Grace Mutandwa

All we have is hope in 2009

The year ahead, 2009, looks grim when looked at against the background of the past year. Many in Zimbabwe would like to forget 2008 but for a whole lot of reasons this is something we might not be able to do.

It is the year when violent elections were once again held. With the first part of the elections was hope for change which was quickly dashed when no real  government emerged from March  and then later after the presidential re-run in June.

From then things just went straight downhill. Inflation continued on the rise and by the time we came to the end of 2008, it was way above 200 million percent. Some economists said it was already in the trillions.

From political uncertainty we staggered onto the bizzarre - foreign currency shops, in a country where more than 80 percent of the adult population is unemployed.and foreign currency is in short supply. Long winding queues at banks became part of our lives.
We still have a short supply of our own local currency.

Now the central bank has decided that each person can withdraw Z$50 billion a month, starting this January. Public transport during the week of December 25th 2008, cost Z$1bn one way. This by the end of January will not be enough to cover transport costs, buy bread, milk or any other provisions. A week before Christmas an egg cost Z$300 million or 20 American cents.

This month the biggest note in our purses if we are lucky will be the Z$50 billion. Not only is this not safe in the sense that if you lose that note you are done for, but it is also not user friendly. No one ever has change. We saw this when a $50m note
was introduce in December and then followed by other ridiculously high notes.

Public transport operators and the local currency shops just increased their prices to avoid having to scrounge for change. A market was created for people who would give you change at a premium. This is the only country in the world where people sell each other their local currency.

The year 2008 also saw both our education and health system finally give up the ghost. Major government hospitals closed - there were no drugs, water, electricity and personnel went on strike.

Then came cholera in August. But it was to be forgotten about for a while and later to suddenly erupt with a vengeance.

A war erupted around cholera. The Zimbabwean Minister of Information went on the offensive. He shocked many when he announced that the British had buried spores of cholera in and around areas that were going to be established as residential
areas after independence in 1980. This is despite the fact that those areas were already built up at independence.

This would be hilarious were it not such a sad thing and unfortunate that with more than 20 000 suspected cases of cholera and more than 1,111 already dead, a whole government minister would find energy to come up with such bizzarre theories instead
of coming up with solutions or better still asking for much needed help.

Cholera, according to the minister, had  become a tool to be used by Western powers to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.

This is the tragedy of Zimbabwe - that we have such highly educated people who fail to put their intelligence and education to good use for the betterment of their country but choose to use it for destructive purposes.

While the cholera was raging, members of the civil society and opposition members were being abducted. The past year was indeed a negatively eventful and nerve-wrecking year.

Ruling party leaders felt caged and ceaselessly attacked the West and those African countries that had not been supportive of the reigning mayhem. The interim South African president claimed his government would be guided by what Zimbabweans want - but is he listening? Or maybe that translates to what the rulers of Zimbabwe want.

We are indeed a people with very little hope but all we can do is hold onto that bit of hope. We have to hope that while 2009 will not be a prosperous year it will be a year of positive change, a year human rights get space, a year when democracy and
good governance get a chance. It should be a year when Zimbabweans can feel secure again, a year when we can look our children in the eye and tell them with certainty that they have a future in this country. I wish you all a year of hope, love, friendship, empathy and good health.

Posted at 06:55 31 December 2008 by Grace Mutandwa  |  Comments[4]