And if that happens, South Africa will share the pain. Angry mobs are in the streets.
Unemployment is rife.
Mounting social discontent with Mugabe and economic decay threatens to drag Zimbabwe and its 12-million inhabitants into a cycle of despair and violence. But if Zimbabwe goes down, South Africa will most likely share the pain. Zimbabwe is South Africa's most important trading partner in Africa and as such its financial prosperity is vital to the economic well-being of many local businesses, especially at a time when Asian markets are buying fewer and fewer South African goods. How much South African business has been affected, if at all, is not yet clear. But trade problems might be the least of South Africa's worries if Zimbabwe implodes.