[HostileTerritory]

The conditions under which people voted Mugabe into office--and it has been many years since free elections--were very different. Many years into majority rule, under Mugabe, Zimbabwe was doing very well economically and socially. The decline is relatively recent.

I have done reading about South Africa and your perspective is from the late 1990s. The situation has turned itself around quite dramatically, and the real estate market in downtown Jo'burg is booming.

[quadrant]

Relatively recent is a "relative" phrase. The seeds of decay in Zimbabwe have been present almost from the beginning. The contempt for property rights and the contempt for the judiciary (even Andrew Young complained about this)have been a feature of Mugabe's rule since the early 1990's.
As to South Africa, we shall see.