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CNN Sunday Morning

Mugabe Re-elected in Zimbabwe

Aired March 17, 2002 - 11:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Robert Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain back in 1980, and he will continue to lead the country for six more years. After he was sworn in today, President Mugabe said that his victory is a "stunning blow to imperialism." Several Western countries had questioned whether the presidential election in Zimbabwe was free and fair.

And now that he has been reelected, President Mugabe needs to face the nations economic crisis. Zimbabwe is in its fourth year now of an economic recession. Inflation is close to 120 percent, while 60 percent of people there are unemployed. Here's CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault with more on that country's crisis.

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CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Although Zimbabweans insisted on trying to keep their votes secret, many made no secret they were voting with their stomachs, many leaving the voting queues, heading for the food queues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is all about (inaudible), so we have notice here in Zimbabwe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are suffering for food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Adjusting Zimbabwe's food shortages will be the greatest challenge that the new (inaudible) government has to face.

HUNTER-GAULT: But the solution is complex. Mother Nature brought one cause, the drought, but war veterans brought the other, their often violent seizures of some of the country's most productive commercial farms, brought capacity to fight the drought and food production to a standstill, reducing Africa's bread basket to Africa's basket case.

A necessary evil, argued the government, insisting that the sacrifice was worth it to correct the enduring grievance of colonial inheritance, a minority White population of less than one percent owing more than half of the country's productive land.

ROBERT MUGABE, PRESIDENT: Our economy rests on this vital resource, the land.

HUNTER-GAULT: Politics aside, Zimbabweans across the board agree, land hunger is real and needs to be addressed. Even before election results were announced, White farmers like these were being told to leave their farms or die. Many fled to safe houses in Harari (ph). Others fled the country.

The Mugabe government says that's fine. Others worry this approach is going to drive away badly needed investment, plunging Zimbabwe's already devastated economy into even further decline.

HUNTER-GAULT (on camera): The question now is how will Robert Gabriel Mugabe read his election mandate? He won a majority of the votes cast, but more than 1.2 million Zimbabweans voted for Morgan Chandarai (ph) and his platform for change. Reconciling the wishes and desires of his now deeply polarized country may prove the biggest challenge of the many challenges he faces. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN, Harari, Zimbabwe.

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