The plight of Zimbabweans continues to worsen four decades after independence due to poor administration of the country and mismanagement of national resources by the ZANU-PF-led government, ZAPU leader Sibangilizwe Nkomo has opined.
Nkomo noted that human rights continue to be abused, service delivery is in shambles and resources are being parcelled out by those in power.
“Today marks 43 years of our independence. Ideally, we should be celebrating the sons and daughters who liberated us from colonial york. One of the key objectives of our protracted walk of liberation was the idea of universal suffrage, that of one man one vote. Yet 43 years on, our situation is no different, if anything it has become worse,” Nkomo said.
“Basic freedoms are being curtailed at alarming rates, democratic space has been shrinking with no signs of abetting. Those with ideas are denied power, and those in power are bereft of any ideas. As we honour this day, we are reminded that the honorous task of rebuilding our country needs all of us to challenge those masquerading as revolutionaries when they are outright reactionaries and counterrevolutionaries.
Their uncontrolled appetite for a one-party state has resulted in human rights abuses, corruption, nepotism and tribalism. We have failed to build a nation due to an embarrassing sense of entitlement by a few individuals who have behaved like warlords.”
Nkomo said the education and health sectors are now in shambles with little hope for improvement.
“Fellow Zimbabweans, our education system is in an intensive care unit where textbooks are not available for our children, classrooms are dilapidated, teachers are not properly renumerated and continuously subjected to intimidation. The health sector is in shambles with no manpower, ill-equipped and with poor stocks of drugs and yet our leaders can afford the obscene luxury,” he said.
“Our road network is in a state of despair and disrepair. Our state institutions, the judiciary and the security sector are all captured and independent commissions are rendered toothless. Our traditional leaders have been turned into party militia to force voters to vote for a given political party and are now active politicians.”
