Crisis looming in Zim ahead of 2023 polls
THE once prosperous Zimbabwean economy is now at its weakest point, with low investment, low exports and massive debts. Corruption is ripping the country apart with little effort to eradicate it.
A protest vote is likely to take centre stage in the 2023 elections. Most people’s hearts are bleeding over the injustices being meted out on the opposition and human rights activists.
The main opposition party has started mobilising for the 2023 election and it looks like there shall be no dialogue between Zanu PF and MDC Alliance.
The MDC Alliance is mobilising citizens for a grand convergence for change under the people’s agenda.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who declared himself as a listening President, promised the nation that freedom of speech would be guaranteed in the new dispensation, but three years down the line, his administration is considering introducing the Patriotic Bill which is an attempt at silencing critics.
The repealed draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act is being smuggled back under the guise of legalising patriotism.
Opposition activists are still being treated as enemies of the State and are subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture, harassment and are incarcerated left, right and centre for being the voice of the voiceless.
Everyday, the sun does not go down without hearing the abuse or arrest of an opposition figure.
On Wednesday, people woke up to the breaking news that MDC Alliance activist Makomborero Haruziviishe had been convicted on a charge of inciting violence, while the abductors of Tendai Muchehiwa, who are known and were captured on camera, but no arrests have been made. Haruziviishe will be sentenced tomorrow.
This has riled members of the main opposition party who are angry over government’s selective application of the law and gross abuse of human rights.
This selective application of the law has become the hallmark of Mnangagwa’s government.
Leonard Zhakata’s song Mubikira which aptly describes the vindictiveness of this government lot and touches heavily on selective application of the law, sums it all up nicely.
All this points to a failed State which channels resources towards wrong things and waste taxpayers’ money hunting down political activists who are only asking for good governance.
The government’s continued ill-treatment of members of the opposition and deliberately ignoring cases of top government officials who were caught redhanded abusing COVID-19 funds and smuggling gold is a cause for concern.
It is not a surprise that Zimbabwe is now ranked 157th out of 180 countries on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
While economic growth has stalled, the government must focus on rebuilding the torn country which was labelled the jewel of Africa at independence in 1980.