Greed, opportunism at heart of Zimbabwe crisis

Greed, opportunism at heart of Zimbabwe crisis

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By Crisford Chogugudza

THIS paper tries to explain in some limited detail how the concepts of Greed and Opportunism have significantly led to the death of a nation state in Zimbabwe.

Greed in particular has been the mainstay of political activity across the political divide in Zimbabwe.

Those with access and power to control resources have to a large extent enriched themselves and bled the country out of its last vestiges of survival and this has worsened rural and urban poverty.

The poor in Zimbabwe today are almost ten times poorer than they were 10 years ago according to the latest UNDP development index.

This sad scenario is directly linked to the high levels of corruption and greed in the country. The advent of the land reform programme could not have come at any better time for these greed opportunists. What started as a genuine policy of social justice in Zimbabwe degenerated into a national disaster primarily because of the opportunistic and greedy politicians.

The systemic and culpable failure of the controversial land reform is a direct result of greed and opportunism of gigantic proportions. Political greed and opportunism has become fashionable in Zimbabwean politics today and nothing seems to satiety greed and hence people practising it in perpetuity. It is saddening to note that some of these greed opportunists are ironically people who are respected and tasked with the responsibility to oversee the land distribution programme itself.

News in the largely reliable independent media in Zimbabwe has recently been pointing at that certain ruling party and government bigwigs continue to invade farms and are chasing away the remaining productive white commercial farmers while the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono continues to talk about transparency, rule of law, accountability and investor confidence. These greed opportunists make the Governor’s job very difficult.

Paradoxically, these new farm invasions by these greedy politicians take place at a time the government is unashamedly inviting the former white farmers back on the farms and on the sidelines calls for bridging bridges with the west are becoming louder. Opportunism has largely created political mediocrity in political party leadership in Zimbabwe. These leaders in some cases lack the necessary integrity, accountability clear vision and level of sophistication to function effectively in a country in transition. Some of these leaders today join political parties to either plunder resources or raise their political profiles.

A biting allegory of unrestrained greed and opportunism has crippled political vibrancy and accountability across the spectrum of Zimbabwean institutions. Even within the once revered civil society it is all about power, greed and opportunism. Partiality as long as it raises stakes has substituted impartiality and competence in most of the civil society organisations, people now use these organisations to market their political profiles in readiness for change of political fortunes. Even those people and organisations once reputed for projecting honest and credible views about the state of the country have either clandestinely joined the political opposition as trustees, advisors or some other dubious role.

Some have joined the ranks of the establishment in order the benefit from the farms or the spoils of the bleeding economy and this is happening at systemic proportions. Some critics have however, blamed the rise of greed and opportunism to the failure of Zanu PF to stamp its authority on errant members and restore order and public confidence in the economy. There is extensive political greed, opportunism and corruption in our political system today because of low moral standards and the existence of a vicious cycle starting with political corruption leading to bureaucratic corruption, business corruption and the criminalisation of politics. Our nation is fundamentally corrupt and corruption flourishes because there are people in higher echelons of power who benefit from the present system. Unfortunately those who benefit are also those who initiate the changes to check corruption and this rotten propensity inevitably leads political and socio-economic decay.

The problem with greed in top-flight politics and business in Zimbabwe today is that it is not only fundamentally wrong in the moral sense, but also the fact that greediness seems to be a lousy strategy in responsible party and government politics. Sheer opportunism leads to gloom and in multifarious ways an insane society as well as a stagnant economy characteristic of Zimbabwe for the last decade. What frustrates many rational minded Zimbabweans is the way in which political affairs are conducted and decisions are made.

Most worryingly, the perverse, grotesque tales of greed, opportunism, exploitation and blatant profiteering by people in offices whose accountability is only placed selfishly where they believe their bread is buttered. The issue that worries many in Zimbabwe is that no one seems to be responsible for halting the death of the state in Zimbabwe. Previously, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce and other business groupings used to refer to the Zimbabwean economy as resilient but this now a thing of the past, there is just a free fall of the economy and so is the state. It becomes even more difficult for the IMF, World Bank and other multilateral finance institutions to consider salvaging the Zimbabwean economy when such horrendous acts of greed and barbarism are taking place.

Zimbabweans are responsible for their own destiny and unfortunately in this case it seems the destiny is political and economic extinction. The road to destruction has always been the easiest and the road to recovery though largely inconceivable under the current political establishment could be a long and painful one. Who ever wants to change the status quo must first get rid of wanton greed and opportunism which is responsible in part for stifling political and economic development.

The Foreign Policy magazine in their research recently concluded that Zimbabwe ranks number 5 behind Sudan, DRC, Ivory Coast and Iraq out of 148 countries on the Failed States Index rankings. The index primarily looks at such factors as political, economic, and social indicators of instability. A state that is failing has the following attributes among others; loss of physical control of its territory, erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions, inability to provide reasonable public services, brain drain, group based inequality, institutionalised persecution or discrimination, severe democratic pressures, environmental decay, inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community, extensive corruption (Zimbabwe currently ranks in the top 15 of most corrupt countries according to the transparency international rankings) and the absence of the rule of law, large scale involuntary dislocation of the population (more than three million Zimbabweans have left the country since 1995), sharp economic decline (Zimbabwe ‘s economy has shrunk by more than a quarter in the last decade, inflation is highest in economies outside war zones and according to the World Economic Forum Growth Competitiveness Index rankings 2004-2005 comparisons, Zimbabwe is ranked number 98 out of 117).

Zimbabwe is out of the AGOWA, NEPAD initiatives and has been for more than two years running excluded from benefiting from debt forgiveness (cancellation) by the world’s wealthiest nations. It is inconceivable that a country with so many odds against it can ever recover economically under the current political dispensation. Whether a change of government that is willing to work with the West for purposes of survival is anybody’s guess.

The fact is that any further isolation of Zimbabwean largely influenced by greed and opportunism will increase the suffering of the already impoverished and disenfranchised Zimbabweans. In view of the above, the West can also play a big role by initiating dialogue with political leaders of course using a carrot and stick approach where it matters.

However, there is a general feeling that the sanctions regime imposed by the West on Zimbabwe is actually hurting the poor more than the intended targets and any hopes for recovery from the current state of collapse may need divine intervention. Nothing seems to work today in Zimbabwe and the unbridled greediness continues to relentlessly bleed the economy further with no signs of abating.

It is common knowledge that states can fail at varying levels through various reasons. It true to mention that Zimbabwe falls under the above category of failing states in many respects. Failed states can be re-established by concerted efforts aimed primarily at rebuilding the institutional capacities particularly the important institutions of the military, police, civil service, the system of justice, leadership and institutions of democracy.

However, given the calibre of politicians there are in Zimbabwe today, rebuilding the country will be an uphill struggle unless greed and opportunism is eliminated among other factors. It is unfortunate that greed in particular has increased the levels of corruption and economic decay in Zimbabwe. Opportunists in the mould of aspiring politicians turned business moguls with clandestine backing from top politicians in some cases have taken advantaged of the near anarchical situation and enriched themselves.

Genuine accountable politicians will always have the interest of their country at heart. The stage at which the country has reached now requires everyone to join forces irrespective of political affiliation in an effort to resuscitate the state and the economy. Those clinging to power should be encouraged to either relinquish or share it responsibly and allow other players into their shoes. Those willing to wrestle power should also do it democratically through peaceful means. Those among us who are opportunists and greedy should be flashed out because recovery of the state cannot be achieved with them at the midst of the struggle. If 20 percent of our population is corrupt then what it means is that 80 percent are victims and so the onus is on the majority to fight the former or suffer in perpetuity.

Crisford Chogugudza Social Commentator based in North London Can be contacted on crisford02@yahoo.co.uk
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