GRIFFIN SHEA, Harare | Thursday
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe downplayed his nation’s troubles on Wednesday in his state of the nation address to parliament, the first such speech he has ever given to an almost evenly split legislature.
Mugabe noted that Zimbabwe’s economy “performed below expectations” in 2000, saying that the government expects to post a 10.5% decline in manufacturing, a 14% drop in mining, and a 16% decline in tourism.
The agricultural sector was expected to grow by three percent on good rains, he said.
Most crops were planted and nearing harvest when self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation began forcibly occupying some 1600 white-owned farms in February.
Economists predict food shortfalls next year because of the disruptions caused by the squatters, who say they want to see white-owned lands handed over to poor black farmers.
Lawmakers from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) remained silent during the speech and did not applaud at its conclusion. MDC won nearly half the contested seats in June elections, becoming the nation’s first significant opposition.
But Mugabe said his government’s budget for next year “steers the nation in the direction we want to go – that of economic recovery and stabilisation.”
He blamed external factors for his country’s economic crisis – marked by inflation, unemployment and interest rates that hover around 60% – including low commodities prices and donors’ decision to cut off most aid.
Most donors followed the International Monetary Fund when it cut off support to Zimbabwe, citing the government’s economic mismanagement and the expensive and unpopular war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Zimbabwean troops are allied to President Laurent Kabila’s regime against rebels.
Mugabe also noted the violent run-up to June parliamentary elections, saying: “It is regrettable that isolated incidents of political disturbances led to the loss of lives prior to the elections.”
At least 34 people died and thousands more were beaten in political violence tied to the farm invasions ahead of the June vote. Two others have died since the elections in political violence. – AFP