“Nhlambabaloyi Chief
Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni has urged the
people of Zimbabwe to utilize their constitutional right to demonstrate and
petition on the 16th of August 2019. Ndiweni said Zimbabweans must bring out
their families and make it a peaceful, legal family day that engages the
government.”
With the country in total
economic meltdown there is a crying need for the country to seek a lasting
solution to the country’s political paralysis resulting from the culture of
rigging elections and forcing the nation to be stuck with this corrupt,
incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF regime.
With unemployment now a
nauseating 90%; health care all but completely collapsed; the country facing shortage
of food, fuel and medicine; inflation is now 500% and so the hyperinflation of
2008 is clearly back; etc.; etc. There is no doubt that Zimbabwe is sitting at
the very edge of a dangerous precipice. The country is in real danger of sliding
into economic chaos and political and social instability comparable to what we
see in Somalia, Libya, etc.
Time is running out! And I
see these street protest as a way of reminding those ruling the country to wake
up and do something.
A lot more people would
come out and join in these public protests if they were convinced the solution
MDC leaders are calling for would bring about the desired democratic change and
economic recovery.
MDC are calling for
National Transition Authority comprising themselves and Zanu PF. This is what
we had before in the form of the 2008 to 2013 GNU, that failed to get even one
reform implemented in five years despite SADC leaders’ best efforts. What is
there to suggest this NTA will do any better.
There is a real danger of
this Zanu PF regime using brute force to deny the people their right to protest
but people would have risked their life and limb just as they have risked the
same to vote. The real tragedy here is that their efforts and sacrifices in the
past have all failed to produce the desired changes.
The demonstrations, like
voting, should not be just about exercising one’s right to protest, but more
significantly to have one’s concerns addressed.
It is very disappointing
that the people have risked life and limb to elect Nelson Chamisa and his MDC
friends into power for the sole purpose they would bring about the democratic
changes the nation has been dying for. In 20 years, they have failed to deliver
even one change.
Tomorrow MDC is calling on
the people of Zimbabwe to support the party’s demand for a power sharing
arrangement with Zanu PF, an arrangement that will do nothing to do nothing to
end the country’s political and economic mess. Indeed, an arrangement that will
stop the appointment of an independent administration that would have otherwise
implemented the reforms. It is not in the ordinary Zimbabwean’s interest to
support a solution that only seeks to retain the political status quo. Indeed,
it is dumb!
Traditional leaders like Chiefs and Headmen have again and again proven to be corrupt and naive and hence the reason the white colonial regime loved them; they were a willing tool of oppression in the hands of the white oppressors. After independence Robert Mugabe and his thugs took over, Mugabe was too shrewd and ruthless to miss a trick!
ReplyDeleteIf we are serious about building a healthy and functioning democratic Zimbabwe we will have no choice but to abolish these unelected and therefore undemocratic traditional roles. Idiots like Chief Charumbira have reduced the rural people into nothing short of medieval serfs. Whatever one has in society it must be earned through honest to goodness hard work and none of this nonsense of growing fat on the hard work of others!
Chief Ndiweni and company need a honest day job!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has given the MDC the green light to stage a protest against his own government’s poor handling of the national economy which, according to the main opposition party, has driven the majority into abject poverty.
ReplyDeleteThe Zanu PF leader met with his party’s top officials Thursday afternoon and agreed there was no fundamental problem with the opponent staging a protest
The worst thing that can happen to Mnangagwa and Zanu PF is to agree to share the spoils of the rigged elections with MDC. Mnangagwa can give MDC the few cabinet posts MDC is after and sit back and wait. If Mnangagwa is afraid Chamisa will out stage him and deliver significant economic recovery he is naïve. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery.
On the political front Zanu PF does not need to implement even one democratic reform the party should know that MDC will always participate in future elections no matter how flawed and illegal the electoral process got. So giving away a few cabinet post in return for legitimacy – Zanu PF got itself a real bargain.
It is the ordinary Zimbabweans who are the big loser here, they will not get any meaningful economic recovery and they will have forfeited yet another chance to get the reforms implemented! The people must have nothing to do with these MDC demos and insist on Zanu PF stepping down so the country can appoint an interim administration that will implement the reforms.
Zimbabweans took their eyes off the ball in supporting Mnangagwa and his coup gang in November 2017; they must not make the same mistake again. The choice here is not between Mnangagwa and Chamisa but rather between democracy and the status quo. In 2017 the choice was not between Mugabe and Mnangagwa but democracy and the Zanu PF dictatorship.
Keeping one’s eyes on the ball at times like this is a taste of one’s resolve and focus!