All those who love peace and justice and understand the need to end the long suffering of the people of Zimbabwe after 38 years and counting of this Zanu PF dictatorship will hearty welcomes EU Parliament recent resolutions designed to the Zanu PF dictatorship.
After 38 years of blatant human rights violations and tyrannical rule; it is now clear that the modus operandi of this Zanu PF regime is to do whatever it deems necessary, regardless of the law and even the sanctity of human life, to secure power. Present the nation and the world at large with a fait accompli of a Zanu PF government and only then make whatever promises and concession as long as they do not compromise the party’s hold on power.
When President Mnangagwa seized power from Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup he and his fellow coup plotters were aware the national community would not welcome this blatant act of banditry, ever against a despised tyrant and a dictator. Those in the know dismissed the coup plotter’s claim that this was a democratic transformation since the plotters were themselves Mugabe’s henchmen who had used brute force to establish and retain the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship all the last 37 years.
Mnangagwa had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections in the wake of the military coup to take the sting out of the condemnation of his regime as illegitimate. It should be noted that never implemented not even one meaningful democratic reform necessary for free and fair elections.
“Whereas the final report of the EU EOM states that the figures presented by the ZEC contained many anomalies and inaccuracies and raised enough questions to lead to doubts
as to the accuracy and reliability of the numbers presented,” EU Parliament rightfully stated in its resolution.
as to the accuracy and reliability of the numbers presented,” EU Parliament rightfully stated in its resolution.
The vote rigging was so blatant the regime has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters roll. There can be no doubt that Zanu PF rigged last July’s elections and real danger here is to fall into the party’s trap of accepting it as the de facto government regardless of it having no democratic mandate.
Mnangagwa and his regime are illegitimate and no one, inside Zimbabwe or outside, should make the mistake of recognising the regime as legitimate. No one!
This Zanu PF regime must be pressure to step down for four reasons:
- Zimbabwe is facing serious economic meltdown that has resulted in tragic human suffering and deaths and there is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Another year of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule is unthinkable much less four years to 2023, when the next elections are due.
- If this Zanu PF regime remains in power till 2023, be it as the ruling party or partner in a new GNU, the party will see to it that no meaningful reforms are implemented regardless of all the promises the party makes. We can be certain of one thing then, Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections and once again present the nation with a fait accompli Zanu PF government. We have seen Zanu PF do this again and again these last 38 years; for the country to move forward we need to break this vicious cycle of Zanu PF rigging elections, use brute violence to cow the nation into subservient submission, promise reform to gain legitimacy and remain in office only to rig the next elections.
- Zanu PF must be pressure to step down because it rig the elections and is therefore illegitimate. The party has rigged so many elections in the past and got away with it the party leaders now assume they have a right to rig elections. We should not call for free, fair and credible elections and then fail to punish those who rig elections!
- Zanu PF must step down to create the political space and time for the appointing of an interim administration tasked to implemented the democratic reforms necessary to dismantle the Zanu PF autocracy and replace it with a healthy and functional democratic system of government.
The call to bring back the sanctions against Zanu PF leaders is a welcome move. “Calls on the European Council to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent state violence,” said the EU parliament.”
It is important that the sanctions are imposed as soon as possible, the political situation is Zimbabwe is dire and time is costing tragic human suffering and lives!
The sanctions should be hard-hitting. Zanu PF leaders family, friends and supporters continued to enjoy their extravagant lifestyles under the last sanctions, this must stop.
Zanu PF has recruited academics and professionals to be the regime’s representatives, people like Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and Minister Kirsty Coventry. They must all be included in the new and tougher sanctions list!
There are opposition politicians too who have continue to participate in Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections in total disregard of the warning that doing so only gave the process some modicum of credibility. In the past some of these opposition politicians have called for sanctions but only to help Zanu PF rig the elections by contesting the flawed elections. All those playing any part in perpetuating the curse of rigged elections must be included in the new sanctions regime.
Zanu PF has been rigging elections for decades and getting away with it. It is refreshing that the EU is finally taking the demand for free, fair and credible elections with the seriousness and urgency the matter demands! All thinking Zimbabweans will welcome the renewal of sanctions on the Zanu PF leaders.
ReplyDeleteWith the country's economy now in total meltdown after 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule there is no doubt there is urgent need for decisive action to end the madness of rigged elections. It is pleasing to note that the EU has seen the need and acted on it.
One only hopes that the renewed sanctions will sweeping and punishing to fit the seriousness of the matter before us!
A democratically elected government that is responsible to the people is a government of the people. This Zanu PF government is not a government of the people it has no mandate to govern because it rigged the elections.
ReplyDeleteThis Zanu PF regime is now using violence to stop people protesting the rigged elections and the worsening economic meltdown. No nation in its right mind will ever succumb to blackmail!
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Special Anti-Corruption Unit requested the 2016 Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) forensic audit which exposed massive rot in the country’s roads administration department amid reports that fresh corruption investigations are underway, the Zimbabwe Morning Post can exclusively reveal.
ReplyDeleteHighly placed sources also said the crack team has already summoned Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa, for an interview in connection with allegations he raised against a fellow legislator Dexterv Nduna which also implicated the speaker of parliament Jacob Mudenda.
“It is very clear that he (Hon Nduna) was given 13 million Rand and 8 million US dollars to fix various VID depots, Victoria Falls, Sanyati road and he didn’t do anything and the auditor general’s report is very clear that he should be investigated,” said Mliswa.
After reading such report it is clear that corruption in Zimbabwe has been rampant for a long time. Only an idiot would still deny that corruption, not sanctions, are Zimbabwe's greatest threat to economic prosperity!
“President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s unfortunate comments are deeply troubling and unwarranted. Coming off the heels of Amnesty International’s expose of a systematic targeting of dissent during the national ‘stay-away’ period, they affirm that his government used security forces, including military personnel, to brutalize people who were protesting. This latest threat is a sinister hint that the situation could become even worse.
ReplyDelete“If his government wants to build an inclusive country that is based on respect for human rights, President Mnangagwa should accommodate differing views, whether they please his government or not.”
Amnesty International recently released a briefing that documented a systematic crackdown on dissent during the national stay-away between 14 and 16 January.
In it, the organization exposes a crackdown on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly as the authorities sought to crush protests against fuel price hikes. In the process numerous serious human rights violations were perpetrated including killings and torture.
Zanu PF is a party of violence and its modus operandi is simply to blatantly do whatever the party feels it must do to secure its strangle hold on absolute power be it to rig elections and use brute force to silence protesters, etc. Once the party’s iron grip on power, the party will give the usual promises of punishing all those responsible for human rights violation and quietly forget all about.
Zanu PF crossed the Rubicon River a long, long time ago, fully armed; some people are ignoring this fact because they do not want to deal with the consequence of the crossing – that Zanu PF declared war on the nation.
Zanu PF rigged last July's elections, it has no mandate to govern, it is illegitimate. This is the elephant in the room and we cannot avoid dealing with is anymore
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has retired for top army generals and re-assigned them to diplomatic service. Douglas Nyikayaramba and Anselen Sanyatwe are two of the four Major Generals to be re-assigned.
ReplyDeleteIs there such a thing as retirement amongst Zanu PF ruling elite??? Most of the former cabinet members, permanent secretaries and other senior Zanu PF members were retired and re-assigned do-nothing positions in the party on their previous salary scale and allowances. The four Major Generals are too being re-assigned, no doubt they too will be on very lucrative conditions of service, to make up for the brown envelops payments from the Army's diamond mining activities, etc.
The European Union has announced that it has removed former Police Chief Augustine Chihuri and former Spy Boss Happyton Bonyongwe from the sanctions list.
ReplyDeleteEU said the two are no longer in government service.
Former President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace and Zimbabwe Defence Industries remain on sanctions . Sanctions on General Chiwenga, Perence Shiri and Valerio Sibanda were suspended.
If this is true then this will be very disappointing news indeed. The EU has publicly acknowledged that Zanu PF rigged last July's elections and has since used brute force to silence those protesting the rigged elections and the soaring cost of living. Instead of punishing those behind the rigged elections and the wanton violence the EU rewards the thugs by taken a few of them off the sanctions list.
The economic situation in Zimbabwe is so, so bad 75% of the people are living on US$30 per month or less, way below the poverty datum line of US$650 per month. People are dying because even one single decent meal a month is a luxury, life-saving medicine are a luxury too! Until something is done to end the curse of rigged elections; there is no hope of ending Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. None!
If the EU have done nothing to punish these Zanu PF thugs then shame on you all in the EU! What else do these Zanu PF thugs have to do before you will finally act!!!!!
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, briefing journalists, said: "This decision was taken in light of our objective which is to encourage commitment to uphold the rule of law and human rights as set out in Zimbabwe's constitution.
ReplyDelete"We have seen a crackdown on demonstrations in January as well as disproportionate use of force by the authorities and that called into question this commitment. Now the key question is to understand whether the old system [of Mugabe] has been dismantled definitely or if it remains in place under different leadership."
Of the most irrational argument one has ever heard from a brain-dead bureaucrat that sure takes the biscuit! The EU had 140 Election Observers in Zimbabwe and they produced a detailed report that could not have been more clearer that the elections were rigged. And those given the power and authority to act on the report’s finding decide, in their collective wisdom, to reward the vote rigging thugs by taking the few still on the list off the list! That is really foolish!
My fervent hope is that the voters who elected each and every one of the Foreign Ministers must serious think if they real want to be represented by someone this incompetent. How many other mind numbed blunders has he/she made on their behalf? The voters must leave no stone unturned to vote the individual out!
"Every thinking Zimbabwean will welcome the EU sanctions in response to Zanu PF's failure to hold free and fair elections," you said.
ReplyDeleteWhilst the EU Election Observer Mission condemned Zimbabwe's elections as a farce and the EU parliament agreed and called for the renewal of sanctions it seem the EN Foreign Ministers who were tasked with the responsibility to decide on the sanctions have done the exact opposite. Instead of imposing the sanctions the Ministers decided to lift the sanction on the few srill on the list. I do not believe the EU has ever made a more idiotic decision of Zimbabwe than that decision.
Zanu PF rigs the elections and the EU itself agrees that is indeed the case. Zanu PF using brute force to stop protests against the rigged elections and against the soaring cost of live and EU agrees that is so too. But instead of punishing the thugs as the EU parliament had recommended the EU Foreign ministers decide to reward Zanu PF leaders be lifting the sanctions!
Would someone pinch me; I must be having a nightmare !
@ Mugwagwa
ReplyDeleteThis is just foolish Zanu PF nonsense! Yo u are dismissing anyone who dares to differ with you as a western agent . Adress the point raised i.e. that corruption is the killer cancer to the Zimbabwe economic and not sanctions. Zimbabwe is losing as much as $2 billion a month to corruption and mismanagement. How much is the country losing to sanction?
@ Fact
ReplyDelete“RIGGED OR NO RIGGED ELECTIONS SWEETHEART----------NEVER SUPPORT SANCTIONS CZ THEY AFFECT THE ORDINARY PPLE INCLUDING YU INDEFINITELY ,,''',ADDING A WOUND ON TOP OF A WOUND FOR AN INTERESTS OF THE ONE ADDING THAT WOUND!!!!!!!!!DISGUISING AS IF HE WANTS TO CURE THAT WOUND'''.....I GES YU READ THIS STATEMENT WELL,” you say.
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country is stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime. The people have known the regime is corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs for decades but they have failed to remove it from office because it rigged elections.
Zimbabwe economy was already in serious trouble by 2001 when the western sanctions were imposed.
During the GNU in 2008 to 2013 Zanu PF corruption was not so rampant because the party knew it would not get away with it all given there were other partners in government. That was enough to bring about significant economic recovery; the country register 12% growth rate. The western sanctions were still in place; proof the economic meltdown was NOT caused by sanctions.
Zanu PF has used the sanctions as the excuse for its misrule and only the political greenhorns still buy that nonsense. It is the rigged elections that affect ordinary people because it is the reason the nation is stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime. Don’t worry greenhorn, you will never understand that, having been thoroughly brainwashed it is a miracle you still remember your toilet routine!
@ Fact
ReplyDeleteAs I said above, you have been thoroughly brainwashed into believing sanctions are the route cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown you will not accept anything else. You admit that corruption is a problem; we know Zimbabwe lost $15 billion of diamond revenue to corrupt in three or four years according to Mugabe's own admission. Please tell us how much has the nation lost to sanctions in the same period?
Why are you obsessed about getting the West to lift the sanction when, as a Zimbabwean, has very little influence over their foreign policy but has never lifted a finger to end corruption by Zanu PF over whom you have every right to have influence over.
See, I told you greenhorn you have been mentally brainwashed it really is a miracle you still remember to go to the toilet! The prospect of you going around in a soiled diaper is sickening! It is bad enough you keep having your verbal diarrhea about sanctions!
“Throughout history autocrats have always abused the law to further the cause of power retention and aggrandizement.
ReplyDelete“The conviction this morning (yesterday) will not cower or deter us, it will not break us. Neither bullets, bombs nor imprisonment will stop our resolve to end tyranny, illegitimacy and fascism in Zim,” Biti posted on his official twitter handle.
History will record that Zanu PF was able to extend its corrupt and tyrannical rule beyond 2013 particularly thanks to the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders who sold-out during the GNU and failed to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years. The same Tendai Biti who is now boasting that no bullets, bombs or imprisonment will stop him end fascism in Zimbabwe spend the GNU years singing praises of the Zanu PF dictator, Robert Mugabe. “Mugabe is the unflappable father of the nation, the fountain of wisdom!” sung Biti!
The people of Zimbabwe did not really end tyrannical rule in 1980; we swapped one oppressive regime for another. Unless we implement the democratic reforms replacing this Mnangagwa dictatorship with the corrupt and incompetent MDC Alliance will bring about as much change as replacing Kenneth Kaunda with Fredrick Chiluba! Surely we have more ambition than that!
“CANAAN IS ON THE HORIZON! We’re at Rephidim and the Amalekites are here. So Moses must go up the mountain with the staff of the Lord to pray with the aid of Aaron and Hur. Joshua goes into the battlefront to fight the opponent. History books being written as we plant new memorials, Ex 17,” wrote Chamisa on Twitter.
ReplyDelete“Oh yes the signs are there and the evidence is upon us. We are almost there. All the sorrows of today we shall forget. See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff!
There is a plan. God has a plan. We are that plan!”
There is something sickening in the blasphemous act of mere mortals claiming to know God’s mind.
“God has a plan. We are that plan!” Really! Was it God’s plan for MDC Alliance to take part in an election knowing Zanu PF will rig the elections? MDC Alliance leaders were so foolish they did not even have the common sense to demand that ZEC must release the verified voters’ roll, a legal requirement too. It should be remember that MDC failed to implement even one reform during the GNU because they are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs. If God was involved in all MDC’s catalogue of blunders then it is unavoidable to conclude that God is corrupt, incompetent, a sell-out and foolish!
Chamisa is just a corrupt and incompetent politician who is hoping to prop up his otherwise sorry political career by evoking God has chosen him to lead Zimbabwe. It is insulting to the people of Zimbabwe that God would choose a blundering idiot to lead the nation into this hell-on-earth. It is an insult to God himself that He should even be associated with idiots!
f Moses had been an idiot like Chamisa, then the children of Israel would have never left Egypt! So Chamisa had his “burning bush” meeting with God when he went up the mountains in Murehwa! Chamisa you are not Moses and stop all this nonsense pretending that God has chosen you.
We have both Chamisa and Mnangagwa who really do not care about the rule of law and democracy but only pay lip service to both to suit their own selfish agenda. Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections when he seized power from Mugabe and yet from the word go did nothing to make that possible. He stubbornly refused to implement even one democratic reform to make this possible.
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa blatantly rigged last July's elections, as Zanu PF has done repeatedly in the past. What the nation must do now is to demand that Zanu PF step down! Enough is enough!
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to get the reforms implemented during the 2008 GNU and yet they did nothing about it. They had secured seats on the gravy train and with their snout in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms.
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders are enjoying the gravy train lifestyles, they will never rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies used to boast in reply to those asking why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.
Chamisa has been calling for political dialogue with Zanu PF, he is desperate for a seat back on the gravy train. He says the dialogue is to get the reforms implemented, he is only saying that because he cannot openly admit it is the gravy train seat he is after.
Zimbabwe is in serious economic and political trouble and the sooner the people realise that neither MDC nor Zanu PF will ever get them out of this mess the sooner the nation can start the search for a way out. The way out is for the nation to dismantle the corrupt and dysfunctional corrupt and autocracy Zanu PF imposed on the nation and replace it with a democratic system of government. Neither Zanu PF nor MDC can be trusted to implement the reforms to dismantle the autocracy.