“The New Dispensation came with the clear goal to improve the plight of the majority of our people, through an elaborate agenda to reform, restructure and rebuild, towards achievement of Vision 2030. Undoubtedly, my Administration has faced many hurdles and attacks since inauguration.
“These included the divisive politics of some opposition elements, the illegal economic sanctions, cyclones, droughts and more recently, the deadly Covid-19 pandemic,” said President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his State Of the Nation Address.
The real nightmare, the now 40 years long nightmare, is being told that economic prosperity is just round the corner; when one can see this is just a lie. Meanwhile the country is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss and one is totally helpless to do anything about it because those in power have their big boot on the nation’s neck, the people are powerless and utterly helpless.
Zanu PF has enjoyed absolute power for 40 years, the regime has always blamed everyone and everything else for the country’s problems but not the regime. It has always claimed to have all the answers and demanded of us to give it time to implement the solutions. After 40 years of chasing this mirage the people must now stand up and demand their meaningful say in the governance of the country. NOW and not in the distant future.
Zanu PF did not hold free, fair and credible elections in 2018 and this must be addressed now because if it is not address it will leave the door open for Zanu PF to rig the 2023 elections and thus perpetuate the regime’s tyrannical rule.
“We will defeat the attack on our economy. We make no apology for fixing our economy across the political, social and economic spectrum.
We will continue to strike a balance between peace and stability and protection of civil rights on the other hand,” continued Mnangagwa
Nonsense, you have failed to fix the economy and are denying the people the basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say on who governs the the country to silence them. Indeed, you are denying the people the basic right to a free and meaningful vote, the right to protest the country’s worsen economic meltdown, etc. precisely because you have failed to address the economic challenges. The the people silenced you can continue to loot the nation blind!
“"Seek ye first the political kingdom and all else shall be added onto you,” advised Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the man who led Ghana to independence.
The late Robert Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF cronies were inspired by Dr Nkrumah, at least in as much as they sought the political power for themselves. Mugabe saw to it that the ordinary Zimbabwean never even tasted any meaningful power.
Zanu PF made it abundantly clear that if the party lost the 1980 elections, the country’s first all race elections, the civil war would continue. And so the people were denied their first free vote as they had no choice but to vote to end the war. Once in power Zanu PF has sort to consolidate its grip on absolute power by undermining the country’s democratic institution and usurping the people’s political power, freedoms and basic rights.
Today, with the country’s economy in total economic meltdown if is clear we lost our political power back in 1980 and everything else has been taken away form us. And so if we are serious about ending corruption, reviving the economic, etc. we must first implement the democratic reforms and restore our right to a meaningful vote.
Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends focused on reviving the economy during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and forgot about implemented the democratic reforms. They were putting the cart before the horse and hence got nowhere as soon after the the GNU Zanu PF was back in power.
The opposition, Tajamuka and other human rights activists have been calling for street protests to demand an end to corruption, poverty, human rights abuse, etc. The number one demand has to been democratic reforms to restore all individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. For without meaningful political power everything else will be promised but never ever delivered.
Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections, just as the party has rigged elections since the 1980 elections. The regime has no mandate to govern, it is illegitimate and must step down.
What we want is democratic reforms leading to free and fair elections. Since Zanu PF will never implement the reforms, it has failed to do so in the past, the regime must step down to allowed others to do so.
“New Dispensation will improve people’s lives and deliver Vision 2030!” Well that is just a mirage and after 40 years of chasing one mirage after another it is insane to do so for one more day! It is an insult that our fundamental freedoms and rights should be bargained for an illusionary new dispensation vision 2030 mirage!
Mnangagwa keeps claiming that he is the "elected leader", when we all know that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections. This is what comes out of the MDC Alliance and all the other opposition opportunists' participation in the flawed and illegal elections. Like it or not the opposition's participation in the elections gave the process some credibility and thus the result some legitimacy.
ReplyDeleteWhat is more, these opposition sell-outs know their participation would give the process credibility as David Coltart admitted in his book.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” wrote Senator Coltart.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."
The greatest challenge we are facing as a nation is to make sure that the next elections are free, fair and credible and thus end the curse of the rigged elections. Zanu PF will never implement any reforms especially when they know the MDC Alliance and the rest will participate in the elections even if not even one reform sees the light of day.
Since the 2008 GNU, the greatest enemy of democratic change is not Zanu PF but the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders who have since sold-out on free and fair election. Chamisa talked of "stopping the 2023 elections if there are no reforms!" It is all nonsense, he and the rest will participate in the election just as they have done since the 2013 elections.
The people of Zimbabwe must wake-up to the political reality that MDC leaders are now running with the hare and hunting with the hound. People must stop supporting these sell-out opportunists!
There is nothing Zanu PF leaders will ever say they cannot do. The victory over the white regime has left the Zanu PF beaming with self-confidence one would be tempted to think they defeated gods, and not mere mortals, and so they must be more than mere mortals. Worse still, Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have placed themselves above the people and have denied them their freedoms and rights on the grounds that Zanu PF leaders know best.
ReplyDeleteOf course, we have gone full circle, we started with the fight to end white oppression only to replace it with black oppression as the liberators became the new oppressors! And we have spend the last 40 years fighting to end Zanu PF oppression.
We came very close to dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. It did not happen because Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC opportunists sold-out and failed to implement even one reform in five years. Not one!
Since 2013, Zanu PF and MDC are now cooperating; Zanu PF has retained all the dictatorial powers to rig elections and win the presidency and 2/3 majority and to give the process credibility and legitimacy MDC would participate in the elections and get the remaining 1/3 of the gravy train seats plus a cut of the Political Party Finance (Act) payout.
It is almost certain that Mnangagwa will change the constitution to create Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Cabinet posts complete with the ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances. He guaranteed a full field contesting the next elections without him implementing even one democratic reform necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
Unless we can break this new Zanu PF and opposition marriage of convenience Zimbabwe will never have free, fair and credible elections and thus end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance.