Turkey Uses Zimbabwe to Mock Africa

Turkey took over the chairmanship of the G20 and was host to the November 2015 summit. The G20 countries are the most industrialized countries in the world with robust economies that set the economic agenda. South Africa is the only African country in the G20 because it used to be Africa’s biggest economy but under the leadership of the Jacob Zuma has dropped to second place after being overtaken by Nigeria. Africa is rising with some of the fastest growing economies in the world according to Business Insider namely: Kenya, Nigeria, DRC, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. It would be logical that if Turkey wanted to grant a seat at the table to an emerging African economy these would be one of the countries that they would choose. The reality is that the facts and the figures the GDP and economic growth figures and currency and export of goods and services justify the presence of Brazil, India and all other countries represented at the summit all except Zimbabwe.

Mugabe may address Western nations but the joke is on him because he has been reduced to becoming the globetrotting beggar from China to North Korea to Europe and across Africa. He goes to the negotiating table as one without options grumbling at every occasion he is on stage that he hasn’t been allowed to play in the western playground. In other words Zimbabwe is representing Africa and what does Africa have to show at an economic summit?

• Zimbabwe has no official currency instead it uses the USD
• 5 million Zimbabweans live in exile building western economies
• Zimbabwe’s economic growth shrunk to less than 1.5% in 2015
• Unemployment is at an estimated 70%
• Massive Layoffs in 2015 increased poverty to 72%
• Zimbabwe had the sharpest drop in GDP of any peacetime economy

Is Turkey insinuating that Zimbabwe’s economy can be held against Brazil, India and other emerging economies? They would never invite any Arab state with such low economic activity but when it comes to Africa they find it  acceptable and worthy to grant him a seat at the table with the leaders of the top 20 economies in the world. Is this what Turkey thinks is African economic excellence?