As Zimbabwe’s economy sinks deeper
and deeper into the morass the tension and panic in Zanu PF circles is
palpable. The regime rigged last year’s elections and was super confident that
it will rig the economic recovery, especially after the appointment of Professor
Mthuli Ncube as Minister of Finance.
Professor Ncube, it must be said, has
one of the most impressive CV of any Finance Minister in the world. Add to this
his gift of the gab; he assured everyone he will stabilise the economy, have
investors and IMF and WB lenders back doing business in Zimbabwe in no time,
etc. He had Mnangagwa and the whole Zanu PF ruling elite eating out of his
hands!
Sadly, for the regime and the nation
at large, Minister Ncube has failed to pull the rabbit out of the hat, the
economic recovery has not happened. The flood of investors and lenders has
never happened, the economy is dogged by shortage of foreign currency, fuel,
food, medicine, etc.
Professor Ncube has failed to bring
stability in the local RTGS$ currency which was valued at 1:1 to US$ beginning
of the year and is today trading at 5:1. The rapid devaluation of the RTGS$ has
forced the prices of goods and service have soar, a situation made worse by the
fact that the country now imports 70% of its basic needs.
In January President Mnangagwa
announce 120% increase in the price of fuel triggering public protests. The
regime silenced all dissent by using brute force; hundreds of thousands were
beaten and/or raped, thousands were arrested and 17 were shot dead. Last week
the price of bread increased 70% and the price of such services as internet
soaring by a staggering 300%!
These soaring prices are happening in
a country in which ¾ of the population was living on US$30 or less per month at
the beginning of the year! Of course, these people are much worse off now.
There are Zimbabweans out there who are dying because they cannot afford to buy
medicine worth US$5 per month!
The human suffering and unnecessary
deaths brought about by the economic meltdown is heart-breaking. What is more
heart breaking given this is a man-made problem in that the root causes of the
economic meltdown are the 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption
and the lawlessness which have made it impossible to do business in Zimbabwe.
What makes the situation intolerable
is that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections only to drag the
nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth! Zanu PF does not have the
people’s democratic mandate to govern the country!
The economic situation is Zimbabwe
today is socially, politically and morally unsustainable. The reality that the
economic situation is unsustainable has dawned on the Zanu PF cronies,
hardliners and their sycophantic propagandists and apologists alike. The regime
is at a loss as what to do to revive the economy hence the political tension
and panic in the party. In a desperate effort to hang on to power Zanu PF
member are now shooting from the hip!
"I hear that Nelson
"Wamba" Chamisa is going into the MDC congress uncontested after all
the MDC provinces nominated him for their party Presidency. His chances are
much better and brighter in 2023 because Emmerson Mnangagwa and his so-called
"New Dispensation" are spectacularly failing to deliver on their
electoral promises that they dished out in 2018,” wrote Hopewell Chinono, a
well-known Zanu PF apologist.
What Chinono is hoping to do here is draw
to attention away from the worsening economic situation and from the fact that
Zanu PF is illegitimate by presenting as fait accompli. He wants us all now
move on and think of next elections in 2023.
Chinono, like everyone else in Zanu
PF know that the only viable solution to ending Zimbabwe’s economic mess is for
the country to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of
rigged elections and end the Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has
been trying to deliver economic recovery but leave the corruption, bad governance,
etc. untouched. An impossible task! Indeed the Professor has just turned out to
be one of those idiotic and egotistic savants.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah
state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful
economic recovery.
Since Zanu PF cannot be trusted to
implement the democratic reforms, as the five years of the last GNU proved, to
the only way forward is to pressure Zanu PF to step down. After all, the regime
rigged last year’s elections and therefore has no mandate to govern. It is
illegitimate.
"There will be more than one
million new voters on the electoral roll in 2023, these voters were all born
after 2004.Those kids have no interest in war tales or hondo yeminda stories
that have been used by Robert Mugabe and his subsequent successors to lure the
voters!” continued Chinono.
"They want a better and worldly
future that secures them jobs, a solid and functioning public health care
system and a predictable and solid standard of living.
"It would be ridiculous for
anyone of that age to expect an 81-year-old leader to unveil that brighter
future for them when that very leader would have failed to deliver when he had
the support of the whole world as President Mnangagwa did. That is why Chamisa
stands a better chance of dethroning the ruling party from power if indeed
ZANUPF makes the fundamental mistake of letting President Mnangagwa run as their
candidate again in 2023."
We were told before last year’s
elections that 60% of voters were the young generation, for example, all keen
as mustard for real political change. They did not stop Zanu PF securing a 70% landslide
victory. The opposition was warned not to participate in the elections without first
implementing the reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections; they
did not listen.
Zanu PF has managed to stay in power
for the last 39 years because it rigged elections. The party’s vote rigging juggernaut
has total control of the state institutions and is well funded from the
wholesale looting of the nation’s resources. The regime’s iron grip on power it
is bolstered by its unlimited use of brute force using war veterans, the
Police, Army and CIO to subdue the nation into subservient silence.
Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to rig
elections are formidable and we must stop listening to paid quislings like
Chinono telling us lies and damned lies that there can ever be any meaningful
democratic change without first implementing the democratic reforms.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in
power till 2023 then we can be certain of one thing, the party will see to it
that no meaningful reforms are implemented and it will then go on to blatantly
rig the 2023 elections.
“Last year Mnangagwa lured voters
with liberation war tales!” A damned lie! He blatantly rigged the elections and,
unless we force him and his illegitimate regime to step down, will do so again
in 2023
@ Eddie Cross
ReplyDelete“WHEN Mthuli Ncube was appointed Finance and Economic Development minister, he quickly took charge at the ministry, appointing a new permanent secretary and several directors and publishing a Transitional Stabilisation Plan,” you say.
“He is not a politician and has no desire to be one, so he depends on the President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) when he has to deal with those in the government who have different views to his own and who might want to protect entrenched interests.
“He quickly recognised that the existing path on which the economy was travelling was a road to nowhere. Had we maintained the policies of the Robert Mugabe era, we would have ended up in the wilderness — massively in debt and crippled by slow growth and unsustainable domestic consumption founded on subsidies and a bloated civil service. As the new permanent secretary (George Guvamatanga) said at the time, "we have to stop the bleeding and get the patient into ICU as quickly as possible"
You can sing Mthuli Ncube praised all day and all night that will not change the fact and reality on the ground: he did NOT stop the bleeding and the patient is dying a slow and agonising death!
Mnangagwa himself admitted that corruption was a serious problem when he took office. He promised to end corruption but has since admitted the he failed because it is “deep rooted”. How can he end corruption when corruption is what he and his fellow ruling elite live on and totally dependent on to retain their power. They are the godfathers of corruption.
Mnangagwa also realise the need to transform Zimbabwe from a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs into a democratic nation and hence the reason he promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. Many people suspected this was a promise he would never keep and they were right.
Professor Mthuli Ncube “is not be a politician,” you tell but one does not have to be a politician to know that Zimbabwe was a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Of course, he knew that Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and still he accepted the post of Finance Minister.
Minister Ncube has just proven to be one of those idiotic savant convinced he can deliver economic prosperity regardless of the country remaining a pariah state. He believed he could make a silk purse out of a sower’s ear! What makes his foolishness totally unacceptable is that it is the poorest of the poor who are paying with their very lives for his egotistic folly!
As for you Eddie Cross, shut up! You talk too much and none of it makes any sense! You were a senior MDC leader throughout the 2008 to 2013 GNU, you were blubbering non-stop, and the party failed to implement even one democratic reform!
@ Daily News
ReplyDeleteTHE political and socio-economic crises in Zimbabwe is slowly edging towards the tipping point as espoused by the Registrar-General (RG) Office's failure to issue passports and standard national ID cards to citizens.
The RG's Office last week suspended the processing of travelling documents allegedly due to technical glitches although there could be more behind that story.
Indications are that the imploding economic situation in the country, characterised by little and intermittent foreign currency inflows, has seen important services competing for the little available money.
There is no point is asking Mnangagwa to act urgently to end the worsening economic situation. He has run out of ideas what to do a long time ago. The only thing he can do now is step down to allow the nation to implement reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections, a necessary prelude to getting a competent and accountable government. Sadly, stepping down is not in his DNA hence the reason he has resorted to use of wanton violence to silence dissent to his continued illegitimate and ruinous rule. We, the people, will have to demand that he steps down and mean it!
Mnangagwa must be given some respect, says Eddie Cross.
ReplyDeleteWhat respect does a corrupt, incompetent and murderous thug who has played his part in the establishment and retain of this de facto one-party dictatorship that has dragged the nation into this hell-on-earth deserve? I have said it once and I will say it again: Eddie, you talk too much and and say nonsense. Shut up!
“If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power till 2023 then we can be certain of one thing, the party will see to it that no meaningful reforms are implemented and it will then go on to blatantly rig the 2023 elections,” you said.
ReplyDelete"Last year Mnangagwa lured voters with liberation war tales!" A damned lie! He blatantly rigged the elections and, unless we force him and his illegitimate regime to step down, will do so again in 2023.”
There are three points here that Zimbabweans will do well to take serious note of:
1) If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 they will rig those elections, period.
2) Zanu PF’s propaganda machine is in overdrive to sell the damn lie that the opposition has won the 2023 elections already and they need not worry about implement the reforms.
3) The one reform Zanu PF will implement is changing the constitution to create the post of official opposition leader complete with cabinet salary and allowances. Zanu PF knows they need to spice up the opposition bait if they to stop the opposition boycotting future elections. Chamisa would have endorsed Mnangagwa as legitimate if Zanu PF had offered him a seat on the gravy train without any of the bombastic nonsense we have heard from him.