Mugabe’s nuclear dream a political game

By Lance Guma
22 November 2005

Zimbabwe’s state television and radio carried reports of Robert Mugabe announcing the discovery of uranium in the country and government plans to harness nuclear energy into electricity. Mugabe did not disclose in which part of the country the uranium deposits were found but several media outlets have speculated the discovery is in the northeastern parts of the country, near the Zambezi valley.

Mugabe also took the opportunity to criticize the United States for using nuclear bombs on the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War. He said his regime would not use the ‘discovered’ uranium to make bombs but instead to generate electricity and boost the rural electrification programme.

His comments drew mixed reactions from the international community and the media who are only too aware the country has close relationships with China, North Korea and Iran. Iran and North Korea are both pursuing controversial nuclear policies. The North Koreans helped train the notorious 5th brigade army in Zimbabwe that slaughtered thousands of innocent minority Ndebele tribesman in the South while the Iranians have been co-operating heavily in business deals with the regime in Harare. The Chinese are thought to have already seized a sizable chunk of the Zimbabwean economy through barter deals with the government.

Andrew Meldrum, a correspondent with the UK based Guardian newspaper, says he is skeptical about Mugabe’s announcement. He said the discovery is not new and in the early 1990’s Mugabe mentioned the deposits while talking about plans to get a nuclear reactor from Argentina. Nothing was ever heard of that scheme. He believes Mugabe is once again just using words to cover up mismanagement of the economy. Meldrum says it would take 4/5 years for the country to set up any meaningful uranium-mining infrastructure, even with outside help, and the cost of such a project would be very high.