Tuesday 28 July 2020

"Zanu PF will never allow any malcontent to rule" - all power must be derived from the people and not a party P Guramatunhu


“I have respect for him (Biti) for his intellectual prowess. Let me say that he is very clever,” Chinamasa told journalists at Zanu PF headquarters in Harare Monday.

“But there you have him doing the bidding for his masters very well where he wrote to the World Bank not to give us Covid-19 related finances and resources and we have not received such resources.

“Zanu PF, therefore, appeals to our people not to be misled by the MDC Alliance malcontents whose preoccupation is to see our people and the economy suffer.”

Chinamasa should know that Zanu PF cannot have its cake and eat it too! He only showered Tendai Biti with praise for the purpose of building Biti as a credible opposition whose words would have influence IMF. The truth is Tendai Biti is a corrupt, incompetent and overrated opposition politician with a well-documented track record of failures. He has no intellectual or political credibility and no political influence. Of all the people, Patrick Chinamasa should know this since he played the leading role in celebrating Biti and his MDC’s friends’ breath-taking incompetence at the end of the 2008 GNU! record better than anyone else.

The IMF, WB and many other international financial institutions stopped giving Zimbabwe financial assistance back in the late 1999 when it was clear the country was failing to service’s mounting debt. Zimbabwe’s reputation as a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs have forced investors and lenders alike to shy away from doing business with the country. It is therefore rich to blame the WB’s recent decision to deny Zimbabwe financial assistance on Tendai Biti.

Chinamasa knows that Tendai Biti is not clever at all! If Biti or anyone of his follow MDC leaders had even the common sense of a village idiot then they would have implemented at least one democratic reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Not even the repeated nagging by SADC leaders to implement the reforms could get the MDC leaders to anything.

Of course, Patrick Chinamasa joined his leader, Robert Mugabe, and all the other Zanu PF leaders in celebrating their party’s greatest political revivals. Having signed the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship; no one would have believed Zanu PF would emerge at the end of the GNU with all its dictatorial powers untouched! No one!

When SADC leaders tried a last minute attempt to have the 2013 elections postponed to allow for the reforms to be implemented; it was Chinamasa himself, as then Minister of Justice, who reminded the diplomats that elections could not be postponed to allow reforms when no reforms proposals had ever been submitted in the five years of the GNU. It was MDC’s, not Zanu PF’s, fault that not even one reform proposal had been submitted.

Chinamasa and his Zanu PF cronies celebrated Tendai Biti and his MDC friends’ breath-taking incompetence in failing to submit even one token reform proposal in five years of the GNU. Chinamasa said nothing about respecting Biti’s “intellectual prowess” then!

Zanu PF’s contempt for the opposition is malicious, so malicious the party has stripped all its political opponents of their freedoms, rights and humanity. And all the ordinary Zimbabweans who have dared support the oppositions have been cloaked in the opposition’s colours and in turn stripped of their freedoms, etc.  

“Zanu PF’s relationship with the people is watered with blood, it is unshakable. The party and its leadership will never allow this to happen. We will never allow any malcontents to take over this country,” Chinamasa fumed.

Since granting the ordinary people their right to free, fair and credible elections could resulted in election “malcontent opposition” it is therefore clear why Zanu PF has never ever allowed the people to exercise a free and democratic vote.

Zimbabwe has gone from a middle-income nation in 1980 with a robust and promising economy to one of the poorest nations today. Four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption has left the country in economic ruins with unemployment a nauseating 90% and 34% of the people now living in abject poverty.

The nation has been stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime for all these 40 years because the party rigged the elections to stop the people removing its leaders from office.

The right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country is a birth right, a universal right acknowledged in the UN Universal Human Rights. In Zimbabwe the right to free elections is now more that just a right, it is the only way the nation has to end the criminal worse of the country’s material resources that has left millions in abject poverty and hopelessness and despair.  

After four decades of being denying one’s freedoms and rights, of being treated like a malcontent with no meaningful say in the governance of the country, of being forced into a life of hopelessness and despair; it is high time the people of Zimbabwe stood up to Zanu PF and reclaimed their rights and humanity!

The people of Zimbabwe must stand-up to this Zanu PF dictatorship and demand their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The people must reject continued denial of their freedoms and rights under the nonsensical guise an unshakable “Zanu PF’s relationship with the people is watered with blood!”

Zanu PF does not have a divine or otherwise right to govern the country. The right to govern the country must be derive from the people of Zimbabwe in a free, fair and credible elections and not other source.

Zanu PF failed to hold free, fair and credible elections in July 2018, the party has no mandate to govern, the regime is illegitimate and must step down. After 40 years of holding this nation to ransom, enough is enough. Zanu PF must step down and no amount of Zanu PF threats will deter the nation from demanding change.    

7 comments:

  1. Sikhala allegedly went into hiding soon after the arrest of July 31 protests organiser and opposition Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume as well as journalist Hopewell Chin'ono for allegedly inciting violence ahead of the protests.

    Meanwhile, at least 14 political activists, including MDC-Alliance deputy chair Job Sikhala and Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure, are on the police wanted list over unspecified reasons.

    Others who are on the run are MDC Alliance member Makomborero Haruziviishe, MDC-Alliance national youth organiser Godfrey Kurauone, MDC youth secretary general Ostallos Siziba, Tajamuka/ Sesijikile leader Promise Mkwananzi, former MDC-Alliance City of Harare councillor Denford Ngadziore, MDC-Alliance official Allan Moyo and MDC-Alliance youth leader Obey Sithole.

    National Patriotic Front official Jimmy Kunaka, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions president Peter Mutasa, ARTUZ secretary-general Robson Chere, MDC-Alliance youth spokesperson Stephen Chuma and Godfrey Tsenengamu, leader of a pressure group called Front for Economic Emancipation in Zimbabwe.

    The US Embassy in Harare has reportedly pumped in US$300 000, with each ordinary demonstrator set to pocket US$20 for participating, while the organisers will get much more for their 'bravery'.

    The country's worsening economic situation means there will be lots of very angry people out there and the protest will not be peaceful which is exactly what Zanu PF wants to justify its brutal use of force!

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  2. Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs Tibor Nagy says the American government has summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador to the United States Ammon Machingambi Mutembwa over the statement made by ZANU PF Acting Spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa on Monday.

    Chinamasa called U.S. ambassador to Harare, Brian Nichols a thug and accused him of funding the opposition ahead of this week's planned anti-government protests that authorities say are meant to overthrow the government.

    Chinamasa had told journalists that, "He (Nichols) continues to engage in acts of undermining this republic and if he does so, if he continues engaging in acts of mobilizing and funding disturbances, coordinating violence and training insurgents, our leadership will not hesitate to give him marching orders.

    "Diplomats should not behave like thugs, and Brian Nichols is a thug."

    Zanu PF knows that the country's worsening economic situation means its strangle hold on power is weakening because the economnic mess is making the people restless for real change. There is no doubt that change is coming.

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  3. @ Chere

    Corruption, poverty and dictatorship are the causes. Not me. Let them address those issues and there will be no demonstration.

    May the ancestors of the revolution guide us on the 31st of July as we make our position clear.

    Aluta continua.

    The over simplistic take of some people on complex matters is not helping us get out of the mess we are in.

    Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections, the regime did not even bother to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll and it was all water off a duck's back. And yet the some individuals are now itching for a fights with Zanu PF over corruption. So they think they are on firm ground fight the regime in the street that they are fighting for their right to a meaningful vote!

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  4. Former Commander of the notorious Fifth Brigade, Retired Air Marshall Perrance Shiri has died.

    Shiri was admitted to a private hospital on Tuesday battling with Coronavirus symptoms.

    Death cometh to us all but to those who denied others their freedoms, rights and human dignity their departure leaves bitterness and anger in their victims for now being denied justice too.

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  5. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's former subsidiary, Fiscorp, which handled the Farm Mechanisation Programme between 2007 and 2008, has challenged former legislator, Mr Kudakwashe Bhasikiti and self-exiled former Cabinet minister Mr Saviour Kasukuwere, to prove that they repaid the loans through which they received equipment under the scheme.

    It also emerged that Mr Kasukuwere got an assortment of farm implements and not just two tractors that he claimed to have paid for.

    This comes as former RBZ Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, has set the record straight to say the programme was not corrupt.

    Responding to earlier claims by United Kingdom-based commentator, Dr Alex Magaisa, Dr Gono said last week that the programme, which was carried out during a difficult period, started as a loan and was later changed to a grant after the then Government of National Unity had approved the switch.

    And yesterday, former Fiscorp chief executive Mr Mathews Kunaka said no beneficiary was invoiced to repay the equipment and challenged Mr Kasukuwere and Mr Bhasikiti to provide details showing their repayments
    It also emerged that the equipment that Mr Bhasikiti received was worth US$43 496 and he should have paid $217,5 trillion and not $10 billion given the prevailing exchange rate at the time. Contrary to Mr Kasukuwere's claims that he paid for his two tractors, The Herald is reliably informed that he got an assortment of farm equipment valued at US$159 208.

    Some of the implements Mr Kasukuwere got included a disc harrow T12 (US$13 253), Massey Ferguson tractor (US$42 450), Disc plough (US$8 700), a four-wheel drive tractor (US$24 000), Sprayer Gaspardo (US$16 118), Boom sprayer (US$5 967), Generator 30 KVA (US$5 200), Three disc plough CMEC US$8 200 and a Case tractor (US$35 320.)
    The real big story here is Magaisa’s lie that the 2007 to 2008 Farm Mechanisation Programme was a one-off corruption scheme and that only Zanu PF leaders benefited from the rampant corruption.
    There have been multiple looting schemes dating back to such schemes as the Willowvale Motor Scandal, the War Veteran Compensation, the wholesale diamond looting in Marange and Chiadzwa, the Command Agriculture Schemes, etc., etc. Magaisa knows that MDC leaders benefited from these looting schemes including his former boss Morgan Tsvangirai who got the US$4 million Highlands mansion through one such scheme.
    It is only when you see the full scale of the looting by the ruling elite that one can see why they were all of one accord – they would rather rig elections and even kill than lose their position on the feeding trough. After being allow to take up their position on the feeding trough, MDC leaders were convinced they were now life-time members of the ruling elite and forgot about implementing the democratic reforms undermining the ruling elite’s claim to absolute power.

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  6. @ Danmore Sithole

    The prominent UK academic Frances Stewart says the political voice often is channelled in ways that are more contentious, and disruptive. Hence the July 31 protests are such an attractive option.
    You can often tell a lot from what one eats and living habits. For example, a sloth spends 18 hours a day fast asleep. In the few hours it is awake it will munch a few fibrous leaves; whatever is within easy reach, can’t be bothered searching for fresh leaves much less the tasty fruit. It is little wonder the sloth is half-died with the shaggiest coat ever.
    The is no doubt that Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess, one that has lasted 40 years and counting. It is easy to see why the country is in the mess and, worse still, it is hopelessly stuck and cannot get out – the people are brain-dead. Give a Zimbabwean a choice and 99.9% of them will make the wrong choice again and again and again with insane regularity!
    In the late 1990s, Zimbabweans finally came to the conclusion that Zanu PF was a corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical regime; after 20 years of agonising over the matter, regardless of all the evidence of the economic collapse, the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre, etc. Over the last 20 and counting, the nation has had a multitude of solutions, to pick and choose, on how to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. The courses of action we chose spoke volumes of who we are.
    The nation has had many golden opportunities to implement the democratic reforms, especially during the GNU, and dismantle the dictatorship but wasted them all. Even when this was explained to the people a thousand times, no one seemed to care.
    Talk of street protest, military coup and many people come alive. Why anyone believes that violence is the only solution to Zimbabwe’s political crisis beggars belief! The country’s war of independence ended white colonial oppression but only to replace it with black oppression. Why some many people cannot grasp this simple the political reality, even now with the benefit of hindsight, is proof they are many out there who are brain-dead.
    You can glorify the street protests all you want but that will never change the political reality that only a fool would choose street protests over implementing the reforms!

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  7. @ Nomazulu Thata
    It is a great pity that in 40 years and counting we have failed to end the corrupt and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship. We have many, many golden opportunities to do this, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, but wasted every one of these chances. The consequence of our failure is that many of the regime’s thugs are dying before they face justice and some giving credence to their boasting that they will get away with the looting, raping, beating and murders!
    The signs are, Zanu PF is not going to implement even one meaningful democratic reform before the 2023 elections the opposition will participate in the flawed elections giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Chamisa will participate in the 2023 elections just like the rest in the opposition, his recent promise “to stop the 2023 election if there are no reforms” is just another one of these MDC leaders’ theatrical nonsense.
    It is a crying shame that 40 years after independence, 2 500 years after the Greeks gave the world democracy, we in Zimbabwe are still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections. And so corrupt and murderous thugs like Perrence Shiri are going to their graves without ever facing justice.
    It is said the wheels of justice turn slowly but they turn! In the case of Zimbabwe, it is clear the wheel of justice fallen off a long time ago, Mugabe and his cronies saw to that!
    Poor Zimbabwe, for all its boasting as one of the most literate nation in Africa with the highest number of university graduate, PhD, Professors, etc. per capita; it does not have even a handful of citizens with the common sense to end the Zanu PF dictatorship even after 40 years! Poor, poor Zimbabwe!

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