On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The world has witnessed yet another horror story of death and destruction, the barbarism and inhumanity man.
Last week the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted on
resolution expressing "grave concern at the ongoing human rights and
humanitarian crisis in Ukraine". The resolution to expel Russia from the
UN Human Rights Council and it passed with 93 YES, 24 NO and 58 abstentions.
This was the first time ever in the UN’s history that a member nation has been
expelled from one of the UN organs.
Some people would have wanted Russia expelled from UN body
altogether. This would have required a unanimous YES vote by the Security
Council; impossible in this case since Russia is one of the five permanent
members who wield a veto.
Zimbabwe was one of the 24 nations that voted NO.
“In his first public comments over Russia's invasion of
Ukraine, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said it (invasion) was a
"robust" response by President Vladmir Putin to
"provocation" by NATO, a military alliance of 30 countries including
the United States and Britain,” commented Zimlive in Bulawayo 24.
"Our activities in the past two months, and going forward, should be
understood from that broad, regional, continental and global perspective,"
quoting President Mnangagwa.
"Zimbabwe, itself already a victim of western
unilateralism, is in the full glare of all these global headwinds. Against
NATO's provocative eastward expansion in Europe, and the Russian Federation's
robust response to that threat of encirclement by NATO, a new situation has
arisen which requires that we re-map the world with a view to finding our own
place and securing our interests.
"Like in the case of Zimbabwe which has endured more than two decades of
illegal sanctions, the conflict raging in Eastern Europe has made many nations
realise how powerful nations and global interests still function on old and
archaic notions of ‘spheres of influence', and that they will not hesitate to
use unilateral economic coercion to bully independent-minded states unwilling
to kowtow to their whims and interests."
What is Mnangagwa wittering about? It is Russia, not NATO
and the West, which is “still functioning on old and archaic notions of spheres
of influence”!
The economic and political of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (U.S.S.R.) in 1989 marked the end Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw
Pact) as all the countries is Eastern Europe left in droves and abandoned the
socialist system of government in favour of the Western Europe democratic
system. USSR itself broke up as many groupings/regions demanded independence
from Moscow.
Ukraine is one former USSR republics that broke away and has
since abandoned socialism in favour of democracy and capitalism. It is the
people of Ukraine who have been sorting closer ties with the West, they have
already expressed interest in joining the European (economic and political)
Union (EU) and then to join NATO (military alliance).
President Putin has objected to Ukraine, an independence and
sovereign nation, joining NATO and is the one using brute force, bombing whole
cities in Ukraine killing defenceless civilians, women and children.
President Mnangagwa did not condemn the murderous barbarism
Russia in inflicting on the people of Ukraine because he got the wrong end of
the story. He is supporting President Putin’s contemptuous disregard of rule of
law and the freedoms and rights of Ukrainians to decide their own future and
even the right to life because Mnangagwa too has no respect for rule of law and
the freedoms and rights of others.
Ever since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, President
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have waged a war of attrition on the people
in their resolve to retain absolute political power at all costs. The regime
has murdered over 30 000 Zimbabweans for political gain in its 42 years reign
of terror.
"Like in the case of Zimbabwe which has endured more
than two decades of illegal sanctions!” The sanctions were imposed on a select
few Zanu PF leaders for the regime’s repeated failure to hold free and fair
elections and many other human rights violations.
The country is gearing for the 2023 national elections and
there is already evidence of blatant vote rigging, of voters being frog marched
to attend Zanu PF rallies and of wanton violence including beating and cold-blooded
murder of political opponents.
Zanu PF is set to blatantly rig the 2023 elections. And, sadly
for the country, the corrupt and incompetent opposition will participate in the
flawed and illegal elections to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
The Western countries have imposed wide ranging economic
sanctions of Russia and President Putin. It is time the West upgraded the
sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leaders and add the sell-out opposition leaders to
the list. The economic and political situation in Zimbabwe has reached crisis
point, the nation is desperate for meaningful political change, for free and
fair elections.
President Nelson Chamisa has called for the immediate intervention of SADC in the escalating political crisis in Zimbabwe.
ReplyDeleteZimbabweans are fleeing the country to seek greener pastures in neighbouring countries and beyond due to the deepening socio-economic crisis.
Zimbabweans are facing persecution in Diepsloot, South Africa as a result of the economic quagmire in the country.
This is just tedious political posturing by Nelson Chamisa and SADC leaders will ignore it. SADC leaders were the prime movers behind the 2008 Global Political Agreement in which Zanu PF agreed to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantled the Zanu PF dictatorship and end the curse of rigged elections. It was none other than Nelson Chamisa and his fellow MDC friends who failed to implement even one reform. Worse still, it is MDC who have insisted in participating in these flawed elections against SADC advice to given Zanu PF legitimacy.
The only meaningful intervention SADC can make is to reiterate its advice to postpone elections until reforms are implemented. Which advice MDC has stoically refused to follow in the past and will not do so now. It is clear CCC are hell bent on participating in these flawed and illegal 2023 elections.
Zimsec said the pass rate for this year increased by 1,57% to 26,34% compared to those from last year.
ReplyDelete“We are excited that we are releasing the results earlier than was the case for the 2020 results which were released on May 3 2021,” the statement reads.
How many of those who failed, the 74%, will still go on to do A levels? Indeed, one can ask How many of those who failed had failed the Form Two exams two years ago? It is naïve to expect these students to pass their A levels when they have failed all their school exams up to now!
What a criminal waste of resources, spending all the time and money giving someone a sub substandard quality of education just for the sake of quantity. The real tragedy is the students themselves who are being condemned to a lifetime of ignorance.
What could be worse for the nation than writing off 74% of the students, year after years! No nation can expect to thrive with an ill-educated populous!
What Russia is doing in Ukraine is unforgivable. The people of Ukraine, like so many other nations in former USSR and the satellite countries harangued by Russia to remain in Russia's sphere of influence, have tasted freedom and liberty and clearly determined to break free from Russia. And it is for that reason Russia has waged this war on Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteEmmerson Mnangagwa has the same mentality as Putin; Putin is bombing Ukraine to coerce the Ukrainians in his sphere of influence. Mnangagwa is prepared to shoot to kill Zimbabweans to retain his iron grip on power.
The economic sanctions imposed on President Putin and his cronies are tough and they are clearly having some positive effect on the Russian regime. Sanctions work. After over 20 years of punitive sanctions imposed against Mnangagwa and his cronies it is high time the sanctions are reviewed and made more effective.