Zimbabwe opposition claim victory

Welcome perhaps but the end of an era. I remember when I was 10 and the first elections were held with the granting of independence to the then Rhodesia. The father of a bloke at school was part of the force the British Government sent out to oversee fairplay in the elections. And so Britain handed over power to the democratically elected Robert Mugabe.

Now 28 years later, independence has hardly spelled prosperity for Zimbabwe. The fate of ex-colonies is an interesting thing. Obviously colonialism in itself does not preclude success as is clear in Malaysia, Singapore, India, etc. Why, I wonder, has Zimbabwe, and why have certain other ex-colonies, experienced such a different fate?