South African International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor says South Africa’s intervention in Zimbabwe can only happen at the request of the Government of Zimbabwe.
There is real very little point in talking endlessly about the hows, whens, whys, etc. of South Africa’s intervention in Zimbabwe until we have dealt with the question of what SA’s intervention can realistically achieve.
If we agree that the root cause of Zimbabwe’s seemingly never ending economic and political crisis is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs. 40 years and counting of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness have taken a heavy toll on the economy and the nation at large.
The solution to ending Zimbabwe’s crisis is self-evident - the country must implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Since this Zanu PF government, on its own or in a GNU, cannot be trusted to implement the democratic reforms; the 2008 to 2013 Zanu PF and MDC GNU failed to implement even one reform; Zanu PF must step down to allow the appointment of a body that will implement all the reforms.
It should be remember at this point that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections, just as the party has rigged other elections in the past. The regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake.
“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Observer Mission final report.
“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
The July 2018 elections were flawed and illegal and therefore failed to produce a legitimate result and government. This Zanu PF is illegitimate and must step down.
The question then arises; Can President Ramaphosa, SA, SADC and AU get Zanu PF to step dow?
The realistic answer to that question has to be a no. President Ramaphosa said the July 2018 elections “Went well!” and as far as Zanu PF is concerned that was a resounding endorsement of the election as free, fair and credible and of Zanu PF’s legitimacy. SADC and AU gave a more guarded endorsement. The bottom line is SA, SADC and AU cannot withdraw their legitimacy endorsement now!
Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections. Of course, it was very foolish of President Cyril Ramaphosa to blindly endorsed the rigged elections. But such are the realities we are having to deal with here.
The best solution SA, SADC and AU can impose on Zimbabwe is to ask Zanu PF to form a new GNU and, fingers crossed, hope the arrangement will implement some reforms, at least. After 40 years of appeasing Zanu PF and with the nation’s very survival now at stake; no one in his/her right mind would ever accept another time wasting gimmick.
The solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis is for Zanu PF to step down so the nation can appoint a body that will implement the democratic reforms. Since SA, SADC and AU cannot ask Zanu PF to step down they must ask the UN to step in.
If President Cyril Ramaphosa, SADC and AU had joined the EU, USA, the Commonwealth and many other nations and international organisation in condemning Zimbabwe’s rigged July 2018 elections then Zanu PF’s illegitimacy would have been settled there and then.
“We cannot impose ourselves. When we have openly sort out and openly gone out and said look we have a problem in this area. Could we talk. Only when you reach that level of openness and admission that you begin to address the challenges that confront you,” explained Minister Naledi Pandor.
Yeah right! Did Minister Naledi Pandor have an open and candid discussion with President Cyril Ramaphosa before or after the latter so foolishly endorsed the rigged July 2018 Zimbabwe elections?
Indeed, Minister Pandor and President Ramaphosa must now take a generous doze of the advice they are giving and admit endorsing Zanu PF’s rigged elections was a very foolish and is at the very heart of the crisis in Zimbabwe.
The UN is the one organisation best placed to help end this crisis. President Ramaphosa, as the neighbour of Zimbabwe and current chairman of AU, is best place to ask the UN to assist. The UN will not impose itself on SA, SADC and AU particularly given the “African solutions to African problems!” mentality in some quarters.
“We cannot impose ourselves!” SA imposed Zanu PF on Zimbabwe by endorsing the rigged elections. All we are now asking SA to do is admit the folly and ask the UN to assist; that is not asking for too much!
Party insiders told the Zimbabwe Independent in off-the-record briefings this week that vicious campaigning is currently underway in all 10 provinces ahead of the DCC elections set to be conducted over the next two months. The campaign is reportedly being held on factional lines, as bigwigs line up proxies for influential positions amid intense skulking and skulduggery.
ReplyDelete"There is commotion all over the country. People are burning the midnight oil plotting. The elections themselves are promising fireworks," a Zanu-PF politburo member said.
"There are widespread allegations of vote-buying and imposition of candidates by senior officials who want to assert control of the lower structures and it's getting messy.”
With all this “skulking and skulduggery”, as you so aptly called it; it is only the naive and gullible who will believe Zanu PF will ever implement any meaningful democratic reforms and reform itself out of power. If we are serious about the next elections being free, fair and credible then Zanu PF must step down to appoint the nation to appoint a body that will implement the reforms.
He added that no nation can survive with demonstrations.
ReplyDelete"No country, stressed the President, develops through mindless, violent demonstrations or some such acts of lawlessness. We should think of Production, Production, Production. Think of love harmony and unity.”
This is just the erratic rantings of a village idiot! These workers have been going on strike because their wages are not enough to pay for their most basic needs including food, transport and accommodation. There will be no work done if the work is hungry, cannot get to work, etc.
How ironic that Mnangagwa should be accusing the workers of “lawlessness” and argue them to “think of love, harmony and unity”? What could be more lawless than 40 years of blatantly rigging the elections, murder and tyrannical rule for the sole purpose of staying in power to loot. Where is the love, harmony and unity in that!!
Until something is done to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance, Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown will only get worse not better. There will be no nurses and doctors in our hospitals because they are not being paid enough to meet their basic needs. The notion that they will continue working in an empty stomach, with no transport, etc. is both foolish and childish and must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves!
In a wide-ranging interview, the US Agency for International Development (USAid)'s new country director for Zimbabwe Art Brown said the sanctions will remain if there is no reform to the human rights deficit in the country.
ReplyDelete"The absence of progress on the most fundamental reforms needed to ensure rule of law, democratic governance, and respect of constitutional rights leaves Zimbabweans vulnerable to ongoing repression and presents a continuing threat to peace and security in the region," Brown said.
"Unfortunately, at this juncture, Zimbabwean authorities have not yet made sufficient progress to merit the lifting of sanctions, but our commitment to the people of Zimbabwe is ever solid."
He said the US continues to call on the Zimbabwean government to fulfill its promises of upholding the rule of law, fighting corruption, respecting human rights, and fully implementing Zimbabwe's 2013 Constitution.
The American must serious consider turning the sanctions screw by widening the net to include the relatives of the Zanu PF ruling elite and many of the people like Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube who continue to work with the regime regardless of its reputation as a pariah state.
Many of Zimbabwe’s opposition politicians must also be including on the sanctions list for running with the hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds. As long as the opposition continue participating in these flawed and illegal elections and giving Zanu PF legitimacy, there will be no reform implemented.
According to intelligence sources and security officials inside the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), who spoke to this pubication in confidence this week, the South African presidency in Pretoria and some senior leadership elements from the African National Congress (ANC), are reportedly keen to see VP Chiwenga taking over power from Mnangagwa, albeit on a transitional political national scheme before the July 2023 presidential and parliamentary elections, in a bid to fix Harare’s political and economic woes.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF led by Chiwenga will not be any better or worse than that led by Mnangagwa and most important of all it will not implement the democratic reforms. Why SA or anyone for that matter would want to be involved in Zimbabwe's messy politics to no meaningful end would be foolish.
“If you don’t have anything to say, shut up!” is a simple lesson every responsible parent must teach their child from a young age. Sadly, it was clearly a lesson wasted on one Cyril Ramaphosa. He was supposed to condemn Zanu PF’s July 2018 elections or, at the very least, shut up. He endorsed the elections as having “gone well!”
ReplyDeleteBefore the July 2018 elections, the EU had said that it was going to take whatever position SADC took regarding the elections. Although SADC did not exactly give the election their resounding support they did not condemn the process either. The EU found the vote rigging so blatant they had no choice but to condemn the elections.
Why President Ramaphosa decided to praise the rigged elections beggars belief. Sadly, this was not the only time he said something that left one speechless, he has publicly called for the lifting of the sanctions blaming them for Zimbabwe’s economic problems. Everyone knows that corruption and mismanagement are the real causes and Zanu PF only blame sanctions as an excuse.
There is no denying that President Ramaphosa, SA, SADC and the AU’s ill-advised endorsement of Zimbabwe’s rigged elections gave Mnangagwa’s otherwise illegitimate regime a huge boost. One can only hope that President Ramaphosa is not going to compound the situation by imposing continued Zanu PF rule on Zimbabwe.
“But that can only happen when the Govt of Zimbabwe openly says to SA we do think we should have a conversation about development. We cannot impose ourselves on anyone, and when I say that there are many commentators who believe I am running away from a direct intervention but when we have sought help, we have openly gone out and said, look we have a problem in this area, could we talk to country X or organisation B and look at how we resolve our problems, only when you reach that level of openness and admission that you begin to address challenges that confront you.” said Minister Pandor.
ReplyDeleteThe root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is one of bad governance. Zimbabwe has never held free, fair and credible elections and so the nation has been stuck with the same corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime for 40 years. The solution is for the country to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop the vote rigging.
Zanu PF is the one that has been rigging elections all these years and the party rigged the July 2018 elections too.
Are we to now assume that the ANC and Zanu PF have “reached that level of openness and admission” that Zanu PF is going to admit the party rigged the July 2018 elections and that it is the problem. And whilst still at it, admit that the party cannot be trusted to implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the curse of rigged elections. So Zanu PF will step down to allow the country some other body that will implement the reforms. A very tall order!
Just remember Minister Pandor and President Ramaphosa that Zimbabweans are seeking a solution to the crisis and not another gimmick and that time is of the essence!
@ Dereck Ndlovu
ReplyDeleteThe best you will ever get from Zanu PF is admission there are problems followed by a claim the party has all the solutions. What Zanu PF will never admit to is that the party itself is the number 1 problem muchless admit the solution is for the party to step down.
Zanu PF must admit it rigged the July 2018 elections, it has no mandate to govern and must step down. Period!
@ Frank Mupasi
ReplyDelete“Only Zimbabweans will save Zimbabwe no outsider will do , only us only us.”
This is typical of the “African solution to African problems” mentality that has dragged many African nations deeper into trouble.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis of 40 years of rigged elections that has left the country stuck with an incompetent, corrupt and murderous dictatorship complete with a whole coterie of equally corrupt and incompetent opposition parties, all 130 of them at the last count. This is not a uniquely Zimbabwean problem; history is awash with Banana Republic, pariah states, brain dead tyrants, etc.
The solution to end Zimbabwe’s crisis is for the country to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections. The challenge is how to get this job done and we must accept help from whatever quarter and stop this nonsense of “only Zimbabweans will save Zimbabwe no outsider will do” especially when we have clearly failed to do so all these last 40 years!
The root cause of the crisis in Zimbabwe is the country's failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. Mnangagwa rigged the July 2018 elections and for him to admit there is a crisis he will be admitting he rigged the July 2018 elections - he will never do that! It therefore comes as no surprise he is adamant there is no crisis in Zimbabwe!
ReplyDeleteThe root cause of the crisis in Zimbabwe is the country's failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. Mnangagwa rigged the July 2018 elections and for him to admit there is a crisis he will be admitting he rigged the July 2018 elections - he will never do that! It therefore comes as no surprise he is adamant there is no crisis in Zimbabwe!
ReplyDeleteThe solution to end the crisis is for Zanu PF to step down to allow the implementation of the reforms. Mnangagwa knows that and this is something he is determined to resist. He and his Zanu PF cronies have a lot to lose beside just losing power!
Zanu PF has held the nation to ransom for 40 years, dragging us to the very edge of the abyss, and, if we let them, they will take us all over the edge. The demand for Zanu PF to step down must be loud, clear and uncompromising. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies must be told in no uncertain terms that they are holding the nation to ransom and this cannot be permit to continue!
MDC failed to implement even one reform when they had the golden opportunity to do so. The biggest mistake in Zimbabwe is that the people themselves have yet to wake-up to the political reality that MDC are the rest of our opportunists in the opposition are now working for Zanu PF to maintain the status quo.
ReplyDeleteChamisa and company participated in the 2018 elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections. "MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections," he said.
Chamisa and company are just paying lip service to the demands for reform; they will participate in the 2023 elections with not even one reform in place. Zanu PF knows that and hence the reason Mnangagwa insist there is no crisis!!!
The worst thing President Ramaphosa ever did was to endorse Zimbabwe's rigged elections as having "gone well". Needless to say that was sweet music in Mnangagwa's ears. SA went on to hold free, fair and credible elections the following year, showing Ramaphosa knew what constitute free and fair elections but was willing to lower the bar in judging Zimbabwe's elections. He was foolishly sweep the carpet from under the feet of those in Zimbabwe and outside fighting for free and fair elections. And he cannot expect anyone with a half brain to forgive and forget that kind of idiotic hypocrisy!
ReplyDeletePresident Ramaphosa called on the international community to support the rollout of a comprehensive stimulus package for African countries.
ReplyDelete"This will enable African countries to not only mitigate the health impacts of Covid-19 but to aid us in the immense task of rebuilding our shattered economies.
"To ensure that no country is left behind, we reiterate our position as the African Union that economic sanctions against Zimbabwe and Sudan should be lifted to allow their governments to respond adequately to the pandemic," he said.
The sanctions against Zimbabwe have been in existence for the past two decades following the historic land reform process embarked upon at the turn of the millennium.