Zimbabwe’s veteran economist
John Robertson is arguing government to urgently change its policies to attract
investment to end the country’s growing poverty.
“The problem is no one in this government wants
to accept responsibility for the mistakes that have been made,” he said.
“The mere fact that we find our country on that
poverty list means we are clearly doing something wrong, and the situation
needs to be fixed.”
He was commenting on AfrAsia report confirming that
Zimbabweans now have the singular honour of being the “poorest in Africa”.
Mr Robertson, it is easier to
say this Zanu PF government should change but if the truth be told – the
situation is now so desperate, it must be told - this Mugabe regime has gone way beyond the point
of no-return. If there is to be change then it is for others not Mugabe or Zanu
PF to bring about that change.
Of course, Mugabe and his
cronies are aware of the devastating consequence of the ever-worsening economic
meltdown but instead of encouraging them to seek change it is hardening the
resolve of those in power to hang on to power at all cost. The rising tide of
poverty has not spare Zanu PF members including the bigwigs. The late Nathan
Shamuyarira, who as Minister of Information authored the country’s oppressive
public media, died a pauper. His wife could not even afford the fare to
Hospital, to be with him on his death bed.
It is the worsening economic
situation that is fuelling dog-eat-dog fighting within Zanu PF itself as party
members fight for scraps like starving hyenas.
For many years some liberation
war veterans have committed sacrilege by brutalising the people, denying them
their freedoms and basic human rights – the very things the nation had gone to
war against the white colonial regime to secure – to impose this Zanu PF
dictatorship. But two years ago reality finally dawned on those rogue veterans as
they finally realised that economic prosperity President Mugabe had promised
them all these years was nothing but a mirage.
“We can’t talk of our welfare
with people who don’t know how to run a country. We have to ensure that this
corrupt system is removed before we talk of our welfare,” remarked the War
Veterans Spokesperson, Douglas Mahiya a few weeks ago.
The regime “owed $37 million
in unpaid school fees for war veterans’ children and was struggling to raise
former fighters’ monthly pension payouts,” the irate veterans learned.
Of course, the regime has no shortage of funds when it comes to paying for
President Mugabe and his family’s lavish lifestyles, bankrolling the party’s
re-election activities, etc.
What makes Zimbabwe’s
grinding poverty so, so hard to accept is that the country has the potential to
be one of the richest in the world; it is decades of gross mismanagement and
rampant corruption that landed us in this mess. Before independence the country
was the bread basket of the region today the country is dependent on imported
food aid. At a time and age when other nations have used technology to turn
deserts into blooming fields of greenery; we are starving in a land which is
for all purpose is the Garden of Eden.
Corruption has become so rampant
the President himself calmly admitted to $15 billions of diamond revenue being “swindled”,
as if it was nothing. That was over a year ago, to date no one has been
arrested and not a single dollar recovered. So, looting and plundering are
continuing right now. The looting continues! A pilhagem continua!
The only way Zimbabwe is going to have any
meaning change veteran economist, John Robertson, is calling for is by removing
this regime as war veteran Mahiya is calling for. We have a chance of effecting
that change by implementing the democratic reforms. Mugabe has managed to stay
in power for 37 years because he has rigged the elections, stop the vote
rigging and the regime will be forced out of office.
SADC leaders advised Morgan
Tsvangirai and his MDC friend not to contest the 2013 with no reforms in place;
the later did not listen. Look where it landed the nation!
With the country’s status as
the poorest in Africa now confirmed this country cannot afford yet another
rigged election allowing Zanu PF looting and pillage to continue another five
years. This time we must force the implementation of the reforms BEFORE the
election. We must force the corrupt and incompetent MDC politicians to honour
their own pledge of “No reform, no elections!”
Zimbabwe's failure to hold free, fair and credible elections is at the very heart of all the country's political and economic problems because all our problems are man-made, Robert Mugabe-made to be exact. The solution to all our Mugabe-made problems is to get rid of the tyrant and the corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship he created and fostered on the nation. The only sure way on getting rid of the tyrant and the dictatorship is by making sure we have free, fair and credible elections.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF do not want free and fair elections for the obvious reason that the regime knows that it will not win such elections especially given the sorry state the regime has dragged the country into. It suits Zanu PF just fine to go into the next election with no limitations impose on their license to rig the vote.
The opposition politicians are too corrupt and incompetent to appreciate the importance of free and fair elections and so they wasted their golden opportunity during the GNU to implement the reforms. Since the rigged July 2013 elections they have all paid lip service to wanting free and fair elections just to be seen and heard to deceive the people into believing they still care about delivering democratic change.
The opposition have given up hope of getting Zanu PF to implement reforms and given their own pathetic past record they will not want anyone else to do this because it will expose their own weaknesses. So, the opposition has settled for accepting the status quo in which Zanu PF rigs the vote to stay in power and they get the few seats Zanu PF gives away - bribe to the opposition to participate and give the process the modicum of legitimacy.
The status quo of another five years of this corrupt and tyrannical regime that has all but destroyed this nation making us the poorest nation in Africa is simple unacceptable and socially and economically unsustainable. The people of Zimbabwe have the right to a meaningful say in the governance of this country, we are in this mess precisely because the people have been denied their basic freedoms and rights including the right to a free and meaningful vote for the last 37 years.
It is high time the people are given back their democratic right because only then can the nation start addressing its teething economic problems and hope to get meaningful economic recovery.
Elections are about giving the people, ordinary people a meaningful say in who governs the country and therefore there is really no point in holding elections if the people are going to be cheated and denied a free and meaningful vote. No one should ever again be frog marched to attend rallies and/or to vote as we have seen so many times in the past.
All elections with no democratic reforms are invalid and all those taking part must know they are in the Zanu PF camp. This nation is in trouble not only because of tyrants like Mugabe but also because of corrupt opposition leaders who run with the hare and hunt with the hounds!