Zimbabwe
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Introduction
Zimbabwe is an African country, formerly known as Rhodesia. It is a landlocked country located in Africa’s southern parts and occupying the areas between Zambezi and Limpopo. According to the united nations data on the world population 2020, Zimbabwe has 14,862,924 people, translating to 0.19% of the total world population (UN,2020). Like any other African country and most developing economies, Zimbabwe has a mixed population with the biggest percentage of 99.6% being of African origin while remaining of foreign descent. This, according to the 2012 census report, indicates that out of the remaining percentage, the greatest bulk are white of European origin.
The country’s capital is located in Harare. Occupying a total area of 390 757 square kilometers, the country is home to 14 million people with a population density of 95.2 persons per square kilometer. However, the country’s projected population is expected to reach 19 million by the end of 2030. The political system in Zimbabwe mimics that of most African countries, whereby a president heads it. As a developing country, Zimbabwe has been grappling with numerous issues in its steps to develop a strong economy, as this paper seeks to highlight.
Economic Issues
The 2020 GDP of Zimbabwe is at 42.5 billion international dollars in a country whose 60% of the population falls below the poverty line; therefore, it is inevitable to note that certain economic facts have kept the country on its knees economically. A large number of Zimbabwe population depends on farming, while there is also a considerable number who rely on formal employment. Zimbabwe depends hugely on the agricultural sector and mining.
Minerals and gold represent the country’s major foreign exports. Similarly, tourism plays an important in the country’s economy. Since independence, the country’s mining sector has played pivotal roles in enhancing its economy. For instance, some of the country’s largest reserves being mined currently include the Marange diamond fields. According to the International Monetary Fund, it is argued that the country’s mining sector, if appropriately utilized, holds the ability to improve the fiscal situation of the country; however, this has not been realized due to the state of rampant and run- away corruption in the country.
Owing to the 40 years’ dictatorial tenure of the former Zimbabwean president Mugabe, characterized by huge economic and political exploitation, Zimbabwe has therefore derailed economically over the years until the recent administration that has tried to resurrect the state economy. The economy was majorly contributed by the tertiary industry that made up its 60% GDP in 2017. However, it is imperative to note that a lot of factors come into play when analyzing the economic structure of the country, including and not limited to these;
Agriculture – agriculture stands to be the backbone of Zimbabwe. It contributes to approximately 17 percent of the national GDP. With the majority of the population being rural people whose primary source of livelihood is drawn from agriculture, this sector has continued to provide employment to over 60 percent of the nation’s population. However, this rich sector, which has provided employment and continues to contribute to the growth of the economy, is also facing a lot of shortcomings, including low rainfall, poor agricultural practices, drought, and government policies,
Poverty – this is the general state of not being able to access, consume, and produce any goods and services for personal use. Poverty is not only a country issue, but it transcends the borders to the entire continent.
In Zimbabwe, it was estimated that poverty levels had risen significantly from 29% to 34% from 2018 to 2019, which is quite a high percentage considering the population in Zimbabwe. These rising numbers are due to the fall in purchasing power and unemployment in the country. The poor government policies which have made it hard to find formal employment have added to the scars of rise in population have both contributed to the continuous state of high poverty levels in the country.
Unemployment– unemployment is a big crisis in African states, Zimbabwe has not been exempted from the map of Africa’s growing unemployment rate. The current unemployment rate in Zimbabwe stands at 4.95%; a slightly higher number in 2019 considered to 2018.
The economic situation in the country majorly favours state corporations and places financial burdens on privately-owned companies. According to evidence obtained from the African Development Bank, state corporations and enterprises enjoy highly subsidized taxes as opposed to their private counterparts. Although tourism has been considered a major source of income to the Zimbabwean economy, earnings from this sector has continued to dwindle over the past owing to the fact that a good portion of the country’s wildlife have been lost due to poaching and deforestation.
Cumulatively, the country’s GDP currently stands at. Zimbabwe enjoyed a positive GDP for a better part of the 1980s and early 1990s until its involvement in the War in the DRC in the 2000s that saw a fall in its GDP by approximately 20%. Due to the drain imposed on the country’s economy by this war, the average purchasing power declined considerably, however the government had pointed accusing fingers at the foreign governments and imposed sanctions as the main causes for the failing economy. The country’s economy rebounded in 2009 after the formation of a unity government and adoption of the Zimbabwean dollar.
Agriculture has as well remained a key contributor to the country’s economy. The country produces wheat, and maize accounting for over half of the country’s gross domestic product.
Social issues
Zimbabwe is a socially structured economy, with the current 14 million populations. The population structure is such that the youth have dominated 38.9 percent of the total population while the rest is people between ages of 15 to 65 years, this is according to the united nations in 2019. The population in Zimbabwe has also contributed much to the development of the country socially with the availability of workforce for the labour market and further contributed by the high rural-urban migration leading to rapid rate of urbanization with the majority of people settling in Harare; the capital city. A lot of social issues like education have been very instrumental in the creation of a society. In 2014, UNESCO stated that the literacy rate in Zimbabwe was at 88.7 percent, a steady rise over the years.
Health, which is one of the biggest threat in Africa, contributed by luck of improved technology in the continent and with limited access to medicine. Therefore, African states are more susceptible to diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. Out of over 14 million people in Zimbabwe, over 1 million are affected by the HIV virus and as observed by international journal of maternal and child health and aids in 2012, that by the year 2010, only 326,241 people in Zimbabwe were estimated to be receiving antiretroviral therapy. HIV/AIDS has therefore impacted the economy of the country on the negative scale, resulting to the decreasing in the human capital for social development and diseases like Malaria which still haunts the country’s social-economic development is still a great setback.
The country is rich in terms of the religious diversity. With the major part of the country being hugely Christian society and partly Islamic. The constitution of Zimbabwe permits religious rights and freedom around association and belief owing to its democratic space. Furthermore, due to the historical background of the country’s political environment over the years, it is no wonder that the people in Zimbabwe are deeply sensitive to governance and leadership issues with part of the civil society dedicated to the activism and social movements areas. Zimbabwe society is divided into the political class, elite class, civil society and the entrepreneurial society against a background of the political, social and economic development.
The justice system in Zimbabwe is one that has seen oppression and exclusion of the common citizens out of a just society. During the regime of the former president Robert Mugabe, a lot of injustice was met on innocent citizens especially during every election year. Electoral injustice, police brutality and government force on its citizens was a common image in Zimbabwe in the recent past and even as the country welcomed in a new regime after Mugabe’s resignation these issues would still find its way to today’s Zimbabwe despite the stringent measures adapted by the new administration to return sanity back to a country whose rule of law was suspended for many years. It is also important to note the contribution of the international agencies like the united nations and the African union among many other financial institutions in the restoration of development and prosperity.
The country’s total population currently stands at 14 million, with the life expectancy ranging between 56 years and 60 years for men and women respectively. UNESCO observed that the country’s HIV infection rates stands at 14% particularly for people aged 15 and 49 years. However, the organization has also noted a decline in the rates of new infections among pregnant women.
Zimbabwe is religiously diverse consisting of Christians, Islam and traditional worshipers. It is important to note that 85% of the total population are Christians. Observably, Islam accounts for only 1% of the total population.
Political issues
Zimbabwe is purely a presidential republic headed by a president who is the head of government. It is a democratic state guided by the rule of law under the constitution, although many could argue that the constitution has failed to offer good governance and provide the blue print of the running of both the society and government business. This could be attributed to the political conditions over time, especially during the former president Robert Mugabe’s regime that many critiques could argue das being a pariah state. There are three arms of government namely; the executive headed by the president, the legislature headed by the prime minister and then the Judiciary headed by the chief justice.
Since independence, the constitution has had numerous attempts at changing its constitution and one major significant change was witnessed when Mugabe revised fit to make himself the leader of the country for such a long time that resulted to killing of the democratic space in its totality. There are various political issues in Zimbabwe before and after the resignation of Robert Mugabe; a lot of which have affected the prosperity of the country.
Electoral injustice – Due to the imperial leadership by the former president, and the consequent dictatorship, there has never been transparency in election for such a long time leading up to the removal of Robert Mugabe. The public trust with the electoral body declined massively over the years and it became so hard for people to have faith with the outcome in every election which led to violence after every election.
The judiciary independence-with the rule of law being suspended in Zimbabwe in the years preceding to the resignation of the former president, there has been a common culture of manipulating the outcome of justice processes by the political and elite class, making the public trust of the judiciary decline.
The rule of law– it has been a common practise for the avoidance of the rule of law in Zimbabwe and especially by the political class. The powerful and highly connected have misused power while going around government and personal business. It is no wonder the civil society has had risen up against the misuse of power by the political class and actively rioted against these despotic situations. The leaders of opposition have risen over the years to defend the rule of law while struggling amidst difficult political conditions to defend the constitution. The military and the police have been used wrongly to enforce quiet when the country attempts to reject the oppressive rules and injustice
Independence of the media– -the media has faced a lot of interference and influence by the political class, this is evidenced when the freedom of the media is curtailed by the state in order not to compromise the integrity and the failed policies of the people in power. The media which forms one of the important civil society in terms of educating the masses on their democratic space and choices have been tampered with by virtue of closure, arrests and intimidation.
Cultural issues
The culture forms the major part of a people’s society; it is by definition who a people are. Zimbabwe is quite diverse culturally and in the same length very rich. There are over 16 official languages in the country and a number of other local ethnic languages. There are various ethnic groups with the common ones being the Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Venda and shangaan.
The fists two are major but they all have similar cultural and religious traditions on marriage practices and also on belief systems.
It is very important to also note that the culture and values of the Europeans significantly shaped rural and also urban landscape in terms of governance and use of space. Agriculture being a major part of the economy, it is inevitable that it has formed part of Zimbabwean culture particularly in food and lifestyle. The food in Zimbabwe is majorly grain, vegetable with some foods being seasonal like groundnuts fruits, termites milk and caterpillars. there are however practices of food taboos, for instance foods like eggs were believed to cause infertility.
Medicine and health. One of the areas that culture has manifested itself is in traditional ways of treating of ailments. Before the arrival of scientific interventions of treating of conditions, Zimbabwe had traditional.
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