Opinion / Columnist
Machakaire exposes the detachment of Zimbabwe's ruling elite from ordinary citizens' suffering
05 May 2025 at 23:18hrs | Views
The surprises keep coming!
It is not often that we hear a sitting Zimbabwean Cabinet minister openly acknowledge the painful reality faced daily by millions of citizens.
That is why Minister of Youth Tino Machakaire's recent post on X (formerly Twitter) came as such a shock - both for what it admitted, and for what it exposed about the detachment of our ruling elite.
His comments, following a visit to a public health institution where he had gone to see a sick relative, reveal more about the dysfunction of our government than he may have intended.
The post, which I had to verify myself after reading a media report - so unbelievable it was coming from someone in the corridors of power - laid bare the sheer ignorance among Zimbabwe's top officials about the state of our public health institutions.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Minister Machakaire confessed to being "deeply moved" by what he saw, and called the growing public outcry over our healthcare system "not an exaggeration."
That a government minister - who has held public office for years - was shocked at the dire state of our hospitals is perhaps the most powerful indictment yet of how far removed those in power are from the everyday suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Let us be brutally honest: Zimbabwe's hospitals have been in ruins for years.
There is nothing new about the horrifying conditions.
Basic painkillers are unavailable.
Cancer patients wait endlessly for machines that have long broken down. Dialysis equipment is virtually nonexistent in most provinces.
Ventilators are a luxury. Operating theaters are poorly equipped and unsafe.
Patients are made to buy their own bandages, medicines, or even pay for lab tests that should be available at the institutions.
The bedding is unsanitary, torn, and the smell of neglect hangs in the air.
These are not rare occurrences; this is the norm.
So, where has Machakaire been living?
How does a whole government minister - entrusted with shaping policy and representing the youth - have no grasp of how deplorable our hospitals are until he is forced to visit one for a personal reason?
How many times have we raised these issues, spoken up, written about them, and been ignored or insulted for doing so?
It is this very disconnect, this bubble of privilege that the ruling elite inhabit, that explains why Zimbabwe has descended to such shameful depths.
Machakaire's admission was also a tacit revelation that even President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself has not set foot in a public hospital in years.
The minister's respectful plea for the president to visit these institutions "himself" is telling.
It means he has not done so.
The president - whose portrait hangs on the peeling walls of every hospital ward in the country - has no clue what those walls actually look like.
How can leaders hope to build a nation whose realities they are completely unaware of?
And yet, when people like myself, who live this reality daily, who hear the cries of our neighbors and families, speak out, we are instantly dismissed as unpatriotic, ungrateful, and accused of tarnishing the image of the country.
We are told we are enemies of the state, agents of foreign interests.
But if Tino Machakaire now says the exact same things we've said for years - will he too be called a liar?
Is he now unpatriotic?
Is he insulting the president by asking him to face the truth?
The answer is obvious.
The problem has never been with those of us who raise these issues.
The problem lies with a government that has refused to listen, refused to see, and refused to care.
We raise our voices not out of malice, but because we love this country too much to let it crumble in silence.
If that is not patriotism, then what is?
What is more disturbing is how this contrasts with the behavior of colonial leaders like Ian Smith, whom we are constantly reminded was an oppressor.
And yet, Smith was known to make surprise visits - sometimes at night - to factories like Ziscosteel in my hometown of Redcliff.
He would visit hospitals undercover, pretending to be a patient, just to assess service delivery firsthand.
This was not once in a blue moon.
It was common practice, so much so that workers and managers always stayed alert.
Is it any surprise that Rhodesia was more prosperous - and that the lives of ordinary citizens were relatively better than they are today?
Fast forward to independent Zimbabwe, and the so-called liberators do not even bother.
We are led by people who do not know - nor care to know - how the ordinary person lives.
We are led by those who only enter a government hospital because a relative falls sick, not out of duty, curiosity, or compassion.
And then we wonder why this country is on autopilot.
The truth is harsh.
Zimbabwe has been run into the ground by leaders who are detached from reality, more concerned with self-enrichment and political survival than the welfare of citizens.
While they scheme on how to consolidate power, crush dissent, and control state institutions, they neglect the most basic responsibilities of leadership.
The effort they pour into retaining power could, if redirected, turn Zimbabwe into a thriving state comparable to Denmark or Norway.
Instead, we are a broken nation.
More than 80 percent of our people live in poverty. Nine out of ten are jobless in the formal sector.
Our children are malnourished. Families go to bed hungry.
Our infrastructure is collapsing.
The national mood is one of despair.
How can the country not be in such a sorry state when our president and ministers are unaware of our daily struggles and the true state of the nation?
And yet, the leadership remains cocooned in privilege, blind to the desperation outside their motorcades and air-conditioned offices.
Maybe Machakaire should go further.
Let him visit Mbare, or Binga, or Chiadzwa.
Let him spend a night in the tsikidzi-infested homes where people sleep on the floor, surrounded by mosquitoes and uncertainty.
Maybe then, he will truly understand what millions of Zimbabweans endure daily.
Maybe then, he will begin to grasp the scale of the betrayal.
I hope this experience has been a wake-up call for the minister.
Next time he comes across an article by people like myself, he should pause before dismissing it as "anti-government propaganda."
Perhaps, just perhaps, it is time to start listening - really listening.
Because we who speak out are not the problem.
We are some of the most patriotic Zimbabweans alive.
We speak not because we hate this country, but because we are tired of watching it decay.
We want to see a better life for ourselves, our children, and generations to come.
That is not too much to ask.
And if it takes a visit to a crumbling hospital to awaken a minister's conscience, then let that be the beginning - not the end - of accountability.
© 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: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
It is not often that we hear a sitting Zimbabwean Cabinet minister openly acknowledge the painful reality faced daily by millions of citizens.
That is why Minister of Youth Tino Machakaire's recent post on X (formerly Twitter) came as such a shock - both for what it admitted, and for what it exposed about the detachment of our ruling elite.
His comments, following a visit to a public health institution where he had gone to see a sick relative, reveal more about the dysfunction of our government than he may have intended.
The post, which I had to verify myself after reading a media report - so unbelievable it was coming from someone in the corridors of power - laid bare the sheer ignorance among Zimbabwe's top officials about the state of our public health institutions.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Minister Machakaire confessed to being "deeply moved" by what he saw, and called the growing public outcry over our healthcare system "not an exaggeration."
That a government minister - who has held public office for years - was shocked at the dire state of our hospitals is perhaps the most powerful indictment yet of how far removed those in power are from the everyday suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Let us be brutally honest: Zimbabwe's hospitals have been in ruins for years.
There is nothing new about the horrifying conditions.
Basic painkillers are unavailable.
Cancer patients wait endlessly for machines that have long broken down. Dialysis equipment is virtually nonexistent in most provinces.
Ventilators are a luxury. Operating theaters are poorly equipped and unsafe.
Patients are made to buy their own bandages, medicines, or even pay for lab tests that should be available at the institutions.
The bedding is unsanitary, torn, and the smell of neglect hangs in the air.
These are not rare occurrences; this is the norm.
So, where has Machakaire been living?
How does a whole government minister - entrusted with shaping policy and representing the youth - have no grasp of how deplorable our hospitals are until he is forced to visit one for a personal reason?
How many times have we raised these issues, spoken up, written about them, and been ignored or insulted for doing so?
It is this very disconnect, this bubble of privilege that the ruling elite inhabit, that explains why Zimbabwe has descended to such shameful depths.
Machakaire's admission was also a tacit revelation that even President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself has not set foot in a public hospital in years.
The minister's respectful plea for the president to visit these institutions "himself" is telling.
It means he has not done so.
The president - whose portrait hangs on the peeling walls of every hospital ward in the country - has no clue what those walls actually look like.
How can leaders hope to build a nation whose realities they are completely unaware of?
And yet, when people like myself, who live this reality daily, who hear the cries of our neighbors and families, speak out, we are instantly dismissed as unpatriotic, ungrateful, and accused of tarnishing the image of the country.
We are told we are enemies of the state, agents of foreign interests.
But if Tino Machakaire now says the exact same things we've said for years - will he too be called a liar?
Is he now unpatriotic?
Is he insulting the president by asking him to face the truth?
The answer is obvious.
The problem has never been with those of us who raise these issues.
The problem lies with a government that has refused to listen, refused to see, and refused to care.
We raise our voices not out of malice, but because we love this country too much to let it crumble in silence.
If that is not patriotism, then what is?
And yet, Smith was known to make surprise visits - sometimes at night - to factories like Ziscosteel in my hometown of Redcliff.
He would visit hospitals undercover, pretending to be a patient, just to assess service delivery firsthand.
This was not once in a blue moon.
It was common practice, so much so that workers and managers always stayed alert.
Is it any surprise that Rhodesia was more prosperous - and that the lives of ordinary citizens were relatively better than they are today?
Fast forward to independent Zimbabwe, and the so-called liberators do not even bother.
We are led by people who do not know - nor care to know - how the ordinary person lives.
We are led by those who only enter a government hospital because a relative falls sick, not out of duty, curiosity, or compassion.
And then we wonder why this country is on autopilot.
The truth is harsh.
Zimbabwe has been run into the ground by leaders who are detached from reality, more concerned with self-enrichment and political survival than the welfare of citizens.
While they scheme on how to consolidate power, crush dissent, and control state institutions, they neglect the most basic responsibilities of leadership.
The effort they pour into retaining power could, if redirected, turn Zimbabwe into a thriving state comparable to Denmark or Norway.
Instead, we are a broken nation.
More than 80 percent of our people live in poverty. Nine out of ten are jobless in the formal sector.
Our children are malnourished. Families go to bed hungry.
Our infrastructure is collapsing.
The national mood is one of despair.
How can the country not be in such a sorry state when our president and ministers are unaware of our daily struggles and the true state of the nation?
And yet, the leadership remains cocooned in privilege, blind to the desperation outside their motorcades and air-conditioned offices.
Maybe Machakaire should go further.
Let him visit Mbare, or Binga, or Chiadzwa.
Let him spend a night in the tsikidzi-infested homes where people sleep on the floor, surrounded by mosquitoes and uncertainty.
Maybe then, he will truly understand what millions of Zimbabweans endure daily.
Maybe then, he will begin to grasp the scale of the betrayal.
I hope this experience has been a wake-up call for the minister.
Next time he comes across an article by people like myself, he should pause before dismissing it as "anti-government propaganda."
Perhaps, just perhaps, it is time to start listening - really listening.
Because we who speak out are not the problem.
We are some of the most patriotic Zimbabweans alive.
We speak not because we hate this country, but because we are tired of watching it decay.
We want to see a better life for ourselves, our children, and generations to come.
That is not too much to ask.
And if it takes a visit to a crumbling hospital to awaken a minister's conscience, then let that be the beginning - not the end - of accountability.
© 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: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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