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Zimbabwe |
ECONOMY
Together with
other sectors of the economy,
Zimbabwe’s tourist industry continues to dwindle
South Africa’s President Mbeki has been President Mugabe’s guest many times. President Mbeki’s mission to Zimbabwe has been described by many critics as «soft and unworkable diplomacy» with little hope of success as long as the core issue — lawlessness — is not decisively addressed. President Mbeki has not yet publicly denounced his Zimbabwean counterpart’s election campaign strategies which included killings, maiming members of the opposition and destroying their property. These tactics were unleashed by Mr Mugabe’s administration to win back ZANU-PF‘s waning support. Unlike his predecessor, Nelson Mandela, who openly showed his dislike of President Mugabe’s rule, Mr Mbeki has opted to enter into dialogue with President Mugabe to try to persuade him to stop the prevailing hostility between ZANU-PF and the opposition.
Mr Mbeke has now pledged a two-way economic aid package for Zimbabwe. South Africa will inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the troubled Zimbabwe’s coffers. At the same time, President Mugabe will make efforts to convince the international community that he will restore law and order in his country. Zimbabwe’s image abroad has recently been unimpressive, to say the least, but South Africa’s President believes the land reform programme in Zimbabwe deserves British financial assistance. He also believes that European countries which attended the 1998 donor conference on land reform, must now begin to pour in technical, managerial skills and financial assistance.
Tourists scared away
Recent events taking place within Zimbabwe have been condemned by local and international human rights organisations and are said to have angered many international bodies and scared away tourists. So now Mr Mugabe has announced government plans to revitalise the tourist industry by establishing a National Tourism and Development Master Plan.
For decades, tourism has been one of the most reliable sectors of Zimbabwe’s economy, earning the country billions of dollars in foreign currency each year. The industry employed thousands of local people and was about to expand with more small-scale businessmen entering the sector.
According to the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism, the industry needs at least 12 months to recover. Potential visitors to the country have yet to be convinced that they will truly be welcome. And apart from the international community, local industrialists and other business people have announced they are fed up with the current situation. The farming and business sectors have teamed up with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in demonstrating their unhappiness — all to no effect.
A spokesman for the tourist industry has been quoted in the Media as saying: «Tourism is usually the first and heaviest casualty whenever civil unrest occurs. Tourism was the country’s fasted growing industry before its collapse». Another tourism official says: «During the last months the industry has experienced massive cancellations of bookings, and a significant decline in advance bookings. To offset this, we are offering a 50% reduced canoeing safari for Zimbabweans. This includes an afternoon’s fishing, a night at a leading hotel and a two-night safari».
With Zimbabwe’s economy collapsing on all sides, Mr Mugabe is quoted as saying: «We will remove all war veterans from farms that are not scheduled for resettlement. I don’t know when, but I can certainly say it will be in August». However, on a later occasion the President is quoted as saying: «I didn’t say the war veterans should be removed».
Members of Parliament have challenged Mr Mugabe to prove he is genuinely determined to find a solution to the land question, and the general public agrees that an orderly and transparent process ought to be implemented to solve Zimbabwe’s myriad economic woes — including those besetting the tourist industry.
 | Stan Dongo, Zimbabwe, August 2000 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment |
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PeaceLink 2000 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement