Zimbabwe needs "young and vibrant leaders" - great minds discuss ideas and idiots have a fixation with age P Guramatunhu

 There are many, many reasons one can give why Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt and tyrannical thugs and in a serious economic mess. And, most despairing of all, at complete loss why the country is in such a mess much less how to climb out of the economic and political hell-on-earth the nation finds itself stuck in.

Number one on the list of reason why Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic and stuck there is the nation’s shocking inability to grasp detail. There is a mountain of evidence from which one can easily identify why the country is in this political and economic mess but when one’s reading and grasp of the evidence is so shockingly shallow, almost childish, it is no surprise that the nation again and again gone off at a tangent.

“After almost two decades of a de facto one-party State in Zimbabwe's post-colony, the new millennium's arrival of the MDC coincided with citizens' desperation for a new generation of leadership that is young and vibrant, which could meet their needs of a thriving economy,” argued Mawunganidze and Rinemhota, International Relations students at Africa University.

“Opposition parties give alternative policies that aggregate and respect minority interest; they are part and parcel of the nation-building exercise.

“Despite a challenging political environment in Africa, in general, and Zimbabwe in particular, the opposition parties' critical role cannot be undermined.”

It is obvious that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were themselves “young and vibrant” when they took over from the whites in 1980. Emmerson Mnangagwa and many of the Zanu PF leaders were in their 30s and 40s in 1980, the same age as their MDC challengers.

And yet the reason why the nation was so desperate to see the back of Zanu PF is because the country’s economic and political decline was already self-evident regardless of the party having “young and vibrant” leaders. Of course, having young and vibrant leaders is no panacea of political success and it is foolish to suggest so.

Indeed, there is a mountain of evidence proving that MDC “young and vibrant” leaders were completely outwitted by Zanu PF’s old geezers. It was Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were given the task of implementing the democratic reforms and thus dismantle the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship. The had the golden opportunity to do this during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and yet failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and the rest is history!

Our scholars, Mawunganidze and Rinemhota, and many others out there of the same persuasion, are ignoring the historic fact that MDC leaders have already proven beyond doubt that they are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs. All these serious faults are trumped by the MDC leaders’ supreme virtue, “young and vibrant” the virtue of all virtues.

Of course, we are just arguing in circles since the MDC leaders had the virtue of virtue, youth and vigour during the GNU but it failed to stop them being outwitted. In other words our intellectuals are so shallow, thick and slow they are failing to see they are arguing in circles a fallacious argument.

By the same token Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF old geezers have failed to revive the country’s comatose economy. He cocksure his “Zimbabwe is open for business”! clarion call would open the flood gate of investors and kick start the comatose economy. The 41 years has seen the Zanu PF leaders move from young and vibrant to the old geezers and the country’s economic trajectory has a steady decline throughout – proof age Zanu PF leaders were corrupt and incompetent in their youth and have so remained to old age!

If someone can be corrupt and incompetent in their youth, middle age and old age just as others can be competent and visionary in the youth, middle age and old age; it is self-evident age has nothing to do one’s competence or otherwise. Why something that has become self-evident since the dawn of human civilisation, notably with the Greeks 2 500 years ago, is still an unfathomable mystery to Zimbabwean scholars like Mawunganidze and Rinemhota and a measure of just how shallow, thick and slow they are.

I must say Zimbabwe’s institutions of higher learning are notorious for chaining out Degree and PhD graduates and Professors who are very shallow, thick and slow. A consequence of Zanu PF’s obsession with quantity and disdain for quality.      

“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” Said the Greek Philosopher Socrates, 2 500 years ago.

2 500 years latter, we in Zimbabwe have not even reached the level of “weak minds” discussing people. We have a fixation with age; “young and vibrant” is a virtue to be valued above people, events and ideas! It is no wonder we are not only in a political and economic mess but are stuck.

As long as we have an electorate that lacks the common sense to see being young and vibrant is not a virtue and guarantee for competent and quality leaders; there is no hope of Zimbabwe getting out of the mess we are in. None!

If great minds discuss ideas and weak minds discuss people then one has to say idiots discuss something as irrelevant as age, gender, tribe, race, etc. Something some people have failed to raise above even with the benefit of thousands of years of human civilization. 

"Willowgate" Shava refused to work until paid US$ 100k arrears yet no qualms enforcing "no work no pay" over slave wages P Guramatunhu

 The 1980s Willowvale Motor Industries scandal in which the Zanu PF ruling elite used or rather abused their positions of power and authority to buy new vehicles at the low controlled prices, ostensibly for official business, only to resell them on the black market making huge profits. The scandal was dubbed Willowgate after the infamous 1970s USA President Richard Milhouse Nixon Watergate scandal.

Talk of the Willowgate scandal and the tale is not done without mentioning Dr Fredrick Shama, he was one of the cabinet ministers bought and sold many cars only to lie about it under oath. Well Dr Shava is back in Zimbabwe and already he is embroiled in a new scandal.

"He (Shava) said he would not assume work at the ministry unless his salary arrears were cleared. He was owed about US$100 000. He, like other ambassadors across the world, had not received his salary and benefits for over a year," an official source told The Independent.

"The money has since been paid in full and this is why he assumed work on Tuesday last week."

Dr Shava has Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the UN since 2016 until his recent recalled to take up the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As UN Ambassador, Dr Shava must have visited Washington DC and a tour guide must have pointed out some of the buildings involved in the infamous Watergate Scandal. Reminding him of Zimbabwe’s own Willowgate scandal in which he, Dr Fredrick Shava, was the star thieving scandal!

Only in a Banana Republic like Zimbabwe can a convicted thieving scandal go on to be the Republic’s UN ambassador and now Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is interesting to note that Dr Shava has not lost his wheel-dealing skills.

There is no doubt the issue of outstanding salary was never raised until his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs was publicly announced. When he cocksure it was unthinkable, even for the President of a Banana Republic to withdraw the appointment, Shava not only brought up the issue of outstanding salary but refused to take up his new job until the bill was paid in full.

“Matsotsi haagerani!” (Thieves do not trust each other and therefore are forever locked in a game of brinkmanship!) as one would say in Shona.

And, guess what, this time it was the President of the Banana Republic who blinked first! He is not one to readily forget or forgive the humiliation of this scandal.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Shava is now the boss of nation’s ambassadors and embassy staff whose salaries and allowance have not been paid for years, in many cases. However, if any of them should copy Dr Shava’s arm-twisting tactics; he will accuse them of being unpatriotic and ungrateful. He will descend on them like a tonne of bricks. And the President and the regime would expect him to do nothing less!

After all the regime has just instituted a “no work no pay” cabinet decision to punish the teachers and nurses who are withdrawing their labour to push their demands for better pay and working conditions. The plight of the embassy staff is nothing compared to that of the teachers and nurses; the latter’s slave wages cannot cover their most basic needs of food, shelter and transport and still the regime insist they must carry out their duties without failure!

So, Dr Shava has no qualms taking his cabinet seat to enforce “no work no pay” policy to force teachers and nurse to accept their slave wage of US$ 100 pm. He refused to work to demand his “US$ 100 000 one-year salary arrears”, he was probably paid as much pm in salary and allowances. He was not punished but has since been paid in fully!

Yeah up! My fellow Zimbabweans; ambassador and Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Fredrick Shava, the star scandal in the Willowgate scandal is back in the Banana Republic. And to mark his return, he has a new, fresh or be it very familiar scandal of one rule for the povo and another for the filthy rich ruling elite. Dr Fredrick Shava the star scandal of Willowgate is back with a bang!

$2m donation refurb rot at Sally Mugabe Maternity - a referral, shudder at rot in rural hospitals N Garikai

 Stanbic Bank has donated equipment worth US$37 000 to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital's maternity wing and will be spending $2 million refurbishments. The list of equipment and the refitting was impressive.

The equipment includes an anesthesia machine, suction pumps, conventional laryngoscope set, infant weighing scale, fluid warmer, IV pole, a surgical table, electro surgical unit, an infant warmer, defibrillator, eco-patient monitors, infusion pump and a patient monitor rolling stand.

The refurbishment  included fitting of two sets of double action doors, painting of walls, replacing formica tops to wall edge protection, supplying and fitting cupboards and shelves.

"Stanbic Bank purchased the theatre equipment, refurbished the entrance hall; internal passage; boots room, sluce room; maternity theatre, scrub room, sister-in-charge's office and outside passage," Stanbic Bank chief executive Solomon Nyanhongo explained.

One can only imagine the sorry state of the Hospital wing before this generous donation!

This is a complete re-equip and overhaul as a result of decades of neglect and being starved of funds. Money that should have been spent on the upkeep of the hospital was siphoned off and spent on such luxuries as Mugabe’s four storey US$ 2 billion Blue Roof palatial mansion. 

Mugabe and the ruling elite could afford to neglect local hospitals, they started using overseas hospitals for all their health care needs soon after independence. It costed the nation a pretty penny.

In 2012 Mugabe made no fewer than 8 health care trips to the Far East each trip costing US$ 3 million. When his daughter, Bona, had her baby she too went to the Far East. She and her husband and their entourage went three weeks before the birth. Grace Mugabe and her entourage followed a week or so latter. Mugabe then commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane to go and see his grandson collect the family. The total bill for this one junket was US$ 15 million, at least.

If the Sally Mugabe Central Hospital's maternity wing, one of the country’s referral hospitals, was allowed to fall into this sorry state of rot and decay; one can only imagine the rot and decay in the provincial hospitals, even worse state for the hospitals in rural backwater!

The truth is Zimbabwe’s public health care service, like education and other basic services, collapsed a long time ago. No doubt Sally Mugabe maternity wing has continued to admit patients all along and the poorly paid skeleton staff have done the best they could with the ramshackle equip and facilities they had.

Of course, many mothers and babies have lost their lives unnecessarily because the appalling poor quality of the health care provided.

Whatever health care improvements the generous Stanbic Bank has brought to Sally Mugabe maternity wing, they will not last long. The hospital is so starved of funding the very expensive equipment will laying idle for lack of proper service or US$ 10 spare part. As long as nothing is done to end the rampant corruption and gross mismanagement, the root causes of the country’s economic meltdown; there will be no money to fund even basic services like health care and education.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. As soon as the last dollar of the Stanbic Bank donation is spent, Sally Mugabe Maternity Hospital will start drifting back to its sorry state of rot and decay, the same state of the rest of the other wings at Central Hospital are in!

A country without something as basic as education and health care services is doomed.  

"Vote overwhelmingly and counter (Zanu PF) rigging" - regurgitated nonsense, didn't work before and will not now N Garikai

 

The 2023 elections are nigh upon us and already the volume of material offering fool proof strategies on how the opposition can win the rigged elections in growing.

 

“The only option left for the opposition is to put lock nuts and tighten screws on any rigging machinations through deployment of polling agents at every polling station and mobilisation of their voters to vote overwhelmingly and counter rigging,” proposed Leonard Koni in Bulawayo 24.

 

“Opposition leader of MDC-Alliance Nelson Chamisa still have a chance and the edge to finish off Mnangagwa as he is getting more support especially from the young people and virgin voters who are resonating well with the people's Community for Convergence Change.”

 

Deploy polling agents, mobilise voter registration, etc.; these are the same strategies proffer with the same zeal and guaranteed success last time. The strategies did not work back then and will not work now for the same reason – they are foolish.

 

The 2008 elections were a watershed election in that they showed there is literally no limit to what Zanu PF will do to blatantly cheat and use wanton violence to secure electoral victory. And so, it foolish to ever think there is anything the opposition can do to “overwhelm” the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut. Whatever the opposition has come up with, Zanu PF has had a thousand and one ways to counter it!

 

It is no secret that most people in the diaspora will vote for the opposition, for example. Zanu PF has denied the 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote.

 

Koni talks of mobilising “virgin voters”. How many of them have even one utility bill in their name? By demanding a utility bill in one’s name as one condition for voter registration, Zanu PF has denied hundreds of thousands of potential voters the vote. Many of those who did manage to register still failed to vote because their name was posted in a wrong constituency, misspelt or something.

 

If the opposition cleared all the huddles Zanu PF had set; the regime responded by raising the bar higher and higher. There is no limit to how high Zanu PF can raise the bar, can rig the elections, but there is human limit to how high the opposition can jump.

 

It is interesting to note that people like Leonard Koni have never ever demanding that Zanu PF must hold free, fair and credible elections. To them, Zanu PF has the right to rig elections, a divine right which no mere mortal should ever question. As mortals our challenge is to devise strategies to win rigged elections.

 

Of course, this is idiotic nonsense. The people of Zimbabwe have a right to meaningful say in the governance of the country; a right to free, fair and credible elections. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have usurped the people’s power and denied them their freedoms and rights.

 

What some people often forget is that by participating in these flawed and illegal elections people are, like it or not, giving credibility and legitimacy to every segment of whole sodded affair. From the foolish assumptions that Zanu PF has the right to rig elections, the flawed elections themselves to the illegitimate government born out of the rigged elections.

 

MDC leaders have known all along that as long as Zanu PF enjoyed the dictatorial powers to rig elections, the party will win the presidency and majority in parliament and senate. They have also known that by participating they were giving Zanu PF legitimacy. They have done all these things regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. Chamisa et al have found the gravy train bait irresistible.  

 

The ordinary Zimbabweans have played their part and participated in these flawed and illegal elections because their believed the lies of strategies to win rigged elections. As the country sunk deeper and deeper into the economic chaos and political paralysis the people became more and more desperate for change. Desperate people do indeed do desperate things, in this case believe the nonsense strategies to win rigged election.

 

But after 41 years and counting of Zanu PF rigging elections and dragging the nation deeper and deeper into the abyss many Zimbabweans are finally realising the sheer stupidity of believe Zanu PF could ever lose an election given the party’s limitless power to rig the election.

 

The solution to ending Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance it is not to mobilise the people “to vote overwhelmingly and counter rigging”. The clarion call should be to mobilise the people to demand free, fair and credible elections; as a God given right and the solid rock foundation on which to build a good and democratic government.  

 

After 41 years of mobilising to “counter vote rigging” without success only the insane want to travel down the same path!

"You (VP) work at the mercy of the President" MDC reminded Mnangagwa - that's hen shtick to the eagle P Guramatunhu

 MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs and, like all cowards, they love being portrayed as courageous fighters. They loved the News Day headline “Mwonzora's senators reject Mnangagwa Bill”.

“Harare Metropolitan senator Elias Mudzuri warned other senators against betraying the will of the electorate by passing a defective constitutional amendment,” reported News Day.

Masvingo senator Tichinani Mavetera (MDC-T) said: "I do not want to be reminded of the most embarrassing situation in the previous dispensation where we had a Vice-President being embarrassed in public and being told by the First Lady: ‘you work at the mercy of the President’.”

The MDC leaders know Zanu PF has the constitutional power, 2/3 majority, to pass any amendments. They know their fight to stop the Bill is futile, they are just putting on a show to impress their naive and gullible supporters.

If MDC leaders were not so corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent then they should have implemented the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. They had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and they wasted it. 

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the reforms. 

Ever since GNU debacle, MDC leaders have completely given up on implementing reforms and have been participating in flawed and illegal elections giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Just to make sure the opposition participated, Zanu PF has dangled a few gravy train seats to entice them. As we can see, it has worked. 

Senator Mudzuri and his fellow MDC leaders, be they from the Chamisa or Mwonzora led faction, are all gearing to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place. As before, Zanu PF will rigged the elections and, as before, MDC participation will give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. And so Zanu PF will remain in power, the MDC leaders will stage more futile shows of defiance and meanwhile the country will continue to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss.

41 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has destroyed the country’s once promising economy, even basic services such as education and health care have collapsed and 49% of our people are living in abject poverty. The prospect of extending Zanu PF ’s corrupt and tyrannical rule in 2023 is unthinkable. 

The challenge before us is make sure the reforms are implemented and the next elections are free, fair and credible. After 41 years of bad governance and the country in total economic meltdown, God knows we need the antidote, good governance. 

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have a vice-grip on the reins of power, thanks to the treasonous betrayal of the MDC leaders who failed to implement the reforms. They are not going to implement any reforms and will resist demands to do so, and for good reason. They know Zanu PF will never win a free, fair and credible elections, not with the party’s record of corruption, incompetence and tyrannical oppression.

Zanu PF will never ever reform itself out of office. 

The 2008 to 2013 GNU was special in that SADC leaders had managed to force Zanu PF to agree to implementation of democratic reforms. The task of implementing the reforms were given to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. But, as state above, MDC leaders sold out! 

We are where we are; we can we do to end this circus of rigged elections and bad governance? 

Zanu PF will hold the 2023 elections with not even a token reform in place and determined to blatantly rig the election. The party will be banking on the MDC leaders and the usual suspects to participate in the flawed elections in droves and thus give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. 

Both Zanu PF and MDC are banking on ordinary Zimbabweans participating in the flawed elections to give the process credibility and the results legitimacy. Zanu PF will be counting on the party’s coercive powers to force Zimbabweans to register as voters, to attend rallies and even frog-match them to the polling station, especially those in the rural areas. 

MDC will claim to have Win In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies. All nonsense, of course. They always complain of Zanu PF “stealing the elections”, the very thing their strategies were supposed to stop. 

Wining rigged elections is an MDC oxymoron. Why would one continue to take such a foolish and unnecessary gabble particularly given what is at stake here - the chance to end the curse of bad governance and return to peace, freedom and chance for the nation to live. 

It is time for every thinking Zimbabwean out there to refuse to participate in these flawed and illegal elections and to demand the country implement the reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections.

Here are some of the reforms that must be implemented before the next elections:

3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora must be allowed to vote. 

ZEC must produce a verified voters’ roll, it is an outrage that Zimbabwe has never ever produced a verified voters’ roll in 41 years of the country’s independence. 

Public bodies like ZEC, Police, Army, Judiciary, etc. must be reformed to guarantee their independence and impartiality in carrying out their constitutional duties. 

State assistance must not be politicised and the practise of turning traditional leaders into political party commissars must seize.

The wholesale looting of the nation’s resources such as diamonds and gold must be stamped out. The ill-got loot has been used to bankroll the vote rigging activities making it impossible to have free and fair election.   

Just because both Zanu PF will never implement the reform and MDC failed to implement even when they had the golden opportunity to do so; does not mean the reforms are no longer required. The reforms are the key to ending Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders are not up to the task and so we must find others who will implement the reforms.

Mudzuri et al damning criticism of Mnangagwa’s dictatorial tendencies are nothing more than quarrelsome hen’s shtick, cursing and swearing at the chick-snatching eagle. MDC belated criticism will not stop Mnangagwa enjoy   the dictatorial powers accrued from Amendment Bill No 2 no more than the hen’s shtick stop the eagle enjoy its chicken meal!  

"What good is strong party in fraying economy" - for once, Heads, povo win and Tail Zanu PF lose N Garikai

 Much has been said about the endless factional wars in the country’s main opposition MDC ever since the party’s launch in 1999. Zanu PF has suffered similar factional war with the booting out of the VP Joice Mujuru and her Gatamox faction in 2014. This was followed by the November 2017 military coup that forced Robert Mugabe to step down and many of the G40 leaders were lucky to get away with their lives. 

Now there is talk of President Mnangagwa inviting both Gamatox and G40 members to rejoin Zanu PF. Why?

"The ruling party now feels it is in a strong position having essentially marginalised the opposition as a unified force, and hence it wishes to consolidate its position as the dominant political force in the country,” answered University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, Professor Stephen Chan.

"Reaching out to the G40 must not be misconstrued as an act of desperation, but one of confidence.

"What we see emerging is not just a dominant party state, but a hegemonic party state.

"The question is, however, for what does this hegemonic party stand? It seems sometimes like a gigantic patronage and enrichment network.

"However, this can still work if the oligarchic elite can ensure that economic benefits trickle down to those who are poor. A politically strong party in a fraying economy is in a difficult position.”

For once, Professor Chan is right, what good will come from having a strong party when the economy is in free fall! Mnangagwa has failed to revive the Zimbabwe economy and as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. The corona virus pandemic is set to drag the economy into even greater depths of poverty and despair.  

Come 2023 elections, the voters will be concerned about their economic situation and will not care that Mnangagwa and his former G40 and Gamatox Zanu PF colleagues have kissed and made-up.

Many of the G40 and Gamatox members are as keen as mustard to rejoin Zanu PF to escape the economic hardships brought on by the economic meltdown. They will soon discover that Mnangagwa wanted their vote but has no jobs and/or looted wealth to give them. Nothing!

There is no denying there is total chaos and confusion in the MDC camp, the recalls of elected MDC A officials in the last year have left many members divided and bitter. MDC has imploded. 

Still, if there were free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe; the people would rather vote for divided and confused opposition if only to be rid of the corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF. Mnangagwa knows that and hence the reason he will never ever implement the democratic reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections. 

The dog-eat-dog fighting in the MDC has worked to Mnangagwa’s advantage in making the MDC weak to exploit Zanu PF’s weaknesses but the pendulum has swung too far; a weak MDC has lost political credibility.

In 2013 SADC leaders advised Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to participate in the elections until reforms were implemented.  “If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” SADC leaders warned.

MDC leaders did not heed the warning. Zanu PF won the elections with a landslide. SADC leaders’ warning was equally valid in 2018, but again MDC leaders paid no heed and Zanu PF blatantly rigged the election again. 

MDC leaders ignored the SADC leaders’ warnings because they were content with the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gave away as bait, they did not care that the elections were flawed and illegal. Zanu PF enticed MDC leaders to participate so the flawed process would have some credibility and the result have legitimacy for that Zanu PF did not mind sharing of the spoils of power with MDC leaders. A cosy win, win arrangement for both Zanu PF and MDC but one that has left people questioning the political credibility of MDC as the opposition.   

A credible opposition parties should aim to win power, especially free and fair elections in 2023 are guaranteed to deliver and opposition landslide victory. MDC leaders are once again gearing to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms. They are, once again, content to win the few gravy train seats.

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are used to having their cake and eat it too; they rigged the elections and bribed the MDC to participate to guarantee legitimacy. 2023 elections are set to be Zanu PF’s worst nightmare. If Zanu PF dares to implement the reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections; the party is certain to lose. The economy is in a real mess and the electorate will jump at the chance to finally get rid of the corrupt and tyrannical regime. 

If Zanu PF does not implement any reforms and blatantly rig the elections only the opposition parties with no political credibility would participate in flawed elections for the now obvious reason of greed. Like it or not a now totally discredited opposition will never give the vote rigging Zanu PF any legitimacy. 

For the first time in since independence; HEADS Zanu PF lose and TAIL the povo win! 

Recalled MDC A MP help with harvest - lest forget, after 21 years MDC yet to implement one reform P Guramatunhu

 There is no limit to the antics Zimbabwe’s fallen corrupt and incompetent leaders will go to impress in a vain hope to be re-elected and secure the converted gravy train seat. They conveniently overlook that all the time they were in power, they accomplished nothing of note!

“Recalled MDC Alliance Chikanga Dangamvura Member of Parliament Prosper Mutseyami, Ward 17 Councillor John Nyamhoka and other party members harvest Beauty Chinobeta's field who is not feeling well yesterday,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Beauty is an MDC Alliance Chairperson of a branch in Hobhouse 2 which is in ward 17 where Nyamhoka was a Councillor.”

MDC leaders are becoming more and more like Zanu PF thugs - adapt at doing for the people what the people can do for themselves, just to draw attention away from their repeated failures and betrayal of the people to restore their freedoms and rights and to economic empowerment. 

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will bring about the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the end the nation has been dying. After 21 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders have failed to bring about even one change! Not one!

MDC leaders have instead been doing all manner of things, condemning Zanu PF corruption, reminding the people how miserable they are, launching scholarship for poor students (a token number) and now helping with the harvest. Anything to steal some limelight and keep their name in the public eye in preparation for the next elections. 

"I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude of appreciation to the team from ward 17 who spared all their personal responsibilities to come and help our branch chairperson Mai Sai to harvest her field,” said Mutseyami. 

"This was heart warming extension of solidarity. I wish you grace of the Living Lord . May our Chairperson heal in the name of the lord. She is not well. I wish good in all the medical attention being rendered to her.”

No doubt, he was very pleased to help and thrilled to bits of the publicity he has received. 

MDC leaders betrayed the nation by failing to implement the democratic reforms even when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU. Worse still, they are the ones giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF by participating in flawed and illegal elections. 

MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and hypocrites preying on the ordinary people’s suffering and naivety just as the Zanu PF thugs are doing! The sooner the people of Zimbabwe wake-up to the duplicity of MDC leaders the sooner this nation can start the important task of looking for quality leaders and a way out of this hell-hole we find ourselves in. 

One is reminded of Joice Mujuru, Simba Makoni, Professor Jonathan Moyo, Savour Kasukuwere and many, many other Zanu PF leaders’ scathing criticism of Zanu PF corruption and tyrannical rule. The scathing attacks were all made after the individual was booted out of the party and was desperate to relaunch their floundering political career. 

“A pup does not open its eyes the day it is born!” was Joice Mujuru’s answer when asked why she had never criticised Zanu PF all the years she was in Cabinet and thus had the power and authority to make a difference. 

It was all nonsense of course; how has ever heard of a pup that too 34 years to open its eye! If the pup does not open its eyes in 7 days or so, it is blind. Period!

It is intolerable that the only time Zanu PF and MDC leaders have said or done anything remotely useful or relevant is when they vying for public office but once elected they have pursued their own selfish interests at odds with those of the people had risked life and limb elect them! 

It is high time the Zimbabwean people themselves opened their eyes and saw the country politicians on both side of the political divide for what they really are - corrupt, incompetent and, in the case of Zanu PF, vote rigging and murderous thugs (MDC leaders have the potential and have lacked the opportunity, so far). 

"Zanu PF tricked MDC on running mate" - worst of all, tricked on 2013 Constitution and rigged elections N Garikai

 

“Zanu-PF tricked MDCs on running mates, says Charamba” screamed the Bulawayo24 headlines, accompanied by a photograph of the president’s spokesperson smiling from ear to ear.

 

"In a master stroke, Zanu-PF agreed to this contentious clause on proviso that it would be held in abeyance for 10 years. It now appears the opposition, clearly out of depth as always, thought Zanu-PF had given in to their law-making whim," boasted George Charamba

 

"It never occurred to them Zanu-PF merely conceded without ceding an inch of strategic ground. The running mate clause was unacceptable to Zanu-PF both on grounds of principle and because of unsavoury experiences of the same."

 

He was commenting of the Constitutional Amendment Bill No 2, recently passed by parliament, which has effectively amended 27 different sections of the 2013 Zimbabwe Constitutions. One of the amendments scraps the need for presidential candidates to have running mates. An elected VP will have the electoral mandate and confidence to assert his/her independence; as contrast to one appointed by the President and whose tenure can be terminated at the drop of a hat.

 

"I point this out to expose the fallacy which is being touted by easy journalists and commentators that the current President is responsible for scrapping of the running mate in order to consolidate his hold on power and to block Vice-President Chiwenga in Zanu-PF succession matrix,” explained Charamba.

 

"Of course, I am charmed to note that these commentators in that false reasoning admit that the future belongs to Zanu-PF. On that aspect alone, they are very right!

 

"What the current President is doing is merely accomplishing Zanu-PF's will which was agreed on, under the then late President Robert Mugabe's leadership."

 

In other words, Zanu PF outwitted MDC to have a clause suspending the running mate clause for ten years 2013 to 2023 and now, before the suspension period was over, passed an amendment scrapping the clause altogether. Job done!

 

"Amendment Bill Number 2 is the single deadliest blow to our constitutionalism so far," charged Dzikamai Bere, ZimRights National Director.

 

"It is a tragedy that the people who claim to represent the people of Zimbabwe are acting with impunity against the very people they purport to represent. I hope the people will punish them for this treasonous act."

 

Treasonous act! This is just stupidity personified!

 

Right or wrong, the MPs have the constitutional power and authority to amend the country’s constitution. How can they be guilty of treason for exercising their constitutional power?

 

However it would be a different matter if Bere said the MPs are committing high treason because they are usurpers; they do not have the people’s democratic mandate to govern the country because the July 2018 elections were not free, fair and credible. There is no denying Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections.

 

“The (Zimbabwe) electoral commission (ZEC) 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. 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 Observer Mission final report.

 

3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote and ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake!

 

George Charamba is not the first Zanu PF official to boast of outwitting the MDC opposition with disastrous consequences to the nation. As soon as it was clear the nation had approved the 2013 Constitution; Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF co-chairperson on the parliamentary committee that drafted the document, boasted that Mugabe “dictated” the constitution.

 

MDC leaders had campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum on the new Constitution. Morgan Tsvangirai even claimed the new constitution was “an MDC child”! All nonsense, of course as the new constitution failed its most important litmus test – deliver free, fair and credible elections. And now it is clear even those few clauses that Zanu PF had allowed to be included in the constitution the party was using its dictatorial powers to rig elections and secure absolute majority to amend at leisure!

 

"As ZimRights, we are against the attempt to push back into the Constitution what the people had rejected during the Constitution-making process," argued ZimRights national chairperson Takesure Musiiwa.

 

Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution has failed to deliver or guarantee any of our democratic freedoms and rights notable the right to free, fair and credible elections. Whatever freedoms and rights it gives in one section it takes them all away in the next; it is a dictator’s creed. It is naïve, to say the least, to expect a dictator like Mugabe to dictate a democratic constitution.

 

The real clever bit is that Zanu PF not only sold the nation a dictator’s creed disguised as a democratic constitution but that even now with all the evidence of rigged elections some people still pretend the elections were free and fair and the dictator’s creed is an exemplary democratic constitution!

There is no one more blind that he who would close his eyes and mind to the truth! It is bad enough anyone should close their eyes to the truth Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by vote rigging thugs precisely because we have a dictator’s creed for a constitution. It is little wonder Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess, the entire opposition camp, civic society and millions of ordinary citizens have all elected to close their eyes and minds. And, worst of all, there no hope of escaping from the mess until we open our eyes and deal with the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.

Sikhala et al join the scramble for land - they're now indistinguishable from Zanu PF P Guramatunhu

 Let us start by defining the primary task the late Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were entrusted to do by the people of Zimbabwe. The people risked life and limb to MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will bring about the democratic changes, as the party’s name implied, the nation was dying for. 

MDC was launched in 1999 and after 21 years on the political stage, 5 of which in the GNU, the party has failed to bring about even one meaningful democratic change. Not even one. Why? 

Corruption, is the short answer!

MDC leaders were elected into positions of power and authority on the ticket of delivering the democratic changes to restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life itself. Sadly, as soon as they got into power they forgot about the democratic changes in pursuit of their selfish interests. 

Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders with the trappings of high office during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; the ministerial limos, generous salaries, US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough, MDC leaders forgot about implementing the democratic reforms, the primary reason they were in the GNU. 

A seat on the gravy train was enough for the greenhorns MDC leaders but after a while they have matured and so has their greed. Now they want it all!

Zimbabwe’s economy was already in serious trouble but the seizure of the white owned farms, ostensibly to give to landless peasants but in reality to give the Zanu PF ruling elite, was the hammer blow that destroyed the economy and from which it has never recovered. The farm grab was and still is the apex of Zanu PF corruption and greed. 

MDC leaders have openly criticised the Zanu PF land reform policies and their disastrously economic consequences. For years the MDC leaders have refrained from joining in the scramble for land but not any more. 

"There are many people from the opposition who have applied for land," Job Sikhala, MDC A MP reminded Minister for Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Anxious Masuka.

"We have heard that land is being distributed on a partisan basis."

“MDC members refused to apply at the advent of the allocation programme, and now like other late applicants, who include deserving youths with a background and qualifications in agriculture, have to wait for land to become available. Zanu-PF legislators interjected, wondering why the opposition MPs left their allocations so late,” commented The Herald. 

The Herald was rubbing in the metamorphic transformation of the MDC leaders from the supposedly champions of democratic change to the corrupt and incompetent opportunists, indistinguishable from their Zanu PF counterpart. MDC leaders are now fighting for every scrap of the spoils of power to feed their insatiable greed.

In his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart readily admitted the folly of participating in flawed elections and that MDC has participated out of greed.

“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 (2013) 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.” 

By participating in flawed elections MDC leaders have not only given the flawed “process credibility”, as Coltart acknowledged above, but more significantly given the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus are helping to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

MDC leaders have conned the people into participating in these flawed and illegal elections on the falsehood the MDC has devised strategies to win rigged elections. They lied because they would never admit the really reason for participating was greed. 

All the MDC leaders who have got into a position of power and authority, they have been dazzled by the power, wealth and good living and have completely forgot about the long suffering of those who elected and why. MDC leaders will never implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for. Never ever! They are now preoccupied with amass power and wealth for themselves. 

“Takatuma mapete kumukaka!” (We send cockroaches to fetch milk!) as one would say in Shona.

41 years of Zanu PF misrule has left the country’s economy in ruins, basic services such as health care and education have all but collapsed and millions of our people are living in abject poverty. Zimbabwe is facing its worst ever existential threat and the need for meaningful democratic change have never been more urgent than it is today. 

The sooner Zimbabweans finally accept that MDC leaders are corrupt, incompetent and will never deliver any meaningful democratic changes; the sooner the nation can get the competent men and women who will implement the reforms. 

Zimbabweans must demand the implementation of the democratic reforms BEFORE the next elections. If the elections go ahead with no reforms, the nation must have them declared null and void. It will be insane to participate in the flawed 2023 elections or let Zanu PF get away with yet another rigged election.

Participating in rigged 2023 will appease Zanu PF but not "mover country forward" P Guramatunhu

 “POLAD’s biggest achievement is its mere existence as a platform where political leaders and parties from different backgrounds and persuasions are able to exchange ideas on how best to move the country forward. Political tolerance has already been born, it is now growing. It’s irreversible fruits will be felt with time,” Professor Lovemore Madhuku, one opposition leaders who joined Mnangagwa’s POLAD. 

We must be clear where we are as a nation and then what we need to do to “move the country forward”.

Zimbabwe is in economic ruins; the economy has collapsed sending unemployment soaring to 90% plus, basic public services such as education and health care are barely functioning and 49% of the population is now living in extreme poverty. The economic situation is causing heartbreaking human suffering and it is socially and politically unsustainable. 

Zimbabwe is facing the most serious existential threat in the nation’s history. The threat of the nation being thrown into social unrest and chaos comparable to what is happening in Libya or Syria is real and urgent.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s dramatic economic meltdown is the four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness earning the nation the pariah state status. And as long as the nation remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to extend their stay in office; there will be no meaningful economic recovery. 

The A1 objective of the 2023 elections is to end the curse of rigged elections, pariah state and bad governance. And thus revive the economy, end the tragic human suffering and avert the pending social unrest.

Therefore anything that is helping to end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state will move the country forward. POLAD, by its nature and composition, is to justify the status quo and not to dismantle it.

Mnangagwa made it crystal clear, the number condition for joining POLAD was the acceptance of the July 2018 elections as having been free, fair and credible and of Mnangagwa and Zanu PF as the legitimate president and government. How anyone could ever accept Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections as free and fair, beggars belief. 

It comes as no surprise therefore that POLAD has not demanded, much less implemented, any meaningful democratic reforms to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible. Madhuku and his fellow opposition politicians in POLAD and those like Chamisa and his MDC A who refused to join POLAD are all going to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place. How that can ever be considered moving the nation forward is nonsensical. 

We need free, fair and credible election process to get good and competent leaders. Corrupt and incompetent leaders would want flawed and illegal election process in which they invariably emerge as the winners. There is no disputing the fact that Zimbabwe’s elections are flawed and illegal.

“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. 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 Observer Mission final report.

ZEC has repeatedly failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’s roll, a legal and common sense requirement; for Pete’s sake!

The only rational reason why Zimbabwe’s opposition politicians have participated in the country’s flawed and illegal elections is greed. David Coltart, MDC A Treasurer General, admitted his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“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 (2013) 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.”

Four of the main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties did form a coalition, the MDC A, just before the 2018 elections and yet they still went on to participate in the elections for the same reason as in 2013 - greed. 

It should be noted that the opposition politicians knew that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections they were “giving the process credibility” and, by extension, giving the results legitimacy. 

“To be sure, because of POLAD, the political environment under which the 2023 general elections will be held will be the best since independence in 1980,” continued Professor Madhuku.

It is no secret that Zanu PF will tone down its fiery rhetoric and restrain its violent operatives as long as the party is assured of electoral victory.

Indeed Zimbabwe is in this precarious economic and political situation of economic ruins, tragic human suffering and threatening social instability precisely because the nation has sort to appease Zanu PF’s insatiable greed for political power, wealth and influence. 

Surely 2023 general elections must be about free, fair and credible elections and good governance and not about yet another rigged elections just to appease Zanu PF. It is not the survival of Zanu PF that is at issue here but the survival of Zimbabwe.