The first 100 days

It finally had to come to this. Kudos to the generals some are saying. I say not so fast wait until someone else who is not ZANU wins the next year elections, but in the short term open your eyes wide, focus and concentrate on the next 100 days, and don't dare even blink if you can help it.  We witnessed an unprecedented scary situation unfolding in a slow-motion like kind of movement, right in front of our eyes. The generals finally intervened in the politics of a political party and hand pick their chosen one after a tumultuous, tension filled three weeks in the politics of Zimbabwe. Something head to break, and breaking it did and someone came landing on the ground with a heavy thud. There was the subsequent ululating and jubilation on the streets of Zimbabwe by the masses, and everywhere else around the world where the millions of Zimbos are scattered for greener pastures. This followed by an otherwise expected but long-awaited graduation, otherwise described as the swearing in of a once loyal cadre and right-hand man of the ousted President. Good bye and good riddance to the Old, figuratively and literally. However during all this, I wasn't fooled nor moved like many. I took a step back and tried to absorb the enormity of what has just happened and what the future is likely to be. Amongst many questions, I keep asking myself how have people allowed political party matters to be intertwined with the state issues and how did the masses get duped into trying to help ZANU rebrand itself. That remains a discussion for another day.

What I am looking at today is the first 100 days of the new President Emmerson Munangagwa and what I think should happen if he wishes to rescue his credibility to show that he is his own man, win the trust of the people and hopefully improve the lives of the people of Zimbabwe. I said to some of my friends, as a start he had to include the following in his inauguration speech. He had to come out strongly about the Gukurahundi in which reportedly over 20000 innocent people were massacred,  issue and just apologise and state categorically that he would open the discussion with a view to compensating all those who were affected, he had to say that Zimbabwe would welcome the Chinese, Indians and the West to come and invest but in Zimbabwe's terms, but their investment will be protected, he had to say people will be allowed to peacefully protest for poor service delivery or any other issue without fear of being victimised. He will have to open the freedom of the press, the right to mock and criticise those in power, he will have to emphasise the fact that the government ministers work for us, not the opposite. He had to acknowledge everybody who participated in the liberation war regardless of party and emphasise that it was not ZANU only, but ZAPU and ZIPRA were there, he had to mention that he would stop cadre deployments to parastatals and employ qualified personnel on merit. He had to mention about sourcing funding for the agriculture sector and helping small scale farmers to boost that sector.

As it turns out, he briefly mentioned some of these things albeit in his own words. He scratched the surface as anyone would under those time limiting circumstances. Some people thought it was an amazing speech, full of hope and optimism. But some of us haven't forgotten, it is precisely the same reconciliatory speech given by his predecessor 37 years ago. We all know what happened after that. Thirty-seven years of thievery, pillage, mass killings, corruption, decimation of families, the economy, health sector, everything you name it.

It is in this vain that the new President Munangangwa should in the first 100 DAYS emphatically, with clarity, no ambiguity and with tangible action come out to address what I believe will define his presidency in one way or the other, the following issues.

 - The Gukurahundi issue will never die, that I can assure the New President. The people of Matabeleland deserve to be heard. Their loved ones lying all over the country in mine shafts still need to be relocated to be given decent burials in their respective homesteads. Munangagwa, then as a Minister of State Security was at the centre of these genocidal mass killings from about 1982 to 1985. On the 4th of April 1983, he was quoted as saying "Blessed are they who will follow the path of the Government laws, for their days on earth will be increased. But woe unto those who will choose the path of collaboration with dissidents for we will certainly shorten their stay on earth" he went on to say the Matabeleland people were cockroaches, and the following day it is believed 55 people were killed in one village. He has already mentioned the possibility of compensation for the white farmers, yet the very people he brutalised haven't been put in the discussion yet. They will have to be in the discussion, in the first 100 days.

 - ZANU PF government messed the economy to the extent that people even struggle to withdraw their salaries. What are the practical steps he is going to take to rescue the situation.

 - When are they going to stop creating fictitious money through bond notes and Treasury Bills which has contributed to pushing Zimbabwe's debt to above USD7billion.

 - You have decimated our health services as a result when you fall ill, you are airlifted to neighbouring South Africa, what about the ordinary guy on the streets. Right now, the Joshua Mqabuko Medical Centre is still not open in Bulawayo when it was completed in 2014, no one seems to have an idea about what is happening with this facility.

 - President Munangangwa should explain the Billions that disappeared in Marange as he was at the heart of it. You need to come clean on the USD754 million which was owed by the Reserved Bank and eventually assumed by Government through the Reserve Bank Debt Assumption Act, meaning really that the tax payers will pay for it.

 - When there was a GNU (government of national unity) the economic conditions improved but things seemed to go on a downward spiral when ZANU PF government went it alone in this current term,  what was the reason.

 - People would like to know where the 2.2 million jobs that were promised by Zim Asset went, what is the practical plan moving forward of creating those jobs.

 - Regarding the constitution, why are more than 200 Acts are yet to be aligned to the Constitution when we know that the Constitution was adopted in 2013. Munangangwa has been the Justice minister during this period, so the answers are expected to be on his fingertips.

 - The new President mentioned dealing with corruption, but why do they hold multiple farms when in fact they are doing nothing in most of the farms. Besides arresting the former minister of finance what other practical steps have been put in place in the first 100 days to fight this cancer called corruption.

 - I have already mentioned the distorted history which gives the impression that it was only ZANU PF that fought in the liberation struggle, the president needs to come out clear about this, ZAPU and ZIPRA were at the fore front as well, figuratively and literally.

 - Finally there will be elections next year, the President should come out and be clear about reforming the electoral system, attending the voters role to get rid of allegedly millions of ghost voters, announce that all participants will be allowed to campaign in any part of the country they so wish without fear or favour and all shall be covered by the ZBC Broadcasting services.

I know that politics is a conversation of power, but people want to see improvements in their lives i.e. access to health., education, food, jobs, etc. so President Munangagwa should deal with these if he wants to redeem himself as well as the issues highlighted above. There must be a clear direction in the first 100 days of where he will go with these issues to define his own legacy and Presidency, otherwise he is doomed to fail.

Opposition should get organised if they want our votes. We don't owe them anything. they can begin by forming a formidable alliance rather than the Mickey Mouse games they are playing. The President on the other hand can do anything, politicians do anything. That's why we should never trust any of them. Our job is to resist, to demand, to question, our job is to fight every day, regardless of who is in power. when politicians do good things well and fine that's exactly what they should do and we will remember that, but we won't stop knocking.

Despite the optimism from everybody else about the new guy, I am still not sure whether to say, "welcome and good luck". My first feelings were that I hoped this wasn't just a snake shading its old skin for the new one. The Zimbabwean populace hope Munangangwa will deal with the socio-economic issues thoroughly and effectively with immediate effect and without fear or favour. Not only in rhetoric but practical actions. However, the current crop around him, which is is largely composed of war vets and old guys is not at all encouraging, if anything it is depressing. Their narrative that only war vets should take over is essentially exclusionist. There is no sign of progressive young talent. But we shall keep our fingers crossed, because the only certainty in Zimbabwe is uncertainty! So, let's see what happens in the next 100 days.