"Zimbabwe Is Being Killed By 'Madiro', Not Sanctions"
A lawyer and social worker who is also a member of the ruling ZANU PF party, Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, says Zimbabwe is being killed not by politics or sanctions but by “madiro“, which means an “I do as I want” attitude.
Writing for Nehanda Radio, Chinyoka defined Madiro as not only doing whatever you want, “but… doing it with an almost reckless abandon that celebrates the fact that you are doing it”.
Chinyoka argues that since November 2017 (when Operation Restore Legacy was launched), people break the law, norms, and rules with reckless abandon and with no fear of consequences.
Cars with no plates and/or insurance are vying for a majority on the road, mothers are arrested and denied bail for crimes they will never be convicted of, youths demonstrate in the streets without following the law, shops charge prices with no regard to the customers, people skip fuel queues freely, the President is maligned on social media, while even visitors from China are allowed to go around the country with no consideration about the coronavirus… Chinyoka goes on an on. In conclusion, he wrote:
Without regulation, things fall apart. Without restraint, politicians and policymakers become servants of no-one. And once madiro takes over, only the unlucky, the unconnected and the cursed go to jail.
Perhaps, that might explain why, some two years into the second republic which has put the fight against corruption at the fore, we still do not have a single person in prison that has been convicted of corruption. Because time time pamwe mbavha dziri kutoitawo madiro kuma department kwadzinosungwa nokutongwa ikoko, you never know.
