“We have a situation where a snake sneaked into the house,
swallowed all the kids and when we attempted to kill it, we did not finish it
off … And now we want it to be part of the family. No. You can’t bandage a
snake because when it heals it will bite you,” said Citizens Coalition for
Change (CCC) interim chairperson Tabitha Khumalo.
“It’s frightening to hear some people suggesting that we
should form a coalition with Mwonzora before the next elections. We are where
we are today because of Mwonzora and Thokozani Khupe. We can’t work with such
people. People rejected them long back, they rejected them in the recent
by-elections and continue rejecting them right now,” she said
Since the March 2020 High Court ruling declaring Chamisa’s
seizure of power in 2018 unconstitutional, MDC A has faced many trials and
tribulations, and, worst of all, has failed to hold the rampaging Zanu PF
regime to account on such matters as looting covid 19 aid, at least. Still, it
is rich to blame Khupe and Mwonzora for this, calling them snakes, when it is
clear Chamisa was the culprit.
Indeed, it MDC/CCC leaders’ corrupt and breath-taking
incompetence that has always got the better of them making them fail to be
objective and decisive even when the situation demanded it.
The greatest individual and collective failure of the MDC/CCC
leaders was failing to implement even one meaningful democratic reform during
the 2008 to 2013 GNU. All the parties’ big guns Morgan Tsvangirai, Thokozani
Khupe, Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, Douglas Mwonzora, David Coltart, Welshman
Ncube, Tabitha Khumalo, etc., etc. where all in the GNU. For five years of the
GNU not even one of them had the common sense to propose one reform!
It was USA ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell,
who said in a leaked cable back to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a
flawed and indecisive character who would become an albatross round the nation’s
neck if he ever got into power!” He could have said the same about the wildebeest
empty heads around Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai and company did get into power, the GNU, and, as
noted above, they proved utterly useless. MDC/CCC has remained the country’s
main opposition party and has blundered from pillar to post.
“My brother Mnangagwa has done me a great favour by taking
away the bad apples!” boasted Nelson Chamisa when he launched CCC in January
2022. If wishes were horses, the poor would win every horse-race!
Even if CCC does not take back Khupe and Mwonzora, the
snakes, or Savour Kasukuwere, Professor Jonathan Moyo and the other G40 leaders
(Chamisa is so desperate to win, he will take anyone even Zanu PF thugs); CCC
will still blunder from pillar to post because there is plenty of deadwood in
the party from the GNU days including Chamisa himself.
Yes, the 26 March 2023 by elections results shows the people
of Zimbabwe support CCC and have rejected Douglas Mwonzora and his MDC-T lot.
Chamisa and company want the world to believe the elections result is proof he
and his team are competent.
The truth is most of the people who voted for CCC have no
clue what the 2008 GNU was about much less that Chamisa and company sold out
big time. And the few who know MDC leaders sold out for them out of
desperation; they are hoping against reason that CCC will deliver, finally, the
democratic change the nation has been dying for decades now. Hardly a
resounding endorsement of CCC’s competence!
What we can be certain of is that CCC will blunder from
pillar to post, Chamisa and company are participating in the 2023 elections
with no reforms in place. And Zanu PF will rig the elections and win and by
participating CCC will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Even if CCC was to win the 2023
elections, they will NOT implement any meaningful democratic reforms; they are incompetent
to implement the reforms but smart enough to know the excessive dictatorial
powers will work in their favour.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked live and limb to elect MDC/CCC
into office on the understanding they will implement the democratic reform and
end the Zanu PF dictatorship. They have not only failed to implement even one
reform but worse still they are now participating in flawed elections to give
Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship.
Ambassador Dell was right, MDC/CCC leaders are now an “albatross
round the nation’s neck”!
“CCC can’t work with Mwonzora and Khupe, snakes!” Whatever the two have done, it is nothing compared to the MDC leaders’ treasonous betrayal of failing to implement ever one democratic reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. The overwhelming majority of the corrupt and incompetent GNU are in the CCC already; he/she who did not sell out during the GNU must cast the first stone!
On Saturday CCC vice president Hon Lynette Karenyi- Kore addressed thousands of Citizens’ Coalition For Change supporters at Mushwai Business Centre, Gutu East Constituency.
ReplyDeleteAccording to CCC aspiring MP for Gutu East, Gift Gonese, the yellow movement is ready to romp to victory.
“We are highly motivated by President Chamisa’s six million votes initiative. We are working tirelessly to drum up support for the People’s President Advocate Chamisa.
Nobody can stop the citizens’ revolution.
We are glad to have the VP and several national leaders with us in the constituency,” said Gonese.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections as we have already seen during the 26 March 2022 by elections. The party has reduced the rural voters in particular into medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing landlords in the form of Zanu PF thugs and their proxies. CCC has done nothing to end this curse.
Last year Nyasha Zhambe was murdered in Gutu by Zanu PF thugs for no other reason than that he had dared to attend a Nelson Chamisa rally. He named his assailants before he died and, to date, they have never been arrested, putting them above the law. Maybe Gift Gonese attended Nyasha’s funeral but VP Kore certainly attended only to pontificate about rule of law, justice, free elections, etc.; the old windbag! Nyasha’s murders are still free!
Chamisa and his MDC failed to implement the democratic reforms even when they had the golden chance to do so during the GNU and now they are the ones dragging the nation into one meaningless elections after another only to give Zanu PF legitimacy. This is insane!
CCC is aspiring to be Zimbabwe’s main opposition party winning 1/3 of the parliamentary seats plus the corresponding share of the Political Party Finance Act pay out. This is too high a price to pay for retaining this dysfunctional and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship and the tragic human suffering it has brought to millions of ordinary Zimbabweans. We demand the implementation of reforms to guarantee free, fair and credible elections and an end to these rigged elections.
@ Obey WekwaDzafunwa
ReplyDelete“Your point being......You are equally clueless because you don't offer an alternative solution besides whining, ranting and roving about the same thing over and over again.”
You have point but surely the problem of CCC blundering from pillar to post is something we should all be concerned about especial now when we should have seen it all coming given the party leaders' track record.
I think one of the weaknesses, there are many, of our politics is that people are not objective and take this "if you are not with me you are against me" too far, they get too defensive, they stifle debate and end up repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
If the pupils have not learned the lesson so the teacher plough on knowing fully well no one will learn anything since the students lack the foundation. It is better, in my view for him/her to repeat the lesson. Are we going to blame the teach for repeating the lesson or the pupils whose failure to pay attention is the root cause for the repetition?
@ Razi Emile
ReplyDelete“Look at Nomusa Garikai's headings too. You guys must have gone to the same school, same teacher because your headings are the same. I can tell before checking that an article is from Mukori or Nomusa Garikai.
Try to wind down to the ground and give your story a simple, predictable heading.
I know that every writer has a cult. Nomazulu Thata will give a good heading, but the body of her stories will carry many topics ranging from women rights, Germany superiority, White good men and Black bad men.
Reuben Mbofana will stress around the truth that the past was better than the present. You Mukori like to show that MDC did nothing during GNU and people must read different stories not a culture of repetitive facts.”
Fancy that! My take is on this is people like Mbofana, Thata and many other Zimbabweans who have contributed on this site and many others are doing a great job. They are passionate about Zimbabwe and are doing their very best to help the country get out of this mess. These contributions are relevant to the challenges we face and that is what matters.
If you are going to criticise them, do so if what they said is wrong, irrelevant or some such point. To criticise them because they have failed to use Shakespeare or Charles Dickens’ poetic language is foolish, to say the least. They are focused on getting the nation out of the mess and are not trying to compete with Shakespeare!
MDC leaders, just like Zanu PF leaders before them, think they are God Almighty’s gift to the nation. They think they know it all and they are infallible. They are ignorant and conceited; they rarely ever admit to being wrong even if they are presented with a mountain of evidence proving the wrong.
ReplyDeleteChamisa shot himself in the foot by seizing power after Tsvangirai’s death but he has never admitted it. Worse still, MDC leaders sold out on reforms with the tragic consequence of the nation is still stuck with Zanu PF. Chamisa and company has not only stubbornly refused to admit they sold out but are compounding the situation be insisting on participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.
Zimbabwe is a catch 22 situation; we have leaders who know very little and yet because they are leaders they are convinced they are Mister Know It All. The situation is compounded by the populous who are ignorant, easily impressed and, worst of all, they like to place their leaders on pedestals and worship them as demigods who are infallible. The very idea of question a leader much less to hold him/her to democratic account is unthinkable.
Of course, it is all nonsense; leaders are mortals and per se are fallible and the idea one is Mister Know It All by virtue of being a leader is foolish because anyone can be a leader and there is nothing transformative about the position.
ZIMBABWE is part of a club of independent nations, including eight other African states and countries like China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Russia itself, that voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution to suspend Russia's membership of the UN Human Rights Council.
ReplyDeleteIn the vote, Zimbabwe sided with nations that are against US authoritarianism and human rights violations.
The UN General Assembly, which is monopolized by a group of States who use it for their short-term aims, on Thursday suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over allegations of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" in Ukraine.
The U.S. and its allies want to preserve their control over the world and continue "the politics of neo-colonialism of human rights" in international relations.
The vote on the U.S.-initiated resolution suspending Russia was 93-24 with 58 abstentions, significantly lower than on two resolutions the assembly adopted last month demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian troops and protection for civilians. Both of those resolutions were approved by at least 140 nations.
Although Zimbabwe initially abstained from the 2 March vote that saw the UN General Assembly voting to demand that Russia stop its offensive and immediately withdraw its troops, this time around Harare chose to take the side of the military attack that has seen thousands dead and millions of civilians displaced.
Just like Zimbabwe, Algeria, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon and Mali voted against.
Twenty-three African countries including neighbouring South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia abstained.
Russia quits Council
Speaking after the adoption of the resolution, Deputy Permanent Representative Kuzmin, stated that Russia had already decided that day, to leave the Council before the end of its term.
He claimed the Council was monopolized by a group of States who use it for their short-term aims.
"These States for many years have directly been involved in blatant and massive violations of human rights, or abetted those violations," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
"In spite of their membership as members of the Council, they are not ready to sacrifice their short-term political and economic interests in favour of true cooperation and stabilizing the human rights situation in certain countries."
It is not surprising that Zimbabwe voted against the resolution to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council; the country is a serial human rights abuser itself. Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and if the people of Zimbabwe should dare to protest the regime will shoot to kill – as before!
AmaNdebele King Bulelani Lobengula KaMzilikazi on Friday was among delegates that attended an Indaba between Diepsloot commuty and and South African home affairs Motsoaledi, minister of police Bheki Cele and premier David Makhura in Diepsloot Community Center.
ReplyDeleteThe meeting was called so that ministers will be address the community on the death of Mthwakazian national Mbhodazwe Elvis Nyathi.
This comes after a Zimbabwean man Elvis Nyathi was killed was killed by vigilante group Operation Dudula.
If Zanu PF rigs the 2023 elections, there will be a new wave of people leaving the country. What is annoying is CCC are participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help to perpetuate the dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteTHE Shona and the Ndebele are Zimbabwe's two most dominant ethnic groups. Explaining the ever-present tension between them, historian Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni points to the abuse of the post-colonial state by the ruling Shona-dominated government "in its drive to destroy Ndebele particularism".
He explains: "This sets in motion the current Matabeleland politics of alienation, resentment and grievance."
This continued marginalisation of Matabeleland (a region in south-western Zimbabwe inhabited mainly by the Ndebele-speaking people) by the Zanu-PF-led government has rendered Zimbabwe so fragile a nation that even a street mural can expose its disunity.
The mistrust between brothers, tribes, regions, etc. is but an extension of Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”. It is therefore not surprising that the mistrust is worse in those society where there is no law and order and the only law that counts of the rule of the jungle – eat or be eaten.
There is no denying there has been no rule of law in Zimbabwe even since the country attained her independence in 1980. Decades of corruption and gross mismanagement have left millions of our people living in abject poverty; it is a dog eat dog out there.
Talks of one’s areas or province being “marginalised” have become common place. In a country where unemployment has soared to 90%, basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed it is natural that one should believe their situation must be the worst.
42 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption has eroded trust between brother and brother and the mistrust between cousins, etc. is even worse. The challenge is to restore rule of law and revive the economy without being distracted by the mistrust and its consequences.
IN the aftermath of the gruesome murder of Zimbabwean man Elvis Nyathi (43) by vigilantes in Johannesburg's Diepsloot township, tough questions must be asked.
ReplyDeleteNyathi cannot die in vain. The time has come to hold the political leaders of both South Africa and Zimbabwe accountable.
When will South African politicians be held accountable for inciting killings?
When will Zanu-PF leaders be held accountable for destroying Zimbabwe's economy and sparking a mass exodus of desperate refugees? Is the life of an African worth anything at all?
The more pertinent question that must now be asked is Why have Zimbabweans allowed Zimbabwe’s corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical political leaders destroyed the nation’s hopes and dream? Zimbabwe’s economic mess and political paralysis have been a 42 year long descend into hell and we, the people, have done nothing to stop it.
The country has had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship the best of which were during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; we have wasted all these opportunities. In the long run, nations get the government they deserve. We in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and utterly useless opposition parties!
Zec is listed in Auditor-General Mildred Chiri's 31 December 2020 financial year-end report on Appropriation Accounts, Finance and Revenue Statements and Fund Accounts presented to Parliament recently in 2022 as one of those public bodies that violated the law and governance requirements by failing to submit statutory returns since 2019.
ReplyDeleteThe other entities include the Information ministry, National Council of Chiefs, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Zimbabwe Media Commission. Their failure to meet their statutory obligations meant that Chiri could not ascertain "the completeness of the consolidated schedule of outstanding revenue submitted for audit".
Zimbabwe is a failed state, and it is naïve to believe there can ever be any meaningful change in the country’s governance without first implementing the democratic reforms. “Winning in rigged elections” is an oxymoron especially after 42 years of rigged elections; it is really tragic that it is none other than the country’s main opposition parties who are leading from the front in this wild goose chase! What is more, there are millions of ordinary people desperate for change they have fallen into this mouse trap!
By Israel Dube | While we do not condon the killing of foreigners in SA by South African mobs that have taken the law into their own hands, the death of Elvis Nyathi at the hands of vigilantes in South Africa and many others who have died before either crossing the Limpopo river or when they are already in the country must be blamed on the Shona supremacist government of Zimbabwe. The silent killer is in Harare, Zimbabwe AKA Mashonaland!
ReplyDeleteZanu PF is a corrupt, tyrannical and vote rigging regime and we should focus on removing it. The narrative to present is as a Shona regime is mischievous and counter-productive, to say the least.
"I am not a leader of a violent people; I am not a leader of a violent community and I will never accept violence. This is why I left MDC to form a peaceful organisation with God fearing supporters," Chamisa pleaded.
ReplyDelete"I do not want this coalition to resemble a Mnangagwa organisation or even that of Mugabe. I am not happy with those youths who are blocking Khupe. I did not invite her, but she has the right, as a citizen, to be in this meeting," said a visibly angry Chamisa.
This is nonsense! It was none other than Chamisa himself who was denouncing Dr Khupe and the others who had remained in MDC T as “bad apples!” at the launch of CCC in January, three months ago. What metamorphotic transformation has happened in three months to turn Dr Khupe from a bad apple to a good one!
Chris Dell, USA ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, said of Tsvangirai in a leaked cable back to Washington, “he is a flawed, indecisive and bad judge of character. If he should ever get into power, would be an albatross round the nation’s neck!” Dell could have said the same about the leaders around Tsvangirai.
MDC did get into power and have since failed to implement the reforms to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and by participating in flawed elections are helping to perpetuate the dictatorship. Ambassador Dell was right, MDC are the milestone round the nation’s neck dragging us all into the abyss.
@ Razi Emile
ReplyDelete“Khupe has become a vital Litmus Test to measure the Acidity or Alkalinity of CCC.
Anyone who wishes to run for Presidency in Zimbabwe would need to demonstrate that they can forgive.
Anyone who proves, through a litmus test, that they are incapable to forgive, should never seek to hold any public office in my country. Zanu openly says in its rallies that a CCC Member of Parliament cannot walk into Mnangagwa's office and seek for funds to develop his constituency. This is why Zimbabwe has become so poor. We do not see those we view as opponents, as humans.
I head Madam Khumalo saying she won't forgive Khupe, but, Madam Khumalo cannot run any public office in my country if she can't forgive.
After Zanu, we certainly do not need another Zanu. Read my previous comments from four years ago and see how l am against Khupe. Khupe is totally rotten, but, she is Zimbabwean and who ever is going to lead this country would need to be ready to forgive our rotten ones.
Chamisa has passed the test for publicly allowing Khupe into the meeting, but, that test is not Litmus.
The Litmus Test happens in the intrinsic character of Chamisa far from public eye. If Chamisa has room for rotten Zimbabweans intrinsically without playing the science of public eye, then Zimbabwe now has a leader we yearn for.
Early in the 80s, Mugabe was surrounded by many different close friends with each working hard to influence him to be evil. One of those was Mnangagwa who went around the country calling people coackroches. People like that became more dangerous than Mugabe himself. If Chamisa cannot learn from that, then he will end up evil because of the evil, unforgiving individuals around him.
I would feel safe in a Zimbabwe run by Chamisa if he forgave someone as dirty as Thokozani Khupe.
The Acidity or Alkalinity of CCC will be free for public inspection.”
Chamisa, as with all the other MDC leaders in the GNU, has proven to be corrupt, incompetent and utterly use by failing to implement even one reform to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Are you saying Chamisa is now a good leader regardless of his track record just because he has forgiven Thokozani Khupe? This is the shallowness and naivety that has landed us in this mess
"The little that Mugabe has said since the 1980s has been a mixture of obfuscation and denial, saying the massacres were a ‘moment of madness'."
ReplyDeleteMachakaire said journalists were taken to sites to be shown dead bodies with no questions asked.
"And you can't balance your story. You are just sitting there. You are shown bodies and they give you a statement and that's it," he added.
United States embassy charge d' affaires Thomas Hastings said press freedom and respect for human rights are critical in preventing conflicts and ensuring peace.
"The United States seeks to prevent conflicts in part by promoting the democratic values that underpin a stable international system because we believe that system is critical to freedom and prosperity and peace," Hastings said.
Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to overhaul its institutions and system of government by implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The opportunity was wasted and ever since the country has blundered from pillar to post trying to make the dysfunctional system work, trying to “win rigged elections”.
After 42 years of rigged elections and with millions of our people now living in abject poverty and denied hope of any meaningful change, it is high time the nation bite the bullet and finally implement the bloody reforms and end this insanity.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and by participating CCC is giving Zanu PF legitimacy, this must be denounced here and now!
@ Razi Emile
ReplyDelete“You always miss the point Sir Mukori. To forgive someone does not mean to say they are now clean of fault. Thus why parents must take their children to the SDA Church at an early age, so that the children may understand the dynamics of life at a later stage.
A man of your age and status should understand the difference between forgiving and absolving.”
I need to remind you that the most important challenge of our generation is to end the 42 years and counting of corrupt and tyrannical rule. The country has had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and it is none other than Chamisa and his MDC friends who sold out.
“I would feel safe in a Zimbabwe run by Chamisa if he forgave someone as dirty as Thokozani Khupe,” you said above.
How can Chamisa and his MDC friends who have already proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they are corrupt, incompetent and sell out be suitable to get us out of this mess?
Residents in the mass slum say they will not rest until the last Zimbabwean was deported.
ReplyDeleteBulelani, himself living in South Africa, said it hurts that South Africans and Zimbabweans have clearly failed to coexist and conceded Zimbabweans have overstayed their welcome.
The ordinary Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC/CCC leaders into power with the express task to implement reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Sadly MDC/CCC leaders failed to implement even one token reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is that the majority of the people have no clue what the GNU was about much less that MDC leaders sold out. The irony is many of the Zimbabweans in the diaspora, they should be better informed than the rural votes, are the among the most blind MDC/CCC supporters.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and will get away with it thanks to CCC’s participation. Another rigged elections will result in yet another wave of Zimbabwean exodus fuelling the xenophobia in SA. In their naivety, the people of Zimbabwe are playing their part by supporting CCC sell outs.
Democracy is a good thing but it comes with a price tag, the people must be well informed and diligent; not a naïve and gullible electorate, which is what we have.
@ Josephine Jombe
ReplyDelete“We are about a year or so away from the 2023 General Election, and there is an atmosphere of hope that we are on the cusp of history being made in Zimbabwe. The recent by-election success for the Citizens Coalition For Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa and the positive response to the ongoing mass campaign to get people to register to vote show that things are moving in the right direction.
However, despite the positivity in the Zimbabwean public, there is hard to ignore evidence that the political environment remains hostile to the opposition. It seems everywhere the CCC goes to campaign, they are faced with intimidation and hostilities from the police and a range of other agent provocateurs.
We as a people need to continue drawing attention to this hostile environment and intimidation of opposition members and supporters.
The eyes of the world need to see this. The political environment is more hostile now than it was going into the 2018 general election.”
MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and stop the curse of rigged elections during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to get even one meaningful reform implemented in five years because Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, very generous salaries, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc.
“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the trappings of high office, they will never rock the boat!) boasted one Zanu PF crony when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms during the GNU.
Ever since the GNU debacle, MDC leaders have claimed to have “winning in rigged elections strategies”. All nonsense, just a cover to justify why they have continued participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. They have participated for the same reason they failed to implement reforms during the GNU – greed. Zanu PF has offer a few gravy train seats to entice them and they have found the bribe irresistible!
The real surprise is that many ordinary Zimbabweans have failed to understand what the GNU was about much less that MDC leaders sold out. And worse still, in their naivety they believe the oxymoronic nonsense of “winning rigged elections” even after 42 years of rigged elections! Very sad!
The whole world knows that MDC leaders sold out, every one except the naive and gullible Zimbabweans themselves!
@ Victor Bhoroma
ReplyDelete“Notable achievements
The IMF Board applauded the government on the swift response in managing the COVID-19 pandemic with mass vaccination and social support which helped contain the adverse impact. In 2021, the government spent about 1.6% of GDP on vaccinations and COVID-19 related interventions which were partially financed by the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation. Zimbabwe received about US$961 million from the IMF SDR allocations in August 2021. As of November 2021, US$311 million had been utilized. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) also introduced a medium-term bank accommodation lending facility and private sector lending facility to cushion the economy from the pandemic induced losses.
Forecast and Risks for 2022
The Zimbabwean government forecasts a 5.5% economic growth in 2022 while the IMF predicts a modest growth of 3.1% in 2022. Major drivers for the growth will be the reopening of the economy (particularly the tourism sector) as COVID-19 subsides, bullish mining commodity prices, improved capacity utilization from industry and infrastructure spending by the government.
Notable risks emanate from the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war which exert imported inflationary pressures, high levels of inflation on the back of unabated money supply growth and foreign exchange market instability. Similarly, the country has already entered the election season where agriculture inputs subsidies and infrastructure spending will likely push money supply growth northwards and election related violence might dent investor sentiments on the country.
However, IMF press releases show a similar pattern in recommendations on structural weaknesses and constraints in the economy. The repetition on the same issues points to lack of appetite for reform from the government. The repeated aspects include:
Foreign exchange reforms
As with the last 2 press releases, the IMF recommended further monetary tightening, given the persistently high inflation in Zimbabwe. Annual inflation for March 2022 increased to 73% from 61% at the beginning of the year. The Bretton Woods institution emphasized the need to increase the operational independence of the central bank, ending quasi-fiscal operations and moving towards exchange rate flexibility by allowing a more transparent and market-driven price process.”
When it comes to reforms, economic and political reforms, IMF and everyone knows this is a lost battle. Zanu PF will never ever implement any meaningful reforms because the reforms are all linked to the party’s political patronage system. Mnangagwa and Zanu PF’s continued stay in power is totally dependent on the blind loyalty of those wielding economic and political power and political patronage is the system which bribes these people; stop the bribes and the blind loyalty will evaporate and disappear like mist in the warming sun!
The 2008 to 2013 GNU offered the best chance for Zimbabwe to implement meaningful democratic reforms followed by free and fair elections. The emerging government would have had the courage and political will to implement economic reforms and dismantle the political patronage system. Sadly MDC leaders sold out and failed to implement even one reform.
The only way out is to have yet another GNU and, this time, appoint competent individuals who will implement the reforms. There is no other way out.
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's ruling Zanu-PF party purportedly plans to fast-track a controversial law that would punish citizens deemed "unpatriotic".
ReplyDeleteThe National Assembly last week adopted a motion calling for the crafting of the Patriotic Bill, whose draft was accepted by government in October 2020.
The proposed law will criminalise and impose stiff penalties on private correspondence by what were termed as "self-serving citizens", with foreign governments or any officer or agent.
Activists say the law is targeted at government critics and opposition leaders like Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa and his deputy Tendai Biti, whom government claims called for sanctions to be imposed on the country, as the country heads towards the 2023 general elections.
Government information tsars were last week infuriated when journalist-cum-activist Hopewell Chin'ono addressed a human rights summit in Geneva, Switzerland, where he detailed human rights abuses and failure to invest in public health in the country.
The tough reality is that Zimbabwe is a pariah state with no rule of law and the ruling elite have ridden roughshod over the people denying them their basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.
The regime is proposing to pass this unpatriotic law so that it can now beat its opponents and critics and hide behind its finger under the pretext it is the law of the land and not have the headache of always trying to come up with fabricated charge!