Gappah followed Mnangagwa into hell, ignoring "abandon all hope, you who enter here”, for 30 pieces of silver N Garikai

No one is ever surprise to hear Professor Jonathan Moyo, Zimbabwe’s most notorious political turn-coat, defending Petina Gappah. The two have a lot in common; they are sell-outs. 

Professor Moyo is one of the Zanu PF leaders rightly credited in helping Mugabe stay in power especially post 2000; by hook and by crook naturally, given Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent and a murderous tyrant. 

Ever since losing his cushy position in Zanu PF, Moyo has turned on his former Zanu PF bedfellows pontificating endless about how his own father was a victim of Gukurahundi. Conveniently forgetting that he played a major part in consolidating the one-party dictatorship post Gukurahundi, regardless of the regime’s corrupt and murderous reputation and tendency. 

It has been said Professor Jonathan Moyo would sell his own mother for a price and be proud he had a mother to sell. He certainly sold his father and millions of ordinary Zimbabweans alright!

The now late Robert Mugabe himself called Moyo “a weasel and devil incarnate”. It late late dictator was the devil incarnate in his own right and it took one to know one!

“Instead of welcoming @VascoDaGappah &@daddyhope, to benefit from their experiences, first-hand information & perspectives, the holier-than-thou do-gooders in “CIVIL” society have amazing if not shocking energy, time & words to demonize & CANCEL OUT real and potential allies!” twittered the “devil incarnate” Moyo from his fox hole, in exile. 

“There’s no change in Africa, that has taken place or succeeded without former insiders & outsiders coming together to coalesce around shared goals for transformational change. The mantra that “once ZanuPF always ZanuPF”, is false & primitive. Even Tsvangirai was once ZanuPF!”

Oh yeah! What good has ever come out of all your years of selling out in Zanu PF, Professor Moyo. The Zanu PF dictatorship would have collapse years ago was it not for very intelligence people like you, Professor Moyo, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Petina Gappah, Morgan Tsvangirai and many others in Zanu PF, opposition camp, etc. who have propped up the regime - for thirty pieces of silver!

Of course, Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC friends are sell-outs. It was no accident that they failed to implement even one meaningful reform in five years of the last GNU. Mugabe bribed them with ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. “Pretty good wages for one little kiss!”, as the High Priest so aptly reminded Judas Iscariot! 

When Mnangagwa failed to stamp out corruption, he blatantly rigged last year’s elections, etc., etc. it was clear as day that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state, nothing had changed. Mnangagwa was dragging the nation straight into hell and Petina, in pursuit of the thirty pieces of silver, chose to fellow him, as one of the President’s Advisors!

“Through me you enter into the city of woes

through me you enter into eternal pain,

through me you enter the population of loss.

. . .

abandon all hope, you who enter here.”

Reads the inscription on the Gateway into, according to Dante. 

There is no denying that Zimbabweans are experiencing the woes, pains, losses and have cause to abandon all hope; given Zimbabwe’s worsening economic situation with unemployment an nauseating 90%; hospitals closing down because there are no doctors, no nurses, no medicine and no equipment; etc.

Petina Gappah is an intellectual and author; she read the inscription and ignored it; she was warned of the futility of propping a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical regime and would not listen. Instead of wasting our time with her buckets of crocodile now that the damage is done and she has banked the thirty pieces of silver; Petina Gappah should go hang, just as Judas Iscariot did!

Professor Jonathan Moyo is pleading for Petina’s forgives out of self interest - he will be asking the nation to forgive him too for all his decades as Zanu PF’s self-appointed chief strategist and propagandist!

“There’s no change in Africa, that has taken place or succeeded without former insiders” spilling the beans! Rubbish; Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth situation because the country has had the great misfortune of having more than it fair share per capita of “devil incarnate” like you, Professor Jonathan Moyo and Petina Gappah!

"What coup! It was change of administration" said SADC - sheer folly, coup gene is, once again, out of the bottle P Guramatunhu

For the last 39 years the country has drifted like a log, with ordinary people hang on to the log for dear life, in the flood Zambezi River, totally at the mercy of a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Sadly, the country's economic meltdown has fuelled a raging factional fighting in the dictatorship and political and economic volatility have the log hurtling down the rapids. 

Two years ago on 15 November 2017 there was a military coup in which the Zanu PF dictators Robert Mugabe and a select few around him were removed from office. As much I wanted to see the back of Mugabe after 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule, I still objected strongly to the coup. Two wrongs do not equal a right; especially when those staging the coup were themselves corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants. 

It was no secret than Emerson Mnangagwa, Constantino Chiwenga and the rest of the coup plotters were the very individuals who had played a major part in the establishment and retention of the Zanu PF dictatorship, keeping Mugabe himself in power, all the last 37 years against the democratic wishes of the people. 

It is no surprise that Mnangagwa and his coup friends have portrayed the November 2017 coup in the most agreeable light they could master. They announced the coup as “a military assisted transition”. They even got one of the country’s high court judges to declare the coup “constitutional, justified and legal!” 

When Mugabe hesitated signing the resignation letter, the coup plotter burnt the midnight candle to make sure the people came out in the street in large numbers demanding that Mugabe resigned. The story goes that Mugabe was warned that if he still refused to resign “the people will march into his Blue Roof mansion!” No that the coup plotters were controlling Mugabe’s security, that was no empty threat.

Two years down the line, those who had condemned the coup as an act of lawlessness that could never put to right the Zanu PF dictatorship have been proven right. The coup remove one dictator but only to replace him with another dictator. 

The November coup was a lost opportunity to demand the democratic changes designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Swapping one dictator for another was certainly not want we wanted. It is therefore shocking to hear anyone, now with the benefit of hindsight, suggesting that Zimbabweans were pleased with the November 2017 coup. 

“Which coup? SADC is unaware of the said coup, is aware of change of administration that was extensively celebrated and supported by nationals!” remarked none other than the Executive Secretary of SADC Dr Stergomena Tax. 

Tax said SADC will not meddle in the affairs of Zimbabwe.

“I have already responded to this. Use the Parliament and Judiciary. Engage with the Executive. Regional bodies come in after exhausting internal mechanisms. Are you at that stage? Use the Parliament and Judiciary. Engage with the Executive. Regional bodies come in after exhausting internal mechanisms.”

The only way to get the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible election implement is by forcing Zanu PF to accept last year’s elections were NOT free, fair and credible. SADC is one of the few bodies who had, foolishly endorsed the election as having been free, fair and credible and so cannot change its position now. SADC is handicapped and cannot play any meaningful role is solving Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis.

By endorsing the November 2017 military coup as merely a “change of administration” SADC has foolishly let the military coup gene out of the bottle, once again. In 1960s and 1970s, Africa was plagued by military coups and now we are foolishly encouraging them again! 

It is ironic that SADC endorse Zimbabwe's rigged 2013 elections as having been free, fair and credible. Indeed, until the coup, SADC leaders had always counted Mugabe was one of them! 

The main reason why many Zimbabweans celebrated the November 2017 coup to remove Mugabe was simple: how else were they going to do it since 37 years of the ballot had failed. 

Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections confirming that Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut is still the same ruthless well oiled machine of the Mugabe days. Now that the Zimbabwe Courts have confirmed military coups are “legal, constitutional and justified” and SADC will view it as a normal “change of administration”; the next political change in Zimbabwe is another coup. 

The tragedy is the coup will replace one dictator with another when what the nation is dying for is replacing the dictatorship with democratic system of government.

Zimbabwe's democratic veneer is peeling off as, pressured, Zanu PF resorts to dictatorial diktats and barbarism W Mukori

Zimbabwe is a de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship. However, with the help of the country’s corrupt and incompetent opposition, the party has, so far at least, managed to keep the outward appearance that Zimbabwe is a health and functioning democracy. 

The country’s worsening economic situation is forcing the regime to resort to its tried, tested and most reliable tools - blatant cheating and brute force - to retain its iron grip on power. The more the party resort to its dictatorial powers to remain in power the more the democracy make-up washes off to reveal the the dictatorship in its full ugliness. 

Last week Foreign Affairs Minister, Sibusiso Moyo, the man who announced the November 2017 coup as “military assisted transition” was out to give a revised version of that nonsense. This time, the convoluted workings of Zimbabwe’s democratic system which, outsiders, may mistake for a dictatorship. 

“Some (opposition parties) openly call for rolling out of mass action, even violent protests in order to oust a democratically-elected government," Minister Moyo explained to members the diplomatic corps in Harare.

"We believe that Zimbabweans must be allowed, encouraged and afforded the space to find one another, by themselves. Your excellences, you have an important role to play in this regard and we look to you to bring your undoubted influence to bear towards that objective.” 

Minister Moyo and his Zanu PF colleagues can claim day in and day out that Zimbabwe is democracy; that will not change the facts on the ground. Zimbabwe is de facto one party dictatorship; a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. 

“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” boasted Robert Mugabe in 2008, as he unleashed his party thugs, rogue war veterans and the corrupted state security sectors to punish the electorate for daring to wish for a democratic Zimbabwe. 

Of course, no one in the international community was ever fooled by Zanu PF’s determined effort to keep wanton violence to a bear minimum, at least until the day after the vote. Everyone noticed the party had, meanwhile, employed other more subtle tricks to blatantly deny the people a meaningful vote. The EU, the Commonwealth and everyone with any democratic credentials worth a spit condemn last year’s elections as a farce! 

The country’s worsening economic situation; the dizzying 90% unemployment rate, the soaring hyperinflation, the closure of hospitals, etc.; meanings the restive population will be demanding change. And since Zanu PF has clearly failed to revive the economy, the party is going to resort to the use of blatant vote rigging and wanton violence to retain its iron grip on political power. 

The party knows its use of dictatorial powers is going to attract an avalanche of criticism from the international community. The party is stating its robust defence ahead of time. As far as Zanu PF is concerned, the party is playing by Zimbabwe’s democratic rules, not the “utopian” rules, as Mnangagwa so aptly put it. 

Outsiders are being reminded that the single most important rule in Zimbabwe’s electoral democracy is; What was accomplished by the bullet cannot the undone by ballot!

The irony is, it is not so much Zanu PF who have block meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe; it is the corrupt, incompetent sell-out opposition and us the electorate who are propping up the dictatorship. 

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends have sold-out by failing to implement even one reform, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. 

The fielding of 23 presidential candidates alone in last year’s elections, was a resounding endorsement of Zimbabwe’s electoral system, regardless of all its well documented flaws and illegalities! And the high attendance at these opposition parties’ rallies is a resounding endorsement of the Zimbabwe electorate’s continued support of these sell-out politicians. If we, Zimbabweans, are happy with these flawed and illegal elections, the international community can dismiss them as a farce; it is our voice, ill-advised as it is, that counts! 

If Zimbabweans are serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship then we must prove to ourselves and the world that we are serious. There are Zimbabweans out there, who still cannot make up their minds whether last year’s elections were free, fair and credible, for example. They still have no clue what constitutes free, fair and credible elections; in this day and age! 

If the people do not know what constitutes free, fair and credible elections; they will not be able to keep a democratic system of government even if it was given to them in a silver platter!

If we are serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship, then we, the people will have to stop following the sell-out opposition blindly like sheep, one. Two, we must demand the full restoration our freedoms and rights, including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life itself, from the Zanu PF thugs knowing fully well the usurpers will fight dirty to keep the dictatorship.

"Our fundamentals are now sound" Cross tells IMF - rubbish, not whilst remaining a pariah state P Guramatunhu

“Zimbabwe’s central bank has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to overlook the country’s shortcomings in achieving fiscal targets and allow a program to help restore the economy to run its course,” reported Ray Ndlovu in Spotlight Zimbabwe.

A very tail order!

What Zimbabwe has been asking for from the IMF, ever since IMF and WB stopped giving Zimbabwe financial assistance in the late 1990s, is debt relief and a resumption financial assistance. 

When Mnangagwa appointed his blue-eye Cambridge trained Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister of Finance, he promptly assured the nation he would soon have the IMF and WB on board and bankrolling Zimbabwe’s recovery programme. He bamboozled the nation with his 600 page Transition Stabilisation Programme but the more savvy IMF officials were clearly not impressed for they never gave Zimbabwe even a single dollar of financial assistance. 

Getting IMF to assist Zimbabwe has become mission impossible because this Zanu PF government continues to waste time, energy, treasure and opportunity addressing the trivial issues and pay lip service to the real big issues. 

“We asked them (IMF) to recognize the achievements we have made in such a short space of time,” Eddie Cross said in an interview in the capital, Harare. “We urged them to recognize that our fundamentals are now sound.”

Mr Eddie Cross is a former MDC MP and has emerged as one of Mnangagwa and Minister Ncube’s cheer leaders. It is no surprise to hear that he is now a member of this regime’s monetary policy committee that met the IMF delegates.

Eddie Cross rattled on and on about how this government has reduced budget deficit, established “interbank market and reducing state employee costs”, etc., etc. He said nothing about the regime’s failure to stamp out corruption and last year’s rigged elections; the big beasts, the real game changing fundamentals. 

When President Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup, he promised “zero tolerance on corruption”. In 2016 Mugabe had admitted the country was “swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone”; underlining the seriousness of corruption to the nation’s well being. How can a nation with a GDP of a mere US$10 billion hope to survive much less thrive if it is haemorrhaging US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone every few years!

To the day Mugabe was booted out of office, he had not arrested one diamond swindler and/or recover one swindled dollar. To date, two years since the coup, Mnangagwa has yet to arrest one diamond swindler and/or has yet to recover one swindled dollar. 

“Corruption is deep rooted!” was Mnangagwa’s feeble excuse for his failure. 

It is common knowledge that corruption has been institutionalised in Zimbabwe in much the same way as the Mafia in 1930s America was institutionalised. Mnangagwa, Chiwenga, Mugabe and the rest of the Zanu PF ruling elite are the Godfathers.  

Indeed, Mugabe’s reign was brought to a sudden and abrupt end in the November 2017 coup not because he was going to end corruption. It ended because the majority of Grand Lodge  Godfathers feared he was going to replace them. Mnangagwa was smart enough to end that his reign too will be cut short if he even dared to do anything to end corruption and the Godfathers’ livelihoods! 

Mnangagwa also promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. Again, he failed to keep his promise; Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s election. 

By failing to end corruption and blatantly rigging the elections, Mnangagwa has confirmed that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. No one, absolutely no one in his/her right mind would want to do business with thugs; what more these shrewd and savvy IMF grandees with first hand knowledge of this Zanu PF Mafia regime.

Zanu PF leaders have enjoyed absolute power and the wealth and influence it has brought for the last 39 years. They are now addicted to power and corruption and hence the reason Mnangagwa has singularly failed to stamp out corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections. 

Anyone with common sense has long realised that Zimbabwe will never achieve any meaningful economic recovery whilst the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. The IMF and WB will certainly never ever bankroll a pariah state. Never! 

People like Eddie Cross want us to belief that Zimbabwe can still have vibrant and prosperous economy regardless of the reality of rigged elections, rampant corruption, etc. This is not the first time Mr Cross has demonstrated his foolishness. 

During the 2008 to 2013 GNU Mr Cross and his MDC friend had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which would have end the Zanu PF dictatorship. They failed to get even one token reform implemented in five years. Not one! 

39 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule has left the country is a dire economic situation. Unemployment has soared to a dizzying 90%, 3/4 of the population now live on US$40 per month or less, country’s health care services has all but collapse and people are dying of easily curable diseases. The economic situation in Zimbabwe is so critical, the country is standing on the very edge of the abyss. 

It is so frustrating that the political change the country needs is being denied by Zanu PF, the party that has dragged the nation into this mess, cheered on by Zimbabweans like Eddie Cross. Reason, logic, truth and reality have all failed to penetrate the primeval mud between the ears of people like Mnangagwa and his acolyte Eddie Cross. 

"Let Zimbabweans find one another, by themselves" Moyo instruct diplomats - after 39 years, ravenous hyena sharing with Jackal N Garikai

It is a real tragedy that Zimbabwe is now in a serious mess; millions are facing heart breaking hardship from lack of water, no food, no work, no fuel, no medicine, etc. The situation is now so bad that hundreds are dying everyday of hunger and easily curable ailments. If Zimbabwe had a healthy and functioning democracy the country would have done something to stop the relentless slide into the abyss of the last 39 years. 

Sadly, Zimbabwe is de facto one-party dictatorship and the country has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging regime for 39 years and counting. The consequences of the decades of misrule is the economic ruins, over 30 000 murdered for political gain and a totally subdued and helpless electorate. 

This is a man-made crisis and, as is often the case with such problems, those responsible for the crisis are not only stubbornly refusing to admit responsibility but are flatly refusing to take the medicine to cure the problem.  

”Some (opposition parties) openly call for rolling out of mass action, even violent protests in order to oust a democratically-elected government," Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo told diplomats in Harare.

"Some stubbornly refuse to accept the outcome of the 2018 election; refuse to lend themselves or their ideas to the national dialogue process initiated by the President. Some continue to call for sanctions and the diplomatic isolation of their own country, believing that only external mediation can heal the deep polarisation which continues to afflict our nation and our people.”

When President Mnangagwa, Minister S Moyo and the rest of the November 2017 military coup plotters seized power from Mugabe they were cocksure they would revive Zimbabwe’s comatose economy in no time. Mnangagwa was so cocksure of his administration delivering the economic recovery he was announcing; “Zimbabwe is open for business!” just a few weeks after the coup. 

It is now two years since the coup and the economy has decided got worse, not better. Unemployment has remained at the nauseating 90% plus level, inflation has moved from single digit a year ago to1000% plus, public health care has all but collapse, 7.7 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation, etc. It is an open secret that the flood gate of investors has not materialised and “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water. 

Instead of acknowledging that whatever policies and plans he had to revive the economy have failed, Mnangagwa is know blaming Nelson Chamisa’s refusal to endorse him as the winner of last year’s election for the failures. This is just nonsense, of course.

Mnangagwa did not need Chamisa’s political endorsement, he had the presidency and 2/3 majority in parliament, to implement Zanu PF’s economic policies and plans. He did implement the policies and plans and they failed to produce the desire economic recovery because they were the wrong policies and plans. Period!

The claim that the refusal to acknowledge Mnangagwa’s legitimacy has undermined Zanu PF’s re-engagement efforts with the West is just shameless denial of the facts. The EU, Americans, etc. had teams of election observers last year and they all condemned the election as a farce. The Americans certainly did not need Chamisa or any other Zimbabwean to tell them the elections were rigged, they observed that for themselves and acted accordingly. 

Blaming the country’s worsening economic situation on sanctions is yet another lie because whatever financial loses they have brought it is nothing compared the the billions of dollars the nation has been losing because of corrupt and mismanagement. 

But even if sanctions were a big problem, it is nonsensical to blame the “opposition for calling the sanctions”.  Zanu PF is exaggerating the opposition’s power and influence to suit the regime to twisted narrative. 

The political dialogue Zanu PF is calling for is just an excuse to corral all the country’s opposition politicians into the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) for the purpose of silencing them. Zimbabwe’s opposition is weak and feeble already and POLAD will render it utterly useless.

 

The country’s worsening economic situation is causing heart breaking human suffering and deaths and it is natural that the people would want to voice their concerns. The regime is clearly determined to use brute force to silence all dissent under the pretext all protests are to “oust a democratically-elected government”. 

If Zimbabwe was a health and functioning democratic nation; peaceful protests would allowed. Still, there will be protests regardless of the regime’s use of wanton violence because human beings will never die quietly like sheep to the slaughter.

"We believe that Zimbabweans must be allowed, encouraged and afforded the space to find one another, by themselves. Your excellences, you have an important role to play in this regard and we look to you to bring your undoubted influence to bear towards that objective,” continued Minister Moyo.

But that is exactly the point; Zimbabweans will never “find one another” because the country’s current political systems has allowed the ruling elite to usurp the people’s freedoms and rights, the two are so unequal they will never find each other. The Zanu PF ruling elite enjoy carte blanche dictatorial powers they have willy-nilly rigged elections and impose their political will on the populous for the last 39 years.

 

Indeed, Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess precisely because the country is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have rigged elections to stay in power. It is notoriously difficult to do business in a pariah state because of all the chaos, corruption, lawlessness, etc. 

By blatantly rigging last year’s elections President Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state. So his claim that the November 2017 coup had ushered in a “new democratic dispensation, a Second Republic” was all hot air.

So for Zimbabwe to end the serious economic and political crisis gripping the country we must implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections. 

If we are ever going to get these reforms implemented, we need outside help to pressure Zanu PF to step down so we can appoint an interim administration to implement the reforms. Left to our own devices we will never get Zanu PF to step down much less get it to implement the reforms to take away its carte blanche dictatorial powers. 

Zanu PF will never ever reform itself out of office. Never ever!

Zanu PF ruling elite's appetite for absolute power and all financial benefits it has brought is insatiable and, after 39 years in power; they are addicted to it. Minister Moyo, President Mnangagwa and the rest of the November 2017 coup plotters risked life and limb in wrestling power from Mugabe and his wife; as I have said, they are hooked! 

Anyone who believes that Zanu PF ruling elite will ever implement the democratic reforms to end their dictatorial powers is naive. Any jackal foolish enough to believe the ravenous hyena would ever share a meal will be the appetizer!

The wolf clothing in the sheep’s skin “understanding Andrew Wutaunashe’s mind game”. Chenjerai Mubayiwa

I was not surprised by the so called prophet Wutaunashe’s hollow pronouncement that Chamisa should hand himself on a silver plata to the ZANUPF by accepting that last year’s rigged elections were free, fair and credible thereby legitimising Mnangagwa’s illegal rule over Zimbabwe.

What is surprising is that Mnangagwa has often said ZANUPF is like a train and does not need anybody’s consent to rule over Zimbabwe. Why is he then clamouring for Chamisa to legitimise him. Going as far as soliciting the support of Andrew Wutaunashe whose church was built on falsehood and adulterous platform.

I remember vividly when I met Wutaunashe at a certain school for the blind which shall remain nameless when he was preaching he never said a word about performing miracles. I then accompanied him to the nearest city which was sixteen kilometres away. When we were there Wutaunashe began to preach and asking people to go and collect their family members to come and get healed. It is this kind of hypocrisy that pains me.

Andrew Wutaunashe always preys on people’s vulnerability to benefit himself. Andrew Wutaunashe and Mutendi went to Mnangagwa to sell Zimbabweans so that they can get farms and urban stands to benefit themselves. They saw the opportunity to please Mnangagwa; demanding that Chamisa legitimise Mnangagwa's rule is exactly what the tyrant want to hear.

My fellow Zimbabweans do not get used by Andrew Wutaunashe and his fellow conspirators. I am convinced God is not happy about this and these people should be dismissed with contempt and malice they deserve.

AIC and ZHOCD agree on substantive issue of appeasing Zanu PF - church leaders same as politician, all hypocrites W Mukori.

Yes, on the issue of political dialogue between Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe’s church leaders have been divided into two groups. What is important to note here is that the two groups differ on the trial matters but NOT on the substantive matters.

“In generally the first group falls under the internationally aligned Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) which has four main arms that is Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe (UDACIZA),” explained Terence Simbi in Bulawayo 24.

“The second grouping is the African indigenous Churches (AIC) composed of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), Vapositori sects, Family of God Church and others all with origins within the country and Africa hence the indigenous title.

“The ZHOCH came up with the sabbatical proposal to suspend democratic elections for 7 years to cool down political tensions in the country.

“This AIC had a different message stressing on the importance of adhering to the countries institutions thus for national dialogue to commence the leader of the main opposition has to first recognise the ruling of the constitutional court and the presidency of Emmerson Mnangagwa.”

Simbi’s analysis is correct but shallow and thus misses the real substantive issues here. Both groups are calling for Mnangagwa and Chamisa to hold the dialogue. Whilst the AIC are demanding that Chamisa endorse Mnangagwa as the dually elected president of Zimbabwe and thus endorse last year’s elections as having been free, fair and credible. 

ZHOCH group also calls for the same dialogue but are a bit more introspective and subtle in that they do not ask for Chamisa to endorse last year’s elections as having been free, fair and credible. 

What matters here is that by calling for the two gentlemen to meet and dialogue the two groups are per se endorsing the two as key players in defining the country’s way out of the mess. Whether Mnangagwa was legitimate or not at the start of the dialogue is a mute but irrelevant point. 

The substantive issue here is that Zimbabwe is in this existential economic and political mess because the country has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 39 years. The nation could not remove the regime from office between it rigged elections. 

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are in power today because they rigged last year’s elections. Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by the same corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Nothing, absolutely nothing has changed. 

ZHOCH group’s position is not to endorse the Zanu PF regime as legitimate but to nonetheless let the party remain in power or be it in some power sharing arrangement with MDC. The new government will be dominated by Zanu PF given its 2/3 majority in parliament and senate, for example; it will still be a Zanu PF government is all but name. 

AIC group’s position is a lot more honest in that they acknowledge the end product of the dialogue will be a Zanu PF government and want that acknowledged from the word go. 

When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup he promised his “new dispensation, Second Republic” would hold “free, fair and credible elections”. No doubt he was painfully aware of the blatant betrayal of the Mugabe era on this front and the tragic consequences. 

Mnangagwa did not keep his promise, he blatantly rigged last year’s elections. Zimbabwe is a pariah state, the Second Republic is no different from the First Republic! What a hypocrite!

Jesus Christ’s mission was to “tell the blind that they were blind no more and to set the downtrodden free!” Our church leaders should therefore be the champions of the downtrodden, those living in on US$40 per month or less, those dying dying of easily treatable diseases, etc. all because the nation is stuck for 39 years with a corrupt and tyrannical regime. It is shocking that after four decades of rigged elections the church leaders still continue cosy up with those rigging the elections at the expense of the downtrodden. What hypocrites.

If you look from Mnangagwa to Mutendi and back, Chiwenga to Wutaunashe and back or Mugabe to Father Fidelis Mukonori SJ and back; you will see no difference. They are all hypocrites. They are all a****holes!