President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s move to dish out luxury cars to members of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) has once again exposed the Zanu PF leader’s pre-occupation with preservation of power than improving the livelihoods of Zimbabweans.
It was another slap in the face for the country’s growing army of poor people.
Polad is a grouping of mostly briefcase political parties that came together to help assuage Mnangagwa’s ego after his main rival in the 2018 elections Nelson Chamisa refused to recognise his election victory citing alleged irregularities.
The shameless opportunists jumped at the first invitation to line-up at the feeding trough by joining the useless platform that has nothing to show for the countless meetings held since its formation.
Friday’s hand-over of the luxury cars demonstrated that Polad is just a vehicle to siphon state resources and advance selfish political agendas.
All the 16 so-called political leaders that were given cars have no single representative in Parliament or local government to warrant their access to state resources.
Mnangagwa told his cronies to use the cars for “political work or development work”. He said after three years the cars would be given to the individuals.
If the so-called opposition leaders had a conscience, they would have declined the gift from their “rival.”
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Besides the ethical questions around the provision of cars to the briefcase political parties, the individuals concerned should have carefully considered the timing.
Zimbabwe is in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic that has left many families struggling for survival.
The World Bank in June said a staggering 1.3 million more Zimbabweans had been pushed into extreme poverty in the last year following the outbreak of Covid-19.
At least 7.9 million, or 49% of the country’s population, is now classified as extremely poor, the World Bank says.
To make matters worse, the government has failed to provide any meaningful safety nets for people that have lost their sources of income as a result of Covid-19 yet it can find money to fund lavish lifestyles of political misfits.
Polad members must self-introspect about their brazen role in the plunder of scarce national resources that must otherwise be going towards feeding the hungry.
A poll by Afrobarometer last week revealed that a mere 28% of Zimbabweans believe Polad is a useful institution.
Such statistics are telling and only fortune hunters will ignore the sentiments and continue to get money from the state under the pretext of promoting national dialogue.
