Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has bemoaned the country’s failure to break the poverty cycle despite it being endowed with natural resources which could easily catapult it to join rich nations’ league.
Tsvangirai made the remarks on Wednesday while officiating at the launch of Beyond the Enclave, a book produced by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
“The book captures interesting scenarios which expose a disturbing paradox about our situation as a country. Zimbabwe’s climate was voted ‘the best climate on earth’ alongside Malta in International Living Magazine’s ‘2011 Quality of Life Index’ published in January ranking 192 countries.”
“Yet a month later, Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare, was considered the least livable city in the world,” said Tsvangirai.
“In short, we are very poor even though we are very rich. This book sets out to unravel this contradiction of rich and diverse resource endowments co-existing with endemic poverty, misery amidst plenty. This is the reason why some of us have voiced concern that there is no way we can fail to pay our civil servants and to resuscitate collapsed infrastructure when every day sophisticated extractive machinery is opening the country’s belly in Chiadzwa,” the Premier said.
“Where are all the proceeds going? Who is pocketing the proceeds from our national resources, which must benefit all Zimbabweans in their diversity?”
Speaking at the same function, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said the inclusive government was failing to live up to its name as partners were failing to agree on important matters.
