“People want to come back home and contribute in developing their nation but are being hindered by the ever rising cost of living, unstable economic environment, erratic power supply. The financial muscle within the diaspora can make a difference in the Zimbabwean political discourse only if they are allowed to have a say in the day to day of running the government,” argued Leonard Koni in his recent article
“The diaspora is very hungry for change and want the country to do better. Criticising the leadership does not amount to self hate.
“Zimbabweans in the diaspora have proved to be a force to reckon with. They want to be part and parcel of this historical change.”
I totally agree with you, many Zimbabweans in the diaspora are desperate to see real change so they can finally go back to Zimbabwe. “Home is home, there is no place like home!” so goes the old adage. And it is true.
Of course, Zimbabweans in the diaspora, like many back home, know there will never be any meaningful economic change in Zimbabwe as long as Zanu PF remains in office and gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness and tyrannical rule continue to rule the land.
It is no secret that most Zimbabweans in the diaspora blame the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship for the nation’s troubles and, naturally, these men and women will never vote for Zanu PF, come the elections. Of course, Zanu PF knows that and, more pointedly, know the party will not find it as ease to rig the diaspora vote as the local vote. And so, it was no surprise to hear Patrick Chinamasa, Acting National Political Commissar, confirm that Zanu PF will not be granting Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote in the coming 2023 elections.
It was President Mnangagwa himself who said Zimbabweans in the diaspora will vote in 2023. He made the promise during his September 2018 visit to New York for the annual UN General Assembly Heads of State and Government jamboree.
He was desperate to win some political legitimacy given Zimbabwe had just gone through the July 2018 elections which anyone with any democratic credentials had dismissed as a farce. The regime had denied Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote and had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll!
So when push came to shove, Mnangagwa could not honour his promise to restore the right of Zimbabweans in the diaspora to a meaningful vote. His desire to retain his iron grip on political power by rigging the elections had the better of him.
What is really disheartening is the lack of common sense by Zimbabweans in the diaspora and at home who bury their heads in the sand and refuse to see the sheer futility of participating in these flawed and illegal elections. Beside denying 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, or 30% plus of the eligible electorate; Zanu PF has 1001 other vote rigging shenanigans.
How can an election process in which 30% plus of the electorate are denied the vote be legal, free, fair and credible?
Zanu PF is set to rigged the 2023 elections just as blatantly as the party rigged the 2018, 2013, etc. elections. And by participating in these flawed and illegal elections the nation will give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, again for the umpteenth time!
“The government must allow the voice of the diaspora to be heard and not not denying them the chance to vote,” argued Koni.
After 41 years of rigged elections one would think that by now the penny would have finally dropped that this Zanu PF regime cares more about rigging elections and staying in power at all costs and does not give a damn about respecting the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life.
There will be no meaningful change in Zimbabwe until Zimbabweans open their eyes and minds to the reality that Zimbabwe is not a healthy and functioning democratic nation but rather a de facto one-party dictatorship, a pariah state.
If we want meaningful economic and political change then we must first implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship and stop the vote rigging. To pretend we can have meaningful change and still have the corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship, especially after 41 years of rigged elections, is insane, to say the least!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said Zimbabwe was geared to prosper with or without support from the West that imposed sanctions on the country, adding that China remains there to assist.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa was speaking during a tour of the US$153 million Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport expansion project where he said the coming on board of international airlines such as Qatar Airways was testimony of his government's commitment to opening airspace.
The project will add a new international terminal building and aprons, four new bridges, secondary radar system, VVIP pavilion and airfield ground lighting as well as communication systems.
Zimbabwe’s economy was already in deep trouble before the sanctions were imposed in 2001. Mugabe came up with his “Look East” policy which, he said, would end Zimbabwe’s dependence on the West for financial assistance. It is interesting that now 20 years later we are being told Zimbabwe is “gear to prosper with or without support from the West that imposed the sanctions”.
The truth is there are other important factors such as mismanagement and corruption that are affecting the country’s economic prospect; the sanctions have very little effect as evidenced by the economic mess before sanctions were imposed.
Sanctions are a convenient scapegoat which the regime has used explain the country’s economic mess, on the one hand, and on the other hand make a big song and dance of what it has done to counter the ill effects (all imaginary, of course) of the sanctions. The economy has continued to sink because an imaginary cure to an imaginary cause was not going to solve anything!
20 years on, the regime has kept up the farce of blaming sanctions for the nation’s economic problems and counter claim it has measures to minimise the effects of the sanctions; as the nation’s economy sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss we will hear more and more of the same double act. What a parody!
One would think that anyone would see Zanu PF’s denial of Zimbabweans in the diaspora their vote for what is it - a blatant act of rigging the elections. Of all the Zimbabweans one would expect to be aware of this shenanigan and to act decisively against it are Zimbabweans in the diaspora but, alas, it is all water off a duck’s back.
ReplyDeleteHow can the elections be anything else but a mockery if 30% plus of the eligible voters are denied the vote for no other reason other than the ruling party fears those in the diaspora will not vote for the party and it will not have the opportunity to rig the diaspora vote! Of course, Zanu PF is cherry picking who will be allowed to vote and only under conditions the party can rig to guarantee its own victory.
It is interesting to note that the MDC and the rest in the opposition camp have raised no objections to so many Zimbabweans being denied the vote.
Indeed, if the truth be told and it must, the MDC has become Zanu PF’s political mascot, marching before the party to create the impression Zimbabwe was a healthy and functioning multi-party democracy when in reality it is still a dysfunctional one-party dictatorship.
MDC was supposed to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and company and they forgot about the reforms and he house trained them to do his bidding. They have been participating in flawed and illegal elections to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
If the Zimbabwean in the diaspora; the overwhelming majority of who are well educated and professionals and have had the advantage of the exposure to what free, fair and credible elections are all about; are nonetheless so naive and gullible as to allow Zanu PF and the sell-out opposition to short change them, what hope is there of the rural povo doing anything else!
Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and it is incumbent on those few Zimbabweans with the intellect to comprehend what is going on here to stop this madness. Zanu PF must not be allowed to get away with yet another rigged election!
ZimEye on Saturday exposes MDC Alliance MPs who have crossed the floor and begun secretly engaging the man responsible for the raping of more than 50 women and killing of 25 people since 1 Aug 2018, the -self boasting-genocide ‘criminal,’ Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa.
ReplyDeleteIf the truth be told, Morgan Tsvangirai and the rest of the MDC leaders did not implement even one reforms during the 5 years of GNU because they were busy enjoying themselves the forgot about the reforms. "Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train lifestyles, they will not rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
MDC leaders have participated in the 2013 and 2018 elections knowing fully well that with no reforms in place Zanu PF would rig the elections; they did regardless for the same reason they had failed to implement reforms - greed. MDC leaders knew Zanu PF was offering a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in elections and they could not resist.
Yes some of the MDC leaders have joined the other opposition opportunists like Madhuku who participated in the 2018 elections who went one step farther and endorse the 2018 elections as having been free and fair and endorsed Mnangagwa as legitimate for the sake of joining POLAD and getting the perks for doing so. Joining POLAD is nothing the real political damage was done in participating and giving the election process credibility and the results legitimacy.
What MP Muchi Chinyanganya and others are doing by deserting MDC A for MDC T and now possibly joining Zanu PF is just the same old story of MDC leaders' greed; they will do anything to secure their seat on the gravy train!
MDC leaders sold-out a long time ago, they will never deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for. Right now all MDC leaders, be they from MDC A, MDC T, Madhuku and his NCA, etc. they are all gearing to participate in 2023 elections regardless the elections will be rigged for the same reason as before - greed! Zimbabweans should be smart enough to demand reforms if the nation is ever to cure itself of the curse of rigged elections!
This program follows leaks by Zengeza MP Job Sikhala who states that over 8 former MDCT members are at State House to stage a defection to Mnangagwa’s ZANU PF.
ReplyDeleteJob Sikhala can dismiss the defections from MDC A as "jokes" the fact of the matter is MDC A was a relatively strong political party going into the 2018 elections that it is going into the 2023 elections. MDC A has been hit by factional fighting, it has the party offices up and down the land and with them the party structures and funding. If the party failed to win 2018 when it was relatively strong, what more now?
What Zimbabweans must know is by participating in these flawed and illegal elections; they are giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Chamisa and company are participating out of greed, they are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is giving away to entice the opposition. It is us the ordinary people who are being short changed here; all we get out of participating in these flawed elections is perpetuating the Zanu PF dictatorship!
Government is currently pushing to amend the Constitution to circumvent parliamentary oversight in all international debts.
ReplyDeleteParliament has always been weak and feeble and the only reason why Zimbabwe's debt is not even higher than it is right now is because those giving the loans know the money is being wasted and they is a good chance they will never get it back. There is a limit to one is prepared to give away!
Recently, Chamisa said MPs and councillors were defecting from his party due to poverty.
ReplyDeleteIf Chamisa failed to win power in 2018 when MDC A was united party and had all the money, how is he going to do it in 2023 when the party has fragmented and is broke!
MDC Alliance national Chairperson Thabhita Khumalo has said there is no pandemonium in the party's cockpit between MDC-Alliance president Nelson Chamisa and his deputy Tendai Biti as the purported fights between the two are a fictitious creation of a desperate Zanu-PF regime.
ReplyDelete"That type of language is not part of the MDC A led by Adv Nelson Chamisa vocabulary if we have disputes in our party we do not carry out the hearings in the public media as we have channels to do the same as enshrined in our Party Constitution all these stories about factionalism in our Party are sleeping pills for the powers that be that are failing to halt Zimbabwe which is going nowhere slowly," she said while addressing journalists in Kwekwe Saturday.
This would not be the first or the last dog-eat-dog fight in MDC A; ever since its launch in 1999 MDC has been dogged with divisive infighting resulting in the party splitting up merge and split up again more often than in a bacteria culture! The last big split was caused by none other than Chamisa himself following his unconstitutional seizure of power following Tsvangirai’s death.
Ever since the High Court ruling handing over MDC T control to Thokozani Khupe and then Douglas Mwonzora Zimbabwe has gone from a mediocre opposition to no opposition. The tragedy for the nation was that this happened at the very time the nation needed some token opposition, at least, to mitigated against the Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence in the handling of the corona virus pandemic.
We are dealing with a nation whose political awareness and mental agility is as agonisingly slow as a sloth; it took over twenty years for the people to accept that Zanu PF was corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants and to accept the need for democratic changes. The people have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the strength the party would deliver the democratic changes the nation was dying for.
After 21 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC have failed to bring about even one reform; the sloth electorate has not yet even noticed that. It is no exaggeration that the country is stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition primarily because the electorate is naive and gullible to comprehend such niceties as competent leaders!
A clueless opposition is dragging the nation into flawed and illegal 2023 elections to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. It is insane!