It is therefore a dangerous profession that some of us are in. Yet without it, we will remain caught up in a spider’s web of lies, speculations and intrigue that continues to waste our time, talents and opportunity and stops us living up to our full potential in this life time as God intended.
Throughout the ages, brave men and women who have dared speak the truth to power have been persecuted and even murdered if necessary. Although the Bible clearly teaches that the truth shall set us free, it seems that those in politics continue to deny this truth. As Winston Churchill once remarked; men often stumble upon the truth, but they quickly get up and continue as if nothing has happened.
As we sit today and wonder where Itai Dzamara is, it is shocking that Zimbabweans seem to have accepted his absence as normal and are carrying on with their sorry lives, as if nothing happened.
The history of our politics is that of suppression of the facts and the truth. Because of that, we live sub-standard lives fashioned by the lies and denials that surround us. Simply because we ignore the facts, it does not mean that the truth will go away.
Our politics will never liberate us until we begin to face those truths that may seem inconvenient but are critical in putting us on a better path. There is no doubt that Zimbabwe’s potential has been compromised and will continue to be so until we can speak freely on our ideas about change without consequence. If we don’t, we will not progress.
The baggage of the armed struggle is still with us today because some continue to deny the fact that their time has come and gone. To speak out during the struggle and to challenge the leadership resulted in people being branded sell outs and in some cases, it resulted in death.
The social and economic system that we have created over the last 35 years has failed to measure up to the spirit of liberation because of the limitations of our leaders.
If to this day it is a crime to speak out, to question our leadership and to ask for accountability and to advise that unless we do something drastic to address poverty and continuing unemployment, then surely all those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom did so in vain.
The truth of the matter is that Zimbabwe has borrowed too much in the past today, we sit with a debt that we cannot afford to repay because we simply forgot to invest what we borrowed and instead spent it on lifestyles. We will therefore never be able to create new opportunities, without us inviting others to assist us to lessen our debt burden.
There is no way we can progress in our economy if we do not respect what others own and have created. This requires that we agree that the principle of secure private ownership of property is sacrosanct.
As long as our leadership remains un-accountable, they will continue to stifle our growth and abuse resources. Accountability means those who are not delivering, the corrupt and those abusing state resources must be accountable for their deeds and not get political protection.
Our only way out is to seriously address the above issues and this will require some compromises from all including those within Zanu (PF). We need a government of national unity once more and a political settlement that accepts that elections within the current systems and structures will not work – nor will they create the confidence that we need as a country.
My formula would be that all of us sit around the table and discuss how we can unite to get this country out of the rut. How do we begin to rebuild confidence and credibility in our public institutions and in our brand? How do we ensure that our leadership takes a totally fresh approach to dealing with our economic and social problems?
I think all of us have pointed enough fingers at Zanu (PF) and its failures. We have confronted each other too much, and this has not resulted in any progress. Instead, it has further separated us, to the detriment of our country and its future. The formula of accusations and counter-accusations has served none of us, so the only sensible thing to do is to change what we are doing because it is not creating the results that we desire.
Supressing those who speak out and challenge the status quo, like Itai Dzamara and others will not create the Zimbabwe we want, nor will it make the problems we face disappear.
I know that this suppression of new ideas about our future is solely because of the fear of change, particularly at State House. The challenge is how do we address those fears so that we can make progress?
– Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You can contact him at vtmusewe@gmail.com
Post published in: Analysis