From breadbasket to basket case

Africa | Waiting for tyranny to exhaust itself, Zimbabweans look next door | Priya Abraham

In southern Africa, Zimbabwe’s loss has been Zambia’s gain. The autocratic rule of Robert Mugabe has sent more tourists flowing north to the little known Zambian side of the Victoria Falls and has forced displaced Zimbabwean landowners to start new farms in Zambia. Now Zambia even exports grain to Zimbabwe, a once unfathomable thought considering its food shortages of only two decades ago.

Such a turnaround has been possible only because Zimbabwe has tumbled so fast. Mr. Mugabe, by seizing land from his country’s wealthiest farmers, has single-handedly crammed decades’ worth of economic decline into five years. The once-prosperous side of the former Rhodesias—and once one of Africa’s most stable countries—Zimbabwe has degenerated into a police state. With famine, unemployment, and political crackdowns now common, and worsening, Zimbabweans hold little hope—even with parliamentary elections scheduled next month.