"We have an opposition that asked for sanctions, an opposition which has been cohabiting with countries that seek to undermine our development trajectory,” said Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF acting spokesperson and former Minister of Finance.
"I would want a categoric statement from Mwonzora on sanctions to say he was mistaken and he must apologise to the Zimbabwean people for causing pain, something that has affected our development.”
Chinamasa was responding to the recent statement by the new MDC-T President, Douglas Mwonzora, calling for the lifting of the targeted sanctions imposed of Zanu PF leaders by the USA, UK and their western allies.
The sheer hypocrisy of Zimbabwe’s ruling elite reminds me of what Chinua Achebe said about the privileged.
“Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity,” said Chinua Achebe, without doubt one of Africa’s priceless jewels.
Patrick Chinamasa and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite’s layer of adipose tissue is so thick and hardened they are devoid of all sensitivity.
Oh, Chinamasa and his Zanu PF colleagues will claim that they are sensitive to the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans now living in abject poverty because of the country’s economic meltdown. They lack of sensitivity is subtle; they blame the economic meltdown on the sanctions imposed on the regime by the west knowing fully well that is a lie!
The real cause of the country’s economic meltdown is the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. In a healthy and functioning democratic country, the people would have booted the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime out of office a long time ago. Zimbabweans are stuck with the corrupt regime because Mnangagwa and company rig elections.
And so if Zanu PF ruling elite were being honest and sensitive to the suffering of millions of ordinary Zimbabweans now living in extreme poverty; i.e. they cannot afford one decent meal a day let alone education for their children and health care; they too would be demanding free, fair and credible elections as the only way to end the corruption and misrule endemic in the de facto one-party dictatorship.
The anti-sanction band wagon is full of hypocrites! Consider the following:
- Turn back the clock to the period before Zimbabwe’s independence and most blacks including Zanu PF leaders supported the UN sanctions imposed on Rhodesia’s white racist regime of Ian Smith. The sanctions were to pressure the regime to dismantle the racist political system.
Sanctions, targeted or not, will disrupt the country’s economic activities and so many more people will suffer. The whites made a big song and dance about how much the black majority were suffering because of the sanctions.
The black majority accepted the economic hardship brought about by the UN sanctions knowing fully well that these hardships were nothing compared to those brought on by the white racist oppression and exploitation.
- The majority of Zimbabweans in independent have been denied their freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life. The west impose sanctions on the Zanu PF regime to pressure it to restore the individual freedoms and rights.
Zanu PF has vehemently maintained that the country’s elections have always been free, fair and credible. SADC and AU refused to endorse the 2008 elections as having been free and fair and Zanu PF was forced to go into a GNU which was tasked to implement a raft of reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections.
Sadly, not even one reform was implemented and hence the need to retain the sanctions on the regime.
If the UN sanctions against the white ruled Rhodesia were justified; then sanctions are equally justified against this corrupt and equally oppressive Zanu PF government!
- The UN sanctions were more austere than the targeted western sanctions, Mugabe confirmed this with his “look East” policy, and therefore it is rich to attribute Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering it has brought to the western sanctions.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. In 2016 Mugabe revealed just how rampant corruption was when he admitted the country was being swindled US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone. Mugabe never arrested even one diamond swindler or recover one swindled dollar.
Mnangagwa promised to root out corruption after seizing power in the November 2017 military coup. Three years since the coup and he too is yet to arrest one diamond swindler or recover one swindled dollar. Indeed the blueprint used in the looting of diamonds have now been extended to other areas.
It is corruption that has bankrolled Mugabe’s sprawling US$ 2 billion mansion and his extravagant lifestyle and that of his fellow Zanu PF cronies. And, naturally, Zanu PF will never acknowledge corruption is the root cause of the economic meltdown because they are the Godfathers of corruption and don’t want it stamp out.
As long as Zanu PF remains in power corruption and mismanagement will remain. The only sure way to end corruption and mismanagement is by implementing the democratic reforms, end the curse of rigged elections and hold free, fair and credible elections.
The western imposed sanctions have been one way of put Zanu PF under pressure to implement the reforms.
The best opportunity to implement the reforms was during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. MDC leaders sold-out and failed to implement even one token reform in 5 years. Douglas Mwonzora was one of MDC- T MPs and senior members involved in sell-out.
It is ironic that the people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will deliver the democratic changes, as the party name implied, the nation was dying for. MDC leaders have not only failed to deliver even one democratic change in all their 20 years on the political stage; but worse still, they are now campaigning to have all other measures to force Zanu PF to implement reforms removed.
“Mwonzora must apologise for sanctions imposed on Zanu PF by the West!” MDC leaders have done a lot more than that by making sure no reforms are implemented and by participating in flawed and illegal elections thus giving the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy!
The moral of this tragic tale is that Zimbabwean must take the business of electing competent leaders with the seriousness the matter demands and that starts with the understand the issues of the day. For example, the only sure way to get the democratic reforms implemented fully is if we, the people, know what these reforms are!
Democracy and good governance are all wonderful and beautiful but they come with a price tag - a well informed and diligent electorate. It is now time for the people of Zimbabwe to stand up and be masters of their own destiny!
"We have an opposition that asked for sanctions, an opposition which has been co-habiting with countries that seek to undermine our development trajectory"
ReplyDeleteThis is nonsense! Corruption and mismanagement are the root causes of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, not sanctions. Zanu PF is using sanctions as an smoke screen to hide the real causes so the party does not have to deal with them. This is not helping solve the economic crisis; it makes it worse!
The Zanu PF ruling elite are not suffering the consequences of the worsening economic meltdown and hence the reason they are happy to continue with charade of pretend sanctions are the problem. The ordinary people are suffering and are desperate for soultions to the real problems.
The only way we are ever going to force Zanu PF to stop playing games is by implementing the reforms and make sure the elections are free, fair and credible.
After 40 years of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, the political system is now well established dismantling it will not be easy. The only people who can dismantle it are those in positions of power and authority and since the system benefit those in power and authority it is no surprise they are the one fighting to retain the dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteThe ruling elite fight each other like wild cats for who gets what. But they are like baboons, nothing will unit them more than the threat of someone else muscling in to join the club particularly if the upstart’s agenda is to dismantle the system.
Douglas Mwonzora and his fellow MDC leaders got into power on the understanding that they will implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship.
Mugabe must have figured out long before he even signed the Global Political Agreement that he would have no problem bribing the MDC leaders so they forget about implementing the reforms. After all Mugabe had done the same thing with his own Zanu PF cronies and they forgot about the revolutionary values and ideals and even committed mass murder to help establish the dictatorship. He was right, MDC leaders forgot about the reforms for five years!
Chinua Achebe is right, power and privilege has blinded the ruling elite to the suffering of the ordinary people so much so that the ruling elite in Zimbabwe, on both sides of the political divide, are now united in blaming sanctions for the country ills just to protect the dictatorship, the real cause of all our problems, suffering and deaths!
@ Njanike
ReplyDelete“I suggest that instead of always calling on the removal of the sanctions, those who say they are targeted as such should go to the embassies of the countries that sanctioned them and dialogue till they agree, day in day out,24/7!”
This is about piling the pressure on this Zanu PF dictatorship to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections and even the right to life. To therefore handle the sanctions as a separate issue outside the context of ending the dictatorship is to completely miss the point.
It if for every Zimbabwean out there to dialogue with this Zanu PF regime and demand real change. 50% of the population are living in extreme poverty, basic services like education and health care have all but collapse, etc.; the writing is on the wall that the country is in serious trouble. It will it take for Zimbabweans to finally open their eyes, see the seriousness of the situation and to do something about it!
If you think the Zanu PF dictatorship will go away much less that Mnangagwa and his privileged ruling elite will dismantle it; then you are brain dead!
@ Macho
ReplyDelete“Corruption is everywhere and sanctions are not.....now as a Zimbabwean Nomsa u can't favour one side..........we zims don't need neither corruption nor sanctions period......u can't stand there tall saying sanctions got no effect….Nonsense.”
The thrust of the article was that the privileged who are behind the corruption, the Godfathers of corruption, and the beneficiaries of corruption are blaming sanctions for all the nation’s ills just to draw attention away from the real cause - corruption and themselves.
By accepting sanctions and corruption as two evils you are falling into the trap the ruling elite set for you. They will want you to focus on sanctions and nothing else.
Besides, why are you obsessed about forcing the EU, the Americans, etc. to lift the sanctions and yet cannot force your own government to end the wholesale looting of diamonds and other resources. Why are you obsessed about things you are powerless to change and ignore those you can change?
When Mugabe admitted that Zimbabwe was being swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue there was dead silence in Zanu PF HQ and from all the usual Zanu PF apologists. The accepted Zanu PF narrative was there was no corruption in Zimbabwe, at least nothing serious to worry about. And so Mugabe's admission was bomb shell to the regime's propaganda and misinformation juggernaut - no one dared to contradict Mugabe and yet no one could spin a lie to dismiss the US$ 15 billion as nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe best the regime had ever said about sanctions was that it was costing the nation a few tens of million dollars; a drop in the ocean compare to the US$ 15 billion!
When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe he thought he would revive the Zimbabwe economy with his "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion call! When he failed to deliver on his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections no one was left in any doubt that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state or be it under new management. No investors wanted to do any business with a pariah state and so his "Zimbabwe is open for business!" was dead in the water.
Mnangagwa scramble for a scapegoat to blame for his failure to revive the economy and so revive the old lie of sanctions. He was aware many people still remember Mugabe's claim the country was swindled US$15 billion and since no swindler had ever been arrested it was clear the looting was still going on. Mnangagwa has has to rely on the old and tested propaganda tactic of repeating the lie over and over again in the hope many will accept it as fact.
Sadly for Mnangagwa no one of substance has accepted sanctions as the root cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. SADC leaders have done so and so has the corrupt and incompetent MDC-T but as we know the West has ignored they calls for sanctions to be lifted with the contempt it rightly deserves!
Sanctions must remain in place and, if anything, extended to include the sell-out opposition leaders!
In a healthy and functioning democracy regimes get voted out of office all the time. Ever since Zimbabwe's independence the country has by Zanu PF and only change Mugabe after 37 years and a military coup! The British people have had 8 Prime Ministers in the same period. It is therefore laughable that Chinamasa should be the one worrying about "regime change!"
ReplyDeleteThe biggest mistake USAID and the Zimbabwe people have made is failing to be diligent in their selection of the opposition to deliver democratic change. MDC leaders are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent!
@ Israeli
ReplyDelete“Wiribert can you in the meantime go and help master Uncle Sam at the Capitol Hill because his house is burning. Also while you are there can you please condemn the violence by the American government against its own citizens - four citizens are dead. Surely people should not be dying at the hands of the government in a Democracy.”
You got the wrong end of the stick my friend Capitol Hill is not burning and America’s democracy is very much alive and, if anything, reinvigorated. Trump thought he could unravel America’s democratic institutions and has since learned that it will take a lot more than him and a few village idiots to reverse the people’s vote.
As much as being President of United States of America bestows on one enormous political power, in a healthy and functioning democracy no one is above the law, not even the President. President Trump thought he is above the law; he wanted to remain President and so tried to overrule the democratic wishes of the people and trying to stop congress confirming Joe Biden’s victory was his last desperate attempt to remain in the White House.
He declared the confirmation by a few hours and that was all. He has since learned that he is not above the law of the land. And come 20 th January, Trump will be out of the White House or will be booted out!
@ Iphithule Maphosa Spokesperson
ReplyDeletezapuinformation@gmail.com
A genuine reform agenda could have saved Zimbabweans
In actual fact, the reform agenda dates back to the period the 2008/9 when the GNU was negotiated at the insistence of other participants to the negotiations who set that as a precondition for a unity government with a cornered ZANU PF at the time. The areas of reform included the security sector, the judiciary, governance, political and economic sectors, a number of rights and constitutional freedoms, to name but a few.
The nation, noting that those who were vocal in demanding a cross cutting reform agenda were opposition parties with a sizeable representation in parliament at that time, had so much hope that the fortunes of the country were headed for a positive transformation.
As the nation eventually celebrated the attainment of the GNU and as the beginning of the reform process was expected to take off, the agents of, representatives of and the advocates of the reform agenda in Zimbabwe pulled the biggest and greatest betrayal the country ever witnessed at the hands of opposition political parties.
The would be agents of change, turned out to be pseudo when they later used the GNU period to join the ZANU PF feeding frenzy, at times even embarrassingly outperforming Zanu PF as was evidenced by some indiscretions and excesses by the former Prime Minister, the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
It is gratifying that more and more Zimbabweans are coming out and openly state what the GNU was about and, more significantly, point the figure at the MDC leaders for betraying the nation by failing to implement even one reform.
As much as the MDC leaders and their blind-as-a-mole supporters will clinch to hear themselves described as “agents of change, turned out to be pseudo when they later used the GNU period to join the ZANU PF feeding frenzy”. It is nonetheless a historic fact and we must learn to deal and respect historic facts!
It is a great pity that not many Zimbabweans admitted MDC sold-out at the time and spoke out - that could have forced the village idiots to get off their backsides and implement the reforms.
Still by admitted MDC leaders sold out, late as it is, will show the world that Zimbabweans are now to deal with the nation’s problems - the number one problem being the corrupt and incompetent leaders on both sides of the political divide. The world has competent Zimbabweans to work with.