Zimbabwe has been in economic freefall since 2000 when the country’s ruler, Robert Mugabe, began his chaotic land reform. The policy was a disaster, largely obliterating the farming sector of a nation once dubbed the “bread basket of southern Africa”.

The country’s decline under Mugabe is plain to see. Unemployment is at 80 per cent and inflation at an estimated 7,000 per cent. A third of the country’s 13 million population has fled (three million of them to South Africa), while nearly as many of the remainder survive on international food aid.

But some outside speculators see commercial opportunities amid the poverty. Dubbed “vulture investors” they are ready to snap up Zimbabwe’s farms, industrial property and mining leases at considerable discounts using foreign currency. The vultures plan to buy now, sit tight, and await the end of Mugabe’s rule.

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