| The BBC has noticed. |
Power cuts along with fuel and water shortages have become common occurrences in Zimbabwe. Critics of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party say his policies have crippled a once vibrant economy and that things have got worse since the party's re-election in March 2005. Former Zimbabwe correspondent Grant Ferrett returned to the country to find out.I'd been in Zimbabwe just a few minutes when President Robert Mugabe's face appeared. I was in an airport lounge, and state-run television was broadcasting archive footage of Mr Mugabe. But each time his picture came on, a young shop assistant held up her hand in the flat-palm sign of the MDC opposition over the television screen, obscuring the view of the 81-year-old leader. It was a very public expression of defiance in a country where criticising the president is a criminal offence and where many people live in fear.
| Brave woman. |
Power cuts have become a common occurrence in Zimbabwe, an indication of the country's economic demise. Another sign was provided by the cost of just a short taxi journey into the centre of the capital, Harare, which came to 250,000 Zimbabwe dollars. When I first arrived in Harare seven years ago, the exchange rate was 38 Zimbabwe dollars to the pound. The unofficial rate is now about 25,000 to one. The plunging value of the local currency and the correspondingly breathtaking rise in inflation - currently down, officially, to a relatively modest 130% a year - has made life very complicated, as well as very expensive for most Zimbabweans.
For a start, it is difficult to keep track of prices which are constantly changing and you have to carry wads of notes. One celebrated cartoon shows robbers holding up a man who is pushing a wheelbarrow full of cash. The attackers demand that their victim throw out the worthless banknotes and hand over the wheelbarrow.
The introduction of a 20,000 dollar note reduced the inconvenience. But close examination reveals that the notes, known as bearer cheques, have an expiry date of 31 December 2004. They were clearly intended to be a temporary measure, but because Zimbabwe's economic collapse has continued, they are still needed. They also have the number 50 written in the corner. They were introduced in such a hurry that the authorities simply used the template of the old 50 dollar note.
In what used to be my local shopping centre in Harare, there were empty shelves. Shortages have afflicted the country for the past five years. The staple food, mealie meal, was available, but only the more expensive variety, which is beyond the means of many Zimbabweans. There was no sugar, even though there are vast sugar plantations in the south of the country. Uneconomically low, government-controlled prices ensure that much of it ends up being sold at a higher price outside the country.
| P. J. O'Rourke once said that the first basic problem with socialism is that it tried to define the value of a good or service as being something other than what people would pay for it. |
President Mugabe can claim little support in the capital. A widely circulated phone text message asked why it was the Pope who had died rather than the Zimbabwean leader. "I said please take Bob," says the message, "not the Pope."
It was impossible for me to tell if the ruling party had much support in rural areas. I was working as a journalist in Zimbabwe without accreditation, an offence punishable by two years in prison.
I had hoped to visit some of the previously white-owned farms which had been redistributed over the past few years, but was advised that the risks were too great. I did speak to some unemployed farm workers, who had been without jobs since their farm was reallocated three years ago. There are hundreds of thousands in a similar position.
I also interviewed a friend who is a successful black commercial farmer. He bought his farm legally, long before the government's redistribution programme. When I phoned to suggest I visit him at home, he quickly dismissed the idea. He said he was being watched on his farm, his new neighbours apparently didn't trust him. He is viewed as an ally of the white farmers who used to live in the area. So instead he came to meet me in the anonymity of the capital.
Sitting in a borrowed car, I spent much of the time glancing in the mirror hoping no passers-by had noticed the microphone. He was anxious, too, and told me that he was thinking of spending some time away from the farm in the hope that things would calm down. He said there was still a lot of intimidation by ruling party supporters. This man, who told me five years ago that he wanted to be a role model for aspiring young Zimbabwean farmers, is even wondering if he will be able to farm at all in another five years' time.
It is a terrible comment on President Mugabe's government, and shows perhaps why one young Zimbabwean tried to prevent Mr Mugabe's face appearing on television.