Every Zimbabwean deserves a better life

President Robert Mugabe is said to have been touched by the plight of his former Presidential Affairs minister, Didymus Mutasa, who has been going through a rough patch ever since he was kicked out of the ruling Zanu PF party and government over two years ago.

Mutasa was forced out of Zanu PF for being part of former vice president Joice Mujuru’s cabal, which courted Mugabe’s wrath for attempting to topple him from power. Along with many others who also found themselves out in the cold, they had tried to mobilise against Mugabe, and even invited Mujuru to lead a rival party, but their dream of forming an alternative government ran into serious hurdles.

As Mutasa’s political fortunes dwindle, his personal woes have inversely increased. He cannot pay his debts; he is finding it difficult to pay school fees for his children; and feels abandoned.

Coincidentally, Mutasa is desperate to meet with Mugabe, ostensibly to discuss the Zanu PF leader’s legacy, and how the incumbent risks squandering the political dividends he had accumulated over the years if he continues to hold onto power.

Reports suggest that Mugabe has taken notice of Mutasa’s desperation, and is ready to accept him back in Zanu PF. But that would not be as easy as ‘abcd’ since the former Speaker of Parliament can only engage Mugabe if he first explains why he was fired from the ruling party in 2014.

Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, has responded arrogantly to Mutasa’s demands, falling just short of telling him to go and hang. A point must, however, be made that it is not only Mutasa who is going through a lean spell: The majority of the country’s population are struggling to keep body and soul together because of the harsh economic conditions — a result of Zanu PF’s failure to manage Zimbabwe’s economic affairs.

Pitying Mutasa, who is partly to blame for the problems dogging ordinary citizens is really not being sensitive to their plight. At least Mutasa and many others who have fallen from grace have prized possessions in the form of moveable and immovable assets which they can dispose of in order to get by; but for the majority of Zimbabweans who are wallowing in poverty, they have no such fallback position.

The solution is therefore not to parachute Mutasa out of his miseries, but fighting the poverty scourge across the board so that every citizen of this country could live comfortably. Following his cathartic downfall, Mutasa has not learnt anything from his past mistakes.

For someone who claims to be a nationalist to insist that Mugabe must first explain to him why he was fired for their meeting to go ahead, shows that their engagement would have nothing to do with the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans. Come next year’s polls, the electorate must punish self-serving politicians. Daily News