DR MASIMBA MAVAZA |Zimbabwe is fast advancing from civil disobedience or civil unrest to violence to anarchy. When protesters can shut down major highways and roads and get away with it and then get invited to the police station as if the are kings. When court decisions are motivated by the mobs outside you know things are spiraling out of control. What final straw will break the camel’s back, what catalyst will cause discontent and violence to spread to areas in which they are not accustomed?
Will those that created the chaos soon become the ones that will protest when the system breaks down? A system they had strived to destroy. Will they be there with their hands out wanting help once things go past the point of no return? When you cause a system to fail you cannot turn around and then complain about how the system no longer works for you.
The Zimbabwean problems started from very small issues which could have been resolved by simple understanding. We can blame the third force but the reality is the third force was put into action by irresponsible pompous selfish gluttons surrounding our president masquerading as leaders. The words of Mhofu Herbert Ushewekunze keep ringing in my ears. “The president is surrounded by deadwood”
The protests started as a Joke by a drunken woman from Mutare asking the overstayed VP to depart from the hotel. To make maters worse the VP decided to respond and the response was disastrous. Then people got courage and pockets of protests mushroomed. The bungling prosecution then gave glory to a clergy and the complaint becomes a revolt.
Civil unrest is common in the world, it always has been and always by degrees. Civil unrest can turn into rioting, looting, bombings and marches on governmental buildings. Peaceful protests in many people’s minds can enact changes, and it does on occasion, but sometimes demonstrations cannot enact change. Once failure becomes obvious people become angrier and soon civil unrest boils over and takes it to the next level. This level can be avoided by simply listening and reading the mood.
Civil unrests are as old as history they are triggered by arrogance of some leaders and lack of punishment on them. Taking people for a ride is the best recipe for disaster. Some reasons for civil unrests are that Taxes are too high, taxes for some are to low, jobs are scarce and certain public policies cause people to take to the streets. Now it seems that some people make too much money while others make considerably less, and this causes civil unrest as well.it is made worse when those in leadership try to hide an elephant in an open one roomed empty house.
The irresponsible comments by our leaders causes civil unrest to turn into a civil war? Food is the cause or more precisely the lack thereof. Food insecurity that can be caused by any number of things such as droughts, wars, poor governmental management, costs of food and the list goes on. If the results are a food shortage or lack of access due to pricing then you have civil unrest that can turn into a civil war. Citizens must know that as a citizens are granted equal access not guaranteed equal results. However, some do not understand or refuse to understand this, so dependency on a governmental fiscal policy that may very well collapse at some point will mean millions will not have access to food because certain programs will not be available and will not have jobs. This then is made worse when billions are missing. Individuals stay in hotels ministers force parastatals to give them a loan and want to be left alone. Then they say the loan was pocket change. Ahhhhhh
There will be a trigger, something that sets it off and then there is no turning back. No one knows what will trigger it, or when it might happen.
Our downfall as a leadership is a Failure to act when the problem is obvious is more than incompetency.
Unless money is no object then you are aware of the food prices in this country. They never seem to go down, it is always up and of course, wages never keep up, in fact, they have went the other direction for many people.
Food could conceivably get to the point where most of it is unaffordable for the average person. Food supplement programs would not be able to keep up. The facts are as a country we cannot simply afford to pay for everyone’s dinner forever, there is no denying this. This may be the trigger as some have predicted, because the government may simply say the money is all gone, so then what for the millions upon millions that rely on that money to eat.
Civil War may be closer than we all think, so what does this mean to our leaders. It may be too late to change what would cause it to happen the only thing you can do is prepare for the effects of it. Or simply fire and bury the rot.
More people lack access to clean drinking water than they do food on a daily basis. The numbers are staggering in both cases, but it shows what the priorities are. You always hear of starvation around the world and hungry children right in our own country. You hear of famines caused by droughts. But ours is caused by corruption abuse of power and total prodigality.
Unemployment, higher food prices, government debt, collapse of the welfare system and government incompetency all bubbling and boiling together may cause an explosion that triggers civil unrest that can turn into a civil war.
People take their food seriously, and some will kill to get enough for themselves and their family. Theft of food is on the rise, because the cost of food is on the rise. People are becoming desperate, and it may not be so much the lack of food, but the perception that food at some point will not be available to most people.
What lengths would you go to get food for your children, your spouse or partner? Your answer is all you need to understand about how deadly a civil war over food would be become if everyone were doing what he or she needed to do to feed their families. A starving person is never a good citizen in the minds of those in charge. A parent will go to any length to feed their starving child will this too make them a bad citizen then.
In the beginning, you would have the authorities against the people but soon the authorities would realize they are people too and they need to feed their families as well. Local governments will collapse quickly, causing even greater shortages, but soon it would be a complete lack of food and lack of order.
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