Fact and Information Sheet : October 2007

Index of Factsheet sections:

1. Population, 2. Economic Collapse, 3. SADC Inflation Estimate, 4.Corruption Ranking, 5. Industrial Sector, 6. Agricultural Sector - Prior to the Land Invasions in 2000, 7. Agricultural Sector - 2007, 8. Tourism Sector, 9. Unemployment, 10. Emigration / Brain Drain / Refugee Crisis, 11. Living Standards, 12. Health, 13. Human Rights, 14. Operation Murambatsvina, 15. Mugabe's Mansions, 16. Environment/wildlife, 17. Comparative Data

Population

  1. Estimated population in 2000: between 12.5 and 13 million
  2. Current estimates indicate the population could be as low as 7-8 million
  3. Next to Palestine, the Zimbabwean Diaspora is the largest in the world per head of population.

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Economic Collapse

  1. The world's fastest shrinking economy
  2. 1996 GDP growth of 10%; 2006 GDP dropped to minus 5%.
  3. GDP shrank by 42% between 1998 and 2006.
  4. The reduction in GDP for 2007 is estimated at 12%
  5. Exports: R 50 billion in 1997, R 7 billion in 2005
  6. World's highest rate of inflation: 7 892,1% in September 2007. Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 25 000%.
  7. In 1997, inflation was 20%. In November 2006 the inflation rate was 1 099% and by April 2007 it had escalated to 3 714%.
  8. The poverty threshold for an average family of five rose to Z$ 22,6 million (US$ 755) in September
  9. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that inflation could reach 100 000% by the end of the year.
  10. World Bank: "The Zimbabwean economic meltdown is the worst outside a
  11. war zone"
  12. Fifth on the World Failed States Index after Somalia, North Korea etc.
  13. Zimbabwe has the least free economy of the 141 countries ranked in a study contained in the latest Economic Freedom of the World. (Released 3 September 2007.
  14. Zimbabwe is ranked 151 out of 177 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index
  15. The Zimbabwe dollar was devalued in August 2006 by 60%, three zeros were removed from the currency and the new official exchange rate to the US$ was set at 250:1.
  16. On 6 September, the Zimbabwe government devalued the official exchange rate of the Zimbabwe dollar to 30,000 against the U.S. dollar.
  17. During October 2007, the parallel (black-market) exchange rate for US$ 1 reached Z$1 million.
  18. The Zimbabwe dollar is now worth only 3.7% of its April 2007 value.
  19. Zimbabwe is one of only 21 countries to have been through such conditions in the past 100 years.
  20. Between 1980 and 2001, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank pumped a combined $2.4 billion (R16.2 billion) into the Zimbabwean economy.
  21. About US$100 million a month comes into the system from remittances sent by the 4 million or so Zimbabweans living outside the country.

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SADC Inflation Estimate

  • South African Reserve Bank Governor, Tito Mboweni has noted that SADC inflation without Zimbabwe would be around 9%, but would be around 332% if it were included.

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Corruption Ranking

  • In 2003 Transparency International (TI), an organisation monitoring global corruption ranked Zimbabwe the 77th most corrupt out of 130 countries evaluated. By 2005, Zimbabwe had slid to 130th of 163 countries and is today deemed to be "very corrupt".

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Industrial Sector

  1. Industrial productivity is now below 30% of capacity.
  2. By the end of August, more than 12 000 executives, businessmen and managers had been arrested and fined for defying a government edict in June to slash all prices by around 50%.
  3. By end October 2007, a staggering 28 000 business people had been arrested, detained and charged by the police, resulting in disastrous food shortages and empty supermarket shelves countrywide.
  4. At independence in 1980, with per capita electricity consumption at 928 KWH and a peak demand of 1080MW, Zimbabwe had one of the largest electricity systems in Africa. Nearly 70% of Zimbabwe's electricity was generated by Zimbabwe's half of the Kariba complex, with minor amounts supplied by thermal generating systems
  5. The Hwange Power Station, one of the largest power stations in the country is in need of care and maintenance, and is operating at 10% capacity. It has the capacity to generate 900MW but currently generates less than 100MW, which forces the country to rely on power imports from neighbouring countries.
  6. At present, Zimbabwe imports nearly 40 percent of its power from South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique.
  7. In 1980 there were 102 diesel locomotive in operation on the National Railways; today there are just 11.
  8. Petrol is largely available only on the black market.

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Agricultural Sector - Prior to the Land Invasions in 2000

  1. Zimbabwe comprises 39 million hectares of land. Of this, 32,76 million hectares is farm land.
  2. 76% of the 12,5 million people of Zimbabwe used to make a direct living from the land: 7,5 million living in communal areas and 2 million living on commercial farms.
  3. At the height of white ownership, ie in 1975 before the end of the bush war, the percentage of land under commercial agriculture was 37,25%. Of this figure, only 50% of the land is arable, ie half of the 37,25% which is 18,62%.
  4. In 1995 when the British pulled out of funding land reform in Zimbabwe, 28% of the land was largely owned by commercial farmers. By 2000 this figure had dropped to 22% and 18,5% was white owned.
  5. The figure that Mugabe conveniently states, ie that whites owned 70% of the best arable land, is totally incorrect.
  6. Commercial farmers owned most of the freehold tenure land and there were approximately 4 300 large-scale commercial farmers active in Zimbabwe as at 31 December 2000 on 6 800 properties. By June 2005, the figure was estimated to be less than 500.
  7. Of the 4 300 large-scale commercial farmers, 82% had purchased their land after 1980, with certificates of no present interest from the government because there was no shortage of land.
  8. In 1980 between 3,2 and 3,8 million hectares were immediately available to the government for resettlement on a willing seller, willing buyer basis, proving that there was no shortage of land.
  9. Total area of white-owned commercial farming land in Zimbabwe prior to the 2000 land invasions:
  10. Sector

Commercial farmland held under freehold tenure
1980: 37,25%
2000: 22%
Small scale commercial
1980: 4%
2000: 4%
Communal / resettlement land
1980: 41%
2000: 50%
Parks and state forests
1980: 16%
2000: 16%

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Agricultural Sector - 2007

  1. Up to 70% of commercial agriculture has been destroyed.
  2. Large-scale commercial maize (corn) production now accounts for less than 5% of the country's total maize production.
  3. National cereal production is down 44% on 2006.
  4. The maize harvest estimate is 799 000 tonnes (46% down on 2006)
  5. Wheat production has fallen by almost 90% since late 1990s
  6. Only an estimated 10% of the country's winter wheat crop was planted due to shortages of fuel and fertilizer
  7. During August, it was confirmed that Mozambican authorities were withholding 36 000 tonnes of wheat as the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), Zimbabwe's grain monopoly, was unable to pay for the release of the wheat stocks, which docked at the port city of Beira two months previously.
  8. In September, the Agricultural Research and Extension Department of the Ministry of Agriculture said power outages cutting off irrigation forced wheat farmers across the country to abandon wheat crops during germination, leaving a total current harvest of about 145 000 tons, two thirds short of projected requirements.
  9. Of the 4 300 large-scale commercial farmers operating in Zimbabwe in 2000, only an estimated 350 to 400 remain at work. They currently face an escalating campaign of violence in the run up to the 2008 elections.
  10. An estimated 150 000 former farm labourers are in need of food aid because they lost their livelihoods following the chaotic and violent take-over of the commercial farms
  11. The 'new farmers' have failed dramatically to produce crops.
  12. 2.1 million people (urban and rural) required food aid from July 2007
  13. 30-40% of households need assistance with food aid (Oxfam)
  14. 4.1 million people (urban and rural) will require food aid from January 2008
  15. The World Food Programme has named Zimbabwe as one of the Global Hunger Hotspots.
  16. The country has secured less than 5% of the agricultural sector's fuel requirement for the 2007/08 season, which has lead to speculations that the agricultural production is going to plummet further.
  17. During September it was reported that the Reserve Bank (RBZ) was spending in excess of Z$3 trillion for the purchase of 500 000 scotch carts and 800 000 ox-drawn ploughs to be distributed to rural constituencies. This was condemned by the opposition MDC as 'vote buying' because ZANU-PF has a history of adopting such strategies in the run-up to elections.
  18. The Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the only legal cereal trader, regularly asks people to produce ZANU-PF membership cards before it will sell them staple food.
  19. So far 500 000 farm workers and their families have been forced into limbo and they survive in either rural or urban slums in dire conditions.
  20. The land reform programme has benefited only the elite - security forces, ZANU-PF's politburo members, their family members and judges.
  21. At the end of October, in a remarkable turn of events, ZANU-PF's decision-making body, the politburo, rejected a land reform report that proposed a further purging of the few remaining white farmers. They argued that the evictions would bring the economy to its knees and that the report was driven by none other than racism since swathes of land were lying idle following the chaotic fast-track land reform programme

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Tourism Sector

  1. Zimbabwe's tourism industry was one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the country with an annual average growth rate of 18.5% (tourist arrivals) from 1989 to 1998.
  2. Tourism receipts increased by an average annual growth rate of 25% over the same period. In 1998, the industry was estimated to be employing 180 000 people, both directly and indirectly.
  3. Zimbabwe's revenues from tourism fell from US$700m (£375m) in 1999, to just US$60m in 2004.

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Unemployment

  1. Over 85% unemployment.
  2. The disruption of the business sector through chaotic price controls has further escalated unemployment levels.

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Emigration / Brain Drain / Refugee Crisis

  1. Zimbabwe has the highest overall literacy rate in Southern Africa at 90% followed by South Africa with 86%, according to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation statistics on literacy.
  2. 75% of Zimbabweans with a job are employed outside their country.
  3. 25% of all Zimbabweans are in political or economic exile - the biggest proportional mass movement of a population in peacetime ever in
  4. modern history.
  5. Brain drain: In 2005, a study by the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) reported that close to 500 000 of Zimbabwe's "professional cream" had left in recent years to work abroad. However, the study noted that the figure could be a "gross under-estimation" of the real number of Zimbabwean workers in the Diaspora.
  6. In August 2007, 3 200 teachers left their jobs.
  7. Up to 3.5 million Zimbabweans exiles are estimated to be in South Africa where the majority struggle to survive and send money and food home.
  8. The International Organisation for Migration, which opened an office to assist deported Zimbabwean refugees on the northern side of the border, says the organisation is currently handling on average 17 000 deportees every month. It is estimates that more than 86 000 illegal immigrants were forcibly repatriated between January and May this year alone. (It is important to note that the figure of 17 000 per month excludes those refugees who have managed to evade the South African authorities).
  9. The Registrar-General's Office announced recently that the cost of an ordinary Zimbabwean passport has been hiked 29 990% to Z$150 000 from Z$500. A passport processed within 24 hours costs Z$1 million.
  10. Deportation of Zimbabweans from South Africa - 2007:

a. January: 20 132
b. May: 19 801
c. July: 18 000
d. August: 18 000

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Living Standards

  1. 45% of the population is malnourished, one of the highest rates in the world
  2. At the end of 2006, the average minimum wage of Zimbabwean workers was
  3. only 16.6% of the Poverty Datum Line calculated at December 2006 levels
  4. By September 2007, the Poverty datum line (PDL) had risen to Z$12 million per month, approx. US$37 in real terms, from Z$4,5 million in August. The current PDL is three times that of a teacher's salary (Central Statistics Office). Police constables, shop floor attendants and some soldiers only earn around
  5. Z$4 million per month. For many of these below PDL earners, most of their
  6. salaries will be going on transport to and from work.
  7. Four out of five Zimbabweans now live below the breadline.
  8. 4.1 million people will need food aid during the lean spell extending to the country's next harvest: United Nations World Food programme.
  9. Mozambique, officially one of the poorest countries in the world, has more food for sale than Zimbabwe.
  10. At least 80 percent of the population is living below the poverty threshold, with people often skipping meals and walking or cycling to work in order to stretch their income to the next payday.

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Health

  1. Official statistics for 2001 estimated that HIV/AIDS was present in 24.6% of the adult population (2001), putting the country in the top tier of all countries, i.e. close to 1 in 4 people in Zimbabwe living with AIDS. Statistics released in October 2007 by the government claiming that HIV/AIDS prevalence had declined from 18,1% to 15,6% over the past four years were viewed with scepticism. It is believed that HIV infection rates may be as high as 40% given that the population was an estimated 12.5 million in 2000, but between 4 and 5 million Zimbabweans are believed to have fled the country.
  2. Tuberculosis is common in all developing countries. However, Zimbabwe has a prevalence of over 100 cases per 100 000 population, the highest WHO risk category.
  3. Life expectancy: 34 years for women and 37 years for men
  4. Zimbabwe now has the highest number of orphans per capita in the world - in excess of 1.6 million.
  5. AIDS-related deaths orphan another 350 children every single day.
  6. Two thirds of female-headed households care for orphans and vulnerable children.
  7. The healthcare sector is in virtual collapse
  8. Number of doctors per 10 000 people: 1 (World Health Organisation statistic 2006)
  9. According to health ministry statistics in Zimbabwe, fewer than one in four posts for doctors have been filled
  10. Four out of five of the district hospitals that serve rural areas have no doctors
  11. Rural commuters in Zimbabwe can no longer catch a bus to their nearest clinic or shop as the spiralling economic decline has forced many transport operators to shut down their services in the countryside.
  12. Average deaths per week: 3 500. (This statistic may be much higher as deaths in rural areas are increasingly not reported and people either cannot afford the bus fare to take family members to hospital or see no point in doing so since hospitals and clinics have largely run out of drugs.)
  13. The 2005-06 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Zimbabwe found that adult mortality tripled between 1994 and 2005/06. Much of this was due to HIV/AIDS but the failure of treatment programmes meant that adult mortality had risen by around 40% among women and 20% among men between 1999 and 2005-06.
  14. As many as 900 cases of diarrhoea are reported and being treated daily at Harare clinics since there has been an increase of waterborne diseases such as dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera.

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Human Rights

  1. Over 20 000 documented murders by the Zimbabwe government during the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland of the mid 1980s
  2. 1 in 10 people in Matabeleland over the age of 30 are survivors of torture
  3. 1 in 10 Zimbabweans now need psychological help
  4. Tens of thousands of people of Malawian extraction, mainly farm workers, have been forced out of the country
  5. Internationally recorded human rights abuses (15 000 in eight years) up by 50% over last year
  6. The victimisation of MDC leaders and activists has been ongoing and has intensified since 11 March 2007, with provincial and local activists affiliated to the MDC being specifically targeted. Victims of torture are being detained, denied access to medical attention and access to their lawyers because of their political affiliation and are afraid to seek medical attention for fear of further beatings.
  7. By the end of June, as many as 200 MDC members had been seriously beaten up or tortured, with the number of total individuals exceeding 600.
  8. Since the South African led negotiations began in April, the MDC reports that a total of 103 rallies and marches have been crushed, while seven murders, 18 rapes, 69 abductions, 459 cases of torture, 2 323 cases of interference or intimidation, 1 141 cases of assault and 152 cases of unlawful detention have been recorded. (October 2007)
  9. The Zimbabwe Peace Project report covering human rights violations between January and June 2007 recorded 4 122 incidences of human rights violations that were in most instances politically motivated. The facts and figures demonstrate that the political temperature is definitely rising with June recording 792 cases up from 671 cases in May."
  10. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum released a report on 23 August warning that 2007 was on course to be the worst year for human rights violations perpetrated by police and government agents during the seven years of political turmoil in Zimbabwe.
  11. The Forum said that incidents documented by legal and medical experts showed cases of state-orchestrated torture rose to about four a day in early 2007. Cases of gross violations - including abductions, arrests, unlawful detentions and abuses of political rights and basic freedoms - doubled in the first six months compared to the same period in 2006.
  12. Reported human rights violations between January and July 31, 2006 totalled
  13. 3 468; the reported violations over the same period in 2007 have increased by almost 90% to 6 527 incidents.
  14. 40% of women from WOZA have suffered physical torture and 50% were detained longer than the statutory limit of 48 hours without being brought to court.

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Operation Murambatsvina

  1. Operation Murambatsvina (2005), the government's ruthless programme to destroy largely informal urban homes and force people into the rural areas rendered more than 700 000 people left homeless or jobless.
  2. 2.4 million poor people were affected. (Statistics from UN report)
  3. Operation Murambatsvina also resulted in the destruction of at least 32 500 small and micro-businesses across the country, creating a loss of livelihood for more than 96 600 people, mostly women.
  4. Thirty eight families from the MDC stronghold of KweKwe were left homeless during October 2007 after council officials from the town, accompanied by heavily armed police officers, used sledgehammers to knock down their homes.

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Mugabe's Mansions

  1. Located 16 km north of Harare, Mugabe's 25 en suite bedroom mansion is the size of a medium-sized hotel.
  2. Building the mansion has cost in excess of US$ 26 million in a country where most people earn less than the equivalent of eleven dollars a month.
  3. More than 2 000 bags of cement meant for the victims of Operation Murambatsvina were diverted to ongoing building operations at the Mugabe mansion.
  4. This is the third luxury residence that Mugabe has built and the fifth he has owned since he came to power.
  5. In 2003, Mugabe and his wife Grace also took over the magnificent Iron Mask farm in the Mazowe area from elderly white commercial farmers. The owners were given 48 hours to leave the property after a visit by Grace Mugabe, accompanied by police, soldiers and youth militia.

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Environment/wildlife

  1. Over 80% of the wildlife on commercial farms and conservancies has been destroyed
  2. The total losses of wildlife on private game ranches is estimated to be over 90%, a total of about 560 000 animals.
  3. Prior to the so-called land reform programme, there were 15 conservancies. Today the only one left of any consequence is the Save Valley Conservancy.
  4. Poaching is endemic in the national parks.
  5. The decimation of the gene pools of wildlife and domestic animals will impact on the country for generations.

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Comparative Data

At Independence from Britain in 1980:

  1. Zimbabwe had the second largest economy in southern Africa
  2. Zimbabwe had the third highest GDP per capita
  3. Z$1 was worth US$2.
  4. The current rate is about Z$1 million to US$1 (October 2007)
  5. Zimbabwe was the world's largest exporter of tobacco, after the USA
  6. Zimbabwe was the world's sixth largest gold producer

Economic Growth After Independence:

  1. In the first two years after independence, the economy grew 24%
  2. This was followed by 15 years of annual growth of about 5%
  3. During this period, inflation ranged from 9-12%
  4. By 1995, the national debt had reached US$5 billion, or 60% of GDP

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