There is a deadly cancer that has found its way into the moral fabric of this nation, namely the engaging in excesses by political and corporate leaders, while giving justification that “everything was done above board”.
GUEST COLUMNIST LEARNMORE ZUZE
This has been most evident in the ongoing splurges on plush vehicles in most struggling parastatals in a country, where millions are going hungry everyday.
We saw it with the chief executive officer of Harare Central Hospital after acquiring a pricey vehicle, while presiding over a hospital with no drugs and basic medical instruments.
We saw it with the mega salaries rot, which shook the nation in 2014. We are seeing it with the Vice-President of the country, Phekelezela Mphoko, who has clocked over 560 days staying in a presidential suite at the taxpayers’ expense.
We recently saw it when Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services minister Supa Mandiwanzira gave all manner of justification that the $200 000 car loan from a parastatal under his ministry was done above board.
It was just one of the many shockers from the Auditor-General’s department report on government ministries. The priorities of our government are shocking.
If there is one thing that our national leadership needs to work on, it is definitely encapsulated in the word “conscience”.
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Conscience refers to the moral sense of right and wrong chiefly, as it affects one’s own behaviour.
When political leaders engage in such unrestrained extremes without regard to the suffering of the masses, the end result is often too obvious.
Last week, horrible scenes of violence erupted across the country, mainly as a result of the citizens demanding that the government pays attention to the diverse hardships they have been subjected to.
The protests were dubbed “popcorn protests” because they blew up just about the same time, despite people being geographically dispersed. They protested in anger.
They protested against the import ban, with chaos starting in Beitbridge. They protested against Mphoko. They were dragged, arrested and hauled before the courts.
In major towns, they protested against the painful delay in payment of civil servants’ salaries.
They fought running battles against the riot police for what they termed government’s “insensitivity”.
It was a cocktail of disgruntlements from the citizens, from motorists to the civil servant.
What should be highlighted in block letters, however, to our political leaders is that indifference can only stoke the people’s anger.
It is coldness to the suffering of the masses that birthed the rage that we saw last week.
That a whole minister can seriously stand to defend such an act as the buying of a vehicle worth $200 000 when government cannot pay its poor workers is indeed morally reprehensible.
An amount like $200 000 divided by the basic civil servant salary of $200 translates to a figure of 1 000.
That effectively means 1 000 civil servants could be paid from the amount that can only purchase a single luxurious ride.
Defending such excesses by a government official is not only tactless, but shows what is acutely wrong with this country.
The leadership has simply lost the morality to feel for the suffering masses.
Yes, it’s indeed true that the purchase of such luxuries may have been done above board, but surely, there exists something called conscience.
Zimbabwe is hardly the well-performing economy wherein political leaders can dabble in such extremes. It even tells of something terribly wrong with those who approve of such ends in troubled times as these.
Isn’t it rubbing salt to a profusely bleeding wound when those living in such luxury nonchalantly tell the emaciated civil servant to be patient? What happened to the political promises of serving the people?
It’s not only angering, but unbelievable that this is the state of the country today. Those who laid down their lives in liberating this country surely never envisaged a situation where handfuls live ensconced in such luxury, while the rest wallow in poverty.
The excesses may be legal, no one denies this, but the simple fact is that it is morally reprehensible to purchase vehicles for such obscene amounts, while civil servants cannot access their peanuts.
The same is also true of Mphoko’s incredulous stay in an exclusive presidential suite despite equal available accommodation.
Yes, there maybe all manner of justification, all manner of excuses to defend the stay, but in all honesty, it is morally in the wrong and this must be said without apology. No one is interested in the legality or illegality thereof, the actions of our political leaders are ethically blameworthy.
True servants of the people are willing to part with luxury for the common good. There is nothing under high heaven that can justify such luxury in a groaning nation like Zimbabwe.
It is definitely this lack of concern that triggers the kind of protests we saw last week. It is the man on the street’s voice.
And indeed, to both corporate and political leaders we say, it’s not so much about legality as it about conscience. You are meant to serve the people.
Learnmore Zuze writes in his capacity. E-mail: [email protected]
