CIA - The World Factbook

The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia). UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980. Robert MUGABE, the nation's first prime minister, has been the country's only ruler (as president since 1987) and has dominated the country's political system since independence. His chaotic land redistribution campaign, which began in 2000, caused an exodus of white farmers, crippled the economy, and ushered in widespread shortages of basic commodities. Ignoring international condemnation, MUGABE rigged the 2002 presidential election to ensure his reelection. The ruling ZANU-PF party used fraud and intimidation to win a two-thirds majority in the March 2005 parliamentary election, allowing it to amend the constitution at will and recreate the Senate, which had been abolished in the late 1980s. In April 2005, Harare embarked on Operation Restore Order, ostensibly an urban rationalization program, which resulted in the destruction of the homes or businesses of 700,000 mostly poor supporters of the opposition. President MUGABE in June 2007 instituted price controls on all basic commodities causing panic buying and leaving store shelves empty for months. General elections held in March 2008 contained irregularities but still amounted to a censure of the ZANU-PF-led government with the opposition winning a majority of seats in parliament. MDC opposition leader Morgan TSVANGIRAI won the most votes in the presidential polls, but not enough to win outright. In the lead up to a run-off election in late June 2008, considerable violence enacted against opposition party members led to the withdrawal of TSVANGIRAI from the ballot. Extensive evidence of vote tampering and ballot-box stuffing resulted in international condemnation of the process. Difficult negotiations over a power-sharing government, in which MUGABE remained president and TSVANGIRAI became prime minister, were finally settled in February 2009, although the leaders have yet failed to agree upon many key outstanding governmental issues.

Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia

slightly larger than Montana

tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)

mostly high plateau with higher central plateau (high veld); mountains in east

coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum group metals

recurring droughts; floods and severe storms are rare

deforestation; soil erosion; land degradation; air and water pollution; the black rhinoceros herd - once the largest concentration of the species in the world - has been significantly reduced by poaching; poor mining practices have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution

landlocked; the Zambezi forms a natural riverine boundary with Zambia; in full flood (February-April) the massive Victoria Falls on the river forms the world's largest curtain of falling water

31.57 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

14.9 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)

3.66 children born/woman (2010 est.)

1.3 million (2007 est.)

African 98% (Shona 82%, Ndebele 14%, other 2%), mixed and Asian 1%, white less than 1%

syncretic (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs) 50%, Christian 25%, indigenous beliefs 24%, Muslim and other 1%

English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects

parliamentary democracy

8 provinces and 2 cities* with provincial status; Bulawayo*, Harare*, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands

18 April 1980 (from the UK)

Independence Day, 18 April (1980)

mixture of Roman-Dutch and English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

bicameral Parliament consists of a Senate (93 seats - 60 members elected by popular vote for a five-year term, 10 provincial governors nominated by the president and the prime minister, 16 traditional chiefs elected by the Council of Chiefs, 2 seats held by the president and deputy president of the Council of Chiefs, and 5 members appointed by the president) and a House of Assembly (210 seats - members elected by popular vote for five-year terms)

Supreme Court; High Court

African National Party or ANP [Egypt DZINEMUNHENZVA]; Movement for Democratic Change or MDC [Morgan TSVANGIRAI]; Movement for Democratic Change - Mutambara or MDC-M [Arthur MUTAMBARA] (splinter faction of the MDC); Peace Action is Freedom for All or PAFA; United Parties [Abel MUZOREWA]; United People's Party or UPP [Daniel SHUMBA]; Zimbabwe African National Union-Ndonga or ZANU-Ndonga [Wilson KUMBULA]; Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front or ZANU-PF [Robert Gabriel MUGABE]; Zimbabwe African Peoples Union or ZAPU [Agrippa MADLELA]; Zimbabwe Youth in Alliance or ZIYA

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition; National Constitutional Assembly or NCA [Lovemore MADHUKU]; Women of Zimbabwe Arise or WOZA [Jenny WILLIAMS]; Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions or ZCTU [Wellington CHIBEBE]

ACP, AfDB, AU, COMESA, FAO, G-15, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

seven equal horizontal bands of green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow, and green with a white isosceles triangle edged in black with its base on the hoist side; a yellow Zimbabwe bird representing the long history of the country is superimposed on a red five-pointed star in the center of the triangle, which symbolizes peace; green represents agriculture, yellow mineral wealth, red the blood shed to achieve independence, and black stands for the native people

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. The EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds. Until early 2009, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely printed money to fund the budget deficit, causing hyperinflation. The power-sharing government formed in February 2009 has led to some economic improvements, including the cessation of hyperinflation by eliminating the use of the Zimbabwe dollar and removing price controls. The economy is registering its first growth in a decade, but will be reliant on further political improvement for greater growth.

$332 million (2009 est.)

$320.2 million (2008 est.)

$374 million (2007 est.)

Less than $100 (2009 est.)

3.84 million (2009 est.)

21.5% of GDP (2009 est.)

304.3% of GDP (2009 est.)

265.6% of GDP (2008 est.)

14.9 billion% (2008 est.)

NA% (31 December 2008)

975% (31 December 2007)

NA% (31 December 2008)

578.96% (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$14.18 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$5.349 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$24.91 billion (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$5.333 billion (31 December 2007)

$26.56 billion (31 December 2006)

corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs

mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages

8.89 billion kWh (2007 est.)

10.89 billion kWh (2007 est.)

32 million kWh (2007 est.)

2.691 billion kWh (2007 est.)

0 bbl/day (2008 est.)

13,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

13,830 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2009 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

-$597.4 million (2009 est.)

-$584.6 million (2008 est.)

$1.09 billion (2009 est.)

$1.396 billion (2008 est.)

platinum, cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

South Africa 32.4%, Democratic Republic of the Congo 9.8%, Botswana 8.8%, China 5.6%, Zambia 4.8%, Japan 4.5%, Italy 4.5%, US 4.3% (2008)

$2.03 billion (2009 est.)

$1.915 billion (2008 est.)

machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels, food products

South Africa 59.9%, China 4.2%, Botswana 3.7% (2008)

$111 million (31 December 2009 est.)

$96 million (31 December 2008 est.)

$5.821 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$5.669 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) per US dollar - 234.25 (2009), (2008), 30,000 (2007), 162.07 (2006), 77.965 (2005)

1.655 million (2008)

AM 7, FM 20 (plus 17 repeater stations), shortwave 1 (1998)

1.421 million (2008)

refined products 270 km (2009)

on Lake Kariba (2008)

Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF): Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) (2009)

18-24 years of age for compulsory military service; women are eligible to serve (2007)

Botswana built electric fences and South Africa has placed military along the border to stem the flow of thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing to find work and escape political persecution; Namibia has supported, and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river

transit point for cannabis and South Asian heroin, mandrax, and methamphetamines en route to South Africa