“The Congress of South African Unions (Cosatu) has revealed plans to engage the government on behalf of Zimbabweans that are likely to be deported due to expiry of the Special Dispensation Permits (ZSP) on December 31 2022,” reported News Day.
“Around 300 000 Zimbabweans are in South Africa as holders of ZSP.”
Whilst one rightly join in expressing one's gratitude to COSATU for the assistance in this matter; the truth is we are just kicking the can down the road. We need to address the underlying causes of Zimbabwe's economic and political mass migration - rigged elections and bad governance.
If the 2023 Zimbabwe elections are rigged; as is now 100% certain to happen, given there have not been any meaningful reforms implemented since the rigged 2018 elections; then there will be a new wave of Zimbabwean economic and/or political refugees.
What Zimbabwe needs desperately is help to end the country’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections and SADC leaders endorse the process as “substantially free and fair” and thus giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. And yet it was public knowledge that ZEC had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, for example. The election process was a farce since nothing could be traced or verified.
No South African in his/her right mind would accept the blatant rigging by Zanu PF happening in SA. And yet South Africans turned a blind eye when it happened in Zimbabwe.
For the 2023 elections, Zanu PF has already announced that the party will deny the three million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, “until the economic sanctions imposed by the West on Zanu PF leaders are lifted!” Mnangagwa had promised the vote after the 2018 elections but now has changed his mind.
There are 2 million or more Zimbabweans in the SADC countries alone and none of these country have imposed any sanctions on Zanu PF leaders. So why are Zimbabweans in SADC countries being denied the vote too? This is just a feeble Zanu PF excuse and must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserve.
President Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the 2018 elections with 2.4 million or 50.8% of the cast votes. The 3 million diaspora vote is clearly a very significant figure, 37% of the potential 8 million voters.
How can the 2023 election but free, fair and credible when one contestant, Zanu PF, is allowed to cherry pick the electorate and deny 37% plus of the potential electorate the vote?
Admittedly, Zimbabweans have been our own worst enemy in our fight for free, fair and credible elections. There is no denying that Zimbabwe had its best ever golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly the MDC leaders, who were tasked to carry out the task, sold out big time and failed to implement even one meaningful reform in five years.
Whilst everyone else, including SADC leaders, have advised that Zimbabwe must postpone elections until meaningful reforms are implemented. It is really frustrating that it is none other than Zimbabwe’s opposition opportunists who have insisted in having the elections with no reforms.
By participating in these flawed and illegal elections, the corrupt and incompetent opposition have been giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
"Right now we are trying to help comrades with the ZSP issue. It's not looking good, especially because the government has already made a declaration… but we'll try to see if there's a way to get an extension at least," said COSATU's International relations secretary Sonia Mabunda-Kaziboni.
What will help the people of Zimbabwe greatly is for COSATU to engage:
- the SA government to meaningful address the problems of rigged elections and bad governance in Zimbabwe and stop glossing over the problem. It is inexcusable that SA, a country that has successfully held free, fair and credible elections since 1994, should endorse blatantly rigged elections as having “gone well!”
- Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU), COSATU’s sister organisation in Zimbabwe, and ask them why they have continued to give their blind support to the MDC regardless of the overwhelming evidence of the party is now the one helping perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship.
Yes Zimbabweans in SA need help with their ZSP issues but most important of all the whole nation needs help ending the nightmare of rigged elections and bad governance! Nothing of substance can be accomplished in Zimbabwe until we cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections. Absolutely nothing!
This came after they mounted a protest intending to deliver a petition to Parliament, as well as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office at Munhumutapa Building. In his 2022 budget remarks, Finance minister Ncube emphasised the importance of capacitating security organs of the state to enable them to effectively execute their mandate.
ReplyDelete“Madam Speaker ma’am, the prevailing peace and security is important for sustainable economic development and must be preserved at all cost. Government will continue to capacitate the Security Organs of the State to ensure that our security services are fully funded to enable them to effectively execute their mandate of reducing crime in order to create a conducive environment for development. An amount of ZWL$49.4 billion is being allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and ZWL$61.5 billion for the Ministry of Defence and War Veterans Welfare,” he said.
The ministry of Defence and War Veterans Welfare received the third-largest budget allocation after the ministry of Health which got ZW$117.7 billion and Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Development which got ZW$124 billion.
The Zanu PF regime has long thrown over board those in society with the least political influence such as the ordinary people and teachers and nurses in the civil service were next. The regime is keeping up the pretence it still cares about the war veterans, junior Police, Army and CIO officers, they are all living on scraps; the so-called “hefty” pension or wage increases they keep getting is no long keeping up with the runaway inflation.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state, a Banana Republic, governed by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have routinely rigged elections to stay in power. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery and thus no end to the economic meltdown the country is going through.
The war veterans will be back on the streets protesting their miserable economic hardship very soon because there will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state. We need good governance and that means free, fair and credible elections.
@ Takudzwa Gwaze
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, the MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa’s supporters are strong adherents of the “Chamisa chete chete” an ideology which assents to the view that nobody beside him can lead the opposition and developing the country.
This is the mentality borrowed from the ruling ZANU PF party– which asserts that the has the monopoly to rule Zimbabwe and its leader and non-other can lead the country.
The MDC-T led by Douglas Mwonzora is out of the 2023 election equation as its popularity and its support base is nonexistent, its survival is on disruptive politics against the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa. The MDC Alliance and its supporters also throw, around vacuous phrases such as the “ngaapinde hake mukomana” slogans. For good reasons, it should be commendable for Mukomana to explain why he should be entrusted with the people of Zimbabwe and become the next President. The response given by his supporters together with other leader that if he gives and share his plans, his enemies will steal his ideas is unacceptable and naïve.
The question that always remain in the public space is who is for the people and with what efforts can the people understand the vision of the future. One of the critical contributors to the Zimbabwean crises is lack of peace, healing and reconciliation which can be only ushered by an effective transitional justice system.
The Chamisa chete chete mentality is indeed borrow from the Zanu PF mentality of no regime change. Neither party can give a rational reason why their respective party should rule; especial given each party’s track record of corruption, incompetence and cold blooded murder, in the case of Zanu PF.
Both Zanu PF and MDC supporters have been brainwashed to the point of being brain dead; they can only respond to rhetoric and empty slogans. A healthy and functioning democracy demands an informed and diligent electorate and not a naive and brain dead one!
@ Nomazulu Thata
ReplyDelete“Zanu PF cares a f*ck about vulnerable rural people who are in desperate need of food aid. They are biting the hands that feed the desperate and the forgotten citizens whose basic needs are met by taxpayers of Caucasian origins: "pink pigs" They demand that Zanu PF governments must adhere to the rule of law and are now the ones fighting for human rights on our behalf because our hands and mouths are tied. And this we shall call independence of Africa, my foot!”
It was W C Fields who said “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bull!”
Well some of our African leaders have embraced Fields’ ethos whole heartedly and literally too, because “bull” to them means the most foul language they can master.
You are right Zanu PF ruling elite do not care that millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty, denied their freedoms, rights, hope and human dignity. All the care about is that Zanu PF retains its iron grip on power and secure their right to loot and plunder.
The ruling elite have blamed the country’s economic meltdown on sanctions. One does not need to know anything about this “animal” called sanctions; they only have to look at Mugabe’s sprawling Blue Roof mansion, at the extravagant lifestyle of his family, etc. to know why the country is in a serious economic and political mess.
What is interesting is the ease with which Zanu PF ruling elite have found scapegoats for their failures, the ease with which they have baffled povo with bull. The reason is pretty obvious, the ordinary people are incapable of comprehending anything beyond the superficial level. They see but do not perceive, they hear but do not understand and so the are easily baffled with bull and very rarely, if ever at all, dazzled with brilliance.
As for the African leaders themselves, they hide their incompetence, corruption, tyranny, etc. behind the bull. As long as people are talking about sanctions, for example, they will not be talking about Zanu PF denying the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, the soaring inflation, etc.
So bull has been both the leaders and the masses’ escape from reality and hence the reason we find ourselves in this mess because reality is based on facts and truths, are you managing your resources competently or not, and not on bull.
What Zimbabwe needs above all else is a chance clear the deck and have a fresh start. Zimbabwe is a de facto one party dictatorship and, after 41 years of absolute power, is deeply entrenched that dismantling it is a serious challenge. The 2008 to 2013 GNU was the golden opportunity to dismantling the dictatorship but sadly the opportunity was wasted.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Zimbabwe will remain stuck in this political rut as long as the country remains a pariah state.
Ever since MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and thus proving beyond all doubt that they were corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent; it was shocking that organisations such as ZCTU continued to support the party. It is this lack of quality leadership with some common sense that have rendered many of Zimbabwe's institutions utterly useless. MDC emerged from ZCTU mainly but that is no excuse for the later to continue to blindly support MDC!
ReplyDeleteCOSATU would do ZCTU and Zimbabwe a great favour if they warned ZCTU leaders of the folly of slavishly supporting MDC in participating in the flawed and illegal 2023 elections. The elections are bing rigged as we speak and this should be flagged right now and not have to wait until the election results are announced.
There is very little anyone can do to stop Zanu PF going ahead with the 2023 elections and we know MDC leaders are participating for the sake of the few gravy train seats on offer. The one thing we can do is denounce these elections as the farce they are and what better way of doing that than having nothing to do with the flawed and illegal process.
Of course, it is insane to know the election process is a farce and yet participate in the process and then make a big song and dance about Zanu PF rigged the elections - something we have known and warned of all along.
Among them were former Zengeza west legislator Simon Chidhakwa, former Mutare ward two councilor Pamela Mutare, Pauline Hendeni and former Chipinge district chair Chadamoyo Machingura.
ReplyDeleteChinamasa said: "I have been informed through various reports that there are MDC members who are now scaring and intimidating those who are defecting to Zanu-PF. We are aware from the onset that MDC is a violent party but let them be warned not to play with fire," Chinamasa charged.
"We are ruling this country hence you cannot intimidate a ruling party and it is not possible. Who are you to stop people from joining the ruling party? If I hear these complains again you will be in for it," he warned.
The warnings come at a time report indicated that former MDC Alliance legislator for Dangamvura-Chikanga Prosper Mutseyami was heard intimidating one of the defectors.
There is no denying that MDC leaders and supporters alike are not against violence for they have been known to use violence themselves - under the pretext of self-defence.
Zanu PF thugs “have university degrees in violence”, as the late Robert Mugabe once boasted. They too will always claim they used violence because they were provoked. There is no doubt Zanu PF will use this case to justify a new wave of wanton violence.
MDC leaders should have implemented the democratic reforms and end the culture of violence during the GNU when the nation had the chance. The best course of action now is to insist on reforms before elections but sadly it is MDC who are insisting on elections without reforms!