Dear Mr President,
On the anniversary of the coup that propelled you to power, please hear me out.
I know your plate might be full, but for now, Mr President please lend me your ears. In writing this I am guided by the thought that we cannot claim ignorance of what we have endured. In looking back we should recall how we responded to escalating problems.
I think it is fair to say since last years elections, Zimbabwe’s turbulent political landscape is defined by; alleged assassination attempts on would be kings, death threats against perceived enemies, alliances forming and deforming, unsettled political settlements, unity breeding disunity, heroes dying, and new political ‘stars’ rising. Old unhealthy ‘horses’ clinging to office, while ‘new’, ‘healthy’ ones are deemed unfit, problem children. This is what characterises the high-octane political drama in Zimbabwe.
Mr President, you need to understand and appreciate that every single Zimbabwean life matters and this should be demonstrated in the symbolism and actuality of your actions at all times. The people should know, see and feel that their voices count, despite saying you will be a listening President, you have not lent your ears to many. Are you oblivious to the nature of the core challenges that underscore our nations fragility; poverty, unemployment and inequality, however the political cards fall, these tripartite issues should cease to define the lives of the Zimbabwean people, they must catalyse common purpose and actions. You seem not to be alive to your responsibilities to those you are meant to serve. You are failing to comprehend the task at hand, squandering public goodwill of the Zimbabwean people, leaving yourself obscured from the realities of the ordinary men and women on the streets. Charity begins at home.
Your penchant for violence and iron-fisted attitude to governance go against your ‘Zimbabwe is open for business mantra’ and has put a spanner in any meaningful international reengagement efforts. The international community is primarily interested in an economic dispensation that actively promotes fiscal transparency and accountability, and that upholds the rule of law, protection of human and property rights. The problem of insecurity can only be addressed through dialogue. The threat or actual use of force not only risks deepening the sense of alienation of certain communities, but also reinforces the perception and or reality of a country under military rule. You have failed to translate promises into action. You have seemingly lost the ability to lead your party, government and the nation.
Whilst you play a game of political chess, Zimbabwe is left with a divided government, a stalemate that means even less agreed action on the economy. Are you unable to genuinely gauge the mood of the people, or to understand how deeply they are affected by economic malfunction while they watch the financial malpractice of so many in the ruling elite? As Stephen Chan comments: “It is as if the material comforts of protected suburbs such as Harare’s Borrowdale Brooke insulate the ruling oligarchic elite from any sense of what deprivation means.”
As an individual who has always believed that politics must not be led by the gun, the presence of the military on the foreground of our politics unsettles me. This is not only because of the precedence it sets but also because praetorian politics are never a harbinger of democracy or development, but rather one of repression and plunder.
Mr President, the elephant in the room is your admistration’s insatiable appetite for fiscal indiscipline, the politics of patronage and cronyism. If you understand national imperatives, embrace ideas to disrupt the vertical growth of the economy which concentrates the wealth of the nation in the hands of a few.
Mr President you are faced with a cocktail of problems to deal with such as the shortfall in agricultural production despite the much-touted command agriculture which was under your stewardship, a decrepit healthcare system, and the lack of substantial opportunities for Zimbabwe’s teeming youth. The banking system needs to be rebooted, corruption booted out, patronage given the red card, faith needs to be restored in the national currency and the government’s finances require replenishment so the challenges of poverty, unemployment and crime, will cease to define the lives of many Zimbabweans. The work ahead should be done in pursuit of the vision and principles of the age-old values of Ubuntu: selflessness, sacrifice and service in a manner that ensures that the interests of the people take precedence over our desire as individuals.
From where I sit it appears that the technocrats you included in your cabinet are merely of ornamental value, for the display cabinet, to make the regime look pretty! If your government is to unlock capital flows, it must develop sound policy and regulatory environments, strengthen financial institutions and deal decisively with corruption.
Many Zimbabweans would like to see a more forthright national leadership that not just serves itself but is representative of the aspirations of its people. This is the time to think strategically at all levels and make politics real and convincing. It is not about the ‘endangered’ politicians or their supporters but is about knowing how to manage the political space and national development. Zimbabwean citizens will not allow themselves to develop a short memory over the contributions of such politicians to the misfortunes of the country or ignore the effect of ‘dropping’ those who are no longer suitable for national leadership. Such ‘going along to get along’ mantra is not a balanced approach, nor a sophisticated one; it is, quite simply, weak and wrong.
Mr President, since you intend to be ‘there’ in 2030, I do ask how long Zimbabweans should tolerate the rule of a clique of septuagenarian veterans of an armed struggle that took place before most of the population was born. Together we should continue to contribute to the important legacy of deepening democracy in our country, of creating a Zimbabwe for all and not for the few whose sense of entitlement threatens the very fabric our society.
I write as a very young patriotic Zimbabwean and I am entitled to. This is because it is the people of my generation who will bear the brunt of the change from the trials of the past, and it is the destiny of this same generation to steer the sails of the Zimbabwean state into calmer channels.
I pause for a response.
Patriotically
Itai Michael Preston Choto
