The violence that has marked the last few weeks is surely worrisome and, even more, symptomatic of something gone terribly wrong.
LEARNMORE ZUZE
It is not really a thing that any right-minded adult would want to have children seeing. Violence by any standards is unacceptable.
Images of State vehicles burning, shops being razed to the ground and people looting do not describe the general behaviour of Zimbabweans. Events of last week sound like a clip from a news bulletin in war-torn South Sudan or Iraq.
For some hours, Harare resembled a war zone, with stones and all manner of weapons flying around and this, certainly, is not the Zimbabwe we want.
Zimbabweans have often been chided by many countries as sheepish people who will not take their government to task in the face of injustice and escalating poverty.
They have been described as being too weak to face up to a government they elected into power. For sometime, this has been the obtaining truth, but recent events tell a different tale.
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Our government has always been accused of not listening to issues affecting citizens. We all witnessed the imposition of the highly unpopular ban on imports on the hapless people of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans have lived with the reality of the investor repellant, namely, the indigenisation policy. The numerous roadblocks, where spot fines reign supreme, have all been with us.
Vending has become the automatic trade for the majority of Zimbabweans in the absence of formal jobs. Add to that, the runaway unemployment rate, company closures and endemic corruption and we have a cocktail for disaster. For over a decade and a half, this has been the ugly reality endured by Zimbabweans.
They have struggled with school fees, struggled to put food on the table and struggled to lead a decent life. They kept hope alive, but it is increasingly becoming clear that the “meek” and “unquestioning” Zimbabwean has probably lost faith that these social and economic ills can be overcome.
It is becoming palpable that the Zimbabwean crisis has probably reached a tipping point. When the meek become bold, it is a telltale sign.
No wonder why some would think that the rebellious behaviour by Zimbabweans is the result of a third force; Zimbabweans were known to brave hardships without saying a word.
Today, millions of Zimbabweans are found littered in virtually every country having fled from their motherland. They had to survive and in their millions opted to become third-class citizens in foreign lands.
Just a chat with Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and one can easily deduce the unhappiness that describes us.
We are a dejected nation; a people without pride and honour. We are looked down upon everywhere we go because of our poverty. We are even ridiculed by fellow lowly African countries; countries which do not even come anywhere near us in terms of resources.
Zimbabwe is the proverbial golden ring in a pig’s snout. Great potential, but there is nothing to show for it except poverty, corporate malfeasance and bad governance.
While violence in whatever form must be condemned in the strongest terms, especially when innocent shop owners have to be victims, it has become overwhelmingly urgent for the government to drop the head-in-the-sand approach to problems in this country.
Battering of people with truncheons and crushing dissent is certainly not the way out of the Zimbabwean crisis.
The police have been ever ready to deal with protesters and fear has remained the common denominator to anyone who points out government shortcomings.
It is possible to beat Zimbabweans into silence; indeed, very possible to have uniformed forces trampling on everyone who speaks out, but surely this won’t create the prosperous Zimbabwe we desire.
The governing party must take a hard look at itself and seriously try to answer these hard questions: Why are Zimbabweans becoming bolder in protesting? Why are ordinary citizens now wading into governance issues? Why is the Church, known for spearheading the spiritual, speaking actively for a better Zimbabwe? Are the policies they introduce people-friendly? Can something be done about corruption?
These questions and many others that have been raised by the suffering public need to be looked into. The government ought to understand that the citizenry is not being unpatriotic in asking for a shift in economic fortunes.
People have a right to ask a government they elected into power to deliver on promises. It is time the government stopped seeing things in black and white. This has nothing to do with politics.
All the subsequent mayhem that is fast becoming normal is a clear telltale sign that something is wrong just like when the body starts exhibiting certain symptoms.
It is a way of telling that something needs attention. Ignoring an eye that is swelling is self-defeating and so is ignoring a broken leg.
Government must accept the reality of Zimbabwe’s circumstances. There is more to ruling than power. People need jobs and food. People deserve to be dignified as enshrined in the Constitution.
This is a call to government to, for a moment, put aside the politics and look at these telltale signs. Zimbabwe has to rise from the sickening grip of poverty now.
Learnmore Zuze writes in his own capacity. E-mail: [email protected]
