By Clayton Gonese
Even though autocratic governments are known for being spin-doctors and propagandists, one thing for sure is that they can never spin their actions. As the saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”
Although the Zimbabwean government falsely claims to love citizens and to be committed to service delivery, events that have punctuated the run-up to the SADC summit, which will be held in Mt Hampden on the 17th to 18th August, are tantamount to throwing itself (government) under the bus.
Rehabilitation Of Roads To Impress Visitors
The past two months have been punctuated by massive rehabilitation of main roads from Robert Mugabe International Airport to Mt Hampden and planting of big trees on some of the roads which the SADC summit attendees will use to the venue.
It is not in doubt that indeed roads must be fixed and be up to standard. However, such an action raises more questions than answers if it is done for deception.
The government is simply decorating these roads to impress the SADC visitors so that when they return to their countries, they will be saying that the Zimbabwean government is doing wonders yet they would all have been deceived.
Why is this government not keen to impress visitors, and not the people it claims that they voted for it? If this government were really voted into office by the people, wouldn’t it be natural that it has to be accountable to the people?
Alas, the government feels that it is more accountable to SADC, more than its own citizens. What an opprobrium!
One must remember that the same government, since 1980, has failed to rehabilitate major roads like Harare-Beitridge and Harare-Chirundu. If it had the same dedication that it displayed in the last 3 months, don’t you think that by now we would be using spaghetti roads?
However, the current government calls itself the new dispensation, so it argues that it has nothing to do with the Mugabe-led government. But you and l know very well that the same people who are currently controlling the levers of power were the chief policy-makers of the Mugabe regime.
Even if we say this one is a new dispensation, its performance in the last seven years has been very dismal. Some key infrastructure projects like the Gwanda Solar Project remain just dreams.
If this government had put the same dedication it is displaying right now to impress SADC delegates, don’t you think the Gwanda solar project would have been completed several years ago?
Furthermore, the government is currently rehabilitating roads that it definitely knows will be used by SADC summit attendees from outside the country yet most roads that lead to most suburbs are death traps.
It is often said that some cars are not roadworthy but most of our roads are not car worthy. Most of them lack basic infrastructure like traffic lights and for those that have traffic lights, most are dysfunctional.
When are those small roads going to be fixed? At any rate, the roads that are being rehabilitated to impress SADC were actually in a better position than most roads that lead to suburbs. So, the government is trying to impress SADC, not the citizens.
Since SADC published a damning report about the 2023 elections, the government is ready to do anything to gain total recognition from SADC.
After seeing the recently rehabilitated roads and recently planted trees, some SADC people will go back saying, “Look, the Zimbabwean government is doing a good job. Yes their electoral win is contested but at least they are doing something.”
That’s the kind of recognition that the government is seeking. But why not seek such recognition from your people? The government must never take Zimbabweans for fools. The people know that the roads are not being rehabilitated for the benefit of the citizens but to just impress SADC.
War Against Vendors And Transport Operators
Even though this same government is responsible for killing the economy of Zimbabwe and ended up creating a vendor economy and a chaotic transport system called mushikashika, it now wants SADC visitors to think that there is order in the city of Harare yet there is no modicum of it.
Most people are jobless and they survive from hand to mouth through street vending, some including at night these days.
Reader, you also know that we used to have an efficient public transport system but it was decimated by the Zanu PF government. The chaos in the transport sector is a creation of this government. And this chaos has been ongoing for so long without being nipped in the bud.
But now because there is an imminent SADC meeting, the government has declared war on vendors and public transport operators, let alone commutters.
Vendors and public transport operators are being arrested, maimed and harassed at a very alarming rate. Why? The Zanu PF government wants SADC visitors to find Harare City “clean”. If this government has appetite to address these deep-seated problems, why now because there is a looming SADC meeting?
It doesn’t care whether those vendors and public transport operators are going to starve, during the SADC meeting days, in this hand to mouth economy.
The government is simply saying to the citizens, “We don’t care whether you starve or not, for as long as we please, charm and mesmerize the foreigners.”
The Unjust Incarceration Of Timba and 76 Others
On the 16th of June, the Zanu PF government heavily pounced on Citizens Coalition for Change interim leader Jameson Timba and some youths who had gathered privately at his house to commemorate the 16th June International Youth Day because it was afraid that they would organize protests.
But if they were really trying to stage demonstrations, what’s wrong with demonstrations? So demonstrations are now illegal in this country? Reader, these people were gathered at a private residence.
When you gather privately, you don’t need to notify anybody. But this government had to storm a private residence because it is in a panic mode. It fears its citizens the most.
So, the government is ready to pounce on anybody who has the potential to stage demonstrations.
The government wants SADC people to think that the citizens of Zimbabwe are happy and content, thus there is no protest, even though they have grievances against the government which rigged elections.
The truth of the matter is that the citizens are not happy but they are just being suppressed to make sure that they do not raise their voices in the run up to the summit.
The government wants SADC to think that it was wrong to condemn last year’s election because the citizens are “happy” with it, so that’s why they are not protesting or complaining.
So, the innocent Timba and his fellow accused are going to remain in prison until the summit is over. This summit means a lot to the government because it wants to use it to gain legitimacy from SADC, at the expense of the citizens. Cry my beloved Zimbabwe.
Conclusion
Since the government is feigning commitment to address long standing problems, are we going to see it continue with massive infrastructure projects after the SADC summit?
Is it going to create order in the transport sector and is it going to do the needful, to address problems faced by vendors? The simple answer is no.
The government is only committed to charming SADC at the expense of the citizens. Zimbabwean citizen, you are own your own.