A turning point in Mr Mugabe’s series of presidential blunders was the year 2000, when he launched “fast-track” land reform and encouraged a violent takeover of white-owned farms, then the backbone of the country’s farming sector.
Most of the seized land was given to black farmers who lacked experience with modern agricultural practice; many were chosen on the basis of their connections to Mr Mugabe and his party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
Till then the envy of the region and the primary source of export revenue for the country, Zimbabwe’s farms suddenly faltered—and sent shock waves rippling through the economy.
The fiscal situation had been stretched already, with Mr Mugabe having embroiled Zimbabwe in Congo’s civil war.
So his central bank began printing money, to pay off debts and compensate war veterans, seen as an important pillar of Mr Mugabe’s support, and to offset higher prices caused by the farms’ failure.
The spiral quickly spun out of control.
At one point in 2008 inflation hit the highest rate recorded in the history of money: 231 000 000%.
The currency had to be denominated in notes as large as the $100trn Zimbabwe-dollar bill—worth about around 40 cents at the time of its demise.
Hyperinflation concluded in 2009, when the Zimbabwe dollar was scrapped altogether in favour of a multi-currency system in which the American dollar was predominant.
For a brief period, Mr Mugabe’s destructive economic impulses were tempered by a power-sharing arrangement with the opposition.
But since resuming complete control in 2013, he’s returned to his former habits.
This past weekend Mr Mugabe hosted a lavish 93rd birthday party for himself.
He said he wants to stand for another five-year term as president in 2018 and that it seems “only God” can stop him.
While God has not yet seen fit, behind the scenes the struggle to succeed him has begun in earnest. Mr Mugabe’s second wife Grace—his former secretary and mistress—and his vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, are seen as leading contenders.
Absent a designated successor, Mr Mugabe’s departure will create a vacuum which could actually add to his country’s woes.
Under Mr Mugabe, economic chaos has a constant feature of life in Zimbabwe.
But it will take more than the death of a tyrant to undo his legacy.
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