CORRUPTION IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING ZIMBABWE Forget about the political squabbling that is presently threatening to literally tear apart the two major political parties in Zimbabwe;MDC and ZanuPF. Forget about the rampant factionalism that has now emerged to be the new defining trajectory in these two political organizations.Forget about ideological inclination(s) and/or lack of them in these political organizations.Forget about personalities.Forget about tribalism,regionalism and racism. Think about corruption in both the public and private sectors.Think about how corruption has virtually decimated our once-upon-a-time economically resurgent and beautiful country this side of the Equator. Think about our failure as a nation to nip corruption in the bud. Think about the few billionaires from Zimbabwe; amazingly corrupt but fabulously rich politicians and army generals who literally looted the country dry. Think about the multi-million dollar mansions that these corrupt and greedy kleptocrats have put up in the cities,towns and even in their villages. Think about these peoples breathtaking lack of a conscience and Ubuntu. Think about the more than 12 million Zimbabweans who are scrounging for a living;living rough so to speak. Think about the 12 million desperately and hopelessly poor Zimbabweans who are struggling to subsist on less than US$2 per day. Think about our dilapidated public clinics,hospitals,schools and general infrastructure. Think about the humiliating fact that more than thirty(30) after attaining our independence, less than 30% of Zimbabweans are connected to the national electricity power grid. Think about the more than 2 million Zimbabweans who are facing imminent starvation as I write this short opinion piece. Think about the thousands of young women who are dying every day simply because they cannot access adequate pre-natal and post-natal medical attention. Think about why we are so poor yet we are so rich. We have,since independence,hopelessly and shamelessly failed to build strong,efficient,transparent and accountable public institutions. We have allowed the Police force to be virtually transformed into an appendage of the political animal that is controlled by the rich and powerful. We have degenerated Parliament and virtually reduced this otherwise very important watchdog institution into a useless and toothless bulldog; mostly packed with yes men and yes women who will just sing for their supper until their voices grow hoarse. We have packed the Judiciary with lazy,corrupt and utterly incompetent operatives who will hear no evil and see no evil. We have allowed our infrastructure to rot whilst we look aside and watched. We have neglected our railway system and let it crumple into a virtual useless heap of metal. Dabuka marshaling yards in Gweru used to be one of the most sophisticated and efficient railway marshaling yards in Africa but today, it is a complete and laughable wreck. Our municipal and public road network is now a crumbling mess littered with potholes and deep craters. We have failed to provide safe piped water to our cities,towns and growth points. We have successfully reduced our cities and towns into big villages where residents are now relying on water from unsafe shallow wells dug at their homesteads and in the neighborhood. Put simply,in a very short three decades we have successfully run down Zimbabwe into becoming just another statistic amongst Africas failed post-independent nation states. Up until such a time that we build,nurture and sustain strong and efficient institutions to detect,fight,curb and ultimately eliminate corruption in both the public and private sectors we might as well kiss socio-economic advancement and development goodbye. Rampant corruption has literally brought Zimbabwe to her knees. We might change our governments with the frequency with which we change our underwear but as long as we dont do something dramatic to ruthlessly clamp down on corruption; we will be stuck in this hell hole for many, many more decades to come.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 05:16:33 +0000
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