Forty-FIVE years since gaining Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe remains far from attaining First World status.
This is not due to a lack of knowledge, exposure or vision. In fact, many of Zimbabwe’s political elite are among the most well — travelled and educated on the continent.
They have attended global conferences, sat in the world’s finest universities and, ironically, sent their children to live and learn in the very First World nations whose standards they fail to replicate at home.
What then is holding Zimbabwe back?
The honest answer is simple, political will — the absence of it.
Zimbabwe’s tragedy is not rooted in ignorance but in deliberate neglect. There exists a deeply-entrenched political culture where true national development is not incentivised.
The political class has learned that the current system characterised by corruption, centralised power, and weak institutions serves their interests better than a reformed, efficient and accountable state.
They have no real incentive to fix what they and their families can escape.
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When you can fly to Singapore for surgery, why invest in public hospitals back home?
When your children attend Cambridge or Harvard, why improve local schools? When you holiday in Dubai and Geneva, why care about the state of Victoria Falls Airport or the roads in Mutare?
The disparity between public duty and private lifestyle is stark. And it tells the real story behind Zimbabwe’s arrested development.
Zimbabwe’s economic potential is unquestionable.
Rich in minerals, fertile in land and blessed with a highly literate population, the country should be Africa’s rising star.
But these assets are squandered through mismanagement, cronyism and short-termism.
National resources are treated as spoils of war, not building blocks for the future.
Moreover, the political environment discourages innovation and participation. Young Zimbabweans with bright ideas are leaving in droves, not because they want to, but because they feel excluded. Institutions are designed not to empower citizens, but to maintain the status quo.
Zimbabwe could have become the Singapore of Africa, had leadership embraced national development as a moral duty rather than a slogan.
But unlike Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, Zimbabwean leaders have not seen value in a disciplined, forward-looking state. They have viewed governance as an opportunity to extract, not uplift.
Change is possible.
But it must begin with an honest reckoning.
Zimbabwe needs leaders who are not just well-travelled, but morally awake.
It needs citizens who demand better, not just survive.
It needs systems that reward merit, not loyalty to political parties.
And it needs political will, not just to promise transformation without delivering.
Until then, Zimbabwe will remain a land of potential without progress, promise without prosperity.
Forty-five years after Independence, Zimbabwe has failed to come up with policies that help the country transform.
Mutisi is the CEO of Hansole Investments (Pvt) Ltd. He is the current chairperson of Zimbabwe Information & Communication Technology, a division of Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers. — chair@zict.org.zw or 263 772 278 161.
