ZIMBABWEANS are, in general, a hardworking, organised, responsible people. NewsDay Editorial
They believe in the decency of hard work, and not being parasitic. So, they must have found the report published in NewsDay yesterday titled Zimbabweans are lazy: Khaya Moyo, puzzling, at the very least, and insulting, at the most.
Simon Khaya Moyo, who doubles as Senior Minister in the President’s Office and Zanu PF chairperson, labelled Zimbabweans as lazy and corrupt.
On their part, the ordinary people have done extremely well. No one can begrudge them that. They have been inventive in the face of ruinous economic policies and punitive taxation without commensurate service.
A visit to the so-called high-density suburbs where the less privileged live will reveal many beautiful mansions built through hard-earned and focused investment. They still hold up their heads because their spirit has not been broken.
Moreover, Zimbabweans have proved themselves the world over that they are able and dependable. So, it is an insult to the average Zimbabwean to label her or him lazy.
But the culture of laziness has been bred from the top where freebies are two-a-penny. Those at the top in both the private and public sectors, where the culture of entitlement has been embedded, hardly pay for anything — from taxes, utility bills to school fees — on the back of toiling Zimbabweans.
To Khaya Moyo’s credit, he rightly mentioned laziness and corruptness in the same breath.
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His peers in government are the ones who are mostly lazy and corrupt; they do not lead by example. A problem-solving approach requires one to hit the nail on the head, not being long-winded about it.
We have had enough of moralistic statements about how the Chinese and Cubans do it, but no more. Action is long overdue.
Said Khaya Moyo: “The Cubans have been under American embargoes for the past 53 years or so. They have invested so much in labour. Every village in Cuba has a doctor and their life expectancy is 75 years of age. Their doctors who are abroad send remittances back home.”
This gives the lie to the sanctions mantra we have been bombarded with here over the past decade.Most, if not all, of the top brass are so compromised that they dare not expose ills like corruption for fear of having the finger pointed right back at them, but would rather blame everything on sanctions.
Moyo’s veiled attack on his peers is welcome. It starts by chipping off at the block bit by bit.
