Monday 9 April 2018

"How can nothing come out of China's mega deals," argue Knight - let the evidence speak N Garikai


Zimbabwe is in a serious economic mess, let us all agree on that! Unemployment has soared to 90%, ¾ of our people are living on US$1.00 or less a day, millions of our people are in the diaspora as economic and/or political refugees, etc., etc. If that does not spell a very serious economic mess, then I do not know what does!

Why is the country in this mess and, more pointedly and urgently, how are we ever going to get out of this mess? Is the question that has occupied the nation’s mind.

When it comes to addressing our national problems, we have blundered from pillar to post; which explains why we have fallen from our perch as one of the top five rich countries in Africa to the poorest in 38 years! We have clearly learned nothing in these last 38 years, because we are still blundering from pillar to post!

“No matter how pessimistic you are, you cannot tell me that nothing will come out of this. President Xi of China is at the moment the most powerful man in the world. He is heading a country with the most powerful economy right now. Even UK, France and Germany are queuing to work with him, so why not Zimbabwe?” Wrote Eric Knight, according to a Zimeye report.

“Listen, I don’t really care what Party you support, it is your choice and your right. I am talking about my country. What kind of a person would be angry when efforts to change our economy are being put? Are you normal!?”
A normal person, Sir Knight, would go where the evidence leads him or her and not blunder blindly. It was none other than former President Robert Mugabe himself who has called China Zimbabwe’s “all weather friend” and for the last 20 years the country has pursued its “Look East” policy, to underline the special relationship. And yet that has not stopped Zimbabwe sinking into this economic mess.
President Mugabe signed many “mega deals” with China, Russia and many other nations and nothing has come out of those deals; that is a historic fact.
Meanwhile, China has benefited greatly from its close relationship with Zanu PF taking full advantage of the political and economic chaos that has ensued under this Zanu PF dictatorship. The Chinese have been at the centre of the wholesale looting of Marange and Chiadzwa diamond, for example.
Zimbabwe is in this economic mess because for 38 years the nation has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime that rigged elections to stay in power. Guess which foreign nation has played the biggest role in helping Zanu PF rig the elections – the Chinese.
The most important deal President Mnangagwa signed with the Chinese during his recent state visit is between Zanu PF and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP will be giving Zanu PF the financial and material support to rig this year’s election to guarantee another Zanu PF landslide victory.
Everyone, including President Mnangagwa himself, knows that Zimbabwe’s economic recovery will dependent on Zimbabwe being able to attract foreign and local investors and getting financial assistance. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is President Mnangagwa’s clarion call to underline this point. He has also acknowledged that Zimbabwe needed to end its image as a lawless nation to attract investment and capital and hence his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections.
It is one thing promising free and fair elections and another delivering on one’s promise, especial for when it is almost certain that Zanu PF will lose such election. For President Mnangagwa and his junta who had risked all to stage the November coup to lose power hardly a year later was clearly out of the question.
Everyone, especially the West’s investors and financial donors, could see that the junta was not going to hold free and fair elections. All the claim that Zanu PF had changed after the coup was a lie. The country was still ruled by thugs and no investor wants to do business with thugs.
The flood of investment and capital the Junta had hoped for with the “Zimbabwe is open for business!” call has failed to materialise. By the time ED went to China, last week, he knew and so too did the Chinese, that Zimbabwe’s hopes of reviving its economy by renewing investor confidence was dead in the water. Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before him, had no choice but to turn to the Chinese and hope they will not give him the same run-around they gave Mugabe.
The Chinese signed more mega deals with Mnangagwa than they signed with Mugabe but, as before, most have strings attached and will never materialise. Opposition leader, Joice Mujuru, has dismissed most of the mega deals as “MOU (memorandum of understanding) and not MOA (Memorandum of Agreement)”.
The only MOA China signed was one to help Zanu PF rig this year’s elections which will slam the door shut to Western investors and financial help. Zimbabwe has always enjoyed good relations with China and has even signed a string of mega deals with the Asian economic giant but that has not stopped Zimbabwe’s economic decline. It is naïve to believe that things would be different this time when nothing has changed!
If we are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s economic mess, then we must start by ending the Zanu PF dictatorship that has left the nation stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime all these last 38 years! We need to make Zimbabwe attractive to investors and for that we must hold free and fair elections.
China has exploited a corrupt and impoverished Zimbabwe and it is helping Zanu PF rig the elections to ensure we remain in its sphere of influence for its continued benefit! Those who think China will bankroll Zimbabwe’s economic recovery are day dreaming!  
“If you are one of them, then you have a BIG problem, we can’t help you. Well done Team Zimbabwe for the efforts. We need friends and funds! Its coming. God is not a fool!” concluded Eric Knight.

No, God is not a fool! But you and many others out there are! Zimbabwe’s economic recovery will come from meaningful democratic change to ensure competent and accountable governance and not from Chinese bankrolling a corrupt and wasteful, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship.  

10 comments:

  1. The EU must not allow itself to be talked by the British into supporting this junta Zanu PF regime in any manner or form when it is clear that the regime is reneging on its own promise to hold free, fair and credible elections.

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  2. Geiger International has been part of China's crusade to plunder Africa through negotiating corrupt deals with ruling elites on the continent. It is therefore no surprise that the tender was jointly awarded to Geiger International and China Harbour Engineering Company. This gave an impression of two international companies, one from Asia and the other from Europe, when in reality these are both Chinese companies of the same syndicate.

    In 2011 the World Bank blacklisted Geiger International's Chinese partner, China Harbour Engineering Company alongside ten other Chinese companies for fraud and corruption. By the time the Beitbridge - Chirundu highway award was made in 2016, information over the blacklisting of this company was now in the public domain.

    Well here is one Chinese mega deal that is going to cost the Zimbabwe millions of dollars with nothing to show for it. There is no doubt that part of the $2.7 billion tender price was paid and will never be recovered!

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  3. People like Eric Knight, Petina Gappah and many, many other seemingly level-headed Zimbabweans are bending over backwards to support Mnangagwa and his junta regime not because they cannot see they are the same corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs of Mugabe days; they can. When Mnangagwa returned from his brief stay in exile, to escape from Mugabe thugs who wanted to kill him, last year; the first thing he told his Zanu PF friends is that Zanu PF will rule.

    "Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Imi muchingohukura! Nokuhukura!" (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you (calling for free and fair elections) bark! And bark!) Mnangagwa told his Zanu PF cronies.

    ED and the junta's blatant refusal to implement even one democratic reforms regardless of the regime's promise to hold free and fair elections confirmed the regime has not changed one bit nor has it any intention to give up its dictatorial powers!

    One of ED's apologist, Noble Ngara, later revealed that the coup itself had been a carefully planned affair in which Mugabe and his wife were being manipulated to entrap them. Even the ordinary Zimbabweans were conned to believing the coup was about ending the dictatorship when, in reality, it was about removing one dictator and replacing him with another dictator.


    What Ngara was saying was not rocket science, it was obvious especially to seemingly intelligent people like Eric Knight and Petina Gappah. Eric, Petina, etc. did not see the Junta as the corrupt, vote rigging, manipulative thugs they are because they chose not to see out of selfish opportunism!

    Eric Knight was one of the many MDC candidate who contested the 2013 elections regardless of the warning and evidence the elections will be rigged. He is probably eyeing re-joining Zanu PF or working with the regime in some capacity!

    I agree, we have blundered from pillar to post unable to make rational decision. How can we have a rational debate on any subject when so many are blinded by their greed and opportunism!

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  4. Chamisa, who is also the MDC Alliance presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections, said the party's preparations for the elections were now at an advanced stage.

    "To attest to our readiness, the party's elections directorate has received CVs from aspiring candidates who wish to stand in the local government and parliamentary polls and we have received a total of 3 911 CVs and this confirms the willingness of Zimbabweans to represent the party," he said.

    "Our preparations are well on course and in the next few weeks, we will have a complete panel of candidates that will represent the party at all levels," Chamisa added.

    To take the sting out of the criticism that Ian Smith's white colonial regime did not give the black majority a voice, Smith a few black MPs. They were no more than dressed manikins in a shop window, but you would not think so from their assumed self-importance, especially when in the presence of fellow blacks. They were so powerful the whites feared them, the manikins claimed.

    The manikins insisted there was no need for blacks to demand one-man-one-vote and an end to all the other white colonial oppressions and injustices; they will deliver all these things, soon! They would not say when, just soon!

    History has the habit to repeat itself.

    Since the debacle of the 2008 rigged elections, Zanu PF has learned that as long as it allowed the opposition to win a few seats, Smith's manikin, the regime can blatantly rig the elections to secure the presidency and two-thirds majority the opposition will never object.

    With not even one reform in place Zanu PF is set to rig these elections but that will never deter these opposition opportunists, manikins. MDC-T has 4 000 candidates and there are over 100 political parties! Of course, they all know that the elections are being rigged but they are there to fight for the scraps, the honour to be the manikin!

    Most ordinary Zimbabweans were never fooled by Ian Smith's manikin MPs, the same cannot be said about Zanu PF's manikins given that the great majority of the ordinary people do not know what constitute free, fair and credible elections!

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  5. @ Taruvinga

    It is Zanu PF who stand to gain from all this propaganda nonsense. Zanu PF is rigging these elections but to keep the opposition interested what better that tell them they are winning!

    "We have a thriving Kuwadzana New Zimbabwe upliftment fund for women in SMEs," you tell us.

    This is nonsense! The opposition has done better in urban centres than in rural areas because Zanu PF intimidation is less effective in urban centres. 60% plus of the voters are in rural areas and that is why Zanu PF is guaranteed another landslide victory.

    In any case what effect have these "upliftment fund" having given unemployment has soared to 90% plus?

    By failing to do something to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections even when they had the golden opportunities to do so, Chamisa and company has proven beyond doubt that they are useless. It is insane to participate in elections one knows are being rigged.

    Those who continue to support MDC and even spread the nonsense they will win rigged elections are either Zanu PF double agents, giving MDC false hope. Or they are the usual shallow minded MDC supporters who had always followed blindly like sheep to the slaughter!

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  6. @ Angela Takawira

    I agree with you that President Mnangagwa's "Zimbabwe is open for business!" was all hot air from a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous, crocodile, thug. If the truth be told, many Zimbabweans believed ED but not the shrewd foreign investors the message was meant to woo. There was no flood of foreign investors into Zimbabwe.

    By refusing to implement even one democratic reform the Junta regime showed the world it was still a gang of thugs and all talk of free, fair and credible elections was just another blast of hot air from the crocodile.

    "The electorate will punish you come Election Day," you said.

    Well you could not be more wrong! With not even one reform in place Zanu PF is set to rig these elections just as they have rigged all the other elections in the past. After 38 years of rigged elections when is the penny going to finally drop that we cannot win rigged elections?

    Of course, it is insane to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result!

    "If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai before the 2013 elections. The warning is as relevant today as it was back in 2013. The elections "are done" and there is no punishing Zanu PF come election day!

    Since you and me cannot stop these elections going ahead, given that both Zanu PF and the opposition are all as keen as mustard for the elections to go ahead - the former is cocksure of another landslide victory and the latter are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is giving away as bait -; let the flawed process go ahead. We should make it abundantly clear the whole process is flawed, we reject it completely and we have no part is it. We demand, here and now, long before the election day, that the process must be declared null and void!

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  7. @ Noble Ngara

    You would say that given you are paid to say it!

    "Facts are stubborn and action speaks louder than words," as Angela rightly pointed out.

    In a country with 90% unemployment, how many people would have been usefully employed to produce Zanu PF regalia?

    Producing Zanu PF regalia was one Chinese mega deal that the Chinese has been quick to honour. The Chinese are more interested in making sure Zanu PF rigs these elections and stay in power at all cost. They do not care that unemployment in Zimbabwe has soared to dizzying heights of 90%, they have never cared about that.

    Indeed, it is China that has help destroyed Zimbabwe's industries by flooding the country with cheap low-quality Chinese import from tooth paste, shoes, right down to trinkets!

    China is Zanu PF's "all weather friend" but, together with Israel and its NIKUV, is public enemy number one of the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle for free, fair and credible elections.

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  8. With no reforms in place, the real political say is during Zanu PF's primary elections after that everything is a formality. Temba Mliswa is talking nonsense with "bhora musango" because that was a mistake Zanu PF made and had to put right with the operation "Mavhotera papi!" (Whom did you vote for!) which followed. Zanu PF has since improved its vote rigging schemes to make sure the party has its victory in the bag long before the first ballots are cast.


    Temba Mliswa is a Zanu PF decoy who is there to convince the opposition that they have won these elections even with not even one reform implemented.

    "If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done," SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai before the 2013 elections. The warning is as relevant today as it was back in 2013. The elections "are done" and the opposition should be listening to SADC leaders, the Americans and many others who have said the elections should not go ahead without reforms and not idiots like Temba Mliswa!

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  9. What this diamond saga is revealing is the extend of the rot and looting that was and is still going on in Zimbabwe. Chihuri, Bonyongwe and others in the G40 faction, just like Mai Mujuru before, lost their concession the day they were booted out of Zanu PF but those still in Zanu PF like now VP Chiwenga and his fellow generals are still racking in billions of dollars from their concessions.

    Some of the super-duper profits from all this wholesale looting have been channelled to bankroll Zanu PF's dirty vote rigging schemes, paying NIKUV, PR companies, hiring rally crowds and bussing them around, etc., etc.


    It is impossible to have free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe without implementing the democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF's unfettered access to state resources especially the diamond bounty!

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