The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is bad governance - cure is free elections, take it! W Mukori

Zimbabwe's economic mess is a man-made problem, a product of 39 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. Some people would argue that mismanagement and corruption is a human frailty found in every society and not only Zimbabwe. They are right but what we are talking about here is gross mismanagement and rampant corruption.

The all important question is why have we allowed mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread all these last 39 years to the pare choking the life out of the economy and the nation?

Whilst other nations have been able to deal effectively with the problem of bad governance, mismanagement and corruption are some of the by-products of bad governance, by having a political system that ensured those in positions of power and authority are democratically accountable to the people at all time. The ultimate expression of democratic accountability is being able to remove those in power through free, fair and credible elections. In Zimbabwe the ruling Zanu PF leaders have never been accountable to the people.

Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies made it crystal clear in the 1980 election that ushered our independence that if the party did not win those elections the civil war would continue. So the election was a grime choice of ending the war or war continuing, this time the AK47 rifle would be pointing at the ordinary people, punishing them for rejecting Zanu PF, and not the white colonial regime. When one is looking up the business end of the gun, it is no time to be philosophical.

When Zanu PF got into power in 1980 the party’s number one priority, then and to this day, was to usurp the people’s power to hold those in power to account and thus establish the de facto one-party dictatorship we have to this day. Whilst Zanu PF has held regular elections the process has always been flawed and illegal to ensure Zanu PF victory.

Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party lost the March 2008 elections and had to dig deep to regain power. The party withheld the election results for six weeks whilst to whittled down Tsvangirai’s 73%, by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip, to 47% to force a run-off. During the run-off the party used wanton violence in which millions of people were beaten and/or rape and over 500 were murdered in cold blood – punishment for having rejected Zanu PF in the March vote. Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the race and Mugabe went on to win the one-horse race with a staggering 84%.

“What was achieved by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” boasted Mugabe, at the height of the run-off campaign of terror.

Zanu PF has stamped its dictatorial decree as the only party to rule Zimbabwe contrary to the very ethos of good governance stipulating that every citizen must have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The consequence of allowing Zanu PF to have its way is the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption.

Millions of Zimbabweans have risked life and limb fight to end oppression and exploitation of man by man. Over the years, from the time of Mbuya Nehanda, hundreds of thousands have lost their very lives in fight for freedom, justice and human dignity. It is a great pity that thugs like Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies hijacked the revolution to impose their own tyranny and we should all hang our heads in shame for letting this happen, last for four decades and counting and dragging the nation this deep into this hell-on-earth.

Many people lost their very lives so you can enjoy the freedoms and rights other the people the world-over take for granted. And Zimbabweans have let Mugabe and Zanu PF take it all away from them without a fight. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied a vote in last year’s elections and many did not even notice it; it was all water off a duck’s back. Shame, shame! Shame on you, especially the so called intellectuals!

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political paralysis is decades of bad governance. The cure is good governance and must implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and thus end the curse of rigged elections. Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down to create the political space for an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the reform.

If this illegitimate Zanu PF regime is allowed to remain in office till 2023 on its own or in the transition authority MDC is calling for; we can be 100% certain that no meaningful reforms will be implemented and Zanu PF will rig that year’s elections.

Zimbabwe is not the first country to suffer the ill effect of bad governance and we know the cure – free, fair and credible elections. We have paid dearly for allowing Zanu PF ride roughshod over our freedoms, rights, hopes and dreams for 40 years. There is no excuse for letting this madness continue for one more day. Zanu PF thugs have no divine right to govern Zimbabwe and they must step down, that is not negotiable!