“Zanu PF will never ever win free,
fair and credible elections!” this is a simple truth that even the most fervent
Zanu PF supporter will ready admit. The people are not stupid, they know the
party has failed to deliver mass prosperity “gutsa ruzhinji” President Mugabe
has often promised; the economic reality speaks for its.
|
Gross domestic product (GDP);
Zimbabwe; 1970-2014
|
||||||||
|
year
|
bln. US
dollars
|
per
capita, US$
|
growth,
%
|
share, %
|
||||
|
current prices
|
prices 1970
|
current prices
|
constant prices
|
World
|
Africa
|
Eastern Africa
|
||
|
1970
|
2
|
2
|
395
|
|
0.06
|
1.9
|
10.8
|
|
|
1971
|
2.3
|
2.2
|
445
|
8.8
|
0.063
|
2
|
11.4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1980
|
7.1
|
2.7
|
995
|
10.6
|
0.058
|
1.3
|
12.7
|
|
|
1981
|
8.6
|
3
|
1166
|
12.5
|
0.069
|
1.6
|
14.6
|
|
|
1982
|
9.2
|
3.1
|
1209
|
2.6
|
0.074
|
1.8
|
15.1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000
|
7.5
|
4.3
|
626
|
-8.2
|
0.023
|
1.2
|
9.8
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2007
|
6
|
3.2
|
454
|
-3.3
|
0.01
|
0.41
|
4.1
|
|
|
2008
|
5.5
|
3.1
|
452
|
-4.7
|
0.0087
|
0.31
|
2.8
|
|
|
2009
|
8.2
|
4.8
|
600
|
55.5
|
0.014
|
0.5
|
4.1
|
|
|
2014
|
14.7
|
7.1
|
1044
|
3.1
|
0.019
|
0.59
|
4.7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source: www.hushnirs.org/macroeconomics_/en/zimbabwe__gdp.html
President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are responsible for the nation’s
economic decline and no amount of denial or propaganda can hide this, the
figures speak for themselves.
From the word go President Mugabe has followed this spend, spend voodoo
economics, confident it would deliver “gutsa ruzhinji”. Of course this was
nonsense; Zimbabweans’ per capita earning rose from $995 to peak at $1209 and from
there now it has been downhill ever since.
Talk of the country’s pathetic economic performs and the Zanu PF
propaganda machine will, in a flash, go into overdrive. It is the “illegal
sanctions imposed by the evil British and their western allies” that are to
blame. The sanctions were imposed in 2002 and yet Zimbabwe’s economic decline
started way back in 1982.
The single most damaging act by President Mugabe was the violence seizure
of white-owned farms that started in earnest in 2000. He had very little of
value left other than the white owned farms to give away to his demanding but
wasteful cronies. The cronies got the farms but failed to maintain production;
agricultural production fell through the floor and, sadly, has never recovered to
this day.
Agricultural production was Zimbabwe’s economic engine and it is not
surprising that the Zimbabwe economy suffered its worst ever decline, - 8.2% growth
rate.
President Mugabe’s decision print money to finance his reckless spending
only forced the Z$ to lose its value fuelled inflation to a record 500 billion
per cent by the time the regime scrapped the Z$ in November 2008. This was the
year the economy sunk to its lowest ever; GDP per capita fell to US$ 452.
Life expectancy, the ultimate acid test of a nation’s wellbeing, has
plummeted from 68 years in 1980 to a misery 34 years in 2004 according to some
sources.
"Matadya kare haavaraidze mwana! Nyangwe benzi chikwinya renoriva
tsvete yamangwana, mangwana." so goes the Shona adage. (Memories of
yesterday's feasting will never comfort a hungry child. Even a certified fool
will soon learn not to chase the mirage of tomorrow!)
As the people realized that President Mugabe will never deliver gutsa
ruzhinji and were sick and tired of
being promised a mirage they harden their resolve to vote him out of office. So
to stay in power President Mugabe has resorted to dirty and dirtier tactics to
rig the vote including violence.
Whilst the Zimbabwe economy had registered some economic recovery during
the GNU years it has since the rigged 2013 elections been back on it’s the decline
once again. The regime is introducing bond notes in August/October; many see it
as the Z$ back through the back door and the days of hyperinflation as the
regime will soon be printing more bond notes.
If the country was to hold free, fair and credible elections, there is no
way Zanu PF would win! So why is the country’s opposition parties wasting time
of building coalitions, holding demos and Joice Mujuru and her ZimPF has joined
in this with a number of rallies lined up in the coming few weeks and yet doing
nothing to ensure the elections are free and fair, Nomusa Garikai and other has
been asking?
“If the 2018 elections are rigged then Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC
friends (Mujuru and her ZimPF too) will walk the plank to join Arthur Mutambara
into political retirement because they would have proven beyond doubt that they
corrupt, incompetent and useless! I will put them to the sword myself just to
be absolutely certain that this time these useless politicians finally retire
from all public life for good,” concluded Nomusa.
None of the opposition leaders -Tsvangirai, Mujuru, etc. – have the
intellect to take Mugabe head-on on this matter because they have no clue where
to begin. The 2008 GPA put the implementing of the democratic reforms, design
to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship to allow free and fair elections, at the
heart of the GNU. SADC Heads of State who were the guarantor of the agreement wanted
the reforms to be implemented but sadly MDC, their partner in the GNU, was not
interested. SADC leaders tried their best to get Tsvangirai et al to implement
the reforms but were ignored.
Of course Joice Mujuru and her Zim PF know Zanu PF is unelectable and
will lose free and fair elections but they too do not know how they can force
Mugabe to implement the democratic reforms.
Zimbabwe’s opposition have nothing to fear in Mugabe and his thugs but
fear itself. Even Mugabe himself has never dared to claim that the people have
no right to free and fair elections, he has no right to rig elections. As the
people’s elected representative, the opposition have the mandate to demand the
full restoration of the people’s freedoms and rights. Like all tyrants, Mugabe
is nothing but a paper tiger our opposition leaders are just too corrupt and
incompetent to see it!
If the 2018 elections are rigged because the opposition failed to
implement any democratic reforms then it is for the people of Zimbabwe themselves
must put Tsvangirai, Mujuru and company to the sword and force them into political
retirement. If you have a troublesome rat to get rid of it is sometimes necessary
to start by getting rid of the useless cat!
A healthy and functioning democracy is only possible when there is a sophisticated electorate, at least sophisticated enough to realize that things are not always clear cut right or wrong, black or white. Even with the monochrome, there are varying shades of grey!
ReplyDeleteIt is great that the electorate have now accepted that President Mugabe is a corrupt and murderous tyrant but in doing so the electorate have also accepted the opposition as their partner. Their thinking is now locked in Mugabe bad opposition good and they cannot accept that not everyone in the opposition can be anything else but good.
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have proven to be incompetent and corrupt. Since the electorate see everyone through the Zanu PF tinted lenses the still judge the MDC leaders as good, regardless of all their failures. What the electorate are failing to understand is that this is not just some failure, it is the failure to remove Mugabe and thus end the dictatorship - which is the primary objective.
The single most important task is to remove Mugabe and to end the dictatorship surely one have to remove the people task to carry this out if they cannot do it! That is simple and logical to everyone but not the simple and naïve Zimbabwe electorate!
Last year MDC-T Secretary General, Douglas Mwonzora told New Zimbabwe before the end of the year MDC-T will have forced Zanu PF “kicking and screaming” to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections. We are half way through 2016 already and not one meaning reform has been implemented!
ReplyDeleteWhilst it is true that nothing of any substance will ever be accomplished in Zimbabwe until we sort out the political mess Mugabe created. We must implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship that is stifling the nation politically and economically.
To get the reforms implemented we must not look to such parties as MDC of Zim PF, they really do not have the foggiest idea what the reforms are about and never will. Yes they have all talked about reforms but that is all part and parcel of their act, they want to give the impression that they know what the nation needs and they are the people to deliver it.
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have had their best chance to get the democratic reforms implemented during the GNU, Mugabe had his hands tied by SADC and the GPA; they failed to get even one reform implemented we would be very naïve and foolish to expect them to do so now, with Mugabe running the show!
Does IMF think it can bankroll Zanu PF's plan to rig econmoic recovery? Zimbabwe needs political reforms first and foremost and then economic reforms can follow!
ReplyDeleteDespite its recent propaganda to the contrary, President Robert Mugabe's government admitted yesterday that it was so broke that it could not manage to pay all civil servants their June salaries.
ReplyDeleteThe embarrassing admission was contained in a Treasury circular that announced that the govern-ment would once again stagger the pay of civil servants this month, with some of them to receive their salaries only in mid-July.
This is how a street vendor runs his business affairs as he lives from hand to mouth! It is cer-tainly not one would expect the nation's affairs to be run! How long do the people of Zimba-bwe want this to go on because it is clear President Mugabe does not care since he still gets his millions of dollars for his globe-trotting, etc.
The failure to demand an explanation even when $15 billion, which equal to the nation's GDP, is stolen under their own noses, when unemployment soars to 90%, etc. is not what one would expect from any normal human being. Zimbabweans are in a comatose state, alive but brain-dead, hence their failure to respond to outside influences like other human beings.
Hell is a deep hole, it seems Zimbabweans have set for themselves a challenge to test how much human suffering their can endure and find how deep hell is! Well in President Mugabe they could not have picked a more satanic leader, he is dragging them to even corner of hell!
MDC have been more like Warrant Rat in the cartoon American Tale, extorting money from the mice for no protection. In the cartoon Warrant Rat and his fellow cats are shipped to Hong Kong; we need to do the same with Tsvangirai, his MDC friends and their Zanu PF counter parts! We must blow up the gravy train so they all learn once again that they too must do an honest day's work if they want to eat!
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe is in crisis management mode where policies are made on the hoof to address the immediate crisis even if they create an even bigger crisis tomorrow! That is the only way one can describe the decision to use bond notes; in this case before they are even introduced they have created a worse crisis than what the authorities wanted them to solve!
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe’s economic collapse is well established although those in power pretend not to see it; if nothing is done to solve the worsening economic crisis it will develop into a social and political crisis too with even worse consequences for the nation and the region! It is naïve to think a situation with 90% unemployment can continue for much longer without the nation paying dearly for it!