After losing the 2000 constitutional referendum, ZANU-PF launched the Fast Track Land Reform program. Squatters seized hundreds of white-owned farms in a violent campaign supported by the government.

Combined with earlier Economic Structural Adjustment Programs (ESAP) and ongoing economic mismanagement, the country entered a severe economic decline. Between 1998 and 2009, Zimbabwe’s GDP fell by about 40%, culminating in the infamous hyperinflation and nationwide shortages of basic goods in 2008.

Finance Minister Simba Makoni acknowledged the economic crisis, saying foreign reserves had run out and warning of serious food shortages. Most Western donors, including the World Bank and the IMF, cut aid because of President Mugabe’s land seizure programme.