'SADC must rally to cushion Zimbabwe against sanctions' argued Lumumba - Zanu PF apologist masquerading as intellectual

"I was disappointed myself when sanctions are levied against Zimbabwe, it is the people who suffer. Those in position of political power never suffer when there are sanctions," argued Professor P L O Lumumba in a recent video.
 
"I would have expected SADC to rally around Zimbabwe to cushion Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans against the pain that was visited against them through the sanctions. I would have expected the African Union to do the same.

"But what did we see? Tail between our legs and we leave Zimbabwe to the vagaries and manipulations and of foreign countries."

I have always regarded Professor Lumumba as one of Africa's intellectuals. Now I know better, he is just as always
If people start attributing this problem to the wrong area then you come up with the wrong solution. The Zimbabwe economy was already in serious trouble long before the Western sanctions were imposed in 2001. This is well documented.

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown started soon after the country's independence in 1980. By 1990, just ten years after independence, the country accepted the first of the five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). The regime introduced savage social welfare cuts. "People must tighten their belts!" argued the then Minister of Finance, Dr Bernard Chidzero.

ESAP did not revive the Zimbabwe economy largely because the regime did not implement the measures to end the gross mismanagement and the rampant corruption – the real causes of the economic meltdown. In 1995 to 1999, Zanu PF signed ESAP 2. Once again the ordinary people were asked to tighten their belts whilst the ruling elite did the exact opposite – loosened their belts to accommodate the ever growing waist line!
In a interview with Travor Ncube, Dr Simba Makoni, Secretary General of SADC and Minister of Finance, revealed how Prime Minister Robert Mugabe replaced the Peugeot ministerial cars inherited from Ian Smith with Mercedes Benz. The limos were not budgeted for and Mugabe did not even bother to get cabinet approval.

The message to his fellow Zanu PF leaders was crystal clear; you stick with me and you will have all your heart's desires – wealth, political power and influence. Mugabe had fired the starting gun to the Zanu PF political patronage system – the root cause of the mismanagement and corruption. Zanu PF has refused to admit mismanagement and corruption are the root causes of the country's economic meltdown. The regime has blamed the sanctions imposed by the West and the root cause of the economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering it has brought.
The solution to Zimbabwe's economic meltdown will come from addressing the country's teething problems of mismanagement and corruption. Sanctions is just a red herring.

To deal with the mismanagement and corruption the country must first implement the democratic reform designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. If Zimbabwe was a healthy and functioning democracy, the people would have voted Zanu PF out of office a long time ago. Alas, Zimbabwe is not a democracy, Zanu PF's four decades in power is because the party rigged the elections.

It is most disheartening that someone like Professor Lumumba fell for Zanu PF's sanctions propaganda. Now I know, he is just a Zanu PF apologist masquerading as an intellectual!