Zimbabwe’s week-long agricultural showcase kicks off Monday, despite the country’s collapsing farm industry and worsening food shortages.
The Harare Show, to be opened by Equatorial Guinea dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema, will feature exhibitions including more than 100 cattle, goats, pigs, guinea fowl, rabbits and chickens, the state Sunday Mail reported, citing organisers.
One planned highlight is a livestock auction on Thursday, and as Zimbabwe — once Southern Africa’s main agricultural exporter — faces acute shortages of meat and staple foods, many of the animals were expected to quickly disappear into the cooking pot.
Organisers said the show’s theme this year was ”Our Task to Feed the Nation, Time for Innovation”.
Obiang’s participation reflects his government’s strengthening ties with that of President Robert Mugabe, whose country faces growing international isolation over its economic meltdown and record on human and democratic rights.
Few Zimbabweans had heard of distant Equatorial Guinea until 2004, when a group of alleged white-led mercenary suspects headed for the oil-rich West Africa nation was captured after their plane landed in Harare to collect weapons bought from the Zimbabwe state arms maker.
Zimbabwe’s alliance with Equatorial Guinea had brought hopes of a gasoline deal to ease chronic shortages of fuel.
But gas shortages worsened sharply after a June 26 government decree to slash prices on fuel and other goods and services in an effort to tame rampant inflation, officially at 7 636% — the highest in the world. Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 25 000%.
The price cuts have left shelves bare of cornmeal, meat, bread, eggs, milk, sugar, tea and other staples, forcing shoppers to stand in long lines for limited supplies, and leading many stores to close early to avert unrest.
Two people were killed in a stampede for sugar earlier this month.
Mugabe has blamed the crisis on Western economic sanctions, imposed to protest Zimbabwean policies criticised for leading to political and economic turmoil.
Foreign loans, aid and investment have dried since 2000, when the government began seizing thousands of white-owned commercial farms, disrupting the agriculture-based economy in the former regional breadbasket.
Western nations have imposed travel restrictions on Mugabe and ruling party leaders. Britain last week added central bank governor Gideon Gono to its list of prohibited Zimbabweans, accusing him of helping to fund government policies that led to corruption and the undermining of democracy and the rule of law. The governor also allowed extra money to be printed, despite hyperinflation.
Australia said last week it was mounting ”smart sanctions” against the children of Zimbabwean leaders studying there. Among those facing expulsion were Gono’s son Peter and twin daughters Praise and Pride.
Hundreds of banned leaders’ children are studying at universities and colleges in Australia, Britain and the United States.
Zimbabwe’s main university in Harare, meanwhile, is near collapse, due to shortages of staff, books, stationary, food, water and electricity supplies. Portable toilet cabins have been set up on the campus.
The week’s news was not good for Zimbabwean soccer fans either. The national soccer team dropped out of the world soccer body’s list of 100 competitive teams for the first time since independence in 1980. — Sapa-AP