When President Mnangagwa ordered the
soldiers to shoot to kill protesters on the 1 st August 2018; this was a
deliberate and calculated measure to send a clear message to all Zimbabweans
that the Zanu PF regime would not tolerate any dissent. The regime had just
blatantly rigged the elections and was equally determined to silence all who
dared to protest.
Some people wanted to give the regime the
benefit of the doubt and maintained the shooting was more about maintaining law
and order than a Machiavellian act of pression. Mnangagwa himself proved the
doubters wrong.
“We saw them burning police cars and
killing cops, where else have you seen that? But we said no, we do not need
violence. We deployed soldiers to stop the protesters and they quelled the
disturbances,” said Mnangagwa, commenting on the January 2019 follow up shoot
to kill incident. People were protesting against the massive increase in the
price of fuel and the chronic shortages of food, medicine, cash, etc.
“Those whom we fought during the
liberation struggle, the whites, are still fighting so they can claim power
again. They have certain people and organisations they are working with. Those
groups and individuals are moving around the country influencing and leading
people to be violent,” continued Mnangagwa.
“We should be on the lookout as our
enemies are not resting, but ensure our eyes are always wide open. We will
crush our enemies, and they are being crushed.”
This is typical Zanu PF modus operandi,
the liberation war end four decades ago but not in Zimbabwe, behind every bush
is a white colonialist plotting to recolonise the country and every critic and
opponent of the regime is a puppet of the white colonialist. The regime does
not need to prove anything; the puppets and their supporters are ruthlessly
crushed and the white colonialists are accused of all manner of imaginary
crimes and verbal abuse.
The Americans are one of the Western
nations who saw the 1 st August 2018 shoot to kill for what it is: a sinister
move by the regime to use brute force to silence its local opponents. The
Americans have expressed their disappointment that one year since the 7
protesters’ cold-blooded murder the regime has yet to arrest those responsible
for the murders.
Better still, the Americans have added former
Presidential Guard Brigade commander and ambassador-designate to Tanzania,
Anselem Sanyatwe and his spouse on the dreaded sanctions list. Sanyatwe was the
commander of the unit send to crush the protesters. The move has provoked the
usual verbal diarrhoea from the regime.
"It is our position that sanctions
imposed on our country are illegal and any escalation of the same is
counterproductive,” said Information Permanent Secretary, Nick Mangwana in a
statement.
"President Mnangagwa has adopted a
policy of rapprochement towards countries with whom we have endured less than
friendly relations with over the past two decades. However, this policy is not
a policy of appeasement.
"We therefore wish to place on
record our strong displeasure of actions to undermine Zimbabwe's sovereignty
and condemn posturing meant to fan divisions rather than initiate national
healing and understanding."
The sheer stupidity of the regime beggars
belief! By blatantly rigging the elections Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies
have forfeited the country’s hopes of meaningful economic recovery, political
stability and ultimately the country’s sovereignty. As long as Zimbabwe remains
a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs,
the economic meltdown will only get worse. No investor will want to do business
with thugs.
Zanu PF is determined to use brute force
to hang on to power, the events of 1 st August last year and those of January this
year were clear messages of intent. Anyone who expects the regime to implement
any meaningful democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections
is being naïve.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the
regime is illegitimate, and we must demand that its steps down. Since we cannot
trust Zanu PF to implement the reforms, the regime must step down to allow the
space for the appointment of an interim administration that can be entrusted to
implement the reforms.
All pressure must be brought to bear on
the Zanu PF dictatorship to step down. It is the only way Zimbabwe is ever
going to end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.
Part 1 of 2
ReplyDelete@ Mafume
What Zanu PF has decided to do is to invest more on various intimidatory tactics that have in effect engineered a lot of fear in the rural electorate.
lndeed, it is crucial to consider the outcome of the three by-elections, in the context of the following decisive factors among others:
Vote Buying
Over the years, Zanu PF has perfected the art of massive vote buying. Its electoral strategy is build on the distribution of some material benefits during its campaigns. The most obvious of these are the food parcels that are shared freely to the prospective voters. This is a very crucial factor when considers the deep level of poverty and higher exposure to hunger in the rural parts of Zimbabwe.Food is being used as a political weapon against citizens so vulnerable to hunger and poverty.
Systematic lntimidation
Zanu PF has also perfected the art of systematic intimidation of voters. The strategy of intimidation is mostly enforced by such crucial local institutions as the traditional leaders, who always ensure that all their subjects vote for Zanu PF as a community. At times, various forms of violence are also used to intimidate the voters. ln resettlement areas, local residents have very limited land ownership rights. This is used effectively to force them to vote for Zanu PF.A case in point is a ward where all the people were given notices (elaborate)
Abuse of State Resources
Zanu PF also usually abuses all the available State institutions or resources to consolidate its electoral campaign strategy. All the relevant parastatals like ZBC, Zimpapers, GMB, ZESA, ZUPCO, etc are always thrown into the fray. A recent court judgment confirmed that State media was systematically used to favour Zanu PF, while also undermining the MDC at the same time. Civil servants such as the local District Administrators and security personnel such as those from the CIO and ZRP, also play a crucial role in the roll out of the Zanu PF campaign strategy
A Compromised ZEC
The other crucial factor is the apparent lack of independence of the electoral commission, ZEC. This starts from the budget allocation process, appointment of both staff and commissioners. ln this regard, a lot of State security personnel have already been deployed to the ZEC Secretariat. Further, ZEC deliberately avoids being open or transparent in the way it conducts its operations. For example, the voter registration process always has problematic issues. Related to that, the voters roll is not readily available to the opposition. Worse still, during election day some voters are turned away after being told their names are no longer appearing or they are in another polling station. lt is time that ZEC underwent major reforms to make it more independent or professional just like its counterpart in South Africa, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
The on-going participation of the MDC in the by-elections should be used to actively highlight the urgent need for comprehensive reforms.
The MDC already has a plan in place. The plan is the recently launched RELOAD strategic document.
RELOAD is a roadmap that seeks to ensure that Zimbabwe finally evolves out of its perennial crisis mode into a truly freely, democratic and prosperous country
Jacob Mafume
MDC Secretary for Elections
Part 2 of 2
ReplyDeleteJacob Mafume
MDC Secretary for Elections
Jacob Mafume, you have not say anything new or different here. Ever since the bench mark 2008 elections with all the blazon cheating and wanton violence, that even SADC and AU, known for turning a blind eye to dodgy elections, had no choice but to condemn; everyone came to the conclusion that there would never be free, fair and credible elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF cheating, using violence, etc.
SADC leaders forced Robert Mugabe sign the Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need to implement the raft of democratic reforms. Not even one reform saw the light of day because MDC leaders “sat, ate and did nothing for five years”, as Chamisa himself admitted.
SADC leaders did their best to stop MDC leaders taking part in the 2013 elections with no reforms but their warning fell on deaf ears. Indeed MDC leaders themselves were aware that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and still they participated out of greed, as David Coltart confessed in his book.
In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the GNU, David Coltart, gave details of how Zanu PF flouted the electoral rules, it clear the upcoming 2013 elections would not be free and fair. Meanwhile talks of uniting the two MDC factions to fight the elections as one were going nowhere.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” explained Senator Coltart.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
MDC went on to participate in the 2018 elections and all the by-elections since even though the party knew Zanu PF would use all the dirty tricks you have listed above for the same reason – greed. MDC will participate in the flawed and illegal elections as long as Zanu PF continue to give away a few gravy train seats as bait. So please spare us all these platitude and complains of Zanu PF rigging elections.
MDC has long abandoned the task of bringing democratic change, it is now giving the illegitimate Zanu PF regimes some modicum of legitimacy in return for scraps! MDC is hunting with the hound whilst pretending to be still running with the hare. The real tragedy is that many ordinary Zimbabweans are so naïve and gullible they have yet to wake up to the reality that MDC is selling-out and has been doing it for the last decade, at least.
Ever since Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies got into power in 1980, they have shown an iron resolve to secure absolute power at all cost.
ReplyDelete“The ‘new’ regime can be viewed from different angles, but the nub of it is this: there’s a recognition that the economic fiasco of the last 20 years was suboptimal, but Emmerson Mnangagwa and his fellow travellers will burn the house down if they feel it necessary. Make no mistake, their will to power is every bit as intense as Mugabe’s—as is their belief that they own the country’s choicest fruits by right of conquest,” wrote Stuart Doran.
“There’s no comprehending Zimbabwe without an appreciation of that mentality. Yet many fail to get it because they don’t read the country’s history. In 1979, at the height of the struggle against white rule, a diplomat who mixed frequently with Mugabe and other leaders of his party observed that ‘ZANU does not seem to attach much importance to the destruction caused by prolonged war’. They said they were content to see Zimbabwe ‘totally’ demolished if that was the price to be paid for preventing others from ruling it. That attitude has not changed an iota, notwithstanding the passage of 40 years and Mugabe’s departure. After all, the men who now rule wielded his hatchets for most of that period.”
Indeed, these Zanu PF thugs have managed to retain their iron grip on absolute power for the last 40 years but at the price of burning down the country. Once upon a time the country prided itself as the breadbasket of the region and yet today millions of our people depend of food aid, the country is so poor it cannot even pay for the food. In the day and age when human ingenuity has turned deserts in blooming orchards we are starving in, for all intent and purposes, the Garden of Eden. Such is the damning testimonial of the Zanu PF leaders’ breath-taking incompetence.
The Zanu PF ruling elite are filthy rich, live in palatial mansions and have extravagant lifestyles; all paid for by robbing the filthy poor majority. Today ¾ of the population live on US$30 or less per month and still the Zanu PF ministers have been devising all manner of tax to get a cut of the pittance.
The chasm that has opened between the filthy rich few and filthy poor overwhelming majority is proof of the total failure of the Zanu PF dictatorship and its “will rather burn down the country than let anyone else rule it” mentality. But as fate would have it, the failure has hardened the thugs’ resolve to hang on to power at all cost – the prospect of joining the growing multitude living in abject poverty is simply unthinkable.
Zanu PF has never accepted the fundamental right of every citizen to a meaningful say in the governance of the country much less on in the right’s importance as the guarantor of good, competent and accountable government. 40 years ago our challenge, as the citizens of the country, was to stop Zanu PF denying us our fundamental freedoms and rights. Today our fight is a hell lot more complex and urgent – Zanu PF has burnt down
@ Mandla Tshuma
ReplyDeleteWhat they don't realise is that it's now a matter of life and death for most people - A struggle for survival. No one gets to choose the timing of sickness but for Zimbabweans, it better not be now because the end result would be the worst. The cost of health care is beyond what the ordinary person can afford. Health care costs more than twelve times it cost a year ago and it looks like we just got started, the worst is yet to come. Even food is hard to come by nowadays. Some pictures doing rounds on social media showed pupils at some boarding school having tea and boiled maize grains (read as maize seed) for a meal. Pupils are at least having porridge at this other one I know. The future is bleak for all and sundry. Fuel prices now go up not one time but several times per week. Electricity now comes like a thief and gas is…well, let's move on. No one cares, at least not these overfed and unconcerned politicians.
It now looks like the biggest opposition grouping in the land is composed of the same calibre of individuals. Cut from the same cloth; just different dyes. Two political parties holding us at ransom; one of them is yellow and green and the other one, RED! I'm at real pains to believe the opposition cannot do anything to solve this mess. Zimbabweans continue to suffer and every passing day seems to be making way for a more horrible one. Meanwhile, the opposition lawmakers are pushing and fighting for new cars. They recently grabbed some little attention with their ‘comprehensive agenda to end Zimbabwe's current economic crisis' also called the RELOAD. It's full name - Road to Economic Recovery, Legitimacy, Openness and Democracy. It's hard to say whether it's an election manifesto or whatever it is. It does not seem to be worth even the paper it is written on; no wonder why it didn't receive any meaningful attention. At this rate, if anything happens and solves this mess, it's more likely it would be from Zanu-PF itself and not the MDC. As remote as that sounds, it's the sad truth. They seem to forget they were elected into office, and are paid to make hard decisions, meaningful decisions that impact lives of Zimbabweans. They need to make huge sacrifices even. For example, if it means talks with Zanu-PF mean Nero slides into political oblivion then let it be so, as long as it means affordable medicines, real butter and bread (from a conventional, 21st century bakery and not from that rudimentary mud structure) to the average Zimbabwean. But well, like their contemporaries from the yellow and green side, they can never take risks; they will continue wining and dining. Overfed, unconcerned and arrogant individuals.
I am pleased to note that you have finally come to the right conclusion that our political struggle has moved up the gears from the fight for freedom, justice, liberty and a fair share of the nation’s wealth to the more urgent fight for survival. Forty years of this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF rule has destroyed the nation’s economy and denied us of our freedom and human dignity. Our lives before independence was the golden age compared to the stone age of today!
It is a great pity that most people showed more passion to fight colonial rule than they are showing to end the de facto one-party dictatorship when human lives under stake like never before. This is one fight we have to fight or die!
I am equally pleased to note that you have come to the right conclusion that MDC leaders have long stopped fighting in the ordinary people’s corner. If MDC leaders had not sold-out again and again, we would be out of this mess years ago. Many people are yet to see MDC leaders for the sell-outs they are because these people have a binary mentality, they have accepted Zanu Pf are the bad guys and are locked into accepting MDC as the good guys regardless of the facts on the ground!
Unless Zimbabweans snap out of their sloth-like slumber; it is hard to see how this country will ever get out of this mess. Time is running out fast!
"We are going to force Mnangagwa kicking, screaming and crying to the negotiating table.
ReplyDelete"This time around we are going to put pressure on him so that the change is initiated and put in place and reforms are going to be negotiated and this time around no funny tricks," he said.
Morgan Komichi said Chamisa's leadership of the country is inevitable.
The trouble with MDC leaders is that they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent so incompetent that they are given to contradicting themselves on matters of historic fact.
On Thursday 11 July 2019, less the four weeks ago, at the launch of MDC’s blue-print RELOAD plan, it was none other than Nelson Chamisa himself who confess that MDC had failed to get even one democratic reform implemented during the last GNU because “we sat, ate and did nothing for five years!” Chamisa was only admitted a historic fact which everyone with half a brain had long acknowledged.
It is clear that not even Chamisa’s the public admission that MDC sold out during the last GNU has forced the penny to finally drop in the infantile Komichi head. The idiot is back to blaming others, “Zanu PF funny tricks” for MDC’s failure to get even one reform implemented.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and should step down. MDC are giving the regime legitimacy by pretending the election was free, fair and credible in return for a few gravy train seats. The new GNU will never deliver free, fair and credible elections because Zanu PF will never implement any reforms. MDC has no leverage on Zanu PF to implement the reforms, claims by the party to the contrary is just hot-air!
The cold reality is that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and if the nation is ever to get the reform implemented then we must look to others not MDC to get this done. MDC has been hunting with the hounds whilst pretending to run with the hare!
@ Ndlovu
ReplyDelete“Patrick Guramatunhu you are the worst Western Imperialist Government Puppy who invite more Illegitimate Sanctions on your people in Zimbabwe...YOU SELLOUTS...”
Did Zanu PF rig last year's elections or not?
Why are you obsessed with telling the American who the should do business with, they are perfectly competent to decide that for themselves. Blaming everyone who dares oppose Zanu PF of being "Western Imperialist Government's Puppy" is plain stupid, to say the least.
It is Patrick, you, me and every thinking Zimbabwean out there's responsibility to hold this Zanu PF regime to democratic account. Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, used brute force to silence dissent, etc. and you do not even have the common sense to see the seriousness of these issue. You even have the chutzpah to criticise those who demand Zanu PF accountability. Your really are one of the most shallow minded idiots to ever walk this earth! Sadly, Zimbabwe has more than its fair shallow minded idiots and hence the reason the country is in a real mess!
@ Bloomberg
ReplyDelete“Zimbabwe is at a tipping point and if it falls over the edge it’s going to be quite a long way in coming back,” said Derek Matyszak, a Zimbabwe-based research consultant for South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies. “The wheels are falling off. There is no way out of a Ponzi scheme other than a massive infusion of cash to pay off your creditors.”
The country with the world’s highest inflation rate after Venezuela also suspended annual consumer-price data for the next six months. The authorities need to collect comparable data since the introduction of the new currency in February. That marked a return to 2009, when the country abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar in favor of the U.S. dollar and other currencies after inflation surged to an estimated 500 billion percent.
If the more commonly used black-market exchange rate is used, Zimbabwe’s annual inflation is currently 558%, about three times the official rate, while Venezuela’s is 35,004%, according to Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The only way out is for the corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF regime to step down so the country can appoint an interim administration that can be trusted to implement the democratic reforms. Zanu PF is illegitimate because the party rigged last year’s elections the only reason it has been able to hang on to power is because the country’s corrupt and incompetent opposition parties have given the regime some modicum of legitimacy by participating in the flawed and illegal elections.
MDC sold-out in failing to implement even one democratic reform when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU and now these idiots are the ones helping to prop up the Zanu PF dictatorship. You bet, it is extremely frustrating!
Mpofu whipped village heads into line when he said they have a role to play in making people vote for the right party which is Zanu-PF.
ReplyDelete"We are not voting to win but we are voting so that our lives will be well catered for. It is so obvious that we will win because we had so many elections and all the votes went to Zanu-PF.
"Village heads should continue fishing for more people to vote for the winning party," he said.
If Zanu PF cared about the people then how come they worse off now than they were before independence.
All the respectable election observers dismissed the elections as a farce. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, this is a legal requirement and why the opposition decided to participate in such flawed and illegitimate elections beggars belief. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and the party knows as long as it throws these scraps the opposition will participate regardless how flawed and illegal the process got.
We now have to fight not only the Zanu PF dictatorship to have our freedoms and rights restored but have to fight the MDC and the opposition who pretend to fight in our corner but are fighting in Zanu PF’s corner by pretending the elections are free, fair and credible just for the sake of the scraps!
@ Godwin Chitagu
ReplyDeleteWhen we are talking about elections do not even mention the corrupt and incompetent MDC because they are the sell-out behind the rigged elections. If Tsvangirai and company had implemented the reforms when they had the chance to do so we would not be in this mess. MDC participated in the 2013 and last year’s elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF would rig the elections. So, it is best to leave MDC out of any discussion on elections, they are sell-outs!
Of course, Zanu PF rigged the elections, the regime deliberately denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, has reduced rural voters to medieval serfs beholden to the regime, etc., etc. One does not need to be a Zimbabwean to condemn the systematic denial of all these people’s freedoms and rights but for a Zimbabwean to deny one of his/her own people their freedoms and humanity speaks volumes of what kind of animal some people are. It is little wonder the country is in such a mess; we have more than our fair share of morons and nincompoops whose indifference to the suffering of one of their own is no different from Komodo dragon that will happily eat one of its own!
“Wilbert Mukori elections were not rigged, mdc yakadyiwa chete!” Of course, Zanu PF rigged the elections, but I would not expect someone with no more sense than a lizard to know what constitute free, fair and credible elections! The real tragedy is Zimbabwe has more than its fair share of these braindead lizards and they come in all shapes and sizes!