ZIMBABWE HAS THE HIGHEST INFLATION RATE BUT ALSO THE MOST STRESED PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE WORLD!

2008 has been the most stressful year of my whole life, by a long mile! I have had some stressful times in my life; exams, waiting for results, time when I was unemployed, times when family member was sick. But 2008 has topped all these other times.

What have made 2008 such a stressful year for me are all the worrying and the hardships. The economic hardships of whether or not one can afford something as basic as loaf of bread and then the energy supping hunt for it. Then there was the worrying brought about by the tight-rope act the whole nation was forced to perform.

Zimbabwe elections have always been a tense and highly charged affair; in which the public, particularly the rural people, are treated like sheep at a show; driven hither and thither. This year the whip, whistle and the sheep dog were there as in the past but so too were the electric shock sticks and guns with life ammunitions.

All my past stress problem were like the 3 to 5 minutes songs; the 2008 problems have been like one of those Bakumba (traditional beer garden) songs that will go on and on and on all day and all night. The economic hardships and political problems were there beginning of the year and there still there now only worse; a lot worse.

The problems themselves are the worst anyone has ever dealt with; inflation of 11 million percent, a monthly salary that is not enough to buy one loaf of bread, etc. The sheer enormity of the problem is depressing. The length of time one has had to deal with these problems; it now eight years since Zimbabwe’s economic melt down started following the commercial farm invasions. And to crown it all; the sheer hopelessness of the whole situation.

What exactly is this Mugabe – Tsvangirai deal supposed to achieve? Why are we entrusting the nation’s future to ruthless and brutal dictator who brought the nation to ruin in the first place? The deal was to appease Mugabe, something the nation has done for three decades and has paid a heavy price for it. But it seems, some people never learn! After all the country has gone through; was it too much to ask for leaders who have some common sense! Really was that too much to ask?

Is it any wander that life expectancy in Zimbabwe is one of the lowest in the world; the stress is killing our people!