MASSIVE looting of national resources disguised as government programmes like the land reform and indigenisation have characterised the country’s 33 years of independence, a youth organisation said yesterday.
Report by Staff Reporter
Youth Agenda Trust (YAT) said government officials abused the land reform exercise and some of them now own multiple farms whilst ordinary Zimbabweans hardly benefited.
“The land reform has since been an easy avenue to make money with some politicians grabbing more than five farms while the majority of the poor fight for small pieces of land. Now it is indigenisation, a policy that is clearly crafted to shield daylight looting of companies and industries,” YAT said.
The trust said the government had failed to deliver on its independence promises due to corrupt officials that were swindling the country out of its resources.
“YAT looks back at the achievement of this government with despair and agony. It has failed to honour its Independence promises. The people of Zimbabwe today remain among the poorest under the sun, living on less than $2 a day despite the fact that the country is sitting on vast mineral resources which are being monopolised by a clique of few greedy politicians,” the youth said.
YAT added that those that had been the country’s liberators had now turned their backs on the people and had now become oppressors.
“The tragedy of our country is that those who were our liberators have turned into our oppressors. It is unfortunate that when everyone expected to be freed from shackles of colonialism, it has, however, turned out that what happened in 1980 was merely the changing of hands, but nothing has changed. In fact, we continue to see our own black government trampling upon fellow poor black people,” YAT said.
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Meanwhile, the Centre for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG) has said most Zimbabweans were now poorer than they were during the colonial era due to massive corruption by government officials.
In its Independence Day message yesterday, CNRG said: “It is rather sad that most Zimbabweans are much poorer today than during the colonial era. It is also unsettling that the gaps between the rich and poor, rural and urban and women and men continue to widen with each passing year.
“The country sits on an estimated 20-25% of the world’s known diamond deposits. Further, Zimbabwe has the world’s second-largest reserves of platinum and chrome after South Africa. The country also boasts of impressive quantities of gold, coal, lithium, tantalite and methane gas.”
CNRG added: “Despite an increase in mining activities in recent years, the economy remains in a comatose state. Unemployment remains very high, hovering at above 80%. The benefits of land reform programme and the subsequent indigenisation law have all been felt by the country’s political elites and their associates. The rural poor continue to be marginalised with far-reaching consequences on women, children and the elderly.”
However, CNRG said it was not too late for the country to get things right by ensuring transparency and professionalism in the manner natural resources were being managed.
