Mnangagwa's legitimacy is threadbare because of the coup - redouble demands for free election W Mukori

It is important to understand that Zimbabweans are the poorest nation on earth today NOT because of some natural disaster like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti or because the country has just emerged from a devastating war like WW2 that left most of Europe and beyond in ruins. We are the poorest nation, with 72.3% of our people living on US$ 1.00 or less a day, because of 37 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. 37 years of tyrannical rule has stripped us of our freedoms, human rights, dreams and our very humanity, we are like a chicken with all its feathers plucked away leaving it skin naked.

The tragic human misery in Zimbabwe is a man-made one brought about by 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship!

There is very little man can do to stop a natural disaster like an earthquake other than build structures designed to withstand earthquake or else avoid living in earthquake prone areas. It is within the powers of you and me, ordinary mortals to solve all man-made problems. There is no denying that Zimbabweans have had many, many golden opportunities to stop Mugabe establishing the one-party cum one-man Zanu PF dictatorship before it even took root and, once, established to dismantle it. We have wasted each and everyone of these opportunities and, until we finally do something to end the dictatorship, we will continue to suffer in dumb anguish!

The 2008 to 2013 GNU, for example, presented the nation with many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship; all Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had to do then was implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Mugabe and his cronies took full advantage of the breath-taking incompetent of MDC leaders; the tyrant rigged the July 2013 elections to get into power with all the regime’s dictatorial powers of pre-GNU!

Whenever the devil’s imp closes a door to imprison mankind; somewhere, the Lord opens a window to help those who wish to escape. The savage dog-eat dog Zanu PF factional war to decide who was going to succeed the aging and sick dictator, Robert Mugabe, has weakened the regime and created a chance for us to force it to accept democratic change.

As the dust of the last and decisive Zanu PF factional clash settle, it does not look like the people’s democratic reform agenda ever see the light of day.    

Whilst many people were over the moon with joy when Robert Mugabe was finally forced to resign they joy was misguided since the Zanu PF dictatorship itself was still in power. The demise of the dictator Robert Mugabe was not necessarily the end of the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule especially when all that happened was a surgical removal of one dictator to replace him with another in the name of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa alias Ngwena or Crocodile!

The coup, according to General Chiwenga, the ringleader, was about removing “criminal elements around President Mugabe who had seized power and threatened the country’s revolutionary gains”. He even code named the coup “Operation Restore Legacy”. All bull!

The coup was about stopping Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction inheriting the Zanu PF dictatorship and to restore the political supremacy of the dictatorship under the leadership of Chiwenga, Mutsvangwa, Mnangagwa, etc.  

If the people of Zimbabwe had their thinking caps on (alas many do not even know what a thinking cap is because they have never had one) then on 18 November 2017 they would have marched to a different drum beat to that Chiwenga and Mutsvangwa’s thugs marched. Where war veterans marched north the people would have marched south.

Chiwenga’s “Operation Restore Legacy” is about re-energizing the Zanu PF dictatorship. The people’s Operation Restore Democracy agenda is about destroying the dictatorship. The people should have never allowed Mugabe to establish the dictatorship in the first place and now they must make sure it is totally destroyed.

Since his swearing in as the new President, Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs have been on an all-out charm offensive to win back the people’s trust and political support. They are the same individuals who have masterminded and executed the looting, vote rigging, the brutal political repression, etc. all these last 37 years. They are working frantically to cover the past under a thick layer of “new era” whitewash. “Let bygone be bygone,” argued President Mnangagwa!

If President Mnangagwa & co. were serious about seeking a “new democratic era”, the least they can do is implement the democratic reforms. The regime’s charm offensive does not include giving up its carte blanche draconian powers to rig elections. The all-out charm offensive is to take the sting out of the pressure to implement the reform at a time when Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and the rest are still licking their wounds from the Zanu PF implosion and the military coup.

President Mnangagwa has no intention of making sure next year’s elections are free, fair and credible because it is not in the DNA of Zanu PF to hold free and fair elections. Operation Restore Legacy was about restoring the Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its power to rig elections.

President Mnangagwa will rig next year’s elections but will go the extra mile to hide the evidence. We have a real chance of forcing Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms but we must keep our eyes firmly fixed on reforms. We must go the extra mile to uncover the vote rigging evidence.

We demand free, fair and credible elections and must not give an inch! Next year’s elections must judged a sham if there is no verified voters’ roll as required by law. We want a free media giving equal coverage of opposing points of view. All political parties must declare the sources of funds and audited expenditure to end the culture of looting national resources for selfish party political advantage, etc.

The Zanu PF dictatorship is still smarting from the mauling from the dog-eat-dog factional fighting. The recent military coup meaning Mnangagwa’s legitimacy is threadbare. We, the people, have a golden opportunity to force the regime to accept meaningful democratic change. We must not waste this golden opportunity to bring about democratic change just as we wasted the golden opportunities the last GNU brought!

Coup did NOT "resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis," Annan warned leaders and povo Nomusa Garikai

“The only legitimate and sustainable way out of the Zimbabwe crisis is through elections with integrity in 2018,” warned former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

“The political crisis in Zimbabwe is not yet resolved. The enthusiastic crowds who marched in the streets of Zimbabwe’s major cities … were demanding freedom, not just a change of leadership.”

Thank you, Mr Annan for reminding the people of Zimbabwe of a fundament truth many knew but have refused to admit to themselves. There is no doubt that for the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who marched in the street on Saturday 18 November 2017 they were demanding freedom and an end to the dictatorship.

There is also no doubt that for General Chiwenga and his posse of coup plotter and the rogue war veterans led by Chris Mutsvangwa who cheered the coup plotters every step of the way the coup was not real about “removing criminal around President Mugabe” as Major General Moyo had announced to the world. This was coup de grace to kill off the G40 faction in a factional war that had been raging in Zanu PF for the last three years.

When Mugabe was refusing to resign and the coup plotters did not have the heart to shoot the tyrant, aware they would only make their illegal act even worse; they turned to exploit the populous’ bottled hatred of Mugabe. Of course, Chiwenga, Mutsvangwa and the rest of the Zanu PF leaders knew people hated Mugabe with a consuming passion, after all they are the ones who had masterminded and/or executed the many vote rigging schemes that had kept the tyrant in power all these years.

The people were warned the coup plotters and their acolytes were going to use them to help pressure Mugabe to resign and as soon that is done they will do nothing to dismantle the dictatorship itself.

“I therefore urge the leadership of Zimbabwe, political and military, to promote and facilitate a transition to genuine democracy. All of the country’s leaders must put the interest of the nation first and work together to ensure the future peace, progress and prosperity of Zimbabwe,” said the chair of the Annan Foundation.

You are just wasting your breath on that one, sir!

How can Chiwenga, Mutsvangwa and Mnangagwa dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship when they are the very embodiment of the dictatorship! They are not going to reform themselves out of power.

In turn the Zanu PF dictatorship and all its sired evils of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, the vote rigging, ruthless oppression, etc. are the embodiment of Zimbabwe’ economic and political crisis that has bedevilled the nation. The crisis will only be resolved when we have implemented the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship and allow the country to hold its first ever free, fair and credible elections.

There is chance of next year’s elections being free, fair and credible for three reasons:

1)    Although President Mnangagwa is a lot more pragmatic and has some common sense compared to the dogmatic foolishness of Mugabe and therefore was going to adopt some economic adjustment that would have resulted in very significant economic recovery and thus boost his popularity with the electorate to win free and fair election. The people would forgive, hard as that will be for many to swallow, him for all the evil he has committed as Mugabe’s chief enforce.

Sadly, Mnangagwa will not have the time to make a significant economic difference before he faced the electorate. Next year’s elections must be held by end of July 2018 at the very latest. With very few economic achievements under his belt, Mnangagwa will be very foolish to risk a humiliating defeat by holding free and fair elections. He is a fool, he must be to have allowed himself to be so abused by Mugabe all these years; still, he is not that foolish as to risk free elections.

2)    The core of the Zanu PF dictatorship, the Army and the rogue war veterans, that put Mnangagwa in State House, has been flexing its muscle with the Army reportedly supervising the Police and CIO – punishment for the two security services’ failure to boldly support the Army during the coup. Mutsvangwa’s war veterans are reviving the association’s reach to very growth point and village across the land.

General Chiwenga called the coup “Operation Restore Legacy” and the legacy he and Mutsvangwa have in mind is those like themselves who fought in the war of independence, know best who should rule Zimbabwe. Of course, they, as the principal custodians of the nation’s sovereignty and destiny, have the veto on rules the country and the rest of the populous are minors who will have a vote and only allowed to exercise it under very carefully supervised.

“Operation Restore Legacy” was about stopping Mugabe handing over the presidency to his wife Grace and the G40 upstarts and giving back the Zanu PF dictatorship core the power to decide who rules the country. The dictatorship will certainly not want free and fair elections and lose its veto!

3)    The Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut has been doing all the preparatory ground work, largely unaffected by the dog-eat-dog factional fighting that has been raging on since both factions agreed on the need to rig the elections to stay in power. NIKUV, the Israel vote rigging specialist company, has been working in the country for the last four years and paid well as a recent Court case showed.

ZEC have been doing their bit to stop opposition supporters registering and there will be no verified voters’ roll – opening the door to many NIKUV inspired vote rigging shenanigans. The party has ordered the twin-cab Isuzu trucks for the Chiefs, bribe to ensure they frogmarch villagers to attend Zanu PF rallies and vote for the party. The looting in Marange to raise the cash to bankroll the party’s vote rigging schemes is all going on very nicely, etc., etc.

Short of Zanu PF putting its hands up now and admitting it has been preparing to rig next year’s election and we therefore require more time rejigging the process to deliver free and fair elections, there is real nothing else the party can do other than let the flawed process go ahead.

Zimbabwe’s opposition parties’ willingness to contest flawed and illegal elections have made it easy for Zanu PF to resist demands for meaningful political reforms. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and Tsvangirai and company, like jackals feeding on scraps at a lion kill, have been content.   

Sadly, Mr Annan, there is neither any hope of next year’s elections being free and fair nor is there anything one can do to stop the whole meaningless charade going ahead.

Zimbabwe’s 15 November 2017 military coup was a wake-up call for SADC and Zimbabweans of the urgent need to resolve Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis born out of the country’s failure to hold free and fair elections. The coup failed to address this core problem, if anything, it has made it worse since the hard-core Zanu PF thugs behind the coup have reasserted their dictatorial dominancy. The coup could have easily ended in a protracted street protests or worse, civil war.

The need for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and pave the way for free and fair election and democracy is now a matter of the greatest urgency. The International community and SADC can help make this happen by rejecting the results of next year’s election, dismissing the process as a sham which it is.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, you promised the nation a “new dawn”, in your inauguration speech and promised jobs a host of other things too. Well forget the jobs and all the other rubbish; we, the people of Zimbabwe, demand free, fair and credible elections. We have since learnt that as long as we have no meaningful vote we will never hold you to account if you should fail to live up to any of your promises.

So, first things first, restore our right to free, fair and credible elections and without a meaningful vote the rest of the stuff you promise is just a pie in the sky!