Two issues Zimbabwe has to resolve to move forward

Zimbabwe has to deal with its demons from its past and agree on who qualifies to be a citizen if it wants to move forward as a state that can maintain stability and progress,, a Movement for Democratic Change legislator says.

Eddie Cross, who said he is going to concentrate on how to put Zimbabwe back onto its feet in his weekly column on the internet over the next few weeks, said the two issues that need to be addressed are:

• We needed to heal the wounds of the past, to deal with the demons in our midst – all of them, the hangover from the liberation war, the genocide of 1983/87, the damage done by the collapse of the economy 1997 to 2008, the dislocation of Murambatsvina in 2005, the violent displacement of commercial farmers and their workers and the myriad of incidents of politically motivated violence over many decades.
• We needed to agree on just who was a Zimbabwean and who could be classified as a Citizen of the country. In this respect we had to deal with tribal, racial and all other forms of prejudice and discrimination.

One commentator said Cross was already behind. “Can you not hear the people speak? Can you not hear the people say we need water, food and education for our families? Can you not hear the people say I don’t care who you are as we have the same problem?

“Eddie, all due respect to you the hatred is now with the politicians. The racism and tribalism is now with the politicians. They are using it to try and get mileage. It won’t work because we know that whilst there are tribalists, racists, and segregationist of all colours amongst us we the masses don’t subscribe to it.

“What we subscribe to is food on our tables, (we don’t mind whether it’s a white or black or blue farmer that makes this possible). We want jobs. It does not matter whether it’s an indigenous, foreign, black or white employer. It is not us black, white or brown that need to forget our differences. It is the politicians.”

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