IT is now close to a month since the historic signing of the September 15 inter-party Agreement and the residents in Harare are earnestly irked by Mugabe’s obstinacy in the implementation of the pact.
They learn with utmost disgust that the Mugabe of the 1980s is still the same Mugabe amid the political and socio-economic malaise bedevilling the nation.The Zanu- PF octogenarian leader seemingly cannot give but can only take. The continued delay in the implementation of the political party pact has dealt a heavy blow to the residents’ hopes, who regard the deal as a potential means to the solution of Zimbabwe¹s problems. Zimbabweans are currently one of the world’s poorest people; the majority earn far below the poverty datum line, and struggle to put together a decent meal every day. They have turned into beggars and gatherers living on the grace of God and nothing else.The helplessness that permeates the Zimbabwean nation has for more than a decade been calling for an urgent political intervention in the nature of the recently signed power-sharing agreement. The residents understand the role of the unity-government as simply being that of clearing the path to economic recovery, restoring the rule of law and setting the stage for an electoral democracy among other things. The continued dilly-dallying by Mugabe and his party spells more woes for them and a turn in the opposite direction.Mugabe displayed sheer bad faith when he unscrupulously appointed the governors from his party before an agreement was reached. In the same vein Mugabe has dishonourably gazetted a wishful list of ministerial allocations in which he exhibits pure selfishness and arrogance.He allegedly listed, under Zanu PF, the ministries of Local Government and Urban Development, Home Affairs, Defence and other key ministries. This act endangers the fragile deal and should beunequivocally rejected and dismissed. The list is a clear sign of the desire to appease his beleaguered party and a continuation of the patronage and tokenism bestowed upon the former PF Zapu cadres, in preserving the so-called unity which has been far too out of touch with the masses.The mere mention of the Local Government and Urban Development ministry in the same breath as the acronym Zanu PF sends immeasurable shivers down the residents` spines. It reminds them of Operation Murambatsvina, Zinwa water and sewer management takeover, cholera outbreaks, potholes, mayoral expulsions and councils` dissolution, Commissions, burst sewage and other horrible daily experiences. The residents would like to explicitly remind Mugabe and his protégés that the Agreement does not seek to accommodate the MDC formations but to establish a respectful footing for inter party power sharing.It is not meant to legitimise the economic plunder, electoral thuggery, impunity, failed policies, repression, human rights abuses and other unconstitutional and criminal activities. The genuine aim of the agreement should be to provide the means to the realisation of a true democracy and give Zimbabweans a break from this man-made crisis.The Association also reminds them that leadership and their aloofness and intransigence are incompatible and that the people retain the power to deploy and recall leaders. They ought to exercise maximum restraint and selflessness and put the nation before their interests. Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA).
