The Guardian (UK)
8 June 2009
By David Smith in Harare
Things are getting a little better, Tsvangirai tells US and Europe. At home they’re not so sure
Three months ago Davison Makhado took his first job, as a teacher, to play his part in reopening Zimbabwe’s schools. The 35 boys in Makhado’s class at Ellis Robins school in Harare are eager to learn about African history, but only have a single textbook between them, so before each lesson Makhado makes extensive notes that he then painstakingly dictates. “It’s very difficult to teach,” the 25-year-old said. “The children complain about it a lot.” The stuttering revival of the education sector is a litmus test of Zimbabwe’s faltering and fragile progress since President Robert Mugabe and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s inclusive government was formed in February. Teaching used to be a well-paid profession, when Zimbabwe’s schools were the envy of Africa. Not any more. Like all civil servants, teachers are now earning an “allowance” of US$100 per month. Some are still waiting for their first payment to come through. “$100 is very, very little,” Makhado said. “If I was in my own home, paying $60 rent and electricity and water bills, I couldn’t afford it, so I’m having to stay with my brother.”
Zimbabweans seem willing to give the government of compromise a chance, but patience is running thin. “The unity government at the moment seems to be an 80% failure,” Makhado said. “The things we want to be addressed are not yet addressed. The salaries of civil servants are pathetic and not enough for people with families and extended families. Morgan Tsvangirai still has a lot to do to prove he can deliver something to us.” The price of failure will be the loss of people like Makhado from the country’s schools. “If the salary remains like this I’ll be sorry and I will see to it that I resign and change professions to do something better than this. I’ll give them 18 months at most.” Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, set off yesterday on a tour of the US and Europe, seeking to persuade Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and other heads of state that this tormented nation is now on an upward trajectory. Yesterday, in the Netherlands, he said he was not touring with a “begging bowl”. But from a base of rock bottom, it could hardly be getting worse. Last year Zimbabwe – once the region’s biggest economy after South Africa – stared total collapse in the face: hyperinflation at a world record 500bn per cent, unemployment at more than 97%, shops and supermarkets empty, 5 million people in need of international food aid and nearly 5,000 dead from Africa’s biggest cholera outbreak in 15 years.
A superficial normality has since returned to the streets of the capital, Harare, with traffic flowing, people shopping and children walking to school in smart uniforms. The city hosted a jazz festival at the weekend and is striving to rebrand itself as a tourist destination during next year’s football World Cup in neighbouring South Africa. Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, however, is a place where appearances can be deceptive. “If you’re not confused about Zimbabwe, you haven’t been here long enough,” said Eddie Cross, policy co-ordinator general for the MDC. “On the surface it looks pretty civilised, but look beneath the surface and the human situation is still very grim.” Hospitals have reopened and up to 90% of doctors and nurses are back at work, many receiving top-up wages from British government aid. But half of basic drugs are unavailable. Pregnant women in need of caesarean sections in rural Bulilima must walk 12 miles to the nearest hospital, according to the development agency Cafod. Inflation has been neutralised after the dollar and South African rand were adopted as national currencies, and food is back on the supermarket shelves. But the economy is broke, agriculture is in crisis and many people still cannot afford a loaf.
Incidents of cholera have been curtailed after a huge effort by aid agencies but access to clean water is limited, sewage pipes continue to burst and Oxfam warns of an “eight in 10 chance” of a fresh cholera outbreak later this year. Aids claims 400-500 lives per day. Rumours abound of dissent in the army and police amid signs that Mugabe’s grip on the state apparatus might finally be weakening, but invasions and beatings on white-owned farms have accelerated and there is no respite from the arbitrary arrests of journalists and human rights activists. Schools, of which only 10% were open last year, are back to 100% with 12,000 teachers having returned to their posts. But one textbook is shared on average by 30 children in rural classrooms, which are often in disrepair. Universities are in even worse condition and effectively closed. “Teachers are in school but the truth is they are not teaching,” said one head, who did not wish to be named. “They maintain a presence because they don’t want their allowance to be cut off, but real teaching is not taking place.”
Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said: “The teachers are there but there is nothing in terms of teaching and learning materials.” But he also struck an upbeat note: “The unity government has brought back food and smiles for many Zimbabweans. In the past six months we have smelled democracy. As a union we have been able to go to places without being arrested where we have never been before. But we can be optimistic only if the correct people ultimately take the reins.” The chief concern for most Zimbabweans is money. Just 6% of the workforce has a job. The introduction of the US dollar and rand have stabilised the economy but excluded many citizens, especially in rural areas. Oxfam believes that the currencies have caused poverty to increase, possibly even double, and forced companies and banks to close. Stephen Maengamhuru, 60, a pastor in the city of Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe, said: “Scratch the surface and people in rural areas simply have no chance to get dollars. I had to give my grandmother one dollar to go to a grinding mill because she couldn’t get any money. Most people are relying on a son or daughter working in town to pitch up with money. The unity government was our hope for survival, but we have a lot of principals dragging their feet and throwing spanners in the works.”
Families cannot even afford to bury their dead. Hospital mortuaries intended to store 20 corpses have become overcrowded with five times that number. Some bodies have reportedly been nibbled by rats. Harare hospital was recently forced to clear its mortuary of corpses unclaimed for up to six months and give them paupers’ burials. Some women have turned to prostitution. Vanessa, 22, standing at a notorious pick-up point in daytime, said: “We want to survive with our children, pay rent and take care of our parents. Some days I earn $40-50. Other days I earn nothing. I have a three-year-old daughter and I need the money for her.” Many people see the unity government as their last best hope. It remains delicately balanced between Mugabe’s Zanu PF and Tsvangirai’s MDC. A trial of strength is under way between Mugabe’s hard power the army and police and Tsvangirai’s soft power, with ministries such as education and health.
David Coltart, the MDC’s education minister, said: “If we can deliver on health and education, then in the minds of millions of parents the MDC will be associated with delivering. The counter to that is that if we fail, we will be seen as no different from Zanu PF. There’s no doubt in my mind that there are elements trying to set us up to fail.” He added: “We’re dealing with a partner that doesn’t know what democracy means and has been dragged into this process kicking and screaming. It could take months or years but the process is almost irreversible.” Optimists hope the Zanu PF hierarchy will accept an amnesty and pay-off from Tsvangirai to step down. Pessimists fear that they will lash out when they see power ebbing away. Cross said: “The people who’ve run this country as a military junta, killing and maiming thousands and pillaging with impunity, are facing defeat and marginalisation. They’re going to fight back.”
Zimbabwe has come back from a near-death experience. The patient is recovering slowly but remains in a critical condition, and the danger of a relapse is real.