Zim at 'tipping point'
2008-04-15 21:29
Special Report
Riot police in Zimbabwe have disrupted a Valentine's Day peace march, scattering women demonstrators.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Johannesburg - Brait economist Colen Garrow said on
Tuesday that it now seems irreversible that a solution needs to be found in Zimbabwe, as the country has reached "tipping point".
"It progressively moves more in favour of things coming right," he says.
He says one of the key things underpinning this was that results had been posted in the wards.
"I would like to believe the Southern African Development Community (SADC) played a role and this is why Mugabe is contesting the wards," he notes.
"This is why Tsvangirai can say he 'saw the result'.
"At least the world and the MDC knows they have passed the tipping point," he says.
Garrow adds that he was surprised things had been so peaceful, but had subsequently heard that civilians aren't allowed to own a gun in Zimbabwe.
"It is now about bread and butter issues, things that affect people's ability to survive," he adds, saying that any food shortage needs to be alleviated as a starving population would equal "big civil unrest".
"Seeds need to be planted before summer comes again," he says.
Garrow says that it is important Zimbabwe concentrate on two things - getting mines into production, and farms up and running.
"They need to get people back and train them to run the farms," he says.
Added to that would be dismantling the major security apparatus in the country.
Election results in Zimbabwe are still not available 17 days since the poll was held.
I-Net Bridge
- I-Net Bridge (Business)