13 April, 2009

A Brief on Zimbabwe

The greatest disaster of leadership begins to happen when a leader wilfully convinces himself that there is no other person that can lead effectively as himself...Olukunle Samuel Sogeke

The Republic of Zimbabwe, the official name of the land fondly referred to as “Zim” is a country in Southern Africa bordered by Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana.
The current population estimation is 13.3million people. An interesting fact worth mentioning is that over 90% of the adult population is literate.
The official languages are English, isiNdebele and Shona.

Interestingly, the Motto of the Zimbabwean people, “Unity, Freedom, Work” does not reflect in the daily lives of the local people. Though the average Zimbabwean is educated, hardworking and resourceful, there is no work to do. The labor market is highly controlled by government, which makes it difficult for employers to recruit workers who are literate and often highly skilled. Zimbabwe is the home of Arthur Mutambara, a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe who is a renowned Robotics Professor and NASA robotics specialist.

The Republic of Zimbabwe was a former colony of the United Kingdom. The British Southern African Company played a prominent role in establishing British rule and the disruption of a once orderly and prosperous land.

Zimbabweans like subjects from other British colonies were veteran World War II Veterans who have largely been uncelebrated and their place in history erodes with each passing day.
In the Republic of Zimbabwe today, men and women who live above 37 and 34 respectively have reached the official end of their lifetime. Every extra day they live is just a bonus that they are just too happy to experience.

The genesis of Zimbabwe’s current travails is traceable to the domination of the country’s political system & mineral resources and by the colonial masters. Chimurenga, an unsuccessful revolution by the Shona people of Zimbabwe to reclaim their land led to a massive loss of their remaining land and the government at that time effectively ceded control to Europeans.

However as I have maintained in some other fora, I refuse to hold any white man or woman responsible for the plight of the African Continent. Though they contributed largely to its origin, the resources at the disposal of the Continent plus the gains from trade which have been squandered or embezzelled outrightly have been more than enough to right the wrongs of the 19th/20th Century.

The downfall of a country begins when its leader with the ultimate responsibility usually, the President or Prime Minister sees himself as the only one capable of managing the affairs of State usually with a gentle push from sycophants. At the point where that happens, attention/priority shifts from programmes capable of developing the country to putting machinery in place to propagate his self-rule. The country is gradually steered towards a course of destruction where it is extremely difficult to recover from in extremely unquantifiable terms of wasted human potentials and eventual loss of sacred human lives.

The praise and admiration people had for Mugabe has effectively given way to scorn and ridicule by people within and outside of Zimbabwe. He has overseen the metamorphosis of his country from a once prosperous nation into one plagued by hunger and diseases.

Currently, Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC-T faction and incumbent Prime Minister has successfully battled Mugabe to relinquish partial control of the country using legal and diplomatic moves and more importantly winning elections in the Presidential elections of March 29, 2008.

The battle Morgan Tsvangirai waged is similar to that Mugabe against minority rule pre-1980 Zimbabwe.
The vast majority of Zimbabweans are hungry, frustrated and in dire need of protection from the police and armed forces. Lives have been wasted, people have been displaced and a once prosperous nation has been plagued with the curse of leadership.

However, there is hope for Zimbabwe.

Affluent citizens of Zimbabwe have started asking themselves how they got to this point and what they can do to help their country. Most importantly, the vast majority of Zimbabweans have elected someone they trust to lead them but Mr. Mugabe still would not allow that...

//This is a piece i wrote for the soon-to-be-launched Hope for Zimbabwe website, a charity organisation founded by Miss Azaliah Mapombere