Zimbabwe in 2010Article Free Pass
|Area:||390,757 sq km (150,872 sq mi)|
|Population||(2010 est.): 12,644,000, of which about 3,000,000 people might be living outside the country|
|Head of state:||President Robert Mugabe|
|Head of government:||Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai|
Zimbabwe’s government of national unity became mired in gridlock in 2010. The two main parties in the power-sharing government—the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), led by Pres. Robert Mugabe, and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai—repeatedly negotiated and periodically announced progress but ultimately failed to settle the main issues of contention. Frequent attempts by South African Pres. Jacob Zuma, head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to mediate disputes failed to reach any settlement. By the end of October, relations between Mugabe and Tsvangirai had nearly broken down in mutual recrimination. That month Tsvangirai stopped attending some scheduled meetings with Mugabe, sometimes boycotting cabinet meetings. In one instance he snubbed the president by traveling to Zambia to seek the support of Pres. Rupiah Banda against what he referred to as Mugabe’s unilateralism.
As relations between the coalition partners deteriorated and neighbouring SADC governments tired of fruitless intervention, hopes receded for meeting the timetable for drafting a new constitution and holding a democratic election. According to the provisions of the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), a new constitution was a mandatory prerequisite to the 2011 elections; however, in October both the prime minister and the president reiterated their commitment to holding those elections “whatever the obstacles,” even without a new constitution in place. They also ostensibly agreed that the losing candidate would not contest the results. According to various sources, including rudimentary opinion polls, the MDC held a substantial lead, while ZANU-PF was anxious about the 86-year-old president’s health.
Meanwhile, formulation of a new constitution ran into difficulties. The Constitutional Parliamentary Committee did not even begin to canvass public opinion until July, a year later than originally scheduled. Public meetings were poorly attended, partly owing to intimidation and violence. Some important civil rights groups, spearheaded by the National Constitutional Association, announced their opposition to any constitutional draft. Moreover, key financial officials contended that the state simply did not have the $200 million needed to fund both a constitutional referendum and elections in 2011.
Western sanctions against Zimbabwe were cited as obstructions to political and economic progress. Before the deterioration of coalition relations, Tsvangirai urged the easing of targeted sanctions as a reward for what seemed like genuine progress, and the ZANU-PF politburo announced that the government refused to make further concessions regarding the GPA until sanctions had been lifted, including those that targeted the president and his senior party colleagues. Mugabe remained adamant on this position. International response was mixed; while the African Union and South Africa called for the abolition of sanctions, the U.S. and the EU refused to budge.
The economy improved significantly, partly as a result of an increased yield in the tobacco crop and the resumption of diamond sales from the controversial Marange fields. According to the IMF, both growth and inflation averaged about 5%. Land reform and indigenization laws were upheld in the courts, but their continued contestation was likely to affect policy for a long time.
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