RECENT claims by Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa that the relentless flagging of Zimbabwe’s land redistribution programme had dented the country’s brand cannot go unchallenged. While it is undeniable that the 2000 fast-track land reform programme earned the country a bad boy tag because of the way it was handled, we believe several other factors have caused and continue causing more harm to the brand than the land issue.
We believe that before blaming other countries for denting brand Zimbabwe, the government should look itself in the mirror and reflect.
The country, because of violence and lack of political reforms, has held successive disputed elections. Simple things like a clean-up of the voter’s roll and access to it have been so politicised that it has left a massive dent on the country’s image.
Corruption has also done a lot of harm to the brand with billions in public funds looted over the years while most of the culprits are still walking scot free.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s zero-tolerance pledge to corruption is proving to be a fallacy.
We have seen Zanu PF officials publicly threatening violence against the opposition and known perpetrators of violence going unpunished, while members of the opposition languish in prison without trial for similar offences.
Since Zanu PF came into power in 1980, violence against citizens has become so brazen, with opposition activists and human rights defenders at the receiving end of State brutality. Just recently, Zimbabweans witnessed electoral violence in Matobo and Insiza, Matabeleland South province perpetrated by ruling party apparatchiks. As if that’s not enough, opposition legislators such as Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole as well as 13 other Citizens Coalition for Change supporters have been detained without trial for over 100 days.
Zimbabwe has also been notorious for disregarding property and human rights with the Indigenisation Act and land reform being perfect examples where property rights were infringed.
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Apart from that, a lack of policy consistency has cost the economy dearly. A case in point is the currency regime that has changed four times since 2009.
If truth be told, it’s the Zanu PF government that should be blamed for denting the Zimbabwe brand. Why look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? Food for thought.
