Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east.
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| Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 after a bitter war of liberation waged against the Rhodesian security forces. Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, and subsequently President in 1987. In the Feb. 2009 government of national unity, he remains President with executive power. Morgan Tsvangirai is Prime Minister and also has executive power. |
The first decade of independence in Zimbabwe was one of development and material progress. The dark side of the decade was the massacres committed against the Ndebele people between 1983 and 1985 because of their links with political dissidents. The decade of the 1990s saw an economic downturn associated with policies of structural adjustment imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The decade of the new century has been marked by political violence, economic turmoil and social disintegration. From a situation of agricultural plenty, Zimbabwe is now dependent on food aid to feed most of its people. Most of the 4,600 mainly-white farming families in the year 2000 have left leading to a drastic fall in agricultural output.
Tobacco and tourism are no longer major sources of foreign exchange revenue. The Zimbabwean dollar is no longer common currency. Most of the population is unemployed and there are acute shortages of food. Health and education are in crisis, and AIDS and cholera take human lives.
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| In the midst of great deprivation, the resilience of the population is most notable. Their desire to come through their current hardships, to educate their children, to restore a functioning economy and to live a life of meaning and purpose knows no bounds. Only time will tell if the new political dispensation can facilitate such a scenario. |
