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Zimbabwean diaspora in SA loses interest in Zim affairs

Source: City Press, 14/10/2017


Zimbabweans who have fled economic hardship and political problems to
fend for their families in South Africa have lost interest in the
affairs of their country.
They did not care who was sacked this week by President Robert Mugabe
or who was appointed to his newly reshuffled Cabinet, saying their
country’s woes required economic policies that would ease the
hardships faced by their families back home.
Zimbabwean Chenjerai-Patson Muzvidziwa said: “I am sick and tired of
the Zimbabwean question. What matters now for my wife and me is how to
ensure that our children go to school and get them food, clothes and
proper healthcare.
"Otherwise, the issue of who is reshuffled, expelled or appointed in
Zimbabwe is no longer any of my business.”
On Monday night Mugabe, 93, rearranged his Cabinet on the back of
intense factional battles waged by camps jostling for his succession
and of a worsening economic situation coming ahead of elections
scheduled for next year.
Among other changes, Mugabe’s first deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was
removed as minister of justice, legal and parliamentary affairs.
He also introduced new ministries such as the cyber security, threat
detection and mitigation ministry, as well as another responsible for
national scholarships.
Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party is torn between factions siding with Mnangagwa
and the increasingly influential First Lady, Grace, to succeed the
president.
Muzvidziwa said he used to follow developments back home with keen
interest in 2008, when South Africa’s then president Thabo Mbeki
attempted to mediate in the Zimbabwean crisis.
At the time, Mbeki’s efforts led to the September 2008 government of
national unity between Mugabe and his arch-rival, Morgan Tsvangirai,
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
Although it was short-lived, the settlement temporarily boosted
Zimbabwe’s economic stability with new investments.
The quality of life for its citizens also improved â€" out-of-stock
hospitals got the drugs they needed; safe water could be found in most
communities; and supermarkets were full of commodities.
Compared with the current acute shortages of basic commodities and
cash, it was a golden era.
“Since Mbeki left government, I also lost hope,” Muzvidziwa said.
“I am just praying that South Africa’s department of home affairs
gives me and my family permanent residence in this country so that I
completely disown Zimbabwe.”
During the interview, Muzvidziwa was sending groceries to his home
town of Masvingo through the “malayishas”, an informal courier service.
Zimbabwean Farai Ncube, originally from Binga, a district in
Matabeleland North, said he was selling items in Braamfontein to
generate money for his parents back home.
“I send the money using malayishas. I cannot send it through formal
means as I do not have documentation,” he said.
A significant portion of the population in Ncube’s home province
relies on goods and remittances sent by family members outside of the
country, mainly from South Africa.
Onisimo Zviripai, who works for one of the bus companies plying the
Harare-Johannesburg route, was also unconcerned about the Cabinet
reshuffle and other political problems.
“At least I don’t commit a crime or steal from other people but eat
from my sweat,” he said.
More concerned about bread-and-butter
Advocate Gabriel Shumba, the executive director of civic organisation
the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, said: “Very clearly, the reshuffle is a
political and secessionist manoeuvre that has neither the current
economic interests of Zimbabwe nor its long-term future [at heart].
“A cause for serious concern is the new ministry of cyber security. In
the execution of whatever mandate will be accorded, it is likely to
clash with some provisions of our Constitution.”
Shumba said Zimbabweans were more concerned about bread-and-butter, as
well as developmental, issues that were sacrificed at the altar of
political expedience and personal aggrandisement, adding:
“The country needs to reinvent and re-articulate its vision.”
Ngqabutho Mabhena, the Johannesburg-based general secretary of the
Zimbabwe Communist Party, lamented the appointment of the ministers of
scholarships and of of cyber security, arguing that they should have
been absorbed into existing ministries.
“Unfortunately, without a clear economic and political programme, this
Cabinet reshuffle is meaningless as it will not address our economic,
social and political challenges,” Mabhena said.
He said the need for a new leadership that would unite the polarised
and distressed nation was the biggest challenge facing Zimbabwe, along
with the looting of resources by the “parasitic bourgeoisie”.
Luke Dzipange Zunga, secretary general of the Zimbabwean Civil Society
Organisations, said while Mugabe had the liberty to change his
Cabinet, the reshuffle confirmed that Zimbabwe was not run by
Parliament or central government.
Instead, it was run via intelligence operatives.
Zunga said following the reshuffle and the elective congress,
Mnangagwa risked being arrested to sideline him from presidential
contention.
He further predicted that the 2018 elections would see
poverty-stricken villagers frog-marched to the polls to vote for the
ruling Zanu-PF party.
Zunga went on to forecast that after those elections â€" which Mugabe
would win if such machinations worked â€" he would install Defence
Minister Sydney Sekeramayi as his successor and Grace as the deputy,
while another deputy would come from the former Zapu party, in
accordance with the 1987 Unity Accord it signed with Zanu-PF. â€" CAJ News
www.sami.co.za


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