Saturday 2 February 2019

"Before talks, Chamisa must first accept my legitimacy" insist ED N Garikai


Mnangagwa says he will not talk to MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, until the latter acknowledges Mnangagwa as the legitimately elected president.

“I have never refused to talk and that is why after I came into office, you have seen me talking to all people from students, industry, the church, political parties and even traditional leaders. We continue to talk for the good of our country and my door is open. I, however, do not understand how he (Chamisa) would want to talk to me when he claims I am illegitimate. It implies that the talks will be illegitimate. I don’t want to see myself exchanging words with Chamisa, I don’t want to sink to that level. I leave all this to you,” said Mnangagwa.

This is just nonsensical. 

If Mnangagwa is refusing to talk to Chamisa because the latter has said Mnangagwa was illegitimate. Then why is Mnangagwa talking to the EU, the Americans and many, many other nations? These nations have all condemned last July’s elections too and have never accept this Zanu PF regime as legitimate.

Mnangagwa and Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube have been out begging the West, especially the Paris Club, IMF and WB, for financial assistance but have returned empty handed. Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs and no investors want to deal with pariah states! 

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there is not going to be any meaningful economic recovery, period.

In his boastful moments Nelson Chamisa has claimed that he has the key to unlock Mnangagwa’s illegitimacy and the economy. This was nothing more than the proverbial frog claiming to put out the forest fire with its punny fart! 

Political legitimacy is derived from winning the majority votes in an election that is free, fair and credible. How anyone would judge last July elections as a free, fair and credible electoral process beggars belief. The regime denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote; compared to 2.4 million Mangagwa claims voted for him. ZEC failed to release something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake! 

We are to assume Chamisa will sweep all these blatant vote rigging antics under the carpet, cleanse the electoral process of all its flaws and illegalities, and declare the illegitimate  Mnangagwa legitimate. Who is Chamisa to do all that! “Chamisa chiyi panyama yehuku!” (What part is Chamisa on a chicken!) as one would say in Shona.

There will be no meaningful economic recovery in Zimbabwe until the nation ends the curse of rigged elections and pariah state. None! If Mnangagwa believes Chamisa can wave his magic wand and lift the curse then he must even more naive than he looks!

When Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections he was cocksure he would go on to revive the Zimbabwe economy. It is now as clear as day that instead of meaningful economic recovery the nation’s economy is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss. Worse still, it is also as clear as day that Mnangagwa is resorting to the use of brute force to silence dissent and all those crying about the economic hardships. 

Zimbabwe’s economic situation with unemployment at 90%, 3/4 of the population living on US$1.00 or less a day, etc. is unsustainable. And no amount of brutal repression is going to stop people demanding meaningful change. Zanu PF cannot expect people to suffer and die in silence like sheep in a slaughter house.

The most rational, peaceful and quickest way to end Zimbabwe’s economic and political nightmare is for Zanu PF to step down. The regime rigged last July’s elections, it is illegitimate and should stop holding the nation to ransom for even one day longer! 

There is nothing to talk about with Mnangagwa and his junta friends; they should just step down. 

Chamisa and his MDC Alliance friends must step aside too. They have had many golden opportunities to implement the democratic reforms which would have end Zanu PF’s reign of terror and they have wasted them all. 

The nation needs the political space to appoint an interim administration that will be tasked to implement all the democratic reforms agreed at the onset of the 2008 GNU. The administration will lay the democratic foundation for the free, just and prosperous Zimbabwe the nation has been dying for all this years.

3 comments:

  1. “We are ready for dialogue, but it must not have conditions. So we totally disagree with Zanu PF when it wants to set conditions for the dialogue. It must be dialogue without conditions,” he said.

    Mwonzora said the interparty dialogue meetings were fruitful in bringing about the biometric voter registration issue and crafting the code of conduct for the political parties that was used in the elections.

    Poor Mwonzora he is always grandstanding and posturing. Zanu PF has always set its conditions and MDC has always, in the end, given in to all Zanu PF demands. On the other hand Zanu PF has always ignored MDC’s demands and the latter has always given in.

    Would someone please tell Mwonzora that Zanu PF ditched the biometric voter system the last minute and never even bothered to explain why. ZEC used a hard copy voters’ roll and NOT the biometric system on voting day. It is shocking that Mwonzora failed to pick this up.

    The talks between Zanu PF and MDC will not change a fundamental political reality – that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 30 July 2018 elections. All this talk of Chamisa being able to grant Mnangagwa legitimacy is nonsense. “Chamisa chiyi panyama yehuku!” (Who is Chamisa in the grand scheme of things!)

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  2. Last July's elections were flawed and illegal because 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were deny a vote (compared to 2.4 million Mnangagwa says voted for him), ZEC failed to release something as basic as a verified voters' roll and failed to release all the V11 forms with the vote totals although these were legal requirements, etc. If Mnangagwa believes Chamisa can just sweep these matters under the carpet and declare the elections free, fair and credible the Mnangagwa is more stupid than he looks!

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  3. “There is nothing to talk about with Mnangagwa and his junta friends; they should just step down.”

    I totally agree, what is there talk about with this Zanu PF regime. The thugs have been in office for 38 years, they have totally destroyed the economy and in their years of tyrannical rule they have murdered over 30 000 Zimbabwe. They will not accept that they have failed and hence the reason they want to talk.

    The choice before us, as far as Mnangagwa and company are concerned is either we accept the status quo, i.e. Zanu PF remains in power, or we talk about some government arrangement in which Zanu PF takes on those outside the party as partners.

    Either way Zanu PF must remain as the party of government hence the need for everyone to endorse Mnangagwa as the legitimate president.

    Zanu PF will not subscribe to the concept of ordinary Zimbabweans having the final say in who governs the country. Zanu PF’s right to govern Zimbabwe is absolute, indivisible and must never ever be questioned.

    By rigging last year’s elections Mnangagwa was dismissing the people’s right to free, fair and credible elections with contempt. He knows that the electoral victory he claimed is a lie. After 38 years of Zanu PF treating the ordinary Zimbabweans with contempt and imposing its corrupt and tyrannical will on the nation it is high time the party is told in no uncertain terms that it does not have the divine right to govern the country.

    Since Zanu PF rigged last July’s elections, the party has no mandate to govern and it must step down. Rigging elections is high treason and it is very arrogant of Mnangagwa and his junta that he should commit high treason and now presume to have the power to hold the nation to ransom.

    Mnangagwa and company must step down we have no time to talk with treasonous thugs. Those people who are grovelling to Mnangagwa are not doing the nation any favours because they are emboldening the thugs. Zimbabwe is standing at the very edge of the abyss and we certainly do not have the time to waste appeasing these corrupt, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF thugs.

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