The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda Post Correspondent
There was a time Zimbabweans showed astuteness and resilient character that no one could persuade them not to support the freedom fighters due to the fact that these guerrillas were socialists and they would take over married women by force and that the ‘’boys’’ had typical tails and they could never lead this country as long as Ian Smith was alive.
How wrong were those soothsayers whose major bone of contention was that an African can never do anything worth shouting about? Today, the nation needs people of a similar ilk who are resolute in defending the fatherland from a hail of bullets hurled by detractors in an attempt to soil the good relations that manufacturers and Zimbabweans enjoy. Social media ethics have been thrown out the door in an attempt to cause alarm and despondency thereby making the ground fertile soil for a social upheaval which may culminate in a full blown war like the Biafran War which brought Nigeria almost to its knees.
In my book, the originators of the messages are sick people who are hell bent on making sure that the ordinary people continue to suffer while the fat cats milk the ordinary people until the belts can no longer hold trousers and the waists together.
Because of these WhatsApp messages, the weekend saw a lot of people queueing to buy basic commodities before they run out. At Chipangayi Rural Service Centre, cooking oil and sugar vanished from the shops as the rumour mill went overdrive on the inevitable shortages set to hit Zimbabwe over the coming weeks and the spectre of 2008 looms large in the horizon, according to these prophets of doom.
Unbeknown to these panic buyers, they are falling into the pit dug by the money changers who thrive on the poverty of the people. Burning money is their middle name. The moment that a person speculates and he reaps rich rewards, he is no longer a humane one. Just like in 2008 when there were diamond dealers who did well socially and economically, economic vultures circled over the ailing economy and hope to take a jump at anyone who knows that he has died.
Unpacking the cash shortages leads us to the big fish of Zimbabwean wholesaling.
These are the people who take care of products in bulk and sell them to retailers. Obviously, their mark-ups show we are into a hyperinflation. It is unheard of to buy a 2kg sugar at $3 and cooking oil at $6 and we keep quiet as if everything is all right. That is economic terrorism which the President said could be a result of a hidden hand. Avarice is the mother of regime change agenda.
We may have different political persuasions but in terms of economic prosperity we must be in it together. Senseless hoarding destroys the soul of the nation in that the more a country doesn’t have food, the more people become frustrated and for some among us, when the country burns, it is time to line our pockets. Such thinking does take us back to the Stone Age where the each man for himself and God for us all philosophy was in vogue. Zimbabwe needs nationalists not opportunists.
We complain about unemployment but we spurn indigenous goods; we would rather export sugar and get forex which we again bank off shore and we come back and say there is no forex in Zimbabwe. Are we looking at ourselves in the mirror when we blame everyone else but ourselves in conversations?
It is time to take stock of our priorities. DSTV Access must cost $11 per month but the service providers have decided to double the premium when one uses banknotes which are supposed to trade at par with the US $ and the consumers pay with their eyes closed.
Law enforcement agents turn a blind eye to that; if the security forces tasked with observing the rule of law allow the law of the jungle to prevail, what will happen to the rest of the plebeians?
Mistrust is at the root of our problems. We ought to respect each other and that trust would transcend everything else. A convergence of thought processes must be the overriding aim of the Zimbabweans in order to stop this economic terrorism which threaten to make Zimbabwe stop developing once again.
As a nation we have become vicious, egocentric and totally do things that are alien to our way of life which is grounded on the Ubuntu philosophy which is globally appreciated. We hear that bank managers and bank employees are making a killing?
Meanwhile, the man in the street must run and join any queue that he sees in town; in 2007, a man joined a queue and waited for two hours only to realise that it was queue to get into a toilet.
Panic not fellow Zimbabweans! Rather keep track of the economic saboteurs and a win-win situation has to be arrived at. If fuel is sold in neighbouring countries as if we are buying tomatoes, surely, the Government can dialogue with our neighbours and the situation will be brought under control. In the mean time, do not help the economic terrorists by engaging in panic buying.
