Zimbabwe is a failed state.
The last two weeks following the late Zimbabwe dictator
Robert Mugabe’s death have provided the international community with some gruesome
details of the country rapid descend into the hell-on-earth. All the world
media houses were full of the sorry stories of corruption, incompetence, murderous
tyranny, military coups, family and party factional wars, criminal waste of
human and material resources and the tragic human suffering and deaths that
always accompany these events. If anyone thought they had heard enough sorry
stories about Zimbabwe, at least for the rest of the year, they were wrong.
“Zimbabwe doctors on strike to protest poor wages
and the abduction of colleague!” run the headlines on Al Jazeera.
The attempt by the regime to blame the abduction on
“third force” is both laughable and underline the regime’s contempt for human
suffering and life, at the very heart of the failed state!
"This Administration has no reason to
destabilise this country by abducting its citizens. Threats to the security of
persons and acts of terror are ultimately threats to the security of the State.
There is no rhyme nor reason for the State to undermine itself," twittered
Nick Mangwana, Information Permanent
Secretary.
Zimbabwe is a failed state and Mnangagwa and his
Zanu PF cronies are an illegitimate regime desperate to hang on to power by
hook and by crook. The party has established and retain the de facto one-party
dictatorship by all manner of dirty tricks including brainwashing the electorate,
rigging elections and most important of all by using brute force to induce fear.
The regime is extremely worried about strike action
from any quarter given the country’s worsening economic situation. The regime
would be hoping that by abducting the doctors’ leader it will instil fear and force
the strike to be called off. The abductions are often carried out by top secret
operatives the regime can then denounce as “third forces”.
The regime will launch investigations to uncover
the “third force” but only as a clever way to kick the matter into the tall
grass as the investigations almost always uncover nothing. Gukurahundi is one
prime example, 30 years after the massacre we are still “investigating”!
Even if the investigation uncover what happen,
those responsible are never punished. The two CIO operatives who shot and
nearly killed opposition candidate, Patrick Kombayi, in 1990 elections; were
convicted of attempted murdered in a court of law. They were granted the
presidential pardon without even seeing the inside of the prison cell!
Mugabe’s 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule
establish Zimbabwe as a failed state, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt,
incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. By blatantly rigging last year’s
elections; Mnangagwa confirmed, if anyone had any lingering doubt following the
ouster of Mugabe in the 2017 military coup, that Zimbabwe was still a pariah
state or be it under new management.
Investors have shied away, especially in the last
20 years, when it was crystal clear Zimbabwe was a pariah state. No one likes
to do business with thugs. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there
will be no meaningful economic recovery and the country’s economic meltdown will
only get worse.
The doctors are on strike demanding better wages;
they are paid US$40 per month. They are demanding to be paid in US$ or at least
have their wages pegged to the country’s hyperinflation rate, now set at 500%.
The regime is in no position to meet any of these demands given the economic
situation is set to get worse!
The only way out is for Zimbabwe to end its pariah
state curse and to do that, the illegitimate Zanu PF regime must step down to
allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to
implement the reforms to stop rigged elections.
The worsening economic situation is putting the Zanu
PF regime under ever increasing pressure to step down and we can expect the
regime to respond by stepping up the violence, abductions, etc. Zimbabwe’s
economic situation is now so precarious and the human suffering and deaths it
is causing are so acutely felt; this cannot go on for much longer.
Change is in the air! Time for peaceful change is
fast running out and woe to all those who greed and intransigence have left the
nation with no way out except violent change!
“Zanu PF has no reason to destabilise the country!”
Zimbabwe is a failed state because of Zanu PF leaders’ insatiable greed for
power and wealth and there is nothing more destabilising than that!
The doctors marched for nearly a kilometre from Parirenyatwa Hospital intending to petition Mnangagwa on the abduction on Saturday of their union leader Peter Mugombeyi by suspected State agents.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe's economic meltdown is real and, as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs, is set to get worse; it is not going to be stopped by abductions or security agents! Zimbabweans have no choice but to up their game - must demand that Zanu PF steps down and not wage increase that the regime cannot deliver.
ZANU-PF has title to former President Robert Mugabe's houses - the imposing Blue Roof mansion in Borrowdale and a Mount Pleasant property occupied by his daughter, Bona, details have emerged.
ReplyDeleteMugabe family spokesperson Mr Leo Mugabe confirmed yesterday that Zimbabwe's late founding father did not own the houses. President Mnangagwa is now working on modalities to transfer the title deeds of the two houses to Mugabe's family.
Where did Zanu PF get the money to build these mansions?
It is easy to see Mugabe, Mnangagwa and the rest of the Zanu PF thugs rigged elections and even committed wanton violence to retain political power at all cost; they did not want to be question on where they got the money to build these palatial mansions, vast business empires, pay for their extravagant lifestyles, etc.
The challenge before us is to effect meaningful regime change, the military coup of 2017 was an internal Zanu PF matter and hence the reason it failed to produce any meaningful change. The suffering masses are desperate for change to end their suffering and the recovered looted wealth should pay for the repair of hospitals, schools and other basic requirements.
There is no time to be lost in pursuing the looters before they squander the loot!
Realising that the footprints of Cde Peter Mugombeyi’s abduction resonate with many other previous abductions.
ReplyDeleteThe abductions are characterised with night attacks by men armed with AK 47 riffles travelling in the night with unmarked and unregistered vehicles.
These are recognisable footprints of the ruling elite’s attitude to dissent and opposition.
Post independence we have had unfortunate disappearance and torture of Civic and opposition activists, including but not limited to Paul Chizuze, Nabayama, Tonderai Ndira and Itai Dzamara among others.
We are in full support of the Doctors’ cause of salaries being indexed and pegged at interbank rate. This should also apply to all Public service workers and the broad spectrum of the working class;
Understanding that this barbaric act has resulted in more loss of life as doctors and nurses across the country have downed tools demanding the urgent release of Peter Mugombeyi;
We hereby Demand
1) The immediate unconditional release of Doctor Magombeyi, he must be returned to his family unharmed and in good health.
2) Full conclusive investigation for this and other previous abductions.
3) Government should respect freedom of association and guarantee labour rights and respect trade union leaders.
4) The respect of human life and dignity
We hereby give the government of Zimbabwe 24 hours to bring back Dr Peter Magombeyi to his family unharmed and in good health.
We further call for the immediate restoration of value of all salaries through indexing them with prevailing interbank rates.
Tomorrow 17 September 2019 we will reconvene at 1300hrs and issue a way forward if our demands are not met by then.
We call upon all Citizens to stand in Solidarity with our Doctors.
The following organisations were in attendance.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ +263776129336
Citizens’ Manifesto 774 985217
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition 788097424
Heal Zimbabwe Trust 788097424
International Socialist Organisation, ISO 771517295
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, PTUZ 782702836
Survival Vendors’ Union of Zimbabwe, SVUZ 773800965
Unemployed Teachers’ Association, UTA 776973293
Zimbabwe Labour Center 771294089
Revolutionary Workers Group 771232299
Hear! Hear!
Doctor Peter Magombeyi was kidnapped from his house in Budiriro. He was taken by masked gunmen on Saturday night.
ReplyDeleteThis is simply unacceptable and must be condemned and fought against until it is stopped. Enough is enough!
SB Moyo Speaks, Blames Abduction of Dr Magombeyi On Third Force
ReplyDeleteThis is rich given that Zimbabwe is a de facto Police State. Didymus Mutasa, when he was minister of security, once admitted that the state knows what everyone is doing. Zimbabwe has security operative in uniform; plain cloths; embedded in the civil service, private sector and every sphere of human activity.
Mugabe had spies spying on his ministers and spies spying on spies. He had three or more different sources of information of each subject and cross checked them again and again. He was a control freak, blackmailed everyone, paranoid about power and security, etc.
It is almost certain that Zimbabwe has been spending more on security than on health and education combined!
Given the multitude of secretive security organs within the Police, Army and CIO, it is quite possible there are some gangs doing their own thing or who are overzealous. The command was to frighten the targeted individual and they, to impress, have gone overboard. Still Zanu PF created this bloated security monster and it is nonsense for the regime to now pretend it some foreign body, “Third force!”
The minister promised a thorough investigation into the abduction of Dr Magombeyi and the best we can expect is the regime arresting a few scapegoats. Zanu PF will never dismantle the Police State, of that we can be certain.
We do not want a Police State and the only sure way to end it is to remove this illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship from office.
Zimbabwe is a Police State with multiple layers and levels of security, independent of each other and with spies spying on spies. We have a government that treats everyone as a suspect, a threat to its continued rule, and knows more about the individual than the individual knows of themselves. Paranoia and fear rules the land!
ReplyDeleteDeputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet in charge of Presidential Communications Mr George Charamba said the recent alleged abductions were choreographed ahead of the President's United Nations General Assembly meeting and the maiden visit of a UN Special Rapporteur who is due to arrive in the country today.
ReplyDelete' 'This is a characteristic propaganda stunt by the opposition and its supporters. They are aware that UN Special Rapporteur Clément Nyaletsossi Voule is visiting the country, paying his maiden visit after a long hiatus," said Mr Charamba.
"As you are aware until now under the First Republic, the Zimbabwe Government would refuse to entertain such a personage.
Zimbabwe is a Police State and it will be no surprise to hear that the country spends more on security that it does on health and education combined! Former Minister of Security, Didymus Mutasa, once boasted that there was nothing the citizens were doing that the State did not know. There are spies everywhere in a multiple layers and levels.
It is therefore rich for such a State to then claim that there can ever be a gang to successfully carryout such an audacious act as an abduction, not just one but half a dozen in the last month alone, without the spy and security network knowing anything. The abductors have often carried AK47 rifles and we are to believe the State still knows nothing!
Kenneth Mufuka
ReplyDeleteLesson number two
For the sake of brevity, I will defer the second lesson to my learned brother Tino Chinyoka, in his Tuesday Letter.
"I (will) never suggest that your grief is not sincere. From you, a father, a husband, and an uncle, yes a benefactor has been taken away. Your grieving (will) therefore be sincere."
We have a corrupt and ruthless dictatorship, the dictator is died but the dictatorship itself is still alive and thriving, and it has destroyed the nation’s economy. We certainly have many important lessons we should learn from the past. You telling that respecting the right of Mugabe apologists to grief over the death of the dictator is one of the important lessons for the nation to learn! No wonder the country is in a mess and, worse still, will never ever get out of the mess if all we ever do is focus on trivial lessons!
Diplomats said they would continue piling pressure on government to stop the abductions.
ReplyDelete"Since January, more than 50 civil society, labour and opposition leaders have been abducted in Zimbabwe. No arrests have been made. We urge the government to take action and hold perpetrators of these human rights violations accountable. #FindDrPeterMagombeyi," the US embassy in Harare tweeted yesterday.
There is no doubt that Zimbabwe is a Police State and the country probably spends more on security than it spends on education, health and social welfare combined. Former Security Minister, Didymus Mutasa once boasted that the State had double agents in every facet of society and knew what everyone was doing. It is therefore a nonsense that there can be even one public abduction, let alone 50 in six months, that the State will not know about!
President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime are illegitimate, they know they rigged last year’s elections, and the worsening economic meltdown is making the regime jumpy, scarred the next public protest may spread out of control and finally force the regime out of office. He is using brute force to stop the protest before they ever take off. The shoot-to-kill orders and abductions are themselves becoming a common occurrence and a pressure point.
Zanu PF must step down, that is not negotiable. If Zanu PF remains in office till 2023 then we, the people, would only have ourselves to blame for it because the party will rig the 2023 elections and will be back in office!
Zimbabwe is a Police State, spending more money and resources on harassing and spying it own people than it is spending on education, health and social welfare combined! We are not going to argue whether the abductions are being done by the Army, Police, CIO, first force, second force, third force or whoever; what we know is whoever is doing it is part and parcel of the country's bloated security service! And we want it to stop!
ReplyDeleteOf cource, Zanu PF would want to silence all dissent harassing, beating, abducting and even killing all those the regime consider a threat to its strangle hold on power. Only a fool would believe the regime is not involved in these harassments, etc.!
Zimbabweans booed all South Africans and not just me, said Ramaphosa.
ReplyDeleteZimbabweans need to address the country's problem of bad governance with the sense of purpose and urgency the matter demands!
“The international community needs to understand and nurse this country. This country has suffered for the past two decades,” Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo said in an interview.
ReplyDelete“This is the time when it must be supported in its reforms.”
I despair, I really do! Zanu PF had the opportunity to implement the reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections after the November 2017 military coup. The party did not even implement one token reform. Not one! The regime blatantly rigged the 2018 elections for the sole purpose of retaining absolute power and fulfil the coup objective to Restore Legacy (absolute power)! After rigging the elections the regime wants the world to believe it is interested in implementing reforms and be rewarded accordingly (for making empty promises – no reward)!
Zanu PF rigged the last year’s elections just as the party has done on countless other occasions in the past. Enough is enough! All pressure must be brought to bear on the regime to step down, it is illegitimate and has no mandate to rule!
@ Zimeye
ReplyDeleteMnangagwa On Video – We Are Going After The Doctors.
The tragedy is we have people who want to pretend that Mnangagwa and Zanu PF are democrats, even with all the mountain of evidence that they are not.
We should have implemented the democratic reforms when we had the chance to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and the Zanu PF thugs are back in power getting them out will be a tough battle!
The Health Apex Council yesterday said its members were downing tools starting today until the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors' Association (ZHDA) acting president Peter Magombeyi, who was abducted by suspected State security agents on Saturday, was released.
ReplyDeleteThis came as Health minister Obadiah Moyo briefed Cabinet on the disappearance of Magombeyi at the weekend.
"Government, once again, appeals to all those with information that can assist in establishing the whereabouts of Dr Magombeyi to alert the police as a matter of extreme urgency," Cabinet said in a statement.
"Furthermore, government is concerned over these occurrences, which of late, tend to occur at a time when important international events are scheduled to take place. We wish to assure the nation that government is deeply concerned with this threat to the safety of its citizens and is determined to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book."
Zimbabwe is a Police State spending more resources on the Police, Army and the multi layered CIO than it spends on education, health and social welfare. Indeed, whilst the services sectors have all but collapsed hence the reason the ruling elite and their families have long stop using local school and hospitals; spending on security has increased regardless of the economic hardships.
It is nonsense that in country with so many spies there could be gangs operating and successfully abducting so many people and the regime does not even know about them. This third force the regime is talking about is a government freelance gang!
Treasury has released $3.4 million to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) under the Political Parties Finance Act. The money was released two weeks ago following months of bickering, with the opposition party accusing government of withholding the funds to sabotage its activities.
ReplyDeleteThe MDC leader Nelson Chamisa is alleged to walk away $720 000 richer as he is set to pocket 20% of the $3 596 400 which the is expected to get from the Treasury under the Political Parties Finance Act.
The MDC will get the share from the $12 million allocated to political parties by the Treasury while Zanu-PF will get $8 403 600.
This comes of the back of the two political parties being the only one to amassed more than 5% votes in the July 2018 elections, as stated in the budget.
This is the reason why MDC and the rest of the opposition parties and candidates participated in last year’s elections even when they knew that Zanu PF was going to rig the elections. Even when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, Chamisa and company soldiered on. They knew Zanu PF will give away a few gravy-train seats and a cut of the money from the Political Party Finance Act.
“MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging elections!” said Chamisa. Of course that was just hot air to fool the naïve and gullible who did not understand the real reason why MDC was participating in the elections with no reforms.
If Zimbabweans are serious about free, fair and credible elections and ending this nightmare Zanu PF dictatorship then they must now accept that MDC is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds!
The biggest failure in Zimbabwe is not that of leadership but of the people themselves. Democracy only works when leaders know they will be held to democratic account. Mugabe and his cronies knew they were not accountable to anyone and so they looted, sucking the life blood out of the economy and nation.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mugabe and his cronies started out sourcing their health care and education services needs outside the country at great expense to the taxpayer; it was the ruling elite’s vote of no confidence in the local services. Resources that should be used to maintain the local services were being diverted to pay for the elite’s extravagant demands and it was no surprise the local services collapsed. One did not need a university degree or to be literate to see this coming; this was common sense!
The photograph of Mugabe's palatial Blue Roof mansion juxtaposed with the grass thatched mud hovel of the rural peasants, The Voted's palace vs The voters' mud hovel, should have aroused outrage in every thinking person. It did no such thing. It was water off a duck's back and some even thought it was "funny"! Even those whose lives has been made hell-on-earth by the decades of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule; view their situation a with shocking fatalistic indifference!
Zimbabweans failed to appreciate that it was their duty and responsibility to hold the country’s leaders to democratic account when the country attained her independence in 1980. They have paid dearly for this shortcoming as Mugabe and company have gone on to trash the country’s economy and with it the people’s very lives!
After 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule one had hoped that the people had finally learned the lesson, after all they are the most literate nation in Africa. Alas, they have learned nothing
Zimbabweans must quickly learn that it is their duty as citizens to understand the big issues of their day and to hold leaders to democratic account. Good governance comes with a price tag – hard work and diligence.