Dear Mr President
“Balancing the need for economic growth or saving the lives
of the people?” you said.
“I came to the conclusion that if citizens die, if our
people die, we cannot resuscitate them.
“The economy can die, it can be resuscitated now or in the
future, as long as people are alive.”
The tragedy here is Zimbabweans will die in their hundreds
of thousands whether you extend the lockdown or not.
You have handled the whole corona virus outbreak with your
trademark blundering incompetence and the consequences are the virus has spread
far and wide. You have been advised to test, track, isolate and treat. You have
only done 7 000 tests, far short of the 30 000 you promised. Without accurate
test data all your decisions have been guess work, just shooting in the dark.
Zimbabwe has done very little of the other activities,
tracking, isolating and treating.
Whilst it is true that easing the lockdown when the number
of corona virus cases are set to increase was clearly unthinkable. Still there
is no empirical evidence to show the chaotic lockdown of the last five weeks is
having any notable effect in slowing down the spread of the virus.
The lockdown is yet another one of your overrated ; “a dog’s
puny fart that will never put out the furnace fire”, a the Chinua Achebe would
aptly put it!
As for resuscitating the economy, the Zimbabwe economy was
already in total meltdown after 40 years of unrelenting decline. When you
seized power from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup you were
cocksure of reviving the economy and proclaimed “Zimbabwe is open for
business!” No one answered the call, the flood of investors never materialised.
Investors are a shrewd lot, they were never going to be
fooled by Zanu PF musical chairs game and empty rhetoric. You promised to end
corruption and corruption is still rampant to this day. But most important of
all you promised to hold free, fair and credible elections only to blatantly
rig the July 2018 elections.
You failed to produce something as basic as a verified
voters’ roll. You claim that you received 2.6 million votes but none of the
election observers could trace or verify claim with no verified voters’ roll.
Go ahead, extend the lockdown by another two weeks, make it
three weeks if you wish. It is clear that you are not testing aggressively because
you want to hide the true picture of the seriousness of the corona virus in
Zimbabwe – cook the figures, the Chinese Wuhan covid-19 recipe. The Chinese did
the tracking, isolation and treating; you are not. And hence the reason the
virus has been spreading like wildfire.
You rigged the July 2018 elections and cheated Nelson
Chamisa and his MDC friend. You have failed to rig economic recovery before the
corona virus pandemic and you will not do so after the pandemic. And most
important of immediate importance, you will never ever cheat covid-19!
As Zimbabwe moves into the cold winter days of May, June and
July the number of corona virus cases and deaths will soar. Hundreds of
thousands of Zimbabweans are going to suffer and die unnecessarily because of
your repeated blundering incompetence, you will not resuscitate any of the died.
Will you do the only honourable thing then – admit you failed and step down?
What Zimbabwe has needed for the last 40 years is a
competent and accountable government and the country needs one such government
now as matter of life and death. Even now a competent government will help save
many Zimbabweans from unnecessary suffering and death. And only a competent government
will revive Zimbabwe’s economy now.
If there is one thing the tragic events of the corona virus
have proven beyond all reasonable doubt it is that Zanu PF does not have the
monopoly of knowledge. Zimbabwe must now break with the past, end the curse of
rigged elections, and restore all the individual freedoms and rights including
the right to free, fair and credible elections and the right to life.
Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections, the party is illegitimate
and must step down! Mr President, this is not negotiable! Step down or you will
be forced to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Wilbert Mukori
Citizen of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess precisely because the country has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF dictatorship. Whilst the nation has been aware that Zanu PF was dragging the nation into the mess for the last 20 years or so replacing the regime has proven near impossible because the party rigged the elections.
ReplyDelete40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have taken a heavy toll on the Zimbabwe economy leaving if weak and feeble and its basic services all but collapse. This has been the ominous position at the start of the corona virus outbreak. The prospect of having this corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime in power throughout the pandemic and beyond is simply unthinkable.
Mnangagwa and company blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections, the regime is illegitimate and they must step down. It is bad enough to be stuck with a blundering regime but to be stuck for 40 years and now through this corona virus hell too is simply too much.
As the seriousness of Zanu PF's corona virus blunders final dawn on the nation I believe the people will know that it will be better for the nation to have a competent government or else die trying to have one! Zanu PF must go, enough is enough.
Mnangagwa, who is expected to address the nation on Workers’ Day on May 1, is said to have given in to demands by the military and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), which warned him against extending the stringent lockdown measures further given the state of the economy.
ReplyDeleteAs the Zimbabwe Independent reported last week, Mnangagwa also buckled under pressure and disregarded the advice of health experts who had recommended a 21-day Covid-19 lockdown extension, preferring instead to listen to his Zanu PF and Cabinet colleagues who argued that a prolonged shutdown could spark civil unrest on account of the fragile economy and a restless population.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been urging countries to carefully consider their lockdown, easing strategies to prevent the possibility of fresh outbreaks, as was the case with Ghana which, according to media reports, recorded a total of 271 new coronavirus infections just 24 hours after lifting the lockdown in the capital Accra and Kumasi on Tuesday.
In total, the West African country had as of Tuesday recorded 506 new cases in the week the lockdown was lifted.
Reports from China, where the virus originated, have also suggested that the country had become vulnerable to a second wave of coronavirus infections after significantly easing the lockdown measures.
The lockdown in Zimbabwe has been so chaotic it is really doubtful that under a full-blown outbreak such a lockdown will have any effect.
If we assume that the lockdown is working, it does not make any sense to impose the lockdown when the number of covid-19 cases is 5 and to then lift it when the number of cases have surge to 40 with 8 new cases announced in the last 24 hour period alone.
Zanu PF's failure to come up with well researched covid-19 plans is making the corona vitus situation worse! Covid-19 haisi yekiyi, kiyi dzeZanu PF!
@ Rushizha
ReplyDelete“Dream on!” you said.
How I wish the corona virus pandemic was just a bad dream! Sadly, it is real and no amount of wishful thinking will make it go away.
The pandemic is happening at a time when Zimbabwe's economy is in total meltdown and its health service has long collapse. There is no money to build, equip and staff the kind of 4 000 bed specialist hospitals, as we saw in Wuhan, China. As soon as the number of conora virus cases requiring hospital assistance go beyond 50 patient-days most of the hospitals and clinic, the regime says are ready to deal with corona virus patients, will be overwhelmed.
Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence is bound to turn this tragic situation into a catastrophe of biblical proportion.
According to a Africa Confidential report, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has just written to the WB and IMF begging for financial assistance for fear of Zimbabwe imploding and taking down the whole region into the abyss with it. Ncube is not dream neither I am.
@ Mechavio
ReplyDelete“President Mnangagwa has not done anything wrong, why must he resign? Is he the one who is the virus that is killing the people?”
President Mnangagwa rigged the 2018 elections, imposing himself on a nation that was sick and tired of Zanu PF corruption, incompetence and tyranny. The country has found itself in this sorry position of the economic in complete ruins and its basic services such as health care all but collapse at the start of the corona virus pandemic because of 40 years of Zanu PF misrule; that is number one.
Number two, Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence in the handling of the virus is making a bad situation infinitely worse. It was a Zanu PF leader who instructed the immigration officials to let Zororo Makamba to mix in society even when it was clear he had corona virus, for example. The regime is failing to test, track, isolate and treat corona virus cases even when it has received donated test kits. Without accurate data all these other measures such as the lockdown are a waste of time and resources, we are only shooting in the dark.
There is no doubt the nation will pay dearly for having a corrupt and incompetent government during such demanding times as these corona virus times and beyond. We already know that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate and it is therefore obvious why the regime must step down. Mark my words, Zanu PF will go!
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has tasked Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube to apologise to the International Monetary Fund and the World for the policies that have led Zimbabwe's economy to a status of near-collapse
ReplyDeleteThe report further states that neither the World Bank nor the IMF have responded formally to Ncube's letter, nor do they intend to, despite him following up with phone calls over the past week.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs. The country is notorious for being wasteful. The country is facing starvation and yet it used to produce enough for all its people and had surplus to be the breadbasket of the region. The farms were seized and given to Zanu PF cronies who are now profiting from looting Command Agriculture funds whilst the nation starve.
Zimbabwe is losing billions of dollars every month from the wholesale looting of the nation’s resources including diamonds. Even now with the nation facing a serious existential threat, Mnangagwa has failed to gather his fellow corruption Godfathers and impose a moratorium on looting!
During times like this when resources are in high demand the world over it is no surprise that the IMF, WB, etc. are reluctant to throw away good money after bad. Zimbabwe would not be needing any assistance from anyone if the country stopped being so wasteful!
The only realistic way to stop Zimbabwe being so wasteful is for Zanu PF to step down and thus end the country’s pariah state curse!
Ncube claimed he had used a "sophisticated algorithm" to choose beneficiaries of the ZW$180 per household Covid-19 "pocket money", making a total departure from his earlier commitment to disperse the funds through the department of social welfare.
ReplyDeleteIt is one day’s pocket money for a child! This is less than US$4 on the black market!
@ Madagara
ReplyDelete“I see Zimbos rigging even corona virus figures with disastrous consequences. Since when has malaria refused to be treated when it was diagnosed three weeks before it kills the victim.”
You are right, the regime has stubbornly refused to test for corona virus those diagnosed as malaria cases for fear they are indeed corona virus positive. Zanu PF is a corrupt and incompetent regime and therefore for ever fearful of the criticism of its mediocre performance and one sure guarantee to silence criticism is to be very secretive.
We will never know for sure how many people died of covid-19 because the regime will not test for the virus and even those few it has tested and confirmed corona virus positive the data will be lost.
Of course, Zanu PF is only being foolish here because by falsifying the spread of the virus the regime is helping it to spread. By pretending a malaria case is not a covid-19 case it means those dealing with the patient do not take any precautions like wearing covid-19 PPE and thus are likely to get the virus too!
I have not seen any covid-19 updates for the last four days. The regime promised to do 1 000 tests per day two weeks ago and has often failed to do even half of that. And now, the regime may well have stopped doing the tests altogether!
The longer Zanu PF remains in office the deeper the regime will drag the nation into this hell-on-earth!
@ Zanu is cancerous
ReplyDeleteThe third Chimurenga ended white colonial oppression but only to replace it with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.
The people have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding they will deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for these last 40 years. They have failed to implement even one reform in 20 years. Right now they are fighting amongst themselves over who is the leader, like puppies fighting over a thigh bone of an ox, whilst the nation is facing its greatest threat ever.
MDC leaders had many golden opportunities to implement the reforms, they did not because they are corrupt and incompetent. All we need is to get competent men and women who will implement the reforms; we do not need a fourth Chimurenga!
@ Ndinindadaro
ReplyDeleteOur health care services collapse for lack of resource and yet there was money to send Mugabe 8 times to Singapore for eye check-up at a cost of US$ 3 million per trip. There was money to build the Blue Roof mansion and God knows what else beside. All the other Zanu PF chefs joined in the looting and hence the reason Zanu PF has been rigging elections - the thugs cannot perish the thought of giving up the looting.
Even now with the nation desperate for funds to fight the corona virus, the looting of the nation's wealth for the benefit of the few continues. The Russians are coming into Zimbabwe to mine diamonds at 17 new locations. The looting continues!
"Limited resources!" my a***! You need to wake-up and open you eyes!
@ Chihombe
ReplyDeleteHis stay in power has cost millions of ordinary Zimbabwean their right to a livelihood and over 30 000 lost their lives to politically motivated cold blooded Zanu PF murders. This corona virus has upped the ante; many, many people are going to suffer and many will die because of Zanu PF blundering incompetence throughout these covid-19 trying times and post pandemic period. The real question then is are we going to allow Mnangagwa to do as he please regardless of the heavy price we, the people, are paying?
If the people of Zimbabwe do not wake-up from their sloth-like slumber of the last 40 years and demand good governance then many, many will suffer and as much as 1.5 million, 10% of the population, will die! Simples!
@ Jojo3
ReplyDeleteZanu PF will never ever tell the truth on covid-19 cases and deaths. Never ever!
The regime has already received a lot of aid to equip, staff and a supply of all the medicines and PPE for Rock Foundation Hospital and St Anne Hospitals to treat the chefs with corona virus. If any more aid comes it will be a bonus otherwise the masses will have to make do with the little that is there!
Indeed, most donors know that the regime will cream off all donations for the chefs' benefit and if they ever insisted on complete transparency the regime will tell them to keep their donation.
Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube has reportedly written to IMF, WB, AfDB and all the other leading lending institutions requesting a bailout to help fund the fight covid-19. They have all ignored the letter. They all walked out on Zimbabwe because the country had failed to implement the agreed reforms and to end corruptions.
ReplyDeleteIn the letter Minister Ncube promised the economic and political reforms and to end corruption. This begs the question: why have you not done so until now? It is little wonder IMF and the rest are ignoring Zanu PF.
What is important here is that Zimbabwe cannot afford to have this corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime that everyone else has found impossible to work with. The nation has paid dearly for having had the regime in power these last 40 years but with the existential threat posed by covid-19 it will be insane to have such a corrupt and incompetent government going forward.
Zimbabwe would not even need the bailout from IMF if the country stamped out the wholesale looting costing the nation hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions every month!
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ReplyDelete