THE widening gulf between the political promises made ahead of Zimbabwe’s 2023 harmonised elections and the grim reality confronting ordinary citizens today is more than a case of unmet expectations — it is a damning indictment of our political culture.
It exposes a leadership class that campaigns with honeyed words, only to govern with indifference, opacity and alarming detachment from the daily struggles of the people it purports to serve.
Across the country, millions remain trapped in poverty, with many surviving on barely a dollar a day.
Formal employment has become a privilege for the few, while the majority hustle in an unforgiving informal sector that offers no security, no dignity and no upward mobility.
Yet not long ago, ahead of the 2023 plebiscite, political parties painted a picture so rosy it bordered on fantastical: booming industries, plentiful jobs, accessible healthcare, decent housing, affordable education and a renewed commitment to integrity and accountability.
Those promises now feel like cruel jokes played on a weary electorate.
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Today’s Zimbabwe is not only worse off than it was in 2023 — it has descended into deeper dysfunction, with citizens bearing the brunt of a failing governance system.
A recent report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights), titled Between Promise and Reality: A People’s Audit of Election Promises in Zimbabwe, sharply captures this widening chasm.
The report tracks progress — or more accurately, the lack thereof — in fulfilling the People’s Human Rights Manifesto, a document that all political parties signed ahead of the 2023 elections, committing themselves to uphold 10 key pillars including constitutional rights, access to essential services, improved livelihoods, justice, dignity, and the eradication of corruption.
What Zimbabweans have received instead is a steady erosion of those very rights and promises.
Communities are suffocating under the weight of collapsing service delivery systems.
Poor sanitation has become a public health hazard; sewage flows freely in many neighbourhoods; water shortages are chronic; and pothole-riddled roads have effectively cut off entire communities.
Schools remain overcrowded, under-resourced and ill-equipped to offer children any meaningful chance at quality education.
Housing remains insecure and unaffordable, pushing thousands into precarious living arrangements.
In livelihoods, the crisis is equally dire.
Unemployment remains staggeringly high, while the cost of living continues to soar beyond the reach of the average household.
The promise of economic transformation has been replaced by the daily grind of survival.
Perhaps most alarming is the persistence — and deepening — of corruption.
The ZimRights report notes that corruption and weak accountability remain major barriers to progress.
Citizens are left asking the same painful question: Are our leaders truly listening, or were their election-season promises merely tools of convenience?
Civic freedoms, too, are increasingly under threat.
The shrinking of democratic space has fostered fear, disillusionment and a growing sense of powerlessness.
Trust in elected leaders — already fragile — is evaporating.
This betrayal is not merely political; it is moral.
When leaders make commitments rooted in the hopes and struggles of the people and then abandon them, they undermine not just public confidence, but also the foundations of democracy itself.
And when citizens begin to feel that their voices no longer matter, the social contract collapses.
Zimbabwe is a nation of immense potential and resilient people.
But resilience alone cannot heal a broken political system.
It is time for leaders to confront the widening gap between rhetoric and reality — not with excuses, slogans or propaganda, but with tangible action, honest accountability and a genuine commitment to the welfare of the citizens they serve.
The people have spoken.
The question is whether their leaders are still listening.