It is one thing for political leaders to attend church services but another for them to then use the church pulpit to spread their political propaganda! Sadly, this has now become the norm in Zimbabwe!
“The Bible commands us to pray and to give thanks in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 17-18 Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” President Mnangagwa preached to the congregation attending the Zimbabwe Indigenous International Council of Churches (ZIICC) National Day of Prayer at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
“We must always commit all our national aspirations to the Almighty God; casting our burdens to him for surely he shall sustain us.”
There is no denying that Zimbabwe is facing the toughest times in the country’s history with unemployment a nauseating 90%, the country’s education and health services have all but collapsed, an economy in total meltdown, shortages of fuel, medicine and food, etc. 90% of our people now live in poverty with 34% of them living in abject poverty, according to a recent WB report.
The root cause of the country’s economic meltdown and political paralysis resulting the country’s failure to pull itself out of the mess is bad governance, a man-made problem. 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness has reduced the country to a banana republic in economic ruins.
The people of Zimbabwe have watched whilst Zanu PF destroyed the country’s economy these last 40 years, helpless to do anything to stop the destruction, because the party rigged the elections. When some people dared to protest the July 2018 rigged elections, President Mnangagwa ordered the soldiers to shoot to kill! The message he intended to send is crystal-clear, Zanu PF will not tolerate any dissent!
So the circumstance Zimbabweans find themselves in today is serious economic meltdown, abject poverty and political helplessness after 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical oppression. Those behind the corrupt and tyrannical oppression are arguing that “The Bible commands us to pray and to give thanks in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in.” They have even found verses in the Bible to support their position.
This is just propaganda nonsense of the highest order! When Moses pointed to the land beyond the River Jordan, the Promised Land, God did not command the Children of Israel to “pray and give thanks in whatever circumstance” they found themselves in. The Bible is replete with stories of the Israelites having to fight for every inch of the Promised Land.
After the Zimbabwe attained her independence in 1980 we have had to fight our own battles against an enemy within our midst - those seeking to rid roughshod over others denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life!
The moral of the countless stories in the Bible, especially those in the Old Testament, is that the children of Israel, God’s Chosen People, had to fight for the Promised Land. It is therefore nonsense to suggest that we, in Zimbabwe, can have a just, peaceful and prosperous nation without having to fight the corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs hell bend on turning the country into hell-on-earth.
President Mnangagwa is not the first character to quote the Bible out of context for his own sinister purposes.
“Then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4: 5 to 7.
“I have declared the Year 2020 as a year of productivity and trade. I, therefore, call upon the leadership of all churches in Zimbabwe to engage, teach and encourage their congregants to be hard working and productive. God has given us abundant natural resources throughout the country,” Mnangagwa argued.
“We must harness these natural endowments to improve the quality of life for our people.”
Indeed, Zimbabwe is a rich country endowed with fertile land and good wealth to produce food in great abundance and with vast mineral wealth and other resources. The only reason there is poverty, strive and despair in Zimbabwe is because of greed and misrule.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs and 40 years of misrule have reduce the nation to banana republic with a few filthy rich tyrants and millions upon millions of filthy and political powerless paupers.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. No amount of praying or hard work by the poor will revive the economy; it has not worked these last 40 years. The solution is to end the pariah state by demanding the holding of free, fair and credible elections and thus end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is a man-made problem, a problem of bad governance, and well within you and me, ordinary mortals, to solve. To pray for God to stop Mnangagwa rigging elections is tantamount to putting God to the test because He does not do what man can do for himself!
There is nothing more sickening than the devil quoting the Bible out of context for his own sinister purpose. When Moses pointed the land beyond River Jordan, the Promise Land, the Children of Israel had to fight for every inch of it. They did not sit back and "pray for divine protection, economic prosperity and peace without ceasing". After independence we too have had to fight the corrupt and tyrannical enemies within us who sort to deny us our freedoms and rights for their own selfish greed for power and wealth.
ReplyDeleteAfter 40 years of burying our heads in the sand and doing nothing to stop Zanu PF destroying the country it will be insane to continue, hoping for divine protection at the behest of none other than those behind the looting!
Zimbabwe is a pariah state and as long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meannful economic recovery. Those who think Chamisa's jointing Zanu PF to form the National Transition Authority will change anything are naive. Zanu PF is illegitimate by virtue of the party rigged the July 2018 elections adding MDC to the regime will not change the reality of the rigged elections! Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state adding the MDC to the illegitimate Zanu PF regime will not change that reality.
ReplyDeleteBISHOPS from the Zimbabwe Indigenous Interdenominational Churches Council yesterday called on main opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to accept the July 2018 election results and let the country move forward.
ReplyDeleteThis comes as the defiant opposition leader has continuously questioned President Emmerson Mnangagwa's legitimacy, maintaining that the election was rigged by the ruling Zanu-PF.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Indigenous Interdenominational Churches Council National Prayer Conference at the National Sports Stadium in Harare yesterday, Bishop Rodreck Makusha of Deeper Life Ministries claimed the opposition leader's refusal to assent to the election results was now stopping the country from moving forward.
The trouble with these foolish leaders is they are single track minded - they believe that the simple act of Chamisa accepting that Mnangagwa was the legitimate winner of the July 2018 elections will change everything. The truth is, it will change nothing.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party are illegitimate making Zimbabwe a pariah by virtue of the July elections were flawed and illegitimate, contained “numerous error, were not transparent, could not be trace and verified”, as the EU Mission report stated. Chamisa can proclaim Zanu PF legitimate from the roof top that will not make the party legitimate!
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, the country’s economy will never recover!
South Africa's prominent opposition figure, Mmusi Maimane has hit out at Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa for 'failing to sit down' with main opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa in the pursuit of resolving the political crisis characterising the troubled southern African nation.
ReplyDeleteThe former DA front-man said Mnangagwa apparently lacks good faith in his hyped pronouncements to solve the crises facing Zimbabwe. Maimane who controversially quit the DA last year, was responding to an article that appeared in an online publication which rightly said Mnangagwa has been meeting with representatives of the arguably less popular Political Actors' Dialogue (Polad) at his farm in Sherwood, Kwekwe, while concurrently shunning Chamisa.
"This is what makes your talks a sham (Mnangagwa)", he said in comments posted on his Twitter handle.
Mmusi has shown again and again that he is a very shallow minded individual, a very common weakness amongst our political leaders. No one including MDC leaders themselves have given even one convincing gain to the nation a dialogue between Chamisa and Mnangagwa will bring.
All Chamisa wants out of the dialogue is a seat on the gravy train. The power sharing arrangement has no snowball in hell chance of implementing any democratic reforms and thus deliver free, fair and credible elections.
The people of Zimbabwe needs to implement reforms and end the curse of rigged elections to forfeit that for the sake of getting Chamisa a gravy train seat is down right insane and only a shallow minded individual would not see this.
LEWIS Matutu, the Zanu-PF Youth Deputy Secretary says he will Monday name and shame corrupt senior officials in the ruling party and government.
ReplyDeleteHe hinted that he might be expelled from the party for his actions, but was not scared as it was the duty of the youths to fight corruption in the country.
Once upon a time, not too many moons ago, 15 November 2017 or thereabout to be exact, a Zanu PF youth leader named and shamed corrupt Zanu PF leaders, amongst the named and shamed were Army Commander General C V Chiwenga and a few other Army top brass.
Hours, not days, after the youth had denounce the corrupt leaders, there was a military coup that booted out Robert Mugabe and a number of Zanu PF leaders were arrested for corruption including the youth - needless to say none of the arrested had been named by the youth as corrupt. History is just repeating itself!
There is no doubt Lewis Matutu will name a select few leaders as corrupt just because they are in a separate Zanu PF faction then the faction he belongs. This is just a Zanu PF factional fight disguised as anti-corruption.
The 2017 Zanu PF youth was forced to eat humble pie after the coup as the faction Chiwenga belonged to prevailed. Matutu is hoping and praying he is not in the wrong faction, “wrong basket” as Mugabe once said disparagingly.
Speaking at a Zimbabwe Indigenous Interdenominational Council of Churches conference at the National Sports Stadium in Harare yesterday, Mutendi, who is widely considered as a Mnangagwa bootlicker, said churches did not focus on politics but praying for the leadership.
ReplyDelete"Your Excellency, you need our prayers. We are the first group to be allowed to pray inside State House and as the Zimbabwean indigenous churches, we do not focus on politics, but we are here to bring the Word of God to people and pray for the good of our nation," Mutendi said.
"We are not going to be the puppets of anyone, not even your government; but we are only puppets to God. We want you to acknowledge us as churches.”
God does not want puppets, He would have never granted mankind the intellect to know right from wrong and the free will to act accordingly.
The fact that Mutendi and his fellow church leaders have decided to endorse Mnangagwa as the winner of the July 2018 elections regardless of the truth that he blatantly rigged the elections, for example, is their own foolish decision.
God knows that Mnangagwa rigged the elections and therefore He would be on the side of the oppressed povo.
It is a crying shame that Mutendi and his fellow church leaders should continue to masquerade as church leaders when they and the God they pretend to worship on poles apart!
Church leaders are doing Mnangagwa’s bidding and so there is some truth in calling them Mnangagwa’s puppets!
MDC leaders were tasked to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. It was the golden opportunity the country has ever had to get this done and dusted. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not one!
ReplyDeleteNelson Chamisa was one of the MDC ministers in the GNU, a senior member of the party. For him to be proclaiming that he is "a perfectionist" speaks volumes of just how naive, incompetent, conceited, shallow and vain he is.
In a BBC Hardtalk interview in 2018, he was taken to task on a number of issues. It should have been a hard lesson for him forcing he to think through issues and listen to reason and logic. He clearly learnt nothing, reason, logic and truth mean nothing to him. His atrophied brain is impermeable to reason!
Mnangagwa is no better than Chamisa, he too is brain dead.
Mnangagwa and Chamisa make a great Tweedledum and Tweedledee double in a pantomime having them as the country's political leaders facing a existential crisis has proven to be the worst nightmare the nation has ever faced.
Bishop Roderick Makusha of Deeper Life Ministries insinuated that God may have approved the rigging so Chamisa should let bygones be bygones. Said Makusha:
ReplyDeleteSometimes even if you lose after being rigged you have to accept the result, you have to accept because God would have given his stamp of approval. You have to accept so that the nation goes forward.
You should let bygones be bygones, you never know maybe one day if you are still alive you will rule Zimbabwe.
If there was ever any doubt that some of our church leaders are just village idiot with no clue what they are talking about. How can God ever approve something that is outrageous as rigging elections knowing the consequences of the act is economic and political chaos, as we can see happening in Zimbabwe!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has offered some 101 churches, under the Zimbabwe Indigenous Interdenominational Council of Churches (ZIICC), access to free State land as a matter of urgency to construct places of worship, schools and for farming purposes.
ReplyDeleteHe made the populist statement while addressing over 15 000 members of the different churches during the National Day of Prayer held at the National Sports Stadium Saturday.
“Our demand is for land. When the colonialists from the previous regime came, they brought their own Christian churches and they received free land,” Mutendi told Mnangagwa.
Meanwhile, the ZIICC has also requested to be allocated a seat in Parliament as they make up 70% of the majority of churches in Zimbabwe. The request was made by Bishop Mabhiza of St John Apostolic Church Of The Whole World.
The relationship between these church leaders and this Zanu PF regime is founded on the former turning a blind eye to the latter’s blatant abuse of power including rigging elections. The consequences of Zanu PF rigging elections are the economic meltdown and all the economic suffering and deaths that it has brought and the political chaos and paralysis gripping the nation. This is a high price to pay for thirty pieces of silver!
MDC did not participate in the 2018 "because the party had a chance of winning the elections" as Chamisa claims. Without meaningful democratic reforms, the party had no chance of winning the elections. And the result on the ground confirmed that, Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the process to secure 2/3 parliamentary majority and the presidency.
ReplyDeleteIn 2013 SADC leaders warned MDC leaders not to participate in the elections until reforms are implemented.
“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” said Ibbo Mandaza.
“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections.
“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’.”
MDC participated in the elections ignoring the SADC leaders’ warning out of greed, as David Coltart one MDC leader readily admitted in his book.
“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 elections,” confessed 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.”
So ever since MDC leaders failed to implement an reforms during the 2008 GNU, they have been pursuing a selfish agenda, giving the illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of credibility and legality, whilst keeping up the outward pretence of fighting for free, fair and credible elections. The sooner the world, especially ordinary Zimbabweans, wake up to this political reality, the soon the nation can finally forget MDC and search for new way out of this mess.
Zanu PF will use its 2/3 majority in parliament to stop any reforms designed to undermine the party's dictatorial powers going through. MDC is therefore not being honest in claiming it can force through reforms.
ReplyDeleteMDC will participate in the next elections with no meaningful reforms implemented.
Zanu PF has already said it is going to change the constitution to create the positions of "Official Opposition Leader and Shadow Cabinets". This will make participating in the elections regardless of the rigging almost a certainty.
If we are serious about the next elections being free, fair and credible then we must demand that Zanu PF steps down so we appoint a new body with the political will to implement the reforms. There is no other way out!
Chamisa, you have been in politics for 20 years already and your task was to bring about democratic change. You have failed to deliver even one change! Frankly you should retire from public life immediately,
ReplyDeleteif the country was a health and functioning democracy a village idiots like Mnangagwa, Mugabe, Chamisa, Tsvangirai etc. would have never ever been elected to high office much less stay in office for decades. The pressure is now on to end this dysfunctional political system by implementing the democratic reforms. Zanu PF cannot be trusted to implemented any reforms, all Mnangagwa and company care about is to make sure Zanu PF remains in office "until the donkeys have horns", as one Zanu PF crony put it.
There is nothing in Nelson Chamisa's 2020 Agenda to suggest MDC will get any reforms implemented as all his plans depend on the Zanu PF controlled parliament agreeing to the proposed reforms.
The only sure way of getting the reforms implemented is for the country to appoint an independent body, free of Zanu PF and MDC influence, to implement the reforms. After 40 years of denying our people their basic freedoms and human rights it is an outrage that this should be allowed to continue one more day!
Zimbabwe's next elections must be free, fair and credible; that is not negotiable!
Sporadic protests have broken out across the country since Mutharika was declared the winner by a narrow margin in the May 21 presidential elections with 38.5% of the vote.
ReplyDeleteRunner-up Lazarus Chakwera, who lost by just 159 000 votes, alleges he was robbed of victory.
His Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the opposition United Transformation Movement (UTM) have petitioned the courts to annul the poll.
"It is clear that the use of Tippex (correction fluid) was employed by (electoral commission) officers to hide votes," said judge Ivy Kamanga, reading from judgement.
"Use of Tippex was unjustifiable and an irregularity," she said, adding the way in which the electoral commission "dealt with the alterations was not in line with the law, hence it was irregular".
The court also said only a quarter of the results sheets were verified and said it "finds this to be a serious malpractice that undermined the elections".
It is the first time a presidential election has been challenged on legal grounds in Malawi since independence from Britain in 1964.
In Zimbabwe ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement, and the election process was not transparent, could not be traced and, needless to add, could not be verified.
Why the opposition agreed to participate in such flawed and illegal elections was explained by David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe – greed.
“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 elections,” confessed 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.”
It is a great shame that decades after independence, in this day and age; we are still failing hold free, fair and credible elections! No wonder we are the “dark continent”!
This is simply unbelievable! How can an hospital function without a mourtuary for even a few days let alone 10 months plus!
ReplyDelete@ Zimvigil
ReplyDeleteThe European Union says nothing is happening in Zimbabwe about reforms. EU Ambassador Timo Olkkonen insisted: ‘We want to see a faster pace in implementing reforms'. Olkkonen noted that the recommendations of the Motlanthe Commission into the post-election shootings in Harare and the recommendations by various election commissions had been ignored.
He observed that if there had been a functioning, viable agricultural sector Zimbabwe would not need outside support. ‘Likewise in the economic sector what we are seeing is a result of years and years of mismanagement and it requires a head-on tackling of issues such as corruption’.
One only hopes, for the long suffering people of Zimbabwe’s sake, that Ambassador Olkkonen will talk the EU to reinstate the targeted sanctions against Zanu PF leaders as one way of piling the pressure on Zanu PF to treat reforms with the seriousness and urgency the matter demands.
There is no denying that MDC’s participation in the flawed and illegal July 2018 elections has given the illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. There is nothing in MDC’s 2020 Agenda to suggest the party is serious about getting the reforms implemented. The last thing Zimbabwe needs is MDC leaders undermining the call for reforms by giving Zanu PF the confidence MDC will participating in the next elections even if no reforms are implemented.
MDC leaders must be added to the sanctions list to underline their selling-out has been noted and will not be tolerated!
A country that cannot hold free, fair and credible elections will never be stable because having free and fair elections is the corner stone of good governance!
ReplyDeleteMalawi Presidential Elections Endorsed By Mnangagwa Have Been Nullified By Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa rigged the July 2018 elections and by so doing confirmed Zimbabwe's position as a pariah state which has been the albatross round Mnangagwa's neck. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no hope in meaningful economic recovery! This is a serious problem for a country with 90% unemployment, whose education and health care services have all but collapsed, sky rocketing hyperinflation, etc., etc.
The only way to end Zimbabwe's pariah state status is for Zanu PF to step down from office to allow the appointment of an independent body, devoid of Zanu PF and MDC influence, which will then implement the reforms and hold the country's first free, fair and credible elections.
Zanu PF will be tempted to hang on to power but with the sorry state of the economy even the party hardliner must see the situation is not sustainable. In the end Zanu PF will go. When? No one can say for certain but it will be soon. How? Given Zanu PF hardliners' refusal to see reason, it might well be a violent and blood end!