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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

The road ahead

Opinion & Analysis
Last Friday marked the end of a tumultuous two weeks of political uncertainty. Emmerson Mnangagwa is now the President of the country after Robert Mugabe stepped down, bringing an end to 37 years in power.

Last Friday marked the end of a tumultuous two weeks of political uncertainty. Emmerson Mnangagwa is now the President of the country after Robert Mugabe stepped down, bringing an end to 37 years in power.

By Tapiwa Gomo

Of those 37 years, his administration stole two decades of our lives — from 1997 when the Zimbabwe dollar plunged marking the beginning of the economic collapse to 2017 when he got the boot from the gun. When Mugabe took over in 1980, Zimbabwe had a currency stronger than the US dollar but he left it without a currency.

Agriculture was the mainstay of our economy and none is functioning as he says his byes. It was no surprise that Mugabe’s departure sparked jubilant celebrations in different parts of the country.

Nonetheless, change happened, but Zanu PF remains in power and may be much stronger than it was two weeks ago.

The Movement for Democratic Change is still in opposition and selling the change agenda and asking for reforms. It may be a matter of time before Zanu PF lays its hands on MDC narratives and render them politically irrelevant. It may be time for them to change or be changed.

The inauguration of Mnangagwa was a major game changer in our politics and there is already a noticeable swing of opinion in the way some are now viewing Zanu PF vis-a-vis the opposition.

His speech has been well received across the divide both nationally and internationally, albeit cautiously as there is a difference between what is said and what is meant.

The speech somewhat reads like Morgan Tsvangirai’s from 2000 to 2013 and that leaves the opposition leader with the challenge of creating new narratives ahead of elections next year.

Yes, indeed, things change and very fast and Kasukuwere has abandoned his law degree due to political violence. Unthinkable! Even when the euphoria is still gripping the nation, there are some few spoilers spewing unnecessary, uncalled for and uncouth hate speech against those who hold views contrary to theirs.

While I am not an academic careerist, it is deeply saddening that people are being attacked for simply expressing a different view.

Academics such as Alex Magaisa was very instrumental with his constitutional analysis as events unfolded. While this change has come through unorthodox means, there is an expectation to see the growth of democracy, people enjoying their freedom of expression unrestrained and the media and those in the industry must uphold and protect that principle.

Enough about spoilers. In his inauguration speech, President Mnangagwa acknowledged that the road ahead is not going to be easy. He inherits a country whose economy needs critical surgery, a government weakened by lack of resources and attention, a very corrupt elite, and a politically polarised nation and a party that just survived its demise by a whisker.

These combined have resulted in a serious confidence deficit which has scared investment and drained the country of liquidity and lifelines. Addressing these issues is not a mission impossible but requires time and patience and he can only hope that elections next year will not disrupt the implementation of his ideas.

The levels of poverty in Zimbabwe are both confusing and embarrassing because nothing adds up. Our country is replete with unimaginable contradictions. Zimbabwe is endowed with plenty of resources and opportunities and yet its people are very poor and its industry is not working.

We have plenty of minerals and yet the country has no money, including its own currency. We are blessed with fertile land and fairly good rains and yet millions of people go hungry every year.

We have the highest literacy rate and skilled labour in Africa and yet our unemployment rates are way above 80%.

Our country is situated at the centre of the Southern Africa region which should enable us to make earnings from cross border road transportation, but our roads and how they are policed is among the worst in the region.

Instead of pandering nice-sounding and politically correct statements such as economic recovery, job creation for youth and reducing poverty, access to cash — priority should be to get rid of the rot and bad attitude and breathe new life into the system called government.

This will rescue the confidence required for both national and foreign investment and ensure protection of property rights and respect for the law.

It may not be the time to start looking into who has done what but it is vital to look at what went wrong.

Of course bad policies, politics and programmes cannot be exonerated but one of our biggest undoing over the last two decades was that corruption helped to transfer money from government institutions to individuals, creating an untouchable political elite.

This is why today, individuals can flaunt expensive shoes on social media, when a power utility they purport to service cannot afford to buy new equipment to serve the nation.

It is our hope that the new President will stick to his word that “acts of corruption must stop forthwith” and that should start with those within the system.