Mlondolozi Ndlovu

On Friday next week the country marks 3 years since ZANU PF won the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local government elections in a victory they claimed was ‘resounding’ and reminiscent of the party’s 1980 victory.

However, elections in Zimbabwe like they are known in the rest of Africa are just full of empty promises and that has not been an exception of the ZANU PF gloomy victory 3 years back.

All that the former liberation movement has done is launch an economic blue-print ZIMASSET which instead has remained a document on the ground with no tangible results.

In writing this article I looked at the ZANU PF manifesto versus what is on the ground.
A stock of the main aspects of a thriving economy provedthat ZANU PF has done little or nothing at all in addressing the economy,industries, agriculture, employment creation, mining, and education 3 years since they won the elections.

In the economy ZANU PF promised that they would indigenise over a thousand foreign owned companies to raise $7.3 billion that would ‘jump start’ the economy.

A close look at this promise will prove that it has become nothing but a just a mere dream as they is still no funding for the local companies and most workers still complain on failure to get paid their money.

The country is importing virtually everything from tooth picks to needles in a clear demonstration of cluelessness by our authorities in breathing life into the ailing or almost dead economy.

There is still policy inconsistence on the implementation of the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme with government’s policy ZIMASSET failing to address these challenges.

In improving industries, the ruling party promised that they would capacitate the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) with US$3 billion to finance the rehabilitation and construction of physical infrastructure.

Despite all these ‘juicy’ possibilities that supposedly led to Zimbabweans voting for ZANU PF nothing has changed with pot holes being the order of the day, while the Minister of Transport has highlighted the need for more toll gates while the roads remain in a bad state.

Energy which is a critical sector in improving the industryis slowly but surely getting much worse with consumers and industries complaining of power cuts.

In the back bone of the economy, agriculture (according to ZANU PF), they said that they would stimulate agricultural productivity and provide a $US300 million Presidential Agricultural Input Support Scheme.

The government partly fulfilled this promise in 2013-14 season maybe as a ‘thank you’ gesture to its major supporters in the rural areas but the Minister of Agriculture quickly said this would not happen in the coming season which has cast a gloomy future to this sector.

Cotton farmers continue to cry foul of the paltry prizes at which this product is being bought at whilst farmers who sold their maize with GMB are yet to be paid.

The ZANU PF government further promised that they would create employment by revamping old industries and create new ones.
Despite nothing at all has been done to create jobs with the country’s employment rate currently over 90% albeit the government has refused these figures with ZIMSTATS saying unemployment is at 11%, which points to their denial of the truth.

The country has turned into a ‘vendor economy’ as thousands of men and women among them graduates have turned to the streets.
In the lucrative mining industry the ruling party otherwise now turned into a ‘ruining party’ promised that they encourage extraction of mineral resources to generate US$2 trillion in a period of five years.

Though ZANU PF used to blame the then minister of Finance Tendai Biti during the inclusive government for not realising funds from the diamonds sector, the story is now worse as they is no meaningful revenue inflow from the mineral sector.

ZANU PF who have always taken credit for the country’s second highest rankingin Africa in the literacy rate promised they would provide an education for all policy and set aside $19 million for a Presidential Scholarship Programme.

Three years down the line the government has bluntly failed to live by its promises with thousands of school children dropping out and Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM)denying thousands of the underprivileged their right to education.

In the social service they said they would build houses for up to 250000 low income housing and 1250 public houses something far from the truth!
Nothing reasonable has been done with the only news being the government’s reembarkment on what many have termed ‘second Murambatsvina’ as houses are being demolished.

The scourge of corruption which has caused unnecessary suffering for the poor Zimbabwean we were told would be solved expeditiously.
In 2013, 2014 and part of this year scandals which cost the nation millions of dollars were exposed but up to now nothing has been done to the perpetrators.

Scandals exposed include the ZBC, ZUPCO, PSMAS among others which came as good news to Zimbabweans but still ZANU PF has not acted.
The country’s former Vice President DR JoiceMujuru was expelled from the government for various allegations among them corruption but nothing was done to prosecute her.

Corruption has remained rampant in most sectors of the economy and with its reluctance on this major problem one wonders whether the government will fund the Anti-Corruption Commission in the near future.

When all has been said it seems the three years of ZANU PF in power are a clear demonstration of what the ruling party can do best- failure!