Zimbabwe celebrates independence amid doom
WHEN visiting some towns, urban and rural areas across the country one is greeted by sullen and dropping faces with sorrow and hunger written all over their faces.
In a few days to come Zimbabwe will be celebrating 44 years of independence from the colonial rule and we have noticed a lot during the past years.
Life has become so difficult for most of the people and all hope has been lost.
The communal rural folks still leave under US$2 per day. With no running water and they fetch their water to drink from untreated water source about 2km away.
People thought life would change for the better, but the ruling party later lost its mandate to serve the people and it was all about entitlement.
Many people got displaced through Operation Murambatsvina where many structures were destroyed and a lot of people were affected and left with nowhere to live.
The government of the day failed to find alternative accommodation for the displaced and ended up dumping them at Caledonia Farm on the outskirts of Harare with no running water and ablution systems.
A lot of people lost their jobs and those with chronic diseases died because they could not access health care services until NGOs jumped in to help.
For four and half decades Zimbabwe, which boasts of having a strong democracy only saw two Presidents in their lifetime.
A once bread basket of Africa, Zimbabwe has nowbecome a case of Africa moving around with a begging bowl.
The country has lost many golden opportunities and failed to maintain the status quo.
By now the country could have been a hub of agriculture, industry and a thriving transport system.
On currency the country used to have a powerful currency as production and exports were at full throttle.
One can reminisce about the times of Reserve Bank governor James Kombo Moyana when we had a very stable currency without any multiple currencies in circulation.
Today 44 years of misrule, abuse and kleptocracy, we have reduced this super rich country's official currency to that of a banana republic. Thanks to Zanu PF' s kakistocracy type of governance.
The country is well geographically located on the continent and has one of the best weather patterns with a lot of tourists attraction places, but all these.
Some argue that the land reform was not well planned, but it was the greatest move to settle the economic imbalances between the blacks and the whites. I feel we should not have completely removed the white farmers but gradually learn from them with some replacements.
The ruling party because of comradeship dismally failed to clip the wings of its errant members, who were caught in the webs of corruption.
No serious measures were put to arrest law breakers who were friends and relatives of the ruling party's bosses.
In most cases they were let off the hook.
This did not build trust of the government. The government failed to fight corruption regardless of one's political affialition.
On health sector the government started very well by building clinics and hospitals in provincial centres but later abandoned the idea.
Those in existence were left without drugs and today the ruling party is still struggling to secure drugs for the remaining hospitals and clinics.
People are dying from curable diseases. Radio therapy machines in our hospitals are still scarce in the country forty- four years into independence.
Government could have made sure that hospitals are well equipped rather than looting precious minerals like what we have noticed in Chiadzwa.
Ironically when the leadership get ill they fly out to seek medical attention in countries like Malaysia or South Africa.
Zimbabwe is rich in minerals like gold, diamond and platinum just to mention a few, but these minerals are being looted like never before without anything to show off from the areas they are being mined.
We could have made better money over the years by selling such minerals and ivory transparently.
Today we have seen the ruling party sliding deep into a fatigue with nothing to admire and write home about.
As a result the country has been slowly descending into a virtual one-party state presided over by a tired Zanu PF government.
The worst government ever since 1980, afflicted by corruption and the crudest patronage.
Four decades into independence the country is still struggling to absorb the shock of economic downturns.
The economy has been shrinking with no any signs of recovery.
Since the attainment of independence Zanu PF government has presided over monumental failures.
The country was floating and working compliments of the Rhodesia bequeathed economy then our comrades found vaults full of gold and were spending liberally in their pomposity. Will Zimbabwe bounce back under this current regime? Only time shall tell. Leonard Koni