Perspective
Seeing things in perspective has never been more important in Zimbabwe. If we fail to do so, our view of the current problems we are encountering will be distorted and we may all make decisions we later regret. When people went out and paid 6 or 7 to 1 for USD and then bought groceries at astronomic prices, they both regret that now as open market prices and conversion rates have fallen back to 2,5 or 3 to 1.
In 2009 our pessimism was well founded, the economy had collapsed by 90 per cent, all financial institutions were bankrupt, the retail industry was in dire straits having been ruined by price controls and inflation. There seemed to be no way out of the mess we were in and then the MDC won the 2008 election and in February 2009 the GNU was born.
What then happened confounded all our critics and the pessimists who had written us off. What they failed to see was the wider perspective: Zimbabweans are very resilient, we have a huge hidden economy, we have learned how to handle a delinquent Government and international isolation. So when we were offered fairly decent policies and conditions we exceeded expectations in every way.
In a very real sense the same thing applies today. The Government of Mr Mugabe had simply resumed control of the State after the GNU came to an end and for them it was 'business as usual'. The looting resumed, the printing of money again became a problem as they tried to cover the fiscal deficit that was doubling every year and Mr Mugabe pretended that he was in the driver's seat of this broken down bus until he was a 100.
When Emmerson Mnangagwa took power in November 2017, he took almost everyone by surprise. What rocked the world was ordinary Zimbabweans response, they came out on the streets in celebration - not of the change of Government but the final political demise of the Mugabe family. The Army were greeted as hero's and I have never seen so many army soldiers kissed on the streets - not since the end of the Second World War. The people of this very special country sealed the deal with this massive, spontaneous, response.