The Zimbabwean Situation Isn't A Normal One - University Of Zimbabwe Lecturer

University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, has said that Zimbabweans have in the past 20 years been normalising the abnormal.

He noted that the resilience with which the citizens showed in the face of crises is legendary. The political scientist said:

Zimbabwe should have exploded a long time back and the mystery is why it has taken so long.

We have had this in the past 20 years, but the Zimbabwean situation is not a normal one. There is a high threshold of resilience and until that endurance reaches exhaustion point, it is at that point when this social and political situation will implode. We have had many episodes of economic implosion which have led to that.

He noted that the patience with which Zimbabweans have was rare. To further illustrate his point, Masunungure said that in other jurisdictions including neighbouring South Africa, citizens could have flooded the streets a long time ago.

His remarks come when the country is deeply sunk in a number of challenges including fuel shortages, inflation, shortage of medicines, unemployment, severe starvation, power cuts, incapacity to print passports, to mention only a few.

The government is projecting that things will be tougher for about three more years. This is in resonance with projections of other analysts including NKC Research. Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube had earlier estimated that prices of goods will be falling starting this July.

The reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar and the ban of all foreign currencies for domestic transactions through Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019 was also premised at addressing the unrelenting crises.

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