Zimbabwe, under a man called Robert Mugabe, has the highest inflation rate in the world. Inflation is predicted to hit 1.5 million by the end of 2007. This is a direct result of the economic policy of the Mugabe administration that has led to the economic collapse of the country and subsequent massive starvation.

Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Africa, has seen its administration criticised around the world for corruption, suppression of political opposition, mishandling of land reform, economic mismanagement and deterioration of human rights. According to the World Health Organisation, life expectancy at birth for Zimbabwe men is 37 and for women, 34, the lowest such figures for any nation.

In February 2000, a referendum was held in Zimbabwe on a new constitution. Among other things, the proposed change would have allowed the government to confiscate white owned-land for redistribution to black farmers without any compensation. 45.6% of the arable land was owned by 6 000 commercial farmers at the time of independence.

The motion failed with 55% of participants voting against the referendum. Mugabe said he would abide by the will of the people. He did not. Almost immediately, self-styled war veterans began invading white-owned farms. A few months later, Parliament pushed through an amendment taken word for word from the draft constitution that was rejected by voters, allowing the seizure of white-owned farms without due reimbursement or compensation. Zimbabwe now depends on food programs and support from outside to feed its population.

But, in Zimbabwe, food is used as an instrument of political pressure.

In Zimbabwe, human rights transgressions are hard to document because they go under-reported for fear of reprisals. Despite this, Amnesty International feels confident enough to report that ?the past five years have been characterized by a serious deterioration in the Human Rights situation in Zimbabwe.?

In Zimbabwe, arbitrary arrests, torture and attacks on supporters of the political opposition, human rights defenders and members of the independent media are rife. In Zimbabwe, the laws are getting more and more repressive.

In Zimbabwe, President Mugabe has invited the public to arrest gays and lesbians and hand them over to the police if ever they see them ?parading on the streets? and likening gays to pigs and dogs.

In Zimbabwe, the rule of law does not exist. Court orders are repeatedly flouted and court officers are harassed.

In Zimbabwe, there are no remedies for human rights violation.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has likened himself to Adolf Hitler and is quoted as saying: ?This Hitler had only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.?

Mugabe?s Zimbabwe is a sad tale of a freedom fighting gone frightfully, frightfully wrong.

I have one question to put to Eric Guimbeau and all his merry friends who seem to be having some trouble lately to think clearly and soberly: do they honestly think Mauritius is anything like Zimbabwe?

Part two of the question is: Do they honestly think Prime minister Ramgoolam is on a mission to do in Mauritius what Mugabe did in Zimbabwe?

The operative word being, of course, ?honestly?.