By Cris Chinaka
CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe Aug 16 (Reuters) – According to the
official figures, Zimbabwe’s economy is booming. The agony
etched on the faces of those in the auction rooms in Chinhoyi,
watching helplessly as prized possessions go for a song, tells a
very different story.
Zimbabweans from all walks of life are drowning in debt
after the implosion of a three-year credit bubble. High-rollers
are losing mansions and limousines; ordinary people chickens and
pots and pans.
The only ones doing well are the auctioneers holding the
sales and the newspapers advertising them.
As well as hammering some of the southern African country’s
biggest firms, the crisis is threatening the stability of its
banks and piling more pain on a population of 13 million
traumatised by a decade of drastic economic decline up to 2008.
“It has been a real nightmare,” said Milton, a victim of the
burst bubble standing at the back of an auction in Chinhoyi, a
farming town 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Harare.
Instead of fulfilling his ambitions of owning and running a
car workshop, he is watching nervously as his bed, a six-piece
lounge suite, refrigerator and stove go under the hammer to try
to repay a $1,500 bank loan.
“First, I lost my car over a loan that I used to start this
business, and now this. I have to start afresh,” he said, with a
sigh.
When President Robert Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest
serving leaders, formed a unity government with rival Morgan
Tsvangirai after disputed elections in 2008, Milton and
thousands of others hoped the former British colony and its
once-vibrant economy had turned the corner.
Continued…
