There are many, many reasons why Zimbabwe is in this mess and stuck, cannot get out. One of those reasons has to be the country’s fixation with ill-advised solutions, especially when they promise quick returns with little or no effort on the nation’s part.
“2020 is a defining year on whether Zanu PF will sink itself and Zimbabwe with the crisis or whether it shall rise to the task and do what everyone expects it to do, reach out to the MDC Alliance and its leader Nelson Chamisa to map the way forward. All realities are pointing to serious negotiations and dialogue desperately needed to rescue Zimbabwe from the current precipice, regardless of pontification and bravado that Zanu PF protagonists otherwise display in public,” said one political analyst Alexander Rusero.
“I hope when (former South African President Thabo) Mbeki completes his power analysis, he will find the wisdom to include in his dialogue framework civil society and representatives of the commissioned commanders of the Zimbabwe National Army, who wield immense power behind the scenes,” said Phillan Zamchiya, another political analyst.
All these people who have been calling for dialogue between Mnangagwa and Chamisa have all argued that this will be the panacea to the nation’s teething economic and political problems but have all failed to say how that would happen.
By failing to stamp out corruption and, worst of all by failing to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections Mnangagwa has confirmed that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state, same as Mugabe days. Getting Mnangagwa and Chamisa will not change the political reality of Zimbabwe being a pariah state, for example!
Chamisa has often said he has the key to economic recovery, but he has never said how he was going to achieve this fit. Before the July 2018 elections Chamisa claimed that “MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections, as we all know. Take it from me, Chamisa has no clue what to do to revive the economy.
The solution to Zimbabwe’s worsening economic situation and political paralysis lays in, first of all, acknowledging the reality that the July 2018 elections were flawed and illegal.
“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 Mission final report.
“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
The regime denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote compare this to the 2.4 million Mnangagwa says he garnered to win the presidency.
ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a common sense and legal requirement. This was something as essential to elections as bee wax is to a bee hive!
Second, acknowledging that an election process that lacks transparency, cannot be traced or verified and is so flawed and illegal it has failed to meet international standards on elections cannot still produce a legal and legitimate result.
At the very heart of Zimbabwe’s pariah state status is the profound statement: a state who government has no democratic mandate to govern and is per se illegitimate.
President Mnangagwa has managed to get all the country’s opposition parties, except for MDC and one or two others, to public endorse him and his Zanu PF party as the winners of the 2018 election and therefore the legitimate government. As we can see that has had no effect. Zimbabwe is a pariah state and shun as one.
All those calling for political dialogue between Mnangagwa and MDC are holding that a public endorsement of Mnangagwa and Zanu PF as the winner of the July 2018 elections will help remove the pariah state stigma. Again, this is just wishful thinking.
To remove the pariah state stigma, country’s illegitimate governing party, Zanu PF, must be publicly denounced as such and asked to step down. A caretaker administration will then be appointed and tasked to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
Those clamouring for political dialogue in which Zanu PF is to play a role acknowledge the regime is illegitimate and are searching for a way of granting it legitimacy through the back door. This is just a waste of time because political legitimacy can only be conferred by the people in a free, fair and credible elections. There is no provision for backdoor deals with corrupt and incompetent opposition leaders desperate for a seat on the gravy train.
Worst of all, any solution in which Zanu PF is allowed to return power is a waste of time because the party will use the power to block the implementation of the reforms. If Zanu PF is in office come 2023 elections, then we can be 100% the party will rig those elections too!
If Zimbabwe’s corrupt and incompetent opposition had not given the July 2018 elections some modicum of credibility by participating in the flawed elections and then by endorsing the result as legitimate; there is no doubt that Zanu PF’s claim as the legitimate government would have fizzled to nothing by now. People like Zamchiya with their foolish suggestions are encouraging Mnangagwa to hang on and thus delaying the resolution of this mess.
Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown has reached crisis point. 90% of our people are poor with 34% of them living in extreme poverty, according to a recent WB report. Zimbabwe cannot afford to waste time and treasure on gimmick solution like political dialogue to appease Zanu PF. Zanu PF is illegitimate and must step down!
How can anyone with even half a working brain still confuse the straitjacket of this corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical dictatorship for freedom and human dignity of unity! Zanu PF has just rigged the elections denying ordinary Zimbabweans a meaningful say in the governance of the country and we are to believe that was all done for our own good for the sake of unity!
ReplyDeletePeople like Wutawunashe are corrupt but they are also breathtaking naive and stupid!
The report reads in part:
ReplyDeleteThe population in need of humanitarian assistance across Southern Africa will remain high throughout 2020. In worst-affected areas of the region, Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes will likely persist during the post-harvest period.
In late 2020, at the start of the 2020/21 lean season, FEWS NET anticipates regional food assistance needs will increase even higher than needs during the first quarter of 2020.
We are our own worst enemy, we destroyed the country's agricultural sector and now are paying for it!
"There are many, many reasons why Zimbabwe is in this mess and stuck, cannot get out. One of those reasons has to be the country’s fixation with ill-advised solutions, especially when they promise quick returns with little or no effort on the nation’s part," you said.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the reason for our fixation with ill-advised solutions is our inability to comprehend anything beyond the superficial.
Look at the issue of sanctions, for example, there have been countless article written to explain why this is just a five legged hare Zanu PF has dreamt up to take attention away from the real cause of Zimbabwe's economic and political problems. But Zanu PF, thanks to its monopoly of the country's public media, has managed to keep sanctions on the nation's agenda and even roped in SADC to help. All the excellent articles have counted for nothing.
Free, fair and credible elections is another example; the many articles written explaining what constitutes free and fair elections have all been water off a duck's back. Many people believe the July 2018 elections were free and fair because they cannot remember what constitutes free and fair elections.
Many people have explained that the political dialogue including the illegitimate Zanu PF would not change this fundamental point that Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections and is, per se, illegitimate. It is fair to say, the argument has left not even a scratch mark in many people's minds including even the so called political analysts!
As much as one would want Zimbabwe to end the dictatorship and have a healthy and functioning democracy it is hard to see how the later would ever survive given the electorate have no clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections. The temptation to rig the elections would be too hard to resist under such condition!
@ Aan
ReplyDeleteIf the truth be told, all Zimbabwe's opposition parties who participated in the July 2018 elections helped to legitimise Mnangagwa by participating. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC have accepted the parliamentary results but only refused to accept the presidential results because he is holding out for a cabinet position, that is all.
The sooner Zimbabweans wake up to the reality that Chamisa and his MDC friends have given up the fight for free, fair and credible elections in favour of whatever scraps of the spoils of power they can squeeze from Zanu PF; the sooner the nation start the search for a way out of the mess. MDC leaders had the chance to implement the reforms during the last GNU, they wasted it and know they will not have another chance.
"In 2020 the opposition should come up with smart politics that increases oversight and accountability on the governing party. Hold it to account and push it to fulfill what it has promised. Being opposition isn't about destructive interference but constructive opposition," Mliswa said.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe is not a healthy and functioning democracy and so the suggestion that the opposition or anyone can ever hold this Zanu PF dictatorship to democratic accout is an oxymoron. Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections to make sure the party has a 2/3 parliamentary majority and hold the presidency; the regime has the power to do as it pleases and will.
Our real challenge is to get Zanu PF to step down so we can finally implement the democratic reforms designed to stop the party rigging the elections.
Mliswa's suggestion that we should make the dictatorship work is a clear sign he has learned nothing from the last 40 years of making the dictatorship work! That strategy has not worked and it is insane to keep trying even after 40 years!