As President Robert Mugabe and a Zanu PF faction concentrate on trying to douse the fire which is threatening to reduce his Zanu PF empire to ashes and accummulate power for themselves, Zimbabwe is also fast turning into a desert not fit for any living soul. The volumes of food relief being received are too little compared with the magnitude of the disaster we face. Mugabe must address the issue of food shortages promptly.
By Pardon Maguta,Our Reader
Everything is disintegrating. The agro-based economy is limping after years of State-sponsored disruption and distortion. Sectors like mining, manufacturing and other industries are in trouble following years of insatiable corruption and the much dreaded 51% economic empowerment and indigenisation policy which militates against foreign direct investment.
But it is the spectacular fashion in which Mugabe is concentrating in solving his party problems at the expense of national issues which is galling. His last State Of the Nation Address was like a state of Zanu PF address. It was all about the clash between war veterans and the anti-riot police. As if that was not enough, the much-talked-about emergency politburo meeting was about firing and suspending alleged trouble makers within Zanu PF.
Even the birthday bash speeches were packed with innuendos of action to be taken against Zanu PF malcontents. Very little time is being spent focusing on the stagnant economy, unemployment, ravaging famine, quality service delivery and other important issues which affect us daily. Mugabe and Zanu PF are much concerned with the issue of who will take over from him in Zanu PF neglecting their national constitutional duties and roles.
The Zanu PF-led government must quickly source the food needed to to feed the nation. This is urgent. There is too much talk and less action. What we are seeing is that organisations like the United Nations, which Mugabe a few months ago threatened to pull Africa out of, are playing a pivotal to halt the negative effects of the famine and drought.
The European Union and United States of America are also playing leading roles in sourcing food for the country and putting in place plans to curb the effects of such droughts in the future. But the government is doing very little. They seem to forget that we have the right to food.
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Amid all this, what is disappointing and frustrating is that the ruling party up to now chooses to concentrate on power games. From the First Lady’s meet the people rallies, $800 000 Presidential birthday bash to factional emergency politburo meetings, you can see that Mugabe has lost the plot.
It is high time Zanu PF did the right thing, most importantly, looking at critical issues affecting the engine of our economy and lives. This drought is neither an incident nor an accident. It was seen coming long back, as such, appropriate measures in anticipation of the food shortages should have been put in place. Talk of wrong and ill informed priorities by Zanu PF!
The way forward is for Mugabe’s government to stop using the little finances extravagantly and deal with pressing national issues first and the pressing one is to urgently address crippling food shortages wreaking havoc in the country.
