When power is wielded by idiocy and wickedness the whole nation suffers

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The streets of Kwekwe are usually defined by a certain rhythmic predictability, a small-city quietude that rarely succumbs to the frantic congestion of Harare.

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Yet, last week, the flow of life ground to a frustrating halt in the city center.

As the line of vehicles slowed to a crawl, the culprit behind this uncharacteristic bottleneck became visible.

A dark Ford Ranger Raptor sat defiantly in the left lane, abandoned with a callous disregard for the hundreds of citizens forced to squeeze into a single remaining lane.

There were parking bays scattered throughout the vicinity; the OK Supermarket sat just across the street with ample space.

But the owner of this vehicle had chosen the middle of the road.

The reason for such brazenness was quickly apparent—the Raptor bore no license plates.

In Zimbabwe, an unmarked high-end vehicle traveling freely across highways and through city centers is a silent shout of “untouchability.”

It is the calling card of those connected to the upper echelons of power.

As I sat in that man-made jam, a realization dawned on me that was far more unsettling than the traffic itself.

The tragedy of Zimbabwe is not merely that we are governed by those who abuse their power.

The crisis is far more profound and pathological.

We are a nation held hostage by a specific, lethal combination of idiocy and wickedness.

There is a fundamental difference between wielding authority and being a fool with a cold heart, and when the latter sits on the throne, the result is the slow-motion collapse of a civilization.

One must wonder what goes through the mind of a person who believes that parking in the middle of a public road is a demonstration of strength.

To the one behind the wheel of that Raptor, the inconvenience caused to others was likely viewed as a trophy, a tangible proof that they exist above the law.

I looked at my son, who was with me in the car, and saw an opportunity to strip away the glamour of this perceived “power.”

I explained to him that laws are not burdens designed to restrict us; they are safeguards designed to protect us and those around us.

Obeying the law is an act of civic intelligence, while breaking it simply because you can is a hallmark of stupidity.

Consider the simple act of wearing a seatbelt.

A man in a position of authority might refuse to buckle up as a way to “flex” on the police, proving that no officer would dare ticket him.

But who is the real victim of this defiance?

In the event of a collision, the laws of physics do not care about political connections.

The seatbelt protects the occupant, not the government.

To ignore it is not a sign of being powerful; it is a sign of being an idiot.

Your “power” will not stitch your wounds or restore your life once you have flown through a windshield.

Yet, this is the very brand of foolishness that permeates the Zimbabwean ruling class.

They recklessly speed through our highways, violating every traffic rule in existence, seemingly unaware that they are endangering their own lives as much as the public’s.

They loot national resources and evade taxes, failing to realize that by destroying the economy, they are poisoning the very well they drink from.

This idiocy, however, is inseparable from a deep-seated wickedness.

To explore this, I look at the micro-level of human relationships.

In my own home, I possess near-absolute power over the environment.

I could, if I chose, evict my son from his bedroom and force him to sleep on a cold, hard floor simply to prove I have the muscles to do it.

But would that make me a powerful man?

No, it would reveal me as an empty, broken human being.

If I were to feast on the finest delicacies and dress in designer threads while my own child wore rags and survived on crumbs, I wouldn’t be demonstrating my status as the “head of the house.”

I would be exposing myself as a monster.

Yet, this domestic horror is the daily reality of the Zimbabwean state.

We recently witnessed the 46th Independence Day commemorations in Maphisa, a spectacle that laid bare this grotesque disparity.

What kind of leader finds it acceptable to fly in a luxury helicopter to celebrate “independence” in the middle of a community where the majority cannot afford a basic pair of shoes?

There is a profound psychological sickness involved in “flexing” your wealth in the face of the very people you have impoverished.

When you grab ancestral land and displace families who have lived there for generations, leaving them languishing in penury without a roof over their heads, you are not showing strength.

You are practicing a form of modern savagery.

The wickedness is further refined by a total lack of shame.

How does a man drive a six-figure SUV into a mansion equipped with state-of-the-art water filtration systems, all while passing through neighborhoods where the roads are more crater than pavement?

The money used for that vehicle and that mansion is the same money that should have been used to ensure every citizen has access to clean, potable water.

It is the money that should have fixed the potholes that now threaten the very car he stole to buy.

This is the idiocy of the wicked—they steal the bricks from the foundation of the house they live in and wonder why the walls are cracking.

There is a specific kind of evil required to sleep soundly at night knowing that elderly women are queuing for hours at communal boreholes, straining their backs to carry heavy buckets four or five times a day because the municipal system has been bled dry by corruption.

This is no longer a political issue or a matter of “governance styles.”

It is a moral vacuum.

When power is stripped of empathy and intelligence, it becomes a blunt instrument used by the small-minded to inflict pain on the vulnerable.

The tragedy of our nation is that those who lead us seem to believe that their ability to cause suffering is the ultimate proof of their importance.

They have mistaken fear for respect and gluttony for success.

They do not understand that a truly powerful leader is one who creates a system so robust that it protects even his enemies.

Instead, they prefer the “Raptor logic”—parking in the lane, blocking the progress of others, and assuming that because no one can move them, they have won.

In reality, they have lost the only thing that truly matters in leadership—humanity.

Zimbabwe is not suffering under a regime of masterminds or cunning tyrants.

We are suffering under a collection of people who have been blinded by their own greed and deafened by their own arrogance.

They are fools who believe their immunity is eternal and their cruelty is a virtue.

Until we recognize that our struggle is not just against an abuse of power, but against a fundamental lack of wisdom and character in high places, the “traffic jam” of our national progress will never clear.

We are being driven into a ditch by people who are too wicked to care and too foolish to realize they are also in the car.

• 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