Zimbabwe

Main article: Africa

Population

Main article: Population of Africa

Migration

2021: Net outflow over 4 years

Overweight

Mortality

Traffic safety

Economy

GDP $1,269 per person

At the end of 2019, the country's government predicts a decrease in GDP by 6.5%.

Inflation

2022: Inflation in November - 269%

Key rate

The Central Bank of Zimbabwe in March 2023 lowered by 10% - to 140%.

Monetary system

2024: New Currency Issue - ZiG

In April 2024, Zimbabwe, in its new attempt to end a string of local dollar collapses, replaced it with a new unit called ZiG, which will be backed by a basket of foreign currencies, gold and other precious metals.

2023: Zimbabwe issues gold-backed digital tokens

On May 8, 2023, the Zimbabwean authorities announced the release of a national digital currency backed by gold. It can be used both as a payment instrument and as a means of saving. Read more here.

2022: Civil servants and bank employees demand salaries in US dollars

The threat of a strike in February 2022 responded to the refusal to pay wages in US dollars by employees of Zimbabwe banks. They, following civil servants, demanded to pay them wages in American dollars.

Bank owners rejected their demand and in response offered a one-time increase in salaries in national currency by 61% per year. The value of the Zimbabwean dollar has fallen by almost a third since September 2021 and is trading at 115 per US dollar. Bank employees explain their demand by the fact that the American dollar is used in the country to pay for food, fuel, medicines and school fees.

The Secretary General of the Zimbabwean Union of Banks and Allied Workers, Peter Mutas, said that a 61% increase in wages per year will increase salaries only to Z $41,782 ($362). While according to the Zimbabwe Consumer Council, an ordinary family of six needs at least Z $73,000 ($635).

2019: Zimbabwe dollar relaunch after 10-year hiatus

In 2019, after hyperinflation reaching tens of billions of percent, the Central Bank of Zimbabwe is trying to restore the financial system and return to issuing its own national currency - the Zimbabwean dollar, whose circulation after a 10-year break resumed in the summer of 2019.

From 2009 to 2019, in Zimbabwe, the US dollar, euro, British pounds sterling and currencies of neighboring African states were used for payments.

In June, the Zimbabwean Central Bank restarted the national dollar, the exchange rate of which by November 2019 collapsed 360 times: from 1 to 360 Zimbabwean dollars per American.

Oligarchs

2020: Oligarchs Billy Rautenbakh, Tafadzwa Musarara and Kuda Tagwirei

Emmerson's "Crocodile" Mnangagwa did not succeed in the "Second Republic," Zangaro Today noted in March 2020. A man of difficult fate with an underground past turned out to be completely unprepared to govern the country in peacetime and assembled a professional unsuitable team. Zimbabwe is experiencing a severe drought over the past 30 years, inflation has exceeded 440%, and 60% of citizens are on the verge of hunger.

In addition to all the woes, the economy is rapidly cartelizing. The fuel market and scarce foreign currency were cleaned up by the oligarchs Billy Rautenbakh, Tafadzwa Musarara and Kuda Tagwirei, associated with the president.

The first violin among them is played by oil baron Kudakwashe (Kuda) Tagwirei, head of Sakunda Holdings and Mnangagwa's confidant, acting as his economic adviser. Its influence is so great that they talk about the real seizure of the state - by analogy with the scandalous experience in neighboring South Africa.

Tagvirea's reputation is extremely ambiguous. The head of the parliamentary reporting committee, Tendai Biti, has already accused the businessman of embezzling dollars US 3 billion from the Command Agriculture state program, operated by Sakunda, which is a serious crime in a drought and impending hunger. In addition, even the scandalous Trafigura Group decided to buy out 51% of Sakunda's share in fuel imports, not wishing to associate itself more with such a "toxic" partner.

However, Tagwirei dug too deep and took root in all spheres of the economy, including the mineral business. So, through his Landela Mining, the oligarch acquired a 50% stake in Great Dyke Investments, the largest platinum project involving the Russian Vi Holding. In addition, Tagwirei gained loyalty to the ZANU-PF Politburo by purchasing cars for its members and paying them salaries. Therefore, members of the ZANU-PF youth league - the "Young Turks" - were expelled from the party after accusing Tagwirei of corruption and the collapse of the country.

Mining

2022

Among the top 10 leading countries in the production of critical raw materials

Lithium export ban

In late 2022, the Zimbabwean government banned lithium exports. The government said it was losing €1.7bn to exporting it as raw materials rather than recycling. Over two years, the price of lithium has risen by 1100%.

Lithium mining

2022:800 tonnes of lithium produced

2021: 1,200 tonnes of lithium produced

Power

2020: Energy consumption per capita

and

2019: Electrification

Alcohol market

Minimum age to purchase alcoholic beverages

Agriculture

2019: Low use of pesticides in agriculture

Consumption

Meat

2023: Beef is the most consumed type of meat

Cereals

2019: Low rice consumption: 4.8 kg per person per year

Vegetables

2018: Vegetable consumption - 16 kg per capita

Automobile traffic

Zimbabwe is a left-hand country.

Zimbabwe IT Market

2022: More than 5 startups

Communication

2019: Total internet shutdown

In January 2019, the internet was completely disconnected in Zimbabwe. This was done after the start of riots in the country, the organizers of which coordinated protests through social networks and instant messengers.

All four telecommunications operators operating in Zimbabwe have been instructed by the government to stop providing internet services to the public. After that, the hacker group Anonymous conducted a series of DDoS attacks on government sites, which stopped working as a result of cyber attacks. In particular, the resource of the reserve bank of Zimbabwe "fell."

We saw innocent Zimbabwe being killed. We saw oppression and tyranny. We've seen people being oppressed for fighting for freedom. We can't stand it. As with the Sudanese government, we have successfully shut down more than 72 government websites in Zimbabwe. This is just the beginning. Your banking system is also about to fall. Government of Zimbabwe, you have become the enemy of Anonymous! Your systems are in danger, "reads a post one Anonymous member wrote on the forum.

The public organization NetBlocks, which monitors the observance of rights in the field of digital technologies and registers restrictions on access to Internet services, calculated that the disconnection of Zimbabwe from the Internet resulted in losses to the economy of $17 million.

Earlier, the Zimbabwean authorities announced more than double the price of gasoline and diesel fuel, which caused a wave of discontent among citizens. According to authorities, during the riots in the country, real estate was destroyed, vehicles were burned and property was destroyed for a total of $800 million. At least 700 people were detained for participating in the riots.

The human rights organization Access Now noted that Internet blocking during protests is increasingly practiced in the world, and every year the number of such cases is increasing.^[1]

2018

The World's Most Expensive Mobile Internet

Internet penetration rate - 21%

Energy carriers

Gasoline price

Foreign trade

2018

Most valuable goods exported from Africa

Africa's largest trading partners

Cooperation with Russia

2023: Russia's support in Ukraine conflict

In July 2023, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa supported a special military operation in Ukraine and said he expressed solidarity with Russia's actions. In turn, Vladimir Putin wished Mnangagwa good luck and his party's success in the upcoming Zimbabwe elections on August 23, 2023.

Nuclear Power

In August 2019, Russia and Zimbabwe agreed on cooperation in the field of nuclear power.

The countries signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the "peaceful use of nuclear energy" during Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo's visit to Russia.

The agreement includes exploration of uranium deposits, as well as research in the field of a peaceful atom.

This is one of Zimbabwe's steps to tackle the most complex energy crisis since independence. After all, the main source of energy in the country - the dam on Lake Kariba can be closed in the coming years.

Astronautics

2022: Start of cooperation with Roscosmos

On January 5, 2023, Roscosmos announced the start of cooperation with Zimbabwe regarding the creation and launch of small satellites. The agreements were approved on November 24, 2022, the Russian state corporation specified. Read more here.

Diamond mining

Development of one of the world's largest platinum group metal deposits "Darvendale"

Key projects of Russian-Zimbabwean cooperation are the development of one of the world's largest metal deposits of the Darvendale platinum group near Harare and the activities of AK Alrosa unfolding in several areas of Zimbabwe.

Based on the intergovernmental agreement of 2014, the joint venture with the participation of the Russian investment and industrial group Vi Holding is engaged in the development of the field. The construction of a mining and processing complex is planned.

Alrosa began work in Zimbabwe to develop the highest-level agreements reached during an official visit to Moscow in January 2019 by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In June [established] together with the National Diamond Mining Company of Zimbabwe JV to develop diamond deposits.

Discussion of the Gasoline for Diamonds deal

In November 2019, the Zimbabwean government is discussing a $ 1.4 billion deal with Russia that is designed to help the African country cope with the worst energy crisis, a shortage of hot and fanning blackouts that last an average of 18 hours a day.

As part of the agreement, Russia plans to supply Zimbabwe with petroleum products for three years, including diesel fuel in exchange for diamonds, which are mined by the national company Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).

According to Business Times sources, the agreement can be signed by the end of the month and will begin to operate in 2020: the Swiss subsidiary of Tatneft will become the fuel supplier. It will ship batches through the port of Beira (Mozambique).

Diamonds for fuel will be supplied to the Russian Alros, which, according to sources of the Zimbabwean publication, will evaluate the stones and inform Tatneft about their cost. The latter will be able to reduce the price of stones by 30%, depending on the situation on the market.

On the Zimbabwe side, the agreement will be signed by the country's central bank.

In addition to the crisis in the key diamond mining industry, where production from 17 million carats in 2013 collapsed to 3.5 million - in 2018, the country's economy was hit by a severe drought.

The representative of Alrosa refused to confirm to Interfax the deal "gasoline for diamonds" with Zimbabwe. "The company is not related to the project and does not conduct any negotiations on this topic," he said.

Leonid Brezhnev Street in the capital of the country

Zimbabwe has Leonid Brezhnev Avenue since November 2019.

The government approved the renaming of some streets to Harare and Bulawayo.

The former Fife Avenue, where the Embassy of the Russian Federation is located, now bears the name of Leonid Brezhnev.

Some streets that bore the names of "white" colonists (Cecil Rhodes, Allan Wilson, etc.) also changed their names. Fidel Castro also got his street.

Cooperation with China

2019: China takes offense at Zimbabwe for being 'underestimated'

The financial assistance that Beijing provides to Harare is several times more than indicated in the annual budget report, the Chinese side claims in November 2019.

According to these data, China provided Zimbabwe with $3.6 million. The Embassy of the Middle Kingdom in response claims that in the period from January to September 2019, Harare received $136.8 million.

Beijing has funded projects in Zimbabwe over the years, including water and electricity infrastructure through China's Export-Import Bank.

"The Chinese Embassy wishes that the relevant agencies of the Zimbabwean government conduct a comprehensive assessment of the bilateral support statistics and accurately reflect the real situation when making statements," the Chinese mission said in a brief statement.

Health care

2021: Maternity leave

in

2020

Duration of guaranteed paid sick leave 6 months or more

Part of the population defecates on the street

2018

The cause of the highest number of deaths

AIDS

Crime

Prisons

2022: Minimum age of imprisonment for children - 7 years

2018: Number of prisoners per 100 thousand citizens

Hunger

2020: Drought and food crisis

In March 2020, Zimbabwe was on the verge of famine. The cause was the worst drought over the past 40 years. Already 7.7 million Zimbabweans, or every second resident of the country, face food shortages and spend 2-3 days without food. In the capital Harare, people are fighting in queues for shipments of corn and cereals at state-run retailers.

With the arrival of drought, the government is desperate to tackle the looming man-made disaster.

The government is considering returning white farmers who lost their land following the spontaneous land reform of 1998-2002. In fact, monetary compensation to former owners has been provided for a long time (25 million were allocated for them in the current budget dollars). But the government, as always, has no money. Therefore, a recently published new plan provides for the allocation of land to 800 former owners on a long-term lease.

In general, all three strategies blindly follow neoliberal orthodoxy - they are aimed at squeezing out the peasantry and replacing it with large commercial agricultural holdings associated with the government, noted in Zangaro Today.

2019: Belarusian agricultural holdings get land for soybean cultivation

In the experience of creating agricultural holdings, she volunteered to help, with Belarus which the Zimbabwean authorities concluded agreements in September 2019 in the amount of 350 million dollars US dollars. The Independent newspaper reports on plans to allocate farmland to Belarusian state-owned companies for agricultural complexes for growing wheat, soybeans, meat and dairy products and poultry. "Agro-industrial holding of the Office of the President of the Republic of Belarus" has already received 10 thousand hectares of land in Mbire district for growing soybeans and building a meat and dairy farm.

2016: Government unsuccessfully tries to restore maize farming

After a sharp announcement of the production of maize and corn, the government came to its senses too late, only in 2016 approved the Command Agriculture program - import substitution by subsidizing large corn farmers. But the program degenerated into a strategy of acquiring loyalty by the ruling party and the president's inner circle: over 45% of participating farmers in 2016-2017. turned out to be uncredited.

2008: Under the influence of the IMF, farmers are betting on export tobacco to the detriment of food crops - wheat and maize

Zimbabwe's more or less balanced and diversified economy destroyed reconciliation with the West in 2008 and the opening up of the market to foreign capital and IMF experts. Under their influence, farmers then relied on export tobacco to the detriment of food crops - wheat and maize.

2002: Seizures of "white" farms

Legalized in 2002, the spontaneous seizures of "white" farms led to international sanctions and the isolation of Zimbabwe. But there was also a positive effect. Thanks to the "black redistribution," thousands of households have found the desired land, and with it the long-awaited airbag from fluctuations in market prices.

Education

2019: Percentage of people who can read

2018: Literacy rate

History

2024: USAID staff expelled after US sanctions imposed on President Mnangagwa

The Zimbabwean authorities in February 2024 expelled employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from the country. This was announced by the head of the press service of the US State Department Matthew Miller.

"Last month, Zimbabwean authorities unexpectedly detained and deported USAID employees and contractors who were assessing the development and governance situation in Zimbabwe," TASS quoted him as saying in March 2024.

Miller stressed that employees of the American agency were mistreated and intimidated.

Zimbabwe's presidential spokesman George Charamba accused the US of interfering in the country's internal affairs.

"If America thinks that it has a holy mission to reorganize our country's politics according to its own ideas about democracy, it will face bitter disappointment," the official said in an interview with the Sunday Mail.

As Charamba noted, the expelled officials held tacit negotiations with the opposition, NGOs and diplomats of third countries.

A week earlier, the US imposed sanctions targeting Zimbabwe's top officials, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The reason was Washington's alleged data on their involvement in corruption and human rights violations.

2019

Harare water treatment crisis

In September 2019, the main water treatment plant in the Zimbabwean capital is temporarily open to residents. The water crisis is a huge inconvenience for the two million people living in Harare - many residents are forced to queue at night to get clean water.

The government believes that the opposition-run city council is to blame for the crisis. The council is engaged in the procurement of chemicals for water treatment, but recently supplies have stopped.

Power shortage

In July 2019, some Zimbabwe enterprises, factories and factories moved working hours to night, as electricity in the country is turned on from about 21:00 to 6:00.

state Zimbabwe produces only half of the required amount of electricity, according to energy firm ZESA Holdings. This is due to the prolonged drought, which led to a decrease in electricity generation at the largest hydroelectric power station on Lake Kariba, and outdated generators at the TPP periodically fail.

The company had to introduce continuous blackouts of up to 18 hours a day.

The government says it plans to import electricity from neighboring countries and also promises to build solar-powered power plants.

2017: Mugabe is removed from power

 In 2017, Robert Mugabe was removed from power in a military coup and placed under house arrest. Soon after, Mugabe voluntarily resigned .

He died in September 2019.

2002: US imposes sanctions on Zimbabwe

In 2002, the United States imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in connection with the seizure of land of white farmers. For 2019, financial and travel restrictions in the US apply to 85 people, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa. There are also 56 companies or organisations facing restrictions. The US also imposed a ban on arms exports to Zimbabwe.

1987: Robert Mugabe becomes president and rules for 30 years

Mugabe came to power in Zimbabwe in 1987 (before that he was prime minister for seven years ) and led the country for 30 years.

1982: Renaming capital Salisbury to Harare

From 1890 to 1982, Harare was known as Salisbury.

1980

The 1970th

1968

1914

Culture

Religion

Customs

How to have sex at a distance

In August 2019, a resident of the village of Madzinga (Zimbabwe), is accused of possessing mubobobo - his case is already being considered in court.

"Mubobobo" is a special amulet that is supposed to allow its owner to have sex at a distance without being physically present next to his partner and without asking his permission.

Underwear in the coffin to your beloved

In September 2019, at the funeral of a Zimbabwean guy named Carlton (age 21), his lady of heart Patricia (age 17) put her underwear in his coffin: a common ritual that symbolizes a willingness to continue life without a loved one. However, the family of the deceased protested, because before the funeral they did not know about the romantic connection of young people, or about such a ritual.

The coffin was lowered to the ground four times and then lifted again.

Only the intervention of the armed police helped resolve the situation.

How the dead are resurrected

In July 2019, in Zimbabwe, in the village of Mandava, the funeral of a 10-year-old boy was held.

The woman accused the other of witchcraft and the death of the boy - the latter was scattered, fell and broke her head on a stone. The opponent (sorry) defecated on her - the locals believe that this can resurrect the dead. It didn't help.

Sport

2022: The most popular sport is football

in

Reserves

Hwange

2019: Starvation kills 55 elephants

At least 55 elephants starved to death in September-October 2019 in Zimbabwe's largest national park, Hwange.

It was reported that some of the elephants were found within a radius of 50 meters from the reservoirs, which suggests that they died without reaching the water.

The park does not receive state funding and can accommodate 15 thousand elephants, while the actual number of them is much more - 50 thousand. This situation forced the animals to leave the park and go on their own in search of food and water.

Calendar

Notes