Obi Egbuna Jr., how does Mugabe's murder of 30 000 constitute "fighting African spirit"? By Wilbert Mukori

There is no one blinder than one who refuses to see!

 

Apologists, bootlickers and sycophants are an obnoxious group of those who not only refuse to see the truth but, worse still, they “see” what is not there and trumpet it as the reality and factual truth. Obi Egbuna Jr. Simunye is one these blind bootlickers given to praising Robert Mugabe to the high heavens ignoring the reality that he is a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant who has made the lives of millions of Zimbabweans a living hell-on-earth.

 

“For many Africans at home and abroad, when President Mugabe presented not only Zimbabwe, but all of Mother Africa's case before the United Nations last Thursday concerning Sustainable Development Goals, he without question invoked the memory of three fallen yet eternally beloved warriors the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, W.E.B DuBois and Malcolm X,” wrote Obi in his latest article entitled “President embodies African fighting spirit”.

 

Why is it that nincompoops like Obi can see Mugabe’s “fighting spirit” against the West but refuse to see how Mugabe has applied the same “fighting spirit” to deny the people of Zimbabwe their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life itself!

 

Mugabe went all the way to New York to accuse; the accusation was delivered with the usual the vitriolic gusto to impress the impressionable simpletons; the West for Africa in general but Zimbabwe in particular’s failure to achieve any meaningful development. The tyrant had already conveniently forgotten he had just admitted a few weeks before that Zimbabwe had lost a staggering $15 billion of Marange diamond revenue for looting.

 

Many people have blamed mismanagement and corruption for Zimbabwe’s economic collapse. All these years Mugabe has vehemently denied that there was corruption and blamed the country’s economic woes on drought and other causes but especially sanction. Even a simpleton like Obi has to admit that there was no way the Zimbabwe economy could hope to thrive given the seriousness of the corruption Mugabe himself had just acknowledged is happening in Zimbabwe. $15 billion constitute Zimbabwe’s current GDP; how can any nation sustain such wholesale economic wealth haemorrhage!

 

Of course Obi can see that corruption and not sanctions are the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic woes, he is only pretending that the sanctions are the cause because he is paid and paid well to do pretend.

 

Mugabe does not represent Zimbabwe or Africa; he stopped doing that a long, long time ago! The people of Zimbabwe lost confidence in him a long time ago but have failed to remove him from office because he rigs elections. He has murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans to establish and retain his de facto one-party dictatorship. This is Mugabe’s sadistic “fighting African spirit” people like Obi Egbuna Jr. refuse to see and insult the millions of Zimbabweans who are the victim of this tyrannical rule with these denial of reality.

 

The Herald has Obi Egbuna Jr. Simunye as “a US Correspondent to The Herald and the External Relations Officer to ZICUFA(Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association)”. In other words Obi is probably one of those foreign nationals who are abusing Zimbabwe’s hospitality by joining the brigade of Zimbabwean born Mugabe apologists and bootlickers in praising Mugabe and insulting the suffering masses. God knows, Zimbabwe has more than its fair share of home-grown Mugabe apologists and boot-lickers without having to import other nations’ rejects, sell-outs and morons.

 

The day Mugabe’s tyrannical dictatorship collapses, Obi Egbuna Jr and his ilk must leave Zimbabwe with nothing other than the cloths they are wearing. They have done so much to defend the totalitarian Zimbabwe; they will not be welcome in a democratic and free Zimbabwe; persona non grata.

Chamboko, MDC-T mythical "huge following" is as relevant as granny's lice to a cattle count. By Patrick Guramatunhu

Moses Chamboko, you should not be fooled by MDC-T into believing the party still has a huge following, they do not.

 

“True, MDC-T is the biggest opposition movement today, nobody can contest that. It is also true that the MDC has a huge following,” you said.

 

I contest that on two grounds:

 

1. MDC-T had the biggest following BEFORE the July 2013 elections but the party failed to turn the huge electoral support into electoral victory because the elections were rigged. MDC was warned that it must implement the democratic reforms to stop the vote rigging but the party leaders would not listen.
    
   Since the rigged elections many Zimbabweans have deserted MDC; some to follow the break-away factions whilst others simply gave up on politics and life. MDC-T has been very careful to avoid by-elections or holding big rallies for fear a low public turnout would confirm the party’s worst fears that the party’s “huge public support” is a myth.
    
2.  MDC-T supporters are renowned for following like sheep to the slaughter and they showed this again and again throughout the GNU by their failure to get the party to implement even one reform, for example. Who can ever forget the sea-of-red of MDC-T supporter in the party colours all screaming “Chinja!” “Change!” at party rallies; they clearly had no clue what change they wanted because, if they did, they would have forced their leaders to implement at least one reform in the five years of the GNU.
    
   The hard core of the MDC-T supporters, the mindless wildebeest herd, have remained with Tsvangirai even in the face of the mountain of evidence he is incompetent, corrupt and a sell-out. An electorate that is incapable of one coherent original thought and will not listen to reason are not an asset but a curse to democracy.
    
   "I can confirm that the party has decided to shelve any coalition plans. We have carefully analysed the situation and realised that other opposition parties do not have much to give to the coalition in terms of following," said MDC-T Secretary, Douglas Mwonzora. This is more like the old granny in the folklore story who insist the lice on her back must be included in the count of family’s animal wealth together with the cattle, sheep, chicken, etc.!
    

Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had their golden opportunity to change Zimbabwe for the better during the GNU; they wasted it because they are corrupt and incompetent, breathtakingly so too. The people of Zimbabwe must accept the political reality that incompetent leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai will never get the nation out of this hell-hole Zanu PF landed the nation into. Never ever!

 

I do not believe forming a coalition is the panacea to all our political problems. What would Tsvangirai, in a coalition, accomplish now which he failed to accomplish during the GNU, given he had the support of SADC and the world’s support then?

 

“Grand coalitions no silver bullet for electoral victory over Zanu-PF,” wrote Geoffrey Nyarota in an article last month. He was right then and he is right now, especially when the coalition is to be composed of recycled corrupt and incompetent leaders!

 

Zimbabweans must realize that it is not that the country is incapable of producing competent quality leaders who can lead us out of this hell; there are hundreds of thousands of such quality men and women out there. The problem is with the political system, the Zanu PF dictatorship, which has stifled all meaningful public debate and democratic competition. The system is so repressive only corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs would thrive and it is hardly surprising then that they are the only ones occupying the political stage!

 

If Zimbabweans want competent and visionary leaders who can lead them out of this hell-on-earth then we must dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship by implementing the democratic reforms and free the nation to think again. We have a corrupt and tyrannical regime which we have failed to remove from office because it rigs elections.

 

In short, to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections by making sure the elections are free, fair and credible; simple. All these talks of forming coalitions when all we need to do is implement the reforms are doing my head in. Just implement the reforms and stop coming up with all these rocket science solutions and reinventing the wheel!

There is a need to prepare for electoral cycle, not just for imminent elections. By Gabrielle Lynch

There is a need to prepare for electoral cycles, not just for imminent elections

By Gabrielle Lynch

In Summary

• Perhaps even more importantly, the quality of elections rests on the evenness of the playing field more generally, which is often slow to change. This includes the freedoms and resources that different political parties enjoy, and the rules and regulations that they use to build their own internal democracy.

Elections have the capacity to be transformative: They provide opportunities for political challenges and peaceful transfer of power. They can also help to enact an ideal of citizen participation in politics, and of state order and control that can legitimise key institutions.

At the same time, elections can be disastrous: State institutions can be undermined in the face of popular perceptions of widespread incompetence, irregularities and malpractice. while violence can be used as a political tool, or can erupt as a result of popular anger.

Given these competing prospects, it is unsurprising that huge amounts of time and money are poured into elections: As politicians try to win them, but as state institutions, civil society organisations and international donors try to ensure that they are transformative and not disastrous.

However, in practice, election-related projects often only kick in a year or two — and, in the instance of election observation, sometimes only in the weeks or months — before an election. As a result, the focus is often on mitigating problems, rather than on fostering transformation. This is evident in Kenya at the moment where attention is increasingly turning to next year’s elections.

For example, last week, a German organisation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, held a breakfast meeting in downtown Nairobi. The theme: “Is Kenya ready for the 2017 elections?” The general feeling was that no, Kenya is not ready.

More specifically, Tom Wolf, from the opinion poll company Ipsos Synovate, drew people’s attention to the stark difference in public confidence ratings in the country’s Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) between supporters of the ruling Jubilee Alliance and opposition Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD).

He revealed how 70 per cent of CORD supporters, but only 28 per cent of Jubilee supporters, reported little or no confidence in the IEBC in their last survey in November 2015; while 28 per cent of CORD supporters, but 69 per cent of Jubilee supporters, reported some or a lot of confidence.

Moreover, as Mr Wolf emphasised, since the survey was conducted, there have been a number of developments that are likely to have further dampened public confidence ratings.

Namely: New revelations regarding the involvement of IEBC officials in the infamous “Chickengate scandal,” and the disputed by-elections in Malindi and Kericho.

The implication is that Kenya is heading towards an election in which the majority of opposition supporters neither believe that the electoral commission is independent, nor that it can be trusted to oversee a credible election.

In turn, George Kegoro, the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, went through the IEBC’s Election Operations Plan (EOP). Mr Kegoro argued that the EOP fails to fully recognise the full range of problems with the country’s 2013 election, and thus fails to address them.

More specifically, Mr Kegoro criticised the IEBC’s technocratic approach and insisted on the need for the commission to address problems of public confidence and to engage key stakeholders in dialogue and consensus building not only around the use of technology, but also on the rules and regulations regarding political campaigns and party primaries.

At the same time, Mr Kegoro spoke of the problematic relationship between the IEBC and other key institutions, such as the judiciary and security services.

The general consensus at the meeting was that these preparations are not time bound and that Kenya can become ready for the next elections by August 2017, but that the country is currently not ready and that substantial work still needs to be done.

However, while this is true, the conversation — like similar debates that I have heard over the years — still focused almost entirely on the next (and fast approaching) election, rather than on preparations for more distant and future elections.

This is understandable and makes sense: Kenya has to hold elections next year, and it is better for everyone if they enjoy a level of credibility and do not degenerate into disorder and violence.

However, it also drew my attention to a common problem of short-termism. For example, while it is important for consensus building to take place before Kenya’s next election (so that stakeholders can agree on rules, regulations and processes), it would clearly be better if these conversations were set up in a way that encouraged ongoing dialogue that led to a strengthening of processes over electoral cycles.

This is critical since some things are much more likely to happen over electoral cycles. For example, confidence in the electoral commission in Ghana has increased over time as the commission has been seen to be responsive to criticism, and to oversee elections that have led to regular transfers of power.

Perhaps even more importantly, the quality of elections rests on the evenness of the playing field more generally, which is often slow to change. This includes the freedoms and resources that different political parties enjoy, and the rules and regulations that they use to build their own internal democracy.

However, it also relates to a much broader set of factors — from the independence of the media and role of civil society to the oversight provided by domestic and international monitors.

Playing field

The importance of the playing field became evident, for example, during Uganda’s recently concluded elections in which the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) clearly benefited from the fact that many Ugandans voted for the incumbent – not because they particularly liked President Museveni, but because they either felt that there was no point voting for the opposition or because they feared to do so.

These feelings were informed by a strong sense that Museveni would be announced the winner whatever happened. It was then reinforced by an NRM campaign that promised development projects if an area voted for the government, but which simultaneously threatened economic marginalisation if an area did not, and which also raised the spectre of a return to war in the instance of an opposition victory.

The implication is that, yes, Kenya needs to prepare for next year’s elections, but that — as far as possible — this should be done in a way that sets the ground for future electoral cycles.

 Source:  http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Prepare-for-electoral-cycles-not-just-for-imminent-elections-/-/434750/3173162/-/l6bna5/-/index.html

Police Commissioner "says no" to violence - must be a publicity stunt. By Patrick Guramatunhu

"The message is saying no to those given to perpetrating domestic violence and any other form of violence" said Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri.

"When the family is destabilised, the centre of our values cannot hold. This is why as an organisation we call upon the citizenry at all levels from parents, relatives and traditional authority to come together to ensure that the same message is communicated," he said.

 

 

This is laudable if only you are being honest and consistent!

 

 

Cannot comment on the Police’s effectiveness or otherwise in stopping domestic violence but can comment on their ineffectiveness in stopping politically motivated violence by Zanu PF supporters. Political violence has become a permanent fixture of Zimbabwe’s political discourse precisely because the Police have done nothing to stop Zanu PF thugs intimidating, harassing, beating and even murdering innocent civilians.

 

 

Word is out that Zanu PF thugs are above the law!

 

 

Indeed it is a matter of public record that the Police officers have been known to arrest the victims of the political violence and accuse them of disturbing the peace and allow the Zanu PF culprits go free.  In 2008 the Police and other State security personnel especially the CIO were the masterminds behind the wanton violence that swept the nation that year. Why the Police were doing this becomes immediately clear when one reads Police Commissioner Chihuri’s doctorate thesis.

 

 

The Commission revealed that the Police were there to stop “regime change agenda”.  So the Police were there to stop the opposition winning the elections even when that meant the Police aiding and abetting those denying the people their basic right to a meaningful free vote.

 

 

It is a great surprise to hear Police Commissioner Chihuri condemning “domestic violence and any other form of violence” because he has certainly said YES to Zanu PF motivated political violence all his working life! This must just be a publicity stunt comparable to VP Mnangagwa and President Mugabe calling for an end to corruption and yet the continued to preside over the looting of $15 billion of revenue from Marange diamonds alone!  

Mnangagwa calls on all to fight corruption - case of new broom sweeping clean or what! By Patrick Guramatunhu

New brooms sweep clean! There is no doubt that VP Mnangagwa is trying his best to portray himself as a new broom that sweeps clean – as contrast to President Mugabe’s corrupt, incompetent and failed tyrant that has allow a mountain of dirty to accumulate. His appeal to all Zimbabweans to fight corruption had the distinct note of one trying too hard to be someone he is not!

"Where ever it raises it ugly head, it must be fought" he said. "We need to stop talking about it and start fighting it.”

 

 

Look in the mirror, sir and you will see who has been doing all the talking all these last 36 years!

Corruption has been happening in high places by those in positions of power and authority; the very men and women who should be stopping corruption are the once who have committing the crime. You, Mr VP are one of those people in position of power and authority; why have you done nothing to end corruption after all these 36 years in power? 

 

Surely VP Mnangagwa must have known about the $15 billion looted from Marange; what did he do to stop it?

Now that VP Mnangagwa’s faction has won the phony factional war against the G40 faction he wants to present himself as presidential material and what better way of doing so than condemning corruption. Some champion fighter against corruption given he has done nothing to end the scourge in all his 36 years at the heart of this corrupt and tyrannical regime.

 

Mnangagwa has master minded the vote rigging and wanton violence that have become the hallmark of this regime and his hands are red with the innocent blood of Zimbabweans he was instrumental in their cold blooded murder during Gukurahundi and thereafter! Is he going to appeal to Zimbabweans too to fight vote rigging and political murders?

VP Mnangagwa is corrupt, incompetent, a vote rigging and murderous tyrant; he can try all he can to portray himself as a competent and caring leader the whitewash will not fool the people of Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa will never ever win free, fair and credible elections to be president. No doubt, he will try to rig the next elections, as he has done with Mugabe so many times in the past, but this time he will not get away with it because the serious economic meltdown will only get worse.

 

So if the people are denied the meaningful vote to stop Mnangagwa getting into State House the economic meltdown will force him to vacate that august house!

 

VP Mnangagwa is no new broom sweeping all the dirty away! He was President Mugabe’s most trusted confidant when it came to carrying out some of the regime’s dirties and darkest work and hiding the truth from the nation. He is sweeping furiously to raise a dust cloud to discourage the nation from taking closer look and see the true extend of the looting and the many skeletons in the closets!  

Mnangagwa delivered KO on Mugabe and G40 but to inherit a poisoned chalice. By Wilbert Mukori

As soon as Grace Mugabe returned from her extended Christmas Holiday in Singapore last year she got her G40 factional team together and she took up her meet the rallies from where she had left off. The sole purpose of the rallies was to de-campaign VP Emmerson Mnangagwa who occupied pole position in the race to replace Robert Mugabe as leader of Zanu PF and the country’s president.

 

Government business came to a complete halt to facilitate the rallies and no expense was spared. ZBC covered the rallies live from start to finish. Grace was the principle speaker and her pitch was simple enough – she would make a better president than VP Mnangagwa. Getting former VP Joyce Mujuru “dumped” from the party to stop her being elected VP in 2014 had been a walk in the park compared to task of forcing Mnangagwa of the pole position in the race to succeed Mugabe!

 

Although Grace and G40 had the clear advantage of having her husband’s in their corner; they were free to attack Mnangagwa and his supporters under the pretext they were defending Mugabe from those who wanted to force him unconstitutionally out of office. The G40 faction’s greatest weakness was that although they landed countless punches, putting them way ahead on points, it was clear none of the punches bothered Mnangagwa and his supporters.

 

By the time Zanu PF held its party congress in Victoria Falls in December last year it was clear that the G40 factions was running out of steam and forcing through the resolution that the party must restore the gender parity in the presidium was a desperate effort. The faction’s hope was that Mugabe will then replace VP Mnangagwa with a woman. Why VP Mnangagwa and not VP Mphoko, for example? Everyone knew that sooner or later Mnangagwa will hit back and everyone knew if the punch landed – light out!

 

The clash between G40’s Saviour Kasukuwere, whom Mugabe had appointed party’s Political Commissar (PC) and Chris Mutsvangwa, who was then Minister for War vets and a known Mnangagwa loyalist, was proxy war between the two factions. G40 members including Grace and Kasukuwere criticized Mutsvangwa and the war vets for demanding that they should be given special consideration because of their liberation war credentials. Even Mugabe chipped in saying the war vets must not “flaunt” their war credential as if they alone fought the war.

 

Mutsvangwa was stunned by the criticism and called a meeting of war vets to protest. Mugabe stepped in and used the Riot Police with water cannon and tear-gas to stop the meeting.

 

Since the 2000 referendum on the proposed new constitution which Zanu PF lost the party had used the war vets as its foot-soldiers to intimidate, beat, rape and even murder innocent Zimbabweans to help Mugabe and Zanu PF stay in power. Even a heartless tyrant like Mugabe must have realized that tear-gassing the very people who had been betrayed all they had stood for during the civil war to gratify his selfish greed was a outrage, particularly since he still need their blind loyalty to remain in power. When Mugabe proposed to meet the war vets of 7 April 2016, he was reaching out to appease them.

 

When the war vets demanded that Minister Kasukuwere must be dismissed as PC ahead of the meeting; Mugabe hit back. He said the war vet association was an “affiliate” organization to Zanu PF and thus could not dictate how the party should be run.

 

The war vets hit straight back and told Mugabe they were the stockholders in Zanu PF, they go nowhere, and leaders like him were merely the stakeholders who would come and go. In a recent interview General Constantine Chiwenga reinforced the same message saying he was the “stockholder of Zimbabwe”!

 

Robert Mugabe is a seasoned politician and he knew immediately the game was up for him and the G40 faction.

 

“Buoyed by recent events in the warring Zanu-PF, the party faction rallying behind embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa's mooted presidential aspirations are said to be resuscitating their plans to either persuade or cause President Robert Mugabe to retire before the country's eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections,” said a report in Bulawayo 24.

 

“Well-placed Zanu-PF sources told the Daily News yesterday that the mood within Team Lacoste (Mnangagwa faction) was ebullient, as the camp felt that it had finally weathered the relentless onslaught that it had experienced from its avowed party foes, the Generation 40 (G40) group, over the past year.”

 

Of course the Mnangagwa have won the party’s factional war what they will soon learn is that Zanu PF will still have to win free, fair and credible national elections; this is going to be the mother of all electoral battles and the factional war they have just won is a mere skirmish in comparison! 

 

Zimbabwe’s economy is in total meltdown and VP Mnangagwa may be able to end some of Mugabe’s stupid policies like the indigenisation law but to consolidate his own hold on power he will keep all the deadwood behind the mismanagement and corruption, the root causes of the economic meltdown.

 

Besides having won the factional war with the help of the rogue war vets who believe they have the veto as contrast to everyone else who will have the vote, on who should rule Zimbabwe it is clear Mnangagwa is banking on the war vets helping him rig the 2018 elections.

 

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown has resulted in unemployment soaring to 90% plus, millions of our people now live in abject poverty, health and education have all but collapsed, etc. The economic situation is socially and politically unsustainable and the key to ending the economic meltdown is free, fair and credible elections. Zanu PF has never won a free and fair elections; of all people Mnangagwa will know this since he has helped Mugabe rig the past elections; and it will not do so now even with a new leader.

 

So this is Mnangagwa’s dilemma; hold free and fair elections and lose power after all these years of waiting his turn. Rig the next elections face the music of the social and/or political instability brought on by the worsening economic meltdown! Yes President Mugabe has final lost his iron grip on power but he will have the last laugh over the unlucky Mnangagwa who has not only waited patiently for 36 year to take over the presidency from Mugabe now finds he is inheriting the poisoned chalice!

Chiredzi Hospital crippled by $1.5m unpaid patient bills - gvt could have paid it 10 000x over! By Patrick Guramatunhu

During his last visit to Chiredzi General Hospital the Minister of Health, Dr David Parerinyatwa, condemn the overcrowded and ill equipped maternity ward as “unsafe” for purpose. Now is has emerged that the patients owe the hospital over $1.5 million in unpaid bills.

 

 

The hospital charges $6 for adult $2 for child per night stay in the hospital plus whatever else for the medical treatment and drugs. A modest charge but not in a country were millions now live on less than $1.25 a day this is fortune!

 

 

Zimbabweans are a hard-working people and per se there is no reason why millions now live in abject poverty. But what good is being a hard-working person if there are no employment opportunities. Unemployment has been 80% plus for the last ten years; the majority of adults have never had a regular job in their working life. Many families have spent a fortune sending their sons and daughter to school, college and even university only to see them millions of others in the informal sector.

 

 

It is not that these people want health services but do not want to pay for it; they would pay if they had the money.

 

 

Chiredzi General Hospital was contemplating suing for patients to recover the money; can you get blood from a stone even if you squeeze it hard!

 

 

It the truth is told, and it must be told, it is not only the patients who have not been paying the hospital; central government is just as guilty. The “unsafe” for purpose maternity ward should have been replaced with a bigger and well equipped maternity wing decades ago using funds from central government. The whole health service is in a deplorable state because of the decades of poor funding by government.

 

 

We have a regime that has been cutting funds from key sectors like health and education and spending obscene amounts, in comparison, on the Army, Police and CIO, overseas trips for the President, etc.! The regime has failed to pay even the little allowed for in the national budget!

 

 

It is not that Zimbabwe is a poor country and therefore cannot afford a half decent health service; Zimbabwe is rich in national resource and human resources. But what good is it being rich if you are going to waste the wealth through mismanagement and looting! Last month, in a very rare moment of candour, President Mugabe admitted that $15 billion in revenue from Marange diamonds alone was looted. Zimbabwe’s present GPD is $15 billion.

 

 

The admission of looting is coming from the man who has maintained all these years that there was no corruption in Zimbabwe and blamed the nation’s economic collapse on “illegal sanctions imposed by the evil West”. How can looting the nation’s GPD have no effect on the country’s economic performance?

 

 

The looted $15 billion could have pay off Chiredzi Hospital’s debt overhang and 10 000 other hospitals, clinics, schools, etc. up and down the country who are all facing similar crippling financial difficulties!

 

 

If it was not for donors most of hospitals, clinics, schools, etc. up and down the country will have closed a long, long time ago! There is a limit to what the donors can do particularly in the face of such wanton and criminal waste of resources as we see in Zimbabwe today.

People get the government they deserve and we certainly deserve this wasteful, corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. It is for us to remove it, not for the donors or anyone else. If we have been waiting for the total collapse of the health and education services, unemployment to soar even higher than the 90%, etc. for us to finally demand change; then we should be pleased to know the total collapse is nigh upon us.

 

 

Chiredzi General Hospital’s maternity ward is “unsafe” for purpose the rest will soon follow given the nation is sinking deeper and deeper into poverty and the institution is already being weighed down by the $1.5 million debt. Even the country’s major hospitals like Mpilo Hospital are already so poorly funded they only have half the drugs they need; smaller hospitals like Chiredzi would have even few drugs, no x-ray and would soon fail to do something as basic as blood transfusion! People will be going to hospitals to die; we are not far from that day!

Tapfumaneyi is an egocentric fool, G40 "disrespect" of war vet is no national threat. By Patrick Guramatunhu

The greatest threat to this nation’s very survival today is the worsening economic meltdown. It is a great pity that President Mugabe failed to address this threat during his last meeting with the war vets. The fact that someone like Secretary for War Veterans, Walter Tapfumaneyi, should think the greatest threat to the nation is from Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction being disrespectful of war vets shows how many of these war vets continues to live in their own make-believe world!

 

 

“President Robert Mugabe "skillfully managed" a potentially volatile situation by meeting the country's former freedom fighters three weeks ago averting State capture, a senior government official has said,” Bulawayo 24 reported.

 

 

“Secretary for War Veterans Walter Asher Tapfumaneyi yesterday said that Mugabe's meeting with war veterans pre-empted "an untenable situation" following threats to the country's military establishment by a youthful faction within Zanu-PF. Without mentioning anyone by name, Tapfumaneyi said youthful members of the governing Zanu-PF party were attempting to discredit the military and war veterans.”

 

 

The greatest threat the nation is facing today is the serious economic meltdown which has seen unemployment soar to 90% plus, forced millions of our people in a life of abject poverty and despair, the country’s health and education services have all but collapsed, etc. The economic hardships brought on by the economic meltdown has spared no one, most of the war vets demanded the meeting with President Mugabe to demand answers to their worsening economic situation.

 

 

The factional fighting in Zanu PF is being fuelled the economic reality that the national cake has shrunk considerably when the appetites of the ruling elite has grown in leaps and bounces. Only a few can have a piece of the cake and those who get nothing face abject poverty like the rest of us. It is no wonder therefore that the factional wars in the party have been fierce.

 

 

At the heart of the country’s economic and political problems is the worsening economic meltdown and the situation is unsustainable and it is posing a serious threat to the stability and even survival of the nation.

 

 

In the Zanu PF factional wars the G40 members have questioned the war vets’ flaunting of their liberation war credentials to justified why they must continue to be granted privileges in the party. Without wanting to be dragged into the party’s dirty dog-eat-dog fights one has to question Tapfumaneyi’s poor judgement in comparing this trivial matter to the national crisis!

 

 

If the “state capture” was averted because the war vets told President Mugabe they are the “stockholders” of Zimbabwe then the Secretary Tapfumaneyi is not only concerted but down right stupid. Whilst the nation owe a great debt of gratitude to all those who contributed in the war of independence, especially to those on the coal face of the struggle; the demand that the people give up their freedoms and basic rights including the right to free and fair elections in payment for the debt is a price no nation in its right mind will ever accept!

 

The present arrangement where Zanu PF members and war vets have taken onto themselves the power to deny the rest of the population a meaningful vote and even the right to life is totally unacceptable. War vets have the one vote each same as everyone else; what they do not have the right to veto the democratic will of the people.

 

 

The nation has failed to remove President Mugabe and Zanu PF from office in the past regardless of the people’s democratic wish to do so because the regime has failed to hold free and fair elections. In the last 20 years the war vets have played a very prominent role in denying the people the free vote; this must stop forthwith!

 

 

Forget Secretary Tapfumaneyi’s misplace ego, the greatest threat to the nation today is the worsening economic situation and not G40 members question his right to a veto in party and national elections. We need to address the economic meltdown as a matter of great urgency and the only sure way to address it is for the nation to have free, fair and credible elections.

 

 

It is not the continued rule by Zanu PF or the continued exercise of the veto power by war vets that is at issue here; it is the very survival of the nation. We are not going to risk the very survival of this great nation to gratify the insatiable greed for power and wealth of some tyrant or to tickle the misplace ego of egocentric fool.

Mugabe pays war vets' children's fees but are they smart enough to know this is NOT the cure. By Wilbert Mukori

Ignorance, especially the type that leads one to act against one’s own best interests, has to be one of the worst curses to afflict an individual, society and, worst of all, a nation. We are a cursed nation, how else can one explain the self-debasing ignorance shown by the war vets, for example.

 

 

“We have a total of 43 000 (war veterans’) children who benefit from our US$6 million budget per term, of those children about 22 000 forms have so far been submitted and processed,” boosted the Secretary for Welfare Services for War Veterans, Walter Tapfumaneyi.

 

 

The money was only paid after the war vets had complained to Mugabe about the economic hardships they were facing. Ever since the country attained her independence in 1980, the country has followed a downward path to economic decline whose gradient has grown steeper and steeper. After the first two decades of mismanagement and corruption under this Mugabe tyrannical rule, it was finally clear to the majority of Zimbabweans that Zanu PF will never deliver mass prosperity.

 

 

Mugabe was not willing to dismantle the corrupt and oppressive political system he has set up since it was the one that kept him and Zanu PF in power. The only way the nation was ever going to change course from the disastrous path it was on was for the people to reclaim their democratic right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country and have free, fair and credible elections. If there is one segment of Zimbabwe society that has done the most to resist democratic change in the last 20 years it is the war vets!

 

 

When Mugabe lost the 1999 referendum on the new constitution he felt his iron-grip on political power slipping he needed four things to happen to restore his autocratic grip on power:

 

• He needed an issue for the nation to focus its attention on taking it away from his pathetic record of mass poverty induced by gross mismanagement and rampant corruption and murderous tyranny as exemplified by Gukurahundi murderers – the land issue.
   
• With the worsen economic situation there was very little wealth left to dole away to his wasteful but ever demanding Zanu PF cronies – the white owned farms was the only resource left to dole away.
   
• To silence the growing public demand for democratic change including free and fair elections Mugabe knew he would need to dig deep and deny the people their freedoms and basic human rights even more ruthless than ever. What he needed was an excuse to justify his use of violence against all those opposed to continued rule by his imposed de facto one party dictatorship. First, he declared war marked by the wanton violence against the white farmers and their workers; burning properties, beating people and no fewer than 30 people were murdered. The violence was unjustified since none of the white farmers ever tried to resist the evictions.
   
  The gratuitous violence against the white farmers always spread to engulf all blacks who dared oppose Mugabe’s no-regime change agenda under the pretext those people were sell-out working in cahoots with the West who were seeking regime change to undermine Zanu PF’s land reform.
   
  The gratuitous violence against the opposition and the ordinary people assumed its monstrous proportion in the 2008 elections when it was impossible to hide its real political intention. “What was achieved by the bullet cannot be undone by a ballot!” boosted Mugabe at the time. Millions of people were beaten and/or raped and over 500 were murdered in the orgy of violence that year.
   
• Mugabe had corrupted the Police, Army and CIO, as with all the other State institution, to turn a blind-eye to the lawlessness and violence by Zanu PF members designed to further the party’s no-regime change agenda. With the country’s economic decline Mugabe lost the party’s traditional foot-soldiers in the form of overzealous Zanu PF women and youth members; the penny had finally dropped as they too realized that the country need political change to stop the economic rot. Mugabe needed new foot-soldiers to carry out the low level harassment, intimidation, beating, etc. of the civilian population and the war vets step up to do this dirty work with zeal.
   
   
  After 20 years of doing nothing war vets like Jabulani Sibanda were only too pleased to be granted a political role even if it was a demeaning one, completely at odds with what freedom fighters stood for!
   
   
  However, the primary reason why many war vets spearheaded the violent farm invasions and the equally violent denial of the people’s freedoms and basic human rights these last 20 years was economic; they were affected by the growing poverty just as badly as everyone else and they thought Mugabe was offering them the sure path to the elusive prosperity. They thought the Z$50 000 cash payment, a pension, government promise to pay war vets’ children’s fees, etc. were the first down payment of many more to come. By giving the regime their blind loyalty even to the extent of denying the masses their freedoms and basic rights the war vets were doing their bit to ensure Zanu PF remained in power to make the future payments!
   
   
   
  What the war vets failed to understand 20 years ago because of their ignorance is that the nation’s economic decline was caused by mismanagement and corruption and as long as Zanu PF remained in power these were set to get worse and so too will the economic decline. The Z$ 50 000, etc. were painkillers and not the cure. It was not therefore in the war vets own economic interest as well as that of the nation to retain the corrupt and incompetent Mugabe regime in power under this false pretence that the country’s elections are about land and nothing else.
   
   
  Although it was self-evident that the war vets were not bowled over by promise to pay the school fees much less the other wishy-washy promises Mugabe made at the 7 April meeting with the war vets. What Mugabe would be hoping is that the school fees payment would be enough to buy the war vets’ blind loyalty for the time being.
   
   
  What the war vets must get into their thick heads is that it is not the continued reign of Zanu PF which is at issue here but the very survival of the nation. The economic meltdown and political chaos in the country is socially and politically unsustainable; we need cure and democratic reforms are that cure. If 20 years ago the nation’s leg was broken and then today gangrene has set in; the war vets forced the nation to take painkillers back then the nation cannot go a long with this foolishness today!