Anecdotal statistics say that diasporean Zimbabweans remit no less that 20% of their income to their families back home through unofficial routes.This income lands in Zimbabwe either as hard forex or as real goods like food, clothes, equipment,cars etc.
And if it is true that 3 million out of the total 12 million Zimbabweans are living outside,then almost every family has an economically active member living outside.
Add to this the fact that most Zimbabweans living outside are very educated and are earning very decent salaries(thanks to Mugabe's deliberate heavy investment in education in the 80's and 90's)
Wake up to this fact and you will soon discover the unofficial vibrancy of the Zimbabwean economy that I am talking about.
And you will also begin to understand how an economy that has been diagnosed as 'collapsed' is still able to pay for its imports cash upfront.
..and you will also understand why the people have not risen up against the government.

Alton Hadzisa, London, UK

Alex appears to have a very superficial view of Zim . The 30% (a questionable figure) of able bodied that he refers to are making a contribution with their remittances. However, the people who are contributing a hell lot of the foreign currency are the cross border traders and most of these are women. Women have been cross border traders since independence.
Going to places like South Africa is not a post 2000 event. You will now find Zimbwean women traders in all corners of the globe.They are using their wealth to start businesses, support their families, educate their children and to develop their communities. For gender equality and empowerment check out Zimbabwean women. They are an embodiment of self help/ empowerment and they are demonstrating what can be achieved when one self helps and not wait for aid or charity. The women have been able to do so because they are educated and have been beneficiaries of an excellent post independence education and are not "handout clients".

chenzira, London,

Hadzisa the forex flows from remitances from thousands of people who indirectly or directly have been forced out of Zimbabwe. What smacks about this policy is not necessarily that blacks are being given these tractors etc for "free", but the opportunity cost of such a move.

It is obvious that ZANU is buying this foreign currency on the parallel market, which increases the effective exchange rate and this translates into the high inflation figures we now see. Any perceived benefit of increased farm produce is already eroded with high inflationary pressures, but do ZANU care. NO. as long as they win the next election. What a shame.

Fatso, belfast, antrim

Alton - Zimbabwe is 'unofficially' vibrant because 30% of the able bodied population outside of government and his handout clients now tilling the land with equipment bought with stolen funds, have fled to other countries and now send remittances back to support the remainder who are largely unemployed. You don't have to be a bookonomist (sic) to realize that Mugabe is running a downwardly mobile parasite state feeding on the misery of the majority for the benefit of the few. Go Bob! You make the last despicable lot look tame.

Alex McHugh, Edinburgh, Scotland

Feedback from Zim is that the majority of the relevant electorate are very pleased with the farm mechanisation program because the people are being given the tools to self help ,work themselves out of proverty and not wait for aid. The saying goes that "give a man a fish and you feed him for the day but teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry".
Begging bowl syndrome has been a mitigated disaster for Africa.
The majority of Zimbabweans want peace and stability and do not want to be preached to about democray. Building of democratic structures has taken 1000 years to establish in mature democracies and why is Zimbabwe expected to achieve the same within 30 years? Why can't Zimbabwe and other similar developing countries be given the space to develop their own forms of democratic government that suit their culture/stage of development. As Hadzisa states how is a country that is described by some comentators as "officially collapsed is unofficially vibrant"

chenzira, London,

Mugabe clearly has no interest in democracy, and his continued rule means the disintegration of the country. It is hard to see that the people will take any more of his mis-management of the economy and abuse of the people. His time has long been over as a legitimate president. Hopefully, the Zimbabwean people will defy the coercise measures taken by his henchmen and vote him out of office. But, who will be counting the ballots?

Rick Friedl, Edwards, USA/California

Country A has no use for the currency of country B except only if country A wants to import goods from country B.
All the bookish economic commentators on Zimbabwe are too foolish to realise that the Zimbabwe government has no headaches of trying to source forex from outsiders like IMF,World Bank,donors etc when the same forex is awash in the streets of Harare and Bulawayo.
A smart government like Mugabe's simply scoops the forex using ZimDollars and goes ahead to impressively mechanise the now-black-owned farms with imported equipment!
Good timing you might say.But,tell me,what black man in his right mind woud not vote for a governmet that gives him land,a tractor or a combine harvester for free.
What these bookonomists must attempt to tell the world is how and why all this forex continues to flow into the streets of Zimbabwe.The country is officially collapsed but unofficially vibrant.This is a case for all economists to think outside their outdated boxes and get real for once.

Alton Hadzisa, London, UK