It is a real tragedy that Zimbabwe is now in a serious mess; millions are facing heart breaking hardship from lack of water, no food, no work, no fuel, no medicine, etc. The situation is now so bad that hundreds are dying everyday of hunger and easily curable ailments. If Zimbabwe had a healthy and functioning democracy the country would have done something to stop the relentless slide into the abyss of the last 39 years.
Sadly, Zimbabwe is de facto one-party dictatorship and the country has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging regime for 39 years and counting. The consequences of the decades of misrule is the economic ruins, over 30 000 murdered for political gain and a totally subdued and helpless electorate.
This is a man-made crisis and, as is often the case with such problems, those responsible for the crisis are not only stubbornly refusing to admit responsibility but are flatly refusing to take the medicine to cure the problem.
”Some (opposition parties) openly call for rolling out of mass action, even violent protests in order to oust a democratically-elected government," Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo told diplomats in Harare.
"Some stubbornly refuse to accept the outcome of the 2018 election; refuse to lend themselves or their ideas to the national dialogue process initiated by the President. Some continue to call for sanctions and the diplomatic isolation of their own country, believing that only external mediation can heal the deep polarisation which continues to afflict our nation and our people.”
When President Mnangagwa, Minister S Moyo and the rest of the November 2017 military coup plotters seized power from Mugabe they were cocksure they would revive Zimbabwe’s comatose economy in no time. Mnangagwa was so cocksure of his administration delivering the economic recovery he was announcing; “Zimbabwe is open for business!” just a few weeks after the coup.
It is now two years since the coup and the economy has decided got worse, not better. Unemployment has remained at the nauseating 90% plus level, inflation has moved from single digit a year ago to1000% plus, public health care has all but collapse, 7.7 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation, etc. It is an open secret that the flood gate of investors has not materialised and “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water.
Instead of acknowledging that whatever policies and plans he had to revive the economy have failed, Mnangagwa is know blaming Nelson Chamisa’s refusal to endorse him as the winner of last year’s election for the failures. This is just nonsense, of course.
Mnangagwa did not need Chamisa’s political endorsement, he had the presidency and 2/3 majority in parliament, to implement Zanu PF’s economic policies and plans. He did implement the policies and plans and they failed to produce the desire economic recovery because they were the wrong policies and plans. Period!
The claim that the refusal to acknowledge Mnangagwa’s legitimacy has undermined Zanu PF’s re-engagement efforts with the West is just shameless denial of the facts. The EU, Americans, etc. had teams of election observers last year and they all condemned the election as a farce. The Americans certainly did not need Chamisa or any other Zimbabwean to tell them the elections were rigged, they observed that for themselves and acted accordingly.
Blaming the country’s worsening economic situation on sanctions is yet another lie because whatever financial loses they have brought it is nothing compared the the billions of dollars the nation has been losing because of corrupt and mismanagement.
But even if sanctions were a big problem, it is nonsensical to blame the “opposition for calling the sanctions”. Zanu PF is exaggerating the opposition’s power and influence to suit the regime to twisted narrative.
The political dialogue Zanu PF is calling for is just an excuse to corral all the country’s opposition politicians into the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) for the purpose of silencing them. Zimbabwe’s opposition is weak and feeble already and POLAD will render it utterly useless.
The country’s worsening economic situation is causing heart breaking human suffering and deaths and it is natural that the people would want to voice their concerns. The regime is clearly determined to use brute force to silence all dissent under the pretext all protests are to “oust a democratically-elected government”.
If Zimbabwe was a health and functioning democratic nation; peaceful protests would allowed. Still, there will be protests regardless of the regime’s use of wanton violence because human beings will never die quietly like sheep to the slaughter.
"We believe that Zimbabweans must be allowed, encouraged and afforded the space to find one another, by themselves. Your excellences, you have an important role to play in this regard and we look to you to bring your undoubted influence to bear towards that objective,” continued Minister Moyo.
But that is exactly the point; Zimbabweans will never “find one another” because the country’s current political systems has allowed the ruling elite to usurp the people’s freedoms and rights, the two are so unequal they will never find each other. The Zanu PF ruling elite enjoy carte blanche dictatorial powers they have willy-nilly rigged elections and impose their political will on the populous for the last 39 years.
Indeed, Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess precisely because the country is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have rigged elections to stay in power. It is notoriously difficult to do business in a pariah state because of all the chaos, corruption, lawlessness, etc.
By blatantly rigging last year’s elections President Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state. So his claim that the November 2017 coup had ushered in a “new democratic dispensation, a Second Republic” was all hot air.
So for Zimbabwe to end the serious economic and political crisis gripping the country we must implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections.
If we are ever going to get these reforms implemented, we need outside help to pressure Zanu PF to step down so we can appoint an interim administration to implement the reforms. Left to our own devices we will never get Zanu PF to step down much less get it to implement the reforms to take away its carte blanche dictatorial powers.
Zanu PF will never ever reform itself out of office. Never ever!
Zanu PF ruling elite's appetite for absolute power and all financial benefits it has brought is insatiable and, after 39 years in power; they are addicted to it. Minister Moyo, President Mnangagwa and the rest of the November 2017 coup plotters risked life and limb in wrestling power from Mugabe and his wife; as I have said, they are hooked!
Anyone who believes that Zanu PF ruling elite will ever implement the democratic reforms to end their dictatorial powers is naive. Any jackal foolish enough to believe the ravenous hyena would ever share a meal will be the appetizer!
"We believe that Zimbabweans must be allowed, encouraged and afforded the space to find one another, by themselves. Your excellences, you have an important role to play in this regard and we look to you to bring your undoubted influence to bear towards that objective."
ReplyDeleteThis is comparable to an abusive husband who beats his wife and insist everyone else must stay out of his domestic affairs. Of course, it will be irresponsible of the neighbours if they listened to him.
Zanu PF has ridden roughshod over the people’s freedoms and rights for the last 39 years, the regime has completely destroyed the nation’s economy, hospitals and schools have closed and most significant of all has rigged elections denying the people the vote. The regime has dragged the nation right up to the edge of the abyss and it now intents to use brute force to silence the suffering and dying - the regime wants the people to die in silence like sheep in a slaughter house.
"This is a man-made crisis and, as is often the case with such problems, those responsible for the crisis are not only stubbornly refusing to admit responsibility but are flatly refusing to take the medicine to cure the problem."
ReplyDeleteOur greatest weakness, as the people, was the failure to ensure we have a health and functioning system in which those in positions of power and authority are accountable to us the people. Zanu PF misrule has affected us, the people, and benefited the ruling elite. Implementing the democratic reforms to end the dictatorship would cure the misrule but end the economic meltdown but will also end corruption and the ruling elite's absolute power. No wonder they have flatly refused to take the medicine.
The real surprise here is that we have been slow to accept the country's de facto one-party dictatorship was not working. Even today, after 39 years of the dictatorship and with the country in serious economic and political trouble there are some people who have yet to accept that Zanu PF will never reform itself out of power.
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and end the dictatorship during the GNU. They sold-out and failed to get even one reform implemented. They have lost the political credibility to implement the reforms and have since settled for the scraps Zanu PF gives away as bait to entice the opposition to participate in the flawed and illegal elections.