Opinion / Columnist
Why would Zimbabweans vote for a president simply because of a borehole?
03 Aug 2023 at 02:30hrs | Views
The ongoing so-called 'star rallies' by the ruling ZANU PF leaves my mouth dry and speechless.
As to be expected, when campaigning to be voted into public office - more so, for a sitting president and political party - touting successes achieved would be at the fore.
As such, it is not surprising hearing a lot of talk over supposed 'accomplishments' by the President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa government - as ZANU PF's trump card for the 23rd August harmonized elections.
At the core of these 'achievements' are the rehabilitation of some roads in the country, sinking of several boreholes, construction of a handful of dams, and the temporary reprieve in the electricity crisis that has bedevilled Zimbabwe for decades.
As much as this 'development' is well and good, there is one sorely troubling issue - which can never be ignored.
Why would anyone, surely, re-elect a president and party simply on the basis of these supposed 'accomplishments'?
There is far much more to choosing a national leader that these simplistic issues.
In fact, even if the Mnangagwa administration had substantially improved the economic status of ordinary Zimbabweans - that alone could never entitle Mnangagwa another term in office.
Let us remember that elections are an integral component of any democratic society - which we witness taking place in most parts of the globe.
We can take a closer look at the previous elections in a country as the US.
It is common knowledge that, regardless of the socio-economic situations prevailing at any given time, governing parties have been voted out of power.
In fact, at the end of then US president Barak Obama' two-term tenure, his country's economy was performing relatively well.
Under Obama, 2014 and 2015 were arguably the economy's best years - with 225,000 jobs created each month (whilst Black employment was at an impressive 7.5 percent), and economic growth at 2.3 percent.
Who would not love such figures?
Yet, come the 2017 presidential elections, his Democrat Party candidate, Hillary Clinton, was still defeated by Republican Donald John Trump.
Furthermore, Trump himself did not perform too badly either, especially before the COVID-19 pandemic hit - with the US economy growing at 3 percent per annum, reducing the number of Americans on food stamps, and significantly increasing consumer and business confidence (particularly after cutting taxes in 2018).
As a matter of fact, this period of Trump's reign was described as 'the best since the late 1990s'.
Be that as it may, that also did not guarantee him a win over Democrat Joe Biden in the 2021 presidential election - where he was convincingly beaten, although he refused to concede.
What point am I trying to make with this illustration?
Just because a sitting president and his government have a couple of 'positives' to boast of, that should never be enough for the electorate to grant him another term in office.
Citizens who know what they want in life - desiring only the best their country can give, and reaching dizzying heights of success - do no settle for lower that their expectations.
They do not accept mediocrity!
That is why, in spite of all these economic figures - which are undeniably something to write home about - ordinary Americans still wanted far much more from their leaders.
Regardless that the economy was growing at 2.3 percent under Obama, they knew that their country still deserved better - which is one of the obviously many other reasons they rejected Clinton.
Let me hasten to add at this juncture that, I am basing these deductions purely on the Electoral College outcome - which determines who is officially declared the winner.
As if that was not enough, irrespective of Trump's pre-pandemic 3 percent economic growth (the best since the late 1990s), Americans similarly dumped him - in preference to Biden.
That is why, despite many challenges the US has been facing - both on the political and economic front - it remains the largest economy in the world.
One of the secrets to this success and resilience is a population that does not brook any nonsense and mediocrity from its leaders.
They fully understand that - to be the best, you need to demand only the best.
As such, even if it may appear that a president and his administration are performing relatively well, Americans will still demand more and better.
In other words, they will never tolerate even the slightest depreciation of their economy.
That is why in the UK they even forced their then prime minister Liz Truss to step down in September 2022, a mere 49 days into office, due to the British Pound's fall of three and a half cents to the US Dollar.
Such people would never sit back, with their arms folded, as their local currency depreciates - let alone, half the population plunged into extreme poverty, whilst three quarters earn below the poverty datum line.
Which brings me back to Zimbabwe.
Here we are, where we celebrate the sinking of boreholes, resurfacing of a few roads, and the fact that electricity load shedding has decreased (for now).
Lest we forget, these boreholes are coming into towns and cities that actually had running water in their homes - but have now been turned into glorified rural areas.
In Zimbabwe, we are jubilant when we receive food handouts and free agricultural inputs, or when our children are stripped of all their hopes and dreams and forced into street vending or other so-called 'projects'.
A few weeks go, in Centenary (Mashonaland Central), a lady was over the moon that Mnangagwa had brought their town one set of traffic lights (or robots)!
Additionally, of late, we have been so excited over a currency that is trading at a shocking ZW$4,500 to one US Dollar - heralded as some form of success!
Those are the 'developments and achievements' we believe entitles Mnangagwa to another term as president!
Surely, are we to be taken seriously as a people who know what they want in life?
Why do we cheapen ourselves in such a disgraceful fashion?
This, while Mnangagwa has dismally failed to better the livelihoods of the ordinary citizenry, by taking them out of the abject poverty they have languished in for over two decades.
If anything, Zimbabweans are sinking deeper into impoverishment - as the gap between the poor and rich runs wild and reaches obscene levels.
We have watched as those in power and their cronies loot our national resources with reckless impunity - as they live in obscene opulence and lavishness.
Is it not shocking witnessing those who are actually ready to give him (Mnangagwa) another go at the highest office in the land?
Are we serious as Zimbabweans?
Americans reject presidents who grow their economies at record levels - as they desire more and better - but in Zimbabwe we prefer those who push us deeper into poverty!
Here are my parting words:
In life we get what we deserve!
If we tolerate and accept rubbish, we will get rubbish.
Which explains why I appear always reprimanding our leaders.
I am not motivated by some sinister loathing of those in power - although there is every reason for me to feel that way - but by the knowledge that demanding only the best is the only way Zimbabwe can be the best.
We have no one else to cry to, or to blame for our continued or worsening suffering.
People like Americans understand that, to get the best, you need to reject mediocrity.
No wonder they are still the wealthiest in the world.
In Zimbabwe, we will forever be suffering, because we actually celebrate our poverty, brought about by the Mnangagwa regime.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: http://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
As to be expected, when campaigning to be voted into public office - more so, for a sitting president and political party - touting successes achieved would be at the fore.
As such, it is not surprising hearing a lot of talk over supposed 'accomplishments' by the President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa government - as ZANU PF's trump card for the 23rd August harmonized elections.
At the core of these 'achievements' are the rehabilitation of some roads in the country, sinking of several boreholes, construction of a handful of dams, and the temporary reprieve in the electricity crisis that has bedevilled Zimbabwe for decades.
As much as this 'development' is well and good, there is one sorely troubling issue - which can never be ignored.
Why would anyone, surely, re-elect a president and party simply on the basis of these supposed 'accomplishments'?
There is far much more to choosing a national leader that these simplistic issues.
In fact, even if the Mnangagwa administration had substantially improved the economic status of ordinary Zimbabweans - that alone could never entitle Mnangagwa another term in office.
Let us remember that elections are an integral component of any democratic society - which we witness taking place in most parts of the globe.
We can take a closer look at the previous elections in a country as the US.
It is common knowledge that, regardless of the socio-economic situations prevailing at any given time, governing parties have been voted out of power.
In fact, at the end of then US president Barak Obama' two-term tenure, his country's economy was performing relatively well.
Under Obama, 2014 and 2015 were arguably the economy's best years - with 225,000 jobs created each month (whilst Black employment was at an impressive 7.5 percent), and economic growth at 2.3 percent.
Who would not love such figures?
Yet, come the 2017 presidential elections, his Democrat Party candidate, Hillary Clinton, was still defeated by Republican Donald John Trump.
Furthermore, Trump himself did not perform too badly either, especially before the COVID-19 pandemic hit - with the US economy growing at 3 percent per annum, reducing the number of Americans on food stamps, and significantly increasing consumer and business confidence (particularly after cutting taxes in 2018).
As a matter of fact, this period of Trump's reign was described as 'the best since the late 1990s'.
Be that as it may, that also did not guarantee him a win over Democrat Joe Biden in the 2021 presidential election - where he was convincingly beaten, although he refused to concede.
What point am I trying to make with this illustration?
Just because a sitting president and his government have a couple of 'positives' to boast of, that should never be enough for the electorate to grant him another term in office.
Citizens who know what they want in life - desiring only the best their country can give, and reaching dizzying heights of success - do no settle for lower that their expectations.
They do not accept mediocrity!
That is why, in spite of all these economic figures - which are undeniably something to write home about - ordinary Americans still wanted far much more from their leaders.
Regardless that the economy was growing at 2.3 percent under Obama, they knew that their country still deserved better - which is one of the obviously many other reasons they rejected Clinton.
Let me hasten to add at this juncture that, I am basing these deductions purely on the Electoral College outcome - which determines who is officially declared the winner.
As if that was not enough, irrespective of Trump's pre-pandemic 3 percent economic growth (the best since the late 1990s), Americans similarly dumped him - in preference to Biden.
That is why, despite many challenges the US has been facing - both on the political and economic front - it remains the largest economy in the world.
One of the secrets to this success and resilience is a population that does not brook any nonsense and mediocrity from its leaders.
They fully understand that - to be the best, you need to demand only the best.
In other words, they will never tolerate even the slightest depreciation of their economy.
That is why in the UK they even forced their then prime minister Liz Truss to step down in September 2022, a mere 49 days into office, due to the British Pound's fall of three and a half cents to the US Dollar.
Such people would never sit back, with their arms folded, as their local currency depreciates - let alone, half the population plunged into extreme poverty, whilst three quarters earn below the poverty datum line.
Which brings me back to Zimbabwe.
Here we are, where we celebrate the sinking of boreholes, resurfacing of a few roads, and the fact that electricity load shedding has decreased (for now).
Lest we forget, these boreholes are coming into towns and cities that actually had running water in their homes - but have now been turned into glorified rural areas.
In Zimbabwe, we are jubilant when we receive food handouts and free agricultural inputs, or when our children are stripped of all their hopes and dreams and forced into street vending or other so-called 'projects'.
A few weeks go, in Centenary (Mashonaland Central), a lady was over the moon that Mnangagwa had brought their town one set of traffic lights (or robots)!
Additionally, of late, we have been so excited over a currency that is trading at a shocking ZW$4,500 to one US Dollar - heralded as some form of success!
Those are the 'developments and achievements' we believe entitles Mnangagwa to another term as president!
Surely, are we to be taken seriously as a people who know what they want in life?
Why do we cheapen ourselves in such a disgraceful fashion?
This, while Mnangagwa has dismally failed to better the livelihoods of the ordinary citizenry, by taking them out of the abject poverty they have languished in for over two decades.
If anything, Zimbabweans are sinking deeper into impoverishment - as the gap between the poor and rich runs wild and reaches obscene levels.
We have watched as those in power and their cronies loot our national resources with reckless impunity - as they live in obscene opulence and lavishness.
Is it not shocking witnessing those who are actually ready to give him (Mnangagwa) another go at the highest office in the land?
Are we serious as Zimbabweans?
Americans reject presidents who grow their economies at record levels - as they desire more and better - but in Zimbabwe we prefer those who push us deeper into poverty!
Here are my parting words:
In life we get what we deserve!
If we tolerate and accept rubbish, we will get rubbish.
Which explains why I appear always reprimanding our leaders.
I am not motivated by some sinister loathing of those in power - although there is every reason for me to feel that way - but by the knowledge that demanding only the best is the only way Zimbabwe can be the best.
We have no one else to cry to, or to blame for our continued or worsening suffering.
People like Americans understand that, to get the best, you need to reject mediocrity.
No wonder they are still the wealthiest in the world.
In Zimbabwe, we will forever be suffering, because we actually celebrate our poverty, brought about by the Mnangagwa regime.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: http://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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