The ManicaPost
Tafara Shumba Post Correspondent
ACCORDING to the Shona culture, a deceased’s belongings, especially clothes, are shared among relatives, a day or two after his or her interment.
Imagine if the biblical Lazarus was living in Zimbabwe, having resurrected on the third day, his clothes would have already been gotten rid of. Create in your mind the scenario on the resurrection day, people being called to return Lazarus’ clothes. Obviously some will not be happy and others will go to an extent of blaming Jesus for resurrecting Lazarus. Others will refuse to return the new found clothes which they might be wearing on that resurrection day.
That story bears a resemblance to what is happening in the country. Government is working flat out to resurrect the economy that was ruined by the West’s illegal sanctions. Detractors have been throwing spanners to cripple this effort.
Only last week, the country woke up to a shocking economic depression that was characterised by shortage of fuel, increase in commodity prices and illicit devaluation of the surrogate currency, the bond notes. This triggered panic buying with some retailers putting a limit on selected basic goods such as cooking oil.
When President Mugabe came back from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he directed his ministers to take swift action to reverse the menace. This resulted in marathon meetings between stakeholders and two days later, things started to even out. Fuel queues suddenly vanished and panic buying came to a halt.
Obviously there are some who had planned to make a fortune out of the artificial crisis. Fuel attendants had begun to demand kickbacks from motorists, retailers had unjustly soared prices of basic commodities and black market had started to thrive. One money changer that Yours Truly spoke to bluntly said it was their time to build mansions. Unfortunately, with the swift intervention by Government, those mansions will remain at foundation level.
Just like those who blamed Jesus for resurrecting Lazarus, President Mugabe is being blamed for curbing the “lucrative” artificial crisis, so are his Cabinet ministers who have been very central in bringing the situation back on the rails.
There have been speculations on Cabinet reshuffle with various lists being drawn, all to cause confusion. The ministers who were said to have been dropped are those holding portfolios which were critical in resurrecting the economy. When did a coach of a rival team start drawing a line-up for a contending team?
If given a leeway to do so, obviously he would leave out all superstars. The Cabinet reshuffle doing rounds on social media is just but a composition that the opposition would want to see for their political expediency. They know that with a weak minister, their agenda of bleeding the economy would become to fruition.
The speculation on a Cabinet reshuffle is just an attempt by social movement groups to set an agenda. However, a good coach does not change a winning team. The current Cabinet is winning and there is no need to frog march President Mugabe to change it, save for a few lazy ones.
One does not need to be clever to see that the opposition has a hidden agenda up their sleeves. In demanding for a leadership renewal in a party that they don’t belong, the agenda is to have a weaker candidate that they might easily square off with in the 2018 harmonised elections. The elders say akanyangira yaona, Zanu-PF has seen through their plot.
It is a political trick that even pupils in the elementary school employ. When a teacher gives them leeway to choose amongst themselves a class monitor, they go for one who can neither read nor write so that it would be very difficult for him or her to jot down names of noise makers.
The incumbent has a mandate from the people, thus the opposition cannot seek to remove him through unorthodox and cunning means. If they really want a leadership renewal in the country, the ballot is just a few months away.
Back to the story of Lazarus, there are still some people who do not want to return his clothes. Government has sorted out the shortlived chaos but there are some traders who still maintain the outrageous prices they had pegged in the stint of madness. Lazarus had risen, go back with his clothes.
There is no justification for a shop to raise prices by 300 percent. A bed that was pegged at $279 in one of the leading shops in the country now costs over $600. Electrical gadgets in that shop have risen from around $400 to over $1 000. This is just a microcosm of what is obtaining in the country. Government would do well for the citizens if it descends on such unscrupulous traders. There is no reason whatsoever for such mad prices.
