Bulawayo 24News
By Mathula Lusinga
16 January 2012
Why do Zimbabweans bark up the wrong trees leaving the real culprits splashing the diamonds money like there is no tomorrow?
When schools opened for the first term of 2012, teachers went on strike in demand of a better wage which is currently pegged at US$300, asking for more than US$500. The Minister of Education, David Coltart told us that it is beyond his power to increase the salaries. We then had the story of how the Minister of Public Service, Lucia Matibenga, was reduced to tears as she tried to explain why teachers cannot get the increase they are asking for.
Contrast this with the details of two high profile weddings held in Harare on the same evening before Christmas – an illustration that corruption and greed have reached alarming levels. Zanu PF ministers have plundered the country’s resources to fund their lavish lifestyles as money, drugs and sex mark the new lifestyle of the upcoming Harare elite, who are all connected or related one way or another. While civil servants suffer in poverty, Sydney Sekeramayi (Minister of State Security) and Emmerson Mnangagwa (Minister of Defence) held top-of-the-range weddings for their daughter and son respectively.
At Sekeramayi’s daughter wedding, 3,000 guests sat under a large marquee, and were wined and dined with the most expensive tastes in food and drink, all paid for by the Minister. Their exotic six course meal was prepared by specially hired chefs including some flown in for the occasion. To enhance the spirit of the wedding, five bands were paid to perform on five separate dance floors.
The wedding for Emmerson Mnangagwa’s eldest son competed for extravagance. Each table was apparently given six bottles of Johnny Walker Blue Label – a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label King George V Edition – 2007 costs US$550! French Champagne flowed throughout the evening and, among other expensive dishes, seafood was flown in from Mozambique and RSA. Wow – I thought our locally brewed Chibuku and some pap and stew would be enough to excite people. Of course there were expensive wedding gifts from all guests. Mnangagwa himself allegedly gave his son a new five-bedroom house in the most expensive part of Harare plus US$120,000 to furnish it. That is a TV in each room and a flat screen for the cows!
Go to hell teachers, they don’t give a damn about you!
So it’s obvious that teachers can go to hell with their demands for a living wage because money from diamonds never reaches the state coffers. To make matters worse Zimbabwean legislators seem not to be interested in making noise about it as they are busy focusing on other issues that avoid pissing off Zanu PF chefs. Most critical politicians are in the papers daily for the wrong reasons, with matters of their sexual preference taking over their daily lives. In turn fewer and fewer MPs are demanding accountability over diamond revenues, giving Zanu PF an opportunity to continue with their evil deeds with no one asking questions. There are many youth initiatives that are refused very small amounts of funding while Zanu PF children are spending millions in drugs and furnishing their lavish lifestyles. The battle between right and wrong is fast becoming one that needs redefinition because the stories above simply tell us of a country with no moral responsibility.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness – Martin Luther King, Jr.