Startling statistics reveal how bleak life has gotten under Robert Mugabe. But his critics may have to tolerate him for even longer than they expected.
Until last week, Robert Mugabe had been scheduled to retire in 2008 but his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party has proposed adding another two years to the 82 year-old "president's" dictatorship. Clearly, ZANU-PF has no clear idea who will succeed Mugabe, who has already warned his angry critics, most notably the main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, not to stir up any dissent or "anarchy." Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), remained adamant that his country "cannot afford three more years of suffering" and vowed resistance to ZANU-PF's anticipated tenure extension in the form of legal street protests, and job and work boycotts. Mugabe's detractors have long blamed his incompetence for ruining what was once one of Africa's most thriving economies.
Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's only ruler since its independence in 1980. Although life expectancy in the 1970s was not impressive at 56 years old, this figure - according to the World Health Organization (WHO) - is now 34 years in 2006, despite the Zimbabwean Health Minister's claims that the WHO report was "not true of course." But a look at some other facts and figures shows that, while numbers may not be precise, they still tell a story about the sad state of affairs under Mugabe's tyranny.
Numbers
Zimbabwe's current state of disrepair is rivaled by few countries. 80% of Zimbabweans live below the poverty line and 80% of the population is unemployed. Inflation has steadily been at 1,000 percent. Zimbabweans also ranked second last in the world in Life Satisfaction, according to the 2004 World Happiness Database report. Outrageous "clearing" campaigns such as Operation Murambatsvina (literally, "Operation Drive Out the Trash" in Zimbabwe's native Shona language) can't do much to elevate patriotic spirits or inspire presidential fealty.
Lastly, and perhaps most telling about the country's next generation, Zimbabwe has the highest rate of children living with AIDS at approximately 20 per 1,000 (the actual number is 240,000 - third highest in the world). AIDS-stricken Zimbabweans are still waiting for the free antiretroviral drugs that Mr. Mugabe promised in 2004 would be available for 200,000 of his plagued citizens. According to The Independent, 3,500 people die each week from an AIDS-related illness and, in November, the cemeteries of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, were declared full. Now even the gravediggers must be counted amongst the jobless due to overproduction.
