A country on its knees

37 years after independence and the country is a mere skeleton of what it used to be....Zimbabwe is dying. The land has been stripped bare of its mineral resources, the infrastructure and the economy are slowly collapsing. Who is to blame for this destruction?

I have heard numerous speeches from president Robert Mugabe and his cabinet over the past couple of years blaming the West for all the problems that Zimbabwe is currently facing. Our Zimbabwean government is very adept at passing the buck and they overlook the fact that they are the ones who have been running the show for the last 37 years. When we gained independence all the systems and infrastructure were in place and Zimbabwe was a very successful country to the extent of competing with the US dollar where the rate of exchange was one $1 Zimbabwe dollar to US$1.47 dollar. I am not an economist but to my layman knowledge this is a clear indication that Zimbabwe was very competitive on the international market. All the government had to do was maintain the systems that were in place when we gained independence and build on that. The foundation was well set but they have failed to build on top of what was left and have even gone as far as destroying the very foundation that was left for them.

Greed and corruption is the order of the day and whilst people are starving and dying of disease those in power continue to pat themselves on the back in congratulatory pride for doing a great job of running the country. What is it going to take in order for these selfish people to see that they are slowly killing the country and everything that it stands for? Zimbabwe is a living testament to the adage from the bible that says, 'The love of money is the route of all evil'. In the name of governing the government has committed such atrocities against its people that it doesn't bear thinking of and they continue to intimidate their citizens to garner support. If this is not evil, then I don't know what is.

From as far back as I can remember Zimbabwe has taxed its citizens an additional tax of 3% of income to cover for the Aids Levy. This money on top of financing a wide range of HIV and AIDS related programmes is also supposed to help the children orphaned as a result of this disease by paying for their school fees. A majority of those children are not benefiting from that fund and yet people continue to get taxed. Millions of dollars have been disappearing from the government coffers for decades and still they blame the West. How stupid do these people in government think that that we are?

This is what has become of our beautiful city Harare. People queueing for endless hours to get their hard earned money out of the banks, pavements on the high street filled with goods to sell and unemployed graduates playing football in the streets because there are no jobs to be had. It is the government's duty to ensure that the country has a thriving economy where everyone who is willing and able to work is employed, where the health and well-being of the population is a priority and where systems are in place to ensure that the population does not go hungry. The government continues to fail on all these fronts and yet they tenaciously still cling to power and refuse to acknowledge their failure. In my mind it is very clear on who is to blame in this Zimbabwe debacle...who else but President Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party.