Zanu-PF - the weevil that destroyed a nation

If Zimbabwe was a granary, Zanu-PF, in its current form, would have been the disastrous weevil. The unrelenting bug mercilessly destroyed everything in the national granary over a period of thirty-four years, leaving the whole nation in abject poverty.

Nathan Shamuyarira's funeral presented an opportunity for President Mugabe to "moan" the existence of "a weevil" and "devil incarnate" in his party. This was an interesting observation though the president chose to compartmentalise or trivialise the issue when in actual fact, it is a ubiquitous problem in the entire Zanu-PF institution that he presides over.

It was interesting to hear Didymus "Mr Rock Diesel" preaching the use of Gamatox as the only solution. A big and seasoned weevil advocating for eradication, what a paradox!

In 1980, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere did not have to read a script the size of the bible to Prime Minister Robert Mugabe in order to make his pertinent and unequivocal point. All he said, to paraphrase him was "You have inherited the jewel of Africa, please don't destroy it". In his wisdom, Nyerere had probably sensed that Zanu-PF weevils were busy hatching somewhere and would soon take over and destroy the national granary, they did just that!

At independence, little did we know that we had unleashed hungry and greedy baboons onto the maize field. For thirty-four years, we have been hoping that the baboons would leave the field on their own after stealing, eating enough and getting too fat. Some are now so old that what remains in them is only their squeaky but abusive voices with little energy to do anything other than pointing accusing fingers at young baboons that have learnt from the master and perfected the art of destruction. The owner of the field has two options; to watch helplessly while these baboons continue to destroy everything with the forlorn hope that they will die of overfeeding or old age. The other option is to chase them now, save the little that remains and deal decisively with the destruction caused. Neighbours seem to be enjoying the unfolding circus, calling out for help is a sheer waste of time.

Confirming that ZimASSET is a classic failure, Joice Mujuru, another big weevil, says it might take up to 40 years for Zimbabweans to start seeing the benefits. Then, madam Joice will be 98 years old, Mnangagwa and Sekeramai will be over 100 years old, Gushungo will be an ancestor! Nobody will recall Chihuri and the wrong shoe. The rest is better left to your imagination.

Youths who were promised more than 2 million jobs will be going home to "retire" from a lifetime occupation called joblessness. What was the purpose of going to elections with so many promises of delivery in five years? Madam Joice boasts that the liberation was won without any budget or resources, so shall ZimASSET deliver. In her short or selective memory, she can't recall that had nations around the world not mobilised resources to support the struggle, it would have taken several generations to attain independence. Does madam Joice forget that China, Russia, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and many other nations made significant sacrifices? The reason they are not coming to the party today is that they have realised they helped baboons to invade Africa's best maize field! They are ashamed and even feel guilty of complicity.

Add to that, Dr Mombeshora confirms what we have always known; which is that a lot of people who did not deserve to get land ended up receiving it through chicanery. One wonders what 10-year-olds would do with a farm. This is what you get when a country is run by weevils! If more than 100-year-olds can vote, why can't 10-year-olds do serious farming? Didymus Mutasa must tell us where to get Gamatox from. Time to annihilate the scourge of weevils is long overdue.

Moses Chamboko is a pro-democracy activist and Interim Secretary General for ZUNDE. He writes in his personal capacity. You may visit ZUNDE at www.zunde.org or email info@zunde.org