Tendai Ruben Mbofana
When former Herald editor Ceaser Zvayi published his reflections on a colleague’s retirement, he appeared to be making a case for financial literacy and the importance of investments.
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On the surface, his argument was sound: it is true that those who diversify their income streams, who invest wisely in property, businesses, or shares, often retire with more to show than those who depend solely on salaries.
Yet what is disturbing about Zvayi’s piece is the way he trivializes the devastating consequences of Zimbabwe’s decades of misgovernance, corruption, and economic collapse.
In doing so, he implicitly shifts the blame onto ordinary Zimbabweans — the very victims of the policies and failures of the ruling elite that he himself spent years defending in the pages of the state-run Herald.
Zvayi tells the story of a man who worked diligently for thirty years, was celebrated with speeches, food, and music, but returned home with nothing to show for his decades of service except a leaking roof, no house, and a pension decimated by inflation.
His conclusion?
Zimbabweans trust the system too much, lack financial literacy, and should stop blaming the economy.
In short, he argues that the fault lies with the worker, not with the system.
But here is the question Zvayi carefully avoids asking: why is it that thirty years of honest work in Zimbabwe today cannot guarantee a decent retirement?
Why is it that pensions — once meant to provide dignity and security in old age — have been reduced to pocket change that cannot even buy thirty loaves of bread?
The Shona word for pension is ‘mudyandigere’, which literally means “eating while seated or doing nothing.”
This reflects a time when pensions were enough to sustain a comfortable life after retirement.
Indeed, not long ago, ordinary Zimbabweans — bus drivers, nurses, teachers, factory workers — could afford to buy homes, start small businesses, or take long-awaited holidays abroad on their pensions alone.
They did not need to be captains of industry or financial wizards.
Their hard work, over decades, was recognized and rewarded by a system that worked.
That is no longer the case.
Why?
Because the Zimbabwean economy has been ravaged by corruption, plunder of national resources, reckless economic policies, and chronic mismanagement by the very political elite Zvayi spent his career defending.
Pensions were obliterated by the hyperinflation of the early 2000s.
The life savings of millions were wiped out overnight.
Even those who had faithfully saved in fixed deposits, insurance policies, and provident funds suddenly found themselves destitute.
I remember vividly the day my own mother, who worked as a registered nurse at Ziscosteel from 1964 until her retirement in 2010, broke down in tears upon realizing that everything she had worked for had been wiped away.
All her savings, insurance policies, and investments evaporated in the flames of hyperinflation.
Ziscosteel itself, once the pride of Africa’s steel industry, collapsed under the weight of corruption and looting by those in power.
To this day, despite nearly five decades of dedicated service, my mother has not received a cent in pension from the company.
She lives as though she had never worked a day in her life, surviving on a paltry US$50 from NSSA and my late father’s meagre pension as a teacher — and on my own support, in spite of my own financial struggles.
In fact, in today’s Zimbabwe, many elderly men and women who should be resting and enjoying the comfort of their pensions are instead forced onto the streets to eke out a living through vending.
Rather than living with dignity after decades of hard work, they spend their twilight years selling vegetables, second-hand clothes, or trinkets on pavements — simply to put food on the table, clothe themselves, and keep the lights on.
Would Zvayi dismiss them too as financially illiterate?
Would he tell them that their mistake was trusting the system?
That they should have bought land with money that was stolen from them?
The truth Zvayi refuses to confront is that pensions are worthless today not because Zimbabweans are lazy or unwise, but because a corrupt system destroyed them.
Inflation has eroded salaries and pensions alike, while looting of national resources has enriched only the ruling elite and their cronies.
In the 1980s and 1990s, pensions could buy homes and guarantee dignity in old age.
Today, pensions cannot even fix a leaking roof.
That is not financial illiteracy.
That is structural economic collapse.
Yes, financial literacy is important.
Zimbabweans, like people everywhere, benefit from learning how to invest, diversify, and secure their future.
But to speak of financial literacy in a country where over 90 percent of Zimbabweans are unemployed, where young people survive through street vending, artisanal mining, prostitution, or menial jobs, is an insult.
What investments can a young woman in a “cash shop” earning less than US$100 a month make?
How can she buy land when the same political elite have grabbed most of the prime land and turned it into private estates?
And let us not forget, today’s youth do not even have the luxury of a pension.
Their “jobs” are informal, unregulated, and without any form of social security.
Even if they worked hard their entire lives, they would retire with nothing.
This is not because they are financially illiterate, but because ZANU-PF has destroyed the economy to such an extent that a pension system is now little more than a cruel joke.
If it was as simple as Zvayi claims — that hard work plus financial literacy equals prosperity — then why are six out of ten Zimbabwean youths considering leaving the country, according to Afrobarometer?
Why have millions of Zimbabweans, including skilled professionals such as doctors, engineers, and nurses, fled to South Africa, the UK, Canada, and beyond, where they now work as domestic workers, farm labourers, or caregivers?
Why has Zimbabwe become one of the largest exporters of human capital on the continent?
Zvayi’s article would have been honest if he had used his friend’s plight as a wake-up call to confront the catastrophic failure of the system he once defended.
If he had pointed to corruption, looting, and bad governance as the root cause of pensions that cannot provide dignity.
If he had demanded accountability from the ruling elite who have enriched themselves while millions live in poverty.
Instead, he chose to lecture the victims.
To tell them they should not blame the economy.
To suggest that the poor are poor because they drink beer instead of buying land.
To argue that thirty years of hard work counts for nothing because Zimbabweans did not learn “the rules of money.”
No, Mr. Zvayi.
The truth is that your friend has nothing to show for thirty years of work not because he failed to buy land or start a business, but because ZANU-PF’s corruption and misrule destroyed the very system that was supposed to reward him.
He, like millions of others, is a victim of a failed leadership that you, for decades, helped to shield from criticism.
By all means, let us teach financial literacy.
Let us encourage Zimbabweans to invest wisely.
But let us not insult them by pretending their poverty is their fault.
Let us not ignore the reality that even the wisest investments cannot survive in an economy where pensions are reduced to loose change, inflation wipes out savings, and corruption robs the nation blind.
The day Zimbabweans retire to dignified lives once again will not come from lectures about “the rules of money.”
It will come when we finally dismantle the corrupt system that has stolen their futures.
Until then, blaming the victim is not just dishonest — it is cruel.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975 , or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
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