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Rebuilding
Zimbabwe: one brick at a time
Southern Africa Trust
June 09, 2009
http://www.southernafricatrust.org/changemakers/june2009/#sidelink2
On March 30 2009, leaders
of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) promised to
help Zimbabwe raise between US$8 billion and US$10 billion to rebuild
its collapsed economy and tackle the humanitarian crisis in the
country. The plan now calls for US$2 billion in short-term relief.
Whilst these figures
are staggering, the lives of millions of people are at stake, as
well as the future of the SADC's plans for a free trade area and
common currency.
Although all SADC countries
are at various stages of economic growth, the biggest challenge
will be encountered in integrating Zimbabwe, whose inflation is
way above the regional average of between 3% and 17%.
With some of the SADC
targets for integration due this year, this factor could make trade
and integration a mammoth task. "Foreign buyers will continue
to abscond Zimbabwe and choose other countries," said John
Robertson, an independent economic analyst. "We have a destabilizing
factor in Zimbabwe. Other countries have less than 10% inflation.
Zimbabwe's integration will be much slower."
There is a need to bridge
the gap between what is humanitarian and what is developmental,
as support to development sectors and activities in Zimbabwe has
traditionally been poor. The humanitarian community has consistently
advocated emergency funding for agriculture, education and health
- including water and sanitation and HIV/AIDS.
Zimbabwe is probably
the most recognizable modern-day example of how mismanaged political,
economic and social policies can create a poverty horror trap that
is hard to fathom.
Practical solutions are
needed for the aid packages to be effective. But, in doing so, the
fact that Zimbabwe is literally starting again from zero, must be
taken into account.
It is not enough,
for example, to just give immediate food aid. What is more important
is food sustainability, reigniting the agricultural sector at both
commercial and community level, providing Zimbabweans with the means
to grow their own food as well for export, thereby reestablishing
foreign currency flows. In the same breath, ensuring a marketable
framework in which agriculture can flourish is equally important.
Education requires a
similar effort; it is a known fact that education decreases poverty
and for decades, Zimbabwe's education was the envy of the world's
developing countries and boasted the highest literacy rate in Africa.
Immediate interventions are needed to get children back into a re-invigorated
education system - from pre-school to tertiary level.
The same needs to happen
with health care. With the collapse of the country's health care
system, any support to eradicate the cholera epidemic, or the implementation
of a more substantial ARV treatment programme to counteract the
HIV/AIDS pandemic, needs to be underpinned by the re-establishment
of an effective national health care programme. At the same time,
this must be backed up by the rebuilding of the water and sanitation
system, which has been neglected for decades.
Now is the time to intensify
efforts to help ordinary Zimbabweans, who continue to bear the brunt
of many years of mismanaged economic and social policies. Failure
to do so will see the Zimbabwe situation continuing for many years
to come, with the potential of ongoing and increasingly negative
impacts on the progress and success of the entire SADC region.
*Sources:
BBC World Service, IRIN, PanAfrican News, SACIS, Physicians for
Human Rights, United Nations, SARPN, Zimbabwejournalists.com, Zimbabwesituation.com,
United Methodist News Service
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