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Why Zanu PF should be booted out in 2008 poll
Job Sibanda, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
February 10, 2008

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=21&id=8308&siteid=1

The 2008 harmonised presidential, parliarmentary, senatorial and local government elections will be held against a backdrop of a terrible and worsening situation economically, socially and politically. The elections come at a time when Zimbabwes inflation is inching inexorably towards the 30 000 % per annum rate.

That this is a record in a country not at war is now common cause.The elections come at a time when shortages of everything and anything you can think of are the order of the day. They come at a time when the population exhibits surprise at finding any type of commodity available in shops than exhibit such surprise at not finding such commodities. Food, medication, raw materials for industries, water, and money are commodities that citizens of other countries take for granted, and rightly so. Not in Zimbabwe!

These shortages are unprecedented, and instead of abating, are getting worse with each day that passes. The result of this is that all negative traits associated with a State in decay — dishonesty, despair, despondency, disease and corruption — have permeated all facets of life in Zimbabwe today.

Both the urban population and our rural folk have suffered the brunt of these negative traits. Corruption, the worst of the lot, has become a way of life for a significant proportion of our population. Like cancer, it has spread its unwelcome and unwholesome tentacles to virtually every facet of our lives. Like the talons of an eagle with a meal in its grasp meal, it will not let go. Everybody knows somebody somewhere who has engaged in a corrupt act. For a country like ours, this is sad, if not tragic. It should not be so.

Zimbabwe is endowed with enormous wealth both in terms of the minerals underneath its soils and more importantly its human resources who walk and work on its soils. Anywhere else in the world, with such resources, Zimbabwe would be a shining star. Zimbabwe almost became a star in the not too distant past. Sadly, it never got to shine as brightly as it could have, or rather should have, because before that flickering star attained its full glow, the embers within it were doused. The opportunity to rise and shine among other nations was thus lost. It should not have been so.

On the social front, a quarter of our population, in order to escape these man-made and preventable problems at home, have sought solace and face in neighbouring countries, Europe, Australia, America and Canada.

They are now economic refugees. They use all sorts of tricks, guile, deception and chicanery to escape free Zimbabwe. What a shame! Once there, some engage in crime to keep body and soul together. Others do menial jobs shunned by the locals. This despite the fact that some of our exports are highly qualified professionals. Yet others, both men and women, people who left promising careers and professions, engage in the oldest profession known to man, in foreign lands. It should not have been so.

Many adult people in the diaspora left the motherland with heavy hearts because they left behind spouses and beloved offspring. Some of these spouses and children, despite effort, have failed to join those who left. Others still, perhaps because of distance, and time, have found comfort in the arms of locals, or other diasporans in similar situations to their own. Many divorces have ensued. A significant number of a whole generation of children therefore have been forced to live under the care and guidance of a single parent. Sociologists are better placed to tell us whether this is a positive development for the country or not. It is submitted, respectfully, that that this new phenomenon of a significant number of children growing up without both parents will spew previously unheard of social problems in the not too distant future. We wait and see. It should never have been so.

Some spouses and partners of those who left have themselves been forced into the arms of new partners. The result is that the AIDS scourge will continue in its destructive path, mauling and felling a substantial number of our people. It is sad, and real. It was never meant to be so.

Educational costs for our children at primary and secondary schools, and also tertiary colleges are prohibitive. Education should be a right of every child, not a privilege of the monied. Many children have been forced to abandon studies because of such prohibitive costs. All the positive gains of our early independence in education will dissipate faster than the time it will take to read this article to the end, if nothing is done about this. This can not be what it was meant to be.

Many factories have closed. Many others down-sized their workforce. Thousands of workers lost their livelihoods. A man who loses his livelihood first, loses his decency next. That is what our workers who lost their jobs have been reduced to—they have been robbed, through no fault of their own, of their decency. A man without decency is a dangerous man, both to himself and to society. Such man is easy to manipulate. On the promise of a meal, or a free T-shirt, or a few dollars, he will toyi-toyi for hours on end, to no particular end. The leadership of the country is guilty of manipulating some of our brothers and sisters on the pretext that they care for them. Politics, especially the quest for leadership, was never meant to be so mean and cruel.

People are in despair. Everyone in the street wears a long face. Men and women are despondent. Stress levels are high, which makes it easier for disease to set in. Life was meant to be lived and enjoyed in many different ways. In Zimbabwe today, life expectancy has shrunk to 37 for men and less for women. No, it was never meant to be this way.

On the political front, we are isolated. We are without any genuine friends regionally, continentally and internationally. Our neighbours are tired of our apparently never-ending problems. They just but tolerate us. We have become the laughing stock and the butt of crude jokes. We are humiliated for no other reason than that we are Zimbabwean. Suddenly it is a curse to be Zimbabwean. Again I say, it was never meant to be so.

Our State President can not address the United Nations without our Minister of Information crying sabotage, because the Presidents address was muffled and nobody heard him. A few short years ago, everybody would have been eager to listen to the President. The same President causes consternation among a section of other Heads of State, for merely receiving an invitation to attend a summit of global heads of States and governments. That same President can not visit certain capitals of the wold. We know he says he does not care, but can anyone say with a straight face that it was meant to be so?

ZANU PF, with Robert Mugabe at the helm, are responsible for the mess we find ourselves in. We have been used and abused by them for far too long. They have taken us for granted for such a long time that we now need to say to them at the forthcoming polls: "Adios amigos. Thanks for nothing over the last seven years." But, truly speaking, Bob and Co. are heroes of the liberation struggle. Heroes should not overstay their welcome. They should know when to let go or risk humiliation. That time to let go, for Bob and Co., is now. A nation should not have to reject its founding fathers through a plebiscite, but it shall be done. However,it was never meant to be so.

Victory over ZANU PF at the forthcoming polls is not only achievable, but a certainty. ZANU PF created this cesspool of horse dung we are in. There is no way they can pull us out. They have no capacity to do so. That is why you find inertia and paralysis on their part in finding solutions to the myriad of problems facing this great nation. To be victorious over ZANU PF needs co-ordinated and concerted effort. They have been in power 28 years now and have perfected the art of survival. Every registered voter needs to go out and cast their ballot. ZANU PF thrives in a situation where there is voter apathy. All patriotic people, everybody and anybody who loves this country and wants to see it attain its glory of the past, needs to go out there and vote. The country needs your help. You can give that help by voting.. Its time to get moving.

*Job Sibanda is a lawyer at Job Sibanda and Associates law firm.

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