Zimbabwe’s boasting of 5,000 ‘development projects’ proves we’re being led by jokers!

At times, I find it exceedingly difficult not to laugh my lungs out, whenever I am listening to top officials brag about so-called ‘development projects’ being undertaken by the Zimbabwe government.

Yesterday was no different.

There was the acting information minister, Jenfan Muswere, proudly telling the whole nation about the 4,984 supposed ‘development projects’, which the Harare administration completed between 2018 and 2022.

The first thought that came to my mind was, “What nonsense is this?”

Surely, what on earth does the Zimbabwe regime mean by ‘4,984 development projects’?

What country under God’s sun can make such outrageous claims?

Of course, in an instant, I feverishly researched ‘development projects’ being carried out by our neighbor, South Africa.

From what I could gather, there were no more than fifty ‘projects’ currently underway.

That figure sounded a bit more realistic, since any ‘development projects’ worth writing home about can never be more than a hundred at any given time – purely due to their sheer magnitude.

South Africa is presently working on the Mooikloof Mega City – in the east of the capital Pretoria, to the tune of US$5 billion – that will be the world’s largest sectional property development.

There is also the Square Kilometer Array – an intergovernmental radio telescope project between South Africa and Australia, to be the largest in the world at completion in 2028.

Then the Greater Cornubia – a US$1.7 billion city north of Durban, with 58,000 housing units, as well as industrial and commercial properties.

I could mention the BRICS Cable Project (a 34,000 kilometers long optic fiber submarine communications cable connecting BRICS countries); the Durban Point Waterfront (residential and commercial development worth US$2.4 billion); or the Lanseria Smart City in West Rand.

There are obviously a few more – but the point is as clear as day.

Meaningful ‘development projects’, which a government can justifiably boast about, should logically be just too enormous to reach a staggering figure of 4,984!

Imagine South African undertaking 5,000 of the gigantic ‘projects’ mentioned above!

That would simply not be plausible!

So, the question becomes, “When the Zimbabwe government brags of ‘development projects’, to what exactly would they be referring’?

I can dare provide my own explanation as to what the President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa administration means.

Of course, we can talk about the much publicized expansion of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Beit Bridge border post, Hwange Units 7 and 8 Thermal Power Station, a few dams, and so-called ‘road rehabilitation’,

However, anyone who can count can see that these are just south of ten – a far cry from the 4,984 being touted.

So, which are the rest?

What I believe is that the Mnangagwa regime is trying to pull wool over Zimbabweans’ eyes.

For them, building, for instance, one classroom at a school is counted as one ‘development project’!

If they do the same at another school, that is reported as two ‘development projects’ – and so on and so on.

In the same vein, if they drill a borehole in Budiriro, then two in Glen View, and three in Zengeza – that is recorded as six ‘development projects’!

In other words, for the government to reach such an absurd figure of ‘development projects’, they are noting each and every little thing that they do as a separate entity!

Even erecting a wall around a government building can be regarded as a ‘development project’!

This then brings up a follow-up question, “For what reason would the Zimbabwe regime resort to such desperate measures”?

Well, the answer is quite obvious.

There is really no development of significance of which the Mnangagwa administration can boast.

That is why when the government or ruling ZANU PF party are campaigning on their ‘successes’, they can hardly name anything above five or six ‘development projects’.

Please try it out, by asking any government or ZANU PF official (or even supporter) what the Mnangagwa administration has achieved over the course of five years.

I can bet you my last dollar that they can not go beyond the already named – RGM International Airport, Beit Bridge border post, Hwange Units 7 and 8 Thermal Power Station, a few dams, so-called ‘road rehabilitation’, and a couple of one-lane narrow bridges.

That is where they stop.

Then push them to list the other 4,960 or so – and they will immediately draw blanks.

Even the state broadcaster, in its irritating insufferable propaganda jingles, repeats the same handful of ‘successes’.

If this astronomical number (of 4,984) had been real, the ruling establishment would never run out of ‘achievements’ to talk about.

Is it then any wonder, ordinary Zimbabweans do not even know these projects – of which they need to be repeatedly told by those in power.

Surely, if these were real achievements of note – they would never evade the notice of the ordinary citizenry.

Actually, the very fact that the Mnangagwa administration can boast of accomplishing 4,984 ‘development projects’ is outrageous enough to show that there is something really fishy.

If the government was embarking on genuine ‘development’ worth bragging about – then, as South Africa, they would not have had any problems proudly reporting a reasonable figure as 50 ‘projects’.