Why do we celebrate lunacy?

EDITOR - Zimbabwe suffers, despite protestations to the contrary, from an irresponsible educated elite.

Take ZIFA, for example. While Zambia’s “Chipolopolo” have achieved the seemingly impossible in lifting the Africa Nations Cup 2012, Zimbabwe’s “Warriors” have developed infamy for lining their pockets instead of scoring goals. Instead of clearing the whole rubbish that is ZIFA and putting up a commission as Chombo would have done if it were a municipal council, the Sports Commission watches as ZIFA patches old rags on a new cloth.

Success-starved Zimbos cheered more than the Zambians for our “brothers”. It has become a joke in Zambia. No heads roll at ZIFA.

The same is happening at Air Zimbabwe. The whole nation of intelligent people does not see anything amiss in celebrating the arrival of Emirates, as opposed to mourning the demise of the national carrier, Air Zimbabwe. This situation is still unfolding. Let’s see if Emirates will stay after being asked to indigenize.

The Zimbabwean dollar! Anyone remember it? The youngsters only remember the expiring, good-for-toilet paper “bearer cheques”. That was some innovation only a shameless Zimbabwean can be proud of. Today we are a nation without its own currency and we appear to be celebrating the fact that we are using a multiple-currency system.

While Engineer Muzembi (Tourism and Hospitality Minister) and KarikogaKaseke (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority) are busy trying to make a success of the co-hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation conference in August 2013, some of their colleagues in government are putting spanners in their work. They are unleashing farm invaders onto tourism establishments. No-one in a position of power and responsibility admonishes them. No-one gets arrested. People power! We glorify lunacy.

The Global Political Agreement (GPA) is another dysfunctional mess. It’s a wrong mix. Each party is trying to get strategic advantage. It will never serve the nation as it is intended. Let’s move fast to a new workable dispensation and prove that we are an enlightened nation.

I cannot agree more with the President who observed in The Sunday Mail February 19-25 2012 “there is no one (in Zanu (PF) who can stand and win at the moment”. He has read the national mood well. None of them is an acceptable, credible, principled candidate worth putting forward.

We have celebrated lunacy and under-achievement by national leaders. We ululate when they spew venomous nonsense in the media instead of engaging meaningfully and proffering solutions to national problems. An academic professor showing off to village idiots is the height of lunacy and should not be celebrated. –Laiton Mkandawire, Kariba

Post published in: Letters to the Editor

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