In a Harare supermarket, a customer takes a loaf of bread, checks the price and immediately puts it back on the stall, rolling his eyes. The price has soared again. Ordinary scene in Zimbabwe.
Outside, in front of the petrol station, a line of cars stretches for more than a kilometer, without any assurance of being able to refuel. Again, the daily life of the inhabitants of the capital.
The country has been stuck since the early 2000s in a deep economic crisis.
After a relative respite a decade ago, the situation has worsened again for two years, with the return of shortages of basic commodities such as sugar and cornmeal, and rampant inflation against the backdrop of currency depreciation.
The price of a loaf of bread has almost doubled in a few weeks, from 38 Zimbabwe dollars in May to 61 (0.7 to 1.1 US dollars) today.
Cornmeal now sells for Zimbabwe dollars 320 for ten kilos, up from 250 in May. On Wednesday, it was the price of fuel at the pump which once again soared by almost 150%.
Annual inflation peaks: 785.6% according to official figures.
To try to stabilize the currency, the government announced Friday the suspension of monetary transactions via mobile phones, the most used means of payment for lack of sufficient liquidity. A measure that will further complicate the daily lives of Zimbabweans.
Adding to the economic crisis is the drought, recurrent for several seasons, and now the coronavirus pandemic, which remains contained for the moment with less than 1,000 cases but aggravates food insecurity.
Half the population, or 7.7 million people, is in need of food aid, according to the UN.
“It can’t go on like this. These people should admit their failure,” said Harare resident Timothy Bhaureni, referring to the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
– “The regime falters” –
When he came to power in 2017, after an army coup that forced Robert Mugabe to resign after thirty-seven years in power, Emmerson Mnangagwa had yet promised a new era.
He was committed to reviving the moribund economy and attracting trading partners. But the situation has never been more dramatic in ten years.
The fault, according to Emmerson Mnangagwa, of political opponents he does not name.
“We see incessant attacks on our currency and the economy in general, with an exorbitant price system,” he said earlier this month to senior officials of his party, Zanu-PF.
“This battle is fueled by our political detractors (…) and dissatisfied people who are implementing their wicked project,” he said.
Against this background, the attacks on the opposition have been redoubled further.
In May, a member of parliament and two activists from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were kidnapped and tortured by the police, according to their lawyers.
In a dramatic reversal, the police arrested them, accusing them of having simulated their abduction.
At the beginning of June, rumors of a coup d’état also broke out on the streets of the capital when the police deployed in large numbers to refuse vehicles access to the city center.
Interior Minister Kazembe Kazembe swept them away. “It couldn’t be further from the reality of Zimbabwe’s security situation,” he said.
According to the authorities, it was simply a question of enforcing the sanitary measures against Covid-19.
“The default situation in the country is that of instability” economically and politically, summarizes analyst Eldred Masunungure, from the University of Zimbabwe.
“This seems to be the new normal,” he told AFP. “We are in an exceptional case where the regime survives despite the volatility, where the citizens do not rise despite the anger which is smoldering. The regime falters but does not fall. This is the mystery of our situation”.
For the economist Prosper Chitambara, of the Labor and Economic Development Institute of Zimbabwe, the situation could get worse.
“We are heading into difficult times with the depreciation of the local currency,” he predicts, we will continue to see constant pressure on prices.
The World Bank is already counting on a 10% contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020.
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