MANY Zimbabweans believe the country has regressed on various fronts since the 2017 military coup as citizens continue to encounter challenges ranging from human rights violations, corruption, economic meltdown and social services demise, among other ills.
Today marks exactly six years after President Emmerson Mnangagwa orchestrated a military-assisted coup on the late former President Robert Mugabe.
The operation, termed Operation Restore Legacy and spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, was said to be aimed at removing criminals around the late Mugabe, but ironically ended up deposing the former head of State.
Mnangagwa promised a new governance culture free from corruption, human rights violations, among other wrongs which were rampant during his predecessor’s reign.
Citizens Coalition for Change deputy spokesperson Gift Sibiza said: “The November 2007 coup has established nothing, with the majority of the population still languishing in poverty.
“Six years after an intervention that sought to change the lives of ordinary people, 97% of our people live in extreme poverty, unemployment and hunger.
“Nothing has changed! We need real and meaningful change,” he said.
Political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said the “state of national fear” and “national poverty” were worse than they were under the Mugabe era.
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“Zimbabwe still experiences severe power shortages. Thousands of young people are still streaming out of the country in pursuit of greener pastures. Our main currency of use is still the US$, worsening consumer prices. Urban and rural roads are still riddled with potholes as clinics suffer from severe medicine shortages,” Ngwenya said.
“Hundreds of corrupt crony capitalists keep siphoning millions of dollars worth of minerals without prosecution as thousands of opposition political party members are either arrested, intimidated, abducted or even killed. Election results are still disputed with scores of opposition MPs being unfairly recalled.”
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition spokesperson Obert Masaraure said Mnangagwa’s leadership was characterised by massive corruption, entrenched dictatorship, economic crises and collapse of social services.
“The legacy of Emmerson Mnangagwa is the reversal of all the gains of the liberation struggle. The legacy of Mnangagwa is a legacy of stinking corruption and serious economic mismanagement.
“State institutions have been subordinated to the ruling Zanu PF party and the party itself has been reduced to a personal project for the Mnangagwa family,” he said.
Masaraure added: “Our Zimbabwe has been robbed from us by Mnangagwa. Our assets were stripped and placed under some Mutapa Investment (Fund) where Mnangagwa will now parcel them out to his cronies.
“Once revered State security arms have been turned into rogue outfits abducting citizens in broad daylight. Our Judiciary has been paralysed through gifts and coercion. 2017 was definitely a turn in the wrong direction.”
