Give them cake: Obert Gutu

By Obert Gutu

We died for this country.  Who are these little people to tell us that we have run down the country? What do these reactionaries know about liberation, patriotism and nationalism? Where were they when we crossed the borders into Zambia and Mozambique to train as freedom fighters?

These sell –outs should simply shut up!  Zimbabwe will never be a colony again! Just tell them that the “revolutionary “party will rule the country until donkeys grow horns!

Zimbabwe is at the cross – roads. Our beautiful motherland is on the edge; tottering on the verge of a virtual economic, financial and socio – political shutdown. This is a national crisis of monumental proportions. We cannot and indeed, we should not afford the luxury of folding our arms and/or burying our heads in the sand; ostrich style.

This crisis is not only a concern of politicians and those in the various arms of government. All patriotic and well –meaning Zimbabweans, living within the country and in the Diaspora, have a role to play in rescuing our fatherland from this hell – whole. This challenge cuts across the racial, ethnic and even religious divide.

Gone should be the days when the average Zimbabwean thinks only about himself or herself. All of us have got a national call to duty. We have to roll up our sleeves and get cracking. None but us will extricate the nation from this debilitating socio-economic and political crisis.

With an unemployment rate of around 90%, we cannot fool ourselves and continue to run our lives in a “business as usual “approach. This is the time for all Zimbabweans to rally behind one cause and this cause is about taking back our beloved country to a functioning state. This can be done. Indeed, this should be done.

Zimbabwe is a sleeping giant. We are blessed with virtually all mineral resources known to mankind. We are a hard – working and resilient people. Yes; we are conquerors.  We are winners.  We have a highly educated and sophisticated human resource base.

Our highly skilled human resources are now found virtually in every corner of the globe; from Johannesburg in South Africa, to London in the United Kingdom, to New York City in the United States, to Sydney in Australia, to Auckland in New Zealand, to Toronto in Canada and even to Kabul in Afghanistan.

How then do you explain the collapsed infrastructure back home in Zimbabwe?  The pot – holed roads, the lack of proper sanitation in our cities, towns and villages. How do you explain the villagisation of Harare and Bulawayo? How do you justify the pauperisation of the average Zimbabwean.

Is it because of the  “evil and  illegal sanctions” that were imposed on Zimbabwe by  Britain and her allies as a result of our  “successful “  land  “ reform “ program? The long and short of is that at least 85% of our 14 million people are classified as living in abject poverty; essentially meaning that they are living on less than US$2 per day.

What has happened to the massive alluvial diamond deposits in Marange and Chiadzwa? Who, exactly, has benefitted from this God – given natural resource? Why is Mutare like a ghost city when huge  diamond deposits were discovered just a few kilometres away from the city centre?

These are the cold, hard questions that we must and should ask ourselves.  This perennial excuse of always blaming Britain and her western allies for all our trials and tribulations simply doesn’t cut any more. We have to wake up and smell the coffee.

We should wonder why we always refer to China as our “all – weather “friend yet, just a few months ago, the Chinese Vice – President, Li Yuanchao, saw it fit and proper to pay a four –day State visit to neighbouring Zambia by – passing us in the process and only making a one hour stop- over at the Harare International airport en route to Lusaka?

Naturally, this should show us that there is something fundamentally wrong with our foreign policy. This should act as a clarion call to re – strategise and re – focus.  China is now an influential global political and economic player and we cannot afford to be left behind on the periphery as neighbouring countries within the SADC region are busy forging solid and meaningful win –win trade relations with China.

My research has shockingly revealed that there is no single bilateral trade agreement between the Republic of Zimbabwe and the People’s Republic of China. All we have are a litany of agreements between some little –known Chinese corporations and various State corporations such as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the City of Harare, ZESA Holdings and so on and so forth.

There is absolutely no properly structured and orchestrated State to State agreement between the two countries. But all the time, we are talking of the so – called Look East policy and we continue to refer to China as our all – weather friend! The Chinese are serious and determined entrepreneurs. They mean serious business. They are capitalists.

They will not take us seriously if we continue to engage them in a haphazard and chaotic manner on the business and economic front. Little wonder, therefore, that more Chinese tourists visit tourist destinations in Zambia as compared to the very few Chinese tourists who visit tourist destinations in Zimbabwe. Our main problem as Zimbabweans, particularly at government level, is that we are very long on talk but very short on action. We can bark but we have virtually no bite.

It is an under-statement to submit that there is need for an urgent paradigm shift in the manner in which we conduct our international relations. We are behaving like a dinosaur. And we all know what happened to dinosaurs. They failed to adapt to a changing environment and they became extinct.

On times without number, I have passionately argued that it is Zimbabwe that needs the world rather than the world that needs Zimbabwe. This comfort zone is killing us fast. We are in trouble. Whether we like it or not the world is globalising and it is, indeed, getting smaller and smaller by the day.

Anyway, why should we worry? The chief executive officer of the republic recently declared that Zimbabwe’s economy is improving. He also stated that there is absolutely no shortage of food in the republic. Our people can always eat greens, you, know, he declared!  And of course, the mother of the nation would easily say “give them cake.”

Obert Gutu is an international corporate legal consultant based in Harare, Zimbabwe.