Unhappy Independence Day Zimbabwe!

Forty Years of Ruin.

Today marks forty years of Zimbabwe’s Independence Day celebrations.
I pay tribute to the struggle for liberation and respect the sacrifices incurred for our independence, but what do we have to show for it, a nation divided within itself, an elite group of self-centred leaders in government and in some business.

What is meant for a time of supposedly joyous celebrations for a nation is a moment met with many different emotions, expressions, and feelings.

Robert Mugabe and his cronies (Zanu PF) took over a nation in 1980, of which it was a country that was the envy of many and the breadbasket within the Southern African region.

Robert Mugabe and his government at that time made a promise to uplift the lives of its citizens.

In the early 1980s Robert Mugabe presented himself as a sophisticated, sensible and a well-balanced man when he took over the reins of power.

But it was not long that for most of the population it became clear that it didn’t take much time for a change to be evident from Robert Mugabe, he ordered a massacre of the Matabele tribe in the early 1980s close to twenty thousand people lost their lives. Robert Mugabe sent his Korean-trained troops into Matabeleland to conduct a campaign of torture and murder that has still yet to be fully exposed.

An estimated twenty thousand civilians were murdered and as many disfigured and tortured in what is now known as the Gukurahundi: the washing away after the storm.

Because of such actions, this has fuelled a hatred between the Ndebele and the Shona people, with no resolution in sight.

Since then little development has happened for the Matabeleland region, worse for Bulawayo, which is Zimbabwe’s second city, the centre for trade because of its proximity to the neighbouring countries.

As a result if been neglected Bulawayo has become a ghost town over the years.

As Robert Mugabe and his Zanu Pf administr ion continued to rule over the years facing little opposition, or maybe a case of total disregard for any opposition, it slowly became evident that nepotism, corruption, and a total disregard for the rule of law became the order of the day.

Moving on into the 1990s, the government realizing its shortcomings, then tried to implement the so-called, market-friendly - Economic Structural Adjustment Program, known as ESAP. This did not realize any benefits and subsequently slowly begun the breakdown.

Even after 1980, the Zanu PF government allowed white farming, industry, and mining to continue. While using the state to improve the education and health sectors, the result was modest growth, but the ESAP program only brought more difficulties the government could not handle, thus ESAP was introduced to encourage growth and employment amongst other benefits, but growth was poor and employment contracted, and many firms even closed down. So many other reasons can be listed about the failures of this ESAP program.

Even so, nothing can top the worst moment and decision in 1999 of Zimbabwe's government in its foolishness of the land invasions, the so-called land redistribution program – whatever one wants to call it – many having a different view on what it meant, although many Zimbabwean farmers lost their property, some lost their lives, while others sought refuge in other neighbouring countries.

This brought on condemnation from many world leaders, but even so, many Zimbabweans had hope that this move would bring about an equal standing and betterment to production from the land, if this was done appropriately but lack of transparency in the process only fuelled corruption and left most of the land futile.

No doubt such action brought about the imposition of targeted sanctions upon some government officials and some business leaders. These targeted sanctions have become the battle cry of this government and its sympathisers, bringing a whole new meaning to poverty upon this beautiful county.

Cry My Beloved Country.

In November 2017 Robert Mugabe was ousted out of power, in a coup that was not a coup, as Zimbabweans took to the streets to celebrate the end of a tyrant, having hopes that freedom from the dictator and freedom from oppression and economic mismanagement would bring much-needed relief.

As confusion lingered everywhere, as hope took hold of the nation in a façade of what was meant for a betterment.

It has been 28 months since that moment when a coup that was not a coup has proven to be the worst Zimbabweans least expected.

So how do we celebrate such Independence, all I can say is unhappy Independence Day Zimbabwe!