"For The Ordinary Person It's Not About Statistics But Food On The Table," Church Leader
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Reverend Dr Solomon Zwana (SZ) has said that things are getting worse in Zimbabwe since the 2017 military-assisted transition which resulted in Robert Mugabe’s demise.
Speaking in an interview with Zimbabwe Independent (ZI)’s News Editor Owen Gagare (OG) and online content creator Evans Mathanda, the former secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) said that Zimbabwe missed a glorious opportunity to turn around its fortunes.
He said that Zimbabwe could have done better but the nation was carried away by the excitement over the ‘New Dispensation’ and the country is now heading South contrary to official statistics on growth or decline of the economy.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
OG: In your view, has there been any change since the November 2017 events? The government says things are improving.
SZ: A few months after the coup, there were some relative stability and freedom of expression; the police roadblocks were gone, so people were happy initially. But those things started shrinking gradually from different angles and, as we drew closer to the 2018 elections, things started getting worse and even as we approached the election we were hopeful that there would be stability afterwards. Now we continue to have challenges of shortages, even of cash, and the economy is in turmoil. For the ordinary person it is not about the statistics but having food on the table. An ordinary person says things have improved when they have food on the table, when they are able to send the children at school, to get fuel whenever they need it. People should not worry about where to get the next bag of roller meal. It’s not just about statistics and economic theories but the issues of survival. Things are generally worse now than they were in 2017.
More: Zimbabwe Independent
