"Friday
14 November, 1997 was the day the Zimbabwe dollar died. That day may not
signify anything to many. Yet for Zimbabweans worldwide it was the day their
currency lost value so fast that that there was little time for the ink to dry
on the notes. In fact on that very day very few took any notice that something
was amiss. Citizens went about their business totally oblivious of what was
happening."
Here we continue from where we left off....
Zimbabweans were on the verge of unprecedented changes to
their way of life. It was not lost on them that November was the month when
salary and wage bonuses were usually paid. The country was one of the few in
which a bonus was a right and not a privilege.
The prospect of spending a black Christmas loomed large and
real. The banks had no money and the
expression, ‘as safe as a bank’ took a whole new meaning.
That particular crisis came and went its way. But things
were never the same after that. We never imagined that it would get worse.
Zimbabweans would fix things. If Plan B failed, surely there would always be
Plan C, D, E, F or even Plan Z! Yet when the bonus finally came, they could
hardly afford a loaf of bread.
The January disease of 1998 was the harshest because it
extended for the rest of the year. Things slid much faster at the turn of the
century climaxing in 2008. Zimbabweans were on the verge of grazing on grass,
with supermarkets bare and most people reduced to a Stone Age life of hunting
and gathering. Zimbabwe had not only hit rock bottom, it had started to dig.
And yet they seem to have forgotten so easily how they
managed to rise from the dead. The Global Political Agreement that was the
result of compromise between the contending political parties was a Godsend. It
gave Zimbabweans and the country’s comatose economy a lifeline. Lest we forget
where the country had been people have to accept that things are far from
normal.
But the environment has been stable enough for some to begin clamoring for elections in the belief that polls will fix things. There are
those that believe that it is suicidal for people to believe that the mere
introduction of new dispensation will usher in a period of economic renewal.
Donors are expected to come falling over each other wave a magic wand that will
bring billions and create jobs.
Will the prodigal sons and daughters come pouring from all
corners of the globe? They won’t just come back that easily without hard and
fast guarantees.
The pessimists implore that the daydreaming should stop. No
magic wand that will ‘fix’ things they say. Zimbabweans at home and abroad
should accept that things have irrevocably changed and can’t be taken back to a
golden era that is long gone. Zimbabwe’s re-admission into the family of
nations is likely to expose it to the nasty side of globalization.
The see-saw recession that is chewing up weak European
economies is a threat to recovery. And there is the glaring possibility of the
World Bank and IMF force feeding Zimbabwe a cocktail of bitter fiscal medicine
as a condition for much needed debt relief.
The country’s much touted natural resources could have been
mortgaged to the Chinese say analysts. Record breaking diamond finds in the
Marange area have turned out to be a curse rather than a blessing. Only a seismic shift in government policy
will compensate for the harm done by politically motivated land redistribution
and indigenization.
Was it not Kwame Nkrumah who once said ‘See ye first the
political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you.’ The political kingdom came in 1980 but it was
downhill from then on. Nkrumah could be turning in his grave or the best
perhaps, is yet to come. That is if one is an optimist and as long as
Zimbabweans do not forget the experiences of the recent past.
No comments:
Post a Comment