Zimbabwe

§1. Zimbabwe Introduction

Background:
  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. Opposition and
  labor strikes in 2003 were unsuccessful in pressuring MUGABE to retire
  early; security forces continued their brutal repression of regime
  opponents. 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, according to UN estimates.

§2. Zimbabwe Geography

Location:
  Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia

Geographic coordinates:
  20 00 S, 30 00 E

Map references:
  Africa

Area:
  total: 390,580 km²
  land: 386,670 km²
  water: 3,910 km²

Area - comparative:
  slightly larger than Montana

Land boundaries:
  total: 3,066 km
  border countries: Botswana 813 km, Mozambique 1,231 km, South Africa 225
    km, Zambia 797 km

Coastline:
  0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
  none (landlocked)

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

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

Elevation extremes:
  lowest point: junction of the Runde and Save rivers 162 m
  highest point: Inyangani 2,592 m

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

Land use:
  arable land: 8.24%
  permanent crops: 0.33%
  other: 91.43% (2005)

Irrigated land:
  1,170 km² (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
  recurring droughts; floods and severe storms are rare

Environment - current issues:
  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

Environment - international agreements:
  party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
    Species, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
  signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
  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

§3. Zimbabwe People

Population:
  12,236,805
  note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects
    of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life
    expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and
    growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and
    sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.)

Age structure:
  0-14 years: 37.4% (male 2,307,170/female 2,265,298)
  15-64 years: 59.1% (male 3,616,528/female 3,621,190)
  65 years and over: 3.5% (male 199,468/female 227,151) (2006 est.)

Median age:
  total: 19.9 years
  male: 19.7 years
  female: 20 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate:
  0.62% (2006 est.)

Birth rate:
  28.01 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:
  21.84 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Net migration rate:
  0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
  note: there is an increasing flow of Zimbabweans into South Africa and
    Botswana in search of better economic opportunities (2006 est.)

Sex ratio:
  at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
  under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
  15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
  65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female
  total population: 1 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
  total: 51.71 deaths/1,000 live births
  male: 54.5 deaths/1,000 live births
  female: 48.83 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
  total population: 39.29 years
  male: 40.39 years
  female: 38.16 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate:
  3.13 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
  24.6% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
  1.8 million (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
  170,000 (2003 est.)

Major infectious diseases:
  degree of risk: high
  food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid
  vectorborne disease: malaria
  water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2005)

Nationality:
  noun: Zimbabwean(s)
  adjective: Zimbabwean

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

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

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

Literacy:
  definition: age 15 and over can read and write English
  total population: 90.7%
  male: 94.2%
  female: 87.2% (2003 est.)

§4. Zimbabwe Government

Country name:
  conventional long form: Republic of Zimbabwe
  conventional short form: Zimbabwe
  former: Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia

Government type:
  parliamentary democracy

Capital:
  Harare

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

Independence:
  18 April 1980 (from UK)

National holiday:
  Independence Day, 18 April (1980)

Constitution:
  21 December 1979

Legal system:
  mixture of Roman-Dutch and English common law

Suffrage:
  18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
  chief of state: Executive President Robert Gabriel MUGABE (since 31
    December 1987); Vice President Joseph MSIKA (since December 1999) and
    Vice President Joyce MUJURU (since 6 December 2004); note - the president
    is both the chief of state and head of government
  head of government: Executive President Robert Gabriel MUGABE (since 31
    December 1987); Vice President Joseph MSIKA (since December 1999) and
    Vice President Joyce MUJURU (since 6 December 2004); note - the president
    is both the chief of state and head of government
  cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; responsible to the House of
    Assembly
  elections: presidential candidates nominated with a nomination paper signed
    by at least 10 registered voters (at least one from each province) and
    elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 9-11
    March 2002 (next to be held March 2008); co-vice presidents appointed by
    the president
  election results: Robert Gabriel MUGABE reelected president; percent of
    vote - Robert Gabriel MUGABE 56.2%, Morgan TSVANGIRAI 41.9%

Legislative branch:
  bicameral Parliament consists of a House of Assembly (150 seats - 120
  elected by popular vote for five-year terms, 12 nominated by the president,
  10 occupied by traditional chiefs chosen by their peers, and eight occupied
  by provincial governors appointed by the president) and a Senate (66 seats
  - 50 elected by popular vote for a five-year term, six nominated by the
  president, ten nominated by the Council of Chiefs)
  elections: House of Assembly last held 31 March 2005 (next to be held in
    2010), Senate last held 26 November 2005 (next to be held in 2010)
  election results: House of Assembly - percent of vote by party - ZANU-PF
    59.6%, MDC 39.5%, other 0.9%; seats by party - ZANU-PF 78, MDC 41,
    Independents 1; Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
    ZANU-PF 43, MDC 7

Judicial branch:
  Supreme Court; High Court

Political parties and leaders:
  Movement for Democratic Change or MDC [Morgan TSVANGIRAI]; United Parties
  [Abel MUZOREWA]; United People's Party [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]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
  Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition [Wellington CHIBEBE]; National Constitutional
  Assembly or NCA [Lovemore MADHUKU]; Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions or
  ZCTU [Lovemore MATOMBO]

International organization participation:
  ACP, AfDB, AU, COMESA, FAO, G-15, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory),
  ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU,
  ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIS,
  UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
  chief of mission: Ambassador Dr. Machivenyika T. MAPURANGA
  chancery: 1608 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
  telephone: [1] (202) 332-7100
  FAX: [1] (202) 483-9326

Diplomatic representation from the US:
  chief of mission: Ambassador Christopher W. DELL
  embassy: 172 Herbert Chitepo Avenue, Harare
  mailing address: P. O. Box 3340, Harare
  telephone: [263] (4) 250-593 and 250-594
  FAX: [263] (4) 796488

Flag description:
  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 symbolizes agriculture, yellow -
  mineral wealth, red - blood shed to achieve independence, and black stands
  for the native people

§5. Zimbabwe Economy

Economy - overview:
  The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic
  problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an
  overvalued exchange rate, soaring inflation, and bare shelves. Its
  1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
  for example, drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy.
  Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the
  government's arrears on past loans, which it began repaying in 2005. The
  official annual inflation rate rose from 32% in 1998, to 133% at the end of
  2004, and 585% at the end of 2005, although private sector estimates put
  the figure much higher. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from 24
  Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar in 1998 to 96,000 in mid-January 2006. 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.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
  $24.99 billion (2005 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
  $5.497 billion (2005 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
  -7% (2005 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
  $2,100 (2005 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
  agriculture: 17.9%
  industry: 24.3%
  services: 57.9% (2005 est.)

Labor force:
  3.94 million (2005 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
  agriculture 66%, industry 10%, services 24% (1996)

Unemployment rate:
  80% (2005 est.)

Population below poverty line:
  80% (2004 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
  lowest 10%: 1.97%
  highest 10%: 40.42% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
  56.8 (2003)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  585% official data; private sector estimates are much higher (yearend 2005
  est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
  7.9% of GDP (2005 est.)

Budget:
  revenues: $1.409 billion
  expenditures: $1.905 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005
    est.)

Public debt:
  30.1% of GDP (2005 est.)

Agriculture - products:
  corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats,
  pigs

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

Industrial production growth rate:
  -1.7% (2005 est.)

Electricity - production:
  8.877 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - consumption:
  11.22 billion kWh (2003)

Electricity - exports:
  0 kWh (2003)

Electricity - imports:
  3.3 billion kWh (2003)

Oil - production:
  0 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - consumption:
  22,500 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - exports:
  0 bbl/day

Oil - imports:
  23,000 bbl/day

Natural gas - production:
  0 m³ (2003 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
  0 m³ (2003 est.)

Current account balance:
  $-517 million (2005 est.)

Exports:
  $1.644 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Exports - commodities:
  cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

Exports - partners:
  South Africa 31.5%, Switzerland 7.4%, UK 7.3%, China 6.1%, Germany 4.3%
  (2004)

Imports:
  $2.059 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)

Imports - commodities:
  machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels

Imports - partners:
  South Africa 46.9%, Botswana 3.6%, UK 3.4% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
  $160 million (2005 est.)

Debt - external:
  $5.17 billion (2005 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
  $178 million; note - the EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian
  grounds (2000 est.)

Currency (code):
  Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)

Exchange rates:
  Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar - 4,303.28 (2005), 5,068.66 (2004),
  697.424 (2003), 55.036 (2002), 55.052 (2001)
  note: these are official exchange rates; non-official rates vary
    significantly

Fiscal year:
  calendar year

§6. Zimbabwe Communications

Telephones - main lines in use:
  317,000 (2004)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
  423,600 (2004)

Telephone system:
  general assessment: system was once one of the best in Africa, but now
    suffers from poor maintenance; more than 100,000 outstanding requests for
    connection despite an equally large number of installed but unused main
    lines
  domestic: consists of microwave radio relay links, open-wire lines,
    radiotelephone communication stations, fixed wireless local loop
    installations, and a substantial mobile cellular network; Internet
    connection is available in Harare and planned for all major towns and for
    some of the smaller ones
  international: country code - 263; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat;
    two international digital gateway exchanges (in Harare and Gweru)

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

Television broadcast stations:
  16 (1997)

Internet country code:
  .zw

Internet hosts:
  6,582 (2005)

Internet users:
  820,000 (2005)

§7. Zimbabwe Transportation

Airports:
  404 (2005)

Airports - with paved runways:
  total: 17
  over 3,047 m: 3
  2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
  1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
  914 to 1,523 m: 8 (2005)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
  total: 387
  1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
  914 to 1,523 m: 186
  under 914 m: 196 (2005)

Pipelines:
  refined products 261 km (2004)

Railways:
  total: 3,077 km
  narrow gauge: 3,077 km 1.067-m gauge (313 km electrified) (2004)

Roadways:
  total: 97,440 km
  paved: 18,514 km
  unpaved: 78,926 km (2002)

Waterways:
  on Lake Kariba, length small (2005)

Ports and terminals:
  Binga, Kariba

§8. Zimbabwe Military

Military branches:
  Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF): Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force of
    Zimbabwe (AFZ), Zimbabwe Republic Police (2005)

Military service age and obligation:
  18 years of age (est.) (2004)

Manpower available for military service:
  males age 18-49: 2,840,053 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
  males age 18-49: 1,148,590 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
  $124.7 million (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
  4% (2005 est.)

§9. Zimbabwe Transnational Issues

Disputes - international:
  Botswana has 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

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
  IDPs: 400,000-450,000 (MUGABE-led political violence, human rights
    violations, land reform, and economic collapse) (2005)

Illicit drugs:
  transit point for African cannabis and South Asian heroin, mandrax, and
  methamphetamines destined for the South African and European markets


<Factbook 2006>
