Quoted in the state-run Herald Newspaper, Mugabe said Zimbabwe shall recover by her wits and resources. My question to the President is that, Is it Zimbabwe that does not need Western aid or it is Mugabe and Zanu-Pf that surely does not need western aid anymore as I do not see the ordinary Zimbabwean benefiting from the vast diamond deposits. Mugabe and his cronies single handedly brought the Zimbabwean economy to its knees, how in the world are they to be trusted to revive the economy that was not so long ago the worlds fastest shrinking economy?
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa but now relies on aid for its survival.
Farms have not been productive since the disastrous land reform. The World Food Programme has named Zimbabwe as one of the global hunger hotspots. Only 10% of winter wheat has been planted due to shortage of fuel, fertilisers and farming expertise. Seventy per cent of commercial agricultural land has been destroyed due to the disastrous reform, with more renewed farm invasions. Surely how is one to survive without aid when the above issues have not been addressed?
Zimbabwes health system without international aid would have completely shut down. With a population ravaged by the HIV/Aids epidemic, Zimbabwe relies mostly on donors for Anti-retroviral drugs, Care, Education and awareness, Counselling and testing. There are about 350 Aids orphans a day due to the epidemic.
The cholera epidemic of 2008-2009 which saw 4000 dead due to the collapse of urban water supply, sanitation, and garbage collection systems and water contaminated with faeces. The unusual high fatality rate was due to the fact that Zimbabweans were seriously weakened by hunger due to unproductive farms, homelessness due to operation Murambatsvina, collapse of the public health sector, HIV and Aids. Zimbabwe was assisted by numerous international agencies that funded for clean water, drugs, sanitation and hygiene programmes.
Lest we forget the tortured and injured people that pass through clinics due to organised political violence.
Zimbabwe is in abject poverty with the food crisis worsening. Many people around the country are surviving on international food aid.
Mugabe and the Zanu-PF regime have used international aid to pump up the Zanu (PF) regime by diverting aid.
Gideon Gono is responsible for funding Mugabes repression on Zimbabweans and he admitted that he had raided the accounts of foreign aid groups to pay for government works and spending with sponsored violence and intimidation across Zimbabwe. Borrowing money from private bank accounts without consent is unethical and tantamount to abuse of the central regulatory powers. Gono also abused funds meant to fight HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis in 2008 to aid Zanu (PF)s political party.
Zanu (PF) used and still uses international food aid to gather support. Politicisation of food aid discrimination are still being recorded across the country with widespread incidents of beneficiaries being asked to produce party cards and denounce their political parties before one can qualify to get food. The same happens for access to healthcare care, with Zanu (PF) card holders the sole winners.
With the discovery of the Marange diamonds and its occupation by the army, Mugabe can boastfully kick international donors goodbye. The aim of the Marange diamonds operation is not to secure the revenue from the diamond Mines for the new government coffers money that could be spend on addressing Zimbabwes massive humanitarian crises or on kick-starting the once profitable agricultural sector, but to produce a new stream of revenue with which to line the pockets of Mugabes loyalists and maintain the repressive and predatory infrastructure that keeps them in power, i.e. the secret air-strip built in Marange diamond field, an easy access to smuggle the nations valuable stones.
Zimbabwes wealth has continued to benefit only the Zanu (PF) regime. Zimbabwe has only Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF) to blame for its dependence on aid. Surely Mr President, we need to look at the reasons for this aid dependency.
Post published in: Opinions