“TIME and again many have inked articles
articulating how the MDC-Alliance is wired in violence, with the streak running
so deep that removing it simply means an end to the political outfit that was
formed to push the whiteman's agenda,” wrote Fungi Kwaramba, in The Herald.
“That of course cannot stop us today to pause and reflect on the damage these
pseudo democrats have brought to the country's body politic.
“Just last week the MDC-A yobs were on each other throats, in a
self-disembowelling exercise that simply demonstrates to the world and yonder
that this political outfit, with no clear policy definition, direction and
gravitas is now gravitating towards the end.”
Kwaramba is a known Zanu PF apologist,
and this article was but a prologue to the coming wanton Zanu PF violence.
There is no deny that there are violent
thugs in the MDC family and the party’s democratic credentials leave a lot to
be desired. Still the violence in MDC is nothing compared to that in Zanu PF.
Worst of all, Zanu PF has captured and corrupted state institutions like the
judiciary, Police, Army and CIO making them a Zanu PF department in all but
name. And so the Zanu PF inspired lawlessness and violence often involve state
institutions, they have been institutionalised, and therefore near impossible
to stamp out.
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies
made it crystal clear that the bush war would continue if the party lost the
1980 elections. The party kept a large contingent of its freedom fighters out
of the Assembly Points, contrary to the Lancaster House Agreement, to spread
the stern warning.
The people voted to end the war but in
doing so allowed Zanu PF to not only get into power but go on and impose a de
facto one-party dictatorship and absolute power. The threat of Zanu PF
instigated lawlessness and violence has hung over our head like the Sword
of Damocles.
Mnangagwa’s 2017 “Zimbabwe is open for
business!” mantra has failed to revive the country’s economy. The flood of
investors has never materialised because investors are a savvy and shrewd lot;
they saw the lie behind the claim the November 2017 coup as a transformative
event. Zimbabwe remained a pariah state after the coup or be it under new
dictator. Investors do not do business in a pariah state.
So, the economic meltdown before the coup
has only got worse. The corona virus pandemic has dragged the economic
situation even deeper into the abyss. The economy has all but collapsed,
unemployment has soared to 90%, basic services such as education and health
care have collapsed and 49% of our people now live in abject poverty. It is not
surprising the nation is on edge, the people are desperate for meaningful political
change and an end to 41 years and counting of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF
misrule.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies’ response
to demands for democratic reform and meaningful change is to scale-up the
violence. And so the party is blaming MDC A violence to justify its own use of
violence!
“In the MDC-A, we have an organisation
that is a constant threat to the prevailing peace, when youths in the MDC-A,
obviously at the behest of their godless leaders, are in a disconcerting habit
of championing acts of terror that threaten the people, there is need to put a
stop to this, once and for all,” argued Fungi Kwaramba.
How sickening is that! The Devil quoting
the Bible for his devilish purpose.
Then the devil *took Him along into the
holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and he *said to
Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written:
‘He will give His angels orders
concerning You’;
and
‘On their hands they will lift You up,
So that You do not strike Your foot
against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it
is written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4: 5 to 7.
There is a mountain of evidence that Zanu
PF’s 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule has been a complete disaster for
the nation and the people’s desperation for change is completely justified. However,
after 40 years of enjoying absolute power Zanu PF thugs have become addicted to
it, they have captured all the state institutions and will use them to resist
the people’s demands for change.
Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to
implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the
2008 to 2013 GNU. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to get even one
reform implemented and the nation has paid dearly for it ever since.
Ending the Zanu PF dictatorship is not mission impossible. It will require radical thinking, focus and vision so the next chance to end the dictatorship is not wasted. By continuing to follow blindly the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders, we are shows that we have learnt nothing from the past and are therefore not yet ready for democratic change.
The durable observation that Moyo makes is that “although Zimbabweans believe that election rigging is widespread, their belief is not matched by the necessary vigilance to checkmate the rigging.”
ReplyDeleteIt is a Zimbabwean historical and political tragedy that “there is little regard in the body politic for the dictum that an election is a rule-bound political process which is a legal event.”
Zec would not have led such a brazen theft of the election if Zimbabweans, especially opposition political leaders and their lawyers, and civil society, understood the baptismal truth that elections are not “just politics”, but also legal events that require not only constitutions but then again vigilant practices of constitutionalism.
In 2013, Zimbabwe got a new democratic constitution without constitutionalism as a national political culture, and this was all because of the native colonialist regime of Zanu PF that took over the country from Rhodesian settler colonialism, I observe.
The 2008 elections were a watershed because they showed just how many vote rigging tools Zanu PF had at its command. It was utterly pointless participating in elections against the regime without first implementing the reforms to stop the blatant cheating and, if required, wanton violence.
The suggestion that the 2018 elections rigging was limited to the presidential race is laughable. ZEC failed to produce a verified voters' roll and 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote. How can you have free and fair elections without a verified voters' roll and/or 38% of the voters denied the vote!
The very fact that the opposition agreed to participate in such flawed and illegal elections speaks volumes of just how corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless they are. There is no need to add the same MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
Excelgate is just trash and history will dismiss it as such!
When Zanu PF lost the 2000 referendum on the new constitution, the party, rightly or wrongly, blamed the country’s white farmers and instituted the party’s seizure of white owned farms. The seizures were often accompanied by the gratuitous violence targeting the white farmers and their workers but would quickly spread to target MDC supporters and all those dared to seek regime change.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Zanu PF was concerned all those seeking regime change were doing so for one purpose and one purpose only; to give back the seized farms back to the whites. Zanu PF saw it as its duty to stop this from happening by denying the vote to all those seeking regime change and the use of brute force to this end was completely justified.
For the next 15 years Zimbabwe elections were marked by the invasions white farms lighting the fire of violence which then quickly spread to every corner of the country. The party has seized most of the white owned farms and so the party has been forced to think of a new excuse for unleashing wanton violence on the ordinary Zimbabwe demanding an end to the economic hardships. Accusing MDC leaders and supporters of instigating the violence that is threating the prevailing peace is certainly one excuse.
Zanu PF toned down the use of wanton violence in the 2013 and 2018 elections but only because its other more subtle vote rigging schemes were delivering the victory. However, even then the party has made no bones about that violence was an option the party would use at the drop of a hat.
Mnangagwa has already started mobilising the war veterans and the Border Gazi camps training the party’s youth militia, the green bombers, have re-opened. The war veterans and the green bombers constituted the party foot-soldiers in the 2008 Operation “Mavhotera papi” (Whom did you vote for!) in which the party used wanton violence to punish the electorate for rejecting Mugabe and Zanu PF in the earlier March vote.
The party is certainly gearing for a repeat of the Operation Mavhotera papi. “Nothing will be left to chance!” boasted Mnangagwa.
I totally agree, Zanu PF is deeply entrenched and flushing the regime out will not be easy. MDC leaders wasted the golden opportunity to do so by failing to implement even one reform during the GNU. And their present strategy of winning rigged elections is as foolish as it gets. Of course, it will never work because Zanu PF will raise the bar as the party is doing right now.
The solution to Zimbabwe’s entrenched Zanu PF dictatorship is to revert back to the SADC leaders’ 2013 advice – postpone the elections until the reforms are implemented. Zanu PF will not have legitimacy if Zimbabweans refuse to participate in these flawed and illegal elections.
Just because MDC leaders failed to get even one reform implemented does not mean no one else can do it! If the ordinary Zimbabweans were to believe this simple truth they would not participate in these flawed elections and shoot themselves in the foot by giving legitimacy to the vote rigging and violent Zanu PF! Asking Zimbabweans to think for themselves is the real mission impossible here!
@ Nomazulu
ReplyDelete“To begin with the reasons about your social and political grievances, I do support you 100% the people of Matabeleland are convinced about absent progress and development in the region. People from all tribal divides have spoken openly about marginalization deliberately perpetuated by the government. There is discrimination in education, health, infrastructure development, jobs: The import of schoolteachers and several other jobs from Mashonaland to Matabeleland region is real, hence Ndebeles are forced to emigrate to South Africa to find employment that is not available for them in Matabeleland.”
The Zimbabwe economy has collapsed sending unemployment soaring to 90%, basic services such as education and health care are all but gone and 49% of the population are now living in abject poverty. I challenge you or anyone else out there to name one region, town, growth point or village in Zimbabwe that has prospered.
I drove down Robert Mugabe Highway, the road just after Norton going to Mugabe’s rural home in Zvimba, soon after the road was completed. One could not miss Mugabe’s rural village because it was the only one with many low-density type houses supplied with electricity and, no doubt, with clean running water and proper water-based toilet, not the Blaire toilet.
For the 50 km or so to Zvimba and back on this A1 type road I met one other motor vehicle plus a donkey drawn scotch cart. The said all that needed to be said – this is all phony! If one light bulb burnt out most of these villagers will not afford to replace much less pay their electricity bills. Mugabe’s Zvimba rural village was as phony as Mobutu Sese Seko “Little Paris” in the middle of the Congo forest!
Mugabe’s sprawling US$ 2 billion Blue Roof palatial mansion is slowly but surely decaying and rotting. It will cost US$ 100 000 per year in maintenance, money Grace Mugabe can ill afford since none of the vast business empire she inherited from her husband is making money, not even the Gushungo Dairy!
Google Mobutu’s palace; it now lies in ruins. The forest and wild animals have reclaimed it. Mugabe’s Blue Roof is doomed to go the same way. Go ahead; google!
The reason why Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and the rest of the Zanu PF ruling elite are fighting tooth and nail to remain in power is because they know they too will sink into poverty the day they lose their seat at the Zanu PF looting table. Look at Didymus Mutasa, Joice Mujuru, Ignatius Chombo, Professor Jonathan Moyo, etc. they were flying high. “Vatsenga mvura!” (Chew water!) as one would say in Shona. But they day they were booted out of the party there was no hiding they were miserable. “Kuonda nomusoro!” (They were so miserable even the head was shrinking!)
Zimbabwe, the whole of Zimbabwe is in a real mess and the challenge is to rebuild the whole country from the ashes. The minute we start comparing one region, one town, etc. as being better off than the other will encourage us to pull in different directions when we should be pulling in the same direction.
@ Mbofana
ReplyDeleteWhat, then, troubles me in all this is that, why have both our post-independence "black" administrations - ZANU PF and MDC - failed in such horrendous and large-scale proportions?
Does this say something about our capabilities as black people in governance and management?
I am reminded by the well-documented statement by then Rhodesian prime minister Ian Douglas Smith, that majority rule would lead to the lowering of standards, with everything being destroyed, and filth even running down our streets.
As much as many castigated these words, as typifying an ingrained racist mentality - the question is, was Smith wrong, or have we ourselves not gone out of our way in proving him right?
That is why, at the beginning, I made it clear that, one thing that I distasted the most was the so-called "political correctness" - as this is what we use to conveniently hide our own weaknesses as humankind.
We can never progress as people, when we are too afraid to ask ourselves those tough questions - as that is the only way to genuine introspection and self-evaluation...the only key to true change and positive reformation - because, I do not believe that this is an inherent flaw, but simply our unwillingness to do the right thing.
For, as long as we are comfortable in sweeping our mess under the carpet, then we will forever be in denial, will never learn, and will never strive to be better people - as the only way to respond to Smith's claims, is to prove him wrong - but, certainly not by hiding behind the racist card, since that only proves him right, as we have done for the past forty one (41) years
I have read most of your articles but this one is the best for its educational contend and in offering a way out of the hell-hole we have landed ourselves in.
We have repeated the same foolish mistakes over and over again because we have lacked the courage to honest with ourselves and even more so with our leaders. We love to place our leaders on pedestals and worship them as infallible demigods and are most reluctant to take them down even in the face of overwhelming evidence they are not just mortals but worse still they are corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs!
Right now, the most important challenge is for Zimbabweans to open their eyes and see the folly of participating in a flawed elections process only to give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy! The nation is being conned to participate by Chamisa and friends who are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait. It is insane, there is no other way to put it!
In the water shed 2008 elections Zanu PF revealed its varied vote rigging capacity from the blatant cheating in the cooking up the vote count to whittle down Tsvangirai's 73% to 47% to force the run-off to the wanton no-holds barred violence during the run-off. MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms and end all Zanu PF's carte blanche powers to rig elections. They failed to get even one token reform implemented.
ReplyDeleteSADC leaders literally begged MDC leaders to postpone the 2013 elections to allow reforms to be implemented. Tsvangirai and company ignored the begging, confident they will win the rigged elections. Zanu PF has kept wanton violence as one of the many vote rigging options and it is turning up the violence. In the past Zanu PF used the white farm invasions as cover for turning up the violence; there are no white farms left to invade and so the party is accusing MDC for instigating the violence.
It real is insane for the nation to believe all this nonsense of winning rigged elections! We do not need rigged elections and no Zimbabwean need to die for them to exercise their right to vote.
Just because MDC leaders were corrupt and incompetent to implement the reforms does not mean Zimbabwe must now forget the country ever holding free, fair and credible elections. There are other Zimbabweans who can get the reforms implemented; it is not as if this is rocket science!
According to Ringisai Chikohomero, a research consultant, at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) based in Pretoria, South Africa, as a result, Mnangagwa had failed to live up to his mantra of a "new dispensation".
ReplyDelete"Attempts to extend the chief justice's term show a disregard for the judiciary and for fixing the country's tattered reputation.
"Mnangagwa's regime continues to present itself in the worst possible light at home and internationally. His government seems to be casting any pretense of reform to the wind. Recent attacks and threats against the judiciary add to the harm already caused by an apparent willful disregard for the rule of law and property rights," he said.
So, it has taken comrade Chikohomero nearly four years to come to the conclusion that the new dispensation was just empty rhetoric! I wonder what next the ISS researcher will come up with next – that the sun will rise tomorrow?
After the removal of Kasukuwere, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed Elbert Rugeje, but removed him in May 2019 and he was replaced by Matemadanda.
ReplyDeleteRugeje was accused of presiding over chaotic Zanu PF primary elections ahead of the crucial 2018 national elections, which Mnangagwa won narrowly against Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Alliance presidential candidate.
To date, Chamisa accuses Mnangagwa of rigging the 2018 presidential election result. In the 2018 elections, several Zanu PF officials also defied party orders and stood as independent parliamentary candidates after losing in primary elections resulting in the defeat of the party in some constituencies due to a split in votes
Zimbabwe’s politics is both mess and nonsensical. On the one hand we have the corrupt and has destroyed one of Africa’s promising economies. The country used to be the breadbasket of the region and now is dependent of imported food aid; a basket case of a failed state.
MDC leaders not only failed to implement even one reform to stop Zanu PF rigging elections but they have consistently agreed to participate in flawed elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections. And the result come out with all the glaring evidence of Zanu PF rigging the same village idiots complain the elections were stolen – as if they are saying something new!
The real tragedy in Zimbabwe is that we have such a naïve and gullible electorate they have been conned by MDC leaders into believing the opposition can win rigged elections and even after 41 years of rigged elections, they continue participating only to give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. It is insane!
@ Eddie Cross
ReplyDelete“After Independence we maintained a strong local currency for a long time but gradually the foundations of fiscal prudency and sound State management of our affairs began to undermine the local currency. The crunch came in 1997 when the State paid out Z$3,6 billion to war Veterans and entered the war in the Congo to remove Mabuto and replace him with Kabila. The combined cost to our economy led to an immediate and catastrophic collapse of our exchange rate to 12 to 1. In the following decade we were to see our currency simply go down the tube and by 2008, a billion local dollars could not buy a loaf of bread.”
For many moons since the November 2017 military coup, you had nothing but praise for ED. You have since made a complete U-turn. The tragedy is the Zanu PF regime in now deeply entrenched and removing it from office will not be easy.
@ Sindile Ncube
ReplyDelete"While I’m no electoral strategist, anyone with eyes will realise what we are trying to avoid here. Protecting the vote should be defined as a concerted effort by Zimbabweans who believe in democracy towards ensuring that votes are not corrupted during their storage, transportation and counting.
In June 2013 SADC leaders advised Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to participate in the election until reforms are implemented. “If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” MDC leaders were warned. As we know MDC leaders had bee-wax in their ears and so they did not hear.
MDC made the same foolish mistake of participating in the 2018 elections with no reforms in place; these elections were also done. By the same token the 2023 elections are done. Zanu PF has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, for example.
“Protecting the vote should be defined as a concerted effort by Zimbabweans who believe in democracy!” How foolish can one be! How do you protect the 3 million diaspora votes that are not there? How many more years will this collective insanity going to last!
Chiredzi North Member of parliament honourable Roy Bhila, ward 23 Councillor Mr Douglas Mutovo, Chiredzi District assistant district coordinator Mr Machokele, Superintendent Chaunoita from Chiredzi Police and Zanu PF Chiredzi DCC chairperson Mrs F Mabhiza terrorised vulnerable Gutsaruzhinji families despite their high court victory in December 2020.
ReplyDeleteThursday 27 May 2021, MP for Chiredzi with his delegation named above visited the Gutsaruzhinji for a dialogue for the first time since after the High court victory for the Gutsaruzhinji families in December 2021.
During the meeting Honourable Bhilla ordered the Gutsaruzhinji families not to irrigate their crops using the Mkwasine irrigation canal as there are not the permanent residents of that area.
The outspoken MP dismissed the high court order which gives the Gutsaruzhinji power to return back to their land. In his address he dismissed the high court order and ordered the 52 Gutsaruzhinji villagers to leave the land to an unknown destination.
When it comes to winning the elections and hanging on to power there are no holds barred as far as Zanu PF is concerned. We are talking about the regime that has used wanton violence again and again to secure electorate victory. Mnangagwa has already mobilised the war veterans and the party’s militia, the green bombers to make sure the party is ready to step up its violence.
MP Bhilla can afford to be arrogant and ignore the High Court order, he is only following the example of President Mnangagwa who has done a lot worse things!
The real infuriating thing here is that MDC leaders not only failed to implement the reforms to end Zanu PF violence but are the ones dragging the nation into these flawed elections under the pretext they will win rigged elections. By participating in flawed elections all we have done is give the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy.