Many think our weather is the best in the world.
In addition to this, we have the most fantastic people.
I often say if you were to use the quality of our people as a criteria for making this country your home, then this would be the place to live.
And on top of that we have more natural resources per capita that almost any other country in the world.
More basic metals and minerals, more land available for agriculture with water to make it productive.
I remember an Israeli expert visiting Zimbabwe and saying during a serious drought, “this is an agricultural paradise”.
So why are we in such a mess?
Despite a rebasing of our GDP to nearly US$50 billion, we are still poorer than we were in 1980.
Life expectancy is also shorter than it was in 1980, educational standards are appalling, kids leaving school after up to 10 years in school being unable to read or be numerate.
Why can we still not feed our people?
Why do we employ in the formal sector fewer adults than we did 45 years ago?
How have we become a country of millionaires and even billionaires when the great majority of our population lives in abject poverty.
How have we become one of the most unequal societies in the world, where individuals can drive some of the most expensive cars manufactured today?
Just look at our cities where large urban settlements resemble Hollywood while we have millions without decent housing with clean water.
How have we destroyed a national infrastructure which has created roads we cannot drive safely, water systems that have completely failed to meet even basic needs, a railway system that no longer functions in any real sense.
A national airline that once boasted it never had an accident that no longer flies regularly.
Hospitals that do not have the materials to keep them clean and operating theatres sterile.
How have we completely destroyed confidence in our banks and in our own currency – once the strongest in Africa.
In 2008 we were a failed State, highest death rate in the world for children under 5, the highest death rate for women in childbirth?
What has happened?
Its all about leadership.
Since 2017 this country has seen enormous changes which are not adequately recognised internationally.
We are now a more open society, elections under Mr Mugabe were a form of democratic warfare.
There was no media freedom, his government eventually forced regional states to insist on a GNU to stop the rush towards a total collapse.
Some discipline has been restored to our budget and some stability restored to our money market even though we are still dollarized.
But its not enough.
China in 1980 was poorer than Zimbabwe, lower income per capita, lower life expectancy, millions suffered from hunger.
It was politically isolated and had just seen the end of authoritarian socialist Government installed after the Second World War.
The simple adoption of the three principles followed by the Chinese dominated Government of Singapore – meritocracy, pragmatism and integrity, and this giant of a country, without aid of any kind, has grown faster than any other country in history, its GDP per capita is now ten times that of Zimbabwe, abject poverty has been eliminated.
China now has the second largest economy in the world and is still growing three time faster than any Western State.
Ethiopia, once a picture book study of hunger and starving children, the subject of massive humanitarian aid.
Fighting a war with itself and its neighbors that it could never win, is now stable, its economy growing faster than any other in the world and is a major exporter to Europe and to the northern States in Africa.
New leadership has applied the same simple rules followed by other countries who have succeeded in recent history.
Its not complicated, remember Deng – “it does not matter what the color of the cat is, does it catch mice? ”Zimbabwe is a rich country, made poor by lousy government.
Lets face it, the opposition has controlled the cities since 2000 and also done a very poor job.
Local Government is more important than central government in the delivery of basic services and quality of life.
Central government has similarly failed, corruption is endemic, smuggling out of control, decision making at every level is conflicted by vested interests.
Shrinkage in revenue streams funding the State is crippling services.
Government employment is inflated and civil servants underpaid, migration continues and strips the country of skills and experience, we now have a third of our population living and working abroad.
Our diaspora probably earns more in salaries and income than our national GDP.
Without their help and support we would be in dire straits.
But what is true here is that a group of oligarchs (very wealthy and influential individuals) now have a disproportionate role in our national affairs.
In South Africa we had the incidents involving the Guptas who were able, using the Office of the President, to exercise control over Central Government while milking the State to their advantage.
It was termed “State Capture”.
A similar situation is emerging in the USA.
Here the process has been less public but is still the subject of debate in every coffee shop.
In an extraordinary turnaround this has turned the liberation struggle upside down and produced a society which is more unequal and even unjust than it was in the era of apartheid.
In Zimbabwe the social ideals of our struggle for independence and majority rule have now been completely sabotaged.
Inequality rules and those with more money than sense have a disproportionate share in influence in what goes on.
Tenders are awarded to individuals with no ability to perform the service required.
Cash payments are made without any justification or oversight.
People with no evidence of productive activity, no employment creation and no signs of enterprise, live like kings.
We are major gold producers and 80 per cent of the income is externalized.
We are major producers of chrome, lithium and other critical minerals – all of which are being exported and under invoiced.
Major contracts are issued without proper procedures and are overpriced costing the country sometimes three times what they should.
Some are not even delivered.
Its nearly complete chaos and yet virtually nothing is done to correct matters.
In South Africa a investigation into State Capture led to the publication of a report on crime and corruption on a massive scale without a single prosecution.
Here allegations are not even investigated.
Cry our beloved country, this beautiful land populated by a gentle special people with great potential.
What’s missing is real leadership but for sure, spring is coming.
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Those of us who grew up in Zimbabwe, especially those of us who know our bushveld, love the winter months.
Post published in:FeaturedRelatedViolent entertainment is a catalyst, not a convenient scapegoat – A reply to Kumbirai Thierry NhamoTendai Ruben Mbofana is Confusing a Mirror For a Weapon
Eddie CrossThe air is dry, the dawn red with the dust and smoke in the atmosphere, its cold with frost on the ground and the veld is dry but redundant with color.
Post published in:Featured
The air is dry, the dawn red with the dust and smoke in the atmosphere, its cold with frost on the ground and the veld is dry but redundant with color.
Its not complicated, remember Deng – “it does not matter what the color of the cat is, does it catch mice? ”. 🔗 Read Full Article
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