NYC Letter: Not Enough Funny Money

Eventually the army will no longer want Mr. Mugabe's printing press money and go looking for a new master. And sorry Zimbabwe will become sorrier still.

Posted by Damian at May 31, 2008 11:45 AM

------------------------------------------------------------------------

MUGABE REGIME ARRESTS SOLDIERS
AMID FEARS OF PAY REVOLT
President Robert Mugabe's Regime Has Begun Locking Up
Members Of His Armed Forces Amid Fears That Anger
Over Low Pay Could Spark A Revolt By The Army

HARARE, Zimbabwe November 29, 2008 (Telegraph) - Restrictions on the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from the country's banks amid an economic crisis and hyperinflation mean that soldiers, like the rest of the population, can only take out the equivalent of 50 pence a day - enough to buy a single banana.

... The soldiers had earlier swarmed into a city centre bank demanding more than the allocated maximum withdrawal but neither it nor any commercial banks, including Britain's Standard Chartered and Barclays, have enough cash to placate the daily queues outside.

The soldiers had been expecting to pick up an ex gratia payment of Z$10 million (£4) from the department of defence, but the central bank could only pay half that sum, and only to soldiers from one barracks - the King George VI. The mood soon turned ugly. A foreign exchange dealer:

They went mad and started beating people up all over the place.

Military police and Mr Mugabe's riot squads were deployed to quell the unrest and make arrests. Later many bars and night-clubs in the city were closed.

Well-placed sources inside the army told The Sunday Telegraph that the bulk of Zimbabwe's soldiers from captain and below - the vast majority of the 30,000-strong force - are now

"extremely dissatisfied, hungry and sick of Mugabe".

Strongman regimes like Mr. Mugabe's stay in power by creating a privileged military class. When the military is reduced to the same hardships as the civilian class, the regime is in danger of the military throwing in with the civilians. Mr. Mugabe has neither charm nor competence nor vision nor sweetness in his favor. He rules by force. Without his army Mr. Mugabe is ripe for rude justice. [Pause.] Which is to say a rough deposal.

Look for Mr. Mugabe to soon leave Zimbabwe -- a skip ahead of justice. Having ruined this once prosperous nation, he will live out his days in expensive foreign hotels grousing about an ungrateful people. A mope moping off the stolen billions in stable currency he has safely squirreled away over three decades of corrupt rule.