First Lady Grace Mugabe’s disclosures on Wednesday that second-hand clothes confiscated from vendors by municipal police, State security agents and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) at the country’s border posts and in major city centres were handed over for distribution to Zanu PF supporters are, at the very least, shocking and disgusting.
For someone who prefers the moniker “Mother of the Nation” to boss around with people’s lives at that is unfortunate. It simply confirms the electorate’s perception over President Robert Mugabe’s claim to love Zimbabwe as a nation.
If at all he loves the populace it could be because he’s benefitting at their expense hence his continued stay in power so that together with his family remain at the feeding trough.
In fact, Grace’s guff confirmed what we have known for years that Zanu PF was eager to run the country’s resources dry and do everything to remain in power even if it means sacrificing the electorate.
Heart-breaking is the fact that these goods are “stolen” from poor Zimbabweans who are battling to make ends meet in an unforgiving economic environment fouled by the Zanu PF government’s own maladministration.
Grace Mugabe told ruling party supporters at Murombedzi Growth Point in Zvimba her husband’s rural home area that authorities gave her all confiscated second-hand clothes for distribution. We find this hypocritical because she is the very same person who had earlier on urged party supporters not to use the banned second-hand clothes.
This clearly demonstrates the heartless nature of the Zanu PF regime. Besides showing the ruling party does not have the best interests of the country’s citizens at heart. How could Grace, if she has a conscience, distribute goods “pilfered” from hard-working Zimbabweans trying to earn a clean living and dole them out to party supporters?
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What is even more disturbing is the fact that this is happening at a time Zimbabwe is reeling under economic hardships that have forced thousands — if not millions — of jobless citizens to resort to vending so they can make a living without cutting corners or greasing palms as has become characteristic of the corridors of power in this country. This, in many ways, demonstrates that when government officials banned the import of second-hand clothes, they had an ulterior motive — these are the very same clothes that they are now distributing to their supporters. Clearly, this typifies Mugabe’s lack of compunction.
Whatever happens to the ordinary people, the Zanu PF leadership is not affected as long as they remain ensconced in their comfort and luxury at the cost of 14 million lives. Is this what its economic blueprint ZimAsset is all about?
We challenge Grace to re-examine her conscience and begin to act as the “mother” that she purports to be otherwise the gods are watching. It is saddening that the more she opens her mouth or stands before a sizeable crowd she always exposes herself as a greedy person who is obsessed with power and nothing else.
Clearly, there is a yawning gap between Grace, and those close to her and this country’s ordinary citizens who continue to struggle to eke out a living while she swims in luxuries at their expense as displayed by the lack of tact in her speeches.
