“We need doctors and medicines back in our hospitals; teachers back in our schools,” Tsvangirai said amid deafening applause. “We need businesses that can grow and provide jobs to the people. We need electricity again to power our businesses and homes. We need water that is safe and accessible. We need affordable food in our shops, crops in our fields, and petrol back in our vehicles. We need to be able to access our own cash from our banks. We need to stabilize our economy and restore value to our currency.”
John Makumbe, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe said the MDC had devised a very promising economic recovery and rehabilitation programme for the transitional period which he hoped could kick-start the economy.
“It is my considered view that if that programme is effectively implemented, the Zimbabwean economy could recover within as short a period as two to three years,” Makumbe said.
In a speech characterised by incoherent ramblings, much to the embarrassment even of his supporters in the audience, octogenarian dictator Robert Mugabe tried to seize the initiative by declaring that he would deal with the country’s severe economic problems (for which his mal-administration is solely responsible) while accelerating the process of demanding compensation from Britain for the white-owned farms seized by his thugs.
Zimbabwe’s economy, once a beacon of hope in sub-Saharan Africa, is now in a parlous state, bedevilled by fuel and foreign currency shortages, 11 million percent inflation and record unemployment levels well above 80%.
By continuing to demand compensation from Britain for the policy of land seizures Mugabe will consolidate his support amongst veterans while deflecting pressure from the new government taking over a bankrupt regime. The deal, under which Mugabe relinquishes some of his powers to rivals he brands stooges of the West, proposes that the parties try to secure international finance to pay compensation to farmers.
“The parties hereby call upon the United Kingdom government to accept the primary responsibility to pay compensation for land acquired from former landowners for resettlement,” the agreement states. Much of the land farmed by whites was seized from the indigenous population originally.
Many of the white farmers were kicked off their farms by Mugabe without compensation and were seeking relief through the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia. Mugabe argues he was righting colonial wrongs.
The foreign investors so badly needed by Zimbabwe’s economy may, however, look on the land policy in a cold economic light. Mugabe has insisted that the land reform is irreversible and Mugabe has also extracted assurances from the MDC that his indigenisation policies will continue. His previous administration had cast acquisitive eyes on foreign-owned mines and businesses.
Investors are likely to view the possibility of re-appropriation as a serious threat to economic stability. In the context of the all-inclusive government, its success, or lack of it, on the economic front will be crucial.
 Tsvangirai on Monday said a new beginning would be built more quickly with support from the international community.
“We are grateful for the support you have shown us over the past nine years and we appeal to our regional neighbours, our African brothers and sisters and the international community, to assist us in rebuilding our nation,” Tsvangirai said. “To assist us to address the problems facing our society, our education and health care systems and our economy.”
Â