Why is the Zimbabwean regime so desperate for Western validation?

There is something deeply troubling about a leader who appears more invested in how he is perceived abroad than in the wellbeing of the very people who elected him.

Tragically, this has become a defining trait of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime—one that has prioritized external validation, particularly from white and Western nations, over the daily suffering and needs of ordinary Zimbabweans.

This obsession with looking good in the eyes of foreigners, even at the expense of the population at home, is not just unfortunate—it is a clear manifestation of a colonial mindset, a lingering psychological condition where the oppressed internalize the values and approval of their former oppressors.

This tendency was on full display recently, following the tragic Good Friday collision between a Rovos Rail luxury passenger train, carrying foreign tourists, and a Beitbridge-Bulawayo Railway (BBR) goods train just outside Gwanda town.

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The Rovos train, operated by a private South African company based in Pretoria, was on its way to Victoria Falls with 47 tourists from countries like the US, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Canada, and South Africa.

What followed was extraordinary.

Within hours, the injured tourists were airlifted to private medical facilities in Bulawayo where they received top-tier medical care, while those uninjured were flown to Victoria Falls to resume their holiday uninterrupted.

One South African crew member underwent a complex 12-hour spinal surgery.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Tourism, Barbra Rwodzi, promptly visited them, offering government support and assurances to Rovos Rail that its operations would continue without disruption, as it was in the “national interest.”

She further declared that Zimbabwe was committed to “fostering positive relationships with other nations through our hospitality and culture.”

There is no problem in ensuring the safety and comfort of foreign guests.

That is the mark of a civilized and responsible nation.

However, the glaring issue is that such urgency, such empathy, and such world-class treatment are never extended to Zimbabwean citizens, even in far more deadly and tragic circumstances.

The government becomes responsive and humane only when dealing with white foreigners—not with its own black population.

Contrast the Rovos Rail incident with the horrific accident just two months earlier, where 25 Zimbabweans perished after a bus collided with a truck near the Lutumba tollgate along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway.

The response from the government was muted, sluggish, and apathetic.

Survivors were treated in underfunded public hospitals, some lying on torn beds and their broken arms and legs covered in cardboard instead of proper splints or casts.

Some so-called experts shamelessly tried to justify the use of cardboard on fractured limbs as “acceptable emergency care,” even before x-rays—when it was obvious these were not stopgap measures, but substitutes for medical equipment that public hospitals simply did not have.

Ask yourself: were any of the foreign tourists involved in the Rovos accident wrapped in cardboard?

Did they lie on threadbare hospital mattresses, begging for basic paracetamol?

Or did we see them receiving immediate, world-class care in spotless private hospitals, courtesy of the Zimbabwean government?

Why does this urgency only arise when Western lives are at stake?

The tragedy of local Zimbabweans is not just in the lack of quality healthcare, but in the inhumane neglect they suffer daily.

Who can forget the heartbreaking story of musician Tatenda Pinjisi, who died in agony after a car accident near Norton, crying out for over-the-counter painkillers at Sally Mugabe Hospital?

Or the woman I recently wrote about, who sustained a fractured shoulder in a road traffic accident while returning from her brother’s funeral?

Her family was told surgery would only proceed after they raised US$800—a sum needed to pay for services that should have been freely available in a functioning public health system.

Fortunately, a kind-hearted South African woman flew her to Pietermaritzburg and paid for her treatment.

But how many others die or live in agony simply because they are poor and Zimbabwean?

What emerges is a picture of a regime that is more concerned about protecting its image before foreigners—especially whites—than uplifting its own black citizens.

To this administration, the comfort of a Western tourist is more important than the life of a Zimbabwean child.

This is the very definition of a colonial hangover.

As my late father used to say, these are the symptoms of a people who, though politically independent, remain mentally colonized.

A leadership class that is still obsessed with being liked by its former masters.

That is why President Mnangagwa made the inexplicable decision to scrap tariffs on goods from the United States, even after the US imposed 18% tariffs on Zimbabwean exports.

What kind of leader sacrifices his country’s economic security just to appear friendly and cooperative to a superpower that has shown it little respect?

The removal of tariffs will flood our fragile market with cheaper American goods, undermining local industries, driving more companies to closure, and pushing unemployment even higher in a country already facing over 95% joblessness.

Yet, this reckless decision was made to appease the West, to gain brownie points with those whose validation Mnangagwa seems to value more than the suffering of his own citizens.

This is not leadership. It is dependency.

It is a betrayal of the liberation struggle that sought to restore black dignity and self-determination.

Mnangagwa’s government has made it clear that Zimbabweans are not a priority.

If you are poor, black, and local, your life simply doesn’t matter.

But if you are white, Western, and a visitor, the entire government machinery will move heaven and earth to keep you safe and comfortable.

Zimbabwe was once described by Julius Nyerere as “the jewel of Africa.”

Today, it is reduced to a cautionary tale of misrule, misplaced priorities, and moral bankruptcy.

Our hospitals are collapsing, our children are learning under trees, our cities are dark from daily load shedding—and yet, our leaders are obsessed with impressing white tourists and foreign investors.

We must ask: what kind of leader respects outsiders more than his own people?

What kind of government allows its citizens to suffer and die needlessly, while falling over itself to serve those who are simply passing through?

This is not just a leadership crisis—it is a spiritual and psychological crisis.

Zimbabwe does not need a leader who smiles for the cameras abroad while turning his back on the tears of his people.

It needs a leader who values Zimbabweans first—who believes that black lives matter not just in speeches, but in budget allocations, in policy choices, and in emergency responses.

Until we shake off this colonial mindset, we will remain a nation of servants, always seeking approval from those who once colonized us, while ignoring the cries of those we claim to lead.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/