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Price of bread to humble Mnangagwa

09 Jun 2022 at 01:43hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's new dispensation should always play a track from Simon "Chopper" Chimbetu's album Survival - it is informative and educative.

This is a well-choreographed song which talks about the rising cost of living where the singer was advising the government not to raise the price of bread. People are suffering, they cannot afford the basics.

It was a national disaster when the people celebrated a marriage of citizens and the army to push for the unconstitutional removal of the late former President Robert Mugabe from office in November 2017.

The country set a bad precedence. Mnangagwa is a good example of how a leader can fail to run a country.

People had high hopes in him taking over from Mugabe, hoping that he would break from the past, but everything has fallen apart. Mnangagwa has failed to build trust with Zimbabweans and chances for him to win next year's election are unrealistic.

Hyper-inflation is back with a bang, with exchange rates shooting through the roof. Unemployment is at an all-time high.

Last year, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube did the unthinkable when he suspended publication of inflation data.

A few years ago, faced with bread shortages, Zanu-PF introduced Stone Age bakeries which failed to stand the test of time by meeting the people's demands. This new dispensation's  fly-by-night economic policies have backfired.

The economy is on autopilot. The new republic can't craft blueprints to revamp and restructure this economic morass. Wages have been wiped away by inflation and civil servants are literally earning peanuts. The cost of living is at an all-time high, with savings shrinking.

With the recent sharp increase in prices of fuel, disaster is looming. This is going to trigger another round of price increases. For Zimbabweans, it never rains, but pours.

Zimbabwe has so far experienced the worst brain drain in history. Professionals, especially in the health sector, are leaving in droves to European countries where they are better appreciated.

People are hungry and the government is at sixes and sevens to offer solutions.

Pensions and savings have been eroded.  Everything left by the former colonial master has been run down.

Hospitals have run out of drugs.

Teachers have since 2019 been go-slow. They are offering their services for free and no one cares.

Hard word  no longer pays. Businesses can only thrive based on the connections of their owners.  It is now free-for-all as vultures have encircled what is left of Zimbabwe.

The Zanu-PF government must do something. There is likely to be a protest vote in 2023 as people are inching to punish the new dispensation and bury it six feet down.


Source - NewsDay Zimbabwe
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