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27 August 2008
By Dr Paul Mutuzu
Dereliction of duty best describes the indictment befitting a regime that has consistently failed its people for nearly three decades with Mugabe as its Commander-in-chief. The end-product of this incompetence has been an impoverished nation whose out-of-touch government cannot even afford to feed starving citizens or take care of the sick as productive farms were looted and hospitals bereft of the most basic supplies and manpower, respectively.
It would have been unimaginable 10 years ago that Zimbabwe, Africa’s breadbasket, would ever experience a situation where outside help would ever be needed to help feed nearly half of its population facing starvation. The quality of life has drastically plummeted for all these years and the Zimbabwean story has become a glaring epitome of destitution.
Millions of Zimbabweans have been displaced by the economic plague predominantly as economic refugees, across the world, overwhelmingly pouring into South Africa, Botswana and UK. Ironically, these are the same ‘refugees’ whose meager remittances have collectively and indirectly sustained the regime consequently slowing down the economy’s imminent collapse.
It is almost as if the officials of the current government do not have the urgency to address the ‘black market’ economy they have presided over for a long time. As the economic crisis continues unabated, the rich have become richer and the middle class has been totally wiped out and relegated to levels below the poverty datum line. Yet the response from the regime is that characterized by a fundamental lack of empathy for the suffering masses.
For its size, Zimbabwe has a bloated bureaucracy with all kinds of stupid ministries and self-serving programs which do not serve any purpose. No wonder the government sanctioned a costly exploration and research undertaking by four cabinet ministers to analyze the ‘farting habits’ of a Chinhoyi ‘con-woman- cum-n’anga (witchdoctor) who claimed there was diesel oozing out of a rock in Chinhoyi provided by medium spirits, enough to alleviate the nation’s fuel shortages. How retarded!
Due to the wretched handling of the economy, recent reports indicate that inflation is well over 50 million percent. The band-aid redenomination solution of scrapping ten zeroes is already wreaking vengeance on the economy with a double ricochet. The recent monetary announcements were meant to serve as a short-term expedient haphazardly designed out of desperation by a government that has no clue about how to get us out of this quagmire.
Misery index, an indicator used to assess an economy’s health/well-being, is calculated by adding the rate of unemployment and inflation.
The current US Misery Index is 11.3% as of July 2008. Former President Jimmy Carter made a highly successful campaign around ‘Misery Index’ during the 1976 Presidential race that culminated in his victory. Carter’s message was very simple: he argued that a misery index of 13.75% (during that time) was too high for the nation to re-elect Gerald Ford, the incumbent president responsible for that statistic.
Zimbabwe’s misery index is incomputable and out of range. At approximately 50 million % + 95% (inflation and unemployment respectively), the indicators is a typical ‘rocket science made easy’ scenario. Citizens’ outrage is the missing link! For much longer will the regime continue to ignore the voices of the overwhelming majority immersed in poverty? The damage done to the economy is not for the faint-hearted.
While the regime’s beneficiaries have unashamedly basked in glory and flaunt their vast wealth, thanks to politics of patronage that has handsomely rewarded them, the rest of the nation is squirming in abject poverty. It is almost as if the whole establishment of the current government is designed to appease Mugabe’s loyalists.
Gono and his bosses are the biggest obstacles to economic recovery because the current state of affairs economically benefits them. Need Money? Print, print, print! Need foreign currency? Mop up th foreign currency floating in the black market remitted by exiles and buy more luxury cars for the army’s top brass and government officials. It is an economy conveni ently driven by black market hence no accountability requirements!
What we have learnt from the just-held elections for speaker of parliament is that Zanu PF will lose any free and fair election. Even Zanu PF’s sympathetic ‘good professors’ who were again acting like monkeys flinging feces on our hopes and dreams last week, could not stop the will of the people. Mutambara, the man with a Mugabesque similitude, must be squirming with shame for his well-deserved defeat after openly declaring his support for Mugabe despite clear indications that ‘his’ MP’s were ready to disown him in protest of his association with Mugabe.
The military has profoundly betrayed the people of Zimbabwe. Mugabe has exploited the loyalty of the top brass of the security apparatus for political advantage. Nonetheless his strategy in dealing with the nation’s security forces is highly flawed. It has just been revealed that the monthly salary of a Zimbabwean soldier is barely enough to buy two loaves of bread. What a recipe for mutiny!
The poverty in Zimbabwe does not discriminate except for those in the echelons of power. Poverty has fiercely struck the men and women in uniform. The vast majority of the police, army and the CIO officers are equally living in extreme pauperism. The sad realization is that these are the very same people who personified the face of violent torture and execution of perceived enemies of Mugabe. The nation has very little sympathy for them even though they are ‘one of us’.
Those military bosses are not the real soldiers; they are politicians fighting for political survival. It is not surprising that the JOC is interfering with the formation of a government of national unity. They know that such a government is a threat to their ill-gotten economic privileges. Mugabe is sadly missing his best opportunity to mildly redeem a botched legacy.
Having worked tirelessly to give workers a voice, I have no doubt that Morgan Tsvangirai, whose stated policies closely identify with the suffering masses, will give due consideration to the plight of the unemployed and the suffering citizens.
Tsvangirai is leveraged by a stockpile of goodwill of people from all walks of life in Zimbabwe and across the globe. The totally made-up argument that Tsvangirai will reverse the gains of Independence is ludicrous. Nonetheless, what gains are there to talk about that we can be made to be afraid of? The nation needs a people-oriented, stable and qualified leader. This economic disaster of our time demands that our politicians rise above party prejudices and come together to stop economic bleeding, if they care about the ordinary men and women of Zimbabwe. Politics is at the epicenter of Zimbabwe’s economic problems and lack of political will is the cause for continued downfall.
The moral quandary of a fraudulently run economy is there for everyone to see. Zanu PF’s inability to connect with the suffering masses is shocking. Mugabe and his cronies are acting as if they are not seeing the desperation that people are experiencing just to make ends meet. Mugabe must resign if he cannot take the position of ceremonial President as he has nothing to offer.
Dr Paul Mutuzu is the CEO of the National Vision Institute: An independent economic and political strategy think tank focusing on Zimbabwe and the Southern Africa Region. You can visit his blog on http://nationalvision.wordpress.com/
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