“The economy will rebound tomorrow, we will create two million jobs tomorrow, we will align our laws with the constitution tomorrow, we will have enough food for everyone tomorrow, we will solve the succession issues tomorrow, we will pay you tomorrow.” that’s Zanu (PF) for you.To the millions of Zimbabweans out there in the Diaspora are you waiting for tomorrow? To the hungry children I see with their mothers begging on the pavements of Harare - can they wait for tomorrow for a decent meal? To our opposition parties, our civic bodies, our churches, our activists and those that claim to represent democratic forces - can you wait for that tomorrow still? To the millions of jobless graduates and youths out there - must you wait for tomorrow for that job you desperately need today?
Empty promises
Well let me be honest with you and remove any doubts you might have, Zanu (PF)’s tomorrow is not coming. It must be clear to all of us that this economy will not revive today or tomorrow as long as we continue on the current path. It is clear that the promises of tomorrow by Zanu (PF) are empty promises and let us not expect any fundamental change. They are waiting for 2018 as they say tomorrow, tomorrow. No doubt they will once again come out in 2018 and tell us things will be alright tomorrow.
We are all tired of a government whose sole aim is to stay in power even when it is evident that they have failed and have no plan for tomorrow. Now they are all excited about the by-elections as if this will change anything, it will not.
Zimbabwe needs solutions today. Not tomorrow.
We need to declare a state of emergency with regard to food aid. The agricultural output this year is shocking. Maybe it will get better tomorrow but Zimbabweans need to eat today. I am shocked that the minister of agriculture still has his job. His tomorrows have just become unbearable and ridiculous.
We need to put in a technical team to manage the affairs of the country as our politicians have failed us. This technical team must negotiate for a debt moratorium, suspend indigenisation and remove all inconsistencies in our policies and laws that are stopping investors from coming here. We want them to invest in our country today - not tomorrow.
Debt moratorium
We don’t want elections in 2018, we only want them once all commissions are in place as proposed by our new constitution and when all our laws are aligned with the constitution including electoral laws. We don’t want ZEC as it is currently constituted and we want security sector reforms today, not tomorrow.
We want all corruption exposed and dealt with today not tomorrow and all those found guilty brought to account. We don’t want to pay the RBZ debt - neither today nor tomorrow.
We want the land issue dealt with today not tomorrow. The land audit must be completed and farmers must be compensated today not tomorrow so that we can revive our agricultural sector, create employment and ensure food security.
The state of our infrastructure is atrocious and the power issues are now unacceptable. We want those at all state enterprises that are incompetent and yet are getting paid ridiculous salaries to go today, not tomorrow.
The city councils are incompetent, we want the issues resolved today not tomorrow and we are tired of the continuous bungling by the Minister of Local Government with his continuous directives that undermine our elected councillors who remain disempowered to make a difference. Let him go today not tomorrow.
Tomorrow, tomorrow will not work anymore with us. Tomorrow has come and gone. If there is anytime we need leadership change in Zimbabwe - it’s today not tomorrow.
As our economy collapses we hear those in government continue to defend what is clearly not working and continue to hope that tomorrow things will be better - without them actually taking the responsibility or making any concerted effort to change things. That is ridiculous. We cannot expect things to get better by doing the same things and expect different results. That is stupidity.
It’s time for change, today not tomorrow.
- Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You can contact him at vtmusewe@gmail.com
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