Let them eat roots

via Let them eat roots – The Zimbabwean 18 February 2015 by Jera

But all pranks aside; what is it that makes a man claim to be leader of a ‘people’s party’ while at the same time throwing wasteful parties amidst the poverty of millions of his compatriots?

What makes first lady Grace – a supposed philanthropist – partake in these sinfully wasteful events? In 2014, her daughter’s wedding was rumoured to have cost $5 million, barely a month after she and her husband had squandered $1 million on icing sugar and candles, just to test the lungs of a 90-year-old birthday boy.

Despite these claims of philanthropy, we see no signs that the president or his wife are concerned about the sorry state of our country. Outside of their gilded walls, in the real world, there are citizens who survive on one meal a day. There are thousands of Zimbabweans who in the last 15 years have endured hunger to the point of consuming roots.

Others have trailed the railway lines, gathering maize spilled from goods trains, just so they can feed their families. Mugabe is certainly a wealthy man. We were afforded a glimpse into his wealth when he singlehandedly fed 3,000 delegates at the Zanu (PF) youth congress in August 2014. While the appearance of rice and chicken is Christmas for the impoverished majority, Mugabe casually butchered 30 cattle from his own herd and donated a lorry load of maize into to party youths, after the young bootlickers had gone to bed on empty stomachs.