Can the real war veteran please stand up?

The Editor,

This is June 2017; Zimbabwe is 37 years old.  In 2018 Zimbabwe is going to choose a path to either her new high or God forbid new low.  After a general election, a new government will be formed and new goals will be set.  The challenge for most of us is what are we going to choose? Do we have a choice or choices?  2013 and years before saw economic blue prints presented one after the other but unfortunately nothing came out of them.  Slogans were chanted left right and center but nothing of value came out.

Is an election season truly a period of empty promises or the time to map the future of generations to come?  What is the purpose of an election?  Is it just a tradition of supposedly choosing who gets a free pass to go to the Parliament?  Are we choosing the best?  If in fact we get the best, are we getting the best representative of the people, a fighter, a negotiator or a best politician?

What is a politician?  Before you get into the famous Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle's Politika and his interpretation of what a politician is let me give you some options.
 
A politician is:
1. A person who is professionally involved in politics, a public office holder or a candidate for an elected office
2. A legislator, elected official, statesman/ stateswoman, public servant
3. A person who acts in a manipulative and devious way, typically to gain advancement within an organization.
 
Depending on who you are and your understanding, one of these sounds like and is indeed what a politician is.  I am not going to persuade or try to convince you my reader that I know the best answer but I will ask you to do this, look at the crop you have and weed out the look alike then and only then you will get to know the politician.  Not everyone is a politician and being a politician is far from privilege.
 
Why do we have this crop of people that tells us that only they can make things better?  If you are like myself you would ask, why it is that they see nobody but themselves leading the pack?  We have heard promise after promise, why then do we still have the same problems or even in worse shape now than we have been?  Do we need politicians?  If we talk about our beloved Zimbabwe we have career politicians when the rate of decay in every institution in the country is alarming.  Why?
 
To our brave men and women who risked it all, I have some questions for you.  When you made the decision to say it was time to take up arms, how was the situation?  Do you ever look in your children or grandchildren's eyes and tell them that Zimbabwe came through blood sacrifice?  If they were like myself, what will be your answer if they were to ask you this question?  What did you fight for in a country where there are no jobs, people sleep in banking halls, roads riddled with potholes, no medication in hospitals, and no reliable power?  
 
The follow up I guess would be: Was the sacrifice worthy the blood that was spilled? I cannot think of anything that would make sense.  My only guess is our freedom fighters fought for equality, we are indeed equal in the sense that we are now a huge flea market country where equally trying to make a sale of something.  Where I come from, it is not advisable to fight your elders.  
 
Last, do you ever think that someday your children or grandchildren will be fed up with the situation and think about liberating themselves from joblessness, sleeping in banking halls, lack of running water, no functioning healthcare system?
 
Sincerely,
Sam Wezhira