Of Mugabe rhetoric and poverty - by Justice Sibanda

On Thursday 26th of September President Mugabe addressed the General Council of United Nations. In a speech littered with the usual rhetoric and blaming the West for all for Zimbabwe's problems. Our favourite line from his speech was " Our small and peaceful country is threatened daily by covetous and bigoted big powers whose hunger for domination and control of other nations and their resources knows no bounds". Where do you even start breaking down that statement, these big words I am sure would have in the past brought ululations and cheers from Zimbabweans. They now offer very scant consolation or comfort to millions of us whose children go to bed with empty stomachs, million of us who are struggling to send our children to school, the millions of us who dare not speak up for fear of reprisals, the millions of us who are unemployed with no hope for a bright future and the millions of us who are exploited by the few rich elite and earn peanuts that can not see us to the next pay day.

Let me throw a few statistics at you; Contrary to Zanu PF assertions that it has alleviated suffering through the controversial land redistribution exercise and indigenisation, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) poverty analysis report shows grinding poverty has worsened with the rural average consumption per person per month standing at US$4,70, compared to US$87 for urbanites. Poverty currently stalks 62% of the country’s estimated 13 million people, mostly in rural areas and high-density suburbs.

The Zimstat report defines poverty as the prevalence of households or people in households whose consumption expenditure per capita are below the upper line, while extreme poverty represents households whose per capita consumption expenditure falls below the food poverty line (FPL). The Poverty Income Consumption and Expenditure Survey (Pices) 2011/2012 says most of the poverty stricken households are resettlement and communal areas.

Matabeleland North is the hardest hit by poverty at 81,7% despite vast natural resources in the province. The province boasts of the largest game park, Hwange National Park, vast coal and gold deposits, tourist attractions including the world-famous Victoria Falls, and cattle ranching.

Mashonaland Central is also stalked by poverty with 75,4% classified as poor while President Robert Mugabe’s home province, Mashonaland West, has poverty levels of 72,4%.

In Matabeleland South, 70,8% are poor while Manicaland, which has rich diamond fields has a 70,6% poverty level, while Mashonaland East and Midlands stand at 67%.
Poverty levels in Masvingo are at 63,7% while the metropolitan provinces have the lowest poverty levels with Harare at 35,7 % and Bulawayo 34,5%.

Of the 62% wallowing in poverty, 16,2% are in extreme poverty while 76% of the rural households are poor compared to 38,2% in urban areas. About 30% of rural people are extremely poor compared to 5,6% in urban areas.

These shocking figures suggest one of the striking legacies of Mugabe’s rule is countrywide poverty, although some mainly an elite in Zanu PF and its connections live lavishly. Before talking about wanting transparency and accountability in the UN Security council, shouldn't we be talking about transparency in your own Government, transparency in our electoral system, stemming and eradicating rampant corruption, making the security forces more accountable to the people, and not a tool of repression and imprisonment of opponents, after-all aren't they there to serve us.

Justice Melusi Sibanda  
Organising Secretary – ROHR Zimbabwe/Bradford Branch