It is heart breaking that Zimbabwe is in stuck in this man-made hell-on-earth with unemployment now a nauseating 90%, basic services such as education and health care all but collapsed, 34% of the population now living in abject poverty, etc. What makes the country’s situation so utterly hopeless is that both Zanu PF and MDC, those the nation would be looking up to chart the path out of this man-made hell-on-earth, are the ones landed the nation this mess and are dragging us all deeper and deeper into the abyss!
“POLICE have increased their presence in and out of Harare in apparent readiness to quash attempts by restless opposition supporters and workers in the wake of threats of massive protests to pressure President Emmerson Mnangagwa to end the crisis bedevilling the country,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“Observers said the police presence had increased since last week's threats by opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa that he had dropped his dialogue calls with Mnangagwa and would be going all out to push for action to address the challenges in the country.”
The real tragedy here is that neither MDC’s street protests nor Zanu PF’s use of brute force to quash the protests will do anything to get the nation out of the worsening economic and political mess we are stuck in.
40 years of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule has landed this country in this economic mess and earned the country the pariah state label and sealed its fate as a failed state. It is notoriously difficult to do business in a pariah state!
When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup, he was cocksure his inspirational ideas would revive the country’s economic fortunes. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” he announce; prematurely, it turned out.
Mnangagwa promise to stamp out corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections. If he had delivered on these two key promises then he would have ended Zimbabwe’s pariah state curse and thrown the country’s doors wide open for business. Sadly, he failed to keep both his promises.
Two years after the coup, corruption is still rampant. And by blatantly rigging the July 2018 elections he made it emphatically clear that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state and, per se, Zimbabwe’s doors were still closed and locked to all wishing to do business.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!
Having failed to stop the economic meltdown Mnangagwa is determined to silence all voices of dissent protesting the worsening economic hardships. He does not want to admit his own failures to end the people’s suffering and his solution is they must suffer and die in silence like sheep in a slaughter house. Of course, this is not socially and politically sustainable and morally unacceptable.
Chamisa is hoping to the street protests will force Mnangagwa to share power with MDC by forming a National Transition Authority (NTA) in which Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders will be allocated cabinet positions.
What matters the most for Zimbabwe is that the NTA will not end Zimbabwe’s pariah state status. The illegitimate Zanu PF cabinet and regime, illegitimate since they were born out of rigged July 2018 elections, will not become legitimate because a few MDC members are in the cabinet and it has been renamed NTA.
Investors and lenders are a savvy lot, they will not be fooled by the presence of a few manikins in cabinet. They will still know Zimbabwe is a pariah state and stay away!
Worse still, the NTA will not implement the all important democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Parliament will be entrusted the task of implementing the reforms and this parliament with its 2/3 Zanu PF majority will never ever implement the reforms! Never ever!
Chamisa is not offering any solution to end pariah state. All he is after is a few seats on the gravy train for himself and his MDC mates!
What Zimbabwe needs is an independent body that can be trusted to implement the democratic reforms and guarantee free, fair and credible elections in 2023. Zanu PF must step down to create the political spare for the independent body. This is the only way out!
Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, says he is not angling for a coalition government, but only wants to "share ideas" with President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
ReplyDeleteThe MDC leader insisted on talks with President Mnangagwa outside of the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad).
He told journalists in the capital, Harare, last week Wednesday: "My intention is not to be in a government of national unity. Forget and relax. I am not motivated or moved by power.
"We do not want power, it's about the people. It is about the issues affecting Zimbabweans. We must work together to have a common solution not to share power but a vision, values and how to run elections."
However, Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said Chamisa could only share his ideas with the President under Polad.
If Chamisa is not interested in sharing power but only to share ideas with Mnangagwa then why is he making such a big farce about where he meets Mnangagwa, who else is present in the room, etc.
Chamisa is threatening to hold street protests to force Mnangagwa into the dialogue in which Chamisa gives the Zanu PF dictator advice and demands nothing in return. Who has ever heard of blackmailing someone so you can give them advice and demand nothing in return.
Of course, Chamisa wants something in return for shaking hands with Mnangagwa and publicly acknowledging him as the winner of the July 2018 elections, “legitimacy”. Chamisa wants a few seats for himself and a few MDC leaders on the gravy train. He will never get those seats if he accepts he is just another opposition leader.