“POLAD’s biggest achievement is its mere existence as a platform where political leaders and parties from different backgrounds and persuasions are able to exchange ideas on how best to move the country forward. Political tolerance has already been born, it is now growing. It’s irreversible fruits will be felt with time,” Professor Lovemore Madhuku, one opposition leaders who joined Mnangagwa’s POLAD.
We must be clear where we are as a nation and then what we need to do to “move the country forward”.
Zimbabwe is in economic ruins; the economy has collapsed sending unemployment soaring to 90% plus, basic public services such as education and health care are barely functioning and 49% of the population is now living in extreme poverty. The economic situation is causing heartbreaking human suffering and it is socially and politically unsustainable.
Zimbabwe is facing the most serious existential threat in the nation’s history. The threat of the nation being thrown into social unrest and chaos comparable to what is happening in Libya or Syria is real and urgent.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s dramatic economic meltdown is the four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness earning the nation the pariah state status. And as long as the nation remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to extend their stay in office; there will be no meaningful economic recovery.
The A1 objective of the 2023 elections is to end the curse of rigged elections, pariah state and bad governance. And thus revive the economy, end the tragic human suffering and avert the pending social unrest.
Therefore anything that is helping to end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state will move the country forward. POLAD, by its nature and composition, is to justify the status quo and not to dismantle it.
Mnangagwa made it crystal clear, the number condition for joining POLAD was the acceptance of the July 2018 elections as having been free, fair and credible and of Mnangagwa and Zanu PF as the legitimate president and government. How anyone could ever accept Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections as free and fair, beggars belief.
It comes as no surprise therefore that POLAD has not demanded, much less implemented, any meaningful democratic reforms to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible. Madhuku and his fellow opposition politicians in POLAD and those like Chamisa and his MDC A who refused to join POLAD are all going to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place. How that can ever be considered moving the nation forward is nonsensical.
We need free, fair and credible election process to get good and competent leaders. Corrupt and incompetent leaders would want flawed and illegal election process in which they invariably emerge as the winners. There is no disputing the fact that Zimbabwe’s elections are flawed and illegal.
“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards,” stated the EU Observer Mission final report.
ZEC has repeatedly failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’s roll, a legal and common sense requirement; for Pete’s sake!
The only rational reason why Zimbabwe’s opposition politicians have participated in the country’s flawed and illegal elections is greed. David Coltart, MDC A Treasurer General, admitted his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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 (2013) elections,” wrote 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.”
Four of the main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties did form a coalition, the MDC A, just before the 2018 elections and yet they still went on to participate in the elections for the same reason as in 2013 - greed.
It should be noted that the opposition politicians knew that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections they were “giving the process credibility” and, by extension, giving the results legitimacy.
“To be sure, because of POLAD, the political environment under which the 2023 general elections will be held will be the best since independence in 1980,” continued Professor Madhuku.
It is no secret that Zanu PF will tone down its fiery rhetoric and restrain its violent operatives as long as the party is assured of electoral victory.
Indeed Zimbabwe is in this precarious economic and political situation of economic ruins, tragic human suffering and threatening social instability precisely because the nation has sort to appease Zanu PF’s insatiable greed for political power, wealth and influence.
Surely 2023 general elections must be about free, fair and credible elections and good governance and not about yet another rigged elections just to appease Zanu PF. It is not the survival of Zanu PF that is at issue here but the survival of Zimbabwe.
If you asked me what will constitute the “the best” elections political environment since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980? My answer will be the elections must be free, fair and credible. And to be absolutely certain the 2023 are free, fair and credible we must implement all the democratic reforms including producing a verified voters’ roll; giving these in the diaspora the vote; reforming public institutions like Police, ZEC, Public media to ensure their independence; end the abuse of state resources and traditional leaders for selfish political gain and stamping out corruption and corrupting influence of wealth used to bankroll elections.
ReplyDeleteIt is no secret that Zanu PF has resisted implementing any reforms. Indeed, by accepting the July 2018 elections were free and fair POLAD members have endorsed Zanu PF’s position that there is no need of any political reforms.
Madhuku and all those who participated in the 2018 are all gearing to participate in the 2023 elections with not even a token reform in place. The only thing POLAD has achieved is to assure Mnangagwa that no reforms are necessary and so Zanu PF will be free to blatantly rig the elections.
We know from 2013 and 2018 elections that as long as Zanu PF is reasonable assured of rigging the elections to secure the presidency and 2/3 majority, the party will not resort to wanton violence. So 2023 would be “the best” since independence if the party is once again allowed to blatantly rig the elections.
What Madhuku and all those advocating to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms are saying is that we, the people, must once again accept as a matter of course not only that Zanu PF will once again rig the elections but, more significant, must say nothing about it so as not to provoke Zanu PF. If provoked, Zanu PF will use wanton violence!
Demanding free and fair elections is an act of political provocation as far as Mnangagwa is concerned and Madhuku agrees!
For 41 years we have appeased Zanu PF allowing the regime to rig elections and rid roughshod over us, denying us our freedoms and rights. Zanu PF misrule has dragged the nation to the very edge of the precipitous abyss. And now, with the help of the country’s opportunistic opposition politicians, Zanu PF is asking us to quietly and in an orderly fashion step over the edge. After all the party does not want to be accused of pushing the nation over the edge; we are to commit suicide.
Of course, to have allowed ourselves to be led by the nose all these 41 years to this calamitous end was insane. But only a nincompoop will be so foolish as to willingly take the last step into the abyss. If we are to fall over the edge it must be because we were pushed and hard. And we must face and fight those pushing us over the edge.
If demanding free, fair and credible elections is an act of political provocation then so be it, we provoke Zanu PF. We do not want the 2023 elections to be “the best” since independence because Zanu PF deployed the war veterans, the green bombers, the Police, Army and CIO to ruthlessly subdued us and we stood firm and prevailed.
@ Luke
ReplyDelete“Sunday April 18 was Independence Day a once-hallowed day that has since lost its glitz because the requisite freedoms associated with the occasion are glaringly absent in this cursed nation.
“Coming in the week that Zanu-PF had introduced Constitutional Amendment Bill No 2 which seeks to create an imperial President — the same week that the same analogue party sought to resurrect its terror troops popularly known as the Green Bombers — this year's Independence Day was a hollow occasion whose emptiness just rendered it utterly meaningless.”
All you are saying is true but it too has “lost its glitz” because MDC leaders are hypocrites; you are just as corrupt and incompetent as the Zanu PF leaders you are lampooning.
MDC leaders had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms and thus end the Zanu PF dictatorship. They sold out and failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years.
Ever since the GNU debacle, MDC leaders have participated in flawed and illegal elections because they were after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF was offering to entice them to participate. By participating MDC have given credibility to the flawed elections and legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.
It is nauseating to hear MDC leaders pontificating endlessly about Zanu PF corruption and tyranny when it is their blundering incompetence and downright betrayal of the nation that is keeping Zanu PF in power.
“The President”, a new documentary on MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa by Danish director Camilla Nielsson, has won the Best Feature Documentary in Brazil’s “Its True Film Festival”.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 2008 to 2013 GNU, MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which would have stopped Zanu PF rigging elections. MDC failed to implement even one reform.
SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the Global Political Agreement that gave birth to the GNU, begged MDC leaders not to participate in the 2013 elections without first implementing reforms. They pleas fell on deaf ears.
"MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging elections!" boasted Nelson Chamisa before the 2018 elections. He lacked the common sense to demand that ZEC should produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll!
These are all historic facts and proof of MDC leaders' sheer incompetence and utter uselessness and how they are now a mile stone round the nation's neck in its fight for free, fair and credible elections. The documentary film is only telling people what they want to hear and not what the NEED to hear - the truth!
“The cornerstone of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy will thus remain rooted in the concept of friend to all, enemy to none. However, even as we pursue friendships with all, we must never lose sight of our own strategic interests. To doggedly promote other countries’ interests without due regard to our own, would ultimately be at odds with the core tenets of our foreign policy objectives. We must therefore ensure that the strong alliances that we forge, work for the benefit of Zimbabwe’s national interests,” he said.
ReplyDeleteTurning to the diaspora, Ambassador Shava said Zimbabweans living in foreign lands can play a key role as they are representatives of the country in the countries where they reside.
“We should therefore redouble our efforts to engage them in the socio-economic development of the country. The ministry must aggressively pursue diaspora diplomacy so that the country fully benefits from this body of potentially cost-effective brand ambassadors.”
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants who rig elections to maintain their iron grip on power. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery - that is a fact!
The MDC Alliance members who attended the MDC-T Extra Ordinary Congress last year are under fire as pro-Chamisa members continue to call for their expulsion.
ReplyDeleteThe issue has been raised at almost all the Provincial Executive Committee meetings being held across the country.
MDC leaders have stumbled on the self-distract button and discovered that each time one pushed the button it gave a fellow MDC leaders of one's choosing a nasty electric shock. More and more leaders have secured their own self-distract buttons and they are now as common amongst the party members as a spear to a Masai warrior! MDC is imploding, everyone is an enemy and has a score to settle and now it has started there is no stopping it.
RULING Zanu-PF party officials in Gokwe North district have accused local police officers of leading an illegal mining syndicate and blocking locals and traditional leaders from mining following a gold rush in the area.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking during a Gokwe North district co-ordinating committee meeting on Monday, local legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena condemned the behaviour of the police officers.
Wadyajena, who is Gokwe-Nembudziya MP, said there were reports of elements within the police force engaging in illegal mining activities and harassing villagers.
"What is even worrying is that chiefs were also blocked by the police from investigating the matter," he said.
"Our people are not benefiting. We took up the issue of community share ownership schemes and the people led by the chiefs should benefit and that is what we want.”
Zimbabwe is reportedly losing US$1.2 billion per year to gold smugglers. Corruption and looting, especially in illegal mining, have become so deeply rooted in the country it is little wonder the authorities are now powerless to stamp it out. Those in positions of power and authority are either the beneficiaries of the looting or do not dare arrest the looters because their are not so clean themselves.
The introduction of helicopter patrols by security officials has resulted in reduced cases of smuggling along the country's border with South Africa.
ReplyDeleteNational police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the police were clamping hard on criminals among them smugglers and border jumpers who are in the habit of using informal borders.
He said on Tuesday the security team on aerial patrol intercepted contraband of 180 boxes of cigarettes worth millions of dollars in export duty that were being smuggled into South Africa near Dite area.
We are talking of a country in which the ruling elite and the top brass in the Police, Army and CIO are the Godfathers of corruption, looting, smuggling and all manner of criminal activities. All this increased patrols will be to catch the small fish to clear the way for the big fish. If the big fish are caught, it is catch and release!
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig election to maintain their iron grip on power, the country will never stamp out corruption. Never!
"At a time when salaries of MPs and ministers have increased tremendously, (Primary and Secondary Education minister Cain) Mathema does not see the effects of the erosion of teachers' purchasing power parity. To assume that teachers earning as little as $13 300, after the latest 25% unilateral government toxic award, can survive, pay fees for their children, and report for work daily, is to ask for too much," Zhou said.
ReplyDelete"We want to remind Mathema that we do not eat infinite collective begging which he calls bargaining. Government has since October 2018 failed to restore the purchasing power parity of teachers' salaries."
On Monday, Mathema said government would implement a no-work, no-pay policy on truant teachers, adding that their names were being recorded for onward transmission to the Public Service Commission.
There is no deny that teachers, nurses and many other civil servants are the sacrificial lambs to Zanu PF’s failure to revive the country’s economy. Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra was supposed to open the flood gate of investors and kick start the country’s comatose economy.
Sadly, no investors answered the call because they continued to view Zimbabwe as a pariah state; the November 2017 coup had done nothing to change that. By failing to stamp out corruption and blatantly rigging the 2018 elections, Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state.
Whilst the regime has continued to pay the ruling elite generously, it has at least tried to pay the salaries of those in the security services above the poverty datum line and with nothing left for the teachers and other lowly paid civil, they regime has allowed them to sink.
Punishing the teachers with these no-work no-pay tactics will achieve nothing since it is government that has imposed this no-pay no-work situation on teachers. How are teachers expected to continue working if their pay is not enough to pay for their basic needs such as food, accommodation and transport!
The country’s public education and health care services, on which 60% of the population dependent on, have all but completely collapsed.A nation in which 60% of the population have no education and health care service is doomed!
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has begun a recruitment exercise as it continues to undergo major transformation in adopting a new structure and re-branding to win back public confidence.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe’s education and health care services have all but collapsed due to decades of under funding. The country is failing to keep the few teachers and nurses at their posts because it is failing to pay them a living wage. Why government is recruiting even more Police and CIO officers and Soldiers beggars belief.
Zimbabwe is now a police state as well as a pariah state just like North Korea.