Up to now, many Zimbabweans have not fully appreciated the negative role the country’s opposition politicians have played in our struggle to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. It is pleasing to note that many people are now opening their eyes and asking the opposition leaders the hard questions.
“You attended the funeral of former President Robert Mugabe, a man you spent half your life fighting, but at the funeral wake, you spoke glowingly about him, what motivated you?” asked NewsDay senior reporter, Blessed Mhlanga.
“Well, opposition was not to Robert Mugabe the person, but opposition was to the politics of Zanu-PF and Mugabe merely happened to be the leader of the party,” came the feeble reply from Professor Lovemore Madhuku, leader National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). “We were making a distinction between Mugabe the person and the Zanu-PF system that was led by Mugabe.”
Each time Madhuku opens his mouth, he has left no one in any doubt that he is a sell-out, a dimwitted sell-out at that!
The only political dialogue that counted for anything is the elections.
Madhuku cannot deny that Mnangagwa did not keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections.
“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
ZEC failed to produce something as basic a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake. A verified voters’ roll is a legal and common sense requirement. How anyone; much less a candidate contesting the elections, to say nothing of the said candidate being a Law Professor as is the case with Madhuku; would participate in an election in which they do not know who is on the voters’ roll and so cannot trace and verify anything, beggars belief!
The only rational reason why Nelson Chamisa, Lovemore Madhuku and all the other 20 presidential candidates, the 130 political parties, and God knows how many independent candidates participated in the flawed and illegal elections last year is greed. They all knew that Mnangagwa and Zanu PF would rigged the elections but they also knew the party would give away a number gravy train seats as bait to entice the opposition to participate.
Worse still, the opposition knew that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections they gave the process the modicum of credibility, as David Coltart, MDC senator, readily admitted in his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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 (2013) 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.”
Of course, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC party, Lovemore Madhuku and NCA party and all the other opposition candidates who participated in last year’s flawed and illegal elections sold-out. As long as Zanu PF news there are sell-out like Chamisa, Madhuku, etc. who will participate in elections even if the ZEC fails to produce something as basic as a voters’ roll Zimbabwe will never ever have free, fair and credible elections.
And without free, fair and credible elections, the country will never ever have a competent and accountable government.
“Of late, you have been accused of dinning with Zanu-PF, the party you have fought against all these years. This has seen some people describing you as a sell-out. Can you comment?” Blessed Mhlanga followed up, driving the point home.
“I don't know what is meant by dining with them, but I am sure you are referring to being in Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD). It is not about dining with anyone. POLAD is a national dialogue process where political players come together to debate issues to do with Zimbabwe; that is nothing to do with Zanu-PF,” came the reply.
It is parliament that should conduct all national dialogue and not for some extra numeral body like POLAD with no legal basis or power to discuss anything. By participating in flawed and illegal elections the opposition has made it impossible for the nation to elect competent leaders as president, MP, senator, etc. and are offering the superfluous POLAD to govern!
So we are have an opposition busy destroying democracy and replacing it with autocracy and we are expected to view that as progress. How nauseating!
Zimbabwe has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 40 years because the party rigged elections. How much longer Zimbabwe sell-out opposition’s political credibility will last!
“Kana muonde wodonhedza mashizhe, chirimo chazvika!” (When the fig tree start shedding its leaves, it is autumn!) as one would say in Shona.
People are now openly calling Madhuku, Chamisa et al “sell-outs”; proof the opposition’s political credibility is wearing thin and fast.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections rendering the regime illegitimate. Mnangagwa’s legitimacy is still a big issue because he has failed to sell the election as credible process because the opposition was not credible!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has been pushed against the wall by its restive workers who have tabled a new salary demand of at least US$475 or its equivalence of $7 267 at the prevailing interbank rate for the least paid civil servant, as inflation continues to gnaw into the local currency and worker's earnings.
ReplyDeleteThe salary issue it at the centre of today's crunch meeting between government and workers' representative body, Apex Council, with workers' leaders vowing yesterday that they would not settle for anything less than US dollar-benchmarked salaries.
This comes at a time doctors, whose strike enters day 43 today, have been making similar demands to have their salaries pegged at the US dollar interbank rate, a demand Treasury has repeatedly shot down.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime have failed and they are now holding the nation to ransom. They rigged last year’s elections confident they will go on to rig economic recovery and they cannot accept that they have failed in the latter.
All pressure must now be brought to bear on the regime to step down! The regime is illegitimate and it must go!
MDC Alliance deputy president Tendai Biti has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of trying to use Gukurahundi tactics to clamp down on the opposition party by falsely claiming that they are storing armour.
ReplyDeleteBiti's sentiments follow reports by the police that they discovered body armor at a building in Harare with suggestions that MDC Alliance was behind it.
No one would doubt that Mnangagwa, in his desperate effort to hang on to power, would do this.
MDC had the golden opportunity to implement democratic reforms designed to dismantle Zanu PF during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; they wasted that opportunity and now the nation is paying dearly for it! This is a nightmare and MDC leaders like Tendai Biti played their part in landing the nation in this mess.
Former President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, along with their family business, Gushungo Holdings were evicted from a Mazowe farm following an application by three farmers who were claiming ownership of the land.
ReplyDeleteAdonia Makombe, Sahungwe Hungwe and Nyika Chifamba issued summons at the High Court against Mugabe in June last year, seeking his eviction from Lot 1A Teviotdale Farm in Mazowe district of Mashonaland Central province.
The three argued that they were holders of offer letters for the land, which they grabbed at the height of the land reform programme in 2000.
But, Mugabe and his wife challenged the farmers' assertion, arguing the letters were not an entitlement to the land and that they had no right to demand the eviction over land for which they themselves had no lawful authority to use, possess or occupy.
This is just justice finally catching up with these Zanu PF thugs. It was the seizure of the farms that triggered the country’s economic meltdown and it would be irresponsible to let those behind the mess keep their loot!
In fact, over the preceding years, although human rights abuses continued unabated — targeted sanctions, especially by the EU were substantially watered down — subsequently leaving only Mugabe and his wife Grace — such that, currently, due to Mugabe’s recent death, there are virtually no EU sanctions to talk about.
ReplyDeleteThat is where we find ourselves today. What sanctions are the Zimbabwe government, Sadc and the AU making so much noise about? The only sanctions left are those imposed by the US — the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) — which were imposed only on 141 entities and senior officials in the Zimbabwe administration largely over violation of human rights, and economic mismanagement.
So, why would Sadc and the AU stand in solidarity with Harare in calling for the lifting of these targeted measures? Have the conditions that invited the sanctions been addressed?
Ever since the 2017 military intervention that toppled Mugabe, ushering in his long-time protégé President Emmerson Mnangagwa, both the human rights and economic record of this once envy of the African continent, has turned it into a shameful image of what being an African means.
The irony is those on the sanctions list are all, without exception, filthy rich. The sanctions were imposed because Zanu PF rigged elections and yet they have consistently rigged the elections. So rather than restore the people’s basic right to free, fair and credible elections Mugabe and his cronies continued to rid roughshod over their freedoms and rights so that they can continue looting.
It is the looting that has made the Zanu PF thugs filthy at the expense of the masses who are filthy poor. The Zanu PF thugs are blaming the nation’s economic meltdown on sanctions just to take the heat off the real cause - corruption.
It is very disappointing that both SADC and AU have been so naive and gullible to still fall for the sanctions is the root of all Zimbabwe’s economic problems and that the ruling elite are as innocent as baby!
"We need unity, unity, unity. As long there is no unity in the party you cannot defeat, not just Zanu-PF but the military,” said Welshman Ncube, MDC VP.
ReplyDelete"Zimbabwe is not governed by Zanu-PF but military, never forget that.
"Never forget that you are required to defeat the military because you defeated Zanu-PF and Mugabe long back. What you need to do now is to defeat the military.”
This in nonsense! Ncube and his fellow MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU because they had their snouts in the feeding trough and forgot about the reforms. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with generous salaries and allowances, ministerial limos, a US$ 4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, a former white-owned farm for Welshman Ncube, etc. And not even SADC leaders’ regular nagging could get the MDC leaders to implement even one reform.
Make no mistake about it; to get all the MDC leaders to forget about reforms for five years was a remarkable achievement in unity or be it also proves how breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders are.
MDC leaders will never ever get any meaningful reforms implemented because they are corrupt and incompetent; the sooner Zimbabweans woke up to this reality the sooner they can look for competent leaders to get this key task done!
Ramaphosa who takes over the African Union chairperson position in 2020 said African countries should be treated as sovereign nations.
ReplyDelete"Africa wants to deal with the rest of the world on its own terms. It wants to see an end to outside interference, particularly from those countries that continue to fuel conflict in African countries," said Ramaphosa.
He said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will improve cohesion among African countries beyond the business interests.
"On the political front, the #AfCFTA will help to consolidate the union among all African states. It will reduce the potential for conflict because there is no benefit in waging wars with countries that you trade with.
"From a social perspective, it is likely to result in a more cosmopolitan Africa as the greater movement of people and skills brings more people of diverse backgrounds and nationalities together," said Ramaphosa.
"As African countries become more connected to each other through highways and railway lines, through regional power grids and water infrastructure, the continent will undergo a infrastructural transformation.”
Most African countries are worse now than they were under the exploitative and oppressive white colonial rule. Instead of turning the spotlight on ourselves and address the underlying reasons most African leaders have again and again sort scapegoats to blame for it.
Corrupt and murderous tyrants like the late Robert Mugabe have earned a reputation for shadow-boxing the “western empiricists”. Fellow African leaders have cheered and applauded Mugabe’s empty rhetoric and now, it seem, there are a few empty heads willing to take over from where the tyrant left off.
Africa needs leaders who are smart enough to admit the continent’s serious shortcomings and wise enough to address them. These idiotic leaders who want to sweep the problems under the carpet are the continent’s curse!
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because of nearly four decades of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule. If the truth be told we the ordinary people have played our part in letting the regime do as it pleased. We have wrung our hands and have done very little to stop the Zanu PF thugs rid roughshod over us all. We are not helpless, we chose to be helpless!
ReplyDeleteI would like to salute the Zim Vigil members for your dedication and commitment to the fight to democratic change in Zimbabwe. For over 14 years now, you guys have held your demo outside Zimbabwe Embassy in London to demand an end to Zanu PF dictatorship, every Saturday afternoon without failure. If only we had more people like you the load will be much lighter and, who knows, we might have ending the dictatorship by now!
The ruling party has called for countrywide marches for October 25 to protest targeted sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union on the Zanu PF led administration.
ReplyDeleteAddressing the Zanu PF senior leadership in Bulawayo Sunday, VP Mohadi pleaded with police to be on the lookout for MDC and civil society organisations he accused of putting up a plot to disrupt the marches.
Zanu PF tells us that the country’s economic meltdown was caused by sanctions. Why is it then that those on the sanctions list are filthy rich and live in the Blue Roof palatial mansion and yet those not on the list are filthy poor and live in grass thatched mud hovels?
It is the wholesale looting that have made the ruling elite filthy rich and poor filthy poor. Zanu PF leaders do not want the truth to be said and so they forcing down the throats of everyone a alternative narrative in which sanctions are blamed for all the nation’s ills!
It is very disappointing that SADC and AU leaders have been so foolish as to buy into Zanu PF’s sanctions bull and cock nonsense!
@ Obey
ReplyDelete“Wilbert Mukori
Whilst I agree with you on other things I don't really think SADC cares a jot if the opposition participate or not in any elections...SADC and AU don’t give a shit about Zimbabwe...Its all out for everyone to see..Both ZanuPF and MDC and all Zimbabweans should start accepting that we're on our own...The world is too busy for a small corrupt rotten country called Zimbabwe,” you say.
SADC leaders helped draft the 2008 Global Political Agreement in which Zanu PF agreed to the raft of democratic reforms. They tasked Zanu PF and the two MDC factions in the GNU to implement the reforms. Sadly MDC leaders turned out to be corrupt and incompetent and failed to get even one reform implemented.
Yes, SADC leaders could have done more to make sure the reforms were implemented. Still we Zimbabweans cannot deny that MDC leaders sold-out.
Zimbabwe is an independent and sovereign nation and that comes with it the duty and responsibility to be masters of our own destiny. For the last 40 years, we have let ourselves down badly by failing to take responsibility of our destiny.
Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess. With unemployment a dizzying 90% and 3/4 of the population living on US$30 or less per month, the nation has the sword of Damocles hanging over its head. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies drags us into this precarious position by rigging elections so they can stay in power to feed their insatiable appetites for wealth and power. For the last four decades they have enjoyed absolute power and have rob the nation blind. Enough is enough!
ReplyDeleteThe only sure way to stop Zanu PF rigging the next elections is to force the regime to step down so we can finally implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Zanu PF will never ever implement any meaningful reforms even if there was to be another GNU. If Zanu PF are still in power come 2023, they will rig these elections and we will be in exactly the same position we are in today.
It is a tragedy that MDC sold-out during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when they had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms. Chamisa and company have given up on reforms and are now cooperating with Zanu PF for whatever scraps of power they can squeeze out of the regime.
Of course, Nelson Chamisa knows that the international community has condemned last year's elections as a farce making Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime illegitimate. He is trying to take advantage of that by promising Mnangagwa that he, Nelson Chamisa, can talk the international community into forgiving Mnangagwa for rigging the elections if he and a few of his MDC friends were appointed cabinet ministers in a new power sharing arrangement. This is just nonsense, of course. The international community will never be fooled by the window dressing. Never!
Another Zanu PF and MDC GNU will never implement any meaningful democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Never ever! In the 2008 GNU MDC had the majority in Parliament and cabinet and most important of all had Zanu PF committed to the reforms by signing the SADC proposed Global Political Agreement (GPA) and had the backing of SADC who were the guarantor of the agreement. And yet, MDC failed to get even one reform implemented.
In the new GNU, Zanu PF will have its 2/3 majority in Parliament and cabinet and no GPA or SADC to worry about. So why, Oh why, would Mnangagwa implement any reforms and run the risk of losing power, especially when he also knows that MDC will participated in the next elections even if not even one reform is implemented!!!!!
Force Zanu PF to step down so we can implement the reforms is the Holy Grail for this nation. We have wasted the last year, there is nothing of note we have achieved in the last 12 months other than the worsening economic meltdown. We need to ramp up the pressure on Zanu PF to step down and on these corrupt and incompetent opposition sell-outs to stop wasting the nation's time with their wild goose chase solutions!
Well done Simba.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to speak truth to power and you did just that! Someone needs to remind people like Mudenda that they are no longer serving a legitimate regime but an illegal one, "a military cartel" as you rightly called it.
@ Shumba
ReplyDeleteIf you have a clue what is going on in Zimbabwe then you too would be "overcome with emotions". Zimbabwe is going to the dogs and Zanu PF is holding the nation to ransom. Zanu PF liberated the country from white colonial oppression but only to install themselves as the new oppressors. After 40 years of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical oppression this must now end. Enough is enough!
Mnangagwa knows that he rigged last year's elections, he is, per se, illegitimate and must do the only rational thing and step down. Step down he will!
@ Thames
ReplyDeleteSome of us found the explanation useful and informative.
If you really want a site where there is plenty of "waffling repeated for hours on end" then watch ZBC, listen to ZBC radio stations or read Herald or any of the Zanu PF controlled public medias! I find it disconcerting that people like you and that Zanu PF UK Youth leader, Farai, will foam on the mouth about the "poor journalism" in the private media and yet have never criticism the Zanu PF controlled public media whose only purpose is to brainwash the people!
Simba is highlight a very important issue here; we have a military cartel holding the nation to ransom masquerading as a legitimate government. Why are you only interested in the trial matter, of Simba Chikanza, and ignoring the big issue of bad governance affecting millions of Zimbabweans!
VICE President Kembo Mohadi says rapid price increases currently being experienced in the country were the works of Zanu PF’s enemies keen to see Zimbabweans revolting against their leaders.
ReplyDeleteHe was addressing Zanu PF senior leaders at the party’s Bulawayo provincial headquarters Sunday.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and was confident Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” would open the flood gate of investors and result in the economic recovery. The investors have continued to shy away from Zimbabwe and the economic meltdown has got worse and worse. Instead of acknowledging its own failures Zanu PF is looking for scapegoats to blame for the economic hardships and, worst of all, to blame for the regime’s use of wanton violence.
Zanu PF has held this nation to ransom for the last 40 years and dragged the nation deeper and deeper into this hell-hole. The people of Zimbabwe must now wake up to the reality the party has no intention of giving up its dictatorial powers no matter how much suffering and deaths the people are forced through. The people have a simple choice either to suffer and die quietly like sheep in a slaughter house or to demand an end to the madness.
In Zimbabwe, the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is now more than just a right it is a matter of life and death! It is tragic for anyone to lose their self-respect to the point of being as helpless as sheep but for a whole nation to do so!
@ Zihvu
ReplyDelete"Tongai tione!" is all very well if you are not on the coal face of the economic meltdown, you are not one of the 90% unemployed, have never had to queue for hours for fuel, know nothing about the collapsed health care, etc., etc.
If you think that these Zanu PF thugs will ever step down because of the economic meltdown then you are really naive. Mnangagwa and company's number one priority is for them to retain power at all cost, if they bring about any economic recovery then that is a bonus.
If Zimbabweans want to put an end to their 40 years of political oppression and economic ruins then they must wake up to the reality that they have to bring about the regime change. Zanu PF does not have the right to rig elections and it is up to us, Zimbabweans, to make sure elections are free, fair and credible. "Tongai tione!" is the very epitome of political surrender which is the root cause why we are in this mess!
@ Mhofu Chaiyo
ReplyDeleteZEC failed to produce something as basic a verified voters' roll; a legal and a common sense requirement. How anyone can ever say last year's elections was free, fair and credible when you cannot verified who was on the voters' roll, who voted, how many times, etc. defies logic.
Anyone who doubts that last year's elections was nothing but a farce clearly has no clue what constitutes free, fair and credible elections. How is it possible that anyone would not know that in this day and age! And yet the tragic reality is there are thousands if not millions of Zimbabweans out there with no clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections! None!
There is no excuse for anyone to have no clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections; these people are lazy, plain and simple. Zanu PF has taken full advantage of the electorate's ignorance and established and retained the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship. And after 40 years of the corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship, the nation has paid dearly for the thousands' laziness; the economic is in ruins and there is political paralysis.
If Zimbabweans do not wake up to the need to restore good governance then there will be no end to their suffering! Understanding what constitute free, fair and credible elections is not rocket science for Pete's sake!
ZANU PF Youth League Political Commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu has lashed out at unnamed ZANU PF officials whom he alleged to be sabotaging the dialogue between MDC leader Nelson Chamisa and ZANU PF President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
ReplyDeleteSaid Tsenengamu, "The saboteurs who are the proponents and promoters of anarchy, political and economic instability and violence are opposed to NC and ED engagement and dialogue in order to continue to blame ED for the economic crisis and the MDC for the chaos. They want the situation to degenerate for their benefit. They are wolves in sheep's clothing.”
The 2008 to 2013 Zanu PF and MDC GNU failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years for various reasons. The new GNU will not implement even one reform for the same reasons. All those who are calling for Mnangagwa and Chamisa to meet have not thought this through carefully.
With no meaningful reforms in place there will be no free, fair and credible elections in 2023.
We need free, fair and credible elections to get out of this hell-hole. But before that can happen, we need to implement the democratic reforms first, and the only sure way to get the reforms implemented is for Zanu PF to step down. As long as Zanu PF remains in power there will be no meaningful reform implemented and no meaningful economic recovery.
Reports coming from Harare indicate that the Civil Service Apex Council has served government with a notice of incapacitation.
ReplyDeleteThe Apex Council which is the highest negotiating board for civil servants has told the government that it must link salaries of its members to the United States Dollar or to inflation and that workers must not be victimised for failing to pitch up for work.
If a worker is not paid enough to cover for their transport cost, how is he/she expected to continue to go to work?
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical thugs. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will no meaningful economic recovery. The economic meltdown is getting worse and worse and the pressure on the regime to step down is increasing.