BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
tional. On its part, the state became more militant. By the late 1990s,
Zimbabwe was a nation at the crossroads.
The new millennium did not bring new fortunes to Zimbabwe. On the
political front, Mugabe faced his biggest threat in Morgan Tsvangirai of
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). According to one of his
critics, Mugabe transformed from being a liberator to a dictator (Auret
2009). On the social front, the HIV and AIDS epidemic’s full effects
began to be felt in the high death rate. On the economic front, Zim-
babwe registered astronomical figures for inflation. Below, I shall high-
light each of these dimensions. Given the rapid deterioration that the
country experienced, it is not possible to do justice to these dimensions
within the confines of this narrative.
The emergence of the MDC in 1999 and the fast-track land resettlement
programme of 2000 generated a lot of social strife. Mugabe sought to
consolidate his grip on power, while mobilising the global South to rally
against “the morally decadent and oppressive West.” In particular, Mug-
abe positioned himself as the “Suffering Servant” who was being sacri-
ficed for his principles. His rhetoric was as impressive as it was urgent:
the global South had to stop the “axis of evil” represented by “Bush and
Blair.” He lambasted the MDC as “puppets of the West” and suggested
that the leaders of the opposition had succumbed to “sweets” that were
being handed out by the oppressors (Chitando 2011: 44).
Amidst the strife, Zimbabwe’s economy simply imploded. Inflation
soared to astronomical figures. Consumers were introduced to hitherto
unknown figures such as quintillions and sextillions of Zimbabwe dol-
lars. In many instances, prices could be changed three times in a single
day. Unemployment reached new depths, retrenchments worsened and
life became a hard grim struggle for survival. Many citizens took up the
exit option, thereby contributing to the ballooning of the Zimbabwean
Diaspora. Many professionals sought menial jobs in Europe and North
America, earning a sharp rebuke from Mugabe. He sarcastically charged
they were wearing themselves out by “scrubbing the backs of elderly
white women.” Many sought to recharge their batteries, working to
support families back home or sought to advance their qualifications in
the hope that one fine day, they would return to the “promised land”
(Muzondidya 2011).
The crisis was compounded by the high death rate due to HIV and
AIDS. As the economically active population was being decimated, the