everyhing--but they are very resourceful and creating excuses. Condition continue to deteriorate. The inflation rate is 175 percent, actually low by Zimbabewan standards. The economy which had been growing slowly is set to decline in 2019. And the World Bank sees a 3 percent decline in 2020. [Hill, p. A12.] Ironically, Zimbabwe is being forced tom import food from the African counties that took in the white farmers thar Mugabwe drove out of the country. That is when Zimbabweans cam afford to import the needed food.

Ethnicity


Schools

Zimbanwe is one of the former British colonies in southern Africa. It was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia. Like many of these countries, school uniform and dress trends show yhis British heritage. Elementary school children in Zimbabwe commonly wear uniforms. At one representative school in the 1990s the girls wore blue dresses with large Peter Pan collars and the boys wore khaki open collar shirts and short pants. We believe that this is also the case in secondary schools. We still have very limited information on the country. Zimbabwe's spiral into disorder and poverty in recent years has undoubtedly affected the ability of parents to afford school uniforms. As in South Africa khaki was a populsr color for school wear. The boys here, for example, look to be wearing khaki shirts and shorts, but it is difficult to be certain.

Sources

Hill, Geoff. "Protests to highlight failure to launch in post-Mugabe era," The Washington Times (Augustb15, 2019), p. A1, 12.








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Created: 7:28 PM 4/3/2009
Last updated: 2:41 AM 8/16/2019