ON July 13, President Robert Mugabe officially opened the 3rd session on the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe and called for the normalisation of relations between Harare and key international financial institutions. Put simply, this was an admission that Zimbabwe cannot go it alone in its efforts to turn around the fragile economy.

But what boggles the mind is that just a week after, the same head of state boldly told the West who are the controllers of those key international financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to go hang. So, which is his correct position — do we need these financial institutions or not?

This apparent contradiction is just one of the countless rhetorical speeches by our president. On numerous occasions he has failed to walk the talk so to speak, and this is our biggest challenge as a country. The leader who is supposed to provide direction to nearly 14 million people is not consistent and preaches what he does not practice. He always crafts his speeches to suit an occasion, but there is no sincerity in what he says.

This is as good as playing games with the people’s lives. On many occasions he has deplored corruption within his party Zanu PF, yet as far as we know many of his supporters are behind him not because they agree with his ideas but because they regard the party as a vehicle to get rich overnight. This is despite the fact that the one-man-one-farm policy was supposed to be Zanu PF’s guiding principle in land redistribution.

Many among his lieutenants did not follow this noble policy — they went ahead to grab as many farms as they could lay their hands on. Even now the President is aware of multiple farm owners but we are still to see what action, if any, he will take. He knows that there was massive looting of farming implements on many of the resettled farms and Temba Mliswa’s case is just a tip of the iceberg.

We have heard on countless occasions the president calling on his supporters not to be violent, but the ugly scenes which characterised the June 27 2008 presidential run-off tell a different story. Many known perpetrators of violence are walking the streets free simply because all they did was done in the name of Zanu PF.

Unpleasant conclusions can be drawn from the above scenarios, one of which, for instance, is that our president is no longer listened to by his lieutenants. More scaring is the idea that our president could be a sacrificial lamb. One is tempted to think that he is being told to stay put while at the same time offering token criticism of any wrong doing within Zanu PF.

That, apparently, is as far as he is allowed to go. Otherwise how does one explain the president condoning lawlessness one day and the  very next day, his supporters, with the connivance of some of those in high offices, going on the rampage beating up innocent and defenceless people for whatever reason.

On the day that he officially opened the 3rd session of the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe, among those who were singing the new propaganda song entitled Tikusetere team were rogue elements who were threatening unspecified action against all those suspected to be MDC supporters. All this took place in the presence of the police and their actions only exposed the level of inconsistency within Zanu PF.

The president was preaching tolerance, reconciliation and togetherness inside the building, while at the same time his supporters were busy threatening other people just outside the same building. This can only mean that there is a serious deficit of consistency within Zanu PF.
When is our president going to be sincere and consistent in his speeches and deeds? As long as he continues grandstanding, no one will take him seriously.

Those who want to help us financially or otherwise will not risk their money in a country where there is no order.
We need investors and an investor-friendly environment should be our top priority as a nation. We can not afford to scare away potential investors through our failure to be consistent and for lack of sincerity.

As the president of Zimbabwe who led the country during its liberation struggle, President Mugabe should not leave behind a fragile and unstable nation. We are not an island and as such we need to sincerely and genuinely embrace reconciliation within and outside Zimbabwe.

Mamuse Maunganidze
Mt Pleasant

Comments (1)

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form