Tendai Ruben Mbofana
In the post, he celebrated comments made by opposition MP Charlton Hwende at a pre-budget seminar.
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Hwende had praised the energy sector after Zimbabwe allegedly recorded 312 days without load shedding.
The “Murakashi” declared that when results speak, political differences take a back seat.
He urged all patriotic Zimbabweans to celebrate this supposed energy milestone under President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
However, can we really call it national development when a government is merely making “corrections” or trying to “rectify” what it messed up in the first place?
The ZANU-PF administration did not assume power yesterday.
They have been in charge of Zimbabwe since independence 46 years ago.
Therefore, it would be the height of insincerity to pretend as though what we witness today is the product of a new government developing a country.
Zimbabwe enjoyed reliable daily electricity for decades.
This stretched from the colonial era right into the first two decades of independence.
That stability ended due to persistent neglect and underfunding.
Rampant corruption destroyed our national grid.
A central figure in this collapse was Sydney Gata, who mismanaged the power utility for nearly four decades under political protection.
The Justice George Smith Commission explicitly flagged these failures and recommended his dismissal in the early 1990s.
Yet, those in power shielded him.
As a result, the power utility crumbled.
Zimbabweans endured severe power shortages and load shedding spanning nearly twenty-five years.
So what development is there today?
The same government that protected Gata and ignored corruption now brags about progress.
They celebrate a claim of 312 days without load shedding.
Furthermore, that claim ignores daily realities on the ground.
Due to antiquated infrastructure that frequently breaks down, households across the country suffered persistent power cuts during those very same 312 days.
Instead of celebrating a mere 312 days of erratic supply, we should look at the root cause.
If the government had dealt decisively with individuals like Gata decades ago, we would not be applauding basic electricity.
We would be celebrating 46 years of uninterrupted power.
This highlights the central problem with governance in Zimbabwe.
Those in power constantly demand praise for putting out fires they started themselves.
They expect applause for controlling blazes they allowed to spread.
We see this tragic pattern in nearly every facet of Zimbabwean life.
Our national roads were abandoned for nearly half a century.
Highways turned into cratered, impassable ruins resembling war zones.
Suddenly, the same government that turned a blind eye to this decay rehabilitates a few stretches.
Then, citizens are expected to praise this work as development.
Yet these are not new highways.
They are old roads that were fully tarred decades ago, left to rot, and then patched up.
We see this same pattern in our urban areas.
Cities fall under local authorities, but those councils operate under the Ministry of Local Government.
From the colonial era onwards, urban centers had reliable running water.
Mismanagement and corruption shattered that infrastructure.
Towns now go years without a single drop in their taps.
When the government drills a few communal boreholes, citizens are expected to hail it as modern progress.
Public healthcare tells the same story.
State hospitals decayed into empty shells.
Buildings literally fell apart.
Wards ran out of basic beds, paracetamol, and fundamental antibiotics.
When the state finally rehabilitates a single hospital, citizens are instructed to jump for joy.
Our public schools face the same neglect.
Meanwhile, inside our households, an estimated 85 percent of the population lives in poverty.
Decades of economic mismanagement and corruption destroyed the economy.
Millions struggle to buy basic food, pay school fees, or find decent work.
Workers earn salaries far below the poverty line.
Yet when the government hands out annual bonuses, food relief, or seed packs, officials are hailed as heroes bringing development.
Let us be abundantly clear.
This is not development.
These are long-overdue corrections.
Consider a schoolchild who used to be a straight-A student.
Due to misbehavior and laziness, his grades plummeted down to 20 percent.
Years later, while still lazy, his score inches up to 25 percent.
We cannot praise him for performing well.
He has not achieved anything new.
Real achievement occurs only when he matches his past record and then surpasses it.
The same rule applies to our government.
For their efforts to qualify as genuine development, they must first restore Zimbabwe to where it was in the 1980s.
Only after reaching that baseline can true development begin.
That means every street and highway in Zimbabwe must be fully tarred.
Every urban home must have consistent running water.
Public hospitals need adequate medication, diagnostic tools, and life-saving machines.
Every school must be built of sturdy brick, with furnished classrooms and enough books for every child.
Zimbabwe must once again become a regional industrial giant, a manufacturing hub, and an agricultural powerhouse where citizens earn decent, well-paying wages.
Once we reach that point, we can talk about development.
As things stand today, there is no development to celebrate.
There are only delayed corrections for a mess created by the government itself.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com