Zimbabwe crisis: there could be worse to come

published 3 October 2007

Britain cannot continue to look the other way on Zimbabwe, said Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, in The Observer. It has become a "humanitarian disaster". Average life expectancy has fallen to the mid-thirties, inflation rages at more than 8,000%, and the shelves are "empty of bread and maize". Four out of five of the country's 12 million inhabitants live in abject poverty and the cramped townships lack electricity and running water. Despite his best efforts, President Mbeki of South Africa has failed to help. The time has come for Gordon Brown finally to "slay the ghosts of Britain's colonialist past" by leading the way in co-ordinating an international response to Robert Mugabe's "unjust and brutal regime".

A report from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) confirmed that the country is "closer than ever to complete collapse" and urged "international actors" to close ranks behind Mbeki, said Daniel Howden in The Independent. But while South African officials and the ICG talked of persuading Mugabe to stand down with a guarantee of immunity, the Zimbabwean parliament passed a constitutional amendment allowing Mugabe to name his own successor should he fail to complete another term as president.

There could be worse to come, said The Economist. Mugabe's land redistribution "devastated" the country's agriculture, and now parliament is set to pass a law that could transfer at least 51% of all businesses into local black hands. This is "hardly likely to delight new investors". Companies, including Heinz, are selling up and getting out. But not everyone is pessimistic: the crisis has attracted investors keen to pick up cheap assets. Imara opened a fund investing in Zimbabwean firms in April and money "poured in faster than it could invest".