It’s a shame that there does not exist an award for “Best Dismantler of Markets”. Zimbabwe Prime Minister Robert Mugabe could use the dozens of first-place ribbons he would win to cheer up his otherwise drab charcoal suits.

Start with his triumphant Land Acquisition Act, which redistributes land from whites to blacks without regard to efficiency of production. The white farmers who used to provide the largest amount of Zimbabwe's exports have almost all been driven off their land. This fantastic achievement has not only transformed his country from an exporter of agricultural goods into a severely dependent importer, but it has also put millions of citizens at risk of starvation. And thanks in part to the complete disregard for property rights associated with the Act, GDP has shrunk by one-third in the past five years. Way to go, Robert.

There’s also his admired patronage system, created to replace merit as a requirement for entry into the country’s higher learning institutions. Thousands of desks that once were filled by the irritatingly studious are now warmed by the trigger-happy youth militia. Thanks to Mugabe, favors to the government now warrant entry into universities and teaching positions more than good test scores. This misallocation of intellectual capital certainly looks promising to help knock down Zimbabwe’s once-embarrassingly high 85% literacy rate to the more mediocre African averages of 60 to 70%...

Mugabe’s finest achievement, however, has been accomplished just these past two weeks. Via “Operation Restore Order”, or, as better known by the local citizens and in the international community, “Operation Drive Out the Rubbish”, Mugabe’s police forces have taken apart entire marketplaces. The pesky buying and selling of food and textiles by citizens maintaining or supplementing their US$479 average annual income has finally been put to a stop. Labeled as a program to clean up urban housing, Mugabe’s forces demonstrated outstanding efficiency and speed not by resorting to wasteful planning and discussion, but rather by running bulldozers right over the traders’ homes and sales booths. And to avoid causing too much wear-and-tear on the government-owned equipment, the police have requested that individuals take picks and hammers to knock down their very own houses. This outstanding program has succeeded in rendering 1.5 million homeless. Congratulations, Mr. Mugabe. You get a bonus ribbon for that one.

Posted by Michelle Smith on June 5, 2005 05:18 PM

Posted by: Anonymous at June 6, 2005 10:09 PM