Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I didn't say that there isn't any problem to address. For the first several years he was in power, Mugabe had found a way to accommodate whites and blacks, to a remarkable degree.
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Yes and no. The government's inability (by treaty) to do land reform was a huge problem for many in the black population.
As for people starving? Saw them. Met the people who worked with them. Cites from the Economist are not particularly compelling -- I like the magazine but it tends to elevate the ability to produce commodities over the ability tof feed and employ people. Zimbabwe exported corn to Mozambique and Botswana, primarily. That did not enable it to feed its people.
Best and brightest minds coming to Zimbabwe? Yes and no. Many of those minds stayed in Zimbabwe because they were forbidden from going into South Africa (pre-Mandela). Zimbabwe also had the burden of an enormously high level of education and literacy without any jobs or viable industries to put those people to work.
Huge agrarian population with no viable farmland to work? 1% of farmers owning 80% of arable land in a country with virtually no industry (save a few coal mines)? I don't know the solution either. Yes, it's not having a corrupt despot take the land for his cronies. Nor, though, is it the Takings Clause.
