Germany want "reforms resolved before re-engage" - they don't know ED rigged recent election N Garikai

First it was the British who were bending over backwards to re-engage the corrupt and tyrannical Mnangagwa regime, for the UK’s selfish reasons. Ever since Mnangagwa seized power in Zimbabwe, a year ago, the British have tried to sell his regime as a democratic one the world can work with. The then UK Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ms Catriona Laing, took it upon herself to gross over Mnangagwa’s past and ignore evidence that Mnangagwa was still a corrupt and ruthless thug. 

It was only when Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the 30 July 2018 and followed this up with the cold blooded shooting of unarmed civilians, to pre-empty public anger at another rigged elections, that the British finally accepted Zanu PF was sill a party of corrupt and ruthless thugs. Ambassador Laing’s parting shot at the regime was to tell it “the electoral playing field was not level”. 

Out went the British and in came the Germans in pursuit of exactly the same thing - to re-engage the Zanu PF regime, regardless of all the evidence it is a corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical regime!

Let it be said here and now, loud as you like, we, the ordinary and long suffering Zimbabweans, condemn all attempts to re-engage this Zanu PF dictatorship because all such re-engagement will only help perpetuate the dictatorship. 

“Germany has taken the initiative to renew bilateral ties with Zimbabwe after it dispatched a high-powered delegation to Harare in the past week to open discussions aimed at opening a new chapter on trade and investment, it has emerged,” reported Bulawayo24/ Zimbabwe Independent.

"The visit of the German delegation to Zimbabwe underlines the willingness of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to re-engage with the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” Germany's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Thorsten Hutter, explained. 

“Both sides are aware of the fact that the debt (US$550 million) owed to Germany as well as the need to implement political and economic reforms are important issues that need to be resolved before formal government consultations on the resumption of development cooperation may take place.”

If the truth be told, Germany is paying lip-service to the needs for Zimbabwe to implement political reforms. We all know that implementing the democratic reforms is the one thing President Mnangagwa has stubbornly refused to do as evidenced by the recent Zimbabwe elections.  

Whilst President Mnangagwa was very quick off the mark to promise to hold free, fair and credible before dust had settled down on following last November’s military coup; no doubt he knew the coup was illegal and therefore he was illegitimate. He clearly made the promise as a PR necessity only because he refused to implement even one of the raft of democratic reforms, everyone agreed at the onset of the 2008 GNU, were necessary for free and fair elections. 

“Major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party,” said the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission final report. 

“Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. 

“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 30 July 2018 elections, this is an established historic fact. It is utterly pointless to talk of giving the regime a chance to implement political reforms as if this is something the regime did not know about. 

What is more, people must not forget that Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because the country has been stuck for 38 years and counting with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. The people have failed to remove it from office because the party has blatantly rigged the elections. 

Worst of all, the regime has been allowed to stay in power after each rigged election only for Zanu PF to rig the next elections and thus perpetuate its illegitimate reign. 

If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power, which is exactly what re-engagement will do, until 2023; then we can be certain of one thing right now, Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections!

For the Germans, or any other nation for that matter, to re-engage this vote rigging and thus illegitimate Zanu PF government; they must know their action is tantamount to spitting the long suffering Zimbabweans in the face. Whilst these people are powerless to stop this insult they are not stupid to quickly forget or forgive! 

Zimbabweans are fighting to end a corrupt, incompetent and murderous dictatorship. They are yarning for a competent government that respects their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life itself. All are asking for from the international community is a sympathetic consideration. As for those nations who do not give a damn about the suffering masses, then please keep your noses out of Zimbabwe’s internal affairs. That is not too much to ask!