By Richard Gandari
Last weekend’s sham by-elections were certainly the worst polls in the history of Zimbabwe.
One would expect them to be the last straw but Zimbabweans appear to have the strongest backs in the world.
It seems the will to fight for what is rightfully ours has all but disappeared completely.
Perhaps, past a certain threshold of malpractice, political gimmicks cease to make any impact.
Globalization has also offered a way out for Zimbabweans too tired to flog a dead horse.
Many who wonder why so many Zimbabweans continue to amass academic qualifications have not considered the lure of economic opportunities and civil liberties abroad.
Even if the government raises passport fees to US$1000, Zimbabweans will continue to leave in droves.
Neighboring countries ignoring excesses of the rogue regime in Harare will only have themselves to blame when their countries are overrun by Zimbabweans fleeing from their failed state.
Lack of regional and international intervention is an open invitation for Zimbabweans to leave for greener pastures, nay, any pastures.
The world has changed so much since 1980, the year Zimbabwe got its independence.
The diplomatic luminaries who assisted developing nations to navigate in troubled waters are no longer around to help.
The recent death of former US Secretary of State, the venerable Henry Alfred Kissinger marked the end of an era.
Gone are the days when we could look up to America, Great Britain, Australia or Russia for profound assistance in matters of international relations.
Sufficient for each country has its own troubles.
The unipolar world is gone.
The world today is a multipolar, global village.
Globalization and its attendant cultural imperialism have eroded any localized values of what made us a proud and resilient people.
Tyranny has cowed Zimbabweans into shell-shocked sleepwalkers.
Nothing feels real about the depths to which Zimbabwe has fallen in terms of poor governance and policy bankruptcy.
There is no pilot in the cockpit.
From military assisted to judiciary assisted, the rogue regime in Harare has tried everything under the sun to rein in the plane flying on autopilot since November 2017.
Zimbabwe is now a deathbed of democracy.
Unfortunately, the world is now too desensitized to care.
One cannot call the United Nations bemoaning the death of democracy in Zimbabwe, when the Secretary General’s in-tray is buried under daily memos announcing new deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Not even the Pope in Rome can see beyond the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza enclave.
Worse still, the US Congress is now so polarized and too paralyzed to blindly dole out foreign aid towards raging conflicts, let alone third-world governance issues.
For instance, this week’s state visit by Volodymyr Zelensky to lobby Congress for more Ukraine aid drew a blank.
Republicans opposed to the Biden administration are more concerned with immigration challenges in America’s southern border with Mexico.
What is the moribund sobbing of a roughed-up opposition party in Zimbabwe compared to the fate of an embattled potential member of NATO?
The world’s erstwhile prefect is now seized with her own backyard problems.
These are facts known too well by the rogue regime in Harare.
It thus deduces that it can get away with anything.
From the Gukurahundi genocide, state-enforced disappearances, abductions, political detentions and murder of opposition activists, the regime has no one to fear.
Furthermore, even in the miraculous event that Zimbabwe’s political crisis is smuggled onto the UN Security Council’s agenda, there is both Russia and China to veto any unsavoury measures.
In exchange for such high-level protection, raw materials are given to Chinese and Russian oligarchs on a silver platter.
Zimbabwe has abundant mineral reserves to support the lavish lifestyles of the regime in Harare, and to pay for the ‘generosity’ of its all-weather friends.
The only thing Zimbabwe lacks are the resources needed for future generations.
Needless to say, that none of today’s plunderers will live long enough to see the inevitable collapse of this once promising nation.
History shall record the tragedy of our mistaking car breakers for mechanics.
