OPEN LETTER TO PAUL TUNGWARARA
I watched your remarks regarding the 2030 agenda and your comments suggesting that elections should wait so that others can also โeat.โ
As an ordinary Zimbabwean, I found those words deeply disturbing.
The purpose of government is not to create opportunities for politicians, advisers, business elites, or those connected to power to โeat.โ The purpose of government is to serve the people.
Millions of Zimbabweans are struggling to afford food, healthcare, education, and decent jobs. Young people are leaving the country in search of opportunities. Families are being separated by economic hardship. Yet instead of discussing how to improve the lives of citizens, we hear discussions about postponing elections and allowing more people to benefit from political power.
Who exactly is supposed to be eating?
The unemployed graduate?
The struggling vendor?
The nurse earning a salary that disappears before month-end?
The pensioner whose savings have been wiped out?
Or those who already enjoy access to influence, government contracts, and the corridors of power?
Zimbabweโs Constitution is not a menu from which politicians choose what suits them. Elections are a constitutional right. They are not an inconvenience to be postponed whenever those benefiting from the current system feel they need more time.
If a government has performed well, it should have no fear of facing the people at the ballot box. If the people are satisfied, they will vote accordingly. That is democracy.
Many Zimbabweans are tired of hearing powerful people speak as if the country belongs to a select few. Zimbabwe belongs to all of us. Public office is a position of trust, not a feeding trough.
The message citizens want to hear is not about who gets to eat. The message they want to hear is how the nation will create jobs, strengthen institutions, fight corruption, improve hospitals, and give young people a future.
Respect the Constitution.
Respect the peopleโs right to choose.
And remember that political power exists to serve citizens, not to feed those who are close to it.
Respectfully,
Thomas Chizhanje