Need 'very hard-working' ethics back to fix Zimbabwe - no, need thinking caps on

The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic and political rot is that Zimbabweans have lost their work ethics, Dr Simba Makoni, former Zanu PF Minister of Finance during Mugabe's days, told Trevor Ncube.

"We were very hard-working, we were very honest, we were very trustworthy, we were very caring and compassionate," he said.

"We are not that anymore, not the majority of us anyway and certainly not those of us in leadership.

"We have changed because of our appetite for power and we have changed because of our love for material things.

"I think when we begin to associate a position of authority and responsibility with material wellbeing and acquisitions, that's when the rot settles."

Rubbish!

The ordinary Zimbabwean out there is still a very hard-working, very honest, very trustworthy, very caring and compassionate human being. It is impossible to see these attributes in a country where unemployment has soared to 90%. What is the point of being hard working when there are no decent jobs to be had.

Where Zimbabweans have been able to get work; in SA, Botswana, UK, etc. they are held in high regard as hard working and honest.

Zimbabweans' greatest weakness of their inability to think for themselves. We prefer to let others do the thinking for us and we then just follow the leader blindly like sheep. This is a forte the white colonialists, then Zanu PF and now MDC leaders have all exploited to their selfish benefit at great expense to us, the ordinary people.  

Zanu PF leaders betrayed the people, for which many Zimbabweans had suffered and many lost their lives, by deny them their freedoms and rights including the right to a free vote, starting with the first vote in 1980, and even the right to life. Mugabe and now Mnangagwa and rest of the Zanu PF cronies have all turned out to be corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. And the very fact they have managed to remain in power for 40 years and counting speaks volume of just how naive, gullible and thoughtless ordinary Zimbabweans are!

It took  20 years or so for most Zimbabweans to finally admit that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were corrupt and murderous thugs and, to end the Zanu PF dictatorial strangle hold, the country needed to implement democratic changes. The people risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to deliver the democratic changes the nation was dying for.

MDC has been on the national political stage for the last 20 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, and yet has failed to implement even one reform. Mugabe bribe the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and, as they say, the rest was history.

One would have thought after the nightmare of Zanu PF betrayal the people of Zimbabwe had learned the lesson and would be very careful and meticulous in their selection of the men and women the nation would entrust the important task of implementing the democratic reforms.

By electing Tsvangirai and company to champion the fight for free, fair and credible elections even after the MDC leaders had proven beyond all reasonable doubt during the 2008 GNU that they are breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent and sell-out; proved to the world that the people of Zimbabwe were not yet ready to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

"How do we fix this?" asked Trevor Ncube.

"In this journey the first step is to acknowledge that we have a problem and unfortunately now in our country, certainly in our leadership, there is no acknowledgement that we have a problem or we have problems," came the reply.

"In the few occasions we acknowledge that we have a problem, we pass the buck, it's not our fault, we didn't cause it, it was caused by somebody else. If it's in the country, it's our detractors from outside.

"So if you don't acknowledge, accept and recognise that you have a problem, you can't solve it."

Gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the crass lawlessness, which have earned Zimbabwe the pariah state status, are the root causes of Zimbabwe's economic mess and political paralysis. But after 40 years of Zanu PF refusing to acknowledge these problems much less do something solve the problems; it should be obvious that Zanu PF itself is the number one problem.

Since Zanu PF has failed to solve the problems of mismanagement, etc. the nation should have found someone else who would. Indeed, the nation would have done so was it not for the fact that Zanu PF has rigged election to perpetuate its rule for the last 40 years. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were supposed to implement the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections.

Since MDC leaders have failed to get even one reform implemented in 20 years, the nation should be spending all its time, energy and treasure in getting the men and women who will get the reforms implemented.

Whilst Zimbabwe's worsening economic meltdown left 90% of our people unemployed, the country's basic services such as education and health care have all but totally collapsed after decades of under funding and millions of our people now live in abject poverty. The country's ruling elite, from both sides of the political divide, are some of the wealthiest individuals on earth!

The poor are desperate to see an end to the economic meltdown, the ruling elite want the good times to continue!

Zanu PF will never implement the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections and risk losing the elections and it the absolute power, the wholesale looting and, worst of all, risk being held to account for all their past looting and murders.

No the solution to Zimbabwe's economic mess and political paralysis not asking Zanu PF leaders to work hard much less to stop being corrupt. The solution is for the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves to put their thinking cap on and be masters of their own destiny. A thinking electorate will know what constitutes free, fair and credible elections and demand that the next elections are free and fair.