Zimbabwe - a nation of misplaced priorities

An acceptable measure of civilisation is the way society takes care of its most vulnerable. Assuming this measure to be true, then this might explain why the majority of Africa, particularly Zimbabwe, remain stuck in abject poverty while the rest of the world is moving on, including Asia. For Africans, Zimbabwean politicians in particular, civilisation and prosperity is about being better than the next person, than my neighbour. It is about having everything to myself while everybody else around me suffers. In terms of freedom, equality and prosperity, Zimbabwe is now fully in reverse gear, it would appear.

As we speak, three West African nations are struggling with what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described as "unparalleled outbreak" referring to the Ebola epidemic. First to make the most significant and practical response were Europeans and Americans, sending material and personnel, including armed forces to contain this unprecedented crisis. Conspicuously absent were Africans themselves and yet we have brothers and sisters who claim to be billionaires and multi-millionaires. It therefore, makes a lot of people sick when our politicians throw all sorts of profanities at western donors and nations. This is not to say westerners are perfect but these people know their priorities and they have a human heart.

When there is an insignificant disturbance in Lesotho or Laurent Kabila of Zaire (call it DRC if you like) is threatened with loss of power, Zimbabwe is among the first to send soldiers, sacrificing a lot of national resources in the process for nothing but to protect a friend's power base. As I write, there are several families in Zimbabwe that will never know where deep in the swamps of DRC their beloved ones lie. Some only retuned in body bags and relatives were not even allowed to view their bodies before burial. We can sacrifice so much for so little but we can't send a truckload of blankets and food to one of our hospitals, not even to flood victims at Chingwizi. If the army goes there, it is to disperse the hopeless victims or to abuse donations from well-wishers abroad.

A few days ago, we saw images of excited and clueless "officials" in the presidential entourage to New York displaying their encyclopaedic penchant for opulence while shopping in American malls like the old days boarding school kids on exit weekend. Some even boasted on social media that they were going to buy a very beautiful suit "that I will be wearing for business tomorrow". God knows what business other than to form a parapet around the "King", the "Queen" and the "Prince". Even the world's most powerful president, that of America, does not travel unnecessarily with a coterie of hundred men and women whose primary function seems to be enjoyment of crumps falling off the high table while ensuring the safety of the master.

As these privileged men and women "enjoy" themselves far away from the yawning poverty back home, we have patients at our referral hospitals sleeping on the floor, on empty stomachs, teachers earning as little as USD300 a month, sewage waste literally flowing on the streets of St Marys, Rimuka, Mutapa, Tshovani, Makokoba and Dangamvura. Potholes on the roads are getting wider and deeper than fish ponds, university graduates (genuine ones) are roaming the streets not because they are lazy but because there simply is no light at the end of the tunnel.

In some leafy suburb of Harare, someone who pays his employees peanuts if he happens to pay them at all and on time, parks his new "toy" worth hundreds of thousand dollars, the size of an average 25–year mortgage in a very functional and stable economy. And yet, we have kids on each and every street of Harare that no longer know what it means to have a bath, they have no clue as to where their next meal will come from. All they know is that they still have some semblance of breath in their lungs, therefore, they have to keep scrounging and see the next day. Other kids have just been sent back home by school authorities because they couldn't pay their fees.

Not long ago, some of our erstwhile friends when asked to explain why they were accepting expensive vehicles from government, boasted that they deserved driving luxurious cars including top of the range Mercedes Benz as a ministerial status symbol. We never realised five years could be that long to change attitudes! However, David Coltart resisted this temptation and short-lived glory. One wonders if there is any correlation between his principled stance and his originality.

In most countries that constitute the greatest number of generous donors to Zimbabwe and Africa, ministers move around in very ordinary cars. What goes on in the mind of those donors when our "friends" who live like Hollywood stars in Harare take begging bowels to them because they can't supply clean water to our cities? Does anybody understand that donor money comes primarily from the foreign tax payer of which the hardworking but unrecognised Zimbabwean Diaspora is a part of?

When some NGOs with good intentions go into remote villages to assist the most vulnerable in our communities, ZANU PF cries foul. They feel that their powerbase is under attack. They feel comfortably powerful and important when people are poor. They are preoccupied with power, their stomachs, their wealth, their families and their mistresses.

On either side of politics, interests of the poor and ordinary folk have pretty much become a secondary issue as jostling for positions intensify with others even suggesting that ZEC, which has failed to produce the voters roll for last year's elections, should run their elections at congress. Is African politics about self-service and inflated ego? Someone, somewhere, must and shall stand up for the poor who happen to be in the majority. Thinking about them only during elections is insidious.

The madness of misplaced priorities does not end here. It has actually reached dizzy heights in Mount Pleasant, the home of the country's "number one" university. A commentator had this to say "Kleptocracy has now graduated from money, properties, land and diamonds to academic qualifications". I won't dilute this incisive observation with much comment except to say that while there is something called mini-MBA which can be done in as little as three weeks, many people were unaware of the existence of a mini-PhD until the University of Zimbabwe became pioneers!

The need for a national paradigm shift and a fresh start is more imperative now than ever before. We can't afford to be stuck forever with day-dreamers who plan to build a new capital city in Mt Hampden yet they don't have the capacity nor will to resuscitate Morton Jaffrey Waterworks or upgrade Hwange Power Station. Anybody who thinks that Zimbabwe will and can move forward with the current crop of leadership, prevailing mindsets, behaviours and attitudes, must be a VIP guest at Ingutsheni or Ngomahuru. Volunteers will happily pay the bill.

Moses Chamboko is a pro-democracy activist and Interim Secretary General for Zimbabweans United for Democracy (ZUNDE). He writes in his personal capacity. You may visit ZUNDE at www.zunde.org or email info@zunde.org