Serving Bread

This is the face of evil

Question: How do you take a country that is rich with natural resources, has a relatively strong cultural identity, and an economy that was once “the darling” of the region? Answer: You hire Robert Mugabe to head it up.

Zimbabwe in sub-saharan Africa once had a thriving economy but now has an inflation rate of about 100% a month. That’s right, that means the price of goods double every 30 days. A few years ago, Mugabe thought it brilliant to send his cronies to take over white-owned farms. Rather than cease and run the farms, the cronies just plundered what they could and did not tend the land.

Parade magazine ranks Mugabe as the seventh worst dictator in the world. I suppose when it comes to various human rights records, Mugabe may be better than six other world-leaders. However, what differentiates Mugabe from the rest of the dictators in power is that the country has fallen apart under his tenure. Whereas other dictators such as Hu Jintao of China (which Parade ranks higher than Mugabe) may have shady records when it comes to human rights, their countries have enjoyed some good from their leadership.

Just a few days ago, Zimbabwe officially ran out of wheat, which shut down all the bakeries in the country. And to add even more salt to the wounds, Zimbabwe used to enjoy one of the highest life-expectancies in the region, and now has one of the lowest (admittedly, some of that is due to the growing HIV/AIDs epidemic).

Mugabe has ruined a country and its people. I will not be surprised if civil wars will emerge after he dies, as different factions strive to fill the power vacuum. There are many faces of evil in our world. Today, Mugabe serves that position.