As Zimbabwe heads toward its August elections, the ZANU PF-led government continues its tired crusade of blaming the opposition for the decay in urban areas. While they paint themselves as problem solvers, their rhetoric hides the truth: Zimbabwe’s towns and cities are collapsing under the weight of neglect — and ZANU PF is squarely responsible.
Take smaller towns like Redcliff, where residents face constant water shortages, crumbling roads, and a complete breakdown of basic infrastructure like streetlights. Local frustration grows by the day, especially as city officials turn a blind eye to these issues. The situation is made worse by murky land deals, whose proceeds never benefit residents but instead fund the luxury lifestyles of senior management — all while ordinary people go without.
The scandal around a road tender in Redcliff speaks volumes. Despite large advance payments, the promised road remains a fantasy years later. Meanwhile, excuses pile up for the abysmal water supply, especially in low-density suburbs. Residents are tired of the lies, and rightfully so.
Still, ZANU PF seizes these failures as political ammunition against the MDC Alliance and CCC. It’s a cynical tactic — to use chaos they themselves caused to score cheap points against rivals. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government points fingers but refuses to look in the mirror.
The truth is that the urban water crisis stems from ZANU PF’s long-standing refusal to invest in infrastructure. No new dams. No upgrades to aging colonial systems. Just decades of mismanagement as urban populations continue to grow. Electricity is no different — Zimbabwe relies on outdated equipment from the colonial era or early independence, with zero vision for the future. The result? Constant blackouts and an economy in free fall.
ZANU PF’s claim that they handed over thriving cities to the opposition is fiction. What they actually passed on were cities barely clinging to life on the back of colonial infrastructure — infrastructure that has since collapsed under their stewardship.
Even their so-called “solutions” expose their failure. The government’s obsession with drilling boreholes — like Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube in Cowdray Park or President Mnangagwa in Chitungwiza and Epworth — is not progress. It’s surrender. Boreholes are stopgaps, not solutions. They highlight, rather than solve, the crisis.
In fact, when those in charge of the national purse resort to boreholes, it signals total collapse. It proves that no matter who runs the council, the deeper problem lies with the central government’s refusal to fix, fund, or future-proof the water system.
This is no longer about CCC or MDC. It’s about a ruling party that has failed for over four decades to modernize Zimbabwe. It’s about a government that prioritizes luxury for the few over dignity for the many.
Until there is serious investment in water, electricity, and urban infrastructure — not PR stunts and borehole photo ops — Zimbabwe’s urban areas will continue to sink. And ZANU PF can no longer pretend that the blame lies anywhere but with themselves.