Zanu PF demand MDC apology for asking sanctions - privilege, is adversary of imagination N Garikai

 "We have an opposition that asked for sanctions, an opposition which has been cohabiting with countries that seek to undermine our development trajectory,” said Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF acting spokesperson and former Minister of Finance.

"I would want a categoric statement from Mwonzora on sanctions to say he was mistaken and he must apologise to the Zimbabwean people for causing pain, something that has affected our development.” 

Chinamasa was responding to the recent statement by the new MDC-T President, Douglas Mwonzora, calling for the lifting of the targeted sanctions imposed of Zanu PF leaders by the USA, UK and their western allies. 

The sheer hypocrisy of Zimbabwe’s ruling elite reminds me of what Chinua Achebe said about the privileged.  

“Privilege, you see, is one of the great adversaries of the imagination; it spreads a thick layer of adipose tissue over our sensitivity,” said Chinua Achebe, without doubt one of Africa’s priceless jewels. 

Patrick Chinamasa and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite’s layer of adipose tissue is so thick and hardened they are devoid of all sensitivity. 

Oh, Chinamasa and his Zanu PF colleagues will claim that they are sensitive to the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans now living in abject poverty because of the country’s economic meltdown. They lack of sensitivity is subtle; they blame the economic meltdown on the sanctions imposed on the regime by the west knowing fully well that is a lie!

The real cause of the country’s economic meltdown is the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. In a healthy and functioning democratic country, the people would have booted the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime out of office a long time ago. Zimbabweans are stuck with the corrupt regime because Mnangagwa and company rig elections. 

And so if Zanu PF ruling elite were being honest and sensitive to the suffering of millions of ordinary Zimbabweans now living in extreme poverty; i.e. they cannot afford one decent meal a day let alone education for their children and health care; they too would be demanding free, fair and credible elections as the only way to end the corruption and misrule endemic in the de facto one-party dictatorship. 

The anti-sanction band wagon is full of hypocrites! Consider  the following:

1. Turn back the clock to the period before Zimbabwe’s independence and most blacks including Zanu PF leaders supported the UN sanctions imposed on Rhodesia’s white racist regime of Ian Smith. The sanctions were to pressure the regime to dismantle the racist political system. 

Sanctions, targeted or not, will disrupt the country’s economic activities and so many more people will suffer. The whites made a big song and dance about how much the black majority were suffering because of the sanctions.

The black majority accepted the economic hardship brought about by the UN sanctions knowing fully well that these hardships were nothing compared to those brought on by the white racist oppression and exploitation. 

2. The majority of Zimbabweans in independent have been denied their freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life. The west impose sanctions on the Zanu PF regime to pressure it to restore the individual freedoms and rights. 

Zanu PF has vehemently maintained that the country’s elections have always been free, fair and credible. SADC and AU refused to endorse the 2008 elections as having been free and fair and Zanu PF was forced to go into a GNU which was tasked to implement a raft of reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections. 

Sadly, not even one reform was implemented and hence the need to retain the sanctions on the regime. 

If the UN sanctions against the white ruled Rhodesia were justified; then sanctions are equally justified against this corrupt and equally oppressive Zanu PF government!

 

3. The UN sanctions were more austere than the targeted western sanctions, Mugabe confirmed this with his “look East” policy, and therefore it is rich to attribute Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering it has brought to the western sanctions.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. In 2016 Mugabe revealed just how rampant corruption was when he admitted the country was being swindled US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone. Mugabe never arrested even one diamond swindler or recover one swindled dollar. 

Mnangagwa promised to root out corruption after seizing power in the November 2017 military coup. Three years since the coup and he too is yet to arrest one diamond swindler or recover one swindled dollar. Indeed the blueprint used in the looting of diamonds have now been extended to other areas. 

It is corruption that has bankrolled Mugabe’s sprawling US$ 2 billion mansion and his extravagant lifestyle and that of his fellow Zanu PF cronies. And, naturally, Zanu PF will never acknowledge corruption is the root cause of the economic meltdown because they are the Godfathers of corruption and don’t want it stamp out. 

As long as Zanu PF remains in power corruption and mismanagement will remain. The only sure way to end corruption and mismanagement is by implementing the democratic reforms, end the curse of rigged elections and hold free, fair and credible elections. 

The western imposed sanctions have been one way of put Zanu PF under pressure to implement the reforms. 

The best opportunity to implement the reforms was during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.  MDC leaders sold-out and failed to implement even one token reform in 5 years. Douglas Mwonzora was one of MDC- T MPs and senior members involved in sell-out. 

It is ironic that the people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will deliver the democratic changes, as the party name implied, the nation was dying for. MDC leaders have not only failed to deliver even one democratic change in all their 20 years on the political stage; but worse still, they are now campaigning to have all other measures to force Zanu PF to implement reforms removed. 

“Mwonzora must apologise for sanctions imposed on Zanu PF by the West!” MDC leaders have done a lot more than that by making sure no reforms are implemented and by participating in flawed and illegal elections thus giving the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy!

The moral of this tragic tale is that Zimbabwean must take the business of electing competent leaders with the seriousness the matter demands and that starts with the understand the issues of the day. For example, the only sure way to get the democratic reforms implemented fully is if we, the people, know what these reforms are! 

Democracy and good governance are all wonderful and beautiful but they come with a price tag - a well informed and diligent electorate. It is now time for the people of Zimbabwe to stand up and be masters of their own destiny!

USAID accused of wasting US$ 10 m "trying to democratise Zimbabwe" - penny has finally dropped in Washington W Mukori

 The proverbial penny has finally drop in Washington: the Americans have finally woken up to the reality they are wasting money trying to democratise Zimbabwe!

“In a damning 2020 Festivus report, presented to the US Upper House, senator Rand Paul on Monday  accused the US Agency for International Development (USAID) of spending US$10 million taxpayers' money on a futile attempt to help reform Zimbabwe's political processes, especially elections,” reported News Day/ Bulawayo 24.

"Yet Uncle Sam (outgoing US President Donald Trump) wants to spend American taxpayer dollars to determine if the upcoming elections are, in fact, rigged. So the USAID is paying US$10 million in an effort to improve Zimbabwe's political process. Will it all make any difference?” asked Senator Paul 

“Decades and decades of charges against Mugabe’s elections did not cause him to become more democratic, nor did they drive him from office. So why is the State Department spending $10 million so it can have something to wave around when it ultimately points its finger at Zimbabwe's leadership and says, shame on you.”

Could not agree with the senator more! 

The Americans, above all others, spend a lot of time, money and sweat spelling out what democratic reforms Mnangagwa should implement to make sure the July 2018 elections were free, fair and credible. Mnangagwa ignored the demands for reforms and went on to blatantly rig the elections. 

The Americans, the Commonwealth, the EU and everyone else with any democratic credential condemned the July elections as a farce. 

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Observer Mission Final Report.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards!”

But all that did not matter because Zimbabwe’s opposition had also ignored the calls for democratic reforms and participated in the July 2018 plebiscite with unbridled passion and enthusiasm. There were 23 candidates in the presidential race and no fewer than 130 political part, to say nothing of the independent candidates contested the 210 parliamentary seats.

ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a common sense and legal requirement; but even that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the opposition!

“MDC Alliance (MDC A) has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” boasted Nelson Chamisa. He was telling the Americans and everyone else calling for reforms before the elections to shut up.

Of course, MDC A knew Zanu PF was rigging the elections and, as everyone knew from past experience, knew the opposition had no measures to stop the rigging. Most important of all, everybody in the opposition camp knew that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections they will give the process credibility and the results legitimacy. 

MDC leaders had proved beyond all reasonable doubt that they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when they had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented. And so the opposition’s participating in flawed and illegal elections to give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy is to be expected of these sell-outs. 

It was USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell who said in a leaked cable to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character who, if he ever got into power would be an albatross round the nation’s neck.” 

If Senator Rand Paul and his fellow senators had done their homework and researched on the caliban of Zimbabwe’s opposition they would have realised Ambassador Dell was right, MDC politicians are a waste of time and money. One cannot building a healthy and functioning democracy with corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders no more one can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear!

Senator Rand Paul is right Mnangagwa is certain to win the 2023 elections “by hook or crook” and the opposition will participate giving Zanu PF legitimacy. And it will be a waste of money demanding the implementation of reforms which both Zanu PF and the opposition do not care about. The is a crying need for a sea change in the handling of Zimbabwe! 

It is not that the people of Zimbabwe do not want and end to the Zanu PF dictatorship; they are desperate to see the reforms implemented and to see the nation finally cured of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. 

What the Americans had failed to appreciate here is that the MDC leaders were not competent to deliver democratic change and it was a big mistake on the part of Washington and the rest of the governments in the West to roll out a red carpet welcome to Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti and the rest of the MDC leaders, especially after their blatant betrayal of the people during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

Now that the penny has finally dropped in Washington, one is hoping the Americans will now treat the MDC leaders as one should treat sell-outs. The sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leaders for riding roughshod over the ordinary Zimbabweans, denying them their freedoms and rights, must be extended to MDC leaders for failing to implement the democratic reforms and thus keeping the Zanu PF regime in power. 

MDC leaders and the rest in the Zimbabwe opposition camp are not reliable partners in the fight for free, fair and credible elections; they have been running with the povo hare by day and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds by night. The people of Zimbabwe have been slow in realising this reality and, it seems, so too did the decision makers in Washington!

"Plant a broom stick and will have a fruit tree, in Zimbabwe" - yet we are starving, damning testimonial to failed leaders P Guramatunhu

 “Crisis management is not solved in one day. There is no magic formula in State recovery… it is a process that HE Mnangagwa is leading in promoting important reforms in Zimbabwe that will undoubtedly save it from this "big debt”,” said Ronny Musan, Zimbabwe's honorary consul in Israel, in a interview with News Day.

At least our honorary consul acknowledged there is a crisis in Zimbabwe unlike our own leaders who are in denial. They stubbornly maintain there is no crisis, even with the national economy in total meltdown, unemployment a nauseating 90% and 34% of our people living in “extreme poverty”, according to a 2019 WB report. The number living in extreme poverty has surged upward since the corona virus outbreak. 

Indeed, Mnangagwa, his Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube and the rest of the regime are adamant Zimbabwe is on course to become a middle income nation by 2030, vision 2030. 

To solve Zimbabwe’s crisis one must acknowledge that this is a man-made crisis and per se need competent man to solve it; a fact Consul Musan touched on in his next remark. 

“Zimbabwe is a natural power! It has natural resources that can buy Israel, it has fertile ground that even if you plant a broom stick you will get a fruit tree,” he said.

“So you have to manage the crisis properly, promote agricultural development and export agricultural products that can feed European countries, give investors the security they need in order for them to invest foreign currency here, to develop the value of the assessment of natural resources in the right way, to avoid smuggling channels and to invest in education and training in the fields of technology and more."

Yes, once upon a time Zimbabwe did produce enough agricultural produce to feed her own people, be the breadbasket of the region and earned a fortune selling such cash crops as tobacco. Not any more. 

Zanu PF seized the farms from the whites to give them to party loyalists, mainly, who only saw it as one more opportunity to loot and enrich themselves. Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector collapsed and, since it was the country economic engine, took with it rest of the economy. 

So Zimbabweans now holds the dubious honour of starving in a land so fertile “even if you plant a broom stick you will get a fruit tree”! Of course, this is a damning testimonial to Zanu PF leaders’ blundering incompetence. 

Zimbabwe is stuck, 40 years and counting, with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship because the party rigs elections. Zanu PF has ridden roughshod over the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to stay in power. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery because no investor wants to do business in a pariah state. 

“Are there any Israeli investors willing to invest in Zimbabwe?” asked News Day.

“I am happy to say that investors in Israel are waiting to receive our investment plans, review them and start investing in Zimbabwe,” came the reply.

Half expected the Honorary Consul to talk about Nikuv! Many Zimbabweans will remember Nikuv, the Israel vote rigging specialists, who helped Zanu PF rig the 2013 elections and were paid a cool US$ 10 million! 

Mnangagwa has stubbornly refused to implement even one token democratic reform and is determined to rig the 2023 elections. No doubt, he must be considering re-engaging Nikuv, assuming the latter ever left! 

“I make it clear to anyone who addresses me unequivocally that I am not here to take advantage of my position to plunder Zimbabwe….. but to help and leverage what belongs to Zimbabwe!” remarked Zimbabwe’s honorary consul to Israel.

If you were taking advantage of your position to plunder Zimbabwe, would you admit it? By the same token, if you are a Nikuv employee, would never ever admit that either! 

“HE Mnangagwa is leading in promoting important reforms in Zimbabwe that will undoubtedly save it from this "big debt”!” Spare us the chutzpah!

Mnangagwa is corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant who will never ever implement any meaningful democratic reforms to jeopardise Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers. Never ever!

And as long as Zanu PF remains in power, Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state stuck in this hell-on-earth the regime has landed us in.

After 40 years of rigged elections, being bamboozled into another under guise rehashed "big tent" N Garikai

 “Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume has warned squabbling colleagues in the opposition that they risk receiving a heavy drubbing by Zanu PF in 2023 unless they heal their rifts,” reported Daily News on Sunday in an article, ‘Heavy shellacking awaits Zimbabwe's brawling opposition’.

Here we go again; the Zimbabwe public are once again being brainwashed into believing the opposition will win the 2023 elections if only they are united. All nonsense, of course, because Zanu PF has always rigged the elections to enjoy a landslide victory with or without a united and strong opposition!

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T talked the two MDC factions led by Professor Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti plus three other parties including Jacob Ngarivhume’s Transform Zimbabwe to join him in the “big tent”, as he called it, to form a coalition, MDC Alliance (MDC A). Judging by the size of the crowds attending MDC A rallies the coalition should have won the July 2018 elections. Zanu PF won with a landslide, history was repeating itself.

Zanu PF won the 2013 elections by blatantly rigging the plebiscite. Tsvangirai and MDC-T friends resolved at the 2014 party congress not to participate in future elections until the reforms to stop the rigging have been implemented. “No reforms! No elections!” Many other opposition parties followed suit in making similar commitments.

Frankly, the 2014 resolution not to participate in elections without reforms was just a farce because Tsvangirai et al were the ones who had failed to implement even one reforms during the five years of 2008 to 2013 GNU. 

SADC leaders warned the MDC leaders not to take part in the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms but, as we know, were ignored.   

It therefore came as little surprise that the opposition camp ignored the “No reform! No elections!” resolution to participate in the 2018 elections. 

If the truth be told, Tsvangirai and company had failed to implement even one reform during the GNU because they “were busy enjoying themselves and forgot why they were there”, as one SADC diplomat remarked in sheer exasperation. 

Zanu PF offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the 2013 and then 2018 elections; a honey pot trap MDC leaders once again found irresistible.  

“MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” was Nelson Chamisa’s feeble excuse for participating in the 2018 elections with no reforms. 

MDC A should and would have won the July 2018 elections if the elections had been free, fair and credible; we all know that and so does Jacob Ngarivhume.

After 40 years of Zanu PF rigging elections it is really insane to continue this madness of the nation being dragged into flawed and illegal elections by corrupt, incompetent and selfish opposition opportunists who have eyes for one thing and one only - power, the honey pot trap. 

Jacob Ngarivhume, Tendai Biti, Job Sikhala and the rest in the opposition camp are all gearing for the 2023 elections oblivious of the fact not even one reform was implemented. Indeed, the opposition are making it appear the reforms are unnecessarily all they need is a united front.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-on-earth precisely because the country has failed to hold free, fair and credible elections for the last 40 years. We must keep our eyes on the big prize, implementing the democratic reforms is the only sure way to finally end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance. 

The rehashed “big tent” uniting the opposition is a distraction; it failed to deliver free and fair elections in the past and it will not do so in 2023! 

Sikhala "berates" Mnangagwa - posturing will never end Zanu PF dictatorship, implementing reforms will P Guramatunhu

 “MDC Alliance vice-chairperson Job Sikhala has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proved to be one of the worst authoritarian leaders to ever lead Zimbabwe, an accusation that comes as the nation next month marks the second anniversary of the bloody fuel price protests which were violently quashed by the military,” reported The Standard.

This is just another case of MDC silverback gorilla grandstanding and posturing to get attention and this is all they have done for the last 20 years. Worse still, the posturing is not harmless, MDC are the ones helping to keep Zanu PF in power!

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power for one principle reason - so that the party would bring about the democratic changes, as the party name implied, the nation was been dying for. 

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU  to implement the democratic reforms, dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and thus end the curse of rigged elections. Sadly, they wasted the opportunity and failed to implement even one reform. 

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, the very generous salaries and perks, a US$ 4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough, even the constant nagging by SADC leaders failed to get Tsvangirai and company to implement even one reform in five years. 

“MDC leaders were busy enjoying themselves during the GNU, they forgot why they were there!” remarked one SADC diplomat in sheer exasperation. 

Ever since GNU, Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happen to be. A honey trap Zanu PF knew MDC leaders would find irresistible, as David Coltart readily confessed 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,” wrote 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.”

Blaming the “failure to agree a coalition” for participating in flawed and illegal 2013 elections was just a feeble excuse. Three of the main MDC factions plus three other parties did form a coalition, the MDC Alliance, before the 2018 elections. The coalition participated in the plebiscite without even a pose for thought although it was certain Zanu PF was rigging the elections. 

As before, ZEC failed to produce something as elementary as verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake.

By participating in these flawed and illegal elections MDC A gave the process “credibility”, as Coltart said, but, more significantly, it gave legitimacy the vote rigging Zanu PF. 

MP Job Sikhala was one of the MDC A winners of the few gravy train seats and his denouncing of Mnangagwa as “one of the worst authoritarian leaders” must be taken with a pitch of salt given he is the one giving the Mnangagwa legitimacy. 

Worse still, Sikhala’s posturing is publicity stunt to keep himself in the public eye, he is preparing to participate in the 2023 elections and thus perpetuating the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

MDC leaders are running with the povo hare whilst hunting with the Zanu PF hounds. 

Mnangagwa is smart enough to know a political opponent who calls “one of the worst authoritarian leaders” but never implement the reforms is a blessing compared to one who will implement the reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship! 

It is the people of Zimbabwe who must wake-up to the political reality that after 20 years of MDC posturing, the nation is still stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship. Enough of this posturing nonsense; what the nation is dying for is to have the reforms implemented. 

If no reforms are implemented then the 2023 elections must be declared null and void. The last thing the nation wants is MDC giving Zanu PF legitimacy! The idea of Zanu PF remaining in power after the 2023 elections is simply unthinkable! 

Zanu PF's visceral brain teaser: paying teachers a living wage without fuelling inflation W Mukori

 Squaring the circle is a brain teaser as ancient as geometry itself in which one is asked to construct a square with the same area as a given circle or vice versa. 

Let us just say President Mnangagwa and his Minister of Finance have set themselves a visceral challenge of paying the civil servants; especially the teachers and health workers who are already on starvation wages of US$50 p.m. vs a PDL of US$ 650 p.m.; without fuelling inflation, which is already 848% p.a.! It should be noted here that the two have maintained that Zimbabwe is on course to become an upper middle income nation by 2030, the so called vision 2030. 

Both President Mnangagwa and his minister have said achieving vision 2030 will require great sacrifices. This is a visceral challenge, to these two reason and logic count for nothing; but still, surely the teachers and the health workers are not to be sacrificial lambs of vision 2030! 

“Government must mellow down to a more constructive approach permeable to reason and facts rather than believing a casus belli (an excuse) proffered by Apex Council in which they see opposition politics in genuine labour issues,” complained Takavafira Zhou, president of Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ).

“Positive criticism nourishes leadership while self-pollination stifles debate, is parochial and weakens the ultimate output. Lies have short legs and capital and labour are strange bed fellows.

“The moment labour leaders whip members to accept hogwash and starvation salaries, such leaders would have stopped to represent workers and must be jettisoned from leadership.”

Mr Zhou was talking of jettisoning Apex Council leaders but, if truth should be said, it is the Zanu PF government leaders whom the nation should have jettisoned decades ago for stifled debate and democratic competition.

Zanu PF fostered the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre on the nation which only ended with the signing of the Unity Accord with PF Zapu and imposition of the de facto one-party dictatorship. The Accord, Mugabe maintained, would bring national unity and economic development. 

Zimbabwe’s economy has been in decline for the last 40 years precisely because the nation was stuck for all these years with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical dictatorship that rigged elections to stay in power. 

National unity was but an excuse for stifling debate and democratic competition. Unity morphed into to conformity, into uniformity and, spuriously, ending up with brainwashed and braindead electorate incapable of even one coherent thought much less hold the regime to democratic account on anything.

It is little wonder the country’s opposition political leaders have turned out to be corrupt and incompetent, a braindead electorate cannot be expected to come up with a quality opposition.

With no quality electorate and/or opposition to hold Zanu PF leaders to democratic account and competition, it is no wonder Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF thugs have too become braindead, with minds impermeable to reason and facts. 

The solution to the geometry brain teaser: 

w (width of square) = Square root (22/7) X r (radius of circle).

One does not need even basic economic, just common sense, to know:

• Cannot pay civil servants a living wage without first reviving the comatose economy, the economic meltdown is getting worse

• Cannot pay civil servants a wage increase (never mind a living wage) with first reviving the economic meltdown and not fuel inflation, inflation is already 848% p.a. and rising

• Cannot revive the economy as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, a dictatorship, ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs who have proven beyond all doubt that they are braindead.

• Decades of poor funding have left schools and health care services poorly resourced these services have all but completely collapse. Reviving the comatose economy is tough but it is even tougher with a whole generation of ill-educated and sickly citizens. As for vision 2030, that is just a midnight mirage for the naive and gullible!

After 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, rank lawlessness, over 30 000 murdered for selfish political gain and the country in total economic ruins and despair - proof we have a braindead Zanu PF regime. It is shocking that there are still people hankering for the braindead regime to mellow down and pay them a living wage!!!! 

“Government must mellow down to a more constructive approach permeable to reason and facts!” Insane!

In the long run, nations get the government they deserve; we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this braindead Zanu PF dictatorship. 

When the penny finally drops and we finally wakeup to the reality that one does not get blood from a stone; we will demand the implementation of democratic reforms and finally end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Until then Comrade Zhou and his fellow civil servant can continue with the demands for living wages from this Zanu PF regime; another visceral challenge!

"Zanu PF will win 2023 because opposition lack unity" - nonsense, unity can never supplant competence P Guramatunhu

 “Opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume sees a bleak future for opposition politics in Zimbabwe, and has resigned to the fact that the ruling Zanu-PF will win again in the 2023 elections,” reported Zimbabwe Voice.

"I think more disappointing than fighting Zanu-PF is the lack of unity amongst the opposition," Ngarivhume wrote on social media, adding that now was the time to act and to "tell it like it is".

Poor Ngarivhume, even now with the benefit of hindsight, he still does not get it! MDC A lacked leaders with the intellectual prowess and vision to implement the reforms and thus stop Zanu PF rigging elections. Zanu PF will win the 2023 elections as long as the party retains its carte blanche powers to rig the elections, even if all the 130, not just the six as in 2018, opposition political parties were united. 

It is not the lack of a united opposition that has kept Zanu PF in power, but rather lack of a competent and quality opposition. 

You cannot make a silk purse out of sower’s ear! 

The 2008 elections were a watershed in Zimbabwe’s history, Zanu PF’s cheating and use of wanton violence was so blatant that not even SADC and AU leaders, known for turning a blind-eye to dodgy Zimbabwean elections, were forced to condemn the elections. SADC leaders forced Mugabe and Zanu PF to agree to the implementation of the democratic reforms designed to stop the party rigging elections. 

During the 2008 to 2013 GNU, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms. They failed to implement even one token reform in five years - proof they are breathtakingly incompetent and corrupt.

It did not make any sense for any one in the opposition camp to contest the 2013, especially the MDC-T given its popularity, elections knowing fully well without reforms Zanu PF would rig the elections. And yet MDC-T participated in the flawed and illegal elections, turning victory into defeat; Zanu PF was never going to lose an election in which the party has carte blanche powers to rig. 

David Coltart, one of the MDC ministers in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, argued the opposition would have boycotted the 2013 elections in they were united; same argument Jacob Ngarivhume is making now. 

“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,” wrote Coltart in his book.

“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.”

Just before the 2018 elections, the opposition did unite. Transform Zimbabwe led by Ngarivhume, MDC-N of which Coltart was a senior member and MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai plus three other parties formed a coalition, MDC Alliance (MDC A). 

Judging from the size of the crowds attending MDC A rallies, the party commanded a very significant popular support. The party participated in the 2018 elections; there was never any talk of boycotting the elections although it was clear, with no reforms in place, Zanu PF would rig the elections. 

MDC-T turned certain electoral victory into landslide defeat in 2013 by participating in flawed and illegal elections for the same reason MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the GNU - they are breathtakingly incompetent. As we saw, uniting the opposition to form the MDC A made no difference as the coalition too participated in the flawed and illegal 2018 elections. 

United or not the MDC A and the rest of Zimbabwe’s opposition will participate in the 2023 elections, with not even one reform in place. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are counting on the opposition to participate and hence the reason the regime has ignored all calls to implement reforms. 

Zimbabwe’s opposition leaders are so breathtakingly incompetent they are failing to see the importance of implementing the reforms, of free and fair elections, verified voters' roll, etc.; even after these have been explained to them thousands of times. These simpletons have not only failed to comprehend the reality one cannot make a silk purse out of sow's ear but are stuck with foolish notion that unity can and must supplant quality!

It is 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule that has dragged the nation into the economic and political mess Zimbabwe finds itself in today. However, the reason we are stuck in this mess these last decade is because MDC leaders are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. It is not so much a united opposition the nation is dying for but a competent one.

WALPE launch 2023 election campaign - sweet music in vote rigging beach masters' ears N Garikai

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime for the last 40 years and counting. Whilst the people have long discovered that Mnangagwa and before him Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs were dragging the nation into economic poverty, they have not been able to do anything about it because the party rigged the elections. 

It is generally agreed that the nation came to a consensus on the need to democratic changes to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections and extending its stay in power in the late 1990s. In 1999, Morgan Tsvangirai and his friends launched their political party and called it a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC); riding on the popular demand for democratic change. 

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into positions of power and authority on the understanding that once in power the party will deliver the all democratic changes and restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote. 

Sadly, MDC has failed to implement even one democratic reforms in 20 years, including 5 years in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Not even one reform!

Zanu PF still enjoys the carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections and extend its corrupt and tyrannical rule and thus drag the nation deeper and deeper into the economic and political mess. 

The one clear message that has emerge from participating in the 2013 and 2018 elections is not just the futility of participating in rigged elections, Zanu PF always emerged as the victor guaranteed. Elections should give the voters real choices including the ultimate choice to remove the seating government. But most significantly, Zanu PF has been very careful to make sure the opposition participated in numbers and in doing so giving the flawed election process credibility and the result legitimacy. 

It will be insane to once again participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place! 

“On the 11th of December 2020, Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) launched a campaign dubbed 2.2 Million Votes for Women from Women. The campaign aims to engage and mobilise 2.2 million women across the country to vote for women candidates in the 2023 elections,” reported New Zimbabwe.

“The campaign comes under a backdrop of perpetual dwindling of the number of women elected and appointed into leadership and decision making positions such as councillors, Members of Parliament (MPs), cabinet ministers or other high level government positions,” reads the WALPE statement.

“Currently, women are severely underrepresented in all leadership positions as evidenced by the fact that they occupy only an estimated 15 percent of leadership positions nationwide which is far below the requirements of sections 17, 56, and 80 of the Zimbabwean Constitution that mandate gender equality in all branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary). 

This is all sweet, sweet music in Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies’ ears. They have no intention of implementing even one token democratic reform before the 2023 elections and, of course, all news of people participating in the elections without calling for reforms only serve to reassure the party they will once again get away with yet another rigged elections. 

Mnangagwa pointed to the 23 candidates contesting the presidential race in the July 2018 elections and the 130 political parties and thousands independent candidates contesting for the 210 parliamentary seats as proof Zimbabwean elections were free, fair and credible. 

Of course, Mnangagwa had a point particularly when the opposition candidate participated knowing fully well that ZEC had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement! 

One of the WALPE’s campaign objective is “to increase the number of women who register and vote in the 2023 elections.”

In the July 2018 elections Zanu PF denied the 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora an opportunity to register. Whilst in America for the annual September UN GA meeting, just two months after the elections, Mnangagwa said Zimbabweans in the diaspora will vote next time - proof they were denied the vote because the party lacked the political will. 

It is now two and half years since Mnangagwa promised the diaspora vote and yet the regime has not even started the discussion as to how this will be done. This is just one more promise, like the promise to hold free, fair and credible elections, he made to silence his critics but with no intention of keeping it. 

How will WALPE ensure women in the diaspora register and vote in the 2023 elections?

It is no secrete that Zanu PF have made it very difficult for Zimbabweans in the country to register and then to vote. It is near impossible to trace and verify who voted well there is no verified voters’ roll. 

How will WALPE force ZEC to produce a verified voters’ roll? 

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Mission final report.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

We know why Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A and the rest of the opposition candidates have been participating in the elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that doing so gave the process credibility - greed. Zanu PF has been offering the participating opposition a few gravy train seats; an offer they simple could not resist. 

Without even one democratic reform in place, Zanu PF will blatantly rig the 2023 elections and all the opposition will do is give the regime legitimacy.  

A 2019 WB report said 34% of Zimbabweans were living in extreme poverty, i.e. they could not afford one decent meal a day much less other basic necessities such as education for the children and health care. The corona virus pandemic has pushed the number living in extreme poverty to way above 50%! 

The need for the country to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance is more urgent now than it was in the 1990s! 

If no reforms are implemented before the 2023 elections, then the elections must be declared null and void. Period! It is totally unacceptable that Zanu PF should be given a chance to once again claim legitimacy by pointing to the number of opposition candidates who participated in the flawed elections. 

We must make sure all opposition candidates who participate in the 2023 elections knowing millions of Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied a vote, there is no verified voters’ roll, etc. have no political credibility. We must not allow WALPE, MDC and the rest of the brain-dead walruses in the opposition camp make monkeys out of us ever again!