Sunday 22 April 2018

"Firing nurses was a Machiavellian tactic and it is working," says Manjoni - yes but not on everyone N Garikai


And it would have met its objective of stopping swelling civil instability ahead of the polls. The nurses will be too happy to get back to work. The next time they think of protesting, they will start by looking over their shoulders. The same will happen with the teachers. Very soon, Chiwenga's blunt stunt of "expelling" the nurses will be forgotten.

There are clear indications that the Machiavellian tactic is working. Mnangagwa, through his spokesperson George Charamba, late last week betrayed a clever part of the strategy. It's instructive he waited for some time to announce that, practically, government would be readmitting all the "fired" nurses, even ahead of the High Court hearing. Charamba's statement puts the nurses in three bags—those that reported to work on Monday and, therefore, were not affected by the firing, those that went back to work upon a government directive to do so and those that are willing to return to work despite being fired. That means every nurse will be returning to work, but with the message back at their minds that striking is a no-no.

I have to admit, your analysis is spot on.

Fear and ignorance have always been Zanu PF’s favourite tools in their Machiavellian kit bag. You are right, the nurses and the rest of the civil servants are all quaking in their boots, who wouldn’t, fearful they will be fired at the drop of a hat. With unemployment a nauseating 90%; no doubt there will be many unemployed nurses, teachers, etc. in that lot; it is to better to have a job paying the pittance $284 a month than to have no job at all!

Zanu PF has always ruled the rural folk by fear and now the regime is extending its reach into the urban areas.

Our people are ignorant of the fact that Chiwenga and his corrupt ruling elite are filthy rich through mismanagement and downright looting and that if they, the people, do not stand up and demand an end to it, things will only get worse as they have done these last 38 years. The only effective way to deal with failed government is to hold it to account.

There is no Zimbabwean out there worth his/her salt who does not know by now that Zanu PF’s long stay in power was because the regime rigs elections. And yet you ask yourself, why have we, the people, allowed the regime to rig elections all these years making our lives a hell on earth? Zanu PF has everything set to rig this year’s elections and yet the overwhelming majority of our people will be no more than bystanders in it all.

During the GNU the nation got its best chances ever to implement the democratic reforms that would have stopped Zanu PF rigging elections. MDC leaders failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Many of the nurses, teachers, etc. are MDC supporters and yet many of them, even to this day, have no clue MDC sold-out.

Nations get the government they deserve, we certainly deserve this corrupt and ruthlessly oppressive and manipulative Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties, now numbering 128. The penny has yet to drop that it is ordinary people, nurses, teachers, unemployment, everyone, who must all take the trouble to understand why the country is in a mess and take the necessary steps to put things right.

Much as President Mnangagwa would wish it was so, his regime’s Machiavellian charm has not fooled the foreign direct investors. The “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call has fallen on deaf ears. The regime is set to rig the coming elections and no investors wants to do business with vote rigging thugs!

President Mnangagwa is hoping he can hoodwink the international elections observer to turn a blind eye to the vote rigging and rubber stamp the rigged elections just as many of them did in 2013. It is the people of Zimbabwe’s responsibility to put an end to this sick political culture of rigged elections. Still one hopes that the observers will do the country a big favour and speak truth to the powers that be, for a change.

“We will see Mnangagwa using the same tactic even after the elections if he and his party win. That says the military will be a very present cog in the ruling machinery. In other words, it will be abusing its mandate by using the army or its proxies to rule. But the world will accept that because, one, it is anxious to see and work with a relatively stable post-Mugabe government and, two, the administration will be clever enough to fuse hard tactics with staged constitutionalism and other political niceties,” concluded Manjoni.

The is no “if” about Zanu PF winning these election, with not even one reform in place these “elections are done”, as SADC leaders once said of the 2013 elections. As for the world accepting and working with the regime, I doubt the world will ever want to work with a manipulative, vote rigging and corrupt regime. The world knows that Mnangagwa and company are the same thugs of Mugabe days, they have not changed one bit and never will!

5 comments:

  1. Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs have always wanted to impose a one-party dictatorship in Zimbabwe modelled on the lines of Chairman Mao's Chinese Communist Party. When they were forced to sign on to a multiparty Zimbabwe in the Lancaster House constitution, they did sign on but that only sparred them to work even harder to create the dictatorship. Zanu PF deployed its freedom fighters in the rural areas, contrary to the Lancaster House agreement saying they should be in assembly points, whose instructions were to tell the people the civil war will continue if Zanu PF does not win and to keep the opposition out.

    Zanu PF have mastered the art of political deception whilst ruthlessly driving their political agenda; they are students of Machiavelli alright. When ever the regime has fallen short because the leaders are not very clever, such as the disastrous March 2008 elections when the regime stared electoral defeat in the face, they have more than made up for it by being ruthless. They ordered a recount of the March vote and forced ZEC to whittle down Tsvangirai's 73% vote to 47% to force a run-off. During the run-off the regime made no secret that it was going to punish the people for reject the party.

    "Zanu PF has declared war on the people!" said Tsvangirai as he announce his withdrawal from the run-off. Of course, he was right!

    "What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!" President Mugabe had publicly stated as he egged his party thugs, war veterans and security services personnel to harass, beat, rape and even murder civilians.

    It is a matter of public record that it was Mnangagwa and posse of his November coup cabal who had instructed Mugabe to refuse to concede defeat and masterminded the blatant cheating and wanton violence that followed.

    What happened in 2008 was so outrageous most people would shrink away but not these Zanu PF thugs.

    If the fired nurses were to go into the street and protest, it will not surprise me is the regime was to unleash the ratio Police to punish them and drive hard its Machiavellian message home.

    Anyone who thinks Mnangagwa and his junta staged the November coup to restore the people's freedoms and basic human rights is very naive. These are thugs and whilst the talk peace and smile they are preparing for attack and when they do, they are utterly ruthless and most barbaric!

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  2. @ Chiromo

    Zimbabwe is in this political mess because those in power are not accountable to the people and unless we restore that balance the nation is not going to get out of this mess. The nurses are being fired by the thugs whose looting is the root cause of the country's economic meltdown.


    Where did VP Chiwenga get all the money to build his C&M mansion, buy the fleet of posh cars, buy 45 gold watches, etc., etc. His wife has just seized another multi-million dollar farm to add to the family's wealth. And when the nurse ask for a living wage, a few more dollars to their pathetic $284 per month, Chiwenga fires them for being greed! What could be more outrageous than that!

    "Whilst you guys fanatasize with the constitution but remember Zuva workers lost their case in the hands of these courts and Chamisa was the one representing Zuva. So, do not play with fire nurses should think twice before dawn," you say.

    Zimbabwe is in this political and economic hell-on-earth because for the last 38 years the nation was stuck with an incompetent and corrupt regime that rigged elections and violence to cow the people to stay in power. The only way to get out of this hell-hole is to demand our freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. We all know that the regime is capable of some the most barbaric acts of violence, over 30 000 innocent civilians have been murdered by the regime in its 38 years in power. We also know that people are dying of poverty, hunger, disease and despair because no one can live on US$1.00 or less a day!

    No amount of threats and brutal violence are going to put an end to workers going on strike to demand a living wage and the nation will continue to fight for free and fair elections. Because when you live in hell you learn to overcome your fear of fire!

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  3. "Potential conflict and possibly a constitutional crisis might emerge if President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not deal with overlapping responsibilities between him and his equally powerful deputy, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, analysts warned this week."

    Nonsense! These is no conflict here. Anyone who believes that President Mnangagwa only learned about the fired nurses after the event is a dangerous political green-horn! This is just a case of the good-cop stepping in to save you from the bad-cop after the later has roughed you up good and proper!

    What we must never lose sight of here is that the nurses had good cause to demand a living wage. If the regime has money to pay Mugabe for his Singapore health checks, pay the late Tsvangirai's R2 million hospital bill, make the country's ruling elite some of the richest individuals on earth, etc.; surely it can afford to pay our nurses more than the $284 a month slave wage.

    The sheer hypocrisy of VP Chiwenga; who lives in a mansion, with a fleet of posh cars, has 45 gold watches, whose wife has just seized another multi-million dollar farm, etc., etc.; accusing the nurses of being greedy is breath taking.

    When Marie-Antoinette, queen to France's King Louis Xvi, heard that the people had no bread to eat she replied "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!" (Let them eat cake!)

    Times have changed but somethings never change; the Zanu PF dictatorship's answers to nurses asking for a livening wage, is to fire the lot. The regime's answer to the people's demand for free, fair and credible elections is to appoint thugs like Engelbert Rugeje Zanu PF National Political Commissar and deploy the war veterans to harass, beat and, if need be kill, to ensure another Zanu PF victory at all cost.

    Of course, the on the spot firing of the nurses has roughed them up alright. The strike was called off and their just cause forgotten; they will starve in silence. By the same token the regime is set to rig the elections and we are all expected to suffer and die in silence, just as we have done for the last 38 years!

    Zanu PF thugs have retained their iron grip on power by using a mixture of fear, ignorance and a large dose of sheer brutal force. They know the lasting effect of short overwhelming savage brutality, shock therapy, and the propaganda mileage of being seen as the peacemaker - even if the regime brought nothing. Thousands of nurses are grateful to President Mnangagwa for allowing them to reapply for their jobs at the same slave-wage rate!

    "Mnangagwa, Chiwenga roles conflict!" Nothing could be farther from the truth!

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  4. Zanu PF is blaming the opposition for the nurses' strike, according to a BBC report. This is a typical Zanu PF dirty trick: they started by blaming the opposition of being puppets of the West and then the party followed that up with savage attacks of the opposition. Now the par ty is blaming the opposition of influencing the nurses and so the spotlight is no longer on the poor nurses' wages and conditions of service. Zanu PF is going for the nurses with a sledge hammer to exorcise the devil, the opposition, that possessed the nurses.

    We are to believe the nurses are very happy with their wages and would have never gone on strike was it not for opposition influence!

    The biggest lie Zanu PF has peddled these last year is that Zanu PF has changed since the coup; it has not. Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs that is the one thing that will never ever change.

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  5. This is according to an urgent High Court chamber application seeking an interdict to stop the Vice President from terminating nurses’ contracts and recruiting new nurses to replace them. In an application filed Friday, the Zimbabwe Nurses Association said Chiwenga had threatened their leadership with violence and war during a meeting and ejected the union’s president from the meeting.

    “Ndiko kunonzi kutonga nepfumo!” (Here is someone who rules with a spear by his side, to summarily execute!)

    Zanu PF has a well-documented history of wanton violence to punish all those who dare challenge its authority and, worst of all, threaten its hold on power. What the country needs is to implement the democratic reforms necessary to break the undemocratic influence and blood-relation that now exist between Zanu PF with the country’s state institutions especially the security services ones.

    Last November’s military coup has strengthened the bonds between Zanu PF and the security services, especially the Army. The Police and CIO top brass have largely been side-lined since the coup; they were in the “wrong basket”, as Mugabe would put it, they supported the G40 faction.

    President Mnangagwa and his coup junta did not stage the coup to restore free, fair and credible but to restore dictatorial powers back in the junta’s hands. Anyone who even believed these thugs would hold free and fair elections and risk losing power is naïve!

    SADC leaders were right; there was ever a chance of Zimbabwe holding free and fair elections back in 2013 without first implementing the forms given Zanu PF’s influence over the state institutions. If the chance of holding free elections in 2013 was bad there are even worse now given the coup has allow the Army to literary takeover the party.

    With no removes in place, these elections are not going to be free, fair and credible. It is impossible; fear is clearly a big factor already as we can see!

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