A country governed by crooks can be rich but its people poor

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The paradox of Zimbabwe is not merely a failure of economics; it is a profound moral crisis that defies the traditional logic of national wealth. 

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In any functional society, the discovery of vast mineral reserves and the announcement of burgeoning gold stocks would be cause for a national celebration—a signal of impending prosperity for the man on the street. 

Yet, when President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently announced that Zimbabwe’s gold reserves had risen to 4.4 tonnes, making the nation the 11th largest holder of official gold reserves in Africa and the third in the SADC region, the news was met not with cheers, but with the hollow silence of a hungry population. 

The central tragedy of our time is that Zimbabwe boasts the statistics of a titan while its people endure the reality of paupers. 

We are, quite literally, the children of a billionaire living in squalor, begging for bread while our father’s vaults overflow with the spoils of our heritage.

The numbers on the Zimbabwean balance sheet are, on paper, nothing short of breathtaking. 

We sit atop a geological jackpot that should have made us the envy of the world. 

Zimbabwe is ranked among the top gold producers in Africa, with over 4,000 recorded gold deposits vein-lining our soil. 

We possess the second-largest platinum group metals (PGM) deposits on the planet and the largest chromium ore reserves ever discovered. 

Our diamond fields are estimated to hold between 20 percent and 30 percent of the world’s potential production. 

To add to this traditional wealth, we have positioned ourselves as the largest lithium producer in Africa, holding the keys to the global green energy revolution. 

Even our fields tell a story of success, with wheat production reaching record highs and the new ZiG currency maintaining single-digit inflation since its inception. 

On the surface, the “Second Republic” presents a facade of a fast-growing economy, projected to expand by 7 percent in 2025.

However, beneath this gilded surface lies a rot so deep it has swallowed the dignity of a nation. 

While the state celebrates its 4.4 tonnes of gold, the people are drowning in a sea of deprivation. 

As of early 2026, Zimbabwe is estimated to rank 9th globally for extreme poverty. 

Approximately 49.2 percent of our population survives on less than $1.90 a day—a figure that has remained stubbornly high despite years of “reform” rhetoric. 

We are ranked the 36th poorest country in the world by GDP per Capita (PPP), with a measly $5,407. 

This economic strangulation has predictably resulted in a psychological collapse; Zimbabwe was recently ranked the 5th unhappiest country globally in the 2025 World Happiness Report. 

We consistently occupy the top of Hanke’s Annual Misery Index, a dubious honor fueled by the twin engines of high unemployment and the ghost of a high cost of living that haunts every transaction.

The human cost of this mismanagement is most visible in the crumbling infrastructure of our daily lives. 

Our healthcare system is a skeletal remains of what it once was. 

Ranked 117th out of 195 countries on the Global Health Security Index with a score of 32.4, Zimbabwe is fundamentally unprepared for a medical emergency. 

We have world-class doctors, but they are forced to work in a system that lacks basic laboratories, digital tracking, and essential equipment. 

The “safety net” is so thin that we are entirely dependent on international aid whenever a disease outbreak occurs. 

This is not a matter of missing resources; it is a matter of stolen priorities.

Even more heartbreaking is the state of our intellect. 

Zimbabweans are renowned for their brilliance and high literacy rates, yet our education system has been allowed to fall to 192nd globally in the 2026 World Population Review rankings. 

This is a “learning crisis” in its purest form. 

Our students are motivated, but they are trapped in buildings that are literally crumbling around them, lacking textbooks or the internet connectivity required to compete in a digital century. 

We are effectively sabotaging the future of our youth to satisfy the greed of the present.

This systemic collapse extends to the most basic requirement for life: water. 

We rank 177th out of 193 nations for water access. 

It is a cruel irony that while our national dams are often full to the brim, the infrastructure to treat and move that water is broken beyond repair. 

Millions of citizens must walk miles to boreholes or risk their lives drinking from contaminated rivers because the piped systems in our cities have collapsed. 

Consequently, the 2024 Environmental Performance Index ranks us 163rd for unsafe drinking water. 

When the taps do run, they often deliver poison, leading to the recurring outbreaks of cholera and typhoid that have become a shameful staple of Zimbabwean life.

Why, then, is there such a massive chasm between our geological wealth and our social poverty? 

The answer is as simple as it is devastating: We are governed by crooks. 

There is no other way to describe a system where 4.4 tonnes of gold coexist with children who cannot attend school because their fees are unpaid. 

The nation’s vast wealth is being plundered by a predatory elite who have turned the state into a private skimming machine. 

If the wealth of our gold, lithium, platinum, and diamonds were managed with even a shred of integrity, Zimbabweans would be enjoying a standard of living characterized by modern, high-tech hospitals, world-class schools with fiber-optic connectivity, and clean, treated water flowing into every home. 

We should have a social safety net that ensures no citizen falls into the abyss of $1.90-a-day poverty.

Instead, we see a pattern of institutionalized theft. 

The Corruption Perception Index for 2025 gave Zimbabwe a dismal score of 22 out of 100, a negligible “improvement” from the 21 it scored the year prior. 

This has been the consistent narrative since 2017 when the so-called Second Republic assumed power.

The billions of dollars generated from our minerals are not being funneled into the national treasury to build roads or buy dialysis machines; they are being diverted into the offshore accounts and luxury lifestyles of a few well-connected individuals. 

The ruling elite feast on the finest delicacies while the rest of the nation is expected to survive on the dry crumbs that fall from their table.

A country can indeed be rich while its people remain poor, but only when the bridge between resources and citizens—the government—is occupied by those who view the treasury as a personal loot bag. 

Zimbabwe is not a poor country; it is a robbed country. 

We have the gold, we have the diamonds, and we have the brilliance. 

What we lack is a leadership that fears the law more than it loves the loot. 

Until the “crooks” are held to account and the plunder is stopped, the glowing statistics of the Second Republic will remain nothing more than a cruel joke played on a suffering people. 

We are a billionaire’s children, and it is time we stopped living like beggars in our own home.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. To directly receive his articles please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08