It is said that Mathematics is an exact science in that 1 +
1 = 2 not 2 or anything else. Compared to say History, for example, whose
parameters are vaguely defined. One can argue that the primary causes of the
Second World War were A, B, C and D; second person may say that and a third say
something else which is neither this nor that and all three may well be marked
correct.
Politics is a totally different ball game! Whereas with
History there is a concerted effort to be factual and respect of the truth; in
Politics opinions are traded as facts and, if one is not well informed
diligent, half truths and even downright lies are sold as the whole truth.
Even if one accepted
the reality that Politics is not an exact science with one undisputed answer to
a question, still only those with an invested interest in denying the facts can
dispute that Zimbabwe is a textbook case of a failed state in which the
overwhelming majority of the citizens are now living in abject poverty as a
result of decades of misrule.
“If blacks are to rule themselves people in towns will walk
on sewage until they believe its’s normal,” said Ian Douglas Smith in 1975.
“All the gains from colonization will varnish, infrastructure
will collapse, roads will be impassable, trains will kill people until they’re
abandoned as an unsafe mode of transport. Hospitals will be closed; farms will
be grabbed and nothing to feed the nation.”
After just four decades of self-rule, Zimbabwe has already
gone a long way to fulfil Ian Smith’s prophecy!
Even President Emmerson Mnangagwa, succeeded Mugabe after
the 2017 military coup as the new Zanu PF dictator, and his Zanu PF cronies have
grudgingly admitted the country is in a mess. They blame everyone and
everything, especially the west imposed sanctions, for the mess but never
themselves.
Zanu PF has also produced its own propaganda portraying a
prosperous future to counter the gloomy reality of the present. And thus this
Mnangagwa regime, “the Second Republic” as he calls it, claims the nation is set
to attain upper middle-income status by 2030, vision 2030.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state and there is nothing Mnangagwa has
done since the 2017 coup to suggest that is about to change. And as long as
Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there
will be no meaningful economic recovery. Vision 2030 will remain a mirage in
the darkest of nights!
Ian Smith’s prophecy has come to pass in record time, I don’t
think even Ian Smith would have predicted Zimbabwe would be a failed state in
just four decades, because he predicted three things:
1)
That the Zanu PF leaders were corrupt and
incompetent
2)
That they would be oppressive and shun
democratic accountability
3)
Third, most important of all, they are so
obsessed about their inferiority complex they will never admit failure
Ian Smith was spot-on on all three counts, and it was a recipe
for disaster as we can see.
The point is Zimbabwe’s economic and political failure was
not inevitable. The country had human and material resources and economic
potential to be “the South Korea of Africa”, as Ken Yamamoto a Japanese scholar
put it, given competent and visionary leaders like Nelson Mandela in South
Africa. We turned left instead of right and became “the failed North Korea of
Africa” under the leadership of the corrupt and tyrannical Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF cronies.
The country still has the same resourceful and hard-working people,
the natural resources, etc. are still there and therefore can still pull itself
by the boot strings to become democratic and prosperous nation. It will be more
difficult to do so now than back in 1980. The nation will have to wrestle
political power from the Zanu PF thugs, for a start. That is easier said than
done because the rot of the dictatorship has permeated deep into society.
Still, it is possible to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship.
Indeed, given the tragic human suffering in the country, it is imperative to
dismantle the dictatorship before the regime drags the whole nation into the economic
and political chaos that has engulfed other nations like Libya or Syria.
Zanu PF has tried to impose a de jure one-party dictatorship
but failed. The party is still obliged to hold regular elections for political legitimacy,
and this is its Achilles heel. Given the party’s track record of economic ruins
and it is not surprising the regime has resorted to rigging the elections to
remain in power. Rigging elections is one thing getting away with it is another,
as Zanu PF learned in 2008 when SADC and AU refused to rubber stamp the result
and denied it legitimacy!
Zanu PF is once again blatantly rigging the 2023 elections,
the regime is using wanton violence, has failed to produce a verified voters’
roll, etc., etc. Pressure must be brought to bear on SADC and AU not to rubber
stamp the flawed elections and thus deny the regime legitimacy. This will force
the country to have a new Government of National Unity (GNU), like the 2008 to
2013 GNU, only this time competent people must be appointed to ensure all the
democratic reforms are implemented.
The only effective way to proving white racist like Ian
Smith was wrong; that black Zimbabweans are capable of self-rule is by cleaning
the sewage off our streets, install modern sewage system throughout the land
and restore all the human freedoms, rights and dignities the Zanu PF
dictatorship has denied our people. We don’t shame the white supremacists by
denying our failures and shortcomings but by admitting and dealing with the
problems and by successfully carrying out the latest open-heart surgery and
more!
As a people we, black Africans, have wasted time and energy
arguing with our detractors our worth as equals when we should have focused on
earning our place at the high table by our deeds!
