The Economist - USA (2019-08-17)

32 TheEconomistAugust 17th 2019

1

A

t his pentecostalchurch in Harare,

Zimbabwe’s capital, Bishop Never Mu-

parutsa sighs at the empty pews. In recent

weeks, as the economy has deteriorated,

his congregation has shrunk from 400 to

120. Mr Muparutsa sends Bible verses via
     WhatsApp to those too poor to travel. He
     tries to keep sermons upbeat. But he is wor-
     ried about his formerly ebullient flock.
     “The joy I used to see is gone,” he says.
     “They might as well be Anglicans.”
     Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic
     crisis in a decade. Electricity is available for
     just six hours a day. Clean tap water runs
     once a week. Petrol stations either have no
     fuel or long queues. About 7.5m people,
     roughly half the country, will struggle to
     eat one meal a day by early next year, says
     the World Food Programme, a unagency.
     Annual inflation is running at about 500%,
     reckons Msasa Capital, a local advisory
     firm. “I can’t see the light at the end of the
     tunnel,” says one businessman. “Just the
     light from an incoming train.”
     The government blames the weather.

Cyclone Idai, which hit southern Africa in

March, and a regional drought have con-

tributed to a poor harvest. Scant rainfall

has cut the supply of water to Lake Kariba,

on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe,

and thus to an adjacent hydropower plant.

Though the climate has been cruel to Zim-

babwe, the mess is mostly man-made.

Power shortages were avoidable. Low

water levels at Kariba have been predicted

for almost a year. A coal-fired power station

in the west of the country ought to help fill

the gap, but it is plagued by faults. Extra

power could be bought from Eskom, but

Zimbabwe has struggled to pay its debts to

South Africa’s state-run utility.

A lack of power is crippling what is left

of Zimbabwean industry. Many factories

open only for a brief night shift. The infor-

mal economy is struggling, too. Obey Ma-

pupa, who makes tombstones in Mbare, a

poor suburb of Harare, says that business

should be good: more people are dying. But

without power he cannot etch epitaphs.

The shortage of water also stems from

inept governance. Harare’s reservoirs are

leaky. The chemicals used to clean them

have not been imported because of a lack of

foreign currency. Zimbabweans must in-

stead queue at wells. At one in Chitung-

wiza, a dormitory town outside Harare,

Gaudencia Maputi, 66, says she has been

waiting for more than a day. She needs to

wash and feed her 83-year-old brother, who

has cancer. “I cannot do anything because

there is no water,” she says.

Looming hunger reflects state failings

as well. The Grain Marketing Board (gmb),

the pillar of Zimbabwe’s command econ-

omy in agriculture, once kept plentiful

stores of maize. But today there may be just

six weeks’ worth, reckons Eddie Cross, an

opposition mp. He blames corruption. The

board is racking up huge losses. It sells

maize at $240 per tonne and buys it at $390,

so it is easy for crooked insiders to drive

from one depot to another, making $150 a

time. (Assuming they can find petrol.)

The food, water and power crises are

part of a broader economic catastrophe.

This can be traced back to the end of Robert

Zimbabwe’s crisis

Parched and pillaged

HARARE

A lack of food, water and power is pushing Zimbabwe to the brink, again

Middle East & Africa

33 A powervacuuminGabon

34 Rwanda’soddstatistics

34 ThewarwithinthewarinYemen

35 A row over language in Morocco

Also in this section