By Bernard Bwoni
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| Beautiful Zimbabwe : An aerial view of Harare |
“For those who are still
in denial, it is worth restating: Zimbabwe is broken. Its people are broken.
Their minds and spirits are broken. The infrastructure is broken-rotting in
fact. And, unsurprisingly, the image of our country is in tatters”. These disturbing words were uttered
by a Mr Trevor Ncube in an article published in the Zimbabwe Independent
entitled “Only a ‘Third Way’ can fix Zimbabwe”.
I am lost for words trying to
understand the motive behind such negativity against Zimbabwe and its people?
It is his opinion and yes he is entitled to it just like the rest of us,
however to categorically say “Zimbabwe is broken. Its people are broken. Their
minds and spirits are broken” is too non-specific and hence the challenge. To
use his word, this is ‘broken’ and reckless journalism with all due respect.
What test did Mr Ncube use to determine that the people of Zimbabwe’s “minds
are broken”? Zimbabwe has a population of around 13 million people and it would
be interesting to find out how many actually have their “minds broken”. Such
portrayal of Zimbabwe by a ‘Zimbabwean’ journalist could easily be linked to
inadequate journalism, again this I say with all due respect.
What would
possess any ‘Zimbabwean’ to portray the country with such pessimism, absolute
doom and gloom? What satisfaction does one derive from such depiction? It
seriously boggles the mind. What sort of mind will emit such a foul impression of
Zimbabwe? The obsession with presenting Zimbabwe as ‘broken’ could easily be
linked to some behind-the scenes motive surely. There seems to be no
objectivity in such careless representation of the country and the only
satisfaction derived from this is to the self. The question to pose is, is Mr
Ncube mending Zimbabwe by such eye-catching headline of a “broken Zimbabwe”?
Definitely not. There is no patriotism or victory in putting your country down.
There are no awards for this level of sloppiness.
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| Mr Trevor Ncube : "Cannot distinguish country from party politics"- says Cde Bwoni |
Nobody
is for one-minute implying that things are perfect in Zimbabwe. The country is
facing a multitude of challenges, there are many things that could be better
and there is a lot of work to be done to improve the already battered image of
Zimbabwe. Brazenly reckless and sensational headlines about a ‘broken Zimbabwe
in tatters’ will not restore the country’s dignity or image. Those who
consistently paint the negative picture will not attract business to the
country. The current peaceful
environment in Zimbabwe does not prevail in a ‘broken’ country and that must
never be taken for granted. ‘Broken’ is what you have in Libya today, Syria,
Iraq and many other ‘broken’ nations where the word peace does not apply.
Zimbabwe has its own fair share of challenges but ‘broken’ is not one of them.
Far from it.
It
was only in March 2016 that Zimbabwe was awarded the Best Destination for
Adventure from the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) at the
International Tourism Bourse in Berlin. In 2014 the General Assembly of
European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT) unanimously awarded Zimbabwe the
World’s Best Tourism Destination and also Favorite Cultural Destination for
2014. Such awards are not being presented to a ‘broken country’ but a peaceful
country with friendly ever-smiling people. Zimbabwe has always been popular
with tourists from all round the world and hence why the awards.
Enquiries
about traveling to Zimbabwe are often pouring in and the expectation is that
they are not presented with an image of an allegedly “broken Zimbabwe” but with
the true picture of the warmth and beauty that the country has to offer. There
are adventurers, tourists, backpackers and business people who are keen on
coming into Zimbabwe and people like Mr Ncube are busy trying to turn away
these people with their false and careless headlines of “broken minds” and
“tatters”. It is a shame that people like Mr Ncube will not find anything
positive to say about this amazing country but that is their prerogative. There are always going
to be negative people and many seem to derive some form of depraved pleasure
from such devious characterisation of Zimbabwe. There does not seem to be any
other logical explanation.
In his article Mr Ncube talked about “broken infrastructure” but
failed to mention the infrastructure that has sprouted and continue to do so
throughout the country since 1980. Zimbabwe’s infrastructure is very much
intact and yes some of it requires retooling and rehabilitation, but to call it
“broken” borders on dishonest. There are many new infrastructural developments
taking place in the country and the restoration of many roads has been
happening throughout the country and that does not happen in a “broken
country”. The rubble and crumbling bombed buildings in Libya, Iraq or Syria
point to “broken” infrastructure not Zimbabwe.
The rehabilitation of the over
800 kilometres Mutare-Plumtree road has recently been completed and is near perfect.
Under the disabling economic environment Zimbabwe is still forging ahead with
major infrastructural developments and the country is nowhere near “broken” or
in “tatters”. The road from Harare Airport is complete and looking well laid
out.
The country had a period when there
had been regular power and water outages. These challenges have been addressed
and there have been massive improvements in supply. Rarely does power or water go
in the country. Of course there are still improvements required in the quality
of the water supply.
There recently was a picture doing rounds on social media of a
road in Rhodesia where there were only buses on the road and only one car.
There was an outcry that Rhodesians had perfect roads and granted the roads
looked clear. However, the fact of the matter is that Rhodesians were
short-sighted and only created infrastructure meant for a minority. It is a fact
that Zimbabwe’s infrastructure has struggled to cope with population increase
and unsustainable rural-to-urban migration. Zimbabwe’s roads are teeming with
traffic. The number of cars on Zimbabwe’s roads is staggering. But Zimbabwe is
not “broken”, it is in fact building as opposed to breaking.
Rhodesia was
founded somewhere around 1895 and up till 1980 had one University. Zimbabwe was
born on 18th April 1980 and to date there are over ten Universities,
nine of which are state universities. There is the University of Zimbabwe
(which was the University of Rhodesia and sole University the Rhodesians
built). Zimbabwe has constructed the National University of Science and
Technology, Great Zimbabwe University, Bindura University of Science, Solusi
University, Lupane State University, Gwanda State University and Chinhoyi
University of Technology. Zimbabwe also has the Africa University, Women’s
University in Africa, Catholic University of Zimbabwe, Open University and many
other technological colleges and polytechnics.
From 1895 to 1980, it took
Rhodesia 85 years to build one University. On the other hand, it has taken
Zimbabwe a mere 36 years to have over ten Universities. Now that is a massive
feat of infrastructure developments and that does not point to a “broken”
country. All these point to new infrastructure and Mr Ncube wants the world to
believe all these are not happening and all he has done is to paint a picture
of absolute ruin which is inaccurate.
Thousands of primary and secondary schools have been built
throughout the country. Yes, there are challenges in maintaining some of the
infrastructure but it is there. There are many construction projects happening
in Zimbabwe. The construction of the Mall of Zimbabwe is a positive development
following the greenlight from the EMA. The Defence College is complete and in
use. The point being made here is that all these developments cannot be
happening in a “broken” country.
There are liquidity challenges in the country
as we speak and the country is facing a devastating drought. The government has
been making efforts to ensure that people do not starve. Now in “broken
country”, people are left to starve. The shops in Zimbabwe are jammed with
goods, local and imported. People are building homes, albeit at a slow pace but
they are building their own homes.
The Zimbabwe building regulations remain
robust and rarely do you hear of collapsed buildings. Actually there has not
been collapsed buildings which you find in genuinely “broken countries”. Shops are full, fuel is in abundance, cars are
choking the roads, delivery trucks clog the highways. And surely that does not
happen in a “hell-hole” or a “broken country”. It is often said that the number
of delivery trucks on the roads often indicate that the signs for the economy
are pointing in the right direction. Again just to make it clear, the country has
its challenges, but is far away from being “broken”. The only “broken” thing is
the sensational headline from the article by Mr Ncube.
Those who downgrade their own country are simply prostituting themselves
and the likes of Mr Ncube who publicly de-campaigns Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans by
labelling them “broken” clearly have no idea of the implications of the
negative speculation they constantly present to the world. The world as we know
it today is well interconnected and the bleak picture that is being presented
about Zimbabwe has far-reaching and damaging effects on the country as a whole.
It is sad and disappointing to note that we have such individuals with such a
“broken” mind-set about their own country. The likes of Mr Ncube have no idea
when to draw the line and separate country from party politics.
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Cde Bernard Bwoni is the ZANU PF UK Vice Secretary for Admin. He writes in his own capacity.
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