Saturday 19 March 2016

If we have "thinking Zimbabweans" then why are we in this hell-hole in the first place. By Nomusa Garikai


“There is no thinking Zimbabwean out there who would dispute that the country is in serious political and economic trouble,” said Wilbert Mukori (Byo24 Opinion).  





I would like to believe that there are thinking Zimbabweans out there if that was true then how is it possible that a “THINKING” people would allow themselves to sink this deep into the hell-hole? Unemployment does not soar to the nauseating heights of 90% overnight, it took years to get there  and, worse still, it has been 80% plus for the last 15 years, at least! Corrupt has been rampant in Zimbabwe but the admission by President Mugabe that $15 billion – nearly 5 times what the regime collects in revenue a year - of the diamond bounty was looted is a slap in the face to the “thinking” but long suffering nation! And throughout all this, our great thinkers have done absolutely nothing; it has all been water off the duck’s back!





If Zimbabweans were a thinking people you say they are then they would not have already wasted two and half years out the five years allocated to implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections; arguing about which reforms they should implement. Thinking people do not waste time arguing about something that is self-evident!





We have a Police force that has turned a blind eye to politically motived violence by Zanu PF thugs, war vets and other clandestine officious elements in various State institutions, for example. The Zimbabwe Republic Police has been coopted into defending Zanu PF’s no-regime-change mantra as Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri has public admitted in his doctorate thesis. Of course the Zanu PF vote rigging and violence are serious crimes but since they are being committed to accomplish the no-regime-change agenda the Police have done nothing to stop the criminals.







If we are serious about getting the Police to carry out their democratic duties of keeping law and order, investigate and arrest all those who engage in unlawful activities including politically motivated ones without fear or favour then we need implement the far reaching reforms designed to break President Mugabe’s undemocratic strangle hold of the Police. These are the reforms proposed and agreed in the 2008 GPA.





Zanu PF’s undemocratic control is not limited to the Police but extends to ZEC, Public Media, Judiciary, etc. If we want free, fair and credible elections all these institutions too must be reformed.





Aligning the existing laws with the 2013 new constitution, which is what the electoral law reforms are calling for, will not break the Zanu PF’s totalitarian strangle hold on the Police, ZEC, etc. Veritas is spot on in describing the electoral law reforms as “inadequate”. No one in MDC-T, ZimPF or the other opposition parties who are pushing for electoral reforms have explained how these reforms will stop politically motivated violence, for example.





No thinking anybody out there can ever dispute the fact that the electoral law reforms will NEVER deliver free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe. Those advocating the implementing electoral law reforms as a solution are just wasting the nation’s time.



It is very generous of you, Wilbert, to suggest there “thinking Zimbabweans out there”; the tragic reality tells a different story – there are NO thinking Zimbabweans in the country or outside the country in the diaspora. If there were then we would not be in this political and economic hell-hole with all its contrasting contradictions; we would not be starving in the Garden of Eden; we got a $15 billion diamond bounty and yet we worse off now than before the bounty; etc.




We have sleep-walked into this political and economic hell-hole; even with the situation now absolutely desperate many people still not aware of the situation, they have yet to wake-up. The real tragedy is we cannot sleep-walk out of the hole. If we are ever to get out of this hole, we have to implement the right democratic reforms and that demands thinking; something Zimbabweans have yet to learn to do and be exercised!

8 comments:

  1. Large crowd attend Mujuru's ZimPF rally in Harare.


    People like Bhasikiti, Mutasa, Mujuru and the rest of the team in ZimPF are not different from their former colleagues still in Zanu PF including Mugabe himself; they risked their lives in the liberation war because they wanted to be the next rulers. Once they got into power they did not hesitate to harass or even kill to stay in power. These people have used the cover that they are the ones who did the donkey work in the liberation struggle and thus deserve the lion's share of the spoils of independence - the lion's share has meant everything but what of it.


    The fight to end the Zanu PF dictatorship must not be left to people like Bhasikiti because they will be claiming the special privileges all over. This is a fight the people have to take part in and participate to the full.

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  2. Point taken; we do not have have the honour and luxury of having many thinking Zimbabweans hence the reason we are in this hell-hole. But, worse still, we are stuck in this hell-hole with no chance of ever getting out precisely because we do not have many thinking Zimbabwe. We are destined to blunder from pillar to post generation after generation to the end of time!

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    1. By allowing President Mugabe to rig elections he has now filled parliament and the senator with bootlickers who are wasting time and money trying to out do one another is singing the tyrant's praises.


      There are reports of ZANU-PF Senator Tapera Machingaifa likening President Robert Mugabe to Jesus Christ. Mugabe is an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant who has cause the deaths over of 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans for his selfish political gain. How can anyone consider such a tyrant a saint let alone a God!

      By allowing Mugabe to rig elections we have allowed him to fill parliament and senate with brain-dead cronies. This have been going on for decades now and we have still done nothing to put an end to this madness. We can claim to be a thinking people but no thinking nation would allow a tyrant to rob them of all human dignity and hope!

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  3. I do agree with your argument Nomsa but would just like to fine tune it a little.

    Making mistakes, even the mistakes that have landed us in this hell-hole, is not per se proof of someone's or a nation's inability to think. Make a mistake and you raise people's suspension that you are incapable of thinking but it is when you make one mistake after another blundering from pillar to post, especially when you are making the same mistake over and over again, that you re-move all the doubt that you are incapable of thinking.

    Many wise things have been said about making mistakes; “The man who does things makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all—doing nothing,” according to Poor Richard Junior’s Philosophy.

    There is making mistakes and there is insanity; two diametrical opposite thing!

    “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result,’ said Albert Ein-stein.

    To be in this hell-hole, this deep; one has to question the sanity of our leaders and us the people who have followed them blindly this far!

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    1. For the last 20 years Zimbabweans have talked about the need for democratic change as the way out of the hell-hole we find ourselves in and yet when push comes to shove they have failed to secure the democratic changes even when the opportunity to do so is presented to them in a silver platter.





      They have again and again gone for the quick and easy downhill solution out of the hell-hole and expecting this to lead them out of the hole. Of course they have ended up going deeper and deeper into the hole. Yes this goes beyond the inability to think; this is insanity!






      We have more than our fair share of the mentally challenged people but, worst of all, they are the ones running the show and determining the nation's destiny. Boy oh boy, are we in serious trouble!

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  4. Jestina Mukoko has taken Mutasa and a few other ministers and senior civil servants to court over her abduction and torture in 2008.
    In a lawless nation like Zimbabwe where the only law that seem to count is the whim of the dictator one is forgiven for concluding that the there is no justice in the land. It is therefore very refreshing to notice that even in a land where so many have been subjected to harassment, beatings, rape and over 30 000 murdered in cold blood the wheels of justice can be to turn even if it be just a few degrees!

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  5. Mugabe tells a poorly attended Bindura rally that will step down if that is what the war vets want. He promised to meet them next month.

    It is clear he really does not mean to step down even if they asked him because he was already talking of the party congress deciding that. The next elective congress is 2019!

    Zanu PF's greatest challenge is the economy; the dog-eat-dog fighting in the party has taken centre stage and yet, compared to the worsening economic situation, it is a side show. Whichever faction emerges victorious will still have to deal with the economic meltdown and there will be no economic recovery without political reforms and free and fair elections. Zanu PF will never win free and fair elections!

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  6. ZANU-PF Senator Tapera Machingaifa caused a stir in the upper house this past week after he lik-ened President Robert Mugabe to Jesus Christ adding the veteran leader has, similarly, given himself to crucifixion


    Mugabe is a mere mortal, an incompetent, corrupt and murderous tyrant at that; only a moron would consider him a saint let alone compare him to God. With leaders like these it is little won-der the nation is a mess.

    We need leaders who have the vision to tackle the nation's problems and not waste time trying to outdo each other is singing the praises of the tyrant.

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