President Robert Mugabe this week sought to bolster ties with fiery but controversial Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a move analysts said showed the veteran leader was frantically seeking political and economic allies after being isolated by the West.
Mugabe has fallen out with Western nations, who for a long time backed Zimbabwe’s economic reforms, after accusations that his government is violating human rights and rigging elections.
The veteran 82-year-old leader has embarked on a so-called ”look-East” drive, a policy meant to strengthen ties with Asian and Muslim nations with prospects for economic and political backing.
”I think he is desperate. There are few countries out there who want to stand by Mugabe at the moment because of his policies,” John Makumbe, a University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer and fierce Mugabe critic told ZimOnline.
”But on his part he is saying I can do without your [West’s] help because there are friends who will not talk about accountability as a precondition to friendship and help,” added Makumbe.
Critics say Mugabe has plunged the once-thriving economy into its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980 through controversial policies such as his seizure of land from white commercial farmers to give to Africans.
The land reforms have aggravated a crisis shown in the world’s highest inflation, at 1 070,2%, unemployment above 80%, high poverty levels, shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food and intermittent electricity and water cuts.
International donors have halted lending to the country, heightening the crisis.
Mugabe’s trip to Tehran, which is at the centre of a nuclear dispute with the United States and European powers, was meant to show his Western foes that Zimbabwe could survive without their help, analysts said.
Mugabe has developed a knack for embracing some of the world’s known abusers of human rights, such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Equatorial Guinea leader Theodore Obiang Nguema, among others.
”It is not surprising because he shares the same traits with these leaders; they all run various forms of dictatorships,” said Makumbe.
Iran, which is trying to emerge as the undisputed powerhouse in the volatile Middle East, has a strong economy, which could help Zimbabwe. The Islamic republic has advanced telecommunications, agriculture, energy and technology industries, all of which Zimbabwe could tap into.
But analysts said there is not likely to be much that Zimbabwe will benefit from in its relations with Iran, pointing to the fact that since the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding last year there was little to show for it.
Government-owned broadcaster ZBH Holdings has been the largest beneficiary of the Zimbabwe-Iran ties to date after getting a €6-million loan to digitalise its studios.
And a few dozen tractors have been sold to the country, but plans by the Iranians to set up a bus manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe have since stalled.
”Iran has the economic muscle to help nurse Zimbabwe through this turbulent period, but if we are to go by past events, there are always doubts whether this trip will bring anything meaningful to the many people who are struggling out there,” said James Jowa, a Harare economic consultant.
But Harare insists there are huge benefits from its ”look-East” policy and has made a recently publicised $200-million agriculture loan facility from China the showcase of its new-found relations with Asian nations.
Although there are no details of the loan, it is Zimbabwe’s largest foreign loan since the country was shunned by donors in 1999.
Analysts say Zimbabwe needs foreign direct investment first to boost industrial capacity and to generate foreign exchange, because it currently does not have capacity to repay foreign lenders.
Mugabe, one of the few remaining African big-men rulers, accuses the West of sabotaging the country’s economy as punishment for his often-violent land-seizure drive.
He denies charges of mismanaging the economy and says the land reforms were necessary to redress colonial imbalances, which left the most fertile soils in the hands of a few whites.
”At the end of the day, whether its China or Iran, investors want one thing: a return on their investment and they do not seem to believe they can get that return [from Zimbabwe],” Jowa said. — ZimOnline