Zimbabwe's Economic Crisis

The Republic of Zimbabwe is a country located in Southern Africa. It is located in between the Zambezi river and the Limpopo river. It is an ethnically diverse country consisting of around 13 million people, with 16 official languages and the infamous President Robert Mugabe as their head of state, government leader and commander-in-chief for their military. Robert Mugabe, their authoritarian leader, is known to be responsible for the problems caused in areas of human rights and the economic decline suffered by the country, Zimbabwe.

Map of Zimbabwe's location. Source: http://newngrguardiannewscom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/zimbabwe-map.jpg

Economic Crisis after their Independence

On the 18th of April, 1980, Zimbabwe was named as the independent Republic of Zimbabwe after a war of liberation and freedom from the British colonisation. Before their independence, Zimbabwe was under a colonial government, where the white population were majority and black families were displaced. This British government denied the black majority rule of the country, which triggered chaos and violent protesting from the locals. Part of the anti-Britain party, a veteran pro-independence leader, Robert Mugabe, and his party "ZANU" (Zimbabwe African National Union) became famous for the their actions for liberation and eventually rose to power, won the elections and was named as prime minister. 

Map of Republic of Zimbabwe. Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Flag_of_Zimbabwe.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Zimbabwe.svg.png

However, in the year 1988, an economic crisis was marked because of high interest rates and hyperinflations that caused massive riots and mass support for the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions, the opposing team of Robert Mugabe, led by Morgan Tsvangirai. The movement of Democratic Change (MDC) was formed and Tsvangirai was planned to be leader for the next year. Because of the chaos happening in Zimbabwe caused by the differences with government ideologies, and the differences in support of government from the people, the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund) stopped providing aid to Zimbabwe, further worsening their economy. The following year, Mugabe's government lost public vote but still won the election due to fraud and unfairness. Mugabe won the new six year term, where in he made policies that was meant to "improve" Zimbabwe.