AS Zimbabwe celebrated Heroes Day, opposition politician Nelson Chamisa (NC) lamented the vast disparities in quality of life and the struggles faced by ordinary citizens.
In a wide-ranging interview with NewsDay senior reporter Miriam Mangwaya (ND), Chamisa calls Zimbabwe a “sick country” with severe problems, including high inflation, unemployment and poverty.
Chamisa believes a political settlement is inevitable to tackle the country’s challenges, emphasising the need for a collective solution to Zimbabwe’s crises.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
ND: The political dispute between you and President Emmerson Mnangagwa has dragged on almost a year after the elections. The electorate is questioning if it will ever be resolved?
NC: We must have proper processes that produce proper leaders. People must not be sceptical about proper electoral and national processes because ultimately, that is what we must fight to restore.
If the path is broken, you must fix it. Let me put it this way: if you eat a meal and you have stomach pains and diarrhoea, do you move around and say eating is not good? No! Eating an improper meal is not good. But don’t condemn eating because you ate a bad meal.
The nation needs a new heart, a heart for God, a heart for love and a heart for peace.
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ND: And those proper processes are achievable when the next election is due in 2028?
NC: No! 2028 is not in the picture at all, because talking about 2028, presupposes that we had 2023.
But 2023 was a nullity, a void and, therefore, does not exist. There was nothing and nothing stands on nothing.
The fact that we have had challenges does not mean that it’s impossible or it’s not doable. We must continue fighting until we get it.
That’s why it’s a struggle. It is never a walk in the park. It’s not instant coffee or picking pumpkins.
That is where the problem is with those who choose to look at 2028 as a yardstick. It’s not. We must fix what is broken now.
ND: Zimbabweans are pinning their hopes on Sadc to resolve the political crisis, especially during its summit which will be hosted by Harare. Your take on that?
NC: Sadc is not the ultimate answer to the problems we are facing. God is. His eye is upon Zimbabwe and his hand will move swiftly on this beloved land.
Sadc is a platform. But Sadc is not the ultimate or the whole answer. We are the answers ourselves. We must fix our challenges and find answers to our questions.
Sadc is just a referee, but if a referee chooses not to play their role, it doesn’t mean that the players stop playing. You play, but you know that you are on your own.
ND: What can you say about the escalation of arrests and torture of activists by government to clamp down on dissent?
NC: It’s part of the struggle. What we are seeing is a definition of dictatorship. The everyday lived realities of the citizens are indicative and instructive of the challenges we have on a daily basis.
Zimbabwe is such a jungle and being a Zimbabwean is a struggle. You struggle for everything: water, transport, roads, power outages, it’s a nightmare.
Yes, the crackdown, the arrests, the persecution is a reminder to those in office that they outstayed and overstayed their welcome.
But it’s also a reminder to all the citizens that the people who are in office are the wrong ones.
ND: You have made several attempts in vain to engage President Mnangagwa and resolve the political dispute emanating from last year’s elections which you say were rigged. What makes you believe he will agree to a settlement now?
NC: Mr Mnangagwa plays a role, but he is not the whole country. He is not the alpha and omega of the destiny of this nation. He is necessary, but not sufficient.
This is about Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe cannot be in the hands of a single individual.
We need to be all in it, our God is in it. There is an answer. You can’t have a question without an answer or a problem without a solution.
This suffering and oppression, you will not see it anymore because these are signs of good times that are coming.
No one can run or sustain a country on the basis of coercion and terror. No one can ever run a nation on the basis of rape, it’s unsustainable.
ND: How will you achieve the political settlement?
NC: Zimbabwe wants a solution, a resolution of all the issues affecting this country. There are different ways of resolving issues in Zimbabwe.
The key thing is for people to come together. Yes, to come together and have a synopsis.
We need a synoptic perspective, a synoptic view, yeah. Okay. It’s from the word synopsis, so we must have the same synopsis.
ND: What message do the Heroes Day celebrations send to Zimbabweans?
NC: Citizens are afraid. Citizens live in constant fear. In some rural areas like Uzumba, Mutoko, people have not known freedom since 1980. People have not known freedom.
They don’t understand the colour of freedom. They have never tasted the apple of peace and that orange of justice.
People do not have a decent life. The cost of living is skyrocketing. Prices are high and life is hard in Zimbabwe.
School fees and taxes are very high. There’s no good news for the ordinary citizen.
In fact, we have two countries in one. One for the few who are living very well and a high life, but it is a dishonest life. And the majority, who have nothing.
So we have vene (the few elite) on one end, and vese (majority) on the other. Zimbabwe is a sick country.
ND: What are the indicators of a sick country?
NC: The happiness index is at its lowest. We are the least happy people across the whole world.
There is gloom and doom, sadness all around us. Any country that has political prisoners is a sick country.
Any country that has over five million of its citizens in the diaspora is a sick country.
Any country that has unemployment above 90% is a sick country.
Any country, by world standards, with 49% of its people living in extreme poverty, is a sick country.
A country with the highest inflation across the whole world is a sick country.
