Another 12 months of incremental decline and hardships for the people of Zimbabwe – that is how opposition parties are characterizing the year 2014, blaming Zanu PF for failing to address the country’s worsening economic situation.
The year saw a continuation of company closures at a large scale in different cities and towns, escalating job loses for thousands of employees who will not be enjoying Christmas the way they may have wished.
The Movement for Democratic Change formations lamented the hardships in different postmortems on Wednesday, saying economic and social growth will remain a mirage under the Zanu PF government.
However, despite its uninspiring assessment, the MDC wing led by Morgan Tsvangirai said change was imminent, adding Zimbabwe’s hope may lie in the fissures that are currently rocking Zanu PF.
“The people of Zimbabwe should not lose hope because the darkest hour comes just before dawn,” party spokesman Obert Gutu told VOA.
“We can assure the people that we are not going to go as far as 2018 before we get the next election; Zanu PF is crumbling like a deck of cards and the way things are going are such that only a miracle can save them.”
Zanu PF is currently embroiled in a civil war that has seen the sacking of Mrs. Joice Mujuru as vice president and several party officials accused of conspiring with her to overthrow President Robert Mugabe from office.
Critics accuse the Zanu PF government of failing to make good its promise of massive job creating during the 2013 election campaign, and focusing instead on factional party politics.
“More industries closed, more jobs were lost, productivity declined, the economy went into a process of shutdown and it has now started to recede,” commented spokesman Nhlanhla Dube of the MDC faction led by Professor Welshman Ncube.