In March, Zimbabweans supposedly voted President Robert Mugabe out of office in favor of opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Many of the southern African nation’s serious problems result from Mugabe’s policies.
The once respected but now despotic Mugabe refused to acknowledge Tsvangirai’s win. Since then, Mugabe has been at the helm of political violence directed towards citizens supporting the opposition. Following is a synopsis of some of the major events that helped spiral Zimbabwe into civil chaos.
1980 The country formally known as Rhodesia gains its independence and becomes Zimbabwe. In a landslide victory anti-colonial, revolutionary hero Robert Mugabe becomes the first prime minister.
1987 Mugabe becomes president of Zimbabwe. He has been the country’s only ruler since.
2000 Backed by Mugabe, veterans of Zimbabwe’s war for independence squatted on farms owned by whites. The Blacks wanted land they claim the British stole during colonization.
March 2002 Unwilling to give up power, Mugabe used intimidation and force to blatantly rig the general election.
August 2002 Mugabe ushered in his land redistribution campaign. The government confiscated land owned by white farmers and gave it to Blacks. Mugabe’s policy ruined the farming system, which in turn threw the economy into chaos, causing rampant inflation and widespread fuel and food shortages. Millions of Zimbabweans went hungry due to Mugabe’s actions.
May-July 2005 The government initiates Operation “Drive Out Trash.” This initiative called for the destruction of urban slums. It has made 700,000 people homeless. Mugabe claimed the operation would help Zimbabwe because, according to him, its cities had become overrun with criminals. Others noted that the areas destroyed contained supporters of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
February 2008 Inflation in Zimbabwe reached 100,580 percent.
March 2008 Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, wins the first round of the presidential election. Zimbabweans voted out Mugabe because they felt he was corrupt.
May 2008 The Electoral Commission calls for a presidential run off election between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
June 2008 Zimbabwe’s social welfare minister announced that aid organizations had to leave the country. The aid cutoff put two million Zimbabweans at greater risk for disease, homelessness and starvation.
Despite massive food shortages and millions of hungry citizens, U.S. said Zimbabwean officials seized 20 tons of food donated by the U.S. and gave it to Mugabe’s supporters. Human rights and aid groups accuse Mugabe of using starvation tactics in order to ensure votes in the runoff election. Tsvangirai dropped out of the run-off election.
Tsvangirai cited political violence against ordinary Zimbabwean citizens at the hands of Mugabe and his supporters as the main reason for dropping out.
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