“United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols has said that all
that is required for the United States to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe is
for Zimbabwe to fully implement the 2013 Constitution. Nichols also said that
the renewal of sanctions through the amendment of the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) just before the July 30 harmonised elections was
reflecting the cry for reforms by Zimbabweans,” reported Byo24News.
The Americans could not have made their position any more clearer that
they did as regards the condition for lifting the sanctions: Zimbabwe was to
hold free, fair and credible elections. Just to be absolutely certain Zanu PF
knew what the Americans would be looking for they spelt out the condition in
the amendment: free public media, Zimbabweans in the diaspora must be allowed
to vote, the election process must be transparent, fully implement the
constitution, etc. Zanu PF failed to meet any those requirements and went on to
blatantly rig the elections.
By blatantly rigging the elections President Mnangagwa and his regime
are, per se, illegitimate and the American sanctions and all other
international community pressure must be brought upon the regime step down and
allow free, fair and credible elections to be held!
One only hopes that Ambassador Brian Nichols is misrepresented above
because the promise to lift the sanction if regime to “fully implementing the 2013
Constitution” suggests that regime will, once again, be forgiven and considered
legitimate regardless of it having blatantly rigged the elections. This
constitutes a serious climb down on the Americans’ part. Were the Americans’
demands for a free media, vote for the diaspora, etc. all just a blast hot air!
Well the need to hold free, fair and credible elections is now a matter
of life and death to the people of Zimbabwe. The country is right on the edge
of the precipice with unemployment a nauseating 90%, all basic services such as
supply of clean water and health care all but collapsed, etc. Zimbabwe is the
poorest nation in Africa and 75% of our people live on US$1.00 or less a day.
Yet the country has some of the richest ruling elite in the whole world,
they have multi-million dollar business empires, they live in mansions, some even
boast of their 45 gold-watches. They are filthy rich! The national wealth and
resources which should have been employed for the good of the commonwealth has
all been soaked up to make the few filthy rich at the expense of making the
masses filthy poor.
Zimbabwe has been dragged into this hell-on-earth in which millions now
live and die in abject poverty and denied of all human dignity and hope because
the nation has been stuck for 38 years with a corrupt and tyrannical regime
that rigged elections to stay in power. The key out of this hell for Zimbabwe
is stopping Zanu PF rigging elections.
Time and time again people have demanded free, fair and credible
elections and time and time again Zanu PF has simply ignore the demands and
blatantly rigged the elections. The worst that has ever happened to the Zanu PF
thugs is the west imposing the targeted sanctions, which have been an inconvenience
but otherwise a slap on the wrist! As we can see the vote rigging has continued
for 38 years and counting.
If this Zanu PF regime is allowed to get away with blatantly rigging the
30 July 2018 elections then we can be certain of one thing the regime will see
this as just another slap on the wrist and it will rig the 2023 elections!
Zimbabwe should have never allowed this rigging election culture to take root in
the first place much less let it continue for 38 years! We cannot turn back the
clock, what we can do right now is make sure the next elections are free, fair
and credible and we can only be 100% of that happening if Zanu PF is forced to
step down BEFORE the next elections.
Ambassador Nichols, please do not confuse the issue here; this Zanu PF regime
rigged the elections and is, per se, illegitimate and therefore the sanctions can
only be lifted is the country was to hold fresh free, fair and credible
elections. Lifting the sanction because the illegitimate regime has implemented
10% or so of the demands after the elections is just a feeble excuse for
letting Zanu PF off the hook!
After 38 years of rigging elections to stay in power followed by five years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption which are the root causes of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown the one thing Zimbabwe need right now is to do something to end this culture of rigged elections. The country is stuck in this hell-hole and will never get out until we do something to end vote rigging!
ReplyDeleteZanu PF rigged the 30 July 2018 elections and allowing the regime to get away with it will only encourage it to rig the next elections. We must now demand zero tolerance to rigged elections. What Ambassador Nichols is suggesting here is therefore totally unacceptable, because it is just offering the regime a bold hole to escape censure.
The regime blatantly rigged these elections, refusing to release something as basic as a verified voters' roll for Pete's sake. How anyone can even dare to suggest that should be swept under the carpet and pretend it never happened beggars belief! What else does Zanu PF have to do to make people belief that this is a party of vote rigging thugs with no respect for the ordinary man and woman's freedoms and bacic human rights?
Zanu PF rigged the recent elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down - that is not negotiable!