"Chamisa and ED must find each other," argue Standard. To what end and purpose - appease ED? P Guramatunhu

It is heartening that many Zimbabweans are finally taking the country’s economic and political situation with the seriousness the matter demands. After decades of burying their heads in the sand and accepting whatever propaganda the political leaders said people are now beginning to question everything, as they rightly should!

The people of Zimbabwe must now wake up to the reality that the country is in a man-made serious mess after 38 years and counting of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and murderous tyrannical rule. Fortunately, like all man-made problems, it is within our, we the citizens of Zimbabwe, power to get the country out of this mess all that is required on our part is that we stop burying our heads in the sand and pay attention to what is going on.

It is not enough to say we want a better Zimbabwe where we all live in peace and prosperity. This is not a fairy tale with its usual “They all lived happily ever after!” ending. If we are serious about a peaceful, just and prosperous Zimbabwe, then we must work for it. We must understand what has gone horribly wrong these last 38 years, learn from the mistakes and fix what we can going forward.

What went wrong? The devil is always in the detail. Detail matters. Detail is everything!

“The reported moves by the international community to bring Zimbabwe's political protagonists to the table should be lauded by all peace-loving and poverty-weary Zimbabweans,” stated The Standard Editorial.

As stated above, the devil is in the detail.

“Zanu-PF may want to grandstand and make credulous claims about a so-called new dispensation and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ability to turn Zimbabwe's economic fortunes around, but facts on the ground show that this cannot and will not happen in the foreseeable future,” continued the editorial.

“The fact that nine months after taking to the helm of the country Mnangagwa has totally failed to provide one proof of this capacity is more than enough evidence he and his party alone are unable to lift Zimbabwe out of its misery.

“As it is, the situation on the ground is increasingly becoming frightful. Prices of goods and services are rising every day while basic commodities are fast getting scarce.

“There are already serious shortages of medicines in the country's hospitals while other commodities such as cement are now being found only on the black market where prices have shot through the roof.

“One good example of a question that Mnangagwa and his fellow government leaders and advisors have failed to answer is: what is it in aid of to spend millions of dollars on expensive brand new vehicles for chiefs while hospitals do not have ambulances?”

There is no doubt that President Mnangagwa and his junta are not offering the nation a way out of the economic and political mess we are in, The Standard made a convincing case of that. Indeed one has only to point to the mess the country is in to prove Zanu PF’s incompetence. The junta’s argument that it was Mugabe and the “criminal elements around him” who are to blame for the 37 years of misrule must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves. Mnangagwa and his junta friends were not only at the heart of the Zanu PF regimes throughout the 37 years, they are the ones who ruthlessly imposed the Zanu PF dictatorship on the nation.

What The Standard failed to answer is: if President Mnangagwa and his junta are corrupt and incompetent, as many would readily agree, then how is it possible they won a landslide victory in this year’s harmonised elections?

This is a rhetorical question! The Standard, the international community now trying to get Zanu PF and MDC to form a GNU, everyone including President Mnangagwa himself tacitly admitted in talking about “peaceful elections” and leaving out “free, fair and credible”. Everyone knows that Zanu PF rigged the elections to impose the same corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical dictatorial rule of yesteryears.

The British MP, Kate Hoey, who was in Zimbabwe to observe the elections talked of Mnangagwa as “mark 2 Mugabe” who “cleverly rigged the elections” and “does not deserve international support”.

Indeed all this frantic effort by “international community to bring Zimbabwe's political protagonists themselves” is nothing more than a cowardly attempt by the same international community to have sanitise the vote rigging Zanu PF regime with a dusting of MDC leaders so they can pretend they are not dealing with the vote rigging Zanu PF junta.

It is naïve, to say the least, to expect this dusting of MDC leaders to make any difference in a Zanu PF dominated government particularly when the MDC leaders have themselves proven beyond doubt to be breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent.

“The government needs to set its priorities right and behave like mature leaders who have the people's welfare at heart. Mnangagwa must come down from his high horse and seek the assistance of Nelson Chamisa, who has proved to be a politician who has good ideas and a very huge following in the country,” argued The Standard, recommending the MDC.

“Chamisa, too, must heed the calls of the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe who are crying for food on the table, good health, houses to live in, jobs and an end to decades of misery.”

Nonsense! The MDC had five years during the last GNU to implement the raft of democratic reforms, their primary task then. They failed to get even one reform implemented because they had their snouts in the feeding trough, enjoying the trappings of gravy train high office; they completely forgot about the reforms.

The only sure ticket out of the political and economic hell-on-earth we find ourselves in is for the country to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Until we do this the country will never ever got out of this hell-hole. Never ever!

President Mnangagwa and his junta promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, they have failed to keep their promise. With the country is serious economic and political peril, this is not the time to appease the junta with utterly pointless coalitions.

What we need to do is look the junta straight in the eyes and tell them all they have failed to hold free and fair elections, they must now step aside for others can implement the reforms and get this nation out of this hell. After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule, the Zanu PF dictatorship must now be told in no uncertain terms that it cannot hold this nation to ransom for another day longer!

“Chamisa, Mnangagwa must find each other for the people!” argued The Standard. This is just a feeble excuse to allow Zanu PF to remain in power when the junta should be held to account for failing to hold free, fair and credible elections. This will do nothing to get the nation out of the hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed us in or alleviate the people’s suffering. If anything, this will make matters worse as Zanu PF thugs will only seek to tighten their grip on power, making holding of free and fair elections an ever receding mirage.