THE holidays are over. It is now back to work. Sadly there are no rains in the country.
In fact there are no rains in the whole of Southern Africa. This has resulted in everyone asking these questions: What is the cause of this severe drought? What shall we do now? Yes, where do we go from here?
In this article we are going to discuss the causes of this big drought and what we think should be done to help people in this country and the whole of southern Africa.
A lot of theories, some of them pretty ridiculous, are being banded about to explain why our country is gripped in such a severe drought today.
One theory which is gaining a lot of currency is to do with the proliferation of fly-by-night churches, fake prophets and gods. People are saying: If there is an Almighty living God up there in the heavens and we have no doubt there is a living God, who should be very very angry with so many dodgy church leaders who are calling themselves either chief spokespersons of God himself, sons and daughters of God, prophets of all prophets who can foretell the future in great detail, glorious healers who can even raise people from the dead. In short they have become gods.
Therefore this big drought thrust upon us, they say, is the real Almighty God’s way of showing who is boss. The fake prophets and fake gods have been exposed by this big drought as totally useless because they have no answer to the drought and we are being punished for following them and not God himself. Quite interesting stuff!
Then there are the miserable opposition political parties in this country. Many people are saying the big drought is due to the activities of opposition political parties who do not respect our culture, values and black people. These political parties only respect Western values and practices and are always prepared to sell out the country to please their Western masters. This drought is therefore a punishment by the country’s midzimu on these opposition political parties who have no respect for their own people and country. We ordinary Zimbabweans have unfortunately been caught in the “crossfire”.
But what is the major cause of this big drought? While we can’t completely dismiss the above sentiments from the people regarding the causes of this drought, there are fundamental reasons we find ourselves in the grip of one of the worst droughts in living memory.
The problem emanates from Western capitalist activities which have given rise to global warming.
One Naomi Klein in her book This Changes Everything reviewed by African Business of January 2015, discusses the causes of droughts as big as this one.
“The inter-governmental panel on climate change released a landmark report that indicated that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (from Western capitalist enterprises eg carbon dioxide which causes temperatures to rise like what is happening these days) are at their highest (today) in more than 800 000 years”. My goodness! And this warming of the climate is “a recipe for disastrous and worsening droughts, floods, rising sea levels” (Our emphasis).
Klein says the West must stop emitting the greenhouse gases which are causing climate change and droughts. What is really annoying is that whilst the West selfishly continues to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which are causing warming of the climate, the effects of climate change are being borne by us here in Zimbabwe and the rest of Southern Africa.
We are the worst affected. Because the West is causing trouble out here, Klein recommends that a number of measures be taken to alleviate our situation. Two of the measures she suggests are of great interest to us.
That the developed countries should be taxed US$50 for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit into the atmosphere. This would yield about US$450 billion annually. This should be channelled to countries like Zimbabwe and Southern Africa as compensation for the drought we are suffering because of the West’s activities. We are not talking about aid here. No!
Its compensation. This is because if there is no drought and the rains are falling we in Zimbabwe and the rest of Southern Africa can look after ourselves, foodwise, quite easily.
So when countries in the West channel any food resources to Zimbabwe this year it should not be taken as aid but compensation for damages caused by them through their emission of greenhouse gases that have caused this big drought today.
Then there is the suggestion by Klein that the diabolical military spending as well as continuous wars by the West should be cut or totally stopped.
The wars in the Middle East incited by the West are causing a lot of global warming and we in Zimbabwe are paying the price. Just watch the TV and see how much global warming is being caused by bombing. The American military industrial complex which is responsible for most of the wars in the Middle East today must compensate us here in Southern Africa for the drought we are now suffering.
Meanwhile, we must not sit back and cry ourselves to sleep because of this big drought. Nor wait for the day the West decides to pay damages to us. No! We must face this big drought the way we faced a war situation in the past. Totosunga dzisimbe.
We must conserve the little water we have now. Towns and cities must immediately hold meetings with their residents and introduce water rationing. We must remain positive and face the drought full and square. It is time to show courage and great vision.
But the big elephant in the room, greenhouse emissions, must be stopped forthwith. Experts say for the type of droughts we are experiencing not to occur, the climate must not warm up by 2⁰c or more. Anything above 2⁰c is a disaster for us. And we are getting there. “To keep below 2⁰c of warming, the growth of emissions should drop by 40 to 70 percent globally between now and 2050, falling to zero or below by 2100”. And it is the West who must do the reduction.
What is now critical is for us to use the AU and the United Nations to fight the so-called developed countries who must seriously reduce their carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Right now they have condemned us to burn in gehena when we have not committed any sins. It is not fair at all.