“For months now, we have been asking our African brothers and sisters to look into the man-made governance crisis in Zimbabwe and help us restore the dignity of citizens,” said MDC President, Nelson Chamisa.
“We in the MDC stand ready to welcome South Africa and SADC’s mediation in Zimbabwe to end the suffering that has gone on for far too long, and give our people hope. In the face of provocation and persecution, our commitment to a sustainable, peaceful outcome has not shirked.”
After four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness that has earned the nation pariah state status; it is not surprising that this, once upon a time, proud and prosperous nation is now the poorest country in Africa. Of course, this is a man-made governance crisis; that is obvious. What is clearly not obvious to Chamisa and his MDC friends is the role they have played and continue to play in this man-made governance crisis; they would not be calling on SADC’s mediation if they did.
SADC leaders did play a pivotal role in forcing Mugabe to agree to implementation of a raft of democratic reforms following the blatant cheating and wanton violence in 2008 elections by Zanu PF operative, rogue war veterans and security sector personnel at the behest of Mugabe, Mnangagwa and other Zanu PF leaders. The reforms, if implemented, were designed to dismantle the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship; strip away the party’s carte blanche dictatorial powers and thus end the curse of vote rigging.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Nelson Chamisa and the other MDC leaders were given the task of implementing the reforms. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years of the GNU. Not even one reform!
“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learnt to enjoy the trappings of power, they will not rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies boasted, when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
SADC leaders made one more desperate attempt to get MDC leaders to have the 2013 Zimbabwe elections postponed until the reforms were implemented.
“Of course they (elections) can be postponed. In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza explained to Violet Gonda.
“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.
“After that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”
Even with this blunt advice still ringing in their ears MDC leaders still failed to comprehend the seriousness and urgency of implementing the reforms. Their insatiable greed for trappings of power blinded, they once again failed to make the clear and obvious decision.
“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,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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.”
Four of the main MDC factions did form a coalition just before the 2018 elections and they participated in that year’s elections even though not one reform had been implemented for the same reason as before - insatiable greed for the trappings of high office.
“We got in the inclusive government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without doing anything,” Nelson Chamisa confessed in an interview with New Zimbabwe in July 2019.
“We went into the GNU without a plan!” he added in the next breath.
SADC leaders who were the driving force behind the 2008 Global Political Agreement and the guarantor of the agreement had a clearly defined roadmap - to implement the democratic reforms. The biggest mistake SADC leaders made was to trust MDC leaders to follow the roadmap. SADC leaders nagged and begged MDC leaders to implement the reforms but were snubbed again and again. And even now with the benefit of hindsight MDC leaders still have the unrepentant chic to blame SADC for their insensate and insatiable greed and stupidity.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and the best of action is for Zanu PF to step down so an interim administration can be appointed. The new administration will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms the Zanu PF and MDC GNU of 2008 to 2013 failed to implement.
Chamisa is nagging SADC leaders to appoint yet another Zanu PF and MDC GNU so he and his MDC friends can get back on the gravy train to “sit, eat and do nothing” as before. The new GNU will be a watered down version of the 2008 GNU since Zanu PF will have its 2/3 majority MPs, SADC will not have its supervisory role, etc. It is naive to expect this new GNU to implement any meaningful democratic reforms.
Yes Zimbabwe is well and truly stuck in a “man-made governance crisis”; a Zanu PF and MDC made governance crisis, to be precise. It is folly to expect those responsible for dragging the nation into this mess to get us out, especially when they were given a golden opportunity to do so in the last GNU and failed to get even one reform implemented.
Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections and, by participating in the flawed elections, Chamisa gave the illegitimate elections some modicum of credibility. So both Mnangagwa and Chamisa and their respective political parties are illegitimate, both must step down and will have no role to play in mapping the destiny of Zimbabwe- that is not negotiable.
The Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe says the figure of the Chinese bilateral support that was announced by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube during his budget statement is a misrepresentation of the correct figure on the ground.
ReplyDeleteNcube said China had given Zimbabwe a support of US$ 3,631,500.
In a statement the Embassy said, "The People's Republic of China in Zimbabwe has taken note of the release of 2020 National Budget Statement by the Zimbabwean government. The Embassy appreciates the positive role the budget will play in promoting the policies and propagating the facts and figures related to the economic development of the country. In the meantime, the Embassy has noted that in the statement, among Development Partner Support (on Page 51) received by the Zimbabwean government through bilateral channels, the figure of bilateral support provided by China to Zimbabwe is 3,631,500 USD. This is very different from the actual situation on the ground."
Setting the record straight, the Embassy said the amount given to the country is US$ 136.8 million.
"According to our record, from January to September 2019, the actual bilateral support provided to Zimbabwe by China is 136.8 million USD. Such a figure does not include the other bilateral supports such as the expense of expert assistance, Embassy's donations to local vulnerable groups and so on.
What every Zimbabwean out there would want to know is how many billions of dollars in uncut diamonds the Chinese have exported out of Zimbabwe from January to September 2019 alone?
The late Edward Chindori-Chininga said no one, the mining company nor their local partner, kept any records of how many diamonds they mined, they quality and quantity, how the diamonds were shipped out, to whom the diamonds were sold, how the spoils were shared, etc., etc. We know the Chinese are one of the mining companies!
In 2016 the then President Robert Mugabe admitted the country was being “swindled out of US$15 billion is diamond revenue alone”. He never arrested even one swindler nor recover one single dollar. The one thing he did accomplish was boot out of the country the Chinese miners.
Mnangagwa promised to end corruption but after two years in power he too has yet to arrest one diamond swindler and recover one dollar. He did not waste time in getting the Chinese back to continue the looting from where they left off!
I write to associate myself with Advocate Nelson Chamisa’s tweet welcoming South Africa and SADC’s mediation in Zimbabwe and his plea for a specific practical solution to set up a donor fund to address the crisis in Zimbabwe’s health sector.
ReplyDeleteExactly two years ago to this day, on 19th November 2017, President Robert Mugabe finished his very last address to Zimbabwe and the world with the words “Iwe neni tine basa. Asante sana”. I wish to echo President Mugabe’s words and say “Asante sana”, thank you very much to you for convening the Zimbabwe Symposium and committing to practical action.
What you, Patrick, has failed to get into your thick head is that Zimbabwe is in this mess because Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant. So all thinking Zimbabweans find it insulting to be reminded what the tyrant said and did! Since when have you ever cared about the suffering masses in Zimbabwe!!!!
One of these fine days, Zimbabwe will finally have a real regime change. You and your fellow Zanu PF thugs will be asked to account for the looted wealth and your thuggery. Your days of insulting this nation from your rat-hole are numbered! The wheel of justice turns slowly but it turns!
What did Gata accomplish at ZESA last time he was there? So he is being reappointed to reward him for all the years of failed leadership! How nauseating!
ReplyDeleteThose who still believe Zanu PF and MDC have a role to play in getting us out of the economic and political mess the nation is in have no clue why we are in this mess and this deep. Those who, for whatever reasons, have failed to comprehend the complexities of why we are stuck are per se not qualified to comment of the way forward. If you do not know where you are you clearly do not know what direction you should go to the Promised Land. Detail matters!
ReplyDeleteDetail is everything!
We are in this mess, up to our eyes, not because Zanu PF and MDC leaders made mistakes. NO!
Zanu PF leaders have proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. The party has stayed in power all those years because Zanu PF blatant rigged elections and even committed mass murders to establish and retain this de facto one-party dictatorship. Last year, Mnangagwa denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, etc. these were deliberate and calculated measures to ensure his victory!
MDC leaders have had many golden opportunities to implement the democratic reforms and thus end the Zanu PF dictatorship. They have wasted them all because they too are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. Chamisa and company participated in last year’s elections knowing fully well that Mnangagwa was rigging the elections. They contested the flawed elections regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF would give away a few gravy train seats, bait Chamisa and company could not resist!
When a leader have proven to be corrupt, incompetent and a sell-out he/she is beyond the pale. It is sheer folly to entrust such an individual with power and authority and expect them not to abuse it!
Those who want Zanu PF and MDC leaders to be part of the solution Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess either do not understand that it was these leaders who landed us in this mess. Or they do not understand these leaders are beyond the pale. It is also possible do not understand both.
Still, it is incumbent on those who understand why we are in this mess to make sure we propose a working solution and not some wishy-washy nonsense certain to drag us deeper and deeper into this hell!
Yes, detail matters; it is everything!
@ Dobbs Arthur
ReplyDelete“Let’s us all join People Power Movement coordinated by Matapo and remove evil ED and ZANU PF system using international laws.”
I have listened to what Matapo has been saying on a number of occasions. He has said ED and Zanu PF are evil, which many would agree. He has called for ED and Zanu PF’s removal “using international laws”. He has failed to name even one of these laws! Not one! The devil is always in the detail.
If any Zimbabweans joined this People Power Movement then it is out of desperation just as people joined MDC, supported the November 2017 military coup, etc. Desperate people do desperate things and, as history shows us here; dig themselves an even deeper hole!
Zimbabweans have to understand why MDC has failed to deliver even one democratic reform if they are going to avoid making the same mistakes.
If people do not understand something as basic as what constitute free, fair and credible elections then they are not ready for good governance. That is not rocket science!