ZIMBABWE: Pessimism, joblessness, poverty have no room

Alliance for the People’s Agenda (APA) leader, Nkosana Moyo on Monday made very poignant remarks that Zimbabweans have normalised their suffering that they cannot look beyond their present circumstances to a better future.

Except for a brief lull between 2009 and 2013, Zimbabweans have been experiencing untold suffering since the turn of the millennium that many have internalised it and think is the new normal.

Pessimism has become a hallmark of the country’s situation, as many have resigned themselves to believing that Zanu PF will win the next elections, something that can lead to devastating apathy in the next elections.

Doomsayers point to the circus in the opposition as a reason why the opposition does not stand a chance of winning, but they forget that Zanu PF itself is not an embodiment of unity and is being rocked by factionalism, which threatens to tear it apart.

Zanu PF has made the nation so despondent that some believe they have to struggle for food, healthcare and jobs, things that a normal government should be ensuring that its citizens have.

It is unbelievable that there are citizens, who believe that Zanu PF will win elections when the party has presided over the wholesale destruction of social services, the collapse of the economy and the death of the local currency.

Zanu PF simply has no leg to stand on ahead of elections next year and every citizen has a duty to say they are fed up with the way their lives have panned out and rush to the polls.

Normalising the abnormal has no room in this country and Zimbabweans should aspire for a better future, where they have an accountable government, which delivers on electoral promises and has a clue on how to run the economy.

The country can least afford to have a Stockholm syndrome with Zanu PF, where Zimbabweans start to feel pity and identify with a party that has wrought untold suffering.

Moyo is right in that Zimbabweans need to believe and understand that a better future is possible and all they need to do is accept that poverty and suffering are abnormal and ought to be done away with.

Zimbabwe needs and deserves better, where citizens yearn for better and are not content with the status quo.

Poor service delivery, joblessness and poverty should not be acceptable and the country has to demand better, rather than this complacent attitude, where people have resigned themselves to fate.