"Zanu PF will rule forever!" boast Mnangagwa oblivious of the "Dead End Ahead!" sign. By W Mukori

There those, like MDC leaders, who have failed to understand that power means everything to Mugabe and his Zanu PF ruling elite. This nation has paid dearly for their folly.

As we now know, Mugabe has never cared about making Zimbabwe a healthy and functional multi-party democracy. Ever since he got into power in 1980, he has systematically undermined the fledgling democracy bequeathed to the nation by the 1979 Lancaster House constitution. Like all tyrants, all Mugabe ever cared about then and to this day is securing absolute power at all cost; even at the cost of riding roughshod over the ordinary people’s freedoms and basic human rights like a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.  

“We must all know that if you want to succeed in our country, you must be a member of the ruling party; the party that has a liberation struggle history; a party with leaders we can bank on because they sacrificed a lot for this country,” said VP Mnangagwa, according to a New Zimbabwe report.

VP Mnangagwa has the typical Zanu PF ruling elite mentality; it is all about seizing absolute power and retaining it at all cost, nothing else matter. He still talks of Zanu PF as the party that spearheaded the “liberation struggle” and yet fails to see the tragic human misery the party has brought upon the nation these last 37 years; contrary to the nation’s liberation aspirations!

The ordinary people have no more political freedoms and rights and they are considerable poorer under this Zanu PF government than they were under white colonial rule!

When former VP Joice Mujuru had her snout in the feeding trough, she too had nothing but praise for Mugabe and the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. It was only after she and number of her ZimPF friends were booted out of Zanu PF in 2014 that they suddenly noticed the harm and suffering the regime was causing. Mujuru said she did not criticized Mugabe until then because her “puppy eyes” had not opened; it took 34 years for her puppy eyes to open!

No doubt the puppy eyes of VP Mnangagwa and all the others still in the Zanu PF ruling elite those still in the Zanu PF ruling elite are yet to open, if ever! Meanwhile there is nothing wrong with the way the nation is being governed and the status quo must be retained.

“Today we have President Mugabe as our leader. White people might fume and say all sorts of things, but President Mugabe will soldier on with his people. President Mugabe always tells them that he does what the people want, reminding them to mind their own business,” said VP Mnangagwa.

There is a complete disconnect here, how can President Mugabe be doing what the people of Zimbabwe want; surely the people do not want to be denied their freedoms and basic human rights and dignity! The tyrant rigs elections and then turns around and claims the elections were free, fair and credible and the result is a true reflection of the people’s democratic will.

Of course, the people, who are suffering at the coal face all the injustice and the economic hardship brought upon them by this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime, are furious that regime. By attributing all the criticism of the regime to whites, Zanu PF is only adding insult to injury by refusing to acknowledge the ordinary blacks are as human as the whites and thus capable of all the human emotions and of thinking for themselves!

“Zanu PF will rule forever and those ruled will forever be ruled and I don’t understand why you opt to move away from the rulers and stay with those being ruled. That’s pure madness. Zanu PF is the party that brought independence under the leadership of President Mugabe,” boasted Mnangagwa with the arrogance and certainty of one who KNOWS already that the 2018 election is in the bag!

To be fair, Mnangagwa’s confidence is not without some justification; Zimbabwe’s elections are not democratic contestation but rather a meaningless ritual to rubber stamp a predetermined result – a landslide Zanu PF victory. After the rigged July 2013 opposition politicians finally came to their senses and vowed to stop contesting elections until reforms designed to stop the vote rigging are in place. Sadly, they have since changed their minds, they will contest the flawed elections. Given a licence to rig the vote, of course, Zanu PF will rig the vote!

The real madness, the nation should be concerned about, is the opposition’s folly of contesting flawed elections time and time again and expecting a different result other than a Zanu PF victory!

By contesting the flawed elections, the opposition parties are giving the flawed process some measure of legitimacy, which is the one Zanu PF needs. In return, the regime is allowing the opposition to win a few seats in parliament and senate.

Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti do not care about the restoration of the people’s freedoms, right to free and fair elections, etc.; if they did then they would have implemented the democratic reforms during the GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so. Like Mugabe, what they too care about is power; whilst they have deferred to Zanu PF’s claim to rule they nonetheless believe they have the right to the scraps Zanu PF throws at the opposition.

If the people of Zimbabwe are ever going to enjoy their freedom, human right, free and fair elections, etc. it is imperative that they realise that these sell-out opposition politicians who are contesting the flawed elections are not fighting in their corner.

When Mugabe rigged the 2013 elections, he was cocksure he would go on to rig an economic recovery too with his $27 billion ZimAsset plan. He has since failed to get anyone, not even his “all-weather” Chinese friends, to bankroll the plan. Zimbabwe’s economy is in a serious mess; unemployment has soared to 90%, basic services like health, education and the supply of clean water have all but collapsed; millions now live in abject poverty; etc. This is socially, politically and morally unsustainable.

Like it or not, Zanu PF’s ambition to rule forever will not happen because the root cause of the economic meltdown is the regime’s decades of corrupt and tyrannical rule. Another rigged election will mean the economic meltdown will get even worse than it is at present, as stated above, this is not sustainable!

Ian Smith was smart enough to see his regime was going nowhere, we are not so lucky with Robert Mugabe. There are “Dead end! Ahead!” warning signs and yet Mugabe continues to scream, “Full steam ahead!” We are heading for a catastrophic crash!