History will show just how close the late Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow
democratic South Africa” came to collapse and become just another African
Banana Republic like Zimbabwe during former President Jacob Zuma’s time in
office. The shocking truth of what happened during Zuma’s time in office is
coming out!
“Many of the incidents of corruption that would in time
be described as 'state capture' became known to me as they did to the general
public through the work of journalists, civil society organisations, and
institutions such as the Public Protector and Auditor General,” reads President
Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement to State Capture Commission, the body tasked
to investigate corruption during President Zuma’s time in office.
“Reports of court cases and disciplinary proceedings, together with the
commendable work of investigative journalists and whistle-blowers, gave insight
into corruption in both government and the private sector.”
South Africa’s icon leader, President Nelson Mandela’s
greatest legacy to the nation was the gift of democracy, healthy and functioning
democratic institutions like media, judiciary, without which the corruption in
South Africa would have been swept under the carpet. The critical importance of
such democratic institution in stamping out corruption is best appreciated if
one was to compare with what happened in Zimbabwe.
There are so few “investigative journalists” in Zimbabwe
they, for all practical purposes, an endangered species! The odd ball like
Geoffrey Nyarota with his Willowgate scandal, was left in no doubt of just how
much the country’s ruling elite disapproved of his work. And it was not just
Robert Mugabe and one or two others in the Zanu PF ruling elite who disapproved
the notion of a robust and independent media, judiciary, etc. the whole Zanu PF
ruling elite disapproved.
“As it became increasingly clearer – through the
so-called Gupta Leaks and other revelations – that a network of individuals was
seemingly colluding with senior government officials to occupy key positions
and 'capture' key institutions, the question that arose was how to respond,”
continued President Ramaphosa’s statement.
“The first option available to me was to resign from the Executive.
While I would have earned praise from many quarters, this action would have
significantly impaired my ability to contribute to bring about an end to state
capture.
“This was a question that not only I had to grapple with, but also other
members of the Executive who were deeply concerned about these
developments. I had five options: resign, speak out, acquiesce and
abet, remain and keep silent, or remain and resist.”
Since the 2017 military
coup that toppled Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Gabriel Mugabe; his successor, President
Emmerson Mnangagwa has tried to distance himself from Mugabe’s corrupt and
tyrannical rule. He has been selling his administration as clean and democratic,
“new dispensation and Second Republic”. All nonsense, Mnangagwa had not only
colluded with Mugabe for 37 years but had been the dictator’s henchman who carried
out all the dirty work of rigging elections, looting and murder of the regime
opponents.
AU Deploys Election Observers To Zambia As Lungu Battles It Out With Hichilema
ReplyDelete11 August 2021
The Africa Union (AU) has approved the deployment of a Short-Term Election Observation (STO) Mission to Zambia to observe the country’s general elections scheduled to take place on 12 August 2021.
In a statement on 4 August, the AU said the STO Mission is led by former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma and composed of former and current African ambassadors accredited to Ethiopia, members of election management bodies in Africa, members of civil society organisations, and independent electoral experts.
The statement read in part:
The Mission’s objective is to provide an independent and impartial assessment of all aspects of the 2021 electoral process, including the legal framework, the political context and the transparency and effectiveness of the electoral preparations, and will operate in accordance with relevant AU and international standards and obligations for democratic elections such as the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; the 2002 AU/OAU Declaration on Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa; 2002 the AU Guidelines for Elections Observation and Monitoring Missions.
Zambia holds elections amid soaring food prices and economic hardships, high inflation and ballooning external debt.
The copper-rich southern African nation last year became the first country on the continent to default on its debt in the coronavirus era.
The upcoming election is expected to be the tightest contest yet between incumbent Edgar Lungu (64) and his longstanding rival, main opposition candidate and sixth-time-runner Hakainde Hichilema (59).
The idea of deploying an election observer mission a few days before the elections especially in a country like Zimbabwe with a history of rigged elections makes a mockery of democratic elections and the organisation itself.
In 2018 AU said Zimbabwe’s election were “substantially free and fair” when the regime had blatantly rigged the elections. ZEC had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll and so the process could not be trace or verified.
It is no surprise that the AU and SADC are often viewed by the ordinary people as the clubs of the ruling elite there to back each other at the expense of the ordinary citizens! The AU and SADC leaders must call out Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections based on the facts on the ground or shut up
Many people have criticized Nelson Mandela for failing to revive SA’s economy and get millions of blacks out of poverty, for failing to come up with the formula to resolve the country’s land issue, etc., etc. These are all important issues and maybe he should have done something about many of these issues. Still, Mandela gave South Africa something even more special a system of government in which the freedoms and rights of all South Africans were guaranteed, a system of government in which the rule of law was the supreme law of the land, and no one was above the law, a healthy and functioning democracy.
ReplyDeleteSA’s democracy was put to the test again and again; first by the presidency of Tambo Mbeki and then now Cyril Ramaphosa – these are mediocre leaders by any account – and the real big test was the presidency of Jacob Zuma, who really thought he was above the law. SA’s democracy was tested by the three leaders, and it is still standing strong.
Indeed, the ongoing investigation of the state capture by Zuma and his cronies, even after they had threatened to bring the government down just to stop the proceedings, is proof SA’s democracy has emerged stronger than ever. The precedence set by sending Zuma to jail for refusing to testify will echo for generations to come.
Robert Mugabe set out to corrupt and destroy Zimbabwe’s state institutions turning them into Zanu PF departments in all but name. Mugabe’s legacy to Zimbabwe is the corrupt and dysfunctional de facto one-party dictatorship. Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies worked tireless to establish the dictatorship and have all gladly received their share of the power and looted wealth.
Ramaphosa did help end Zuma’s state capture; Mnangagwa did his best to establish the dictatorship and the looting of the nation’s resources. Mnangagwa is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant no different from his mentor Robert Mugabe.
Arthur Mntungwa
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you there, Nelson Mandela did his bit and it took a visionary man like him to make sure SA had a healthy and functioning democracy and not fall into the temptation to build a dictatorship so he could enjoy absolute power and loot the nation as some of the village idiots like Mugabe did!
@ Arthur Dobbs
ReplyDelete“In Zimbabwe people need to come with the question what must we do. We know that ZANU PF must go but who will replace it remains a question.”
The very point that people are now beginning to ask those searching questions of themselves and everyone around them is a clear sign that people are thinking for themselves and refuse to be led by the nose like the bull at the market! Years of following leaders blindly, parroting the catchy but little understood slogans, no questions asked are finally behind us. Thank God!
@ Newsday/Wezhira
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe is in this mess because Zimbabweans have again and again proven that they are incapable of thinking outside the box. During the fight for independence and for the next 20 years after that Zimbabweans embraced Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies as the nation’s liberation heroes who could do no wrong. The nation had Zanu PF or whites in the box and the former was judge the good guys and the later the bad guys. If we had allowed ourselves to think outside the box then we would have realised that the nation’s choice of leaders should not be limited to Zanu PF or the whites.
The nation has risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders to deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for and after 21 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform. Not one!
“As youths, we should continue with the struggle. We need jobs, freedom and a better Zimbabwe,” you argue. “Youthful MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has the potential to take us to Canaan.”
The only reason why anyone would still consider MDC as the answer to the nation regardless of all the evidence of 21 years of failures is because he/she has the box-mentality where the way forward is either Zanu PF or MDC; in a world with all the colours of the rainbow they can only see black or white!
Zimbabwe is never going to get out of the mess we are in as long as the people continue to be so naïve and gullible, to have the mentality of a slug that can only see one foot away and everything in varying sheds of grey!
“Nelson Chamisa has the potential to take us to Canaan!” Yeah right! Who has stopped him doing so all these last 21 years!
@ Natasha Meyer
ReplyDelete“Wilbert Mukori ndiyo inonzi zanu zveeeee ukurasika papi.”
I have just raised two points regarding MDC’s record, you have not addressed any of them.
Like the shallow and myopic person you are, you believe that anyone who criticize MDC must be a Zanu PF supporters.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into public office on the understanding the party will deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for and the party’s own name imply. The party has failed to deliver even one change and must be held to democratic account for it.
MDC leaders and many party supporters including you think the MDC leaders are demigods who should not be questioned and held to account; I say that is bullshit, these are not only mortals but corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent ones at that. Of course, they must and will be held to democratic account.
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the nation has had the great misfortune of have corrupt and incompetent leaders and in the case of Zanu PF one has to add vote rigging and murderous tyrants. We need to confront these failed leaders and demand change, the view we must choose one or the other is as foolish and nonsensical as a goat choosing between a hyena and crocodile, a mouse choose between a cobra and a black mamba!