"It will first positive democratic step, if elections are free," says ForeignAffairs - try if sun rose from the WEST P Guramatunhu

There are many, many reasons one can give to explain why Zimbabwe is stuck in this economic and political mess. One of the reasons will be the country’s failure to have any open, meaningful and progressive debate on any big issues affecting the nation. The need for free, fair and credible elections has been the number one issue for Zimbabwe ever since the nation started demanding for democratic change in the late 1990s. Foreign Affairs’ contribution, writing in The Zimbabwean, is therefore a very welcome effort to kick-start the debate on this Big Issue.

“The presidential election could be a positive step toward true democracy in Zimbabwe, but only if it is free and fair,” wrote ForeignAffairs.com.

“The government must undertake serious reforms and provide assurances to ensure that free, fair, and peaceful elections happen, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely.”

In the interest of “open, meaningful and progressive debate”, there is no way any meaningful democratic reforms can be implemented now, just weeks before the voting day. We are going into these elections with no free public media, no clean and verified voters’ roll, with Zanu PF having billions of dollars looted from the impoverished populous to bankroll it vote rigging schemes, etc., etc. There is no point in mincing our words; there is no “if” the elections are free and fair, we know these elections are not free and fair.

It is simply impossible to have free and fair elections without first implementing the reforms. President Mnangagwa has flatly refused to implement any reforms and now it is too late to do so.

“This is a moment when the international community has enormous leverage and must push for as much reform as possible immediately,” argued ForeignAffair.

Credit where credit is due and criticism where criticism is overdue! The American, SADC, one or two others nations and a host of political analysts have reminded this Zanu PF junta of the need to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed at the onset of the 2008 GNU. All they ever got from this regime was abuse.

“Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Imi muchingohukura! Nokuhukura!” (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you (calling for reforms) bark! And bark!) President Mnangagwa has contemptuously dismissed the reformers.

The British are the only democratic nation that has turned a blind eye to Zanu PF’s arrogance and blatant moves to rig these elections. The British wants the world to rubber stamp another rigged elections as long as Zanu PF promise to implement reforms in the future.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess precisely because the nation has been stuck for 38 years now with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF autocracy that rigged elections to stay in power. The nation is desperate to get out of the mess and the only sure way is to put an end to this madness of rigged election. How anyone, anyone at all; let alone a nation of supposedly rational and democratic people like the UK; would want the madness to continue even one more day defies logic!

 “It is important to recall that Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s right-hand man for more than 50 years, going back to the time of the country’s war for liberation,” continued FoeignAffair.

“He is therefore directly implicated in all that went wrong during Mugabe’s rule. But Mnangagwa is now saying all the right things. He is pleading for foreign investment and promising to protect civil society and human rights activists. Mnangagwa wrote earlier this year in the New York Times that he wants to build “a country with a thriving and open economy, jobs for its youth, opportunities for investors, and democracy and equal rights for all.”

President Mnangagwa’s high profile “Zimbabwe is open for business!” campaign has failed to attract the flood of foreign investors because they see the country as an unstable pariah state. The failure to hold free and fair elections, last November’s the military coup, the 23^rd June bomb blast in Bulawayo, etc., etc. all point to one thing – Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by thugs.

Those who think there can ever be any meaningful economic recovery without first dismantling the corrupt and oppressive dictatorial political system, the root cause of the economic meltdown, are putting the cart before the horse!

We know President Mnangagwa is not honouring his promise to hold free, fair and elections; he is blatantly rigging these elections, something Zanu PF has done consistently for the last 38 years. We must now make sure that he is left in no doubt that he is not going to get away with another rigged elections;  not this time. These elections are not free, fair and credible and, per se, must and will be declared null and void.