9781422277690

Under Mugabe, the government of Zimbabwe declared many large farms and desir- able tracts of land to be “state property.” The government turned ownership over to Mugabe’s friends or supporters without compensating the previous owners.

demonstrate support for ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe. Anyone suspected of disloyalty was rejected. The rapid breakup of white-owned commercial farms had severe consequences for Zimbabwe. Many of the new black farmers lacked the knowledge, experience, and money needed to run a large-scale enterprise. Agricultural production plum- meted. Zimbabwe, once an exporter of food, could no longer feed its own people. Inflation soared. The entire economy spi- raled downward, and millions of Zimbabweans were plunged into abject poverty.

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Dictatorship: Authoritarian Rule