“While I don’t want to
get into the issues around how and why there are sanctions, everyone knows that
I personally had to flee my country, Zimbabwe, because of persecution 20 years
ago,” said Strive Masiyiwa in a statement. “I have not been back since. For the
avoidance of doubt; This is not an appeal for the lifting of sanctions.”
Masiyiwa has launched an
appeal for help for Sudan and Zimbabwe to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The
two countries are facing economic sanctions imposed by the West, particularly the
USA and, to add insult to injury, they were singled out when other countries
had their debts written by IMF and the other multilateral organizations.
In 2016 the then
President Robert Mugabe admitted the country was “swindled of US$ 15 billion in
diamond revenue alone”! He never arrested even one swindler or recovered one dollar.
The following year,
2017, Patrick Chinamasa, then Minister of Finance confirm in parliament that
government was getting 1/6 of the expected diamond revenue. In other words the
looting was still taking place.
Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s
successor following the 2017 military coup, promised “zero tolerance to
corruption” and yet he too has yet to arrest one swindler and/or recover one dollar.
The Chinese helped
Mnangagwa rig the July 2018 elections and they were back in Zimbabwe soon
thereafter. Mugabe booted them out of Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields, the
only looters who had been singled out. They have since been back to pick up
from where they left off!
So, writing off Zimbabwe’s
US$ 8 billion debt would only have given the regime yet another source of money
to loot! We need a deeper understanding of our nation’s problems and a
wholistic solution!
Many Zimbabweans have avoid
talking about gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and, most important of
all, rigged elections and bad governance for the last 40 years. These problems
have not gone away but have instead grown and spread like the deadly cancers
they are. Today Zimbabwe’s once promising economy is in ruins, 34% of our
people live in extreme poverty, according to a recent WB report.
Our political system is
total dysfunctional because politics is now a dirty game so dirty only seasoned
thugs are playing it.
Many Zimbabweans left
the country and have played no role is helping find the solution to Zimbabwe’s
economic and political problems. The corona virus crisis is forcing millions of
Zimbabweans to go back to a country still ruled by the same corrupt,
incompetent and vote rigging thugs complete with the entourage of equally
corrupt and useless opposition sell-outs.
Zimbabweans must now
face the country’s teething problem of rigged elections and bad governance or
there will be heart-breaking gnashing of teeth and countless deaths as Zanu PF’s
blundering incompetence drag the nation deeper and deeper into the abyss. We
are masters of our own destiny and so far we have let clueless buffoon in
charge and it shows. How much longer are we going to let this madness continue?
“I don’t want to get into the issues around how and
why there are sanctions!” Why the hell not? If the country is ever going to get
out of this hell-on-earth then it is time we had a hard long look at ourselves
and have a no-hold-barred discussion of the nation’s problems!
4 comments:
Strive Masiyiwa is one of the few Zimbabweans who have prospered, he is a billionaire in his own right that is no mean achievement. Unlike many other Zimbabweans Masiyiwa has not forgotten his own people, he has extended a helping hand at every opportunity. Many Zimbabweans salute him for that, and rightly so too.
But when you have a country in which the economy has completely collapsed forcing unemployment to soar to dizzying heights of 90% and 34% of the population is now living in abject poverty; it is time to think outside the box. It is important to acknowledge that with so many reduced to beggars the charity of our billionaire and the international community is not going to rescue all these people. We know this is so because for the last 40 years the nation has received generous donation from every corner of the world and yet look where we are today!
The root cause of all Zimbabwe’s economic, social and political problems is known to us all – 40 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.
The corona virus pandemic has wrecked the economies and caused heart-breaking human suffering the world over. We know it is set to cause even more economic hardships and worse human suffering and deaths in Zimbabwe given the sorry state the country’s economy and health care services were in before the pandemic. What is more, the blundering incompetence with which this illegitimate Zanu PF regime, we all know they rigged the July 2018 elections, in managing the outbreak is only making the bad situation worse.
Yes of course, Masiyiwa’s generous donation to pay the country’s health workers a living wage and other assistance is greatly appreciated. Yes, the cancellation of Zimbabwe’s debt would help too. Still none of this will help Zimbabwe get out of the hell-on-earth Zanu PF has dragged us into and kept us there these last 40 years. What will get the nation out of this hell is breaking Zanu PF’s strangle hold on the nation.
Zimbabwe is captive to a corrupt and dysfunctional system of government, we need to move to a healthy and functional system of government based on the respect of every Zimbabwean’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, the right to free, fair and credible elections.
I would rather concentrate on the fight to restore good governance and get the nation out of this hell-hole than be distracted by matters to make our stay in the hole comfortable and make us forget the key task of getting out!
No one wants to confront the Zanu PF thugs but there comes a time when one must do it; for Zimbabwe this is that time. We are all called upon to move out of our comfort zones!
At the last World Bank, IMF and G20 meetings, many African countries secured debt relief by way of ‘standstills’ on interest payments, which are valued at over US$22bn.
More than half of that money has been disbursed already to countries in Africa, as it was sitting in debt service accounts.
@Nomazulu
Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs who do not give a damn about the human rights and the dignity of others. The thugs have cheated and used wanton violence to maintain their iron grip on power. One should not be surprise the regime would pick on the lady just to remind us all the thugs are the boss and we must all cow down in submission.
I am pleased to note that many of the UK returnees have refuse to the bow beaten into submission by opening speaking about the unhealthy conditions at Belvedere Teachers’ College where they were being kept in quarantine. The regime was putting all the returnees’ lives, those who criticised the regime and those who never criticised the regime, in danger of corona virus infection.
I am sure those Zanu PF thugs have been itching to lay their murderous hands on you, Nomazulu, for being such an outspoken critic of the regime all these years! Thank God you have never allowed the thugs to silence you!
The moral of the story is, Zanu PF is dragging us all to new depths of economic misery and despair - we can all go quietly like sheep to the slaughter or we can stand up and refused to be treated like dumb animals!
The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis is the bad governance.
After 40 years of providing an ambulance service at the bottom of the cliff and the situation get worse and worse year in year out we cannot afford to bury out heads and pretend the ambulance service is solving the problem. We need to ask the obvious question: why is a country that was the breadbasket of the region now so poor it cannot even feed its own people?
Corona virus has spared no one the world over but there is no denying it is going to hit those nations with weak economies and corrupt and incompetent government hardest of all. How well this nation is going to reduce the suffering and deaths from corona virus going forward and how quickly the country will emerge out of the economic depression will depend on one thing - how quickly we replace this blundering, corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship with a competent and accountable government.
There are those who have elected to provide an ambulance service at the bottom of Zimbabwe's corrupt and wasteful political system that has condemned so many to abject poverty and hopelessness. Great, but at times like this is really is not enough!
There are those who have never lifted a finger and said nothing about the human tragedy that has befallen this nation these last 40 years. Even with this corona virus threatening to cause heartbreaking human suffering and deaths they will say nothing and will not lift a finger. They are blissfully unaware that the economic and political turmoil of the last 40 years has not spared them and the coming tragic events triggered by corona virus will not spare them either.
"I won's talk about sanctions, corruption, bad governance, etc.!" was a foolish notion from the word go because we all have a duty to ourselves and others ensure the country is government by competent men and women for the good of us all and not just a few ruling elite! And at times like this when the nation is facing its greatest existential threat of our time, it is not the time to chicken away from our duty to end the curse of bad governance in favour of only providing an ambulance service to the victims or worse still, do nothing!
The international community is not going to assist Zimbabwe because the country would not need any assistance if we dealt with our problems of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of the region and yet today as many as 8 million of her people are facing serious food shortage and malnutrition. There is no hope of reviving the country's agriculture because the ruling elite have initiated Command Agriculture and it is making loads of money for them!
Zimbabwe is losing billions of US$ a month through looting of the nation's wealth including diamonds. Zimbabwe's ruling elite live in sprawling palatial mansions, have a fleet of posh cars, have lavish lifestyles including having 45 gold watches, etc.
The trouble with Zimbabweans is we are naive and hence the reason we have allowed Zanu PF to ride roughshod over us and denying us our freedoms and rights including the right to hold the regime to democratic account and even the right to life.
The donor community has stepped in to fill the ever growing void on the masses' basic needs created by the regime's looting and criminal waste of resources. The more they tries to help the greater the wasteful greed and the bigger the void, after 40 years it is as clear as day, no amount of outside help will fill the void. During global crisis such as what we are facing now donor resources will be stretched and therefore rationed.
It is naive to expect anyone to keep bankrolling those who can, if they put their mind to it, can help themselves. Zimbabweans can feed themselves, the nation was the breadbasket of the region and can be that again, if they end the criminal waste of Command Agriculture, etc. By choosing to allow the criminal waste of resource we are per se choosing to starve! There are certainly a lot more deserving cases for donors to help!
Strive Masiyiwa is being naive to think the donors will continue to throw good money after bad in these difficult times. Zimbabweans whose choose to believe Masiyiwa's nonsense will pay dearly, with the tragic human sufferings and lost lives, for the folly!
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