Mnangagwa, jacaranda bloom regardless of rigged elections, the economy wilts - mark my word W Mukori

President Mnangagwa’s falsehoods and damned lies in the Guardian (UK) newspaper cannot go unchallenged.

“September is the first month of spring in Zimbabwe. The jacaranda trees that line Harare's avenues will soon flower into a sea of purple. Last November their blossom formed the backdrop to the people taking to the streets and demanding change,” started Mnangagwa.

The jacaranda trees have bloomed without failure throughout the years of white colonial oppression just as they have bloomed throughout the years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF oppression that followed. Yes the people of Zimbabwe were very pleased to see Robert Mugabe finally forced out of office; they had to be eternally grateful for even this little mercy.

Of course, it was a little mercy because no one, other than the very naïve and gullible, were under any illusion the November coup was about removing the top dog in the Zanu PF dictators and a handful of others around him but only to replace Mugabe with another dictator, Emmerson Mnangagwa, “mark 2 Mugabe”, as UK MP Kate Hoey called him.

The real acid test of whether the November coup had ushered in real democratic change in Zimbabwe was the elections. Mark 2 Mugabe promised to hold free, fair and credible elections but no serious political analyst believed him and events have since confirmed they were right.

The President described the elections as “the freest and fairest in our history”. This is just typical of those who do not want a serious debate on a subject; instead of focusing on the elections must be free, fair and credible we are on to superlatives!

Yes, this year’s elections were the “freest and fairest” compared to the 2008 and 2013 elections which were marred by some of the worst cases of wanton violence ever. It should be noted that it was none other than Emmerson Mnangagwa and most of those involved in the November putsch were behind all the harassment, destruction of property, beatings, rapes and even cold blooded murders that took place.

This year the junta instructed its operatives to take their foot off the violence pedal and concentrated on reminding the voters that the violence of 2008 and 2013 will return if Zanu PF should lose these elections, “operation harvest fear” as some people have called it.

If we judge these elections on what is international accepted standards for free and fair elections then this year’s elections were flawed and illegal. President Mnangagwa does not want us to consider these standard but to focus instead on the violence and be grateful the junta’s thugs were kept on the leash!

Of course, this year’s elections were not free, fair and credible. How can they be otherwise when there was no free public media, 2 to 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, ZEC failed to produce a clean and verified voters’ roll throwing the door open to multiple voting, etc., etc.

Just two months before this year’s July elections, President Mnangagwa gave an interview with UK based Economist Magazine in which he flatly denied that Zanu PF rigged the 2008 elections. “Where is the evidence of vote rigging!” he maintained. He is still in denial that Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by vote rigging thugs.

“In the absence of readily available evidence (of vote rigging), it served only to polarise voters. Those who had believed the opposition leader's claims had to do so in blind faith. Without such faith, it is difficult to see where this fraud came from,” argue President Mnangagwa.

Not even one of the national or multinational organizations from respectable democratic nations who send their team to observe Zimbabwe’s elections have yet released their report on the elections, it is now six weeks since voting day. Their silence is ominous and, no doubt, President Mnangagwa’s “where is the evidence” is the pre-emptive defence. He is hiding behind a finger!

The investors and lenders whose help Zimbabwe needs to kick start its comatose economy are a shrewd and savvy lot, they are smart enough to see that these elections were rigged. They will continue to shy away from investing in Zimbabwe.

The jacaranda trees blossomed year after year without failure throughout Mugabe’s corrupt and tyrannical reign whilst the national economy wilted and collapsed. President Mnangagwa, you can be certain that the jacaranda trees will blossomed once again this year but not the economy, the economic meltdown is set to continue. Jacaranda trees do not care whether it is Mugabe or Mugabe mark 2 ruling the country; investors and lenders care a great deal hence the reason the economy is in a mess and is not going to recover.