"Mnangagwa to honour promise to give Grace Blue Roof" - never honoured even povo's right to life N Garikai

The shameless arrogance, hypocrisy and indifference of President Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF ruling elite is breath taking. 

“President Emmerson Mnangagwa will honour his promise and transfer the ownership of the Blue Roof Mansion to the Mugabe family, the Ministry of information has said in a statement,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“This is despite earlier statements by Zanu-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu that the Blue Roof Mansion will be turned into a museum.”

"Both Zanu-PF and Government are led by one Principal, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. His position regarding properties which are due to be transferred to the family of the late Cde RG Mugabe is that he will honour the commitments he made. Those properties will be transferred as planned," said the Ministry.

Did President Mnangagwa not promise “zero tolerance on corruption” when he took over from Robert Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup? The picture of the grandeur and opulence Blue Roof juxtaposed with the grass thatched mud hovel where millions of Zimbabwe live in this day and age speaks volumes of the insatiable greed of the Zanu PF ruling elite. 

There is no other rational explanation of the source of the funds to build the Blue Roof other than corruption, especial when the mansion was built and paid for at the time when the Zimbabwe economy in a nose-dive decline due to gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. Zero tolerance to corruption, in my books means not only stopping the corruption but recovering the looted wealth and giving it back to its the rightful owners - the mud hut dwelling povo.

In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was being “swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue”. He never arrested one swindler and never recovered one dollar’s worth of the loot. 

We know hive of diamond mining activity in Marange and Chiadzwa has continued 24/7 to this day and so too has the looting. In 2017 the then Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa, told parliament government was still receiving 1/6 of the expected revenue from diamond mining.  

It is nearly two years since the November 2017 coup and President Mnangagwa too has yet to arrest one diamond swindler and/or recover one dollar’s worth of the looted diamonds. 

We are told Mnangagwa promised to hand over the title deeds of the Blue Roof mansion to the late dictator’s family and he is going to do so as a matter of “honour”! He also promised to the impoverished masses now living is abject poverty to alleviate their suffering by end this scourge of corruption and has no shame in letting the and the nation down. 

Indeed, Mnangagwa also promised the people of Zimbabwe free, fair and credible elections after 38 years of rigged elections. He want on to blatantly rig the elections, the regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. And; to rub hot chilli in the eyes of the short-changed Zimbabweans; he insists to this day that the elections were free, fair and credible. 

Honour! There is no honour in Zanu PF ruling elite riding roughshod over povo, denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a free vote and even the right to life. Zanu PF ruling elite rob the masses blind to build their palatial Blue Roof mansions and pay for the extravagant lifestyle. 

If there is justice in this world, then the corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs must be held to account for their heinous crimes against the people and the looted wealth recovered and returned to the nation. The Blue Roof mansion belongs to the nation, not to Zanu PF or the Mugabe family, and the people will decide what to do with it. 

Economic meltdown force Zanu PF 'to fast-track reform bill' - gimmick, just step down P Guramatunhu

Zanu PF rigged last year's elections confident the party will "rig" economic recovery; that has proved a bridge too far. There is no doubt that the regime is now feeling the political pressure brought on by the soaring inflation, collapse of basic services like health and supply of clean water, fuel and food shortages, etc. 

Instead of Zanu PF finally admitting that the party cannot rig economic recovery and do the only honourable things left and step down; the party is once again off at a tangent. The regime is wasting time and resources in pursuit of gimmick solutions designed to create the illusion the country is finally dealing with the thorny problem of bad governance when, in reality, it is whitewashing the problem, at best. 

"Another source in the MDC said in an effort to lure the (MDC) opposition, (Speaker of Parliament, Jacob) Mudenda is pushing to ensure Parliament fast-tracks critical electoral reforms and has engaged the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (Zesn) to help craft a comprehensive draft Bill which captures recommendations made in the observer mission reports on the 2018 general elections," reported NewsDay.

"At the core of the dispute is how elections have been run in this country, the laws, how the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has failed and all these things are captured in a compendium of recommendations by election observer missions, which were compiled by Zesn," the source said.

"The same organisation has also petitioned Parliament on these reforms and the Speaker's people assured the MDC that he will be pushing for these reforms."

Speaker Mudenda is also pulling all the stops to get Chamisa and Mnangagwa to meet. MDC is demanding the formation of power sharing National Transition Authority (NTA) as the way forward.  

Zanu PF has no problem making promise. When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe in 2017, he promised a “new dispensation”, “zero tolerance on corruption”, that “Zimbabwe was open for business!” and, most important of all, “to hold free, fair and credible elections”. He failed to honour any of these promises and blatantly rigged last year’s elections.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the criminal waste of the nation’s resources through mismanagement and corruption and, to add insult to injury, Zanu PF government have nothing but contempt for the law and rule of law. The national economy is in a comatose state after four decades of being sucked dry of all the blood and vitality. 

Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging murderous thugs. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery. 

By blatantly rigging last year’s elections and presenting itself as the fait accompli legitimate government, Mnangagwa could not done more to proclaim Zimbabwe as a pariah state per excellence. Nothing! 

All the frantic effort to form the NTA and to implement the reforms will come to naught because none of these efforts solve the pariah state problem. The NTA will to add MDC leaders to the present illegitimate Zanu PF cabinet. No one, especially the savvy international community, will not be fooled by this window dressing; the regime will still be illegitimate and the country will remain a pariah state.

Even if parliament was to implement all the democratic reforms demanded, this will not change the historic fact that Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections. Making sure that stable door is secure for the future is all very well but we must also address the immediate problem of the escaped horse! Allowing Zanu PF to remain in office till 2023 does not solve the immediate problem of an illegitimate government and the country remaining a pariah state.

Besides, if Zanu PF is still in office come 2023, we can be certain that the party will rig that year's elections. This is a regime renowned for disregarding the law and even using wanton violence to retain its strangle hold on power. 

The core thrust of the above solutions is to keep Zanu PF in office for no other reason than to appease Mnangagwa and his cronies. After four decades of appeasing the regime with the tragic political and economic consequences we can see for ourselves; it is insane to still pursue this failed policy. 

Zimbabwe has blundered from pillar to post and has been dragged deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth, the country is desperate to get out. Well here is the nation's get-out of jail card: implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Zanu PF has been the stumbling block stopping the nation implementing the reforms.

Zanu PF blatantly rig last year's elections, the party has no mandate to govern, it is illegitimate and it must step down. Period! 

"SADC, you listen (to me) solve Zim criss or it will haunt you!" Chamisa chided - chutzpah of the upstart N Garikai

Nelson Chamisa, leader of the MDC, has once again appealed to SADC to help Zimbabwe emerge out of a recurrent political and economic crisis.

“SADC, you must listen because if you do not resolve this issue, it will haunt you.

“The likes of South Africa and Botswana, correct the Zimbabwean issues; help us help ourselves,” he said.

SADC did try to help Zimbabwe get out of this mess by forcing Mugabe to agree to the implementation of the raft of political reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. MDC leaders, including Chamisa, were tasked to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not one.

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for the late Tsvangirai, etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough, MDC leaders forgot about the reforms. 

SADC leaders did make a last minute attempt to stop the 2013 elections going ahead with no reforms because they knew Zanu PF would rig the elections. They warned MDC leaders of this, according to Dr Ibbo Mandaza.

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there. I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections,” Dr Mandaza told Violet Gonda.

“If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”

MDC leaders paid no heed to the warning and participated in the 2013 elections. As SADC leaders had predicted, Zanu PF rigged those elections. 

MDC participated in last year’s elections again with not even one token reform in place and, as expected, Zanu PF rigged those elections too! 

The way out of the political mess is for this illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down so that Zimbabwe can appoint an independent and dependable interim administration that will be tasked, trusted, to finally implement the democratic reforms. 

Chamisa and his MDC friends want SADC to back a power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF, National Transition Authority (NTA); a watered down version of the 2008 GNU that failed to implement even one reform. Why would SADC listen to MDC; given SADC will not even have the supervisory powers of the even the 2008 GNU with which to goad the NTA to implement the reforms; it is clear that once again that no reforms be implement.  

“SADC, you must listen because if you do not resolve this issue, it will haunt you!” Nelson Chamisa chastised! It was MDC leaders, not SADC leaders, who sold-out by failing to implement even one reforms in five years and would not listen to advice. The chutzpah of the upstart! 

Election victories proves Zanu PF "rural" stranglehold - vote rigging stranglehold, different kettle of fish N Garikai

Zimbabwean elections are not free, fair and credible and the declared results are therefore a figment of the regime and not a reflection of the democratic wishes of the people. To suggest otherwise is an insult to those whose right to a meaningful vote is so callously and repeatedly denied.

 “Despite the economic hardships being experienced in the country, the rural electorate seems confident in President Emmerson Mnangagwa-led administration as shown by Zanu-PF's continuous wins in by-elections conducted so far,” reported TellZim.

“The Zaka East parliamentary by-election held on September 21 is the latest result which has proven that the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC, which is the most formidable opposition party, still has a long way to go in efforts to break Zanu-PF's stranglehold on rural areas.”

Everybody who has observed Zimbabwe elections will tell you that Zanu PF abuses state aid and power to coerce ordinary people and, if its hold on power is still threatened, brute force. 

“Observers widely reported on efforts to undermine the free expression of the will of electors, through inducements, intimidation and coercion against prospective voters to try to ensure a vote in favour of the ruling party. Such practices also included direct threats of violence, pressure on people to attend rallies, partisan actions by traditional leaders, collection of voter registration slips and other measures to undermine confidence in the secrecy of the vote, manipulation of food aid and agricultural programmes and other misuses of state resources,“ stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.

Zimbabwe’s own government appointed Human Rights Commission confirmed that Zanu PF operatives and local traditional leaders harassed and threatened rural villagers.

In Zimbabwe, rural voters, especially, are nothing more than medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Land Lord, Zanu PF. Many rural areas are facing starvation this year, Zaka East is one such area, and it is therefore naive to anything other than a land slide victory for the overbearing land lord!

Why is the opposition participating in these elections, when it is clear the process is flawed and illegal designed to deliver a rigged Zanu PF land slide victory? 

A legitimate and logical question but to answer it one has to go back to the beginning, 1980 when the gained her independence and Zanu PF started rigging elections. 

Zimbabwe’s first elections; to marked the end of white colonial rule and usher black majority rule; were NOT free, fair and credible. Zanu PF did not withdraw all its freedom fighters and operatives from the country side into Assembly Points as agreed in the Lancaster House Agreement. The operatives campaigned for the party and their message to the voters was clear - if the party did not win the elections, the civil war would continue. Of course, the people voted overwhelming to end the civil war! 

There are those who have argued that this was an empty Zanu PF threat and that the fear factor played no significant part in the elections results. This narrative has been totally discredited by the Gukurahundi massacre that started in 1983 when the regime proved beyond all doubt that it would stop at nothing to establish absolute power and its long cherish goal of a de facto one-party dictatorship. 

The Zanu PF dictatorship was corrupt and incompetent and with country’s economy in serious decline the people soon realised that to stop the economic rot they must end the dictatorship. For the last 20 years, the people have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders on the understanding that they will deliver the democratic changes to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. 

MDC leaders have had many golden opportunities to implement democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, but wasted them all. MDC members were celebrating the party’s 20th birthday this week but have nothing much to show for it. The party has failed to implement even one token democratic reform in all its 20 years on the national political stage. Not even one!

Indeed, ever since the end of the GNU in 2013, MDC leaders have pointedly abandoned all attempts to implement the reforms, they have participated in elections knowing the process was flawed and illegal and Zanu PF would blatantly rig them to secure a land slide victory. They also know that Zanu PF would give away a few gravy train seats as bait to induce the oppositions to participate regardless of the rigging. 

MDC has won a few gravy train seats, especially in the urban areas, enabling such party leaders like Tendai Biti and David Coltart to return to parliament. Nelson Chamisa too benefited from the party getting a share of the annual Political Party Finance (Act) payout; $3.4 million this year and Chamisa, as party leader, got 20%, $680 000.  

MDC will continue participating in Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections even in rural areas where Zanu PF has the rural voters under the cosh because the above payout is based on winning 5% or more of the total national vote cast during national elections. So the opposition parties need to cast their nets as wide as possible; every vote count. Every little helps!

This has worked in Zanu PF’s favour as the party needs the opposition’s continued participation in these flawed elections to give its own stay in office some modicum of political legitimacy. 

Like it or not Zimbabweans must now wake-up to the political reality that the nation’s concerted efforts to implement the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship of the last 20 years have come to nought. Instead of implementing reforms and ensure there are free, fair and credible elections; MDC leaders sold-out on reforms and have settled for the few seats and trappings of power Zanu PF gives away as bait to entice the opposition to participate in flawed elections. 

If Zimbabweans hope to end the serious economic meltdown; which is now a lot worse than it was 20 years and the country is now in serious danger of complete economic collapse and social chaos; we must now come up with plan B on how to implement the reforms. Plan A of electing MDC leaders to do it has failed. 

“Zanu PF’s Zaka East parliamentary by-election landslide victory proves the party’s stranglehold on rural areas!” Actually, the result proves Zanu PF’s VOTE RIGGING stranglehold, which is a totally different kettle of fish! In rigged elections the ordinary people have no say and it is extremely patronising, to say the least, to suggest otherwise. And understanding the difference is a vital first step in our fight to get out of the economic and political mess we are in.

"Put "new dispensation" into action now" UN commanded - and all lived happily ever after, how nauseating P Guramatunhu

“A UN human rights expert has called on Zimbabwe to embrace and safeguard democracy, saying that the country’s change in leadership provided an opportunity to promote political tolerance, accountability and bring an end to impunity for human rights violations,” reported Spotlight Zimbabwe.

“Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, concluded a 10-day official visit to Zimbabwe on Friday, the first such mission to the country by an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council. He went to Zimbabwe at the invitation of the Government.

“The change in leadership in Zimbabwe two years ago and its promised ‘new dispensation’ – which reaffirms the aspiration to bring the country forward in terms of democratic processes, civic space and the realisation of human rights for all – must be put into action now,” Voule said in a statement.

The sheer naivety of some of these individuals makes me puke! How can anyone be so shallow, thick and slow!!!!!

Does UN Special Rapporteur Voule, really believe that Mnangagwa and his new dispensation had not kept their promises to end corruption; hold free, fair and credible elections; etc.; etc. these last two years because they were waiting for UN instructions when to start doing so? 

Mnangagwa and all his fellow November 2017 coup gangsters have been key players in the Zanu PF dictatorship dating back to the early days of the party. Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s most trusted henchman and it was none other than Mnangagwa who staged the 2008 quasi-coup that blatantly cooked up the election result to stop Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends being declared the winner of the March vote. Mnangagwa and his ruthless gangsters implemented the wanton violence that forced Tsvangirai to withdraw from the run-off. 

The November 2017 coup was about wrestling absolute power from Mugabe, who was about to his wife and her G40 faction, back to Mnangagwa and company. “Operation Restore Legacy” the putsch thugs called the coup; up to then, the thugs had shared absolute power with Mugabe and the coup had restored power back in their hands again. 

Mnangagwa and company promised to end corruption, hold free elections, etc., etc. because they knew these are the things the people of Zimbabwe wanted to hear and the country needed to get out of the economic and political mess Zanu PF had landed the nation. It was clear as day they had no intention of honouring these promises and give up the wealth corruption brought and risk losing absolute power through free and fair elections. 

It is naive that anyone would still be wittering about “new dispensation” with all the mountain of evidence that this was just a Zanu PF gimmick. 

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and the party has been using all manner of dirty tricks and tyrannical violence including beatings, rape, abduction and even cold blooded murder to subdue the populous and retain its iron grip on power. 

Zimbabwe is stuck in this economic and political mess because the country is stuck with a corrupt, incompetent Zanu PF dictatorship that has completely corrupted and captured all state institutions including the corrupt and incompetent oppositions party. State institutions like ZEC and the Police are Zanu PF departments in all but name and rig elections to secure a Zanu PF land slide victory. 

The opposition have participated in these flawed and illegal elections even when ZEC has failed produce something as basic as verified voters’ roll. Their participation has given the process the minim of credibility - after all why would so many candidates (23 in the presidential race alone) contest elections they know will be rigged. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and a share of the Political Party Finance (Act) annual payout - bait the opposition have found irresistible. 

To get out of this economic and political mess the people of Zimbabwe need to break Zanu PF’s strangle hold on power by forcing the regime to step down so the nation can finally implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. 

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections, the regime has no democratic mandate to govern and should be forced to step down. What the people want from the UN and the international community is a commitment to pressure this illegitimate regime to step down. 

It is disappointing to note that the UN has, these last 39 years, has earned a reputation of fighting in Zanu PF’s corner even when there was clear cut evidence of the regime riding roughshod over the people. 

Zimbabwe is in a serious mess and stands on the very edge of the precipice, the nation’s very survival is at stake here. The people of Zimbabwe expected a firm and decisive statement from the UN underlining the seriousness and urgency of the situation. 

“Zanu PF’s ‘new dispensation’ human rights must be put into action now!” There is no new dispensation, just as there were no free, fair and credible elections last year. This Zanu PF regime is illegitimate and must step down. If the UN is not going to help Zimbabwe get out of this economic and political mess then please space us the patronising and foolish insults!

"Mugabe is an iconic leader" says Zanu PF - desperately trying to airbrush post-independence era W Mukori

“The revolutionary ZANU PF Party will eternally remain grateful to the late iconic leader,” you said.

“The revolutionary ZANU PF Party can only say to the late formeR President, "Go well. Rest in Peace Gushungo.”

Mugabe was a corrupt incompetent and ruthless dictator who destroyed the country’s economy and murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans for selfish political gain. History will mark him as a corrupt and murderous dictator; not a national hero at all.

The sheer contempt captured in the above photograph speaks volumes of the late dictator and his wife! How anyone so ill-used can still call the dictator an “iconic leader” beggars belief! It only goes to show how desperate the Zanu PF thugs are to airbrush the tragic events of the post-independence years and hang on to the liberation war narrative. 

Zimbabwe is in a total mess because for the last 39 years the country has had the great misfortune of bad governance from those who believed their contribution during the liberation war gave them the right to deny the rest of the populous their basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life. We still have these thugs still in power today and we have to fight to stop them dragging the nation into the abyss.

Who cares where they bury a corrupt and murderous dictator! We have better things to occupy our minds like how to force this illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down so we can finally implement the reforms and end the nightmare of bad governance.

"Encouraged by reforms under consideration" says WB - ivory tower nonsense, 39 years of consideration N Garikai

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube held a fruitful meeting with the President of world Bank David Malpass at the recently held United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Posting on Twitter Malpass said, "Very nice to see Zimbabwean Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube at UNGA. We discussed the importance of currency + economic liberalization and I am encouraged by the legislative reforms under consideration.”

Zimbabwe’s economic is in total meltdown, inflation has surged to 300% according to Gene Leon, the head of of an IMF delegation to Zimbabwe. So Malpass’ twitter is clearly another piece of diplomatic nonsense made by those who know not the consequences of the economic meltdown. 

It is no secrete that Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube has been to the IMF, WB and all the other finance houses begging for money to bankroll Zimbabwe’s so called reform programmes. He has walked away with his begging bowl empty. If signor Malpass in “encouraged by the legislative reforms under consideration”, as he twittered; then he should have put his money where his mouth is. 

Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess and the root cause is the country’s bad governance. Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. The economy is in total meltdown because it is near impossible to do business in a pariah state with so much waste through mismanagement and corruption, so much chaos because of high inflation and shortages of good and services, so much agro because there is no rule of law, etc. 

One assumes that the legislative reforms the WB signor was talking about will address the lawlessness, the economic chaos and the criminal waste of human and material resources and end Zimbabwe’s curse as a pariah state. What the signor should have asked Minister Ncube is why did it this Mnangagwa administration fail to hold free, fair and credible elections last year, as promised? 

If signor Malpass thought any Zimbabwean would be please by his twitter, he could not be more wrong. Zimbabweans have been denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country for 39 years and counting and hence the reason they are stuck with this pariah state and the economic meltdown. They are desperate to get this illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship to step down so they can implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. 

Zanu PF will never implement any meaningful reforms because the regime will never reform itself out of office!

After 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule only a first class idiot would be “encouraged by the legislative reforms under consideration”!

"We determined to overcome economic collapse, much has been accomplished" - with 300% inflation and soaring P Guramatunhu

“Zimbabwe is in transition and determined to overcome the reality that we are a collapsed economy with a collapsed currency, due to the illegal economic sanctions imposed on our economy. Since I took over the leadership of Zimbabwe, much has been accomplished with indicative recovery, stabilisation and growth. Immense progress towards macro-economic and fiscal stabilisation, as well as high-impact projects that pave the way for a private sector-led growth have been made,” said President Mnangagwa in his speech to the UN General Assembly. 

What recovery was he wittering about?

“Annual inflation in Zimbabwe was 300 percent in August, according to new data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At that level, the troubled southern African nation's inflation rate is the highest in the world,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Annualised inflation in Zimbabwe was measured at 175.66 percent in June, up from 97.85 percent in May. In a statement released on Thursday, IMF head of delegation Gene Leon said Zimbabwe was experiencing what he described as severe economic difficulties.”

Zimbabwe has now the dubious honour of having the highest inflation rate in the world overtaking Venezuela with 135.3%.

Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who are in power because they rig elections. When Mnangagwa took over from the late Robert Mugabe in 2017; he promised a new Zimbabwe, “a new dispensation”. 

He promise “zero tolerance on corruption”, the true main cause of the economic collapse and not sanctions. In 2016 Mugabe admitted the country was “being swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone”. 

The Zanu PF ruling elite were the swindlers and they have used the looted wealth to pay for their palatial mansions, finance their vast business empires, buy the posh cars and pay for their extravagant lifestyles. Mugabe has never arrested even one diamond swindler. After two years in office, Mnangagwa too has yet to arrest one swindler. 

We know the wholesale looting has continued unabated because the then Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa, told parliament in 2017 that government was getting 1/6 of the expected revenue from diamonds. The situations has not changed. 

“Corruption is deep rooted!” was Mnangagwa’s excuse for failing to end corruption.

Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections as part of his post Mugabe transformative reform agenda. He failed to keep this promise too. By blatantly rigging the July 2018 elections he confirmed that Zimbabwe was a pariah state and nothing had changed. Nothing! 

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s collapsed economy and currency is not “the illegal sanctions” as Mnangagwa and Mugabe before him, would have us believe; it is the country’s pariah state tag. It is impossible to do business is a pariah state with all its criminal waste of human and material resources through corruption and mismanagement and the uncertainty brought about by the regime’s disregard of the rule of law. 

Zimbabwe’s economic recover depends on one thing, above all else - curing ourself of the curse of rigged elections and pariah state tag. The Mnangagwa Zanu PF regime is illegitimate since it rigged last year’s elections. The regime should step down to create the political space for an interim administration whose primary task will be to implement the democratic reforms to guarantee next and future elections are free, fair and credible. 

The country started with a robust economy in 1980 and has beeb in decline ever since and today we have a collapsed economy. We have corrupt and incompetent regime that will never admit failure and since it is expert at rigging elections, we are stuck with it! 

“Let me conclude by reiterating that Zimbabwe is reforming and undertaking a shared journey towards a better and more secure future,” concluded Mnangagwa.

Why is Zimbabwe stuck with a corrupt, dysfunctional and oppressive political system that needs reforming nearly 40 years after independence? And what meaningful reforms can Zanu PF implement when it was the party that ruthlessly established and imposed this de facto one-party dictatorship in the first place?

“Zimbabwe is determined to overcome the reality that we are a collapsed economy. Much has been accomplished!” Yeah right! Next elections must be free, fair and credible, no stone will be left unturned to ensure this is so. And every Zimbabwean will finally have a meaningful say on all these fictitious accomplishments and on the governance of the country! 

"Punish ED for his barbarism vis-a-vis Dr Magombeyi" called Coltart - you are one propping up regime W Mukori

"This is a regime which is increasingly paranoid and unhinged. It has dug itself into a deep hole. In seeking to exculpate itself from the crimes against humanity it is alleged to have committed in recent months, which systematic disappearances by the State are, it has spun a propaganda yarn which is increasingly untenable and deeply embarrassing to Mr Mnangagwa who will have to face the international media in New York if this goes horribly awry with South African doctors levelling serious allegations against his government," wrote Senator David Coltart in Zimeye. 

"What is worrying however is the report this evening that Dr Magombeyi may have been poisoned and that he needs urgent medical attention for this. Equally troubling is the report that critical evidence of what may have been injected into his system may be lost if there is any further delay. So both medically and forensically it is critically important that he be allowed to travel to South Africa."

There is no doubt that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime are criminals and the regime was behind the abduction and torture of Dr Peter Magombeyi. 

What most people would find frustrating in this Magombeyi and many, many other tragic stories is that they could have been prevented if Coltart and his MDC friends had implemented the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. MDC leaders had their best chances to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and the wasted them. 

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies rigged last year’s elections as the EU and all the other democratic observers readily agreed. The regime should have been put under immediate pressure to step down because it is illegitimate. Sadly the sting of the pressure was taken out by the participation of the MDC in the elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that participating would give the process some credibility, as Coltart readily admitted in his book. 

“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 elections,” explained Senator Coltart.

“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.”

It is none other than Senator Coltart and his his MDC friends’ doing that Mnangagwa and his illegitimate regime are still in office today!  

We cannot deny that in the last 39 years, we have had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and we have wasted them all. What is more, we waste the chances and continue as if nothing has happened! No sign of remorse or regret and a concerted effort to make the most of the next opportunity! 

Indeed, it is none other than Coltart and his MDC friends who are undermining the international community to pressure Zanu PF to embrace meaningful democratic changes. By imposing sanctions, refusing to do business with this Zanu PF regime, speaking out against the regime’s tyrannical rule, etc. the international community is piling up the pressure on regime to implement democratic change. MDC have the sanctions lifted and the regime accepted into the family of nation if Mnangagwa appointed a few MDC leaders ministers; that is all they care about!

“Mr Mnangagwa himself must be left in no doubt about the severe consequences of this barbaric conduct demonstrated by his government today. In short the international community must speak out to compel the Mnangagwa regime to allow Dr Magombeyi to seek urgent medical treatment in South Africa.”

How naive!  

Zanu PF rigged last year's elections, the party has no democratic mandate to govern and is per se illegitimate and beyond the pale. The only way forward is for the regime to step down to allow the appointment of an interim administration to implement the democratic reforms to guarantee free, fair and credible elections. The people blocking this are none other than you, Senator Coltart and your MDC friends with your foolish proposal for a power sharing arrangement with the illegitimate Zanu PF regime!