Yearning for a rich neighbourhood

Editorial Comment
ZIMBABWE is teetering on the brink of an implosion after the revelation that some executives in quasi-governmental entities have been caught dipping their hands in the cookie jar.

ZIMBABWE is teetering on the brink of an implosion after the revelation that some executives in quasi-governmental entities have been caught dipping their hands in the cookie jar.

There is no need to look through a telescopic lens to appreciate the extent of the rot.

There is glaring forensic evidence of people in influential positions actively trampling upon the weary backs of the poor majority in an undeclared scramble for rich-pickings.

As it is, most Zimbabweans have to endure the obscenities of following and serving a breed of leaders that is engulfed in orgies of self-enrichment.

Evidence that is readily available in the public domain indicates that the rich have become daring, diabolically enterprising and audacious in pursuit of earthly pleasures.

The self-enrichment schemes and scams practised by some bosses are unforgivable.

It is difficult to fathom how men (and women) were able to find peace in their hearts after awarding themselves outrageous salaries when ordinary workers were not being regularly paid even a small part of their meagre salaries.

Where is human compassion and scruple when they are most required?

Why did the bosses fail to exercise their humanity in sharing the little there was with everyone else?

The super-rich have been exposed as having insatiable appetites for easy money.

These rich executives seem to have granted themselves open licences to steal from the public purse.

Day by day they got richer, fatter and more determined to amass as much wealth as they could in the shortest of time possible.

The new bounty hunters ignored that the stench of their ill-gotten riches was repulsive to the ordinary people.

The poor people could only pinch their noses in disgust as they got offended by the unmistakable pungent smell of stinking riches.

The prevailing situation is no longer about abuse of power by the company executives.

It is now a class struggle between the super-rich and the extremely poor; the haves and the have nots.

Those classified as the have nots are characterised by a debased lifestyle that is lived dangerously below the breadline.

The haves continue to enjoy the sweetness of life as they flaunt the riches they obtained by flouting basic rules in financial management and tenets of integrity.

They can afford all life’s pleasures since their monetary fortunes scale the dizzy heights of obscenity.

The poor people can only watch in despair as they go about their daily struggles for survival.

The emaciated and half-starved people brush shoulders with the rich, the rotund, the gaudy, the greedy, the unconcerned and the unkind.

The people do see the shameless extravagance of the rich. It would have been better if the poor people did not come in contact with their offensively rich cousins.

There is no letting as the disparity in fortunes and misfortunes is ever widening at an alarming rate. There is no equability in sight.

The life of extravagance goes on as the poor watch with awe and glee.

The hunt for riches that help finance the extravagant lifestyles of the rich is not without pitfalls. Uneasy and embarrassing dynamics between the rich and the poor have sprung up.

The poor citizens have developed a natural animosity towards the ultra-rich due to the former’s audacious display of monetary greed.

Such an unhealthy dynamic between the rich and the poor raises the possibility of a war of attrition between the two diametrically opposed players in the game of money.

As peace loving Zimbabweans, we can only hope that this inequality will not degenerate into a full-fledged internecine war between the social classes at some point.

As it is, a recipe of a revolution led by the poor is simmering dangerously in the background.

The ordinary people who toil on the soil to oil and to spoil the egos of the rich may not be able to sustain the current state of limbo and inaction for much longer.

It may not be long before the poor demand a fair share of the national cake through violent skirmishes.

History teaches us that poverty and crime can give rise to a revolution and unfortunately Zimbabwe meets the requirements.

Poverty pervades widely in Zimbabwe while the rate of violent crimes such as armed robberies and murders is alarming.

The poor may be forced to transcend torturous terrain and climb steep cliffs in a violent revolution to sanitise the poverty-opulence quandary.

The warning that hungry people will no longer ululate for lip service should be heeded. The rich should know that the poor will not hold onto false promises of a utopian society.

The poor citizens will no longer avail their thin, lanky and ungainly children for the pleasure of those bent on promoting and sustaining the imbalances within the social class structures.  Masola waDabudabu is a social commentator