Zimbabwe has been in the throes of a multi-layered socio-political and economic crisis since the 1990s, as the once thriving nation, the envy of many on the African continent for its vibrant economy based on three key pillars, namely, agriculture, mining and manufacturing, in addition to a rapidly expanding social services sector, went into a tailspin. Much has been written on the causes, course and effects of the Zimbabwean crisis, with scholars locating the roots of the country’s challenges in unwise government economic policies and decisions on the economy in general and agriculture in particular and the ruling party’s growing political intolerance, which reduced the country’s democratic space and polarised Zimbabwean society. The chaotic land reform programme beginning in 2000, which saw white commercial farmers driven off the land, and the mayhem which accompanied it, apparently driven mainly by the ruling party’s desire to punish its perceived political ‘enemies’, set in motion an economic downward spiral which affected all sectors of the economy, resulting in the collapse of agriculture and manufacturing and a record-breaking rate of inflation that ultimately forced the Government of National Unity to abandon the country’s currency in 2008 in preference for a multi-currency regime. Meanwhile, many professionals voted with their feet by emigrating to other countries in search of greener pastures and a freer political climate, thus depriving the country of the skills and expertise necessary for its economic recovery and growth. Those who stayed in the country had to cope as best they could under the circumstances.
There is a growing body of literature focusing on the Zimbabwean people’s coping mechanisms and strategies in light of the precipitous decline in the country’s fortunes, but it is by no means exhaustive. There is a need for more scholarly analyses on how the Zimbabwean people and the country’s various institutions employed innovative strategies to ensure their continued survival. Zimbos Never Die? Negotiating Survival in a Challenged Economy, 1990s to 2015 makes a major contribution to this growing, pertinent and very important literature which explores the resilience of the Zimbabwean people in the face of mounting national impoverishment and a growing climate of political intolerance and parochial nationalism.
This book is welcome not only because of the seriousness of the subject it deals with and the impressive scholarly analysis that its contributors bring to bear in their individual contributions, but also because it reveals the continuing vibrancy and dynamism of historical scholarship in Zimbabwe. Contributing to Zimbos Never Die are mostly up-and-coming scholars, including historians, economic historians and scholars from other disciplines. Almost all
A.S. Mlambo