"We reiterate, Chamisa was the winner of 2018 election" - just obdurate and obstructive stupidity N Garikai

“It is now a year since Zimbabweans voted in the last harmonized elections on 30th July 2018,” read the MDC statement.

“We reiterate that the results of the Presidential election as announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and as endorsed by the Constitutional Court; were not a true reflection of the will of the people. We further maintain that according to our computation, our candidate Advocate Nelson Chamisa emerged as a clear winner in the contest.”

The country, indeed the whole world at large, considers this as yet another example of MDC obdurate and obstructive stupidity.

The Americans, the Commonwealth, EU and many other international nations and organisation have all dismissed last year’s elections as farce and a mockery to all that democratic elections should be.

“The (Zimbabwe) electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner,” stated the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission final report.

“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.”

The EU and anyone else of note never considered MDC’s claim that Nelson Chamisa won the presidential race for two basic reasons:

a)     The whole election process was full of flaws and illegalities; ZEC failed to produce something as basic and fundamental to democratic elections as a verified voters’ roll, for example. It is a mystery that anyone with any common sense even agreed to participate in such elections when it was clear Zanu PF would rig the elections. The whole election process was not free, fair and credible and so all the results were null and void. Why MDC chose to accept the election process as valid and only to reject some selected results including the presidential race results is beggars belief.

b)     Even if one was to accept whatever twisted logic MDC used to justify overlooking all the flaws and illegalities in the election process, still no one could ever accept MDC’s claim that Chamisa polled more votes than Mnangagwa. Both Chamisa and ZEC for Mnangagwa failed to produce all the V11 forms, a summary of each candidate’s vote count by polling stations. About 10% of the V11 forms were never made public although this is a legal requirement just as producing a verified voters’ roll was a legal requirement. Of course, it is nonsensical for anyone to accept Chamisa’s or ZEC’s figure when one cannot verify or trace any of the figures.  

Anyone familiar with Zimbabwe’s checked political history was not at all surprised that MDC and the rest in the Zimbabwe opposition camp participated in last year’s elections even though ZEC had failed to produce something as basic as verified voters’ roll and all knew Zanu PF would rig the elections. The opposition candidates also knew that Zanu PF would be giving away a few gravy train seats as bait. It was these seats the opposition were after.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” admitted MDC Senator David Coltart in his book.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

Four of the main MDC factions did form a coalition just before the 2018 elections and still they participated knowing fully well that Zanu PF would rig the elections for the same reason as before – greed for the scrap gravy train seats on offer.

The only reason MDC has decided to accept the election process as free, fair and credible but reject the presidential result is to take advantage of the fact that everyone else of note dismissed the election as a farce. MDC is offering Mnangagwa “legitimacy” in return for cabinet positions for Chamisa and one or two other MDC leaders.

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party are illegitimate because last year’s election process was flawed and illegal and therefore could not produce a legitimate winner. With no legitimate government Zimbabwe will then be compelled to appoint an interim administration whose primary task would be to implement the necessary democratic reforms to stop this curse of rigged elections.

But by participating in the flawed and illegal elections and then MDC bargaining legitimacy for a share of the spoils of the rigged elections, the opposition has given Zanu PF some modicum of political credibility. This has undermined those demanding that Zanu PF must step down on the grounds the regime is illegitimate. This is why MDC’s contradictory claim to have won presidential race is not just stupid but worse still an obstruction to the pressing matter of implementing the reforms and ending the curse of rigged elections. 

We, Zimbabweans, are our own worst enemy and hence the reason we are stuck in this hell-on-earth W Mukori

“Come on Wilbert, I thought you are smart enough to have figured it all out for yourself by now,” Brian said, provokingly.

“What, may I ask, is it I should have figured out for myself by now!” I asked, sitting straight up!

“That black Zimbabweans are your own worst enemy!”

“What makes you say that?”

“76% of the front-line soldiers in the Rhodesian Army, were blacks!”

Bang! That was a hammer blow and I sunk in my chair! Brian was a white Zimbabwean and like most whites before independence had served in Ian Smith’s Army. There is no denying that in the country’s war of independence many, many blacks fought alongside the whites fighting the fellow blacks risking life and limb to end black oppression and exploitation.

For the record, I had figured it out for myself. Even if one black had fought in the liberation war on the side of the whites, it would have been one too many. The fact that so many blacks had fought alongside the whites is something every black person must surely be ashamed of. I am ashamed of this to this day!

There is no denying the fact that Zimbabwe is in this, seemingly intractable, economic mess and political chaos for one primary reason – these are all man-made problems and we, Zimbabweans, our own worst enemy. Ever since Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs got into power in 1980, they have instituted a corrupt, incompetent and ruthlessly oppressive political systems which has left the nation’s economy in ruins and the people denied their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life itself.

“Zimbabwe is what it is because of a political subculture, centred on the ruling party, that has hegemony and subjugation as its highest ideals. Violence, disdain, paranoia and plunder are among its natural progeny. It is fundamentally antithetical to genuine political competition, dissent and notions of stewardship,” wrote Doran.

“The attitudes and instincts that together comprise the culture are audible at every turn, if we are tuned to the right frequency. Asked during a trip to Ethiopia about the numerous allegations of rape during the recent crackdown, Mnangagwa retorted: ‘It’s all stage-managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody, local or foreign, to produce the women, so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened.’

“Regarding the killings: ‘We’d want to see evidence. We see all this in social media. But we’d want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried?’ And then the sterile references to external manipulation; the protests were part of ‘a regime change agenda which is not new’.

“Back at home, speaking at a rural rally, he went on: ‘Those who we fought during the liberation struggle, the whites, are still fighting so they can claim power again … Our enemies are not resting.’ But, away from the international glare, he was unable to restrain the urge to brag. ‘We don’t want violence, so I said soldiers go and silence these people, they were silenced.’ Protestors were of ‘Legion’—a multitude of demons—and the government would ‘sort them out … We will crush our enemies, and they are being crushed.’”

Robert Mugabe et al did not give a damn about freedom, justice and human dignity; the war of independence was all about them securing absolute power for themselves. So as soon as the civil war was over but before anyone had tasted freedom and liberty, Zanu PF hijacked the revolution for its own selfish purposes.

“Zimbabwe is what it is because of a political subculture, centred on the ruling party, that has hegemony and subjugation as its highest ideals. Violence, disdain, paranoia and plunder are among its natural progeny. It is fundamentally antithetical to genuine political competition, dissent and notions of stewardship,” wrote Stuart Doran in a recent article in The Strategist publication.

“The attitudes and instincts that together comprise the culture are audible at every turn, if we are tuned to the right frequency. Asked during a trip to Ethiopia about the numerous allegations of rape during the recent crackdown, Mnangagwa retorted: ‘It’s all stage-managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody, local or foreign, to produce the women, so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened.’

“Regarding the killings: ‘We’d want to see evidence. We see all this in social media. But we’d want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried?’ And then the sterile references to external manipulation; the protests were part of ‘a regime change agenda which is not new’.

“Back at home, speaking at a rural rally, he went on: ‘Those who we fought during the liberation struggle, the whites, are still fighting so they can claim power again … Our enemies are not resting.’ But, away from the international glare, he was unable to restrain the urge to brag. ‘We don’t want violence, so I said soldiers go and silence these people, they were silenced.’ Protestors were of ‘Legion’—a multitude of demons—and the government would ‘sort them out … We will crush our enemies, and they are being crushed.’”

The pulpable disdain and hatred of blacks by Mugabe, Mnangagwa and Zanu PF regime is shocking. The whites have never displayed such hatred of blacks, not even at the height of the civil war and have never ever shown any white on white hatred. Never!

As a nation, we have had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but have failed to do so for the same reason – we are our own worst enemy. Zimbabweans have risked life and limb, over 30 000 have lost their lives in the fight for freedom and liberty since independence, to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into power on the understanding they will dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Just as happened during the liberation war, as soon as MDC leaders got into power they forgot about dismantling the dictatorship in pursuit of their own selfish goals.

There was international consensus that Zanu PF rigged last year’s election thus making the regime illegitimate.

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner,” stated the EU Election Mission in its final report.

“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.”

Declaring the election null and void would have opened the door for the appointment an interim administration which would have been entrusted the task of implementing the reforms. It was none other than Zimbabweans ourselves who have foolishly undermined the consensus of Zanu PF’s illegitimacy.

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections Zimbabwe’s opposition candidates gave the illegal election some modicum of credibility. After the elections most opposition candidates have publicly endorsed the elections as having been free, fair and credible. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends have withheld their full endorsement of the Zanu PF regime’s legitimacy but only for the purpose of bargaining more gravy train seats for some of the MDC leaders.

Yes, Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth situation today because we, Zimbabweans, are own worst enemies. And, worst of all, until we learn to treat fellow Zimbabweans as we would like would want others to treat us, we will never escape out of the hell-hole.

Yes, we "do something to address economic mess" - but demanding Zanu PF GNU is both wrong and insane P Guramatunhu

The economic situation in Zimbabwe is one in which doing nothing is no longer an option. As a citizen of a country one has a right to play a meaningful role in the governance of the country and when the said right is denied, to demand it and even die fighting to defend. The punishment of doing nothing under the pretext of keeping the peace is the economic and political chaos we see in Zimbabwe today.

If the truth be told (it must be told, no matter what) Zimbabweans have tried to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the root cause of the economic mess and political crisis. There have been countless street protests but most notable of all the people have risked life and limb to elect MDC on the mistaken belief the party would bring about the democratic changes the nation was dying for. But, as we can see, all their efforts have all come to naught.

So, “doing something” as in doing anything is not enough; we must be a lot savvier, more subtle. We must do something but, this time, make sure it delivers the desired democratic changes we are after. What that something is; is the million-dollar question!

"It's not for an individual to say people must do this. People do not need Chamisa to tell them to get out of their queue of fuel and do something. People don't need Chamisa to tell them that the situation at home is unbearable,” argued Nelson Chamisa, leader of the MDC, in his effort to rally the nation into action.

“People don't need Chamisa to tell them that medical bills are almost beyond the reach of many. Relatives are dying; friends are dying on account of a situation.

"We don't need a signal under those circumstances. The economy itself is a signal that we must do something and what we must do must be peaceful and constitutional and the constitution has self-correcting mechanisms; a mechanism of ensuring where government or people who call themselves leadership are not performing are brought to account and that is what Zimbabwe must do."

Yes Chamisa, people do not need anyone to remind them the economic situation is unbearable; that they have the democratic right, indeed the duty, to demand an end to the economic meltdown and political paralysis gripping the nation; etc.; etc. They know all these already. What the nation wants to hear from you, or anyone else, asking the people to join in the street protest is the assurance the protest will deliver the desired democratic changes.

MDC has been calling for the nation to join in the street protest to pressure Mnangagwa to agree to MDC demands to go into a power sharing arrangement, a watered-down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. We all know that the 2008 GNU failed to implement even one democratic reform. Not one!

“We got in the inclusive government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without doing anything,” confessed Nelson Chamisa two weeks ago, after a decade of blaming SADC leaders for GNU’s failures.

“We will not do that, dialogue must have timelines that are very clear, the international community must tick us, mark us on the boxes.”

MDC has promised that the new power sharing arrangement will implement “comprehensive reforms” but only the politically naïve will believe that given that MDC will be an even weaker partner this time than in the 2008 GNU. There is no doubt that Chamisa and his MDC friends will “sit, eat and do nothing” in the new GNU just as they did in the last one.

My fellow Zimbabweans, it would be far better to stay away from MDC proposed street protests for it is better to do nothing than to do the wrong thing! Joining MDC is demanding another Zanu PF and MDC GNU, so Chamisa et al can sit, eat and do nothing again, is not only stupid it is insane!

"If ED resigns I will give him farm, whisky and women," - as dictator, he has all that and more already! P Guramatunhu

“At the (Lupane East by-election) rally, Mr Chamisa left his supporters holding their mouths in disbelief when he said he had already hatched a retirement plan for President Mnangagwa, with women and alcohol waiting for him should he call it quits,” reported Sunday News.

"I will give him (President) a farm together with (VPs) Chiwenga and Mohadi. I want to say sit and be quiet. I will give you whisky and I'll give you women. Whatever you want I'll give you," Chamisa said.

How naïve!

Ever since Zimbabwe attained her independence in 1980 Zanu PF has always enjoyed absolute power in every democratic sense of that word in that the party has completely usurped the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.

In a healthy and functioning democracy those in public office are accountable to the people and the ultimate expression of this democratic accountability is that the people can remove the officials from power. In Zimbabwe Zanu PF has enjoyed absolute power, in the rural areas for example, the party has used traditional leaders and its strangle hold on state resources and machinery to reduce the people into medieval serfs totally beholden to the party. In Zimbabwe it is the tail that wags the dog.

The closest Zanu PF has ever come to losing its iron grip on power was during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Following the blatant cheating and wanton violence in the 2008 elections, no one, not even SADC and AU known for turning a blind eye to Zanu PF rigged elections in the past, would ignore the barbarism of that year’s elections and recognise Zanu PF as legitimate government.

In return for political legitimacy SADC forced Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party to sign a Global Political Agreement (GPA) to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) with the two MDC factions. The primary task of the GNU was to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and take away its carte blanche powers to rig elections. SA President Thabo Mbeki signed the GPA on behalf of SADC as the guarantor of the agreement.

Sadly, not even one democratic reform was implemented throughout the GNU. Not one!

“The opposition MDC went into the Government of National Unity (GNU) between 2009-2013 without a plan and failed to utilise the opportunity, new party leader Nelson Chamisa has admitted,” reported New Zimbabwe two week ago.

“We got in the inclusive government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without doing anything,” Chamisa admitted.

The consequences of your failing to implement even one meaningful democratic reform was that Zanu PF emerged out of the GNU with all its dictatorial powers untouched. Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2013 and last year’s elections and thus is once again enjoying absolute power. The tail is still wagging the dog.

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess and political paralysis precisely because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. The people have risked life and limb to vote MDC leaders into power on the understanding they would bring about the democratic changes the nation has been dying for and thus end the dictatorship. MDC had many golden opportunities to end the dictatorship; the party leaders sold-out and wasted all the chances. Instead of accepting that MDC has failed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship the party is now coming up with all manner of hare-brained schemes that only a village idiot would.

“I will give Mnangagwa a farm, whisky and women if he resigned!”  Mnangagwa is dumb, his economic and political track record says it all, still he is not that dumb not to know that as long as he remains in office enjoying absolute power he and his fellow Zanu PF cronies will have all the farms, whisky, women and loads and loads of other stuff beside!

The economic situation in Zimbabwe; with unemployment a nauseating 90%, basic services such as supply of clean water and health care all but collapsed, ¾ of our people living on US$30 or less per month, etc.; demands decisive action to implement the reforms and end the dictatorship.

We know Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office. Since last year’s elections were rigged, the country does not have a legitimate government; we must demand that the illegitimate Mnangagwa administration must step down to create the space for the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the reform.  

"Speed up democratic reforms" argue the Americans - undermining reforms is MDC, for 30 pieces of silver N Garikai

Some people welcomed the 15 November 2017 military coup that saw the removal of Robert Mugabe from office by most of his own Join Operation Command (JOC) junta that had rigged elections and kept him in power for 37 years. Many were pleased to see the back of Mugabe but were smart enough to know Zimbabwe was not yet out of the wood; they knew the coup was just an in-house Zanu PF matter, an outcome of the factional war with in the party.

The coup was about which faction retain control of the Zanu PF dictatorship and not about dismantling the dictatorship. When Mnangagwa promised “a new democratic dispensation to hold free, fair and credible elections”, no one believed him.

When Zanu PF failed to implement even one token democratic reform before last year’s elections, no one with half a brain was surprised. No one was surprised when the party went on to blatantly rig the July 2018 elections.

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner,” stated the EU Election Mission final report.

“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.”

If the election process was flawed and illegal it could not produce a legal and legitimate result. Mnangagwa used the Zanu PF corrupting power and influence over state institutions to present the nation and the world at large with a fait accompli of a Zanu PF government.

Last year’s elections were not the first Zanu PF has rigged. Zanu PF rigged the first post-independence elections in 1980 and has consolidated its iron grip on power by rigging all the elections ever since. The challenge then and now has been one of how to end this curse of rigged elections. There are those who have felt that they have to ask Zanu PF, as the government of the day, to implement the democratic reforms. This has not worked for the last 39 years and it is no surprise to note that it is still NOT working.

“The United State-based International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) have called on the government of Zimbabwe to speed up the processes of advancing security and legal reforms to safeguard citizens’ rights to freedom of expression,” reported Zimeye.

“While notable efforts have been made to repeal and replace restrictive laws and to a lesser extent engage stakeholders, the delegation encourages the Government of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Executive to address the fundamental deficit in the democratic space,” IRI and NDI said in a joint statement yesterday.

After 39 years of asking Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms and restore human rights including the rights to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life we must now accept that the regime is NOT going to implement any meaningful reforms. Zanu PF “will not reform itself out of office” boasted former Zanu PF Minister and self-styled chief of propaganda, Jonathan Moyo once boasted.

The solution is to demand that Zanu PF step down to create the political space for an independent and competent interim administration to implement the reforms. The party rigged last year’s elections and is per se illegitimate and we should have never accepted the fait accompli imposition as the governing party. We should have never rewarded the vote rigging with absolute power.    

Pressure should have been brought to bear on Zanu PF to step down straight after the rigged elections. This did not happen because there was no universal consensus that the elections were not free, fair and credible. The AU and SADC election observers were careful to confine themselves to talking about how peaceful the campaign period had been whilst saying nothing about everything else. The worst offenders were Zimbabwe’s own opposition candidates and parties.

By participating in the elections, knowing the process was flawed and illegal, the opposition gave the process and the results some political credibility. Zanu PF has been careful to make sure the opposition wins a few gravy train seats and it was these the opposition have been after regardless flawed and illegal the process got. The opposition participated in the elections even when the regime failed to produce something as basic to free and fair elections as a verified voters’ roll.

All the opposition candidates and parties, all except MDC, who participated in last year’s elections have accepted the process as free, fair and credible and Mnangagwa and Zanu PF as the legitimate winners. MDC is withholding its endorsement for the purpose of putting Zanu PF under pressure to share the spoils of the rigged elections.

"Legitimacy is an issue - last year's elections were illegal, and not free and fair. All reasonable observers concede that," admitted David Coltart, MDC Alliance Treasurer General. It has taken almost a year for the party to finally admit the elections were rigged.

MDC is bargaining legitimacy in return for a few cabinet positions is power sharing government. We know from the previous GNU that Zanu PF and MDC will not implement any meaningful reforms. “We sat and ate and did not implement any reforms in five years,” Chamisa admitted recently. Chamisa and company will sit, eat and implement no reforms again.

It is most infuriating that the only real pressure to force Zanu PF to implement reforms. The AU and SADC are wishy-washy on reforms and our own opposition politicians are all helping Zanu PF falsifying its legitimacy for thirty pieces of silver!  

"Beseech God for wisdom" Chamisa called - keeping illegitimate Zanu PF is not wise, it's stupid W Mukori

“I am urging all Zimbabweans from all walks of life and various denominations, in and outside the country to embark on a seven day prayer, fasting and intercession for our beloved country, Zimbabwe before undertaking crucial and decisive next steps,” called out Nelson Chamisa.

“In particular, during the seven days of prayer, starting from Monday the 29th of July to Sunday the 4th of August, I kindly ask you to take an hour between 1pm and 2pm every day to lift your hands and submit your hearts to the Lord beseeching Him to grant us the power, wisdom, strength and providence to see us through.

“Rallying call, "Zimbabwe shall lift her hands unto the Lord"

Hold on one minute! You are asking us to “beseech the Lord to grant us the power, wisdom, strength and providence to see us through”, through what exactly?

What are these “crucial and decisive next steps”?

Because if you are talking of demonstrations to force Mnangagwa to concede to your demands to go into a power sharing arrangement with you in return for MDC granting the tyrant and his junta legitimacy only fools would want to join you. We know what is in it for you and a few of your fellow MDC leaders but also know there will be nothing in it for the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe.

You want a cabinet post for yourself, Tendai Biti and two or three others. You lot are desperate to get back on the gravy train. Whilst you agree Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and the regime is per se illegitimate. You are offering Mnangagwa legitimacy in return for a share in the spoils of power.

The idea that Zanu PF can blatantly deny millions of Zimbabweans the vote, reduce millions of the rural voters into nothing more than serfs and frog march them to vote for the party, fail to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, etc., etc. and yet still declare itself legitimate is an insult. The suggestion that MDC can usurp the people’s exclusive power and authority and declare Zanu PF legitimate for a share of the spoils of power is an outrage.

Only the people of Zimbabwe, in a free, fair and credible elections, give the winner the mandate to govern and legitimacy.

Worse still the proposed power sharing will not implement any democratic reforms just as the 2008 to 2013 failed to do the same. Chamisa has himself admitted that he and his MDC friends “sat, ate and did nothing for five years of GNU”. There is nothing to suggest they will do any better this time round. Nothing!

If Zanu PF is still in power come 2023, the regime will rig those elections as readily as it rigged last year’s elections. Now, is that really what we would want to beseech the Lord God Almighty to make sure happen? Hell, no!

"Gloomsters betting against UK democracy working will lose their shirts" - be naked already W Mukori

“I pay tribute to the fortitude and patience of my predecessor and her deep sense of public service, but in spite of all her efforts, it has become clear that there are pessimists at home and abroad who think after three years of indecision that this country has become a prisoner to the old arguments of 2016 and in this home of democracy we are incapable of honouring a democratic mandate,” announced Boris Johnson, Britain’s new Prime Minister before entering the famous No. 10 Downing Street.

“And so I am standing before you today, to tell you, the British people, that those critics are wrong – the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters are going to get it wrong again. The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts because we are going to restore trust in our democracy.”

After three years of blundering and drifting aimlessly under the timid and confused Prime Minister Theresa May; what a blast of fresh air! In walks Boris Johnson, beaming with confident and bombastic!

The most significant and yet easily overlooked thing here is the orderly change of guard. Since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 there have been seven different British Prime Ministers and each has come and gone in an orderly fashion. Each walked in proudly waving the people’s democratic mandate to govern and when, for whatever reason, that ran out they have all walked into the political sunset.

In the same period Zimbabwe has had two presidents. Robert Mugabe was in office for 37 years and he never had the people’s mandate to rule because Zanu PF has always rigged the elections. Even the first elections in 1980, Zanu PF deployed many of its freedom fighters, contrary to the Lancaster House agreement stipulating that all operatives were in designated Assembly Points. The deployed fighters campaigned for Zanu PF with the simple message; it the party lost the elections, the civil war would continue.

The people voted to end the civil war!

All those who doubted that Zanu PF would have used violence to secure political power were confounded when Mugabe launched the Gukurahundi massacre aimed at eliminating Dr Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu, the only real political obstacle to Mugabe’s goal to secure absolute power. In the end PF Zapu capitulated and joined Zanu PF to create the de facto one-party dictatorship that has ruled the country with an iron fist.

It was his fellow the Zanu PF thugs who forced Mugabe to relinquish power at gun point in a military coup in November 2017. Mnangagwa took over and promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, no one with half a working brain expected him and his putsch gangsters to honour that promise.

Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last year’s elections and gave “shoot to kill” orders to all those who dared to protest the rigged elections and against the country’s worsen economic situation.

As much as Robert Mugabe and now Mnangagwa have proven to be corrupt and incompetent, they promised mass prosperity but only to deliver mass poverty, the nation has failed to remove them from power because Zanu PF rigged elections.

So, the only way Zimbabwe will have a new president is Mnangagwa dropping dead (no expense is spared in the form of security and health care), military coup, street protest or some such violent uprising. As we have seen already with the November 2017 military coup none of these violent changes will necessarily deliver a competent and democratic government.

If we are serious about wanting democratic change complete with the full restoration of the individual freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, orderly change of guard, etc. then we must implement the democratic reforms to stop the curse of rigged elections. We must demand that this illegitimate Zanu PF regime steps down to create the political space to implement the democratic reforms.

It is not so much that Britain had a timid and confused PM in Theresa May but that the country was able to remove her from office when the people lost confidence in her leadership. That, in my view, is the proof that Britain's democratic system is well and healthy and any gloomster who dared to bet otherwise would be standing before us naked. 

Betting on Mnangagwa rigging last year's elections; that his Zimbabwe is open for business!" will have no takers; on hyperinflation in Zimbabwe exceeding 1 000%; etc. would be money in the bank. Mnangagwa is corrupt, incompetent and has no clue what he is doing and because Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by vote rigging thugs, we are stuck with him!  

Like him or hate him Boris Johnson has certainly injected a lot of passion, enthusiasm, energy and hope in the British politics. With Mnangagwa everyone knows the nation is heading for a crash only time will tell when and how badly it will be! What a sickening prospect!

This is the secret of a healthy and functioning democracy; the ability to learn from the past and emerge wiser and strong. The corollary is equally true, the curse of dictatorship is their inherent tendency to stifle debate and competition under the pretext of unity and settle for mediocrity and stagnation.

"Intellectually bankrupt" view Gukurahundi as tribal just as did Mugabe and for same selfish reasons N Garikai

“The Great African Afro-Centric philosopher Mwalimu Julius Nyerere said that those that are politically and intellectually bankrupt turn to ethnicity and religion as their major tool for mobilisation. I will add that human rights business persons from the region also found it profitable to package and sell the Gukurahundi story as a story of a tribal supremacy,” you said.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere said many insightful things and that is certainly one of them. There is no doubt that the nation was dragged to into Gukurahundi and many, many other serious political and economic blunders by men and women who are “politically and intellectually bankrupt” – Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs.

There are those who have insisted Gukurahundi was about “tribal supremacy” and have again and again argued how some regions of Zimbabwe have lagged behind in terms of development to support they initial claim. It is all nonsense as no part of Zimbabwe has been spared the ill effects of the 90% unemployment rate, collapsed health service, etc., etc. Those pushing the tribal supremacy diatribe are themselves no different from Mugabe and his cronies for they too are politically and intellectually bankrupt.

“It is interesting to note that Dr Obert Mpofu presents an intellectually valid case in his weekly column. We were misled into assuming that Dr Obert Mpofu was intellectually defunct, most people insult Obert Mpofu saying he has a big body with a small brain but this time the intellectual in Obert Mpofu jumped out and came to play. The articles by Obert Mpofu are rich in-depth and intellectual argument which takes the spotlight off the emotional side of the debate that has been touted by Gukurahundi business persons,” argued Ncube.

If the truth be told the people who said “Obert Mpofu (said of many others on both sides of the political divide for the same reasons) was intellectual defunct,” were telling the true – the truth is never an insult.

Obert Mpofu, like so many other Zanu PF and MDC politicians, has sat in cabinet for donkey years and never once raised the Gukurahundi issue until now when his power and influence is waning. Anyone with common sense much less acclaimed intellectual acumen would know one must hit the iron whilst it is still hot and should know it is futile doing so when it is cold and hitting it with feeble blows.

"Let bygones be bygones, if Government is to be dragged into formally apologising, this will open closed wounds which may be catastrophic to the party and government," said Obert Mpofu.

Gukuranhundi was a key event in Mugabe and Zanu PF’s agenda to impose the de facto one-party dictatorship that has defined and dominated Zimbabwe body politics these last 39 years. There is no doubt that an honest, open and no-holds-barred discussion of Gukurahundi would finally reveal the sinister motive behind the genocide, the ruthlessness of those executed it and its disastrous consequences.

What “open closed wounds” is Mpofu wittering about when the hundreds of thousands of the genocide victims’ relatives continue to suffer from ignorance of what happened to their relatives and the nation at large continue to suffer from the corrupt and oppressive dictatorship.

An open and frank discussion of Gukurahundi will reveal Zanu PF for what is is – a party of corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs who stopped at nothing to impose the Zanu PF dictatorship.

The decades of Zanu PF misrule has destroyed the country’s economy forcing millions of ordinary Zimbabweans into a life of abject poverty. The economic meltdown has not spared the Zanu PF ruling elite and the party has been falling apart as leaders started fighting over the fast-shrinking national cake.  the party has become a victim of its own decades of misrule. Revealing the names of those behind the Gukuhundi massacre, the wholesale looting, etc., etc. will certainly accelerate the implosion of Zanu PF. A catastrophe for Mr Obert Mpofu and his Zanu PF colleagues but golden opportunity for the nation to finally get rid of the corrupt and tyrannical regime and finally get on with the important task of rebuilding the nation from the ruins Zanu PF left behind.

In an interview on BBC at the height of the Gukurahundi massacre, the late Dr Joshua Nkomo was right in insisting that Gukurahundi was not about tribal or regional domination but rather about Mugabe and Zanu PF domination. The tragedy to Zimbabwe is that the dictator and his cronies got their wish and the nation has paid dearly for it.

If Mnangagwa and his November 2017 putsch thought they would revive Zanu PF’s fortunes and extend the dictatorship’s hold on power; they were wrong. Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” has failed to attract any investors and the economic decline has continued. Zanu PF’s iron grip on power is feeble, the dictatorship is in its dying days.

It will be a great pity if the nation is going to be dragged into yet a tribal or regional squabble or worse by those who pushing the Gukurahundi massacre as a tribal war to disguise their own selfish agenda just as Mugabe and his cronies did in the 1980s. Our people have suffered these late 39 years, they want peace, justice and a chance to live a normal life!

Even sound "fiscal and productivity" policies will not end our troubles - need answers to No 1 problem, Zanu PF P Guramatunhu

"WE need appropriate fiscal policies, and so far government has done well and has squeezed money supply because there was too much government expenditure and it means that things are going to be tighter to a maximum of three years, and by then we should have done all painful activities and then go to a stage when things are going to normalise," Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo has told the nation, as a matter of fact.

“Fundamentally, this economy's problems are hardly fiscal as Moyo seems to be alluding. Zimbabwe's problems are profoundly to do with productivity which is not being helped at all by the fiscal policies that President Emmerson Mnangagwa's regime is administering at the moment,” commented Newsday in its Editorial.

The Newsday Editor is 100% correct in dismissing Foreign Minister’s solution. Zimbabwe’s serious economic problems are not going to be solved by focusing of fiscal policies alone. Even if one gave the regime the benefit of the doubt and assume it was competent to replace the mishmash of confused and contradicting fiscal policies with sound and rational ones. A big IF!

However, the Editor is partly correct in suggesting Zimbabwe’s problems are “profoundly to do with productivity”. I will give the Editor the benefit of the doubt and assume such things as mismanagement and corruption, the twin cancers they have destroyed the Zimbabwe economy, are included in the productivity argument. Still this would not be enough to get Zimbabwe out of the economic mess we are stuck in.

Yes, of course, if Zimbabwe had sound and rational fiscal policies and we address all the needs to stimulate production and productivity the is no reason why the country’s economy should not recovery and prosper. The truth we must deal with here is that we are in this economic mess precisely because we have had mishmash fiscal policies, gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, etc., etc.

Worst of, whilst we have been aware of the need for sound fiscal policies, etc. and have complained about these economic impediments for the last 39 years; we have failed to get Zanu PF to listen much less change direction or even better still replace the regime.

Zanu PF has systematically eroded the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. As long as Zanu PF retains its carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections, the regime will continue to impose its mishmash fiscal policies and ignore all calls to address the teething productivity problems.

“Is Moyo and his colleagues aware of all these hardships being faced by the very people, including labour, who they want help from to reboot this economy? From where they are comfortably perched, do they think that businesses, workers and farmers — barely managing to keep their heads above the water, will survive six months, let alone three years of these painful austerity measures?” continued Newsday Editorial.

“Three years is a very long time, Minister Moyo.”

In a country with unemployment a nauseating 90%; with a health care service that has all but collapsed; everyone suffering the ill effects of hyperinflation (second one after just ten years of first that saw inflation peak at 500 billion % and record devaluation, Z$ 35 quadrillion = US$1); etc. millions are drowning already. But let us put that aside.  

What is the point of asking Minister Moyo and his Zanu PF cronies whether the long-suffering ordinary Zimbabweans “will survive six months, let alone three years of these painful austerity measures?” We all know or should know the answer to that by now. The regime’s primary concern ever since it got into power 39 years ago was to establish a de facto one-party dictatorship and retain absolute power at all cost including denying the people their freedoms and rights including national economic ruin.

The question should be directed at the long-suffering Zimbabweans themselves; will they survive another six months let alone another three years of this economic meltdown? And more pointedly; even the most naïve and gullible must know that many will not survive and, at least some also know that at the end of the painful austerities there will be no gain; what are they going to do finally put an end to their 39 years and counting of political oppression and economic hardships?

The Genesis of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is not so much that we have an incompetent and corrupt Zanu PF regime that has failed to come up with sound fiscal policies and to stimulated productivity but that we have failed to remove it from office even we it was clear the regime was so corrupt and incompetent it was beyond the pale.

Nkrumah's slogan, “Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you,” was Ghana’s first post independent President, Kwame Nkrumah’s clarion cry.  

For the last 39 years we have buried our head in the sand and ignored that Zanu PF usurped our individual freedoms and rights reducing us into no more than political serfs beholden to the regime. We have fooled ourselves into believe the country can ever achieve economic prosperity and still allow the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF to enjoy absolute power.

We have paid dearly for our foolishness; Zimbabwe’s economy is in total meltdown after 39 years of Zanu PF misrule and the situation is getting worse not better. It is insane to let this madness continue for any longer.

It is clear Minister Moyo and his Zanu PF cronies have no clue what to do to end the worsening economic situation. The regime is in power but only because it rigged last year’s elections. It is illegitimate.

The people must reclaim their political power to remove a failed government and what better way to so just that than demanding that this illegitimate Zanu PF regime steps down.

We can pretend all we want that Zimbabwe’s economic problems will end if only we can get the Zanu PF regime to implement sound economic policies. Zanu PF itself is the number one problem, the regime’s “no regime change” mantra and blatant vote rigging are an irreconcilable affront to democratic elections and free and fair election, the very foundation of good governance. It is insane to keep hoping against reason and reality that the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF will perform the miracles and revive the economy.  INSANE!

"Fuel prices has soared 456% since in six months, inflation horse has bolted" - can wring our fingers, as usual W Mukori

“While Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, like his previous predecessors during the Mugabe era, keeps telling us that everything is firmly under control, the inflation figure should send alarm bells ringing madly down President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration corridors. And while the present-day monetary authorities tell us that they learnt a lot from history and would not wildly print the reintroduced Zimbabwe dollar, the situation on the ground tell us the horses pulling the inflation rate have bolted,” wrote Newsday.

“And spurring forward these horses is the fuel price and the general rising cost of living in the country. A week after government effected a 15% fuel hike, another 23% climb greeted the nation yesterday morning. Cumulatively, fuel prices have gone up by about 456% this year alone.”

Least, we forget Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube assured us that inflation will be down to 10% by end of the year!

“Of course, as all Zimbabweans know, it has not been all plain sailing. The inflationary pressures we have faced have caused uncertainty and pain, and we have made dealing with this our number one concern. To address this, we have pushed ahead in our efforts to narrow the fiscal deficit and slow down money supply growth, and we project inflation to slow down to below 10% by the end of the year,” said Minister Ncube.

If is bad enough that the inflation horse has once again bolted and is causing heart breaking economic hardships the people are hit by the double whammy of souring prices and chronic shortages of food, fuel, medicine, etc. as economic activity goes into reverse in response to the uncertainties of being paid in a currency that is losing its value all the time. But what makes this situation totally, totally unacceptable is that there is nothing we, the people can do, other than saying “We warned you (Minister Ncube, President Mnangagwa and the rest of the Zanu PF regime) this would happen!”

Indeed, Zimbabwe’s economic trials and tribulations started soon after independence with Zanu PF’s “scientific socialism” – just a fancy name for Mugabe’s idiotic ideology of spending to prosperity. The party’s patronage system took off big time with the size of civil service, army, parastatal, etc. ballooning to accommodate party loyalists and their cronies. Mugabe used to announce hefty wage increases every Workers’ Day whilst protecting the consumer with price controls; people like that.

But by the late 1990s it was clear this reckless spending was not economically sustainable. As much as the people complained that the regime’s voodoo economic policies were creating poverty and not the “mass prosperity” (Gutsa ruzhinji!) Mugabe kept wittering about; the regime simply ignored them. The people could not remove Zanu PF from office during elections because the regime rigged elections to maintain its iron grip on power.

It is this inability to hold Zanu PF to democratic account, the ability to remove a failed regime is the ultimate expression of democratic elections, that is at the very heart of Zanu PF’s political arrogancy and indifference to the worsen economic situation and the heart breaking human suffering it brought. After 39 years of wringing our fingers whilst we watched Zanu PF blunder from pillar to post and destroying the economy we must now shift gears.

Yes, we must express our fury that Zanu PF has allowed the inflation horse bolt out but, this time we must go one step further, we must make sure we hold Zanu PF to democratic account for it.

We must demand that Zanu PF steps down so we can appoint an interim administration that will implement the democratic reforms designed to stop the party rigging elections. The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is 39 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship; bad governance. The country is desperate for the cure, good, competent and accountable government for which we need to implement the reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.