Politicians often make natural disasters worse

At a time when most people are looking forward to relaxing over the festive season, a horrific humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Zimbabwe.

The World Food Programme says more than 7.7 million people – about half the population – are affected by hunger and it is putting in place an operation to help prevent 4.1 million of them from starving to death.

The situation is the result of natural and human-made factors. Zimbabwe has had just one rainy season in the past five years which could be considered normal, with the others having varied from below average to drought conditions.

This has hit commercial and subsistence farmers hard and food supplies have dwindled.

Compounding this is the ongoing mismanagement of the country’s economy by the Zanu-PF dictatorship.

After Robert Mugabe was removed from office in 2017, there was hope that his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, would help the country on the road to recovery.

But the opposite has happened. Mnangagwa spends money as though there is no tomorrow – money the country doesn’t have. He cracks down on opposition.

It’s a tragic reminder that politicians – our unnatural disasters – often make natural disasters worse.

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