Dear 2012, Will you promise to be better than 2011?

It was a great delight and privilege to meet you on Sunday, because many â€" great and small, who would have liked to see you, could not make it for reasons we shall not get into now, at least until after the promised inquest.

Talking of promises, how different will you be from 2011? At this same time last year, we were made to believe that South African President Jacob Zuma would submit to SADC not only a roadmap for Zimbabwe's elections but mechanisms for the transfer of power. That did not materialise. And resistance to security sector reforms actually earned Nyikayaramba a promotion!

What do you promise the workers at Shabani Mashaba Mines (SMM), which 2011 did not? By this time last year, only the mine's communal toilets were spared of water disconnection to avert a possible cholera outbreak over an unpaid US$3million water bill.

Apart from underpaid diamond mineworkers, farm workers had a raw deal as their pay of US$55 per month hardly met the skyrocketing cost of living in 2011 even after factoring in allowances if any. Some farm workers were evicted in Bromley before Christmas.

2011 promised a Zimbabwe Diamond Act amid revelations then that the country could have lost more than US$30 million to leakages and smuggling in Marange's diamond fields. But that Act never saw the light of the day. So did the diamonds cash audit?

2012, will you promise that no more broke ministries will dig deeper into their begging bowls and splash full colour advertisements in the state media congratulating the Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces on his birthday?

Would you promise that the two MDC formations will not be lured into reviving Zanu-pf from its Lazarus moment through the guise of the proposed joint rallies when Zanu-pf has hardly held political rallies of its own other than numerous state funerals since 2008?

2012, will you promise a level playing field which 2011 failed to deliver in the areas of media reforms, radio and television broadcasting and freedom of expression without harassment of journalists under the criminal defamation laws?
 
This one may be a big ask, 2012. Would you promise by December the MDC-T will have a Think Tank to guide the party with objective and critical assessments of its moves in what promises to be a stormy year ahead as Zanu-pf is spoiling for a real fight?

Another worry 2012, is the ever rising cost of living in Zimbabwe caused by greed, fuel prices, lack of supervision by government, Zesa outages and the turbulence in the global economy since the dollarisation of the economyâ€" would you promise to hold prices at their 2011 level until December, please!

2011 failed to deliver on many promises including the New Constitution, revision of the defective voters' roll, the referendum, the Human Rights Commission Act, the stalled Beitbridge-Harare Road Project, the overdue liquidation of Air Zimbabwe and so on. Would you promise to deliver on that before the arrival of your successor (2013)?

Just one more assurance, 2012 â€" please don't repeat the mistakes of your predecessors like the threatened bank and farm seizures and holding sham elections without the Diaspora Vote let alone a clean voters' roll, as you will be 100% sure that targeted sanctions and an assets freeze will remain in force and legitimacy denied accordingly.
 
Hoping you will make a difference, 2012. All the best!
 
Yours sincerely,

Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, zimanalysis2009@gmail.com