In an interview with The Zimbabwean on Sunday, Public Service Minister
Professor Eliphas Mukononweshuro said while it is important to
celebrate the anniversary, there was need to build on the process of
constitutional reform to ensure that human rights, the rule of law and
basic common values are respected.
In a thinly veiled reference to President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu
(PF)'s 28 years in power, Mukonoweshuro – whose MDC joined government
last February under a power-sharing deal with Zanu (PF) – said
Zimbabweans should see the independence anniversary as time to take
stock of things that were done wrong so that there will not be a
repetition.
One of Africa's strongest economies at independence, Zimbabwe has
suffered an unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis marked by
acute shortages of food and basic commodities and deepening poverty,
amid a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 4 000 people since
last August.
Critics blame the crisis on misrule by Mugabe who has presided over the
country since its 1980 independence from Britain. He denies ruining
Zimbabwe and instead blames his country's problems on economic sabotage
and sanctions by Westerns governments opposed to his rule.
Zanu (PF) parliamentary chief whip Joram Gumbo rejected that years his
party's controversial rule had yielded little for the common citizen,
pointing to the impressive gains made in education health and other
social sectors since independence.
While Zanu (PF government has won praise for its brilliant work in the
social sectors in the early years of independence which saw rapid
expansion in public education and health the gains have all been
largely been lost over the last decade of unprecedented economic
decline.
The health sector has collapsed while thousands of Zimbabwe's skilled
and educated professionals have left the country in a massive brain
drain triggered by the collapse of the economy.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) General Secretary Raymond
Majongwe said there was a need to go back to the drawing board to see
where the nation got it wrong after such an impressive start in the
first years of freedom.
Once we do that, we can be able to move forward as a nation, said
Majongwe. We need to see freedoms being restored, it is also time for
the inclusive government to start working as a government for the
people as enshrined in the ideals of independence.
Veteran scribe Bill Saidi, described Zimbabwe as a pale shadow of what
it was 29 years ago. There is nothing to celebrate, especially with
the continued divisions in the three parties are in government. With
all the hunger, the suppression of human freedoms and abuse of power by
the leadership, we cannot celebrate anything.
BY TAPIWA ZIVIRA
Post published in: News