Joke of the Year: Zimbabwe to head UN Sustainable Development Commission

As is pointed in this Times editorial, that Zimbabwe has been appointed to head the UN Sistainable Development Commission, largely due to other African nations voting for them, is an utter disgrace and highlights the terrible flaws in the UN system. That a country with 4000% inflation can be appointed to lead this Commission is a ludicrous joke.

Mr Mugabe has recklessly destroyed its once-thriving agricultural sector, forcing out not only white farm owners but also 350,000 of their black farm-workers and handing much of the land not to the landless, but to cronies who have let it go to waste.

Millions of malnourished families now rely on food aid – aid that the regime uses as a weapon of political intimidation. As officially measured by the prices of controlled goods, inflation is 2,200 per cent; the real rate is double that appalling figure. The environmental consequences of misrule are acute. With electricity now rationed to four hours a day and cooking fuel unaffordable, even where it is available, people are raiding forests for firewood. Wildlife poaching is rampant in the national parks that are the mainstay of Zimbabwe’s tourism. Unemployment is 80 per cent and life expectancy is down from 60 in 1990 to 35. Talent has fled the country and few but the Chinese are prepared to invest there...

...That Zimbabwe insisted on its “right” to the post is no surprise; but for the 12 other African governments on the Commission to have chosen Zimbabwe to take Africa’s “turn” for the rotating chairmanship is a disgrace for which each one of them must be held to account. They have failed Africa.