Opinion: Over four decades later, workers still have nothing to celebrate

By Trevor Makonyonga

This last month Zimbabwe reached a milestone forty one years of independence and very few people seemed interested in celebrating the day. Watching videos of April 18 1980, one could only wonder where all the fascination and excitement vanished to. The only good thing that we have managed to do well is craft highly worded policies which always seem to usher in some sort of hope under the gloom that has obviously befallen our national briefcase and subsequently to the citizens’ pockets. Something went wrong in the building of this nation.

The group that has been highly affected by Zimbabwe’s lack of progress is the workers. Having had celebrated Workers Day this past weekend, it was a blue weekend as most cannot afford any luxuries. Listening to speeches on an empty stomach would be an insult.

The biggest problem that we have is that we built the nation on colonial systems. When the whites colonised this land, they created a system of two classes based on race, whites and blacks. Then of course the coloureds. The first class was the whites and the last class were the blacks. Everyone else would go above the blacks. Unfortunately, this appears to be the same system we have till now.

When whites built their houses, they made sure that when they drive to and fro the CBD they would never face the sun. As for the blacks, well, nothing environmental mattered as long as they had a place to stay. Now we have even stooped lower as we now build on wetlands and other inhabitable spaces. Zimbabwe was never meant to grow beyond certain infrastructural developments for the blacks who were grossly marginalised especially from peripheries within the CBD where blacks were allowed to go to. Forty one years later, we are still in the same predicament.

Getting into town using any of the major entrances will prove that after attaining independence the black leadership didn’t have any plans to develop the nation beyond what had been laid down by the colonialists. As Zimbabweans have been pushing for devolution, the existing system is not suitable for this venture. Workers have big problems going to work because they struggle to get transport, when they get the transport they are faced with long traffic jams and to top it all the transport is expensive. In fact, everything is out of their reach.

Now the government is encouraging all transport operators to join the ZUPCO franchise which is not reliable and is heavily outnumbered by the passengers. The rise in cases robberies and kidnappings is alarming. The very small percentage of workers have been subjected to terrible conditions which is probably contributing to the massive brain drain that has hit the country over the years. The thread of hope that most Zimbabweans have held on constantly breaks and just the will to survive makes them go on.

It is now essential that the government makes good of their commitments to the nation and workers to ensure progress. The education system is dying under our watch and it’s sad that teachers have been reduced to beggars and political activists. Whatever has to be done to change the situation in Zimbabwe surely has to be done now to avoid the stagnancy. The future has to start in the immediate tomorrow lest we lose the very foundations this country was laid on.