"Zanu PF legitimacy is NOT on dialogue agenda" - everything else NOT worth candle N Garikai

"It is an obligation upon every political player in the country to recognise the pronouncement by the Constitutional Court. So the issue of the election of the President is not on the table and will not be on the table because a decision has been made by the highest courts on that particular issue. We are not entertaining any discussion on that," said Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs.

"We are saying we have a Government in place led by President Mnangagwa, but there are areas which require improvement from a social, political and economic perspective, let us discuss those issues with full recognition that there is a President who was elected by the people of Zimbabwe that is the context under which we are discussing. We are not discussing the legitimacy or otherwise of the election of the President. It is not an item on the agenda."

Mangwana and Zanu Pf can say whatever they like the reality is that no one with a working brain including the many election observers and, most important of all, the investors and lenders condemned last July’s elections as a farce. Zimbabwe is therefore being ruled by a regime that has no democratic mandate to govern the country, making the country a pariah state no one would want to do business with.

The root cause of the country’s worsen economic meltdown is the failure of Mnangagwa’s clarion call, “Zimbabwe is open for business!”, to attract investors.

Zanu PF has always rigged the elections and presented the nation and the world with a fait accompli of a Zanu PF government. The party has got away with it in the past. For 38 years Zimbabwe has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime with the disastrous consequences of economic meltdown and political paralysis. The all-powerful and tyrannical Zanu PF party is surrounded by an enfeebled opposition parties, making Zanu PF the only game in town.

Still the country’s economic situation, with 75% of the people now living of US$30 per month in a country with poverty datum line is US$650, with basic services such as supply of clean water and health care all but collapsed, etc.; it is clear something must be done a.s.a.p. to revive the economy.

On the political front, it is clear that if Zanu PF remains in power until 2023, the party will rig those elections too to extend its rule.

As long as Zanu PF remains in power there is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery because under Zanu PF rule the country is and will remain a pariah state. Zanu PF must be forced to step down, the sooner the better to create the political space for the appointment of an interim administration to implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.

The basis for demanding that Zanu PF step down is that the party does not have the mandate to govern the country since it rigged last July’s elections. Zanu PF cannot pre-empty the demand for it to step down by taking the rigged election off the agenda; it is the only issue on the agenda worth the candle.