Everyone of us faces challenges of one form or another throughout our lives, but our ability to overcome them determines whether we are considered a success or a failure, and an stark sign of a chronic failure is the one who always seems to have excuses as to why they could not deliver.
Anyone born in this world knows clearly well that there are challenges, and most of them are nothing new, as they have been faced before by others, and we already have an idea of the other challenges we are most likely to face, and should, therefore, be well-prepared.
A great example of failure is the ZANU PF government that has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980.
As far back as I can remember, all I have ever heard from this party and its government are excuses.
They have rarely delivered, but on every twist and turn, they have conveniently resorted to proffering excuses – a sign of a chronic failure.
What motivated me to become a columnist and writer – having started way back in 1989 for a Kwekwe-based weekly newspaper, whilst I was still in Form 3 at Kwekwe High School – were the incessantly irritating excuses by the ZANU PF government for its perennial failures.
Today, 27 years later, I have not put my pen down for the very same reason.
Pointedly, the ZANU PF government dismally failed beyond redemption all those decades back.
The first signs of imminent trouble were in the early 1980s, when the ZANU PF government blamed its economic and political failures on the previous Ian Smith-led Rhodesian regime.
ZANU PF sought to assure the nation that the problems facing the majority of the people of Zimbabwe were just a passing phase, as they were a legacy of colonialism.
That sounded very plausible.
However, years down the line, nothing much had improved for the people – who had been repeatedly told that, ‘VaMugabe vakataura regera kuchena, mangwana uchazofara’, (Mugabe said you should not cry, because tomorrow you will be happy), during the liberation struggle.
The people were clearly still crying.
The ZANU PF government then had to come up with another excuse, this time, the apartheid South African regime, in cahoots with some disgruntled Rhodies (White Rhodesians who had fled the country at independence in 1980, mostly to South Africa), were to blame.
This yarn went on until it lost its flavour, and the people were still struggling.
The so-called ‘dissident problem’ was also cited as a cause for the economic and political challenges bedevilling the country, leading to the deploying of the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to massacre tens of thousands of mostly Ndebele people in the Matebeleland regions and parts of the Midlands.
Something I was so traumatised to witness through the window of my parents’ house, whilst as a Grade 5 child in 1984, as hordes of ZANU PF youth marched and chanted through the streets of Redcliff going to every known Ndebele household and torching their houses.
Zimbabwe’s problems obviously persisted, if not worsened.
Such failures as well as the brutal and vile nature of the ZANU PF regime, spurred me to start writing in 1989.
I was adamant that things had to change for the better for Zimbabwe, and if the government was to kill me, so be it – as there would probably be more peace in the grave than in a ZANU PF-ruled Zimbabwe.
Nevertheless, ZANU PF’s failures and excuses did not abate, as the 1990s witnessed the ill-advised introduction of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), that was heavily resisted by the people of Zimbabwe, but was stubbornly implemented anyway – albeit half-heartedly.
Thousands of people lost their jobs, and many companies closed shop – the suffering of the people actually increased.
The economy continued to deteriorate, as the government continued to make blunders, until the 2000s when the new excuse was that the country was under economic sanctions by the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and their allies.
Till today, this yarn is still finding pride of place in ZANU PF circles.
And a new excuse will be coming soon, if ZANU PF is allowed to continue to destroy this country.
However, it is as clear as day that the people of Zimbabwe have never had any significant joy since independence in 1980.
In fact, some actually had greater joy in the pre-independence era than the post-independence débâcle.
Our parents lived under subjugation, but at least even with a Standard 6 education one managed to train as a nurse or teacher, and was guaranteed employment afterwards.
Various other jobs were readily available at the time, although they appeared unenviable.
Although on paper, their salaries appeared meagre, but at least they were guaranteed to get them on time, and could buy all their basic needs and one or two luxuries, including cars.
I have always wondered what it would have been like if I had grown in Rhodesia.
Yes, I would not have been able to vote, or speak my mind out, but there is not much difference with what is happening today.
One can vote, but the whole electoral system is so flawed that it is as good as not voting at all.
Can I freely speak my mind out? Not when I constantly have to look over my shoulder every time I write something, and always wondering if I will become the next Itai Dzamara.
So in Rhodesia, I might have had only a Standard 6 education, and I would not have attended university.
So what has the education I attained benefitted me?
My parents, with only a primary school education managed to erk out a more decent and enviable livelihood than me.
Despite the seemingly unlimited opportunities available in an independent ZANU PF Â Zimbabwe, in practise there are no opportunities at all for the majority.
If university graduates have to resort to selling mobile phone airtime, and sweets on the streets, what opportunities are these?
Most of us have wonderful academic qualifications, and vast experience and know-how that could be the envy of the world, but we find ourselves with nowhere to use this.
Despite enduring nearly two decades of isolation, United Nations sanctions, and a protracted civil war, the Rhodesian economy performed far much better than the economy under this ZANU PF government.
I reserve a special mention on the hard work, resilience, and innovativeness of the people of Zimbabwe, who have endured and overcome despite all these seemingly unsurmountable obstacles placed on their way by the ZANU PF government.
That is the true mark of a successful people.
Although the people of Zimbabwe are struggling, they would have perished as a nation, or there would have been untold conflict and strife in this country, had they not been true survivors.
The people of Zimbabwe are indeed survivors, no mater that they face adversity even from their own government, which hinders their every effort to make a decent livelihood.
Would I want to go back to Rhodesia? NO!
However, what is clear is that the ZANU PF government has failed dismally, and the only respectable thing for it to do is resign.
How can a party that purportedly fought injustices perpetrated against the majority Black people by a minority White group, end up performing worse than the alleged oppressive regime?
A government that has ruled since 1980 by just making excuses for its every failure.
° Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a community activist, communications specialist, journalist, and writer. He writes in his personal capacity, and welcomes all feedback from every angle. Please call/WhatsApp: +263782283975, or email: tendaiandtinta.mbofana@gmail.