Let us all be very clear here; Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections, the regime does not have the people of Zimbabwe’s mandate to govern the country and must therefore step down, especially since it is now clear that it has failed to revive the economy. The duplicity of such major international players like the EU, who condemned the rigged elections but continue to treat the Zanu PF regime as the legitimate government, has only emboldened the regime to continue to ride roughshod over the people’s hopes and dreams to end its reign of terror!
“The EU confirmed the talks on its official Twitter account, saying the talks, dubbed the second edition of the formal political dialogue, include issues on investment, human rights, rule of law and good governance,” reported Newsday.
The EU had a high powered Election Observer Mission team of 246 individuals and their report was through and detailed and the condemnation of the elections as a farce was unequivocal.
“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,” stated the EU Election Mission final report.
Whilst the Americans had made it clear the sanctions on Zanu PF leaders will remain as punishment for the blatant rigging of the elections and the use of violence in the 1 st August 2018 “post-election period” in which 7 civilians protesting the rigged elections were shot dead. The EU took off their foot off the sanctions pedal regardless of their own scathing election report.
Even when Mnangagwa followed the 1 st August “shoot to kill” order with yet another “shoot to kill” order in which 17 civilians protesting the soaring fuel prices were killed; the EU still turned a blind eye.
It is this ambivalence by key international players like the EU that have encouraged corrupt and tyrannical regimes like this Mnangagwa government to believe it can blatantly rig elections, use brute force to silence its political opponents, etc. and get away with it.
When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe two years ago, he, like Mugabe before him, was cocksure he was going to revive Zimbabwe’s economic fortunes. He expected his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call to be answered by a flood of investors. By failing to end corruption, to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections, etc. Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Investors understood this message and have continued to shy away from the country.
It is no secret that Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water and the country’s economic meltdown, in a pitiful state he took over two years ago, has turned a decided turn for even worse. The country is facing a chronic shortage of fuel, cash, power, medicine, food, etc. Inflation, single digit a year ago, has surged to 400% plus.
Decades of under funding had left the country’s health care and education services in a sorry state. The regime has just fired doctors because it could meet their demand a living wage, above their current US$ 40 per month. Without doctors and nurses the health care services is now all but dead! The same is happening in education; some teachers are now work two-day week because they not afford the transport costs.
How long are the people of Zimbabwe going to accept to suffer and died quietly the consequences of the economic meltdown, the chronic shortages, no health care, etc.? How long is a piece of string!
Mnangagwa and his regime know the country’s economic meltdown is socially, morally and politically unsustainable. Still the regime is clearly determined to hang on to power for as long as possible; not by reviving the economy and alleviating the people’s suffering and deaths, it has failed to to do so; by using brute force.
I for one, was not surprise that Mnangagwa used excessive force to disperse MDC supporters who had gathered to hear their party leader, Nelson Chamisa, give his Hope of the Nation Address. Mnangagwa is very jumpy and as the economy sinks deeper and deeper we can be certain he will be resorted to more and more violence in a futile attempt to silence all those protesting the economic hardships.
It is disheartening that whilst Mnangagwa was unleashed his riot Police to beat MDC supporters for no reason at all; he was having his re-engagement meetings with the EU officials, who continue to treat this illegitimate regime as if it won free, fair and credible elections.
If any of the EU member state’s elections process “failed to meet international standards” the Union will suspend the same member’s membership and follow this up with very stringent economic and political sanctions to punish those involved. Why is Mnangagwa and his cronies being treated differently?
Why is the EU turning a blind eye to the economic suffering and deaths Zanu PF misrule and barbarism is inflicting on innocent Zimbabweans whose only crime is to demand the same freedoms and rights EU nationals take for granted?
The Department of Surgery in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe said no medical examinations will be held this November.
ReplyDeleteIn an internal memo addressed to medical students, the department’s chairperson Mr David Muchuweti said the academic environment is not conducive to mount credible examinations.
Medical School is at least being honest and not go through the usual charade of writing examination and issue first class degrees based on falsified achievements! My heart bleeds for all the students whose life is and years of hard work is now being written off just like that and for no fault of their own!
After decades of barely functioning because of chronic under funding many civil servants have been working a two-day week or not coming to work at all for months because their poor wages was not enough to cover their transport cost let alone food, accommodation and other essentials.
Zimbabwe’s health care and education services are all but dead! What kind of nation is this, with no health care and no education? How much deeper into the abyss is this nation going to sink before we wake up and stop this man-made madness!!!!!!
Importers of goods who fail to declare their source of foreign currency at entry points now risk forfeiture of their wares to the State as part of Government measures to combat the parallel market activities, an official has said.
ReplyDeleteFinance and Economic Development Deputy Minister Clemence Chiduwa said Government was working on how to implement the policy which he said would encourage people to use their nostro accounts in commercial banks
This is a law that will benefit the seasoned crooks at the expense of the honest citizens. In other words this is a law that will force the honest citizens to become crooks just to survive.
Government is placing strong emphasis on reviving key economic sectors through the promotion of production-oriented investment and implementing initiatives targeted at enhancing the performance of State enterprises and parastatals.
ReplyDeleteThis was said by Vice President Kembo Mohadi during the 7th edition of the Excellence in Corporate Governance Awards held in Harare on Thursday night
This is sad! Zimbabwe is facing serious economic meltdown primarily because of decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. Ever since Mnangagwa’s take over two years ago the promised economic recovery has not happened, indeed the economic meltdown has decided taken a turn for the worse. And yet here we are with those in positions of power and authority shouting “Full steam ahead!”
The need for Zimbabwe to dismantle this de facto one-party dictatorship is now more urgent now than ever. This country is going to continue in its nose dive into hell as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and self-saving thugs.
@ Mbofana
ReplyDeleteHistory is usually based on irrefutable facts, and those who deliberately seek to misrepresent such facts are those with a dubious and sinister motive - mostly for self-serving and perverted causes.
Such perfectly applies to Zimbabwean authorities who have over the past two years sought to disguise an unquestionable military coup d'etat as a popular revolution - possibly in an effort to attain both local and international acceptance for something that is generally frowned upon.
For a more precise and logical understanding of what truly transpired in 2017, there is no better and clearer evidence that a timeline of events of those critical two weeks in November.
As is now common knowledge, there had been openly vicious, bruising and even brutal factional fighting within the ruling ZANU PF for several years (all vying to replace the ailing and nonagenarian leader) before the coup d'etat - that witnessed the unceremonious sacking of vice president Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru on 9 December 2014 (as well as her Gamatox faction allies), just before the crucial December party congress, which led to the ascendency of Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa as her successor - at the instigation of the then first lady Grace.
You are the one who is trying to rewrite history for whatever reasons! The ordinary Zimbabwean and more significantly the country’s main opposition parties all come out in droves to endorse the November 2017 military coup. The people played no part in initiating the coup and it is true that the coup was the outcome of an internal Zanu PF factional war; this is all true.
What is also true here is that the people and opposition were foolish enough to conned by the like of Chris Mutsvangwa into believing the coup was liberating them when it was not doing any such thing. Tsvangirai and his MDC friends supported the coup because they were conned into believe there will be a GNU and gravy train seats for them.
“This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, 'the voice of the people', nor was it a 'people's revolution' - but, purely, unreservedly, and unquestionably a military coup d'etat - that had absolutely nothing to do with ordinary Zimbabweans, but power politics within the ruling ZANU PF party,” you argue.
“No one, in both the local and international community should ever be deceived.”
What you should have said is the November 2017 was a military coup but by conning the people and opposition to endorse it publicly Mnangagwa and his coup junta managed to cloak the coup in people’s revolution regalia.
I do agree that most people in the international community were not fooled, they saw through the deception. Still, they respected the people of Zimbabwe’s wish to celebrate the coup as the people’s revolution. In other words the international community respected the people of Zimbabwe’s right to be naive, gullible and downright foolish!
Eight months after the coup the same naive, gullible and downright foolish opposition and Zimbabwe public decided to participate in flawed and illegal elections. All those in the international community with democratic credential dismissed the elections as a farce, they were not fooled by Mnangagwa’s antics nor the pretence of the opposition not to see what was happening. However, at the end of the day the international community had no choice but to accept the rigged elections as a legitimate process only because that is what the people of Zimbabwe wanted!
So history will state that the November 2017 coup was Zimbabwe’s Arab spring. It failed to deliver even one iota of democratic change because the people and the opposition were naive, gullible and downright foolish!
@ Peter Moyo
ReplyDelete“The return of General Constantino Chiwenga back into the country has excited many Zimbabweans, with many raising hopes that the General has come to fix the country that he took over from the late President Robert Mugabe.
General Chiwenga looks as fit as a fiddle after having suffered from severe poisoning which nearly cost him his life.
There are already calls on social media streets for a General Chiwenga/Saviour Kasukuwere combination for the good of the ordinary man on the streets. It is highly likely that General Chiwenga will work together with Saviour Kasukuwere to rebuild both his party ZANU PF and fix the mess that has been created by Emmerson Munangagwa's goons.”
If this is true, I for one would not rule it out, then this is yet another foolish mistake by the people of Zimbabwe. The country is in this economic and political mess because of forty years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by these Zanu PF thugs. Any attempt to separate Mnangagwa from Mugabe, Chiwenga from Mnangagwa, Kasukuwere from Mnangagwa, etc. is a futile exercise because they are at worst two sides of the same coin.
Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result! After 39 years of the same corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF thugs; it is disheartening that anyone with half a brain would still one anyone of these thugs back in power! But then, I will be first to acknowledge that Zimbabwe has the great misfortune of having more than her fair share of certified insane citizens - we would not be in this mess otherwise!