Sincerity always has  handsome rewards

Source: Sincerity always has  handsome rewards – DailyNews Live

Editorial Comment      4 May 2019

This precisely summarises the situation Zimbabwe faces today.
Tensions have kept going up since the last election in July 2018 when
President Emmerson Mnangagwa cemented his hold on the power thrust on him
following the deposition of dictator Robert Mugabe, albeit through a
largely controversial poll which he won by a razor-thin margin against
youthful MDC leader Nelson Chamisa.

This victory was later to get the Constitutional Court seal of approval
after the then 40-year-old opposition leader dragged both Mnangagwa and
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, querying the results of the said
plebiscite.

When Mnangagwa took over following the “soft coup” of November 2017,
Zimbabweans were very excited at the prospects his administration had
promised to unfurl.

However, this was soon proven to have been an illusion that Zimbabweans
were living as the reality on the ground remained a perpetuation of the
pain and suffering unleashed on citizens as corruption, nepotism,
militarisation of key institutions, policy inconsistencies and even
tribalism became the hallmark of Mugabe and his successor’s modus
operandi.

The country’s economy has been on a free-fall for decades and more
recently, prices of basic commodities have been going through the roof, a
development that has caused untold suffering on the common citizen.
School fees, fuel, food items like bread, cooking oil, meat among others,
have gone up, pushing Zimbabweans on the fringes of the mainstream
economy. Labour unions have threatened to take to the streets in protest
over the sky-rocketing prices but government has decided to remain
thuggish, brushing aside all these as nonsensical.

However, the reality on the ground demands practical and sustainable
solutions. Threats will not bring a solution to rising prices. The
combative attitude government and the ruling Zanu PF want to adopt will
not solve issues. Rather, we risk witnessing a perpetuation of these.

To some extent, government was supposed to be sincere and share its
challenges with the people.
Who knows, some of the solutions to obtaining challenges could be found
there. Sadly, the Zanu PF government has a culture of lying to the people,
indicating right and yet turning the opposite direction. Sincerity remains
important and helps show people the trajectory the country has adopted.