ZIMBABWE THE BREAD BASKET OF SOUTHERN AFRICA.

I will deliberately choose not to talk about good things that my country experienced during the colonial rule. I will choose to be patriotic instead and say good things only came after independence. Zimbabwe got her independence from Britain in 1980. From 1980 to about early 1990, Zimbabwe was called the “Bread Basket of Southern Africa”. What does this mean? What went wrong? Life has changed totally for the ordinary citizen of Zimbabwe, from bread basket of southern Africa to beggars. Zimbabwe was able to maintain the state of being self sufficient in terms of food for more than 30 years before independence, but after independence it only lasted for less than 15 years. She was the hub of Southern Africa’s economy. Politicians will attribute this to Mugabe’s regime, which has failed to run the country. I totally agree with them, but can they also think outside the box and explore other factors. Politics played its part (Land Reform Policy-60%) for the failure of the Zimbabwe’s economy and the other 40% by climate change. Zimbabwe has experienced series of drought since 1992 caused by shortage of rains, rain coming rather late causing short agriculture season or excessive rains. Some parts of the country experienced floods and people were evacuated from their homes to safer places. Crops were affected by the floods and leaching. Artificial manure –fertilizers are mostly used to replace the lost nutrients. I need to reminded if Zimbabwe is still producing fertilizer. If nutrients are not replenished, the crops are likely to fail the following year as well. Still this does not rule out the poor governance of the state by Mugabe. Climate Change issues cannot be separated from politics. When you are isolated from the global world, you feel the impact of climate change more than when you are a united region. There are some rural communities that survived the last part of the year 2008 ngomusa wenkosi-through God’s grace. Supermarkets and vegetable markets are flooded with products from Botswana and South Africa. What went wrong? Thanks to South Africa and Botswana. Siyahlonipha.