This will hurt me...

I have already expended quite a few posts on Zimbabwe and the recent turmoil there. I can’t quite express the disappointment that I feel with regards to the latest outcome other than say that I hope that Mugabe gets exactly what is coming to him. Unfortunately, I am familiar with this tune and can see how it will probably pan out. Thus, I won’t bore you with another tirade, I will link to some sober words of the Political Umpire, who has pretty much said what I would have liked to say (only far more politely that I can manage this fine morning). For those interested, I am quoting Thomas Jefferson there in the header, but hold little hope that it will happen.

I have expended quite a few words on Robert Mugabe over the past few months, but really, I think that five words is all that you need: What an odious, obnoxious prick. His comment this time? Prior to his dodgy runoff election he comes out with : "Anyone who tries to undermine our land reform we will challenge. We are prepared to fight for our country or to go to war if we lose it - as happened to our forefathers." This is exactly the rhetoric that one could see in Spain prior to the Spanish General Election of 1936 (albeit from both sides in that case). We know what happened there .

While we wait on the outcome of the Zimbabwe elections – a topic upon which I've mused of late – I was drawn to an interesting little factbox on the Reuters internets the other day that puts some of the current issues faced by Zimbabweans in a little perspective. The full list is more comprehensive, but the things that jumped out to me included: Average life expectancy dropped from 63 in 1990, to 37 in 2005. Zimbabwe's mortality rate for children under five was 76 deaths out of every 1,000 in 1990, and increased to 105 in 2006. The World Food Program estimates that 45 percent of the population are malnourished. The price of a loaf of bread two weeks ago was about ZMD$6.6 million on the official market, and around ZMD$15 million on the black market. This compares to October of last year, where a loaf went for ZMD$100,000 , in 2003 ZMD$1,000 and in 1998 ZMD$5 . One might guess that sandwiches are presently off the menu in Harare!

I was looking at this photo essay from Foreign Policy magazine this morning, and one photo struck me in particular. It essentially was someone packing a briefcase full of cash. As I mentioned yesterday , with inflation running at over 100,000 percent, Zimbabwe's rate of inflation is currently the highest in the world. Now, like most I suspect, I'm struggling to get my head around what that means, and its broader implications for people. Using a couple of different online currency convertors, ZWD$1 million fetches roughly: AUS $37 or US $34 or Euro €21. Now this is achieved using flat currency transaction on market rate. In the real world, Zimbabweans would have to take whatever the black marketers are offering. The scantest of research reveals that the best that they might hope for out of that same ZWD $1 million is somewhere between US $3 to US $5. To be totally honest with you, I still can't get my head around it. Surely wages cannot keep up with that sort of inflation....

You may have heard that there has been an election going on in Zimbabwe. In what will be a test for democracy in southern Africa, the results may well decide the fate of liberal democracy in much of the under-developed world. The BBC has an interesting pictorial essay on the election, and it fits nicely with their streaming of 'on the ground' contributions and observations that have been solicited from all over the country. This is an excellent insight for those of us lucky enough to live in stable countries, and should remind us to be very thankful for our comparatively 'dull' electoral systems. The Times over the weekend featured an excellent article that spoke of the " the electricity of hope " that can be felt in the electoral processes of developing countries. In a result that has – to be frank – stunned me, independent monitoring groups have said that returns posted at about two-thirds of polling stations have given Tsvangirai 55% of the vote to Mugab...