Just
a
few
years
ago,
economists labeled Zimbabwe’s
economy
a
“basket
case.”
Now,
they
say
it’s
booming
as
it
rides
the
waves
of
a
gold
rush.
That’s
quite
a
turnaround
for
a
country
that
not
so
long
ago grappled with
hyperinflation
so
extreme
that
most
locals needed wheelbarrows
of
cash
to
buy
groceries.
What’s
fueled
the
boom
has
been
the
rising
price
of
gold
and
other
commodities.
That,
in
turn,
has
been
pouring
cash
into
Zimbabwe’s
informal
economy,
with
some
trickling
down
to
the
hundreds
of
thousands
who
work
in
small-scale
mining,
observers
say.
“These
youngsters
are
loaded,”
one
retailer
in
Mazowe,
a
gold-mining
area
north
of
the
capital
of
Harare, told the
Economist,
describing
a
surge
in
spending
on
electronics
and
motorcycles.
Higher
prices
for
other
resources
such
as
chrome,
lithium
and
platinum
are
also
boosting
export
earnings,
bringing
in
more
foreign
currency,
reducing
the
need
to
print
money
or
once
again
replace
the
Zimbabwe
dollar,
and
helping
stabilize
inflation.
This
has fueled economic
growth,
leading
to
one
of
the
highest
expansion
rates
in
Africa.
The
economy
is
booming,
says
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
Still,
the
boom
hasn’t
been
even
or
widespread.
Zimbabweans say there
is
a
massive
and
widening
gap
between
official
claims
of
growing
prosperity
and
the
everyday
reality,
with
gains
concentrated
in
pockets
of
the
informal
economy.
Meanwhile,
more
than
half
of
the
population lives below
the
poverty
line.
“To
millions
of
suffering
Zimbabweans
trapped
in
deep
poverty,
hunger,
unemployment,
hyperinflation
and
hospitals
[lacking
drugs],
to
suggest
that
a
lot
has
improved
in
the
last
five
years
is
a
gross
insult,” said former
Zimbabwean
finance
minister
Tendai
Biti.
“This
economy
is…
weighed
down
by
massive
corruption,
incompetence
and
indifference.
It
is
slowly
heading
for
an
implosion.”
Moreover,
almost
half
of
the
country
is worried about
corruption
siphoning
off
the
benefits
of
the
economic
boom.
Zimbabwe
is
one
of
the most
corrupt countries
in
the
world,
with
the
president
and
his
circle
heavily
involved,
according
to
the
US
government,
which
placed
sanctions
on
the
president
and
other
officials.
“Mnangagwa
is
involved
in
corrupt
activities,
in
particular
those
relating
to
gold
and
diamond
smuggling
networks,”
the
US
Treasury
Department said.
“Mnangagwa
provides
a
protective
shield
to
smugglers
to
operate
in
Zimbabwe
and
has
directed
Zimbabwean
officials
to
facilitate
the
sale
of
gold
and
diamonds
in
illicit
markets,
taking
bribes
in
exchange
for
his
services.”
The
current
situation
in
the
country
has
dashed
the
hopes
that
Zimbabweans
had
for
the
transformation
of
their
country
after
long-time
dictator
Robert
Mugabe
was ousted in
2017
after
37
years.
Mnangagwa,
who
took
office
soon
after,
promised
economic
revival
and
democratic
reforms.
Instead,
Zimbabweans
got
more
of
the
same, wrote the
Bertelsmann
Stiftung.
“The
past
seven
years
have
been
marked
by
increasing
repression,
a
lack
of
reform,
severe
corruption
and
a
deteriorating
economic
crisis,”
it
said.
“The
systematic
and
widespread
attacks
on
the
opposition
and
civil
society
have
severely
narrowed
democratic
space.”
Mnangagwa’s
administration
has cracked
down severely on
members
of
the
opposition
and
activists,
and
has
turned
increasingly
authoritarian,
civil
rights
groups say.
His
government
has
operated
a
system
similar
to
Mugabe’s,
though
analysts
say
it
has
evolved,
with
informal
cash
flows
and
resource
booms
reshaping
who
benefits.
“In
recent
years,
the
rise
of
the
‘mbinga’
(wealthy
hustler)
phenomenon
and
the
president’s
call
to
‘make
money’
have
to
be
understood
in
this
matrix
of
clientelism
and
patronage,” said the
Institute
for
Security
Studies.
“Simply
put,
‘Work
with
us,
and
limitless
money-making
opportunities
abound’.”
The
situation
is
leading
to
a
power
grab.
Recently,
the
government proposed constitutional
changes
to
lengthen
presidential
terms
from
five
to
seven
years,
which
means
Mnangagwa,
83,
would
stay
in
power
past
2028
–
possibly
for
life.
Another
change
would
eliminate
the
direct
election
of
the
president,
who
would
then
be
chosen
by
parliament.
That
has
some
voters
outraged.
Ishmael
Phololo,
a
cellphone
technician
who
runs
a
workshop
in
Harare,
said
lawmakers
cannot
be
trusted
to
choose
the
president.
“A
[lawmaker]
cannot
relate
to
the
people’s
woes
because
the
moment
they
get
in
parliament,
they
get
cars
and
allowances,”
he told Al
Jazeera.
“If
they
want
to
have
indefinite
terms,
they
should
just
declare
Zimbabwe
a
monarchy
and
stop
pretending
that
we
have
democracy.”
Source:
Zimbabwe’s
Gold
Boom
Masks
a
Tarnished
Core
–
GlobalPost