“EU, UK, US light fires under Mnangagwa!” screamed the Bulawayo 24 headlines!
There is increasing pressure on the regime to explain the country’s worsening human rights violations including the recent abduction and torture of MDC youth leaders
"The Heads of Mission expect from the Government of Zimbabwe a swift, thorough and credible investigation into the abduction and torture of opposition Member of Parliament Joanna Mamombe, along with Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova and allegations of the assault on Nokuthula and Ntombizodwa Mpofu in Bulawayo," the joint statement demands.
"The Heads of Mission further urge all protagonists to resolve political conflicts through constructive dialogue and remain clear that international re-engagement is contingent on genuine and sustained implementation of political and economic reform.”
Implement reform! There is no chance of that happening.
There is a déjà vu wariness over these demands to investigate human rights abuses and calls to implement meaningful reforms. The same calls and demands have been made and repeated countless times; nothing of note was accomplished then. And it is almost certain that nothing of note will be accomplished now!
Zanu PF is a regime desperate to hang on to power at all cost and one sure way to achieve this is keeping its heavy tyrannical boot on the populous’ collective neck to cow the nation into submission. However, to appease those demanding an end to human rights abuses, the regime has traded more softly on its victims without ever allowing them to get out of the gutter!
In the rural areas, away from close media and public scrutiny of the urban centres, Zanu PF rules the roost. The regime’s heavy boot is particularly heavy and is rightly feared. The rural people have been reduced to nothing more than medieval serfs forever grovelling to their Zanu PF lords.
As long as Zanu PF remains in office, the party will never implement any meaningful reforms to take away its tyrannical powers over the people and thus risk losing its iron grip on power.
The best hope of getting the reforms implemented was by making sure Zanu PF did not get back into office in the first place.
Zanu PF shoot itself in the foot by blatantly rigging the July 2018 elections, the regime had no electoral mandate and therefore was illegitimate. The EU, the Americans and most of the international community dismissed the elections as a farce.
“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,” concluded the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
Still what everyone else said about the election did not matter if the people of Zimbabwe, those on coal face, endorsed them as free, fair and credible. And by participating in the elections in droves, Zimbabwe’s opposition parties and candidates, at least, gave their resounding endorsement of the July 2018 elections. There were no fewer than 23 candidates in the presidential race alone!
Zimbabwe’s opposition parties and candidates have all endorsed the July 2018 elections as having been free, fair and credible. They could not jolly well dispute the process for having failed to have a verified voters’ roll, for example, when they all knew there was no verified voters’ roll and still participated regardless.
Nelson Chamisa realised that the western nations’ condemnation of the July 2018 elections called into question the legitimacy of Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime. To confound the west with confidence, Mnangagwa needed Chamisa’s public endorsement of the electoral process.
“I hold the key to Mnangagwa’s legitimacy!” boasted Chamisa.
As the price of his endorsement, Chamisa want cabinet positions himself and a few of his MDC A leaders. The only one way to earn legitimacy is by winning the majority vote of the people of Zimbabwe, in a free, fair and credible elections. And none of this nonsense of legitimacy being bargained away like mangoes in the market!
The international community has never endorsed Chamisa’s dubious claim as the winner of the July 2018 elections or his power sharing proposal. The Zanu PF regime is illegitimate with or without the addition of a few MDC A manikins in its cabinet.
No, as long as Zanu PF remains in power the human rights abuses will continue and no meaningful democratic reforms will ever be implemented. Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office. The only real chance of getting the reforms implemented by forcing Zanu PF to step down and getting some independent and competent body appointed to implement the reforms.
Zanu PF must be forced to step down because the party rigged the July 2018 elections and has never had the mandate to govern. The EU, UK, USA and most of the international community have never endorsed Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party as the legitimate government. They can if they so wished demand the regime steps down.
The only question is whether the abduction and torture of the MDC members is the last criminal act by Zanu PF that forced the EU et al to finally say enough is enough? The last straw that broke the camel’s back!
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