10 things that will transform Zim

By Trevor Ncube | May. 9, 2024

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ZIMBABWE’S misfortunes are a burden to many who love this beautiful country.

Our country cries out for a collective purposeful focus to lift it out of this man-made quagmire. We must look past the preoccupation with sectional party-political interests. Our future lies beyond what politicians can do for us. We must be laser focused on what we each can do to first change ourselves and then change our spheres of influence.

While there is so much dysfunction in our country, most of our guests on YouTube.com//InConversationWithTrevor remind us that it is our honest endeavours that change our society. It is the things we work passionately on for the benefit of others that cause positive ripples and profit us. Each of us have power to change this country by searching for our why and pursuing it passionately.

Harriet Tubman emphasised the importance of understanding our past in shaping the future, stating: “We are not informed by where we are; we are informed by where we have been.” Where Zimbabwe has been says that while politics destroyed this country, with our participation by commission or omission, it is leadership and enterprise at an individual level that will build something greater on these ruins. The emergence of our better angels will eventually shape the political landscape and not vice versa.

No magic wand, no quick fix, let alone an individual will transform Zimbabwe. Nation building is heavy lifting, multifaceted, time consuming and needs all hands on deck.

To aid our individual endeavours are 10 overarching factors with tremendous potential to transform Zimbabwe, namely:

Zimbabwe needs a “new us” more than it needs new leaders. This is where enduring change will emanate from. We are so far gone as a society that we are in peril without self-reformation of the citizenry. We need a movement to spearhead moral self-reformation to catapult our society to firmer ground.
We need an active, principled and engaged citizenry that knows its rights and responsibilities in a democracy. A citizenry that prioritises issues, competence and merit as opposed to personalities for those seeking election to public office.
We need a progressive Constitution that serves all Zimbabweans including the weak and the powerful, and fidelity to that Constitution. The two amendments to the 2013 Constitution and the many statutory instruments have taken away power from other arms of the State and concentrated it in the Executive. This damage must be undone post-haste to stop the Executive from ruling by decree. Society benefits when all branches of the State blunt excesses of power through checks and balances.
Zimbabwe has a leadership and followership conundrum that has rendered our electoral system impotent. Our electoral culture must change. Changing the electoral system might not change the culture, but there is a case to be made for considering proportional representation (PR) as a system that may yield better cross-sectional representation. PR promises better representation particularly if buttressed by transparent and inclusive political funding laws and facilitatory regulation of political activity.
Zimbabwe needs meritocracy and professionalism in the security services, including the military and police and the entire civil service. These national institutions have been personalised and are being used to advance partisan interests to the detriment of society.
Good governance, constitutionalism and the rule of law are desperately needed to nurture investment, protect private property and promote economic development and prosperity for the majority. An independent Judiciary is vital in this regard.

The direct link between rule of law and development is well-studied and has long been established.

Zimbabwe needs a State that has capacity to maintain law and order, deliver public services and a strong civil society and assertive business sector that tames the excesses of the State. Currently we have an Executive riding roughshod over a timid private sector and weak and disorganised and disgruntled civil society, and a disengaged society.
Zimbabwe needs a central bank that is independent from the Executive. Given where we have been, an autonomous Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would go a long way in winning the trust of the public, local and foreign investors. It will eliminate the damaging suspicion that the Executive has free rein over national resources. This move will support a stable currency.
A strong economy and a stable currency will then support investment into decrepit infrastructure such as transport, communication, education, water and power. There must be State leadership in building and creating an enabling environment for renewable energy and internet backbone infrastructure.
Last but certainly not least are political freedoms: freedoms of association, expression, Press and assembly. The current repression robs the nation of vitality that is necessary to spark innovation and a vibrant marketplace of ideas.

Our problems are far bigger than Zanu PF and the opposition or the real and perceived differences between President Emmerson Mnangangwa and Nelson Chamisa. A solution to our dysfunction will emerge when there is scale in the number of people who bet for the country rather than self or sectional interests. Noble causes take time to become mainstream, but when they do they create a groundswell which hatches its own leaders.