It was Albert Einstein, one of the world’s greatest intellectuals and physicist, who said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result!”
Cursed is the nation that should ever find itself with the insane in positions of power and authority; forever coerced to do the same things over and over again expecting different results. Zimbabwe is one such cursed nation!
”The pandemic has been indiscriminate in its grim harvest. Zimbabweans from all walks of life, all stations, all tribes, all races and religions have succumbed to it," said President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
"Today we are united in grief and facing this. There are no spectators, adjudicators, no holier than thou nor supermen or superwomen. We are all exposed and we are all potential victims. We are all affected one way or the other. We must stand together arm in arm holding each and one another like a united people.”
There we go again! Every time the nation has faced any problem the leaders have blamed it on the lack of unity. If we are united all our problems will disappear. Unity has been the panacea to all Zimbabwe’s problems.
The Gukurahundi massacre that left over 20 000 innocent civilians murdered in cold blood was blamed on lack of unity. And so the signing of the Zanu PF and PF Zapu Unity Accord on 22 December 1987 was heralded as great and sacred day marking the uniting of all Zimbabweans.
Indeed, 22 December 1987 is considered so sacred it has since been consecrated and declared a national holiday!
Here is the nub; Zimbabweans have been told that unity is the panacea of all the nation’s problems, they had unity rammed their throats, literally, back in 1987 and yet our problems have never gone away. Indeed, our problems have multiplied in quantity and complexity as the nation sunk deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth we find ourselves in today.
Let me tell something Mr President, there are a hell lot more corona virus cases and deaths in Zimbabwe than the official figures of 30 000 and 979 respectively. And the corona virus infections are soaring because of the blundering incompetence of this government in the handling of the pandemic.
Zanu PF has been boasted about the country’s very low official corona virus figures, taking them as proof of the regime containing the pandemic. This was a deliberate lie; official figures are based on tested and confirmed cases but keeping the figure low by not testing is dishonest and foolish.
Ever since the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic, nearly a year ago, Zimbabwe has consistently failed to test, trace, track and isolate as per WHO recommendation and as common sense would dictate. Whilst SA was carrying out over 44 000 corona virus tests per day in December 2020, Zimbabwe with 1/4 SA’s population should have been doing 11 000 tests per day. We were doing 1 500 tests per day!
The price of carrying out few tests is that many infected people who, identified would go into isolation, are instead left in the community spreading the virus far and wide and fast.
Zimbabwe was always going to have some of the highest corona virus cases and deaths figures in the region because at the outbreak of the pandemic the country’s economy was already in total meltdown and its health care service was in tatters.
The 1987 Unity Accord was supposed to bring national unity, the panacea to all our national problems, and we were supposed to live happily ever after. What had actually happen was that Zanu PF was able to impose the de facto one-party dictatorship, under the pretext of unity. Zanu PF has then used the dictatorial powers to silence dissent, stifle debate and to stamp out all democratic competition and accountability.
40 years of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness have turned a promising economy into ruins. Each time people have tried to voice their concern with the way the nation’s affairs were being run; the party accused them of undermining the country’s unity and ruthlessly silenced them.This madness must now end!
Asking people to “stand together arm in arm holding each and one another like a united people” is not going to make the corona virus go away! What the country needs is competent leaders to make sound decisions and make good use of the nation’s human and material resources. And for that we need to restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections - the prerequisite of good governance!
Zimbabwe has not been testing even those with corona virus symptoms and hence the reason the official corona virus cases and deaths have remain low! By failing to test the country also failed to remove many infected people for isolation these have remained in society spreading the virus far and wide.
ReplyDeleteJust because the regime has reported the bigwigs who died of covid-19 there is a temptation to think that they are the only ones dying of the virus. There are a hell lot more ordinary people dying of the virus, the regime is just good at ignoring povo's suffering and deaths!
"President Emmerson Mnangagwa, his ministers and their cronies are marooned locally, they can't go to South Africa, Singapore and China, but they have destroyed hospitals; now facing the consequences. They should have invested in health, but they didn't, hence people are dying,” said Tendai Biti.
ReplyDelete"Some of these fatalities would have been avoided if we had a functioning healthcare system, hospitals, doctors, nurses, drugs and equipment. We don't have all the basics; the system is a shell. That's why people are dying like this. We could have partly avoided this situation."
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday addressed the nation in panic after recent heightened deaths, including high profile ones, rallying people to be united in the fight against the spreading Covid-19 pandemic, which he said will be defeated.
Tendai Biti has a forked tongue of a hypocrite! As Minister of Finance in the GNU he was aware of the criminal waste of resource by government and he never lifted a finger. He is the one who paid all Mugabe’s many overseas trips for health checks. In 2012 Mugabe made no fewer than 8 trip to Singapore @ US$ 3 million!
In July 2012 Tendai Biti gave a long interview in The Sunday Mail in which he described Mugabe as “unflappable, the fountain of wisdom, the father of the nation, etc., etc.” Where is the wisdom in squandering US$ 24 million on having his eyes checked when the country’s hospitals were so starved of funds even the big referral hospitals were running out of pain killers and clean running water!
MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; all they had to do was to implement the democratic reforms. They failed to get even one token reform implemented.
Of course, Tendai Biti and company are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent and Zimbabweans will be very foolish indeed to ever elect this lot into public office!
Dr Tim Rainhard has studied the work of some of the international financial institutions in developing countries. He is an economist with extensive knowledge on Africa's financial systems. He can be contacted at timrainhard97@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteIn September 2019, Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, appointed a nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to influence the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s monetary policy. Crucially, the MPC's wide-sweeping responsibilities extend to setting limits on the Bank's open market operations, ensuring price stability, and determining interest rates.
Chaired by Central Bank Governor, Dr John Mangudya, the Committee has done exceptionally well - by all accounts - in discharging its functions in spite of the well-documented difficult socio-economic environment under which it operates. The price stability that set-in after the foreign currency auction trading system was introduced in June last year is one of the MPC's many achievements that are difficult not to acknowledge even amongst some of the RBZ's harshest critics. The same goes for the positive sentiment that has been restored after eluding the domestic economy since June 2013, when an uneasy coalition government between Zanu PF and the MDC ended.
On a few occasions, the MPC has, however, been found wanting. The irony of it is that in those few cases, Mr Eddie Cross would have wittingly or unwittingly put his foot in the mouth, forcing the entire RBZ machinery to do some damage control. Unlike your typical, conservative banker, the chatty economist enjoys the limelight that comes with being a member of the MPC. He, however, gets excitable easily, especially in front of the cameras. He is thus prone to prematurely letting the cat out of the bag and deodorizing facts when he is in front of his audience.
Mr Cross can still make himself relevant by sticking to his active participation in the MPC's affairs while avoiding making public statements on the Committee's deliberations because that is outside his competences.
The sages say silence cannot be misquoted. For the sake of stability in our markets, Mr Cross must hold his peace!”
Mr Eddie Cross is certainly a man used to the gymnastic contortion, seeing him with his foot in his mouth is the norm!
The worst thing that Mr Cross and his fellow MDC friends have ever done was to waste the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one reform.
The way Eddie Cross keeps wittering about MDC’s great economic achievements during the GNU shows he has no clue what the GNU was really about.
USA ambassador to Zimbabwe, 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell said Morgan Tsvangirai was “flawed and indecisive character”. If he had the chance to meet the rest of the MDC leaders, ambassador Dell would have said the same and worse of all MDC leaders.
Their failure to implement even one reform in 5 years of the GNU proved beyond all doubt that MDC leaders are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. And that is infinitely worse than the dirty habit of having one’s foot in their mouth!
@ Mwembe
ReplyDeleteYou would have got 100% if you had only left out the bit about "it took us 3 months to see really change in a new govt of mdc and zanu in 2009" because you must explain why after the initial surge in economic recovery the economy started to slow down.
The initial economic recovery surge was result of such things as the scrapping of the Z$ and the ending of price controls. The GNU failed to implement the democratic reforms and thus address the underlying political challenges which is why the economic recovery stalled.
There was no meaningful increased production and industrial revival throughout the GNU years and thereafter to this day.
As I said, you should have just talked about Eddie Cross’s praising this Mnangagwa regime but you do get carried away and very often up with your foot in your big mouth, just like Eddie Cross!
If you cannot dazzle with brilliance baffle them with bull s**t! Zimbabwe has certainly got some of people full of nothing but bull.
ReplyDeleteMwonzora been hopping with enthusiasm and excitement, desperate for attention and limelight, ever since his election as the new MDC-T leader. He has been calling for a national political dialogue. This is an idea that has been proposed and turned over again and again but got nowhere as long as it entails Zanu PF remaining in power because Zanu PF is the problem.
Mnangagwa came up with his POLAD in which he is the principal player and it took off like a lead balloon!
“Mwonzora said the MDC-T national standing committee had restated the need for dialogue and that the dialogue must be centred on an all-inclusive approach that improves the lives of the Zimbabwean people,” reported Daily News.
Well that is just a mouthful of bull s****t!
If I was the owner of Daily News, I would have the Editor fired for failing to ask the obvious question: “What the hell does all-inclusive approach mean and how the hell does that improve the lives of the people?”
The poor quality of our journalists has certainly helped some of our corrupt and incompetent leaders get away with murder!
"We must stand together arm in arm holding each and one another like a united people," said Mnangagwa. The menacing threats in that command was clear as the bell. And the social media ruckus demanding accountability over the soaring corona virus cases and deaths died away immediately.
ReplyDeleteStill, it must be said we are in this economic and political mess because we have allowed Zanu PF to ride roughshod over us for 40 years and counting; destroying the economic and with it our own lives. The corona virus cases and deaths will continue to soar.
We have yet to learn that cowing to Zanu PF intimidation has not spared us suffering or death. Decades of Zanu PF misrule has meant Zimbabwe was ill prepared to deal with the corona virus pandemic and thus many, many more people will be infected and many will die!
Nations get the government they deserve and we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of equally corrupt and useless opposition parties.
GOVERNMENT has condemned a coterie of Western embassies, which have gone on a co-ordinated and biased social media attack on Zimbabwe over the January 2019 violent protests that rocked the country's major cities and towns
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic that Zanu PF and its apologists want events that happened 2 years ago swept under the carpet and forgotten and yet the regime never tire of reminding the nation of their heroism of over 40 years ago during the war of liberation!
Zimbabwe is a nation ruled by fear and the events of January 2019 are a constant reminder of that reality affecting our lives today and into the future. Only fools would want to sweep this reality under the carpet and suffer the consequences of that folly!
Zanu-PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda says the Covid-19 pandemic would not destroy the ruling party as yearned for by its detractors but will emerge stronger.
ReplyDeleteThis comes after the virus claimed the lives of senior Zanu-PF and government officials.
Matemadanda said while coronavirus had robbed Zanu-PF and the government of dedicated cadres, the party would soldier on. He said it was delusional for some to think that Covid-19 is killing Zanu-PF people only.
Corona virus is killing more povo than it is killing Zanu PF chefs, that goes without saying. The former live in crowded homes with no clean running water, no food, no medicine, etc. The Chefs live in their five star mansions with all they ever need!
Zanu PF leaders would only have something to fear if the people had any democratic power and could vote them out of office. Zanu PF rigs elections and so has nothing too fear on that score!
At a time the Covid-19 death rate is spiraling out of control and other countries are scrambling for a limited supply of vaccines, Zimbabwe is taking its sweet time in deciding the vaccine it can acquire for citizens.
ReplyDeleteIn the meanwhile, the government is negotiating with the Chinese for the Sinovac vaccine, but has been slow to complete the required registration process.
President Mnangagwa's government is also yet to formally request the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the Covax vaccine scheme, exposing the government's lack of leadership in fighting the deadly pandemic.
According to well-placed sources, Zimbabwe has been moving at snail's pace in its registration for Sinovac. The sources said the country's ability to access the vaccine would depend on the efficiency of the Zimbabwean government.
Zimbabwe is yet to complete the registration process for the Chinese vaccine as lethargy continues to blight the official Covid-19 response at a time the country is battling a deadly second wave.
Zimbabwe is racing against time to secure Covid vaccines, at a time neighbouring South Africa has already bought 1.5 million doses from the Serum Institute of India while other vaccine rollout programmes in southern Africa have gathered pace.
Contrary to a recent report in a local weekly a fortnight ago which claimed that the country would begin a Covax vaccine rollout programme starting next month, the government has no plausible vaccine plan.
Ask anyone in Zimbabwe familiar with what is going on and they will tell you Zimbabwe is still not testing for corona virus even those who turn up at the major hospitals, forget the small hospitals, with corona virus symptoms.
There are 326 new cases and 70 deaths taking the total to 31 646 cases and 1075 deaths; we are told. These are the official figures, the real figures are much higher.
By failing to test we are failing to send off people into isolation who then remain in society spreading the virus! How many times have people said this and still the regime does not listen - this is what comes out a regime that knows it is not accountable to anyone!
@ Mugocha
ReplyDelete"Nations get the government they deserve and we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of equally corrupt and useless opposition parties.' This is true!
But corona is a different story altogether. It knows no political, economic or social boundaries. The rich and the poor are the same in the eyes of corona. Where there is no corrupt ZanuPF and all the useless MDCs, put together, people are being infected and dying."
If you are talking in absolute terms, of course the rich and poor are the same in the eyes of corona virus. If you are poor and have to go out every day to earn a living, to fetch water, buy food, etc. and live in crowded home with no clean running water, etc. The probability of you being seen by corona virus is very high. If you are rich and live in your 5 star mansions with everything you want and therefore very, very rarely venture outside your door; the probability of corona virus seeing you are very, very small indeed.
If 1 out of 1 000 rich people have corona virus compared to 200 or more out of 1 000 poor have corona virus; it is nonetheless correct to say both the rich and poor will get corona virus but foolish to do so, especially for the purposes of public policy and debate.