By Nomusa Garikai- Work on the upgrading of the National Stadium in Harare and Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, prestige projects, has started in earnest. The Chronicle is full of coloured pictures of the work been done at the latter stadium. 

Am I surprised that the regime has moved swiftly to upgrade the stadia and yet has done nothing about the rot and decay of the country’s long neglected clinics and hospitals including Parirenyatwa and Mpilo Hospitals, a stone-throw away from National and Barbourfield Stadium respective?  No I am not! 

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has again and again made decisions that simply defy logic. In Zimbabwe it is the tail that wags the dog! Bizarre!

In Zimbabwe unemployment has soared to the dizzying heights of 90%, basic services like education and health care have all but completely collapsed and 34% of the population now living in abject poverty. I will bet my bottom dollar that at least 90% of the people of Zimbabwe would have never voted for upgrade  the country stadia given all the other pressing issues. 

As we can see, the country’s ruling elite did vote for the upgrading of the stadia. The total collapse of the country’s health care services, for example, does not bother them one bit. They go to SA, India, China, Singapore, etc. for all their medical needs and have done so decades! 

The economic and social situation in Zimbabwe has reached new alarming heights and yet the ruling elite continue to be oblivious of it all. 

Bulawayo has just increased its health care charges by 700% and so even more people in the city will be forced choose death over life. Aware of the increase in number of deaths, no doubt, the City has also increased its burial charges. The deceased’s relatives are being punished for dead relative, for the economic meltdown, for the foolishness of putting stadium over hospitals, etc., etc. 

Of course, the ordinary Zimbabwean has never had any meaningful say in the governance of the country, they have been denied their freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. 

It is the ruling elite who have the veto over all matters in Zimbabwe, they are the ones to blame for the country’s corruption and mismanagement behind the economic meltdown. And yet it is the ordinary Zimbabweans who are being punished by the ruling elite for the latter’s misrule – that is what makes the whole story so tragic and bizarre! 

The only way to end the madness in Zimbabwe is for the ordinary people to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms design to end Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers and to restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs, there will be no meaningful economic recovery and such foolishness as upgrading stadia at the expense of hospitals will continue. The need to implement the democratic reforms and end this political madness has never been more urgent than it is now with human lives at stake!