Zimbabwe the PBS Program Entitled "Zimbabwe: Shadows

Zimbabwe The PBS program entitled "Zimbabwe: Shadows and Lies" discusses the major difficulties which are happening in present-day Zimbabwe under the rule of President Robert Mugabe. The man Robert Mugabe helped push Zimbabwe into a state of independence and was originally hailed as a freedom fighter and a hero, someone to save them from the oppressive white government of the age before. However, as a leader in truth, Mugabe showed himself to be obsessed with power and willing to do anything, including torture and murder to keep his power base.

Misgoverning and dictatorship have allowed Mugabe to change Zimbabwe from a prosperous nation to a country where the majority do not have enough food to eat and where inflation has made paper money virtually worthless. The government is involved in every aspect of the lives of the Zimbabweans, spying on the citizens and punishing them for speaking out against their leader. In Zimbabwe, it is evident that misgoverning and the failure of the government to provide for the people is the root cause of all the problems of the citizenry.

Misgoverning is the process of governing a people inefficiently or badly and in some cases this happens because of ineptitude on the part of leaders. However, in the case of Mugabe, his misgoverning can only be considered as intentionally malicious. He does not show any concern for his people, but for maintaining his position of power. Instead of making decisions which would better the Zimbabwean economy or the quality of life for his citizens, Mugabe went on a campaign of oppression which exemplifies the concept of misgoverning.

Watching the video, one can only feel empathy for the people of Zimbabwe and indeed all people who are forced to live under government regimes which serve the leaders and the government and not the people. It makes me physically ill to hear the people's stories and to see the people living in poverty. To see human beings waiting in line in the hopes that they have enough to afford the food to feed themselves and their families for a mere few days are depressing and deplorable.

People live in ramshackle homes which are barely standing and even these are a luxury as the Mugabe regime burned down houses and stores to further strengthen his political position. In the United States and other free countries of the world which have democratic governments, people have the right and indeed the responsibility to criticize their leaders if the people are dissatisfied by the actions of those in power. The governments are made to serve the people.

Having this freedom, it becomes easy to forget how great a privilege it is to say that one is unhappy with a leader or a policy and to demand change without fear of violence for doing so. The United States gives financial aid to Zimbabwe and its leader Robert Mugabe, but the money from American tax payers is not doing anything to help the people of the country.

Money from countries all over the world is given to Zimbabwe in the hopes that the funds will be used for AIDS patients and those who have been made homeless through natural disasters or through acts of government, but the actions of the leader indicate that very little of those funds are actually going where they are supposed to. The people of Zimbabwe obviously need help. They need food and medicine or they will not survive; many of them are not surviving.

It seems that there needs to be a more effective way of ensuring that the moneys granted to the Zimbabwean people are actually going to those in need and not into the pockets of corrupt government officials. Still another thing to consider.