We've all heard about the Zimbabwean crisis be it on the TV or print media, but here is a small selection of statistics from an extensive fact sheet to show how much of a crisis it really is:
Population
Estimated population in 2000: between 12.5 and 13 million; current estimates indicate the population could be as low as 8 million
Economic Collapse
The world’s fastest shrinking economy - exports: R50 billion in 1997, R9 billion in 2007
Agricultural Sector
Up to 70% of commercial agriculture has been destroyed
Emigration / Brain Drain
75% of Zimbabweans with a job are employed outside their country
Living Standards
45% of the population is malnourished, one of the highest rates in the world
Health
Number of doctors per 10 000 people: 1 (World Health Organisation statistic 2006)
Mugabe’s Mansions
Located 16 km north of Harare, Mugabe’s 25 en suite bedroom mansion is the size of a medium-sized hotel
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/factsheet081007.htm - via haha.nu
I once spoke to a legal immigrant from Zimbabwe, you can see how sad they are for leaving the country, but as he said, "Nothing is left for me there".
And it's not like the guy turned the land over to the people once he took it from the mostly white Zimbabweans. Instead he just handed it out to his cronies who had no clue about farming, nor had the equipment.
There are certain people the world would be better without...
Hard to feel sympathy for a country that shot itself in the foot.
We're waiting for the next great idea.
The great Western Democracies were based on 2500 years of cultural foundations from Ancient Greece, Rome, medieval Europe, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, &c. There were a whole lot of successes, failures, and ultimately learning about how to run a government that happened during that time. Most of Africa missed all of it! We expect them to act like we do when the population is largely illiterate and almost wholely ignorant of what took us a couple millenia to pick up ourselves.
Literacy is the first step to resolving their condition. WIthout literacy, learning is forvever handicapped. Without learning, a people will live in perpetual ignorance and the problems never get solved -- they'll only move from one strongman/dictator to the next without ever achieving peace or achieving living standards close to the developed world.
Straight talk from Sid.