via Deliver us from this evil: Vince Musewe – Nehanda Radio Feb 20, 2014
The sheer unadulterated vastness of greed and selfishness within ZANU (PF) cannot be extinguished as long as they remain in power.
“In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or make others believe that they do. In such a country, the greatest fortunes will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Those who don’t have money will ruin themselves with vain efforts to conceal their poverty. That is one kind of affluence: the outward sign of wealth for a small number, the mask of poverty for the majority, and a source of corruption for all.” (Denis Diderot – October 1713 – July 1784).
Nothing better than the above quote, succinctly captures the situation in Zimbabwe. For many years I have wondered my country is not on its knees after 34 years of mismanagement and that still remains a mystery to me.
Eddie Cross, a respected economist, estimates that since 2008, about USD 12 billion from Marange diamonds has disappeared. He contends that in 2012 alone, possible diamond revenues of USD4 billion was illicitly earned and unaccounted for.
He further notes that after 27 years of operation, NSSA has a mere asset base of about USD300 million, indicating massive abuse and fraud that has gone undetected and nourished by those in power, namely ZANU(PF).
Let’s not also forget that the USD1, 3 billion debt of the Reserve Bank which remains a mystery in how it emerged. These are huge amounts that could have been used to revive industry and infrastructure despite the so called sanctions. I am sure there are more revelations to come.
Our country Zimbabwe has been raped by ZANU (PF) while they claim that they want to empower, indigenise, develop and create employment. As millions of poor Zimbabweans continue to wear the now rag tag ZANU(PF) bright yellow t-shirts with a faded picture of Mugabe, dished out in July last year, it is indeed a comedy of catastrophic measure.
The question now must be what can we do about it?
Firstly I must say that the ZANU (PF) machinery and all who derive benefit from its existence are responsible for this mess, either through blind loyalty or acts of commission, theft and fraud that no doubt will be swept under the carpet. It is inexcusable that this rampant abuse of money collected from the poor, be it in councils, medical aid or NSSA, has been abused for the material comfort of our political elite. Our taxes of course suffer the same fate.
The mispricing of goods and services by state enterprises and some private sector companies, geared more towards meeting high executive costs, has affected every Zimbabwean. Shall we remain unmoved by such abuse?
In my opinion, we cannot look at this government to deal with corruption because an effective and lasting solution to corruption would destroy its very foundations. The sheer unadulterated vastness of greed and selfishness within this government cannot be extinguished as long as they are in power. The foundation upon which ZANU (PF)’s existence is based is built on the lie that a majority of Zimbabweans support them. Nothing can be further from the truth.
We need civil society to take the responsibility to represent our interests. We need to strengthen and participate in resident associations, we need to encourage people to take interest in how our taxes and rates are being used, and we need to fight over pricing of goods and services through consumer education and boycotts if necessary. It is only when we fight the abuse that things may change. We must withold our consent to be abused any further.
The age of apathy and accepting what the politicians dish out to us must now be over, but it can only become so where each and everyone fights to get our power back. Zimbabweans must realise that as long as the current leadership remains in power, corruption will not decrease. In fact it is likely to increase and remain hidden. Political parties will not deliver our democracy, only we the civil society can.
I shuddered when I heard that ZimAsset seeks to attract USD27 billion and then some, over the next five years. It’s probably the correct number if not more, but can you imagine how these politicians are going to feed themselves from that trough.
I pray each morning the God hears our prayers and that he quickly delivers us from this evil. But that requires action on our part. If only Zimbabweans would put the same zeal and zest which they put into this prosperity religion into developing our country or fighting for their rights, we would surely see a better Zimbabwe emerging.
The false hope that millions of Zimbabweans are buying from prosperity preaching is “an opium of the people” that is making them drunk with false expectations that things will change and even if they don’t change, they lie to themselves that it’s okay. That is a delusion that gets millions of Zimbabweans pouring money into churches to prop up the ridiculous lifestyle of fake bishops and prophets and prophetesses. Hope without action kills.
As long as we do nothing we will postpone fundamental change in our country and ZANU (PF) will continue to be the false prophets of hope and prosperity. The MDC will continue to be our hope for political change but let us be wary that it too has become a platform for personal power struggles and self-actualisation of some of its leaders at the expense of the people’s project.
I must repeat my views once more; political party structures as they are will not deliver economic freedom to Africans. They may succeed in removing tyrants but will continue to be the haven of power hungry oligarchs with special interests. I am convinced the civic organisations established around needs are a more appropriate tool for freeing Africans from themselves.
The people come first!
Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmuswe@gmail.com
COMMENTS
Let’s keep preaching the good words . Make people aware of the
Real enemies. Make them were that there is better life after ZANU. There is better life in countries without Zanu. You can get electricity 365 days a year, you can get clean Tap water,365 days a year.you can go eat out once a week ,you can get free medical fro government hospital, school will produce internationaly recognised and adored students, you can get Zimbabwe manufactured produce. Jobs aplenty. You can get professional police,judiciary ,army and air force.
Let’s get rid of these crook s. Let’s show them we are not stupid,let’s boycott their goods from Iii gotten money. Haikona kunyara. Imbava ngadziwororwe. Siyayi zvinhu zvokuba.
I think we should learn from the Ukranians.
Thanks Vince for your focused views on what needs to be done .I think I am one of the last commentators on your yesterdays article on why Smith’s government succeeded even with sanctions in place.Our current government systems has been manipulated by the greed to create loopholes.The whole lot leading our nation are intertwined through nepotism relationships and companionship thus creating a clique of united looters which if not removed we cannot win the battle.Most of them have no clue on what they are supposed to do but are just conduits of siphoning out our resources which should be catering for the whole nation.Good observations but action is needed by us.
This is much more on target
Like i said yesterday… talk, talk and more talk… the solution is to get into the streets and bring the country to its knees – what is stopping this from happening ?
The fact still remains,poverty is a dividing factor, sacrifice and boycotting will have adverse effect on the poor which constitutes to more than 70 % of the whole nation’s support, a few who might be willing to do the boycotts might not have the whole nation’s support, we all need to participate, but people need assurance that if they do boycott they will eventually eat, its a scary factor which we need to consider otherwise there won’t be a single person to support the move, and on the other hand zanu pf still has power over the uniformed forces, going to the streets is suicide, unless if by some miracle the forces can resort to mutiny and sacrifice their jobs, then the rest of the public can join in,the other issue at hand is the fact that the medium being used is not accessed by many, most of those who see this might be outside the country, a few back at home might be reading through all this but most will not be aware, so once the ones who have not been able to access do get to know about it, it will be a surprise to them and difficult to just join in, so mobilisation prior to boycott and staff is required.
Bring the country to its knees? You seem to be writing about some foreign country where you dont live. It happened in 1998 and we took this country into a mess we have never recovered from. Whose country do you want to bring to its knees, and for what benefit? It is allowed to topple Zanu pf, through the ballot. These cries about rigging elections are not the real issue. MDC-T is disorganised. They cannot budget under half a million dollars for the election campaign and then lose and say it was rigged. This is done to influence people like you to go into the streets. Its old fashioned. How did that improve Libya, or Syria?
Go into the streets if you want, but you will find out, just the Libyans did that life becomes worse after that. Those who promise assistance will just get mining contracts from the succeeding govt, loot this country and live you in the streets as you pray for. Again ask the Libyans.
The talk shop is another war front my brother, it brings awareness to the people.
Yes Vince, describe the theft accurately, but then Vince…..it times to say, how can we change?
They won’t.
And they too strong so as to hold out for ever?
Now YA TALKING Vince! But there is no one in sight with enough intelligence, balls and passion to lead the nation out of Egypt.
That is why Zanu love Tsvangirai (and his prophet Chamisa). With Tsvangirai and his prophet Chamisa leading the way, you can guarantee Zanu will rule forever
If you are paying your taxes. If you are paying your NSSA. If you preferred to pay the spot fines on the road than sit for 45 minutes demanding your right to pay in 7 days, if you paid your radio license…. you sponsored their propaganda……you are part of the problem. Who needs streets? We just need people who understand that a government requires money…your money. Find every which way to COST THEM MONEY TO DEAL WITH YOU….
Robert& Tsvangirai must go
Why should Tsvangirayi go. He is leading a struggle. A struggle can take so many years. Hauna nyaya.
Very good piece but talk is cheap l think as a country we now know our common problem the time for thinking is past its now time for action
NSSA has been corrupt for many years, but that corruption had been going on under Zanu pf ministers and then MDC-T ministers, and currently under a Zanu pf minister. It is interesting that this Vince Museve guy only gets appalled by the Zanu pf potion of mismanagement. You discredit yourself, Vince, when you see things only through MDC-T eyes.
What have Tsvangira and Chamisa to do with this? these guys have tried they best but people let them down. Its now our turn to show that we are real man. Each one of us have his/her roll to play if need change. zimbabwe is full of cowards we are not really man but women in pants.
Another View- Not Cowardice but Real Bravery:
Has it ever ocurred to some that there are people who actually love RGM and ZPF- warts and all. To these people correction is better than extinction- they will strive to correct ZPF rather than to kill it or discard it politically or otherwise.
What this means is that these people will always choose ZPF- and democracy being a game of numbers they will win.
So Sir you may have to change your vocabulary- these are the brave ones for expressing their political preference of ZPF in the face of your insults.
Africa has risen to the challenge. Gone are the days where the owners of the language of worldwide usage would coin new words to tell us how to think or act:
1. Slavery was called business development.
2. Colonialism and plunder of resources were called economic progress.
3. Colonised countries were called the empire, sending free produce to build the master nations.
The list is endless….
No the joke is on you Sir, we are not cowards but we have the bravery to make ourselves heard. Remember that we fought an armed struggle to liberate our country, our greatest challenge is to achieve mental liberation.
….and Sir- being a woman is not cowardice- go into a labour ward and see the bravery of child birth- so who is the coward now?
Please Henry don’t denigrate women when WOZA have shown the kind of courage all Zimbabweans should have. The men of today simply don’t have the kind of courage that men had in the 60’s & 70’s. Sadly many lost their lives for what we have to live with today. Please Zimbabweans will you also stop hero worshipping men leaders as they all have feet of clay.
Dear Vince
Another excellent article, thank you.
I agree with you that religion has become “the opium” to the people of Zimbabwe. As the country’s political and economic nightmare grew worse so many of them have turned to religion; praying to God to deliver them from the mess.
We all know that corruption has been rampant in Zimbabwe, for example, and that it is the root cause of the country’s economic melt-down. Ask Zimbabweans why they have done nothing to ensure this cancer is removed and they will tell you “What can we do?” In other words they do not want to do anything but expect the West and God to do something about it.
After independence Zimbabweans had the political power to decide how the nation was to be ruled. They gave up that power cheaply and thus allowed Mugabe and Zanu PF to do as they pleased. And the tyrant and his cronies have done just that with the disastrous consequences we now see.
If April 1980 was the equivalent of the day the children of Israel were allowed to leave Egypt then whilst the former faced the hardships of the 40 year long journey to the promised land Zimbabweans were not prepared to face any hardships and thus stayed put.
They are praying to God to carry them one-by-one to the Promised Land- our journey is a mental one! Of course that will never happen; God gave us feet and a brain to think and He must be disappointed that we have chosen to sit and see all these talents go to waste.
We can make change gradually if we get ourselves focused as a nation but it will take time.What we should do first is to unite people regardless of their tribe so that the misguided politicians cannot use the old trick of divide and rule.The politicians like this system because it weakens the people on tribal basis.
Once there is unity of purpose,things start moving provided the masses are made aware of their human rights according to UN charter.At the moment I get annoyed when I see our poor people being cheated at the shops without resistance at all. I am lucky that my technological skills make me immune to silly tricks by shop owners. On many occasions I have managed to get items including electrical and motor spares returned for no extra charge regardless to what they write on their stupid receipts.
How many of our unsuspecting motorists have been sold Battery Acid it is almost equivalent to distilled water because these shops dilute it 4 times to give weak specific gravity of about 1150 instead of 1320 for real acid when they receive it from S Africa distributors?When I went back to the shop I bought the so-called acid with all my test gear the young guy panicked and he asked me to see him is his office to avoid public exposure.He replaced the diluted bottle with a genuine acid for the same price which gave me 1320 sg reading. I have done it many times without any resistance from them because they know that what they are doing is against the law but they take advantage of the masses ignorance.
I am trying to highlight proper civic organisations to educate our masses about their basic rights to stand up against these public looters.The problem of cheating is real in our country so we should start from basic things like dealing decisively with Chinese shops which refuse to change items once they are bought even if its their problem eg a pair of shoes with different shoes inside the box.That is criminal and silly because they do not do that in China because when I visited Hong Kong they treat you with respect.We should not accept to be treated like objects in our shops and government places of public service.
Most of the things I have stated above just require a bit of courage and common sense to implement or ask somebody to help you.Proper education and self respect gives you unlimited courage to fight injustice with great success.
p/s-please correct errors done in a hurry due to power cut and generator change over.
Sure, the common man on the ground doesn’t read these articles. If only such discussions could filter through to the grassroots, then we can see real change. The tsvangirais should be preaching this as if elections are tomorrow, but they are busy butchering serious politicians who want a more visionary leadership.
@ike-you are right they should be meeting civil societies and experts to discuss these issues before approaching and explaining these vital issues to the masses.
All of us agree. No wartime leader has ever run a suuccessful economy. Examples include Churchill, Mugabe, Mao, Stalin, Castro ad nausem. Revolutionaries are not the best custodians of the revolution. The pity for Zimbabwe is the inordinately long time it has taken us under such incompetent leadership. We know the solutions. We abscond to the Diaspora. We whinge. We become born again. We join the driverless gravy train. As a people we have no scruples, no honour, nothing. We deserve what we are.
Vince for President
go to hell Vince so much to say and no action come to the ground and start implementing your ideas instead of this grandstanding of ideas to an elitist audience who wont change anything come 2018 , Zimbabweans you need to roll up your sleeves and start working that,s what this country needs not pple shouting from the comforts of their luxury homes, diaspora hoping to send the message to poor pple without internet who are the electorate that matters
Wena Vince, uyasidina mani. Look mfowethu – stop complaining about the current issues without contextualising them; go back into history; admit the mistakes you made yesterday and start correcting that henceforth and stop repeating them.
Many Shonas and a few Mthwakazi are repeating them by their obsession with Tswangirayi, despite his dicatorial tendencies.
You complain about Marange – but many of the Shonas are opposed to Devolution. Even those who claim to be in favour; they are not as passionate in their drive for it.
COMPLAINING AND COMPLAINING, WHILST NOT CHANGING FROM YOUR PAST IS USELESS!!