The chaos witnessed at the 45th Independence Day main celebrations held in Gokwe North in the Midlands province on Friday was emblematic of the decay that characterises life in this country because of corrosive politics.
As the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHCD) pointed out in a statement on the eve of the independence celebrations, the problems that the country is facing from corruption to economic malaise are overshadowing the value of our liberation.
The 45th anniversary of independence came on the backdrop of a divisive campaign to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term by two years in violation of the constitution, which restricts presidential terms to 10 years.
An individual can only serve for two terms in terms of the constitution. Zanu PF is threatening to use all manner of tricks to extend Mnangagwa’s term and avoid referenda that are prescribed in the constitution.
The Zanu PF leader himself has on more than four occasions said he is not interested in staying in power beyond 2028, but this has not stopped his loyalists from pushing the agenda.
In the statement ZHCD noted that the “divisive, untimely and unnecessary debate around the extension of the president’s term has heightened the political polarisation, anxieties, uncertainties and fears across the country.”
“These have been further exacerbated by the distress due to systemic and unrestrained allegations of corruption and looting of national and public resources at the expense of millions of suffering Zimbabweans.”
The majority of Zimbabweans are now wallowing in poverty “with inequalities widening between the majority poor and the rich elites.”
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The media has been exposing grand corruption by politically exposed people, but Mnangagwa’s government has not shown any appetite to arrest those who have been implicated.
Zimbabwe’s democratic space has also been shrinking at alarming levels and on the eve of Independence Day Mnangagwa signed the controversial Private Voluntary Organisations Bill into law.
He ignored advice from United Nations human rights experts who have repeatedly written to him warning against the adoption of the draconian law.
As people gathered in Gokwe North to celebrate independence it became quite clear that the country is in a parlous state.
From the water-logged grounds at the stadium to the atrocious state of the roads, it was impossible to miss the rot.
However, there was no evidence that the leadership was moved by what they witnessed and the embarrassing state of the venue of what should have been a joyous occasion.
We still urge those that are in office as servants of the people to take stock of the disaster that their leadership has caused and for once begin to serve in the interests of the povo.
