The Political Asylum

BlueEmperor · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:24 am Post subject: Mugabe: The 21st-Century Mobutu

As I watch the latest in a long line of rigged Zimbabwean elections unfold, I cannot help by be struck by the stark similarities between Mugabe's Zimbabwe and what I've read about the Congo in the final years of another corrupt African dictator - Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaïre.

Like the late President Mobutu, Mugabe came to power in Zimbabwe promising a new dawn for a nation that had just emerged from white minority rule. Mobutu began as a popular leader, who brought stability to the war-scarred Congo in 1965. But his dictatorial streak soon got the better of him. He renamed the country Zaïre and instituted a cult of personality and indigenisation policies that saw the country emptied of what remained of her educated white middle-class. In 1974, he undertook a comprehensive scheme of nationalisation; farms, plantations and commercial enterprises all being confiscated from their 'foreign' owners - ostensibly for distribution among black Zaïrians. Instead, thousands of businesses were divvied up between Mobutu's cronies, most of whom had no idea how to run a farm resulting in them quickly being run into the ground. Most foreign investors fled and those that stayed turned their attention to quick profits (which were then repatriated). Prior to 1974, the Zaïrian economy grew at approximately 7 per cent per year. Following Mobutu's nationalisation programme, it began a downward spiral (which continues to this day). In 2006, the Congo was the third-poorest country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mobutu turned Zaïre into a vast kleptocracy. He and his ministers plundered mercilessly - to an extent that became legendary. In addition to a number of residences in the capital Léopoldville (which he re-named 'Kinshasa') and presidential villas in every major town, Mobutu built a massive palace complex in his home town of Gbadolite. There, he had the airstrip enlarged to accommodate the Concorde he occasionally rented from Air France. He also bought villas on the French Riviera, the Swiss Alps, the Portuguese Algarve, and no less than nine buildings - including a turreted château - in uptown Brussels.

As the economic situation in Zaïre deteriorated, unhappiness with Mobutu's rule increased. To hold on to power, he devised a vast system of patronage, co-opting an expanding number of his critics into his government. Between 1965 and 1990, Zaïre saw fifty-one prime ministers, with each government consisting, on average, of forty ministers, all of whom were expected to use their time in office to provide for themselves, their family and a few generations of their descendants. By the 1990s, Zaïre had more than 600,000 civil servants notionally responsible for tasks the World Bank estimated could have been carried out by less than 50,000. As his government's financial resources dwindled, Mobutu became desperate and ordered the Bank of Zaïre to start printing money - by 1994, inflation hit 23,773 per cent. By the time he fled the country in 1997 to exile in Morocco, Mobutu was so universally despised that even members of his Presidential Guard opened fire on the plane.

Mobutu Sese Seko and Robert Mugabe

Now, let's return to 1980. Rhodesia had gained independence from Great Britain and white minority rule had ended. Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union won a parliamentary majority in free elections. But this was a time when the country had an independent judicial system and a constitution that protected minority rights. It had one of the largest and most sophisticated economies on the African continent and seemed destined to be an African success story. But it was not to be.

In 1982, Mugabe turned on his erstwhile ally, Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe Africa Peoples Union, unleashing his special forces (trained by North Korea) on Mr Nkomo's supporters in the Matabeleland. 20,000 people were slaughtered. Five years later the remnant of Mr Nkomo's faction were absobed into Zanu-PF - turning Zimbabwe into a de facto one-party state. Then, in 1998, the stories of Mugabe and Mobutu became ironically inter-linked - when Mugabe ordered his army to invade, of all places, the Congo.

Following Mobutu's flight, the Congo had descended into chaos and her new strongman, Laurent Kabila, was supported by Angola, Chad, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda entered the conflict on the side of the rebels, turning it into a true pan-African war! Mugabe's Congolese adventure cost Zimbabwe $15m a month and tied up a third of his army. In return for his help, however, President Kabila gave Mugabe mining concessions in the southern part of the Congo. Meanwhile, back home, the war was deeply unpopular with Zimbabweans, who now threw their support behind the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change, led by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai. It was Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC who defeated Mugabe's plan to change the constitution to name himself 'President for Life' in a 1999 referendum. Furious, Mugabe turned on the white commercial farmers, whom he suspected of giving financial backing to the MDC. Over the next few years almost all Zimbabwe's 4,000 white-owned farms were invaded by state-sponsored thugs, with those who resisted being murdered and others fleeing abroad. Mugabe claimed the land would be given to the landless masses but, in fact, much has been given to his cronies. As in the Congo, the new owners showed little aptitude for farming and Zimbabwe's agricultural sector soon collapsed (and with it most of Zimbabwe's tax revenue and foreign currency reserves). Mugabe ordered the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to print money, sparking the first hyper-inflation of the 21st-Century.

Like Mobutu, Mugabe's answer to the failing economy has been to increase state patronage and his own profligacy. He reportedly paid $12m for a 25-bedroom house in a posh suburb of Harare. His government now consists of forty-five ministers, each entitled to various of perks such as SUVs and formerly white-owned farms. To buy their loyalty, he provides influential police and army officers with imported vehicles. He recently signed into law an 'indigenisation programme' that foresees majority stakes in all non-black-owned private enterprise in Zimbabwe confiscated and given to black Zimbabweans. In reality, they will most certainly be distributed among Zanu-PF officials. Mugabe also declared his intention to confiscate 25 per cent of shares in all non-state mining companies.

The locust-like feeding frenzy seems to indicate Mugabe and his cronies understand the end is nigh but who knows how much damage they'll do before the end comes. It is truly tragic to see history continue to repeat itself in this way. As Mugabe prepares to steal yet another Zimbabwean election, I cannot help wondering if and when Africa will ever emerge from the sea of corruption that seems to engulf it.

B.E.
_________________
The doctor is in!

Lady Viola Wellbeloved · Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Out of this World

Africa, sadly, will never be free of corruption, political unrest, civil wars and ultimately because of those things, famine. Theirs is a tribal culture and will always have these problems.

So, do they embrace Western culture and its dubious ideals or keep their traditional way of life?

SilverMiniCooperS · Inmate of the Asylum Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 195

Well, Blue and I have discussed this despot many times on another board, for several years now.

Once again, we can only hope he gets voted out, but given all the previous elections, I'm not holding my breath.

BlueEmperor · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:35 am Post subject:

The MDC are claiming victory, I hear, but they are probably being premature. Certainly, this election does seem to have been different from previous ones. Maybe the opposition have now built up such momentum that Mugabe won't be able to simply steal this one. However, don't rule out a military backlash if the MDC try to remove Mugabe from office.

B.E.
_________________
The doctor is in!

Vintage Girl · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:03 am Post subject:

adrien · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:21 pm Post subject:

_________________
Sit on the banks of the river and wait for the corpse of your enemy. - Indian proverb.