The hedonistic and near apocalyptic action is estimated by the United Nations to have put at least 700,000 people out of their homes. This action, coming from a country where white farmers were unceremoniously evicted from their farms in an acrimonious descent to chaos and anarchy, casts an ominous spell on the socio-economic future of the nation.
While recognizing that the past land distribution system in Zimbabwe was skewed in favor of a select British-originated minority, it is worth mentioning that the fashion in which the farms’ occupation and their subsequent redistribution was done by Bob was flawed, if the wanton destruction that carpeted it was anything to go by.
The current ‘cleansing’ operation aptly dubbed ‘Drive out Trash’ by Bob’s cynics and detractors is a clear signal that the Zimbabwean crisis has reached its apogee and thus, is in dire need of a veritable panacea. The initial period of Bob’s rule is said to have been blissful, with commendable economic success in Zimbabwe. Along the line, something seems to have gone awry, as the country began its downhill plunge into the quagmire of economic murk and malaise with plummeting standards of living and currency.
A friend who has lived in the country for sometime gleefully tells me that they carry baskets-full of money when going shopping, as the Zimbabwean dollar has been greatly devalued. Comrade Bob reckons there is a problem, but is quick to add that Zimbabwe’s crises are fuelled by foreign vested interests emanating from Britain and the USA. While this may be an obtuse claptrap and lame duck excuse from Bob, there is certainly no reason for his odious action against the shelter deserving Zimbabweans.
His intentions may appear to be well intentioned; however, the impact it has had on the lives of his countrymen is immensely debilitating. The 81 year old Bob has emerged as more of a maniacal and power starved political felon than a good leader. Many in the continent are now pointing at his dilapidated leadership qualities. Back in the days, before the poorly done land dispossessions and the current ‘Operation Murambatsvina’, Bob was regarded as the epitome of African renaissance and good leadership. No one paid much attention to Morgan Tsvangirai. Not anymore. Bob is now a mutant political ogre. Ennobling efforts by people like Jonah Mudehwe, the head of Zimbabwe’s National Association of NGOS, to cajole Bob into injecting tact during the handling of sensitive policy issues have gone unheeded, despite the empirical evidence of falling standards of living and dismal economic performance.
With the prevailing theoretical blabber purveyed to the effect that Africa can solve its own problems, it leaves a lot to be desired that many African leaders have kept mum rather than advising Bob on the tactful handling of crucial policy issues. Their muteness has condemned many Zimbabweans to the dungeons of famine and hunger as a result of poor agricultural performance. Land distribution was indeed unequal and disorderly, but the manner in which the subsequent takeovers were done was wanting. Indigenous agriculturalists and professional farmers should have been left to initially take care of the farms before the full redistribution process commenced. This would have ensured that good management of the farms was continued; thus, avoiding the current food insecurity crisis ravaging the country. Instead, Bob left quarks to exercise their run-of-the mill farm management skills.
Bob's ploys have been branded as political gambits. Just like the old African autocrats and their cronies, Bob is now a despot joining the long list of past mis-rulers. He has joined the list of African totalitarians without a course. The Asian Tiger economies of Singapore and Malaysia developed under autocratic rule, but with a course and effect.
Years after Asian autocrats, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Mahathir Mohamed set the trend for their respective countries; they have become newly industrialized economies (NICs).
Though Asia has also witnessed its own versions of the ludicrous, such as Pol Pot, they are often harangued out of power. The drive for African despots however, seems to be the vociferous urge to amass power and wealth illegally to the detriment of their countries’ socio-economic well being.
Zimbabwe is undergoing willful socio-economic asphyxiation. It is time for Bob to awaken to the fact that Zimbabwe needs political stability and the subsequent economic resuscitation. Let vocal African leaders of good standing such as Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and Muamar Ghaddafi come to the aid of Bob and his fellow Zimbabweans. For how can they talk of Africa being able to untangle its own mess if such obstinate anathema prevail and fester in the continent’s midst undeterred?
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