IT is shocking and ordinarily should be embarrassing for a party in government to be seen dancing kongonya in celebration of an election dubiously won 12 months ago when ordinary citizens are suffering. But with Zanu PF the abnormal is normal.
Oblivious of the fact that an election victory must be followed by deliberate, if not fervent delivery on promises made during the campaign, Zanu PF is already busy preparing for the 2018 elections when they have not fulfilled a single promise made to the electorate before the July 31 2013 elections.
Millions of long suffering Zimbabweans are waiting for the Zanu PF government to deliver on their promises and to do more than parrot ZimAsset as if a document is successful delivery.
It is clear that as Zanu PF celebrates its common wealth at the former national State House, now the citadel of the Gushungo monarchy, what is paramount for them is devising superficial strategies of holding onto power by any means come 2018, unmoved by the reality that the economy is bleeding faster than in 2008.
It is saddening to note that the gap between the rich and poor is widening exponentially due to the unshackled corruption of the Zanu PF government which can only pay passing lip service to combating the scourge. The few cronies in the Zanu PF common wealth enjoy the comforts of good life while the majority of Zimbabweans suffer.
All the blame placed on the Government of National Unity (GNU), also known as the three-headed snake, for lack of policy clarity and delivery is proving to have been a dangerous blame game of smoke and mirrors aimed at fooling Zimbabweans into believing that Zanu PF has suddenly started caring.
Most State enterprises have been looted dry and are no longer functional entities. Prior to last year’s elections, Zanu PF, in its election manifesto, promised the electorate among other things; to create over two million jobs, improve the welfare of government workers and to revive the economy.
So far all they have done is raise dust among the people with between zero and nil to show for all the bravado. One year after the elections, we are dismayed to note that instead of the promised jobs, the opposite has happened and instead of heading north everything is heading south.
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Tens of thousands of people continue to lose their jobs due to company closures with the most affected being the clothing, engineering, furniture, metal, tobacco, textile, chemicals, food, agriculture, catering, pulp and paper industries. A substantial number of companies continues to operate at below average capacity utilisation levels while the National Social Security Authority revealed that an average of 10 companies were closing every month since January this year.
Thousands of college graduates are now being absorbed into the streets euphemistically called the informal sector due to lack of jobs. Unemployment rate stood at 80% prior to elections and this figure is seemingly continuing to swell. To comfort itself, however, Zanu PF claims the unemployment rate is just 11% because in their common wealth jobs are plenty.
The situation is even more dire in Bulawayo where industry has all but shut down. Once the industrial hub of the nation, Bulawayo is now just a pale shadow of its former self. Industrial buildings have either been turned into churches or just remain empty shells.
To add strain to suffering, attempts are afoot to wind down and close the few remaining businesses in the city and other towns countrywide for allegedly failing to comply with the short-sighted badly implemented indigenisation laws.
The Zanu PF government promised to revive the economy through ZimAsset which it says seeks to address challenges affecting service delivery and economic growth.
With this policy they promised that the Zimbabwean economy would grow by 6,2% this year and 9,9% by 2018. Instead, independent economists have estimated that it will only grow by 1,5% this year.
Economic meltdown has continued to spiral downward as compared to the GNU period leaving the majority of Zimbabweans destitute. The indigenisation policy continues to chase away existing and potential investors. Liquidity challenges ravish the economy unabated as seen through the strife in the banking sector. Taxes continue to bite, further increasing the suffering of millions of Zimbabweans.
Brain drain continues with the country now a free labour training zone for the international market, exporting talent for free to the detriment of national skills pool. Professionals continue to leave the country for greener pastures outside the country. Zanu PF had promised to fix the economy so that people would stay and work in Zimbabwe and that even those outside the country would come back to a changed country.
One year later all that has come to nothing; instead we see the Zimbabwean government literally begging South Africa to expedite efforts of extending work permits for the hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans currently working in that country because she cannot sustain her citizens should they be sent back.
Many in the Diaspora would rather remain there, with some preferring to suffer through menial jobs rather than come back to poverty.
In the 1990s, Zimbabwe’s literacy levels were among the best in Africa and ordinary people were able to access free primary healthcare. Zanu PF promised a return to this scenario should they be voted into power, but again it has all turned out to be a maze.
While there has been some slight improvements in the education sector in terms of salaries for teachers, education standards have continued to fall. Teachers are disgruntled because of the uncertainty over when the next pay cheque will come as their pay dates are no longer guaranteed. Teaching conditions are more difficult than ever.
During the GNU, then Education minister David Coltart had made great strides in ensuring that education standards improved in Zimbabwe. Sadly, Zanu PF has led to the backsliding of the sector.
The health sector collapse under the Zanu PF government is also cause for concern. There are still shortages of medication in hospitals and clinics with people expected to buy their own medication. This is despite the government having promised free primary and maternity healthcare for pregnant women and children below five years. Instead, what we see are hospitals and clinics tripping over each other in sending out debt collectors to collect what they are owed by patients.
It is the poor, who make up the majority of the population, who suffer the most as they do not have alternative means to get treatment elsewhere.
Existing clinics and hospitals are failing to provide quality service and all this is in violation of the new Constitution which guarantees right to health. Forty-eight percent of HIV-positive children are failing to access antiretroviral drugs due to the unavailability of treatment facilities in some parts of the country.
It is now abundantly clear to everyone that all those provisions in the Constitution, including the right to healthcare, education, press freedom and entrenchment of human rights are only on paper and the government has no intention of fulfilling them.
Absolutely no steps have been made towards fulfilling the devolution of power clause in the Constitution; which would give provinces more power over controlling their resources and policies.
Edwin Mushoriwa is MDC deputy president. He writes in his personal capacity
