Zimbabwe needs results – not patience

Harare, Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday called for “time, patience, unity of purpose and perseverance,” in getting the country’s struggling economy working again “from being dead” under his predecessor Robert Mugabe.

His plea comes amid an acute, and worsening economic crisis. It’s likely to fall on deaf ears.

Mnangagwa is of course right – meaningful economic recovery after the stagnation of the Mugabe era will take time, and patience. The problem is that it’s been almost two years since he succeeded Mugabe, a reasonable amount of time to expect some evidence of a turnaround.

Yet far from improving, Zimbabwe’s economic outlook has drastically deteriorated.

Since 2017 inflation has soared to 300% according to the IMF, invoking fears of a return to the hyperinflation last seen under Mugabe. Shortages of basic goods have become the norm, amid an acute foreign currency shortage.

A new currency introduced in June is in free-fall, the economy is expected to contract by 5.2% this year, and millions are at risk of hunger with warnings that the country is facing its worst ever famine.

The government insists that it’s putting in place the foundations for an economic revival, but it’s hard to buy into this in the absence of any discernible improvement.

More than patience, Zimbabwe needs results.

This report reflects the views of the author alone, not those of How we made it in Africa.


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