The soaring fuel and food prices caused, partly, by the 2019
corona virus and exasperated by the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia in
February 2022; have triggered serious economic problems, everyone the world over
is worried.
Inflation in UK is 9% and is projected to rise to 13% by the
end of the year. As feared, an impoverished nation like Zimbabwe is already
coughing blood: the country’s hyperinflation has already hit 600%, the highest
in the world! No one would want to hazard a guess of what the country’s hyperinflation
would be next week much less in six months, what is clear is that it is growing
exponentially. In 2008 it peaked at 500 billion percent!
There are many reasons why Zimbabwe is in such economic mess
compared to its own neighbours such as South Africa, Zambia or Botswana. The
number one reason is because Zimbabwe has been stuck with a corrupt,
incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 42 years and counting.
42 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, riotous
lawlessness and ruthless political oppression, earning the country the pariah
state label; have left the country in total economic ruins and political paralysis.
The ruthless political oppression has created a suffocating political system in
which no competent and quality leaders can survive; a sewage swamp no quality
fish can survive.
In the 42 years the country has had many opportunities to
end the Zanu PF dictatorship, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, but has wasted
all these chances. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the country’s main
opposition party of the last 22 years, including the GNU years, has failed to
implement even one reform to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. Not even one! Hence
the political paralysis.
Before independence, Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of the
Southern Africa. The Zanu PF regime seized the white owned farms to give to party
loyalists, mainly, and the country’s agricultural sector collapsed taking down
with it the economy. Zimbabweans are starving in a land which is for all practical
purposes the Biblical Garden of Eden; a damning testimonial of how we, Zimbabweans,
have failed to govern the country.
The nation has paid dearly for our failure to govern
ourselves as millions of our people have been forced into abject poverty and to
suffer in dumb anguish denied their freedoms and basic human rights for 42 years
and counting. And whenever there is a worldwide economic disruption, as is the
case now; whilst other nations catch flue, we because our economy is already weak
and feeble cough blood or worse.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political
paralysis is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections- a
man-made problem or to be more specific a Zanu PF and MDC/CCC made problem. Like
all human-made problems, there is a human solution. We must implement the democratic
reforms, MDC failed to implement during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, to ensure free, fair
and credible elections.
It is too late to implement any reforms before the 2023
elections, less than a year away. Zanu PF wants the elections to go ahead with
no reforms so it can blatantly rig and secure another five years in power. CCC are
hell bent on participating in the flawed elections for the same reasons they failed
to implement even one reform during the GNU – greed and breathtakingly
incompetent.
In the past Zanu PF has counted on Sadc, the regional body
to fraudulently endorse the rigged elections and thus grant the regime legitimacy.
This time we, the people must leave no stone unturned in exposing these
elections for what they are – farce. Sadc, IMF, USA and more recently EU have all
called for reforms before elections because they all know without reforms the
elections will never be anything else but a farce. This time Sadc will have no
excuse for giving Zanu PF legitimacy. None!
What Zimbabwe needs is another GNU opportunity to implement
the reforms to ensure free elections and thus finally end the curse of rigged elections
and bad governance.
Addressing the media Thursday CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said if their demands are not met, this will lead to a disputed 2023 election.
ReplyDelete"In the next few days the CCC will launch its electoral reforms blueprint the ‘Pre-Election Pact on Electoral Reforms (PREPARE)' which outlines seven minimum electoral reforms which will constitute our dialogue pressure points," she said.
"These include, the right to vote, a credible voters roll, a real-time and credible results management system, integrity of ZEC, processes, personnel and polling materials, access to media and political freedoms, security of the vote and security of the voter."
She added; "There has to be a consensus amongst all citizens , all political actors around what will constitute a free and fair election and in this regard we do not want to focus on personalities, we want to focus on the process.
"If there is failure to agree, the outcomes will be a disputed election which does not work in anybody's favour like I emphasised nobody can take away the right to vote from a citizen which is why it is a number one in our electoral reform agenda."
This is just the usual silver-back gorilla grandstanding! Everyone knows that Chamisa and company did not implement even one reform during the GNU hand are hell bent on participating in these flawed and illegal elections for four reasons:
a) Greed: there is no denying Zanu PF bribed MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and with their snouts in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms. Zanu PF is offering a few urban seats to entice the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed the process. Mnangagwa has spiced up the bribe by adding POLAD benefit to the losing presidential candidates
b) Incompetence: there is no denying that MDC leaders thought they would win rigged elections, they were breathtakingly naïve and incompetent and that has not changed.
c) Given up hope of implementing reforms, they are stupid but smart enough to know they lost their golden opportunity to implement reforms during the GNU when they had Sadc on their side; Zanu PF has the trump cards now (at least as far as they are concerned).
d) Having participated in 2013 and 2018 under the same conditions it will be hypocrisy for Chamisa and company to boycott 2023 elections. Why now?
Zanu PF knows that Chamisa and company are under increasing pressure to justify why they keep participate in these flawed elections given the mountain of evidence Zanu PF is rigging. The grandstanding is to appease the party’s naïve and gullible supporters who are easily fooled. At the end of the day CCC will participate in the 2023 election even with not even a token reform implemented every one with half a brain knows it but especially Zanu PF that is why they are ignoring the silver-back!
@ Matsanga
ReplyDelete“I will take credit for having raised concerns about IEBC and Chebukati, for I have been vindicated. Just like Chinua Achebe once imped, “The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did so!”
The ill-fated IEBC is a mangled wreck now, with 4 Commissioners against Chebukati and the other 2, I can without any shadow of doubt reiterate that an inevitable constitutional crisis is looming in Kenya. The relationship between Chebukati and the other 4 is broken down.
The reckless and foolhardy decision by the IEBC Chairman to run the Commission in a clandestine state of secrecy has borne the bitter fruits, for its tantamount if not manifest that this election has found its way through the windows of the Supreme Court.
All said and done, at the end of the day, the most interrogating questions will be: Does Kenya have the resources to conduct a rerun? Will the Azimio brigade oblige to have the same taunted and tainted Commission to conduct the repeat election?”
People must thank Raila Odinga for implementing many democratic reforms during Kenya’s 2007 to 2012 GNU, without those reforms Kenya will not have the independent Police, IEBC, etc. Kenya would continue to have the chaos and violence of 2007 repeated over and over again.
It was a great pity that Odinga did not win the 2012 elections because he would have gone to implement the reforms and consolidate the country’s democratic institutions. As luck would have it Uhuru Kenyatta was elected president and, as we can see, the old rot came flooding back in.
Zimbabwe had the same opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU but, alas, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one meaningful reform in five years. SADC, the regional body who had forced Zanu PF to agree to the need for reforms, tried to have the 2013 elections postponed until reforms were implemented. Again, alas, MDC leaders paid no heed.
One can only hope that the chaos arising from late week’s election process will be resolved and Kenya’s democratic institutions will emerged stronger for it.
As for Zimbabwe we wasted the golden opportunity to end our curse of rigged elections and so must now await a new chance to implement reforms before we can finally start our process of rebuilding our corrupted democratic institutions.
“We will be announcing conditions that the party has set for those interested in running for office, be it at council or parliamentary level,” said Siziba.
ReplyDelete“Part of our efforts to mobilise voters will include a specific number of new registered voters that any sitting Member of Parliament (MP), or councillor should gunner in order to be redeployed by citizens, back into public office.”
In the four years since the last elections the party has registered ¼ million or 4% of its 6 million target. Mass voter registration was CCC’s flagship strategy and it has not just failed but failed dismally. Zanu PF is blatantly rigging these 2023 elections and CCC, for its part is hell bent on participating in these elections come-what-may!
Of course, CCC know these elections are being rigging and that by participating they are giving Zanu PF legitimacy. Of course, they are selling out and don’t care as long as they win a few gravy train seats for themselves.
Indeed, MDC leaders have never implemented any meaningful change these last 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, because they don’t give a damn that elections are rigged as long as they get a few gravy train seats for themselves.
The important question is how long are the people of Zimbabwe going to allow MDC to cheat them?
As a rule of thumb, people get the government they deserve. We in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with the corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC that