Of late, I have been quite irritated by my smartphone\u2019s maddeningly frequent demands for me to upgrade its system at times, as little as only two days after my last upgrade. What I, however, found very interesting is every new upgrade\u2019s claim to \u201cfix bugs\u201d \u2014 so-called \u201cdebugging\u201d \u2014 that is, to identify, correct, and remove defects, in the previous system.<\/p>\n
Typical of my mindset, I always soon found myself comparing this to how we, in Zimbabwe, still try to \u201cdebug\u201d our government \u2014 particularly, through criticism of its destructive and anti-people policies, or proffering advice on how it could improve its operations and the country\u2019s welfare.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, what has become so clear to me is that, after 40 long years of continual bungling and messing up \u2014 through persistent unfettered and systemic corruption, institutionalised incompetence, and inherent brutality \u2014 it is now foolhardy for anyone to expect any genuine, sustainable, and significant reform from this government\u2019s modus operandi, such that any manner of \u201cdebugging\u201d is a lost cause. As with any computer system that has become too corrupted to be fixed \u2014 the only reasonable and progressive action to take would be its complete replacement.
\nPeriod. Similarly, this Zimbabwe government is way beyond any fixing, and the only way forward is its complete replacement.<\/p>\n
The only question that should be on the people of Zimbabwe\u2019s minds should no longer be how to fix this system of governance, but rather, how to completely replace it with a modern, more effective, trustworthy, and truly democratic one.<\/p>\n
This, of course, requires national debate, and consensus but, as a law-abiding, patriotic, and loyal citizen of this great country, I firmly and unequivocally stand by the tenets of constitutionalism, and democracy \u2014 as anything else is certainly a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n
That is why \u2014 as much as I fully understand and empathise with everyone who has had to endure 40 years of untold suffering, anguish, and torment at the hands of this cold-hearted, kleptomaniac, and dysfunctional regime \u2014 my viewpoint has always been for us to desist from narrowing our struggle to only an individual.<\/p>\n
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\nThat is the grave mistake that landed us in these troubles we find ourselves in today under this so-called \u201cnew dispensation\u201d \u2014 as we myopically reduced our plight to only one man, then President Robert Gabriel Mugabe \u2014 instead of focusing on the replacement of the entire system. We found ourselves engrossed in such simplistic slogans as, \u201cMugabe must go!\u201d, yet our problems transcended any one individual, but captured the entire system of governance \u2014 such that when the coup d\u2019etat of November 2017 occurred we were ready pawns in this purely internal ruling Zanu PF party factional fight, thereby supporting and celebrating the debugging of one problem, and its replacement with another similar problem. Yet, what was clearly required was the complete replacement of the entire corrupted system.<\/p>\n
Today, we find ourselves crying out, \u201cNothing has changed\u201d! Of course, nothing has changed. Why would anything have changed, when we blindly endorsed the continuation of the same old outdated, antiquated, contaminated, and dysfunctional system?<\/p>\n
In fact, that is why we are even further saying, \u201cThe situation has actually become worse than before\u201d. Yes, it has \u2014 and it will only get worse! These days, we are inundated with mostly unverified online stories about another possible coup d\u2019etat in the country \u2014 this time around with the rumoured planned removal of incumbent President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (himself a product of the coup against Mugabe), by his Vice-President Constantino Guvheya Chiwenga (the mastermind and ring leader of that same coup).<\/p>\n
I cannot help wondering why this renewed excitement in the possibility of the recurrence of such a catastrophe \u2014 which, quite obviously previously never worked to the ordinary people\u2019s benefit?<\/p>\n
If, indeed, another coup were to take place today, are we to find ourselves back onto the streets again singing, dancing, and waving the Zimbabwean flag? Are we to allow ourselves again, to be gripped by a false and misguided sense of renewed optimism for a better, more prosperous, and democratic future?<\/p>\n
Then, a few months down the line, reality sets in. Again, we repeat the same expressions of regret, \u201cNothing has changed\u201d, or, \u201cThe situation was actually better under ED\u201d, or, \u201cAt least under ED we had such and such\u201d! Did we not learn anything? Do we ever learn? Let it be abundantly clear to all Zimbabweans that the hope for a brighter and better future for this country does not lie in piecemeal changes in the country\u2019s ruling establishment. It does not lie in debugging one or two things within the current system. The situation has long since deteriorated beyond such mediocre measures. After 40 whole years of corruption, incompetence, and brutality, the system is beyond repair or fixing.<\/p>\n
The government can replace a political appointee like Patrick Chinamasa, with a technocrat and internationally acclaimed financial wizard in the mould of Mthuli Ncube, but this will never improve the well-being of the ordinary Zimbabwean. We can be relentlessly bombarded with endless mantras, such as \u201cZimbabwe is open for business\u201d, or \u201cVision 2030\u201d, or \u201cUpper middle income economy by 2030\u201d, but as long as this outdated system is still in place, nothing will ever change. The people of Zimbabwe may converge around the table with the government, discussing and sharing all manner of economic blueprints, strategies, and plans \u2014 yet, these would be nothing better than patches on a torn trousers, which would never make it new, as acquiring a fresh pair would be the only reasonable way forward.<\/p>\n
This also includes the now popularised issue of \u201ctalks\u201d between the two main political parties \u2014 Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change \u2014 or, the current house-play between the government and some pseudo-opposition parties (who embarrassingly and dismally failed to garner any significant votes in the 2018 harmonised elections.<\/p>\n
As the saying goes, \u201cOne cannot put new wine in old wine skins\u201d, the days of trying to fix this obsolete system are long over \u2014 as only a bona fide imbecile can ever dream of anything positive coming out of such. Zimbabweans do not have the luxury \u2014 in time, energy, and resources \u2014 for misguided, ill-conceived, and misconstrued hallucinations that this government is redeemable \u2014 while, the country burns, and millions of people wallow in unending and increasingly toxic abject poverty.<\/p>\n
Let us no longer waste our time figuring out how to push, or assist this government to function better \u2014 but, rather, we now need to do what we should have done a long time ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Of late, I have been quite irritated by my smartphone\u2019s maddeningly frequent demands for me to upgrade its system at times, as little as only two days after my last upgrade. What I, however, found very interesting is every new upgrade\u2019s claim to \u201cfix bugs\u201d \u2014 so-called \u201cdebugging\u201d \u2014 that is, to identify, correct, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[538,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-18252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-files","11":"tag-government-of-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\n