By Frederick Muchaiwa| Elections in Zimbabwe are fast approaching and campaigning is also getting even faster and furious with politicians selling their promises and ideas in exchange for votes.

The election atmosphere is turning out to be a funfair for Zimbabweans who seem to be enjoying lies and deceptions they are subjected to by politicians.

Let’s forget about the other candidates in the presidential race and pay attention to two clear contenders, the incumbent Mnangagwa and the fierce challenger Nelson Chamisa.

If both candidates are lying, whose lies would you think could have an influence in your decision to make a choice? Lies from the sitting government and have been lying for almost four decades or lies from the opposite bench whose lies have not been measured as yet. Mnangagwa was part of the old dispensation with a bad and measurable record of lies. Technically he inherited the old lies, the same old cabinet and above all the ZANU PF banner.

Six months down the line, a basic performance audit fails to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for the period between November 2017 to date. Mnangagwa has shown no signs of a new President in a new order but remained the same old self. The promises and pledges he made on his inauguration speech have virtually failed to materialise which clearly suggest he is the same Mnangagwa of the same old system that lied in the previous elections in 2013 and beyond. He is indeed a tried, tested and approved liar.

Since November 2017 when he took over, nothing has changed for the better, there is nothing to talk about that can swing votes in his favour. Renaming of army barracks has no bearing on peoples’ lives. Living standards are in actual fact deteriorating with prices of food, fuel and most basic commodities going up in recent weeks and queues for cash still visible. Mnangagwa is nowhere near an actor but a specialist in cheap talk.

Nelson Chamisa who was a minister of ICT in the inclusive government, has come under vicious attack on social media, in Mnangagwa controlled The Herald, The Chronicle, ZBC & ZTV. Chamisa has been labelled all sorts by his critics for his vision for a better Zimbabwe. His ideas and promises are deemed fictitious, unrealistic and a pack of lies. I find the criticism and memes on social media as patently absurd, unjust and he is being judged outside the leadership arena.

At his age and where he is today, Chamisa has shown great strides towards good leadership and stewardship and therefore deserves a chance. He has been nurtured by his desire to be a servant not dreams of becoming a king. He has natural ambitions to serve his country, not driven by personal glory. He has witnessed and now well aware of all the wrongs that have ruined our motherland and he is determined to fix our country. His hands are clean, he served in the GNU and discharged his duties duly as a servant.

When his party joined hands with ZANU PF to form the GNU, Zimbabweans had a reprieve from adverse poverty within months of the formation. Hope was restored, livelihoods began to show signs of functionality after years of deprivation. It was not magic, no. That marriage between MDC T and ZANU PF brought discipline in the fiscal policy in government. The new government was now spending according to its income with Tendai Biti as Minister of Finance.

Before 2009, Zimbabwe was going downwards faster than a bullet train. Every Jack, Jill and Tawanda was a millionaire due to hyperinflation running into trillion percentage points. Food was scarce with wheelbarrows of cash chasing non-existent food and services on the market. Zimbabweans are so quick to forget how that change came about, who made that change possible and who made lives worth living during that period between 2009 and 2013.

Chamisa is now regarded as a joke, his ideas and wishes for a better Zimbabwe are considered as unreal and fictitious. Frankly, is it fiction to build multi-lane carriageways and spaghetti junctions? Is it fiction to build airports in resort/mining towns and cities across the country? I fail to understand what is impossible in that dream? What are the requirements for improving and building our infrastructure across the country? This is achievable under a good and transparent management of our resources and in partnership with the developed world. Our own human capital is adequate if supported by foreign expertise and technology.

If our $15 billion (asset capital) was put to good use, imagine what could have been done with those diamonds. Marange would have been a development beacon of Zimbabwe with projects expanding across the country. Those government projects at a massive scale guarantee employment for our people. Let me ask this question again. Is building and improving our infrastructure like road/rail/air network in Zimbabwe impossible if we put our human and asset capital to good use?

England recently commissioned a smart motorway stretching from Northampton to Leicester for a cost of around £200 million approximately US$265 million to build M1 junction 19 also known as The Catthorpe Interchange.

See below.

How many of these can be built by $15 billion or even $7 billion for argument’s sake? How many single runway airports, railway facilities, tarred roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, etc? How much is needed to restore confidence in our banking and financial system? At least $750 million will avert the shortages and this figure is only 5% of $15 billion.

In Zimbabwe it is possible and acceptable to see government officials accumulating wealth over night, build mansions and drive top of the range cars with the unemployed majority clapping hands, praising and worshipping. Leaders are caught pants down in corruption scandals and walk away with no action against them.

I personally think we are a joke as a nation. We have no hope, no vision, no innovation and yet we claim to be an educated lot. How educated are we when we cannot believe in ourselves first and foremost? I don’t think so because education and innovation do not create poverty but create development, prosperity and self sustainability.

We have created leaders who have adopted a culture of self satisfaction, corruption, self improvement and self enrichment. Leaders who when elected into public office think they are kings not servants. We have put ourselves in self destructive mode and not willing to change. We have accepted poverty to be normal and believe that those inflicting severe physical and mental suffering are the ones who are going to save us.

Pafungei anhu woye!!