{"id":93101,"date":"2019-09-18T23:32:49","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T05:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93101"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:28:20","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:28:20","slug":"the-death-and-demise-of-robert-mugabe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/18\/the-death-and-demise-of-robert-mugabe\/","title":{"rendered":"The death and demise of Robert Mugabe"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It was these two facts that caused the failure of Zimbabwe.\nMy Paper reproduced here tells the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death of Robert Mugabe has brought a spate of writing which appears to portray him as a lost cause, due to his failings. However as my earlier writing of 2008 portray that the culprit was Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the UK who failed to honour the Lancaster House Agreement which promised that the UK Government will pay compensation to the white farmers who would be dispossessed of their lands provided Mugabe did not dispossess the white farmers for ten years. True to his word, Mugabe for the first ten years abided by the Lancaster House Agreement and did not take over any land. After the ten years had elapsed Mugabe requested the British Government to honour the Lancaster House Agreement. Tony Blair did not honour the provisions of the Lancaster House Agreement and refused to pay compensation.\u00a0 Mugabe then commenced take over of white farmer\u2019s land to distribute to the landless peasants. Here the culprit was not Mugabe. Instead, it was Tony Blair who refused to abide by the conditions of the Lancaster House Agreement who is to be blamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter the IMF came on the scene with sweeteners the Structural Adjustment Programme which Mugabe agreed to follow.Liberalizing the use of the foreign exchange, freeing imports and meeting the shortfall with loans led to disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne <\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 13 th 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

Mugabe\u2019s Zimbabwe Today: The Stranglehold of the Superpowers & the IMF in action. Lessons for Sri Lanka.(written in 2008)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne <\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Many of my friends and contacts have been\nsurprised at my statement about President Mugabe, showing him as a victim of\nthe Superpowers- how they have actually strangled him in my paper:\nZimbabwe\u2019s Election Results; The Double Standards of the Superpowers(Asian\nTribune 20\/04\/2008). I wrote:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are the Superpowers so angry with Mugabe? When\nMugabe came to power the Whites were ruling the economy. They had established\nplantations on most of the ideal cultivable land which was taken over from them\nvirtually by force. Earlier this land was controlled by the communities and\nworked for the welfare of the people. This happened in every country that was\ncolonized and this included countries like Sri Lanka and Kenya. The British did\nthis in a subtle manner by declaring all unoccupied land as belonging to the\nCrown. In pre-colonial days the forest land near habitations belonged to the\nvillages as common land used for water retention, firewood collection, for\nforest produce, for habitation as the populations grew, for cattle enclosures\nduring the cultivation season etc. The land was thereafter sold to the white\nplanters for a song and in Kenya, within the forest sold were entire villages,\nincluding the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Out of Africa Karen Blixen documents how the\nplanters sold their land including full villages with the people. In Sri Lanka\nit is on record that the Police were used to throw out villagers when their\nvillages were situated in forest extents sold to the planters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think of the Third World countries today\nwe tend to forget that the Third World was entirely conquered by the Colonial\nSuperpowers. In the words of Cecil John Rhodes, the aim of the British Empire\nwas to bring the whole of the uncivilized world under British Rule\u201d. The\ncolonial masters changed the self reliant economies to become economies that\nbrought about an income for them. The colonies were made to produce raw\nmaterials required for their industries and the goods manufactured were sold to\nthe masses in the colonies. In this process the Third World countries were\nexploited with riches accumulating in the Countries of the Colonial\nSuperpowers. Zimbabwe, earlier Rhodesia, was thus exploited to the maximum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mugabe was a guerilla fighter who fought tooth and\nnail against the colonial domination of his country. At last in 1978 the\nguerilla forces forced the British to cede independence. Under the Lancaster\nHouse Agreement of 1979, Britain, the country that had ruled Rhodesia from 1890\nto 1965, when Ian Smith declared independence unilaterally, agreed to pay\ncompensation to white famers who will be dispossessed of their land when the\nland will be taken over and distributed to the indigenous people. This was\nargued necessary because the colonial ruler, the British had taken over these\nlands from the communities that controlled these unoccupied commonly held lands\nwithout the payment of any compensation and had thereafter sold these lands to\nforeign-mainly British planters at nominal- very low rates and they had\nestablished plantations and had thereby amassed fortunes over decades. The\nprosperity of the UK was brought about by the profits that came from the\nplantations The vast bulk of the cultivable land of Rhodesia was in this\nprocess bought and occupied by 6000 white farmers. The dispossessed local\npeople had no employment. It was an attempt to make these impoverished landless\npeople farmers that made Mugabe argue for the plantations to be taken over for\ndistribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However this takes over of plantations was to be\ndone on a willing seller\u201d basis. In fact the question of compensation payments\nrocked and almost aborted the Lancaster House Agreement which took three months\nof discussions to complete. An important premise of this agreement was that no\nrepossessions out side the willing seller concept could be done for ten years.\nIn 1981 Britain pledged to pay GB Pounds 630 million, but there was continuous\ndisagreement and haggling and ultimately in 1997, the British Government of\nTony Blair, reneged on its commitment and paid only pounds 44 million.\nAccording to a Report from the Zimbabwe Government the amount actually paid was\nonly Pounds 17 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent Zimbabwe under President Mugabe did\nwell initially after independence. Little land was taken over because of the\nterms of the Lancaster House Agreement to find willing sellers and the White\nFarmers continued to work their farms. The indigenous population continued to\nbe landless. There was rapid growth in the Eighties. and then came the IMF\u2019s\nStructural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which Mugabe embraced in 1990. However it\ndid not take long for Mugabe to realize that the Structural Adjustment Program\ndid not bring about any development and he ditched the SAP in 2001.. IMF\nwithdrew balance of payments support in 1999 and withdrew providing Aid in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the period of the Structural Adjustment\nProgram loans were made available even for consumption. The tenet of the SAP\nwas to allow free trade, deregulate and reduce or abolish tariffs on imports on\nthe basis that the IMF will provide easy loans to bridge budget deficits. In\nthis process the foreign debt ballooned to $ 4,500 million in 2001 to the World\nBank, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. Earlier\nZimbabwe was not an indebted country at independence. It was the IMF that\nruined Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the words of Richard Saunders, “Loan\nagreements emanating from the Structural Adjustment Programme have stretched\nZimbabwe\u2019s foreign and domestic debt to unmanageable\nproportions.”(Saunders:30) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As explained by Patrick Bond and Richard Saunders:\n1991 was the turning point\u2026 The US was suddenly the sole superpower and the\nIMF, the World Bank and GATT(later WTO), wasted no time imposing a global\nneoliberal iron heel. Zimbabwe had significant international debts and suddenly\nnew debt service was conditioned on yielding to the global neo liberal\ndictatorship. The large State Sector and protected local industries inherited\nfrom the prior regime were condemned as inefficient and an Economic Structural\nAdjustment Program was adopted by Mugabe with considerable enthusiasm. The\nresults were disastrous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufacturing output declined by 40% from 1991 to\n1995 accompanied by a similar decline in worker\u2019s real standard of living and\ndramatic increase in inflation that ravaged savings and those in the informal\neconomy\u2026.Domestic Industry was destroyed in 1990 by the ESAP(Bond &\nSaunders)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government however was under constant pressure\nfrom the people to provide them with land and Mugabe had no alternative but to\ntake over the plantations without paying compensation. Mugabe commenced\nrepossession of plantations in 1997. In March 2002, all whites were ordered to\nleave their land without compensation. The Current aim is to transfer 30% of\nfarmland to black ownership by 2014. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth\nin March 2002 Mugabe established a one party state but by 1990 changed his\nideas and held multi party elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many world authorities are unaware of the real\nreasons for the disaster that Zimbabwe faces today. Professor Paul Collier of\nOxford in his book: The Bottom Billion:Why the Poorest Countries are Failing\nand What can be done about it(Oxford 2007) <\/em>states: Mugabe must take\nresponsibility for the economic c collapse in Zimbabwe since 1998 culminating\nin inflation over 100.000 %.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the British Government had stood by the\nconditions that were agreed at the Lancaster House Agreement and had provided\nthe 630 million pounds to be paid as compensation, there would have been no\nproblem. But the British Government had reneged on its promise and President\nMugabe cannot be blamed for this decision to take over the plantations. It was\nthis act of President Mugabe that made the International Superpowers move\nsanctions on Zimbabwe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No country with a massive foreign debt can face\nsanctions imposed. Though in the July 2008, G8 Meeting of the Superpowers, full\nsanctions were not agreed on because Russia and China did not support it,\ncompliance with sanctions already imposed by Britain and Western Superpowers\nhave ruined the economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Collier has taken Mugabe\u2019s present Zimbabwe\nout of context in castigating Mugabe. One has to castigate Tony Blair and his\nBritish Government for reneging on the aid that was agreed at the Lancaster\nHouse Agreement and also blame the IMF for implementing the Structural\nAdjustment Program that ruined local industry and local production. Once the\ndevelopment infrastructure in a country is abolished, it is an extremely\ndifficult task to rebuild. Go through the IMF annals of \u2018development\u2019 and the\nStructural Adjustment Programme and one will find that each and every country\nthat followed it have had their economies ruined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s context once a country has a high\nforeign debt which it cannot service and further its economy has been ruined by\nfollowing the tenets of the Structural Adjustment programme, it has to depend\non the grace of the International Superpowers for further Aid, if it is to pay\nits dues and survive. Mugabe came to a point where he had to displease the\nInternational Superpowers by his decision to take over the plantations without\nthe payment of compensation and by his decision to not implement the Structural\nAdjustment Program. What happens is that through following the SAP the\ndevelopment infrastructure that is there in the country is abolished, the\ncountry\u2019s assets are privatized and get into the foreign hands- hands of the\nmultinationals and further through privatization of paying assets, the\nGovernment does not have a tax base to meet its development expenditure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No country can face the sanctions of the\nInternational Community for long. Initially a country can raise a few foreign\nloans at high interest rates, through foreign banks, but this source dries up\nparticularly because the countries cannot service those loans taken at high\ninterest and further because the foreign banks eventually fall in line to the\ntunes of the International Community and the IMF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mugabe could not face the sanctions of the IMF and\nthe International Superpowers. Thus his economy gradually got into ruins with\nthe inflation rate reaching 7,000% in 2007 and this rising further to 100,000%\nin 2008. Today the unemployment rate is around 80% and about a fourth of the\npopulation work in foreign countries, mainly in South Africa. The people have\ntheir incomes from foreign funds remitted by the relatives working abroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has happened to Mugabe and Zimbabwe is due\nnot to Mugabe\u2019s inefficiency, but entirely due to the fact that Mugabe failed\nto counter the machinations of the International Community that started\nimposing sanctions. In today\u2019s neocolonialist era, it is the foreign funded Non\nGovernmental Organizations (NGO) that are used by the Colonial Superpowers to\nsabotage the development of the Third World covertly. Overtly the Superpowers\nfunction as paragons of democracy and human rights and their educated Envoys in\ntheir verbosity continue to pose as if they are helping our countries and our\nleaders are snared. There is a catch in everything that the Superpowers tell\nus, if only we can decipher it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of lessons for Sri Lanka from\nMugabe\u2019s Zimbabwe. The United National Party that ruled Sri Lanka from 1977\nembraced the SAP and in the process the economy of the country was really\nruined. In 1977 when the SAP was embraced by President Jayewardene the Rupee\nwas immediately devalued by 100%. The continued implementation of the\nStructural Adjustment Programme of high interest rates and free trade- allowing\na free flow of foreign exchange to everyone for everything and meeting the excess\nwith loans, increasing our debt is the easiest method of ruining any economy.\nSee my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternate Programs of\nSuccess(Godages) <\/em>for the process of ruination that took place. This is\nexactly what happened to Mugabe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka has been kicked by the IMF and the World\nBank. It is their refusal to give us aid that has made other financial\nauthorities discredit us and it is this that has forced us to get loans with as\nhigh an interest as 8.25%. Why are we yet continuing to follow the IMF precepts\nof the Structural Adjustment Program like high interest rates, which are the\nhighest in Asia and due to which no local production can emerge. Why have we\nnot commenced regulating the use of foreign exchange. Unfortunately Sri Lanka\neven free floated the Rupee in 2001 under Chandrika\u2019s Government with the\nresult that the Central Bank no longer is in charge of the foreign exchange\nthat comes to our country. We allow the Banks and this includes the foreign\nbanks to use the foreign exchange that comes in- it is supposed to be according\nto the rules of supply and demand. In actual practice it has been proved that\nthe foreign banks hoard the foreign exchange that comes in and bids the value\nof the foreign currency upwards as did happen on 25 th January 2001.( See pages\n95-130 of my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faced with sanctions by\ncertain foreign superpowers and the IMF Mugabe, failed to take total control\nover the economy. He allowed the NGO to nibble at the economy and did not organize\nproduction to take place. Sri Lanka too has to face a grim future unless it is\nprepared to take total control over the economy, including its foreign exchange\nand control the use of foreign exchange in the interests of the country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne It was these two facts that caused the failure of Zimbabwe. My Paper reproduced here tells the details. The death of Robert Mugabe has brought a spate of writing which appears to portray him as a lost cause, due to his failings. However as my earlier writing of 2008 portray that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-garvin-karunaratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}