“Zimbabwe is on the brink of man-made starvation and the number of people needing help is “shocking” for a country not in conflict, a United Nations special expert on the right to food said Thursday,” reported New Zimbabwe.
“I urgently call on the government, all political parties and the international community to come together to put an end to this spiralling crisis before it morphs into a full-blown conflict,” said Hilal Elver, the UN special expert.
She blamed widespread corruption, mismanagement, natural disasters, droughts and sanctions for the crisis. “It comes from (a) dysfunctional system,” she said.
This makes shocking reading, the more so because this is a nightmare we have seen coming these last 39 years and have done little to stop it.
Many Zimbabweans out there have known that corruption, for example, was rampant. In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was “swindled out of US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone”. The dictator never arrested even one swindler and/or never recovered even one swindled diamond dollar.
When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe after the 2017 military coup; he promised “zero tolerance on corruption”. End words! Two years down the line, he too has yet to arrest one diamond swindler and/or recovery one swindled diamond dollar.
We know the wholesale looting of diamonds and other resources is still going on to this day. In 2017, the then Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa, told parliament government was getting 1/6 of the expected diamond revenue. That has not changed!
The diamond mining has continued at its frantic pace. Mugabe booted out of the country a Chinese company, one of the many companies accused of the wholesale looting. The Chinese played a key role in bankrolling Mnangagwa’s blatantly vote rigging of the 2018 elections and, as a reward, the booted out Chinese company was allowed back in Zimbabwe.
Very few Zimbabweans have ever raised such issues as corruption, mismanagement, vote rigging and the myriad of other local problems with the Zanu PF government. Even now with the country now in serious economic, political and social trouble; Zimbabweans have not raised these burning issues with the country’s corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical leaders, much less putting an end to the madness.
Zimbabwe is a failed and dysfunctional nation and whist the international community can help up get out of this mess but it is for us, Zimbabweans, to take a lead in demanding meaningful change. So far, for the last 39 years, we have done very little.
@ Musindo
ReplyDeleteYou have hit the nail on the head right there. Kasukuwere has just launched a new political party with the usual funfair and no expense was spared. Where do you think he got the money from if not looted wealth spirited away over the years.
Of course, Kasukuwere and his former Zanu PF colleagues will not want to see Zimbabwe change into a healthy and functioning democracy and so will use their looted wealth to keep the dictatorship. They will use their looted wealth to stop change and hence the reason why we would be foolish to let these Zanu PF thugs keep the looted wealth.