The release of the UN
Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of
Association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule’s report on Zimbabwe, just two weeks
before the 31 July 2020 street protests is fortuitous. The root causes behind
the public unrest have not gone away, if anything things are worse now than
before and the future prospects are grime, and so as long as the fire burns more
fiercely than ever the pot will boil.
"The special
rapporteur is conscious that political polarisation, poor governance and a
fragile economy exacerbated discontentment with the government and prompted
demonstrations and strikes,"Voule said.
The special rapporteur made
it abandonly clear that the people have a right to peaceful demonstration to
express their discontent; a constitutional right, not a privilege, which the
Zanu PF government has forcefully and repeatedly denied. He sited the 1st August 2018 post July 2018
rigged elections protest and the two weeks soaring cost of living protest in
January 2019 in which 6 and 18 people were shot dead respectively.
"Regarding the use
of force, the commission concluded that 'the use of live ammunition directed at
people, especially when they were fleeing was clearly unjustified and
disproportionate' and it added that ‘(t)he use of sjamboks, baton sticks and
rifle butts to assault members of the public indiscriminately was also
disproportionate'," stated the report.
The tragic reality is Zimbabwe’s
economic meltdown is getting decidedly worse not better, the corona virus
pandemic has accelerated the decline; there are a lot more people living in
abject poverty and desperate for change. Sadly, in Zimbabwe the only hope for
meaningful change is violent uprising.
The opportunity for
peaceful democratic change has been slammed shut in the faces. Ever since
Zimbabwe gained her independence in 1980, the country has never ever held free,
fair and credible elections. Never ever!
President Emmerson
Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections just as blatantly as Zanu PF
had rigged elections in the past.
Yes, Zanu PF would not
have got away with rigged elections without the help of the corrupt and
incompetent MDC opposition party. It was Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders’
failure to implement even one democratic reform in 20 years of the party’s
existence which has allowed Zanu PF to retain its carte blanche powers to rig
elections.
By participating in
flawed and illegal elections MDC (doing it out of greed) have given the process
credibility and by extension the result some modicum of legitimacy. And it is
from this phony legitimacy that Zanu PF claims its mandate to govern and
justifies its brutal repression.
"We have noted
statements from some social media platforms to plan and organise violent (31st July)
protests and overthrow a
constitutionally-elected Government,” commented Patrick Chinamasa, following
the Zanu PF politburo meeting.
"Those who are
plotting anarchy should know that ZANU-PF is not sleeping. This time we are
ready and we will not allow a repeat of what happened before.
"Those doing so
must stand warned and the law will not hesitate to deal with those. Our
democracy and rule of law is very clear on how a Government is constituted. The
(politburo) meeting advised those planning to sneak themselves into Government
violently through the back-door to desist from such devious agendas because
they will have themselves to blame."
The central question
here is Zanu PF’s claim that it is the “constitutionally-elected government”
when it is not. All the observers of the July 2018 elections have dismissed the
whole process 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,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
It was impossible to
verify anything when the elections went ahead without something as basic as a
verified voters’ roll!
The one organisation
that has repeatedly said nothing about Zimbabwe’s failure to hold free, fair
and credible elections is the UN. Whilst UNDP and other arms of the UN have
played a key role in Zimbabwe’s elections, UN bankrolled the drafting of the 2013
constitution, for example; the UN said nothing about the blatant rigging of
elections.
Whilst the efforts of
the UN Special rapporteur on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and
association are welcomed, one has to question the sincerity of the UN in the
case of Zimbabwe. Does the UN seriously expect a vote rigging and per se
illegitimate regime that has just blatantly denied the people their right to a
meaningful say in the governance of the country to grant them the right to
protest the denial or anything else?
As we can see Zanu PF is
gearing for yet another brutal confrontation to silence dissent and hang on to
power at all cost. What good will yet another UN Special rapporteur on rights
to peaceful assembly condemning the brutal repression do for the nation?
UN should not be wasting
time and energy trying to get an illegitimate government to honour the citizens’
rights and freedoms; for that is tantamount to bolting the stable door after
the horse has bolted! The UN should spend it time, energy, sweat and blood in
getting a legitimate government!
What Zimbabwe needs is UN
Special rapporteur on rights to free, fair and credible elections and secure a
legitimate government! With a legitimate government, there is hope of securing
all the universal freedoms and rights.
ZIMBABWE'S real gross domestic product (GDP) is seen contracting by 15,5% in 2020 as the foreign currency shortage, limited investment, company shutdowns, soaring inflation and lockdown measures to stem the spread of coronavirus continue to weigh down the economy, a country report by the Economist Intelligent Unit (EIU) has revealed.
ReplyDeleteThe British think-tank pointed out that the current drought would continue to undermine agricultural output and constrain energy production, which relies on hydropower while ageing coal plants would produce inadequate power.
It also forecast a further 4,9% fall in GDP in 2021, with the mining sector continuing to be hamstrung by the policy environment and extensive power cuts.
"Agricultural output will remain weak as the sector recovers from the drought and as low tobacco prices deter activity. In 2022-24, real GDP will rebound gradually, with growth averaging 4,5% a year as better weather conditions facilitate growth in agriculture and a resurgence in domestic hydropower production, allowing mining activity to pick up," the report noted.
40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that have earned the country’s pariah state title have taken a heavy toll. The corona virus pandemic has hit the nation at a time when it was struggling to already. It will take decades of sweat and blood just to bring back Zimbabwe to the same standard of living it had in 1980, it will never happen if the country does not sort out its failed political system.
The most pressing challenge right now is for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms and end this nightmare of rigged elections and bad governance.
The UN has worked well in keeping the peace amongst the superpower nations. Russia and China’s veto in the UN Security Council has meant they could do as they pleased in their political spheres of influence. Africa’s corrupt and incompetent leaders have found themselves gravitating towards China and Russia to avoid being held to account for their failure to uphold the freedoms and rights of their citizens.
ReplyDeleteSo, China, Russia and the whole of Africa’s despotic rulers would have never approved the UN appointing an elections observer team with any teeth.
Any UN officials who have dared to be critical of the Zimbabwe government knows they would be taken to task for it by the regime and so many have taken the attitude of see-nothing, hear-nothing and say-nothing, just to keep their job. The very fact that the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves have shown very little concern over the serious human rights violations being inflicted by their own government has only encouraged the UN officials to be indifferent.
The UN will confine itself to asking the illegitimate Zanu PF regime to respect the rights of the citizens. The UN will turn a blind eye to the fact that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections; elections are the sacred cow. And so, yes, the UN will make a much ado about bolting the sable door well after the horse has bolted out!
@ Blasher Shereni
ReplyDelete“Keep on hallucinating, Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. You are concerned about baton sticks, how about knee on the throat, tyre necklaces in south Africa.”
What a crying shame, Zimbabwe has become a basket case Banana Republic with its economy in ruins forcing millions of our people into abject poverty and the ruling elite riding rough shod over the people denying them their rights including the right to life.
For 40 years the ruling elite has thrown the nonsense that Zimbabwe was under threat of being a colony again just to draw attention away from their corrupt and oppressive activities and you have swallowed that nonsense hook, line and sinker. No wander the country is in a mess with village idiots like you, Shereni; tyrants like Mugabe and now Mnangagwa have a field day!
This is about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship so we can have a Zimbabwe where everyone enjoys peace, justice, liberty and has a share of the nation’s wealth.
Judging from the way the Chinese are milking the country, thanks to our corrupt tyrants, then Zimbabwe is already a colony – a Chinese colony. “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!” What a nincompoop!
Delete@Achimwene Banda
"But whants to colonize Zimbabwe,a country that has only around $15 billion GDP/year while others African countries has 500 billion as a quarter of their GDP/year.The reason why there must be free fair and credible elections is that few ruling elites mismanage the tiny economy as that result Zim citizens now live mostly on donations,no medication etc."
Zimbabwe is all but a Chinese colony and they have encouraged Zanu PF corruption and mismanagement of the nation's resources so the party's leaders are beholden to the Chinese. The Chinese, Russians and one or two other nations are the ones behind the wholsale looting of diamonds in Marange and Chiadzwa. Zimbabwe is poor but only because she is being milked dry!