When the chaos ends....

Tomorrow (February 11) is a significant day in Zimbabwe's political history. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is being sworn in as Prime Minister, after protracted negotions with the ruling Zanu PF, following an indescribable election period. Those who have experienced the turmoil of the last 11 months are optimistic that the end of the negotiation process signals the dawn of a new era for this country. Call it naivity if you will, but hope is sometimes naive. Here's a piece I wrote a few weeks ago in anticipation of change - talk about having foresight! I certainly hope the change we are anticipating will take the form that we envisage.

When the chaos ends....

I can imagine a thousand and one things I would like to do but have not been able to because of the environment I’m in. I am a planner and I love to prepare for the future. I love to paint pictures of the future in my mind and then prepare for it.

So, while we are surrounded by disorder and struggling for survival, I sometimes switch on my mind and travel to another place. A place that is different from now. A place called the future. I have to visit this place, in preparation for when the chaos ends. Surely, the chaos we see today shall soon come to end and I would not like to be caught unawares.

In the future that I occasionally visit, there is no limit to what I can do, so I can unleash my creativity and dream of what might seem impossible right now.

When the future comes, here is what I will do.

First, I shall go to the bathroom and run a bath. There will be no water shortages so the water will just flow from the tap into my tub. There it shall mix with my bubble bath and foam into bubbles that will caress my skin as I soak myself in. I shall have the candlelight baths that I so miss. Only this time, the candlelight will be by choice and not because of a power cut. How I long for that time to be now.

Afterwards, I shall go shopping. How wonderful it will be to walk into the shops and pay for locally made products using our own currency. By then, our money shall have value, just like in the old days. Shop owners will want our money and we will be proud to carry it around. We will pay for products in reasonable denominations that even the illiterate can count. Trillions, quadrillions and sextillions shall be mentioned when discussing our investments and not when buying bread.

Even if I walk into a shop three months later, the prices shall not have changed. I will be able to window shop, see what I like and save up for it knowing that the price will not have changed when I have finally gathered the money I need. When I do not have cash, I shall be able to buy on account or lay by without fear of the value of my money being eroded before the transaction is complete.

When I want to buy assets, I shall be able to do so on friendly terms without being forced to pay cash for everything to guard against the uncertainty in the environment. Oh, how I long for that time to come.

Of course I shall be a healthy person, but when I catch that occasional illness, seeking health services will not be a nightmare. For starters, my medical insurance will be acceptable at all health institutions. Medication will be available and hospitals will be well staffed. I shall have the option of choosing whether I wish to be treated at a private hospital or government institution knowing that all facilities can meet my health care needs.
I do not know if we can totally end poverty, but in that future, not everyone will be poor. Poverty will not be a consequence of unwise decisions by an uncaring leadership.

There will be jobs for the majority and everyone will do what they are employed to do. Uncollected garbage, shall not be a common sight. Diseases like cholera will not be heard of and words like starvation shall not feature in our vocabulary.

I shall do all the things that I have not been able to do, from the simple act of buying sliced fresh bread, to major decisions like purchasing a house. I shall also exercise all the rights that I somehow seem to have lost in the midst of all the chaos. These shall be exercised as and when I please. Like one who selects a piece of clothing from the wardrobe, I shall pull out the rights I need for different situations and apply them accordingly. First to be exercised, most likely, is freedom expression. We will be living in a democratic society, with a new constitution that affords us such rights. Law enforcement agents, too, shall be trained to respect those rights, so I will not fear to exercise them.

Freedom of movement will not be wasted either. I shall go anywhere and everywhere without worrying about unnecessary roadblocks and what might transpire when I get there. When I see a policeman’s reflective vest on the road ahead, I shall not start an imaginary conversation in anticipation of what he might say, neither will I start cooking up answers to avoid paying a bribe for a crime I am not sure I would have committed. Certainly, I shall download the universal declaration of rights from the internet, then make sure I fully exercise my rights in a democratic environment that respects my civil liberties.

When elections come, as they inevitably will, my vote shall be respected. No one will disenfranchise me because the leadership will respect the people. Those whom we would have voted out will step down graciously and gracefully handover the baton of power to the leader of our choice. The police will not mount an “operation mavhotera papi” (where did you put your X) and beat the hell out of us for “not voting properly.” The elected leadership will make decisions that are in our best interest and we will safeguard our freedom. We will not be held to ransom by a few individuals that feel they own the nation because they fought to liberate it. No, we will all recognise that sometimes people make sacrifices for future generations and for the national good and much as we appreciate their contribution, we do not owe them anything – least of all our lives and this nation. Those who govern will recognise that a nation comprises of people who have rights and a country is not a personal property that is full of objects. Naturally, in this place called the future, crimes of any kind, including those against humanity, shall not go unpunished.

We shall all feel secure, experiencing various facets of security. Secure from crime in our homes, safe from abuse by service providers including those that are supposed to protect us. Most of all, though, I shall be safe from the uncertainty that characterizes the environment.

So, in this security, I shall be able to plan my life. Planning for reality and not sneaking off to an invisible place called the future, which currently exists only in my mind. A future that I hope will certainly come, when the chaos ends…

Matilda Moyo
16 January 2009