The coup that was not a coup was bad enough now we have bribe that is not a bribe P Guramatunhu

When President Mugabe promised to buy the Chiefs the twin cab trucks he known it was a bribe so they will play their usual role of campaigning for Zanu PF and threatening povo with expulsion from their homes if they supported the opposition. Chief Fortune Charumbira, who is the Chief's leader, promised Mugabe is reply that Chiefs will indeed campaign for Zanu PF.

The rural areas are considered Zanu PF "strong-holds" for no other reason than that there are no go areas for the opposition because between the traditional leaders and the Zanu PF thugs they have made life very difficult for the rural people who have dared support the opposition. 

President Mnangagwa has honoured Mugabe's promise to bribe the Chiefs because he knows that he too has to grease the palms of many party loyalists, sell-outs, foreigners like the NIKUV crowd; the Chiefs are just one of these many; to successfully rig the elections. 

Robert Mugabe must have laughed, probably for the first time ever since the 15 th November 2017 military coup, when he heard President Mnangagwa promise the nation "free, fair and credible elections". The tyrant knew that was one circle Mnangagwa would never sell as a square. Ever since last week, when President Mnangagwa, delivered the first batch of the new trucks to the Chiefs the regime has made complete fools of themselves trying to justify this blatant vote buying move in the light of the, supposedly, new democratic dispensation. 

 “Contrary to popular belief that we were given the cars for free, we actually bought them with our own money. People are just ignorant about this whole thing. The cars were purchased with the money we have been contributing towards the Chiefs’ Vehicle Scheme since 2004. We did not get them for free,” Chief Charumbira told the state media.

Could not help but join Mugabe in laughing there! Since 2004! Where was that money hidden because every other account, including those of the private sector forced to hold their foreign currency account with the RBZ were cleaned out!  

“It’s you who designed the new Constitution, the same document which states that chiefs should be dignified and exemplary. Now we are given cars, you question why it is done,” continue the Chief.

Of course, we want our Chiefs to be dignified but why should the Chief’s dignity in driving a truck be more important than the life of new born babies dying up and down the country for the lack of something as basic as an incubator? Besides the constitution clearly states that the Chiefs must be “apolitical” and yet you lot have not only campaigned for Zanu PF but have threatened and even punished those in your tribal areas who have dared support the opposition. The trucks are a bribe for you to continue campaigning for Zanu PF. Where is the Chiefs’ dignity is being so blatant corrupt and betraying povo!

“If a politician gets a car you do not question, but a chief, you start saying a lot of things. What is the difference? After all a politician only lasts for a short period of time, yet a chief is there for life,” continued the Chief.

So, you too Chief “got” the trucks you did not buy them with your own money! That is the thing about these corrupt and utterly useless people like Chief Charumbira, keep him talking for five minutes and he will contradict himself.

President Mnangagwa and his Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, have too chipped in and tried to justify why the Chiefs were being bribed; their hen’s teeth tales did not make any sense, as expected. The bottom line is bribing Chiefs has always been one of the Zanu PF’s key vote rigging activities and it is simply unthinkable for the party to drop this. So any attempt to sell the bribe as anything else other than what it is – a bribe – was always going to leave one looking very foolish!  

President Mnangagwa has remained faithful to Zanu PF’s vote rigging plans including bribing key players like Chiefs the party needs to execute its plans. However, what the regime is failing to do is explain how it can still claim the elections are free and fair in the face of such blatant vote rigging activities.

“If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done,” SADC leaders warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends before the July 2013 elections. Evidence is mounting to show Zanu PF is going to rig this year’s elections, it will not be long before one can say the same thing about them!

Many people did not President Mnangagwa’s hen’s teeth tale that the 15 November 2017 coup was not a coup but a “military assisted transition”. Even more people are dismissing his latest hen’s teeth tale that the new trucks he is buying for the Chiefs are not a bribe and an integral part of his vote rigging plan.