Post-independence Reforms and Policies in Zimbabwe

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has implemented more than ten economic development strategies. These policies ranged from the inward-looking, interventionist strategy to the outward-oriented market-driven focus. All these policies endeavored to create employment in the country among many other objectives and to jostle the economy into an industrial activity. Most of the objectives including the employment objective have not been achieved fully with unemployment going up instead. The interventionist strategies targeted mainly the agricultural, mining, financial, and manufacturing sectors and to some extent construction and tourism. Zimbabwe inherited a fairly performing economy at independence, and as such, the main task of the government was to maintain and improve the economy’s performance. A lot of resources were to be committed so as to continue on the right track. On that note, Zimbabwe received a lot of support from the international community in terms of funding, training, and human personnel. However, despite the final support from the international community, the economy did not improve to the expectation of the Zimbabweans. It is recommended that the government should implement the policies wholeheartedly.