Is Mnangagwa’s legacy a broken Zimbabwe with an economy smaller than a U.S. town?

When I first discovered this fact, it was difficult to believe — yet, it is true.

It is nothing short of humiliating that a country as richly endowed as Zimbabwe could, in 2024, have an economy worth approximately US$35.2 billion — barely matching the GDP of a small metropolitan area in the United States, such as Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown in New York State, whose economy stands at about US$35.7 billion.

This painful reality forces us to confront uncomfortable questions: where did Zimbabwe go so wrong, and how did a nation once hailed as the “jewel of Africa” sink to such staggering economic insignificance?

At independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s prospects were among the brightest on the continent.

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Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, then President of Tanzania, famously urged Zimbabweans to “guard their jewel” jealously.

Despite enduring a 15-year-long UN trade embargo after Ian Smith’s 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), and a brutal liberation war that engulfed rural areas, Rhodesia had developed a remarkably resilient and diversified economy.

By 1980, Zimbabwe boasted a vibrant mining sector, a manufacturing industry contributing around 22% to GDP, a flourishing agricultural sector that earned us the title “breadbasket of southern Africa,” and world-class infrastructure.

Even more telling, the Zimbabwean dollar was stronger than the U.S. dollar — trading at about Z$1 = US$1.47.

Fast-forward four decades, and the contrast is heartbreaking.

Today, even small American metropolitan areas outpace Zimbabwe’s entire economy.

Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown is no bustling financial titan like New York City, nor a technological powerhouse like Silicon Valley.

It is simply a modest cluster of towns, home to around 670,000 people, driven largely by small industries, healthcare services, and retail.

Yet, their economic output equals that of Zimbabwe — a nation of 16 million people blessed with immense natural resources.

Widening the comparison only deepens the embarrassment.

The San Francisco Bay Area’s economy sits at about US$900 billion.

Los Angeles produces around US$1.2 trillion.

New York City’s metropolitan GDP astounds at US$2.2 trillion.

Even cities like Seattle (US$550 billion) and Dallas-Fort Worth (over US$650 billion) dwarf Zimbabwe’s entire economic production.

What makes this even more shameful is Zimbabwe’s enormous natural wealth.

We sit atop some of the world’s largest deposits of gold, platinum, lithium, chrome, and diamonds.

Our agricultural land, if properly utilized and mechanized, could feed much of southern Africa.

Our human capital — once the pride of the continent, with one of Africa’s highest literacy rates — could have been the driver of technological and industrial advancement.

Instead, all this potential has been squandered.

At the heart of Zimbabwe’s collapse lies a toxic cocktail of massive corruption, systematic looting of national resources, grotesque mismanagement, and staggering incompetence.

The political and business elites have mercilessly plundered the nation, prioritizing personal enrichment over national development.

Billions of dollars in minerals are smuggled out every year, enriching a few while starving the nation.

Government procurement has been captured by corrupt cartels linked to ruling elites — resulting in scandalous overpricing, abandoned projects, and outright theft of public funds.

Agriculture, once a model of productivity, was devastated by chaotic and violent land reforms.

While land redistribution was a historical necessity, the failure to support new farmers with capital, infrastructure, and skills training led to the collapse of commercial farming — and with it, Zimbabwe’s food security.

Manufacturing, once a key pillar of the economy, has all but disappeared, crippled by power shortages, corruption, broken infrastructure, and policy inconsistency.

Zimbabwe now imports what it once produced with pride.

Our education system, formerly the envy of Africa, is a shadow of its former self.

Most graduates today lack the technical skills demanded by a fast-evolving global economy.

Research and innovation, once thriving, have been suffocated by chronic underfunding and government neglect.

Universities and technical colleges now churn out thousands of unemployable graduates.

Meanwhile, economic policy has been characterized by inconsistency and recklessness.

Catastrophic monetary decisions — such as hyperinflationary money-printing and the reckless introduction of pseudo-currencies — have destroyed confidence in our financial system.

Investors, both local and foreign, view Zimbabwe as a high-risk wasteland.

Even Zimbabweans in the diaspora, who could be crucial to investment, overwhelmingly choose to invest elsewhere.

Against this backdrop, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his regime have the audacity to celebrate so-called “economic growth” and “GDP expansion” as signs of visionary leadership.

But what growth is this?

Celebrating this “growth” is like boasting about running a mile while the rest of the world finishes a marathon.

There is no honor in a national economy equivalent to a modest cluster of towns in upstate New York.

No honor in chronic food shortages, 90% formal unemployment, mass emigration, crumbling hospitals, and potholed roads.

Yet, even as Zimbabwe’s decline deepens, Mnangagwa’s loyalists are brazenly pushing for an extension of his rule beyond the constitutionally mandated two five-year terms.

On what basis?

What tangible progress under Mnangagwa’s leadership warrants such a reward?

Surely, mass poverty, worsening unemployment, industrial collapse, and ever-deepening despair are not achievements to celebrate.

If anything, Mnangagwa’s dismal performance should disqualify him from any further tenure.

If Zimbabwe ever hopes to reclaim even a shadow of its former glory, urgent and radical reforms are needed.

First and foremost, there must be a genuine, ruthless crackdown on corruption — with real jail time for looters, no matter how powerful.

National resources must be transparently managed, with revenues directed toward rebuilding our hospitals, schools, and infrastructure.

Agriculture must be resuscitated through real investment, skills transfer, and access to affordable credit — enabling Zimbabwe to once again become the breadbasket of the region.

Macroeconomic stability must be restored through sound, credible monetary policies and an unwavering respect for property rights.

Only then can Zimbabwe regain investor confidence, both locally and internationally.

Moreover, we must drive a new era of reindustrialization — investing in manufacturing, technology, innovation, and reliable infrastructure like energy and transport.

Above all, Zimbabwe needs a leadership culture shift: from cronyism and personal aggrandizement to genuine service to the people.

Until we confront these uncomfortable truths with honesty and urgency, Zimbabwe will remain trapped in this vicious cycle of humiliation — a once-great nation now economically dwarfed by modest towns across the ocean.

The “jewel of Africa” has been dulled by greed, incompetence, and betrayal.

Whether it can be polished once more will depend not just on visionary leadership — but on the courage of ordinary Zimbabweans to demand and enforce real change.