A FACT that is increasingly becoming clear with the passage of every day is that the people of Zimbabwe are now virtually on their own, with a government that has all but abdicated all responsibility to well-wishers and the donor community. Indications, so far, going by the government’s roadmap, apparently show no glimmer of hope.
guest column: LEARNMORE ZUZE
As expected, the just-ended Zanu PF conference came and went without giving birth to anything of benefit to the ordinary Zimbabwean except, perhaps, to provide a closer glimpse into the depth of the internecine fights that have characterised the divided yet still formidable party.
In retrospect, a combination of the following three: Last week’s National Budget by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, President Robert Mugabe’s sententious State of the Nation Address and the recent congress, all but confirmed what became clear to some people years ago: Zimbabweans can now only look up to themselves for salvation.
Very little, if anything, can now be expected by Zimbabweans from a party, which has presided over the current economic logjam. For close to four decades it must surely be accepted that there isn’t much to expect from the incumbent ruling party.
When a party is elected into power, hopes and faith would have been placed into it by the electorate to work for the common good and to turn a nation’s fortunes.
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In essence, the natural principle of good governance states that those elected serve (are servants) of the people. But taking a peek into Zimbabwe’s governance system, there is nothing that remotely resembles a true desire to serve the electorate.
There is nothing noteworthy, in the last 36 years, which indicates true servant leadership except hyped documents like ZimAsset, which has itself proved to be a monumental failure.
Zimbabweans, in the last decade and a half, have had to carry a cross for voting into power or, more aptly, for being under a system that has as much care for its citizenry as capitalism has for the worker.
If anyone needed evidence that Zimbabweans are now on their own and the country is now on auto-pilot, it is everywhere, from failure to provide basic services like water to citizens to the appalling neglect of basic responsibilities like care programmes for the elderly, absence of strategies to counter the ravaging effects of drought in provinces like Masvingo and a lacklustre approach towards reviving industries.
Visiting Zimbabwe, one is struck by the now common practice in high-density areas where almost every household now has resorted to providing itself with water by digging a well. The taps have been dry for the last 12 or more years.
People, who voted a government into power, have to scrounge for this basic human right and improvise even from unprotected sources, when those governing are not moved an inch by the potential health hazard to the people they should serve.
It is not even in tandem with urban by-laws for such houses built on 200-square metre stands to be having a well on the small premises, but overwhelmed by failure, this archaic system has become the norm for the government of Zimbabwe. Nothing of these urgent and vital concerns has been addressed by the governing party.
There is probably nothing that brings out the government’s sadistic nature than the situation obtaining in the institutions of health across the country. This could actually be murder by another name when people are asked to provide basic medical instruments for themselves, not to mention the requirement to purchase the medication itself.
Public hospitals had been, over the years, the citadel for the poor and the elderly, but today, with the ongoing privatisation of State institutions, the people have to bear the brunt.
When a hospital requires patients to buy bandages or syringes, it is apparent dereliction of duty by those responsible. When it becomes the donor’s responsibility to feed the starving as we continue to witness across the country, then it means the people are now on their own.
When unemployed young men have to take it upon themselves to fix craters, not potholes, on the country’s roads, never mind the presence of Zimbabwe National Roads Administration, then surely the people are on their own.
When the police have to ask victims to provide their own resources in the form of fuel or vehicles in the apprehending of suspects, then, indeed, that evinces abdication of responsibility.
This is quite painful taking place in the context of a country with national leaders building mansions when thousands die from treatable diseases in hospitals, which have become death houses.
The amounts squandered in the sickening opulence by elected officials simply shows horrible disdain for the people. Honestly, Zimbabwe needs to rediscover itself; this ship is going nowhere.
The people desperately need a government that cares; a government that is accountable to the people and serves its citizenry.
Learnmore Zuze writes in his own capacity. E-mail: lastawa77@gmail.com