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absence, worse things would happen. John’s sister-in-law would pass uncomplimentary comments about the amount of food he gobbled daily, despite having spent close to two years job-hunting without success.
“Vasikana, ahh . . . ah zisadza rinotimbwa nekarume katinogara nako aka? Kungoti ndibabamudiki, hatingavarase . . . asi vakatsvaga basa zvingaite nani,” the sister-in-law would say, sending neighbours, among them John’s potential lovers, into fits of laughter.
So determined to get rid of John had the sister-in-law become that on some days she would hire him out to do menial jobs in the community while she pocketed the cash. On the other hand, the lanky fellow’s brother had grown weary of being told to repatriate his younger brother back to the village where life was relatively cheaper.
In rural areas there were no electricity and water bills to contend with and there, one could spend time productively, the light-skinned woman with a furrowed brow would always say. What made John’s position rather unfortunate was that, unlike most other job-seekers, he had sound A-level passes and had the zeal to learn more. Such are the trials and tribulations the unemployed among us face on a daily basis.
Being without a job is as if you have committed a crime. You get so many nicknames which, however, disappear the moment you land a well-paying job somewhere. An unemployed person’s day usually starts with being assigned lowly jobs around the home and sometimes ends at a police station with all sorts of allegations being levelled against them.
Unemployed persons are in a form of slavery which threatens to tear apart families, national unity and something needs to be done urgently to avert chaos.
And Zanu-PF’s ongoing 13th Annual National People’s Conference in Gweru could not have come at any better time. The theme “Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment” aptly captures what the country yearns for to retrace its footsteps to the glory of yesteryear.
It’s a cocktail for disaster to find people roaming the streets all because someone is in league with foreigners to worsen the suffering of the people. At 32 years after independence, the country needs well-meaning parties in the mould of the revolutionary Zanu-PF to bring back smiles on the faces of many. Following sanctions and a debilitating hyperinflationary period which saw countless companies going under, Zimbabwe was left with thousands of youths in productive age-groups on the streets.
So unbearable has the unemployment rate become that the insightful theme of the Zanu-PF conference, if embraced by the majority, will redress the challenges people are facing daily. Coming at a time when the revolutionary party is preparing for elections, the conference theme is a good foundation for a manifesto that will make it identify with the people more than it has in the past.
“We want to debate and discuss and come up with resolutions that will form the basis for the party’s manifesto for next year’s elections. Various clusters have been meeting from the economic to indigenisation clusters and we want these ideas to make the manifesto which will be our electoral message next year,” said the party’s spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo in a recent interview.
The conference comes at a time when fissures are widening in both MDC-T and MDC where leaders are trading accusations at the expense of crafting policies to improve the lives of ordinary people.
The masses need food on the table not the cock and bull stories about who is taller and wiser. Time waits for no man. Instead of working to improve the lives of the electorate, MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is busy claiming credit for what his party did not do. On Tuesday, the MDC-T leader claimed to be behind the country’s relative economic recovery and revival of health and social services.
He reportedly told his party’s Mashonaland East provincial executive that despite its lack of experience in Government, MDC-T engineered the stabilisation of the country’s economy from the hyperinflationary mayhem of the last decade.
“We had no experience in Government, but we had a plan. We introduced Sterp, and the economy began to stabilise,” Mr Tsvangirai bellowed.
The MDC-T leader, who has been meeting provincial executives of the MDC-T as he readies the party for next year’s elections, said health and social services had practically collapsed when he joined Government.
“There was nothing functional in Government. Even toilets at Munhumutapa (Government offices) were not working,” he said.
“All referral hospitals were not functional, but after three months of the MDC in Government, hospitals roared into life. At Harare Hospital, they had no functional operating theatres, but as soon as the MDC got into Government six operating theatres became functional.
“Schools did not have books and we printed 13 million textbooks so that each child had four text books and a further 4 million textbooks for high schools. These are just, but a few of the MDC’s contribution in the inclusive Government.”
But the people are not blind to facts.
They see things as they happen and know fully well that Mr Tsvangirai’s party does not mirror the democracy which forms part of its very name. MDC-T has promised people jobs, but says these will only be created through Foreign Direct Investment.
My foot! So without whites nothing really seems to move in Mr Tsvangirai’s world. Pasina murungu hapana dhiri. What role does Tsvangirai think our erstwhile colonisers still have to pay here at a time when the country is reeling under the effects of sanctions they imposed?
Remember, on joining the inclusive Government, this polygamous man from Buhera claimed to have the keys to unlock foreign investment. Where are the keys, Sir Morgan? Is the lifespan of the inclusive Government not nearing its end before you deliver?
Shouting awakens people to reality, but it is not a solution. A hungry man needs food, not theories. In sharp contrast, Zanu-PF has always delivered on its promises to the people. Instead of just highlighting that the youths are unemployed, Zanu-PF has gone the extra mile to create the jobs.
MDC is happy the people are jobless and feels taking measures to address this will give them no poll message come election time. Is this not a case of fighting to get to the top through slashing other people’s heads?
Using people’s poverty as a campaign tool is inhuman and diabolic if the truth be told.
MDC-T’s failure to comprehend issues manifests itself in a recent blueprint the party launched to counter Zanu-PF’s indigenisation drive. In their wisdom or lack of it, the programme is called Juice.
But what juice is there to talk about when MDC-T seems content in making Zimbabweans play second fiddle in their own land. For how long shall people be strangers in their own home? Who told the MDC-T that a tenant is better than his landlord?
What makes these people think driving a car is far much better than being the owner of the same? What joy is there in being a farm worker when the chance is there to own the farm? The strategy MDC-T is pursuing in a bid to counter Zanu-PF’s policies in flawed. They could have done a lot better by getting closer to the people, understanding their needs and inviting them to participate in the affairs of the country.
Apart from showing off with top-of-the-range vehicles and swanky apparel which makes them appear islands in a sea of poverty, the MDCs need to put themselves together and seek lasting solutions to the problem of jobs, not the piecemeal job creation project they have anchored on foreign investment.
This carryover mentality that without whites the economy will never tick, makes every right-minded person doubt whether or not Tsvangirai and his band of opportunists mean good for Zimbabwe.
At a time when it is becoming abundantly clear that owning the means of production is the right way to go, MDC-T wants the whites to continue in control while using the black majority as animals of service and sacrifice? For how long, Sir Morgan shall we remain hewers of wood and drawers of water?
Did our heroes perish in the war of liberation that we may today continue wallowing in poverty in a country we call our own? Did they sacrifice life and limb so that the whites remain in control directly or indirectly?
Zanu-PF’s conference theme, shows the revolutionary party is visionary and will stop at nothing to ensure peace prevails while people have a say in the country’s economic and political advancement.
We deserve better and if the one aspiring to lead us believes we are better off as workers, then the nation is doomed. Seed was promised and delivered, but nothing the MDC-T promised has materialised except sanctions. Zanu-PF’s stance on indigenisation bodes well for the country in many respects.
Indigenisation ensures people get control in almost every sector of the economy to undo the current situation where some companies are foreign-owned and repatriate huge sums of their profits to their come countries. The programme also ensures continuity in terms of skills because it is a lot easier for people to transfer knowledge from one person to the other in one working environment.
Empowering the nation gives people access to national resources and allows them to participate meaningfully in the production of the national cake and in the process create employment for thousands of people.
Without having to work for someone, if Zimbabweans heed Zanu-PF’s message, they can organise themselves into groups to run successful businesses which can help shore the country out of poverty.
It is us, and only us, who have the power to pull the country out of problems.
Let’s all play a part.
Online Reporter