Dumisani Muleya
MARTIN Shumba fidgets in a snaking queue in central Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, as he waits to buy a portion of chips and pieces of chicken from one of the few fast-food outlets still operating.
Shumba has been queuing for more than an hour to buy the food, which he took for granted only last month.
That was before President Robert Mugabe’s regime unleashed a fierce price reduction blitz that has emptied shops and left a quarter of Zimbabwe’s 12-million population facing severe food shortages.
Millions in Zimbabwe are now forced to scrounge for food in a country that used to be the bread basket of the region.
International donor agencies say that since the crackdown on supermarkets and shops started, more than half of the population needs food aid to avert an impending crisis.
The World Food Programme appealed last week for funds to help more than 3,3-million Zimbabweans — more than a quarter of the population — facing starvation.
Over the past seven years, millions have fled the country into neighbouring countries, particularly SA and Botswana, to escape the economic meltdown and grinding poverty.
Those who cannot afford to fly or drive out, like the now absent middle classes, must risk a miserable crossing of the Limpopo to uncertain opportunity and potentially greater suffering.
The exodus accelerates every day. Police now estimate that between 6000 and 10000 people cross into SA every week . Thousands are deported weekly.
Since Mugabe unleashed his gangsters to raid shops in the name of enforcing price reductions, the situation has gotten even worse.
Basic commodities — such as bread, sugar, salt, maize-meal, the staples of every Zimbabwean’s diet — are gone. Some days they are not even available on the thriving black market.
Fuel, in severe shortage since 1999, has all but dried up on the official market. With no drugs available, hospitals are now places to go and die.
Many supermarkets in Zimbabwe today resemble those of former eastern European states at the height of the desperate years of the 1970s and 1980s.
Endless queues stretch in cities and towns as ordinary Zimbabweans battle to survive. Sometimes queues form on a rumour or a promise of supplies.
Day trips to neighbouring states in search of food to buy or barter are now the main line of merchandise.
The price reduction blitz has left the Harare government deeply divided after Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono publicly opposed the crackdown, saying it would drive the final nail into the economy’s coffin.
Mugabe’s deputy, Joyce Mujuru, has also opposed the crackdown.
However, a defian t Mugabe said in Malaysia at the weekend that his “price war” would continue. He had pre-empted a plot involving local businesses to overthrow his regime.
Life, which was arduous six months ago, is approaching unbearable for the majority of Zimbabweans.
They spend days without running water and electricity. Public transport is a nightmare; most workers spend hours queuing to go to work. Most simply walk, sometimes more than 10 km a day.
Shumba has been queuing for more than an hour to buy the food, which he took for granted only last month.
That was before President Robert Mugabe’s regime unleashed a fierce price reduction blitz that has emptied shops and left a quarter of Zimbabwe’s 12-million population facing severe food shortages.
Millions in Zimbabwe are now forced to scrounge for food in a country that used to be the bread basket of the region.
International donor agencies say that since the crackdown on supermarkets and shops started, more than half of the population needs food aid to avert an impending crisis.
The World Food Programme appealed last week for funds to help more than 3,3-million Zimbabweans — more than a quarter of the population — facing starvation.
Over the past seven years, millions have fled the country into neighbouring countries, particularly SA and Botswana, to escape the economic meltdown and grinding poverty.
Those who cannot afford to fly or drive out, like the now absent middle classes, must risk a miserable crossing of the Limpopo to uncertain opportunity and potentially greater suffering.
The exodus accelerates every day. Police now estimate that between 6000 and 10000 people cross into SA every week . Thousands are deported weekly.
Since Mugabe unleashed his gangsters to raid shops in the name of enforcing price reductions, the situation has gotten even worse.
Basic commodities — such as bread, sugar, salt, maize-meal, the staples of every Zimbabwean’s diet — are gone. Some days they are not even available on the thriving black market.
Fuel, in severe shortage since 1999, has all but dried up on the official market. With no drugs available, hospitals are now places to go and die.
Many supermarkets in Zimbabwe today resemble those of former eastern European states at the height of the desperate years of the 1970s and 1980s.
Endless queues stretch in cities and towns as ordinary Zimbabweans battle to survive. Sometimes queues form on a rumour or a promise of supplies.
Day trips to neighbouring states in search of food to buy or barter are now the main line of merchandise.
The price reduction blitz has left the Harare government deeply divided after Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono publicly opposed the crackdown, saying it would drive the final nail into the economy’s coffin.
Mugabe’s deputy, Joyce Mujuru, has also opposed the crackdown.
However, a defian t Mugabe said in Malaysia at the weekend that his “price war” would continue. He had pre-empted a plot involving local businesses to overthrow his regime.
Life, which was arduous six months ago, is approaching unbearable for the majority of Zimbabweans.
They spend days without running water and electricity. Public transport is a nightmare; most workers spend hours queuing to go to work. Most simply walk, sometimes more than 10 km a day.
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