Tuesday 4 November 2008

Hope and change - In Zimbabwe?

Hope and change – two words that have shattered the political glass ceiling in the United States and thrust the son of an African father and American mother into the most powerful political office in the world. President-elect Barack Obama's message of hope and change resonated with the electorate so well that he routed his GOP rival John McCain on election day.

Anyway, those of you following this blog would have surely noticed that I have not written about my native Zimbabwe for a while now, not because there has been nothing at all to write about. On the contrary, there has been a lot to occupy this blog since the then much touted agreement between the main protagonists.

However, going to back to the Obama theme, all the hope for change that long suffering Zimbabweans had gleaned from this agreement has surely dissipated due to the now ludicrous stalemate between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai over who takes what cabinet posts. If ever there was an opportune epochal moment, now is the time for Africa to seize the moment engineered by Obama. This is the time to be inspired by a black president of the United States of America and smash to smithereens the grubby shackles of a disparate gang of dictators and politicians who do not represent their long suffering people and put their interests ahead for once, but instead watch interest accumulate their Swiss bank accounts.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai should forego their vested interests and take the finger out and knuckle down to the arduous task at hand that will lead the shattered country on the road to recovery. The long suffering people of Zimbabwe deserve much better. Hope springs eternal and change will come. Soon!