“DOCTORS at government hospitals have denied claims by the Health ministry that they had received supplies of medicines, bandages and critical accessories to alleviate their plight, following last week's protests,” reported Newsday.
“A team of senior doctors visited National Pharmaceuticals (NatPham) at the invitation of Health minister Obadiah Moyo, to see the supplies and reportedly came back dejected.
"The minister told us that there were stocks at NatPharm. He told us to send representatives to go and see on our behalf and when they went there, all they found were a few samples," a doctor, who refused to be named, said.
"People were discussing on whether to hold a Press conference or to wait for two weeks and give the government a chance to act. Eventually we agreed to wait and see if concrete action will be taken.”
The first question one would ask is do these doctors really believe that government will source and deliver to drugs, accessories and repair/ replace all the equipment in two weeks? If government could do that then why it done nothing until now!
The doctors are giving government two weeks not because they expect government to perform miracles but this is part and parcel of their modus operandi, kicking the can down the road. The situation at the hospitals have reached this sorry state of affairs where a referral hospital like Parirenyatwa has no painkiller, no bandages, etc. The situation is infinitely worse at provincial and district hospitals; they should have just shut their doors years ago. Of course, the doctors have been aware of the rot and decay in the health service but have done nothing about it all these years. Nothing!
The rot and decay is everywhere, in education, NRZ, ZESA, transport, judiciary, everywhere. So it is not just the doctors and nurses who love kicking the can down the road, everyone else does. Doing nothing to stop the rot in the country is a favourite obsession of Zimbabwean right across the board.
The doctors have finally been forced to act and demand that the governments buys the supplies because there was nothing left at the hospitals. The doctors acted because they had kicked the can down the road and had finally ran out of road!
It is a great tragedy that Zimbabweans have allowed Zanu PF to destroy the country’s economy, health and education services, to corrupt the country Police, ZEC and other state institutions, etc. Even now, with the millions of people living in abject poverty and hundreds if not thousands dying every month of hunger and easily preventable diseases there are Zimbabweans bending over backwards to let Mnangagwa and his junta regime do as they please rather than hold the regime to democratic account.
Zimbabwe’s health services has all but completely collapsed because of 38 years of bad governance. For 38 years we have pretended not to notice that Zanu PF leaders were incompetent and corrupt and only remained in power because they rigged the elections and brute force to impose themselves on the nation.
For the last 38 years we have done nothing to stop the vote rigging and thus end Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule. For 38 years we have kicked the can down the road and now we are being forced to act because the economic, social and political situation is now so bad it is and unsustainable and unbearable!
Now that we have worked ourselves into a tight corner, after 38 years of dithering and kicking the can down the road, we must now act, do or die. Here is what doctors, nurses, teachers, engineer, rural peasant, every Zimbabwean out there must do: demand that Mnangagwa and his junta step down.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged last year’s elections just as the regime has done in the past. How can the elections be judge free, fair and credible when 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, there was no verified voters’ roll, vote count from many polling stations were never released, etc.
Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past and was allowed to stay in power only for the party to rig the next elections. The only sure way to break this vicious cycle is to force Zanu PF to step down. If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 then we can be 100% certain the party will rig that year’s elections too!
Besides, we need Zanu PF to step down now to allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
If we are serious about reviving our collapse health and education service, bringing back to life the country’s commerce and industry and productive farms and to restore the individual freedoms and rights of all our people then we must first restore good governance. We must restore the democratic values necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you,” said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. He was right.
For the last 38 years Zimbabweans have allowed Zanu PF to denying them a meaningful say in the governance of the country including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life; confident the party will grant them a fair share of the nation’s economic wealth. The penny has finally dropped!
5 comments:
There are fears of an outbreak of cholera and other diseases as refuse goes uncollected due to lack of fuel, collection vehicles, etc.
Zimbabwe's economic decline started soon after independence in 1980 and has continued to this day. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no end to our economic suffering and political oppression.
"Seek ye first the political kingdom and the rest will be added unto you," said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first president of Ghana. After 38 years of trying to Dr Nkrumah wrong by expecting peace, justice and economic prosperity from the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime; we clearly have not learned the lesson yet!
The first batch of students from St Charles Lwanga Boys High School in Chimanimani, who for the past three days have been stuck at their school with dead bodies of two fellow students and a security guard have been safely taken to Chipinge where they are reportedly receiving medical attention, the Information ministry has revealed.
This was a natural disaster but no doubt made worse by the man-made disaster of poorly maintain roads and other infrastructure!
A healthy and functional democracy demands a wide awake electorate who will take the trouble to understand the key issues and hold those in power to account every step of the way. It is a great national tragedy that those with the advantage of a good education such as doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc. have all by and large done nothing to stop Zanu PF riding roughshod over the people and destroying the nation's economy. If the intelligentsia said nothing about Zanu PF's excesses what chance is there of the rural peasant, who is under the regime's heavy boot, say anything!
The intelligentsia are only now finding their voice because the economic situation is now so bad they are feeling the ill effects of the economic meltdown.
I agree the doctors will never get all they are asking for in two weeks, it is impossible to do so even if the government had the money to pay for it all. The doctors will let the regime off the hook if a fraction of their demands are met. They would like to have an excuse for kicking the can about even when they have run out of road!
It is going to take a hell lot more than the collapse economy and brutal political oppression to turn a sloth-like electorate into a wide-awake one!
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Zimbabwe Amalgamated Churches Council (Zacc) media liaison officer Davison Gomo said the meeting was the beginning of series of engagements with the former colonial master to have sanctions slapped on the country lifted.
"Some of the issues John Culley raised were the two significant events of August 1, 2018 and January 2019. He said the events made it extremely difficult for Britain to relent on sanctions on Zimbabwe," Gomo said.
Muduvuri, the Zacc patron, said he was hopeful the sanctions would be removed and challenged the British government to accept that the embargoes were hurting the unintended targets.
"These are Zimbabweans sanctions; they are not targeted. They hurt everyone. We are going to meet the Americans next week and will continue to push until the sanctions are removed. South Africa and some Sadc countries have supported our call for the removal of sanctions and we are sure they will be removed," Muduvuri said.
As long as people like Muduvuri refuse to say what is hurting the ordinary people more sanctions or corruptions this is just a foolish discourse. They do not want to answer that because we all know that with the country losing $15 billion in lost diamond revenue alone every three of four years corruption is by far the bigger problem.
People like Muduvuri will never take on the Zanu PF regime over corruption, vote rigging and even the beating, rape and murder of innocent civilians. They are the regime’s apologists seeking favours from the regime under the pretext of fighting for the common people! Zimbabwe has the great misfortune of have many Muduvuri people, man and woman of no substance who are given to wasting time!
The report, which was published under the US department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour unit, forages into President Donald Trump's extension of sanctions on Zimbabwe earlier this month.
According to the report, President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration last year dismally failed to deal with corruption and lacked transparency in accounting for the country's resources.
"Police frequently arrested citizens for low-level corruption while ignoring reports implicating high-level businesspersons and politicians", read the Zimbabwe Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2018.
The removal of Mugabe as president and replacing him with Mnangagwa has not change Zanu PF in any way. The party is still a party of corrupt and ruthless thugs. As long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the country will never register any meaningful economic recovery and know what it meanings to live in freedom.
The nation should focus all its time and energy on getting Zanu PF to step down and the sooner that happens the sooner the nation can get the reforms finally implement and then start on the recovery.
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