When President Mnangagwa seized power from his former boss Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup he promised to change things from what Mugabe had been doing for the last 37 years.
On the economic front, he promised to scrap all the laws and the lawlessness that had made it near impossible for anyone to do business, end corruption, etc. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” became his calling card!
He had starting flashing his calling card within weeks of taking over from Mugabe; he has at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. He had not changed a single thing to cleanse the country of its demonic past and yet he was already claiming the country was ready to do business. This made many people suspect he was not sincere.
In 2016 Mugabe admitted the country was being “swindled out of US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone”. He never arrested even one diamond swindler nor recover one dollar. Mnangagwa has yet to arrest one diamond swindler in his two years in office. Those who suspected Mnangagwa was paying lip service to economic reforms were proven right.
On the political front, Mnangagwa to restore the democratic rights of the people and promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. He refused to implement even one token democratic reform and went on to blatantly rig the July 2018 elections.
“No amount of propaganda can spin or sugarcoat this gruesome truth. The continued judgment and setting of utopian standards for Zimbabwe, which are never applied in any other jurisdictions, are callous, vindictive and should not be allowed to continue. This is the basis on which we say, enough is enough. Remove these sanctions,” argued President Mnangagwa last week.
How dare he say that!
He denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora a vote because he feared most of them would never vote for the party they know made them economic and/or political refugees. The regime failed to produce a verified voters’ roll so no one knows who voted, how many times, etc. When some dared to protest over yet another rigged elections he ordered soldiers to shoot to kill to silence all dissent.
And now he dares tell Zimbabweans that to expect free, fair and credible elections is utopia!
Of course, every thinking Zimbabwean out there is furious that Zimbabweans are still being denied them this basic human right - a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The right to free and fair elections is more than just a right it is the nation’s only hope to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance after 39 years and counting of being stuck in this hell-on-earth Zanu PF had landed the nation in.
The root causes of the country’s economic meltdown are 40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. And the nation has been stuck all these years with this incompetent and corrupt Zanu PF dictatorship.
The ill effects caused by the sanctions are marginal compared to the disastrous effect caused by mismanagement and corruption. However sanctions have helped to highlight Zimbabwe’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections and, more significantly, pile the pressure on the regime to hold free elections.
The sanctions must remain; indeed, increased; until we have free, fair and credible elections.
Free, fair and credible are not just a basic human right this is the nation only hope to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
How insulting that those responsible for dragging the nation into this hell-on-earth are denying us the chance to get out of this hell by blatantly rigging elections under the pretext free, fair and credible elections are a utopia.
Some of former Vice President, Joyce Mujuru’s property including a mega 350-class combine harvester shall on the 6th of this month be auctioned off over debt.
ReplyDeleteMost Zanu PF leaders who have lost their seat at the top table have, more often than not, fallen into hard times soon thereafter. Zanu PF leaders managed to maintain their luxurious lifestyles by creaming off wealth from the nation. It is little wonder the party has never contemplated being booted out of power by holding free, fair and credible elections.
Mai Mujuru has made millions of dollars from looting public resources such as the Marange diamonds, “Churu chaMai Mujuru”, her diamond concession was called. The looted wealth stop the day she was booted out of Zanu PF. Today she is selling the combine harvester, tomorrow she will be selling the farm! Soon, she will have nothing to sell, nothing to keep poverty at bay.
The Zanu PF dictatorship has produced a few filthy rich at the expense of mass poverty. The system was doomed to fail because it was wasteful, even the few filthy rich can never hold on to their wealth. Never!
What Zimbabwe needs is to dismantle this failed dictatorship and replace it with a healthy and functional democracy.
I Will Never Betray Struggle For Democracy :Mwonzora
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about! You have been a senior MDC leader for 20 years what democratic reforms have you ever implemented in that period? If that is not betraying democracy then what is!
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Friday backed the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government threatened to expel him for alleged political meddling.
ReplyDeleteForeign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo took issue with Ambassador Brian Nichols' forthright comments about official corruption, which the envoy said was the cause of Zimbabwe's economic malaise, and not sanctions as claimed by the regime.
Everything thinking Zimbabwean out there now knows that corruption is the real cause of the economic meltdown and that nothing of substance will ever be achieved in the country until we cure ourselves of this curse of rigged election and bad governance. They want sanctions to stay and are pleased that the USA government has kept faith with the long suffering ordinary Zimbabweans and refused to lift the sanctions on the Zanu PF regime. Thank you one and all!
Writing on his twitter handle, on Wednesday, the Harare East MP said Mnangagwa and his government have become a threat to Zimbabwe's sovereignty.
ReplyDelete"The currency confusion, power shortages, inflation, the doctors' strike and massive corruption have proven beyond doubt that Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed.
"He must step down or constitutional process must remove him," said Biti.
Tendai Biti is just one of the MDC leaders who is corrupt and incompetent, who talks rubbish and loves the spot light. He was one of the senior MDC leaders in the 2008 to 2013 GNU who failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections - proof he is corrupt and incompetent.
Biti is talking of Mnangagwa being impeached for being a failure. He, Biti, should know that that will never happen given Zanu PF’s 2/3 majority in parliament and in senate.
Ever since the GNU when Biti was Minister of Finance, he has criticised anyone else who has occupied that office because he simply could not stomach any one else occupying that office! He is campaigning for the power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF, he does not care that it will deliver no meaningful democratic changes as long as he gets to be Minister of Finance!
Zimbabwe needs the democratic reforms implemented so the country can finally end the curse of rigged elections as a matter of urgency. It would be irresponsible to failed to get this done in pursuit of Tendai Biti’s misplaced egotistic vanity!
The President Emmerson Mnangagwa government has reportedly fired more than 80 doctors who snubbed disciplinary hearings sitting at central hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo on Friday to try them over their job action which is running into three months.
ReplyDeleteSources revealed that the decision to fire the health workers was made after none of the doctors presented themselves before the panels in Harare and Bulawayo.
Health Service Board (HSB) chairperson Paulinus Sikosana said the panels came with the verdict on the cases despite the doctors absenting themselves.
Not even one of the health worker would lose sleep over this foolish decision. The workers have other reasons to lose sleep over, like how the country had found itself in this nightmare of having a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime in power for 39 years and counting. And, worse still, how the country is ever going to extricate itself out of this hell given Zanu PF has carte blanche powers to rig elections!
Zimbabwe on Thursday threatened to expel the United States ambassador to Harare in a new low in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe accuses the United States of imposing "illegal sanctions" on the country since 2001 and wrecking its economy.
Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo, in a statement, railed at Ambassador Brian Nichols accusing him of "behaving and conducting himself like some kind of opposition member, with complete disregard for all norms of permissible diplomatic protocol."
The row follows last week's anti-sanctions marches organised by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's regime which attracted a forceful response from United States diplomats who accused the regime of using "propaganda" and attempting to distract from their ruinous policies which have hampered investment and collapsed the economy.
These Zanu PF are used to bullying ordinary Zimbabweans and even SADC leaders to support this foolish notion that sanctions are the root cause of the country’s economic meltdown when everyone knows that corruption is the cause. The regime is picking the fight with the USA just to draw attention away from the country’s worsening economic meltdown.
The Americans have responded to Zanu PF’s anti- sanctions demos by adding Minister Owen Ncube to the sanctions list. The party has escalated the matter by these threats against Ambassador Brian Nicholas - the Americans must respond by adding even more Zanu PF thugs on the list.
Posting on microblogging site, Twitter this Friday, the US Senate committee chaired by Senator Jim Risch (Republican-Idaho) said:
ReplyDelete“The US is deeply committed to the people of Zimbabwe. Ambassador Nichols set the record straight that culpability for Zimbabwe’s dire economic situation rests with its leaders, provided the truth about sanctions, and reiterated our strong and lasting commitment to a free and open Zimbabwe.”
There is a growing number of Zimbabweans who now realise that Zimbabwe is in a real economic and political mess. The mess has been long in coming, 39 years of corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF regime. We are well and truly stuck!
A growing number of Zimbabweans now realise that unless the nation puts an end to failed political system, the country will only sink deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth of our own making!
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies blatantly rigged last year’s elections and yet have the arrogance to insist the elections were free, fair and credible. It is an insult for Mnangagwa to tell Zimbabweans that allowing 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora their vote, having a verified voters’ roll, etc. is an untenable utopia!
Free, fair and credible elections are a pre-requisite for good governance and we demand it now! This Zanu PF regime is illegitimate and must step down; this is the only sure way to break this cycle of an illegitimate regime staying in power under the pretext free and fair elections are impossible!
Military czar Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga and Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) Commander, General Philip Valerio Sibanda, reportedly made a secret pact to hand Zimbabwe power to each other in the aftermath of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s downfall, Spotlight Zimbabwe, can exclusively reveal today.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because of 39 years of Zanu PF misrule. As long as Zanu PF retains the carte blanche dictatorial powers to blatantly rig the elections, the party will remain in power forever. The party ruling elite are deciding, amongst themselves, who will rule the country and we the ordinary people have no say. None!
It is high time we, ordinary Zimbabweans, made a stand and demand our fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, to a competent and accountable government. Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and we must demand that the regime steps down so we can finally implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
@ Tendai Ruben Mbofana
ReplyDelete“The escalating attacks on the United States of America ambassador Brian Nichols by the Zimbabwe government - most recent of which was notably a thinly veiled threat, possibly of expulsion from the country - have left me wondering why the sudden upsurge in this vitriol considering that nothing that the diplomat has said is new, as these have always been his predecessors' usual sentiments,” you said.
“Nichols is largely reported to have poured cold water on the recently flopped anti-sanctions marches organised by Harare, reiterating his country's long held view that targeted sanctions imposed on some 141 top government officials and entities accused of involvement in corruption, electoral fraud, and human rights abuses, had nothing to do with Zimbabwe's dismal economic performance - but, instead this had everything to do with rampant and unchecked corruption, poor economic policies, incompetence, political instability and human rights abuses.”
The Zimbabwe economic meltdown is getting worse and worse. Let’s say that Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is long dead and buried. By rigging the elections Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. No one is his/her right mind would want to do business in a pariah state.
Zanu PF has given up the fight to revive the economy and the party is spending a lot of time and energy on creating diversions to draw attention away from the economic woes. The anti-sanction demos were one diversion - it was a waste of time as many Zimbabweans know corruption, not sanctions, is the problem.
The diplomatic storm between Harare and Washington is a Harare brewed storm in a tea cup to draw attention away from the economic meltdown.
To get out of this economic mess, Zimbabwe needs solutions and not gimmicks which is all Zanu PF is offering! Zanu PF has failed and we must demand that the regime steps down.
"It is not the interests of us the political actors that are paramount but the collective interest of the people," said Chamisa.
ReplyDelete"We believe in building a national consensus to resolve our national challenges. We will therefore not stand in the way of political solutions to our nation's troubles, as long as such solutions are based upon a constitutional mandate that is derived from the people of Zimbabwe."
Mnangagwa described the proposal as a plot to squeeze the MDC into power through the back door.
It is totally disingenuous for Chamisa to pretend MDC did not want a GNU when that is exactly what the party has been calling for all along. What is worse, MDC leaders should know that the last GNU accomplished nothing.
“We got in the inclusive government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without doing anything,” Nelson Chamisa admitted in July 2019.
The proposed GNU will be a watered down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU and it is naive to expect it to do any better!
Zimbabwe is in serious trouble; 39 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have taken a heavy toll on the nation. Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 90%, basic services such as health care have all but collapsed, etc. 3/4 of the people now live of US$30 or less per month in a country in which the poverty datum line is US$ 650 per month. The situation is unsustainable!
ReplyDeleteSadly, there is no way out. Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections confident the party will rig economic recovery too. The latter has proven to be a bridge too far, the regime will not admit it has failed and its resolve to stay in power at all cost is as unshakable as even.
Zimbabwe is stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime, has been for the last 39 years. Today, with the country’s very survival on the line - the country has no choice but grasp the nettle and end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
Holding free, fair and credible elections is the key to open the door out of the hell-on-earth Zanu PF has landed us into. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs have denied the people of Zimbabwe the fundamental right to free and fair elections for 39 years and it will be unforgivable for us to accept the nonsense that free elections are a utopian.
Zanu PF must be forced to step down so we can implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime are illegitimate; they must go!
No one in his/her right mind can ever pretend that flouted MDC's constitution and common decency in the way he seized power following Tsvangirai's death! The trouble with the MDC supporters who are ignoring this problem is that they are no different from the Zanu PF thugs - they want rule of law only if it works in their favour!
ReplyDeleteIf MDC were to get into power with no meaningful democratic reforms in place; we can be sure of one thing, they will never implement any.
What the country needs to get out of the mess Zanu PF landed us in, is for the country to appoint a body that will be tasked to implement the reforms. Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders cannot be in this body because they failed to implement even one reform during the last GNU.
If we find out that Minister X is stealing public money to finance his supermarket businesses, we should demonstrate forthrightly against the minister where ever he goes. We need to make it uncomfortable for these people to carry on as per usual. We need to create inconveniences in their lives just like they have done to Zimbabweans in the last 39 years.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa and his cronies blatantly rigged last year’s elections, they should not even be in power! If you do not understand what constitute free, fair and credible elections, the critical importance of free elections in getting a competent government, etc. then you revolution is doomed before it is even launched!
By the way, you obsession with youth only goes to show you do not have much working grey stuff between your ears. 40 years ago, Mnangagwa and his cronies were less than 40 years old and therefore were counted as youth. That did not stopped them making a mess and there is no guarantee that today’s G40 would not make a similar mess.
Zimbabweans must elect leaders on the basic of what solution the individual is offering. People should be judged on the basis of the ideas they put forward and not on the basis of age, sex, tribe, etc.
"The last dispensation did not have financial discipline that resulted in printing of unsupported bond notes. President Mnangagwa embarked on austerity measures to re-rail the economy, but these have not been properly communicated to the people," he said.
ReplyDeleteMatemadanda said Mnangagwa was clear that the recovery path would be an uphill task.
"These (austerity measures) have to be packaged well such that everyone knows where we are going and what we are going through," he said
Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead and buried. Zimbabwe is a pariah state and no one, absolutely no one wants to do business in a country ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs.
Matemadanda is attributing the worsening economic situation to government’s failure to explain its policies; he has his head buried in the sand. There will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state!
Mnangagwa has no capacity to steer this ship out of murky waters
ReplyDeleteThe real surprise here is that after all these years of blundering from pillar to post there were Zimbabweans out there who believed that Mnangagwa was going to revive the economy. “Let’s give hm a chance!” they argued.
When Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the elections, it should have been crystal clear that that he had not changed!
Mnangagwa is illegitimate and must step down. Gone are the days when Zanu PF could rig elections and stay in power regardless!
If Mnangagwa resigned, who will take over?
ReplyDeleteOur failure to have a viable alternative to Zanu PF has certainly not helped our cause of fighting for democratic change!
The United States envoy to Zimbabwe Ambassador Brian Nichols has said that only President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration holds the keys to the removal of sanctions if they implement the political and economic reforms which they campaigned on and not waste millions on a march against sanctions as it will not move the American government.
ReplyDeleteThe government of Zimbabwe in support of Sadc have declared October 25 as a day against sanctions on Zimbabwe and President Mnangagwa's administration has declared the day a public holiday coupled with a march in the capital which will gobble in excess of $4 million.
We want free, fair and credible elections and an end to bad governance. The sanctions must stay!
THE Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) has not spoken about pushing out Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) commissioners, but will instead retreat to Nyanga next week to discuss sanctions.
ReplyDeletePolad co-chairperson, retired Justice Selo Nare dismissed suggestions by NCA president Lovemore Madhuku that the political negotiations would result in the ouster of Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba and her team and replace them with new people.
POLAD is just a waste of time and treasure!
Opposition MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa has told supporters in a Facebook live-streamed video that the party leadership was taking a cocktail of measures to solidify the party.
ReplyDeleteAmong other things, he said that the party was targeting grassroots support and capacity building which the party intends to achieve through the Morgan Tsvangirai School of Thought (SOLID).
The optimistic Chamisa said that victory was certain considering that president Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to deliver to the public.
MDC has undermined the nation’s drive to have free, fair and credible elections by, first, failing to implement even one meaningful in the party’s 20 years on the political stage. Second, the party was warned not to participate in elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop vote rigging but no one listened.
Mugabe bribed MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and they forgot about the reforms and the national goal of free and fair elections. MDC leaders have always offered all manner of excuses for participating in flawed and illegal elections.
“We have stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections,” Chamisa maintained before last year’s elections.
So Chamisa is preparing to take the nation into the 2023 elections still with not even one meaningful reform implemented under the pretext the party is “taking a cocktail of measures to solidify the party”.
No thinking Zimbabwean out there should be surprised that Mnangagwa considers the holding of free, fair and credible elections a "utopia" that the country should not even bother aspiring to reach! Mnangagwa has made it clear again and again that Zanu PF will rule the country as a matter of divine right.
ReplyDelete"Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Imi muchigohukura! Nokuhukura!" (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you (calling for free and fair elections) bark! And bark!) he has often boasted.
In the context of the de facto one-party dictatorship in Zimbabwe today; yes, free, fair and credible elections are a utopian dream.
Unless we pressure Zanu PF to step down to allow the democratic reforms to be finally implemented free, fair and credible elections will remain a utopian dream and so too will good governance since free elections are a pre-requisite of good governance.
Last week Nelson Chamisa was saying MDC would win the 2023 elections and was "improving party structures" for the purpose. MDC is just dragging the nation into elections with no hope of the elections would be free, fair and credible.
@ Mukwirivindi
ReplyDeleteZanu PF cannot have its cake and eat it too! The party cannot say the elections were free, fair and credible when they were not!
Free, fair and credible elections are not a privilege but a fundamental right of every Zimbabwean.
Just because MDC leaders sold-out on implementing the reforms does not mean Zanu PF has a licence to rig elections.
Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown because of corruption and gross mismanagement and the economic hardship have not only affected the ordinary people but the Zanu PF ruling elite too. Look at the late Enos Nkala, Nathan Shamuyarira, etc. they all died paupers. Joice Mujuru is now selling the looted farm equipment, tomorrow she will sell the farm and then she will have nothing; she was Zanu PF VP and even had her own Marange diamond concession!
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is getting worse and will not recover as long as Zanu PF remains in power. Zanu PF's hold on power is as unsustainable as the present economic rot is unsustainable.
Change is coming whether Zanu PF likes it or not! Zimbabwe will have free, fair and credible elections of that you can be certain!
The country's worsening economic meltdown is Zanu PF in panic mode! The regime was cocksure it would revive the economy and has, instead, revive the hyperinflation and accelerated the economic collapse of everything!
ReplyDeleteThe regime in wasting money trying to blame sanctions for the economic meltdown. Everyone knows that corruption and gross mismanagement are the root causes!
The only peaceful way out of this mess is for Zanu PF to accept that the party has failed and step down. Zimbabwe needs to appoint an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms and hold fresh elections.
@ Hombre
ReplyDeleteThe argument here is that 3 million compared to the 2.6 million winning votes shows that the result would have been totally different is the 3 million were allowed to vote. The situation becomes even more critical when the winner got over the line with a mere 0.8% or 20 000!
@ Warvet
ReplyDeleteSo whatever President Trump has done to violate America's democratic institutions you believe is comparable to what Mnangagwa has done in blatantly denying millions the vote, shooting to kill all those who have dare to protest against rigged elections, etc.? I think you have a very low opinion of Zimbabweans, to you they are nothing more than slaves compared to Americans who are human beings!