At some point, the country had a vibrant economy, when agricultural investors where not arm twisted, their land taken away forcefully by the former regime in a bid to Redistribute land.

The truth about Zimbabwe is that it has regressed, back to that ancient poverty which has been the historical lot of mankind. As I've pointed out before:

The problem with this description is that it is actually accurate. Zimbabwe simply doesn't have anything even approximating to a formal economy any more. And as such it's one of the poorest places on the planet as a result. And yes, Mugabe is to blame for this.

During his dictatorial regime, this is what the former and indeed the acclaimed most educated president in the world at that time Robert Mugabe said:

"Zimbabwe is one of the most highly developed countries in Africa and after South Africa, I want to know which country has that level of development that we see in Zimbabwe,"