"These power cuts are already piling more costs in some hospitals such as Ingutsheni and Ekusileni Hospital that now have to rely on generators, yet fuel prices have been going up," complained Bulawayo provincial medical director, Marphios Siamuchembu, in response to the now all familiar ZESA power cuts.
"The hospitals cannot do anything about load shedding and fuel prices but
the government should just make sure hospitals are exempt from load shedding,
or ensure that they have adequate fuel for back-up if they can't be exempt.”
ZESA has been forced to switch off customers and ration
supply because it is not generating enough to meet demand. The power generating
capacity the nation inherited from the white regime in 1980 is all there is.
Indeed, the power generation capacity has even dropped over
the years as many of the generators are either unreliable due to age and or
poor maintenance. The Zanu PF government has failed to invest to meet the growing
nation’s electricity power needs; any altogether familiar story.
Money that should have been spend building the country’s
power generation capacity and other basic needs was squandered on such luxuries
as the Blue Roof and extravagant lifestyles for the ruling elite. Mugabe’s Blue
Roof mansion costed US$ 4 billion plus, enough to build, equip and commission Batoka
Gorge Hydro – a second Kariba Hydro to the ordinary people.
The white colonial government would have commissioned Batoka
Gorge Hydro in the 1970s if it was not for the civil war. The Mugabe regime
should have built the Dam by the late 1980s if it was not for the corruption and
mismanagement.
Think of the accumulated economic benefits to the whole nation
of a second Kariba Dam pumping 600MW plus 24/7 for the last 30 years! Instead, the
nation got the Blue Roof mansion which, like the rest Mugabe’s many of selfish projects
is itself in any advanced stage of rot and decay. And the nation is paying dearly
for the criminal waste of money and opportunity. The chickens are now home to
roost!
Director Siamuchembu is asking for hospitals to be exempt
from ZESA load shedding as if hospitals can ever get all their economic needs untouched
by the economic meltdown affecting the rest in the country. No doubt, he is
sold body and soul on President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030, Zimbabwe attaining
upper middle-income status. A mirage since all evidence points to Zimbabwe
sinking deeper and deeper into economic despair.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and
lawless thugs who have rigged elections to stay in power. It is near impossible
to do business in such a corrupt and lawless country. And as long as Zimbabwe
remains a pariah state, there will be no hope of meaningful economic recovery.
None!
It is sad that intellectual like Dr Siamuchembu to bury
their heads in the sand and ignoring the economic meltdown and human tragedy in
the country caused by the decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant
corruption and rank lawless. The nation has ignored the problem of Zanu PF
misrule for decades and the nation has paid dearly for it in cash, lost
opportunities and in human suffering and many lives lost unnecessarily. Enough
is enough!
Forget asking for hospitals being exempt from ZESA load shedding,
it is foolish asking for something that is not even there. We, all Zimbabweans
without exception, must demand democratic reforms and free and fair elections as
the only way to end this curse of pariah state.
If anyone was ever going to hold the belligerent, pompous and
tyrannical Robert Mugabe to respect the freedoms and rights of the ordinary citizens
in independent Zimbabwe, then that could only be intelligentsia. Fortunately
for Zimbabwe, in 1980 the country had a sizeable number of very well-educated blacks.
Unfortunately, they failed the nation in the principal task of restraining the arrogant
Mugabe to keep him on the narrow and straight path.
Mugabe has never had any problems recruiting professional men
and women to do his dirty bidding to establish and retain the de facto one-party
Zanu PF dictatorship. Many joined out of the spirit of “if you cannot beat
them, join!” Other just went along to get along.
Even those Zimbabwean intellectuals who have join the
opposition, they too have not escaped Mugabe’s corrupting influence. When it came
to the critical task of implementing the democratic reforms, for example, even the
likes of David Coltart and Tendai Biti failed to submit even one reform proposal
in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU.
“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC people have learned
to enjoy the trapping of power; they will never rock the boat!) boasted the Zanu
PF intellectuals when asked why MDC were not implementing any reforms. They
were smart enough to know what Mugabe was playing at; they too had fallen for
the same honeypot trap and never rocked the boat.
Today, with the country’s economy in total ruins, the
political system in paralysis (both Zanu PF and the opposition has corrupt and
incompetent thugs with no clue how to get the nation out of this mess), millions
living in abject poverty and the whole nation standing at the very edge of the abyss;
it is for the intelligentsia to snap out of sloth like slumber and stop the nation
walking over the edge. If anyone can save Zimbabwe from this man-made
hell-on-earth we are in, it is the intellectuals, if only they will finally wake
up now before it is too late!
“Hospitals must be exempt from ZESA load shedding!” Of
course, everyone knows that hospitals provide critical and essential, life and death,
service but if you’re not generating enough to meet essential the load then
even hospitals will be switched off.
You are right, if there is one group of Zimbabwe society that has let the nation down, it must be our intelligentsia. Of course, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Kirsty Coventry and many others in this Zanu PF government today, like all the other highly qualified men and women who have walked in and out of Zanu PF’s door, all knew that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2018 elections making Zimbabwe a pariah state. And yet when Mnangagwa called them to join his regime; they all jumped sky high at the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteIn October 2018, just weeks after his appointment as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Zimeye’s Simba Chikanza asked Professor Ncube whether the 2018 elections were free, fair and credible. He maintained that there were. It is this willingness to sell out on even the most fundamental issues such as free and fair elections; the very foundation on which freedom, liberty, justice and economic prosperity are built; that have made Zimbabwe a failed state.
Of course, Professor Ncube, Coventry, etc. will all claim that they accepted to work for the Zanu PF dictatorship out of selfless patriotism and will even enumerate their many achievements. The truth is by working for the regime they have given the dictatorship legitimacy and thus helped perpetuate the regime. And, worst of all, they have undermined the work of all those fighting for reforms and good governance.
Of course, Hospital Director Siamuchembu knows that Zimbabwe’s economic infrastructure is crumbling because Zanu PF ruling elite have creamed off the nation’s wealth to feed their insatiable greed for wealth and luxury. He is happy with his appointment as Director of Bulawayo Provincial Hospitals and so will not want to rock the boat by asking the real pertinent questions such as why the regime has failed to invest in power generation.
With the country standing at the very edge of the precipitous abyss, it right and proper to tell Professor Ncube, Hospital Director Siamuchembu and the rest of the country’s sell out intelligentsia to stop their idiotic navel gazing!
Zanu-PF councillors in Mberengwa have fallen out with teachers after they forced them into a series of meetings to arrange how to rig the 2023 elections in favour of the ruling party.
ReplyDeleteProgressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou confirmed the developments in an interview with The NewsHawks and identified the culprits as Mberengwa Rural District Council's ward 10 Councillor Devilliers Mashavakure and ward 2 councillor Cain Mahombera.
Contacted for comment, councillor Mahombera confirmed visiting schools in Mberengwa to have meetings with teachers but said the exercise was not for rigging purposes but only meant to create Zanu-PF cell structures.
We all know that Zanu PF is rigging these elections. We also know that Nelson Chamisa will participate in these elections regardless of all the evidence the election process is flawed and illegal and, worst of all, know that by participating CCC will give Zanu PF legitimacy. CCC are still going ahead and participate regardless because they also knows that Zanu PF is giving away a few urban gravy train seats as bait. CCC have found the bait irresistible.
Ian Smith offered Muzorewa and Sithole the same bait in the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia settlement. The two found the bait irresistible but fortunately for Zimbabwe Mugabe and the late Joshua Nkomo had the common sense not to sell out of free and fair elections. Smith was denied the legitimacy and was forced to attend the Lancaster House talks in 1979.
We are not going to break with curse of rigged elections and bad governance as long as CCC continue to selling out on reforms and give Zanu PF legitimacy.
In 2013 Sadc warned MDC of the sheer madness of participating in the elections without reforms. We all know MDC ignored the warning and why – MDC did not care the elections were rigged nor that by participating they were giving Zanu PF legitimacy. All they cared about were after the few urban seats being offered by Zanu PF as bait.
ReplyDeleteMDC participating in the 2018 elections knowing fully well that with no reforms Zanu PF will once again rig and they did not give a damn since the bait seats were still on offer.
The EU are warning CCC of the sheer folly of participating in 2023 elections without reforms. We all know the warning will fall on deaf ears as usual.
The real question one must ask is why EU is not taking CCC to task on this issue of selling out on reforms and free and fair elections. Surely everyone knows that MDC/CCC has been selling out on reforms ever since the GNU and yet pretend it is only Zanu PF that is at fault. Why?
NEW YORK: A group of independent UN human rights experts have condemned reports of escalating violence targeting foreign nationals in South Africa, and called for accountability against rising xenophobia, racism and hate speech aimed at migrants, refugees, asylum seekers – and even citizens perceived as outsiders – throughout the country.
ReplyDeleteIn a statement released on Friday, the rights experts cited "Operation Dudula" as an example of hate speech. Originally a social media campaign, Operation Dudula has become an umbrella for the mobilization of violent protests, vigilante violence, arson targeting migrant-owned homes and businesses, and even the murder of foreign nationals.
The experts, known as Special Rapporteurs, warned that the ongoing xenophobic mobilization is broader and deeper, and has become the central campaign strategy for some political parties in the country.
Zimbabweans have left the country for S Africa and beyond in droves in the last 20 years making them the single biggest foreign nation and target of some of the xenophobia attacks. 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule have left the country in economic ruins. Zimbabweans are leaving the country as economic and/or political refugees.
The nation has been stuck with Zanu PF for 42 years and counting because the party has rigged elections.
SADC, the regional body, has played its part in keeping Zanu PF in power by repeatedly endorsing rigged elections thus giving Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF is on course to rig the 2023 elections and if SADC, again makes the shameless mistake of giving Zanu PF legitimacy, there will be a new wave of exodus out of Zimbabwe. S A’s leaders must remember they have played a major role in keeping Zanu PF in power!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has been accused of clamping down on critics and closing the democratic space ahead of the 2023 elections where he is facing stiff challenge from Citizens Coalition of Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa has in recent weeks vowed that "sell-outs" would not be allowed to rule Zimbabwe.
The ruling Zanu-PF often accuses its critics of being sellouts and regime change agents sponsored by the West.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC), a grouping of human rights organisations in the country, yesterday raised alarm over the arrests and urged Mnangagwa to stop targeting critics.
Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs who would rather burn the whole country down than allow anyone else to rule the country. If anyone still had any doubts about just how ruthless the party is; the sheer barbarism and total indifference to the suffering of others the party showed during the 2008 elections should have left no one in any doubt what kind of thugs we are dealing with.
SADC leaders were right in tasking the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the reform designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. It was insane that MDC not only wasted the opportunity to implement reforms but compounded the problem by insisting on participating in elections without reforms.
Zanu PF has the carte blanche powers to rig election and, if necessary, use wanton violence to achieve their objective. They are using these powers and it is naïve to expect them not to!
SADC leaders begged MDC not to participate in the 2013 elections without reforms and Tsvangirai and company paid no heed. The EU are begging CCC to implement reforms before the 2023 elections and I will be damned if CCC will be allowed to pay no heed and get away with it!
In his weekly column for this paper, President Mnangagwa said some missions were deliberately circumventing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and clandestinely engaging private citizens and civic groupings in violation of standing protocols.
ReplyDeleteAhead of next year's general elections, said the President, this "worrisome propensity is likely to get even more blatant", adding that Government will "help these errant missions to learn to respect us as a free and independent people."
"A number of Missions have sought to relate to our nationals, whether singly or as groups, without going through our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, or other arms of our Government, as enjoined by Article 41(2) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
"This gross violation has gone as far as hosting our nationals – all of them private individuals – on premises of Mission, thus flagrantly violating provisions of the Vienna Convention.
"Often, dirty business is transacted, which we of course end up knowing."
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs know they are corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have dragged the nation into this economic and political mess these last 42 years. And yet they will not allow the people of this country to have a meaningful say on who is rule the country because, regardless of all the evidence of their failures, they still believe Zanu PF must remain in power because the party has the divine right to rule.
Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to ride roughshod over the people denying them their freedoms and rights could and should have stripped away during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Alas, that was not to be because Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were entrusted the task of implementing the reforms sold out. They failed to implement even one token reform.
Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trapping of high office and, in return, they forgot about the reforms.
And, to add insult to injury, it is the MDC that is keeping Zanu PF in power by participating in these flawed elections giving the regime legitimacy all for the sake of a few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.
The people of Zimbabwe are desperate for meaningful political change only possible if they had a meaningful democratic say in the governance of the country. Zanu PF will have to pull all the stops to stop the people pushing for meaningful change even in the face increased Zanu PF tyrannical oppression. The regime is picking a fight with all the outsiders certain to complain of the increased tyranny!
If these Catholic Bishops are serious about end Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance then they must join SADC, the EU and many others who have been demanding the implementation of democratic reforms, the prerequisite for free and fair elections. And stop wasting time calling for dialogue.
ReplyDeleteDialogue on what? What is there new that has not been said these last 42 years? Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies will happily hold these synodal dialogues to the end of time as long as the party retains its iron grip on power.
If the Bishop don’t want to speak the truth to power then they “must say nothing”, as Daniel so aptly put it!