We are all aware of time. The older you get, the less time there is for anything and it seems to accelerate each year. Only when we are children does time seem interminable. Can any of us believe it is June already? The changes in the veld tell us it is winter although the clear blue skies and warm days belie that fact. So far no frost although I heard that there was light snow in Francistown the other day!!
Two years are left before we can really expect another election. That seems a long time but it will be gone in the blink of an eye and we must make sure that we are able to accomplish all we have to do by then. The list of our priorities is intimidating.
We must try to manage the affairs of State and put the country back on the path to recovery and growth. We must get all 85 local authorities back on their feet and restore basic services to ordinary households. We must get new legislation passed by the House to correct the legal environment and make conditions amenable for the restoration of our basic freedoms and rights.
If that is not enough, we must draft a new Constitution and get it passed by a referendum. We must reform the basis upon which the next elections are held so that they can be regarded as being 'free and fair'. We must rebuild the Party so that we can compete for power in the new elections and persuade the electorate that we are the people to back when it comes to creating the conditions under which Zimbabwe can be restored to its rightful place in the world.
This daunting task is made all the more difficult because we are in a transitional arrangement that requires us to work consensually on everything despite the fact that we hold diametrically different views on everything. This is compounded when you understand that within this transitional government there is a secret cabal that seeks to undermine the new government at every opportunity.
It has taken us 4 months to secure agreement on the appointment of Governors, Permanent Secretaries, Diplomats and Roy Bennett as deputy Minister of Agriculture. Such issues should have been routine matters for the new authority but became a battle ground for power and influence and even control on the ground.