I AM an innocuous citizen of the Republic of Zimbabwe. I know too that most Zimbabweans are not only harmless, but also peace-loving people. We are not bellicose. We do what we do because bad governance is a cause of great distress and annoyance to us and our families.
guest column: MUTSA MURENJE
We continue living under a struggle to meet the basic necessities of life. Zimbabwe has rich and diverse resources, but our poverty remains. It is a fact of life that oppressed people cannot watch helplessly as their country goes to the dogs. Responsible people arrest a bad situation and inaugurate the necessary changes that will benefit present and future generations. This is what we are doing. This is what we are known for. We have always fought for what we believe in. We want the change that we can believe in. Our involvement in the struggle for change and a better life for all Zimbabweans is a right that should be respected by both society and the State. A normal government should be worried about the social welfare and individual well-being of its citizens.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has decided to introduce bond notes to incentivise exporters and address the crippling cash shortages in the country. Although this is a noble idea, nothing much has been done to allay people’s fears. I happen to have been to a number of countries, some with stable economies, while others experienced economic instability. However, none of the unstable economies I have witnessed would compare to what Zimbabwe went through in the recent past and is going through at present. We have had the hyperinflationary pressures of 2007/8 and we have also had acute shortages of basic commodities. In fact, what happened in 2007/8 had been building up over the years.
President Robert Mugabe’s government intentionally ran down our country through actions and policies that keep haunting us. We are haunted by deep economic and political problems. Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe was, thus, described as the worst for a country not at war. And, we keep breaking records that countries at war have not broken.
For instance, Andrew Meldrum wrote in 2007 that Zimbabwe’s exodus was extraordinary for a country not at war. I am afraid, the exodus remains and yet we are not at war. What then will happen when there is war in Zimbabwe? There just won’t be any country to talk about. Our country will become the real Zimbabwe ruins. Efforts to redirect our country’s trajectory are always frustrated by a regime that is clueless and intolerant when it comes to restoring sanity to our defiled polity. We need to curtail these excesses. It is our right to do that.
It’s true that paying salaries has been an uphill task for the government. It’s equally true that the United States dollar that had become our de facto national currency is in short supply. A lot of things have gone wrong in our country. It isn’t so much the shortage of the dollar that we should be worried about. If anything, it is the intransigent and intolerant nature of the Zimbabwean regime that we ought to address, in fact, curtail. This is the bane that compels us to do what we do, fighting for our fundamental freedoms.
Both domestic and international investment are a prerequisite for the health of our nation. Instead of restoring confidence, we keep driving it away. For the record, I am always in touch with Zimbabweans at home and abroad. Those abroad believe that there is nothing to return to in Zimbabwe. They are working hard to support their families and feel that they can live in dignity wherever they are. This (dignity) is a basic right that is enshrined in our Constitution though its flagrant violation makes one wonder if indeed we have a Constitution. Conversely, those in Zimbabwe are always looking for any port in the current storm. Zimbabweans are a desperate lot and it’s all because we have no government, a caring government that is.
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I was visiting Lusaka in 2008 when I heard some gossip that was spreading. Driven by poverty and finding themselves in Zambia’s capital, Zimbabwean marginalised and impoverished women resorted to prostitution. A brawl allegedly broke out involving Zimbabwean women and Zambian sex workers. Our sisters (they could be mothers as well) charged far less than the local women. Naturally, any frugal and austere man would opt for a cheaper service. This reportedly happened, thereby resulting in the fight earlier mentioned. This is the legacy that Mugabe intends to leave behind as his time on earth is drawing to the end.
In South Africa, I couldn’t believe it when I first heard about Zimbabwean women engaging in sex work. Some are married at home and others might have had marital difficulties too before leaving Zimbabwe. At one time, I visited a garage close to a certain hotel in my vicinity. The hotel concerned is flooded by Zimbabwean women of all ages. You would not miss them. They spoke the Shona language fluently. I once overheard a Shona-speaking woman engaging in prostitution talking to someone who seemed to have been her husband or partner. The man on the other end of the phone had left home and now wanted to return. The woman held the keys to his return. He had to be forgiven for some wrongdoing. What was known to me and might have been unbeknown to the man was his partner (or wife) had resorted to some kind of money-making business. My suspicion was and still is, most men may not be aware of the kind of work their partners in the Diaspora are engaging in. As I see it, sex work seems to have become the only viable option that they have been given by our government, their government. The current Zimbabwean government lacks a connection with real people and real life. We don’t deserve it.
It is quite obvious that most men will not consider prostitution as a viable source of income. They would rather engage in some risky activities to make ends meet. Crime that we would scowl upon at home might have become second nature to some of our citizens. Raised by good parents and in decent societies, but living on the margins of society in their host countries, most Zimbabwean men have resorted to illicit activities. They murder, rape and rob people using dangerous weapons.
A few years ago at the famous Park Station in Johannesburg, I decided to have a plate of sadza and beef just outside the station before leaving for Zimbabwe. Unknown males approached me wanting to “help me carry my laptop bag”. Sensing danger, I aborted leaving Park Station and decided to buy food from inside there and eat while I waited for my departure. I can swear under oath that the males were Zimbabwean. There is a lot of work to do in the event that Zimbabwe becomes normal again. The return of so many people, who have experienced life in different contexts, is going to create problems of behemothic proportions.
For now, we might not be interested in the future, but this is what I keep thinking about. Mugabe and his minions are living in the past. We are living in the present with our gaze constantly on the future. What future will we have? What will it be like for our children and their own children? Will they be proud of us? I am afraid, we aren’t doing enough to curtail the excesses of this intolerant regime and yet this should be our business, every one of us.
May God help Zimbabwe! The struggle continues unabated!
Mutsa Murenje is a social activist
