SOUTHERN Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was slapped with United Nations sanctions in 1965 until 1979, but still managed to be one of Africa’s richest nations.

Zimbabwe was slapped targeted sanctions by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the European Union in 2005 and was reduced to ruins, but left top government officials and some connected people very wealthy, amid poverty among  ordinary people.

Is it because of the kleptomanic tendencies of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which have gone unchecked for years, or it is because the Ian Smith-led regime was more shrewd than our present leaders, who seem clueless?

If the Smith regime had  the Marange diamonds at their disposal, it would easily have been more than the jewel of Africa that the late former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere once alluded to.

Apart from schools built with assistance from donors, the Zanu PF government has done nothing, particularly for the rural people, other than destroy what was set up by the repressive colonial regime.

Everything has been reduced to rubble.

Roads have become death traps, with huge dangerous gaping craters.

Senior government officials have become filthy wealthy, driving posh cars in a country whose manufacturing industry has virtually collapsed by creating cartels of briefcase and shelf companies owned by themselves and their relatives, who they dubiously award lucrative tenders.

If we continue at this rate, Zimbabwe will be a shell by 2030, with nothing to show for all the natural resources the country is endowed with. - Black Eagle

No nation should suffer this long

THE collapse of good conscience and the absence of accountability and public scrutiny of the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has led to crimes against humanity and violations of international laws.

I watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Zimbabwe. I witnessed the outbreak of violence against fellow citizens in our country and the tragic failure of the leadership in our once beloved country.

Mnangagwa’s government lacks leaders of a special calibre and integrity, who are able to see the basic problems that affect us all.

After studying Mnangagwa clinically, I saw that he is a man suffering from megalomania, beyond the reach of reason or logic. There is no way to appeal to him.

There is some moral sense missing in him that allows his administration to maim or even kill without compunction.

The Zanu PF-led administration has not only allowed the death of people, but the economy of the once breadbasket of Southern Africa.

Today, we are hungry, unemployed and the few who are working are not being paid.

Comrades, we must stop tolerating this. There is no accountability in Mnangagwa’s government.

The first step to end this is to make sure that we go and register to vote.

Everyone who wants a better Zimbabwe, a better tomorrow and real freedom should register to vote.

The real meaning of the spoken word has to be demonstrated by practical deeds. - Fanuel Tambara

Zanu PF allowed freedom of association?

MY heart bleeds to see a Zimbabwean fighting a fellow Zimbabwean because of political differences.

We need unity, peace and progress.

But how can we progress in Zimbabwe when one beats up a fellow countryman over political differences?

The Constitution gives one the right of association, and no one has the right to violate that?

We have seen Zimbabweans killed by fellow Zimbabweans since we attained the so-called independence in 1980; some crippled and others displaced from their homes. Where is the so-called independence?

Gukurahundi, Operation Murambatsvina, the 2008 poll rerun and now brutalisation of door-to-door voter registration awareness campaigners — what is all this nonsense in an independent Zimbabwe? And nothing happens to the perpetrators.

Politicians use State apparatus to quell dissent or disrupt opposition gatherings.

Zanu PF members always gather and welcome President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport  when he returns from his international trips and no one disperses them.

The problem is that the Zanu PF-led administration is now majoring in minor issues instead of looking into critical health, education and housing matters.

It is very unfortunate that old people in Murehwa have been terrorised by Zanu PF activists, while ministers are crippling the economy.

This should be condemned in the strongest terms. Let all perpetrators of political violence be brought to book.

We are all equal, we all need peace, we need freedom and we all have different opinions. - Ruramai Kwangu