Monday 12 November 2018

"Elections were unfair" Commonwealth ruled - final nail in dictatorship coffin, we must now bury it P Guramatunhu


In Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe but never rains but pours and now it is pouring cats and dogs! 

Ever since coming into a year ago following the ouster of Zimbabwe’s former corrupt and ruthless tyrant, Robert Mugabe, Mnangagwa promised to move the country from a pariah state to an international respected and functional democracy. And what better way to prove Zimbabwe was now a democratic nation than for the country to hold its first ever free, fair and credible elections. 

He knew holding free, fair and credible elections was the ultimate acid test, especially given Zimbabwe’s history of rigged and violent elections, and was quick off the mark to promise such elections. He went one step further and invited elections observers from all corners of the world including those nations and institutions he knew would not be easily fooled into endorsing a flawed and illegal election process. 

Those who knew Mnangagwa and his junta regime said from the on set that the regime would never fulfil the promise to hold democratic elections. “The junta was the one that had imposed Mugabe on the nation all these years and the coup was over control of the dictatorship and NOT ending it,” they argued. 

“The coup leaders risked life and limb to wrestle power from Mugabe, they were not going to risk losing power eight months latter for the sake of democracy, a utopian ideal they have never ever subscribed to.”

Sadly, the doubting Thomas have been proven right, Mnangagwa has failed to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections. 

Mnangagwa refused to implement any of the democratic reforms everyone had agreed at the onset of the 2008 GNU were necessary to end Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections. The one notable thing he did was to make sure his party thugs were kept on a leash and hence there were very few reported cases of violence. 

The opposition was allowed to campaign freely without the usual disruption and harassment from the regime, mainly the Police and CIO. It is no secret that the two institutions were loyal to Mugabe and the G40 faction. Although Mnangagwa purged many of senior Police and CIO members, still it was not enough for him to trust those left to carryout the usual dirty party instruction without spilling the beans.

Not even one election observer team with any democratic credentials has failed to see the elections were flawed and illegal. The regime has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll! The Commonwealth observer team has produced is report and, like so many others before it, it is pretty damning.

The final report was released by the Commonwealth Observer Group to Zimbabwe which was chaired by former Ghana president John Dramani Mahama.

“In the report, former Ghana president John Dramani Mahama (chairperson of the team) expressed concern over two major issues which he said unfairly unlevelled the playing field in favour of the ruling Zanu-PF,” reported Daily News.

"The first was the heavy bias of the State print and broadcast media in favour of the governing party. The second was use of incumbency privileges in a manner that unduly disadvantaged opposition parties," Mahama said. 

Mnangagwa’s pretensions of transforming Zimbabwe from a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs is dead in the water. The Commonwealth election observer team has just driven home the final nail in the Zanu PF dictatorship’s coffin and it is up to us Zimbabweans to finally bury it. 

President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged the 30 July 2018 elections, the regime is illegitimate, it has no mandate to govern the country and it must be forced out of office.  

When we say we want free, fair and credible elections; we must mean it. And there is no better way to demonstrate that we mean what we say than punishing all those who dare to rig elections!

If we are serious about rejoining the Commonwealth and the rest of the international community and, most important and urgent of all, ending the economic meltdown that has left 75% of our people living in abject poverty; then this Zanu PF dictatorship must go! 

As long as Zimbabwe remain a pariah state we cannot rejoin the Commonwealth, accomplish any meaningful economic recovery, etc. We will continued to suffer and die in dumb anguish denied of all our freedoms, rights and human dignity!  

7 comments:

  1. @ Noble
    “The MDC Alliance (MDC A), leader, Nelson Chamisa was defeated by President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the 30 July both in the ballot booth and at the Constitutional Court on 24 August. Instead of gracefully accepting defeat like the true democrat that he wishes the world to believe he is, Chamisa continues to live in denial. In place of using his so-called "thank you" rallies to help his supporters to accept the painful reality of the defeat and encourage them to move on, he is hiding behind the gatherings to incite them into violent demonstrations against President Mnangagwa as a way of venting his anger and getting back at the President for his own electoral loss,” you say.
    Your foolish claim that President Mnangagwa won the elections is only going to force many people to join the demonstration just to protest the rigged elections. Everyone knows the elections were rigged, the Commonwealth Election team’s report is just out and the team condemns the elections as biased and unfair! So you claim that President Mnangagwa won the elections only infuriates the people.
    The real tragedy here is that joining the protest for Chamisa’s selfish agenda is something many people are loathed to do! Let the protest be to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and not about removing a dictator but only to replace him with a corrupt and incompetent village idiot!
    The people of Zimbabwe betrayed, cheated and even murdered these last 38 years by the very people they thought were fighting in their corner. The people must now wise-up or they will be no end to their economic suffering and political oppression. People must now accept that neither Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta nor Chamisa and his MDC sell-outs will ever get the nation out of the mess we are stuck in.

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  2. Mnangagwa was so sure the Commonwealth Election Team would endorse the elections as free, fair and credible, he and his Minister of Foreign Affairs started preparing for re-entry a year ago. With this report, the regime knows the door for entry has been slammed shut and, worse still, its own status as a pariah state is confirmed.

    It would have been better never to have tried to rejoin than to try and be told NO!

    Mnangagwa and his junta have no mandate to rule Zimbabwe, the whole electoral process was biased, unfair and illegal.

    Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country is stuck, for the last 38 years, with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime that rigged elections to stay in power no matter what.If we are serious about getting out of the mess then we must force this illegitimate regime to step down. It is for us Zimbabweans, not the Commonwealth, SADC or anyone else out there, not make sure the country is ruled by those whom we, the people, choose and not usurpers!

    If Zanu PF is still in office by 2023, then we can be 100% certain the regime will blatantly rig those elections just as the party rigged this year's elections!

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  3. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), in its budget proposal submissions, pointed out that the two percent tax was eating into profits, highlighting that while it was ideal, it needed to be tweaked to match the operating environment.

    If the 2c tax is eating the profits of the industrialists it is eating everything the vendor have!

    The people of Zimbabwe are already the most heavily taxed nation on this earth and all because we have a ruling elite whose hunger for luxuries and good life in insatiable. The more the regime has collected in tax the more extravagant and wasteful the elite have become and thus kept coming back to demand more.

    You can milk a cow as many times a day as you wish but will not, necessarily get more milk, indeed the yield will even decrease right down to zero; that is common sense.

    Many of Zimbabwe's Ministers of Finance have forced thousands of workers to lose their jobs because of the tax regime they imposed. These unemployed workers have joined the army of Zimbabweans eking a living in the informal sector as vendors Minister Mthuli Ncube will have the singular honour of introducing a tax regime forcing millions of vendors to be beggars, chiefs, prostitutes and all manner of criminal activities just to survive!

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  4. Part 1 of 2

    The first sign that Mnangagwa’s regime was targeting Tagwirei emerged late last month when a dismissed ZANU-PF member, William Mutumanje (also known as Acie Lumumba), who had just been appointed by new Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube to chair a communications task force, alleged that Tagwirei was a ‘queen bee’ fleecing the economy by dominating the fuel sector. He said Tagwirei was working with four RBZ directors who were giving him preference in allocating foreign currency, some of which was being diverted back into the directors’ bank accounts.

    Although RBZ Governor John Mangudya at first defended the directors, he swiftly suspended them and they are believed to be under investigation. Mutumanje’s outbursts were then followed by Mutsvangwa’s allegations, which critics said could not have been made without Mnangagwa’s permission. ‘Remember, he is Mnangagwa’s advisor. He could not have spoken of Tagwirei splitting the presidium without discussing that with his principal,’ a source familiar with the developments said.

    During the campaign period before the 30 July elections, a grenade was thrown at the stage at White City Stadium in Bulawayo soon after a ZANU-PF rally addressed by the President. The grenade was traced to military stocks. Mnangagwa said he knew the people behind the attack, and warned he would deal with them after the election. His allies suspect it was Chiwenga, who wanted ‘to remind ED about their one-term pact’. Apparently, Mnangagwa had already started talking about two terms during the campaign.

    Reports of animosity between Chiwenga and Mnangagwa, called ED by many of his supporters, have been a frequent headline in local newspapers, though these have been denied by Mnangagwa.

    At an annual national assembly in Harare on 1 November, the ZANU-PF Youth League coined slogans heralding Mnangagwa’s re-election in 2023. ‘Those who were saying Mnangagwa will rule for only one term are lost,’ said the Youth League’s political commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu, in a clear reference to the Chiwenga faction. Chiwenga, who has been beside Mnangagwa at most of his public meetings, was not present.

    ‘Escalation of hostilities’

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    1. Part 2 of 2



      ‘Escalation of hostilities’

      Soon after, Mnangagwa, through Statutory Instrument 214 of 2018, stripped Chiwenga of all powers assigned to him for the defence and war veterans’ portfolios; he had earlier been given oversight of procurement and research. One cabinet source called this ‘an escalation of hostilities’ between the two.

      Mnangagwa is already working with Finance Minister Ncube to stem the flow of cash to the armed forces through Command Agriculture. ‘Expenditure on agriculture has been one of the major components driving the budget deficit recently. Expenditure on the sector reached $1.1 billion as at August 2018, against an annual budget target of $401m,’ Ncube said. But in a sign of defiance, the Air Force of Zimbabwe commander, Air Marshal Elson Moyo, said: ‘We foresee Command Agriculture going on for ten years to come.’ He said it had ensured food security in the country.

      At least two sources within the energy sector told AC that Mnangagwa had sent his son, Emmerson Jnr, to assure Tagwirei that he was not responsible for his current woes. But Tagwirei is said to have been unconvinced.

      A member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Tagwirei reportedly argues that all his deals have been sanctioned by either Mnangagwa or the responsible authorities. ‘He has clearly been disturbed by recent events,’ said a close friend from church. ‘He is a victim of renewed factional wars in ZANU-PF.’

      Even as he was facing a barrage of attacks from Mnangagwa’s allies, Tagwirei came up with a 1.6 billion-litre facility to ease a fuel crisis. Joram Gumbo, the Energy Minister, said the facility was negotiated ‘with Sakunda and its partner Trafigura’. Even before its conclusion a fortnight ago, Trafigura released 100 million litres of fuel to the government, which immediately eased shortages in the economy. The facility will be paid for after 12 months, Gumbo said.

      Africa Confidential

      Zimbabwe has done precious little to reduce the need to import so much and as long as the country continues to import more than it can pay for in foreign currency the shortages of the last few weeks will return!

      The dog-eat-dog fighting in Zanu PF will never stop as long as the party continues to enjoy the carte blanche dictatorial power to rig elections and, once in power, to loot the nation’s wealth and resources. The decades of Zanu PF misrule has opened a chasm between the filthy rich ruling elite and the filthy poor majority. This has intensified the dog-eat-dog fighting because anyone who gets booted out of the exclusive ruling elite club is condemned to abject poverty.

      Zanu PF has dragged the nation into this political and economic hell-on-earth of total economic meltdown and political chaos and murder. Whilst Zanu PF itself is imploding because of greed what is disappointing is we, the people are letting these thugs drag the whole into the abyss because we would not stand up to the regime and demand our freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and the right to life itself.

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  5. @ Fischer

    The opposition have their own teething problems, they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent to be of an use in bringing up meaningful political change. The real tragedy here is that the electorate itself is nothing more than a sleeping giant whom both Zanu PF and MDC leaders have exploited for their own selfish political gain.

    The nation is making the same mistake of placing their confidence in corrupt and incompetent individuals year after year, decade after decade and generation after generation. The whole thing is sickening insane!

    Until we have an electorate that smart enough not to follow political leaders blindly like sheep to the slaughter, it is hard to see how this country will ever get out of the hell-hole Zanu PF dragged us into.

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  6. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya says inflation is likely to stabilise around 7% in the medium term.

    Giving his presentation during the pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo last week, Mangudya said Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate at 5,4% in September 2018 was still within Southern African Development Community’s inflation target range of 3-7% and comparable to regional peers.

    “RBZ is committed to contain inflation within growth-enhancing levels of 3% to 7% band, a necessary and sufficient condition to preserve purchasing power; foster wage stability, and reduce demand for wage increases,” Mangudya said.

    Governor Mangudya has one thing that no one else in his position of power and authority has that gives him the license to say whatever he wants regardless how untrue and the seriousness of the consequences of statements - he knows that neither he nor those who appointed him to his elevated position can ever be held to account. Of course, it is nonsensical to talk of inflation stabilising at 7% when the country’s economy is so volatile the value of Bond Notes to US$ have soared from 2 : 1 to as much as 10 :1 in the last two month alone and so too have prices of basic commodities!

    If Zimbabwe was a healthy and functioning democracy Mangudya would have been fired a long, long time ago and so too would his Zanu PF masters! So whilst Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, we will continue to endure, as best as we can, the consequences of gross mismanagement and insults of those in power, the untouchables.

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