Anthony L. Hall is a descendant of the Turks & Caicos Islands, international lawyer and political consultant - headquartered in Washington DC - who publishes his own Internet Weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com offering commentaries on current events from a Caribbean perspective

Therefore, I was not at all surprised when the BBC reported on Saturday that “Zimbabwe has only two weeks of wheat supply left” to feed its already starved and oppressed people. After all, I’ve been lamenting about the slings and arrows of Mugabe’s outrageous governance for years.

“It's a travesty of justice that the country has been so run down by Robert Mugabe's regime” [Arthur Mutambara, leader of Zimbabwe’s nominal opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)]

Unfortunately, having rigged elections last year to declare himself president – as he has done for every national election since independence in 1980, Mugabe has cloaked himself with the constitutional authority to run down Zimbabwe even further – as incomprehensible as that might seem.

At 81, he personifies the Big Dada pathology that has afflicted most of post-colonial Africa: A guerilla fighter who liberated his people from white racists only to plunge them into deeper throes of oppression by his ruthless, greedy and inept leadership.

Zimbabweans celebrated the birth of their nation 25 years ago. But it soon became patently clear that the chaos, violence and rank incompetence that attended its Independence Day celebration were harbingers of things to come.

Indeed, Mugabe wasted little time assigning his unskilled guerilla comrades political portfolios to ensure his absolute control throughout the country. No political opposition or dissent was tolerated and soon fear and intimidation became the method of governance in Zimbabwe.

However, despite Mugabe’s 20-years of absolute political dictatorship, a herd of white farmers still managed the most profitable sector of Zimbabwe’s economy: agriculture.

And, for a proud black freedom fighter who promised not only political but also economic liberation from the white man, this fact hovered as a glaring humiliation and contradiction over Mugabe’s leadership.

Therefore, in 2000, he decided to do something about it. However, pride was not his only motivation. Because Mugabe was becoming more than a little unnerved by mutinous murmurs amongst the lower ranks of his liberation comrades who - 20 years later - had little to show for their dedication to his cause.

Indeed, it is a little-reported fact that Mugabe’s notorious program against white farmers was executed far more to appease these would-be mutineers than to honor his commitment to share black empowerment benefits with all Zimbabweans.

Therefore, to the relief and exultation of restive blacks, Mugabe announced sweeping land reforms in which his government would:

“…seize the farms of white colonialists to give to landless peasants and the veterans of the war of liberation.”

A noble idea to be sure; but so was the cause of national independence 20 years earlier that did so little to empower the 70 percent of Zimbabweans who remained mired in extreme poverty.

Unfortunately, like his independence blueprint for black empowerment, Mugabe’s land reforms have been an abject failure: Five years ago, Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa; today, it’s a basket case of starving people.

Five years ago, there were 4000 white-owned farms in Zimbabwe; today, there are only 400 - mostly unproductive - farms left. Indeed, the AP reports that:

“Most of the seized farms went to President Mugabe’s loyal cronies in government who used them for weekend retreats.”

In addition to ruining Zimbabwe’s agricultural industry, Mugabe also precipitated hyper-inflation that is now over 400 per cent. Indeed, in 2000, Zimbabwe’s currency was Z$40 to US$1; today, it’s over Z$10,000.

And this situation has become so dire that what little bread is available for sale is now priced beyond the means of most Zimbabweans to afford.

Add to this terminal economic malady, the escalating specter of AIDS that’s killing 1 child every 15 minutes, and only then does one get a glimpse of the living hell that is Zimbabwe today.

Regrettably, thanks to the malevolent neglect of rich nations and the complicity of many African governments, Zimbabwe’s oppressed have little reason to hope. Because, despite fomenting democratic change to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the Bush Administration has demonstrated relatively little interest in regime change in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Africa’s most powerful leader, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, has not only embraced Mugabe’s flourishing dictatorship but has actually undermined efforts by South African Trade Unionists to help organize opposition to his iron-fisted rule.

In fact, leaders of Zimbabwe’s persecuted opposition party felt betrayed when Mbeki announced to the world on the eve of last year’s elections that:

“President Robert Mugabe's government had taken action to ensure a level playing field and there was no violence or intimidation in Zimbabwe.”

Indeed, MDC spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi, said that Zimbabweans were "stunned" by Mbeki's observations and added, rather sardonically, that maybe “he knows things that those of us who are on the ground do not know”.

Alas, all things considered, it seems highly unlikely that any change will come to Zimbabwe so long as Mugabe remains in power. Nevertheless, long-suffering, humbled and hopelessly intimidated Zimbabweans deserve not only our humanitarian concerns but also our active support.

Of course, we can also pray that the democratic revolutions that have erupted all over Eastern Europe in recent years might erupt there too.

Indeed, Zimbabwe’s courageous Archibishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo has even said a public prayer for a Ukrainian-style uprising to overthrow Africa’s lone reigning Big Dada.

I fear, however, that the conditions of poverty, disease and hunger are so severe that Zimbabweans may not have the physical strength to march in the streets even if they had the courage to do so....