"I'm angered wife of Zanu PF grandee died a pauper" said Mliswa - how naive, when 1 in 2 is a pauper P Guramatunhu

 

Zimbabwe has come a long way in just 40 years to become a fully-fledged Banana Republic, George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs, the ruling elite, flouted the golden rule “All Animals are equal!” from the word go by keeping the milk and other goodies to themselves. It soon became the norm that whilst all the other animals on the farm worked like slaves, the pigs did very little work or none. When the other animals’ food rations were reduced again and again so that many were starving; the pigs had potbellies from feasting. The golden rule was doctored to read: “All animals are equal; some are more equal than others!” to reflect the reality on the ground.

Four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness have left Zimbabwe’s economy, once upon a time robust, in ruins and left the country a Banana Republic. The economy has all but collapsed sending unemployment into the stratosphere of 90% plus, basic services such as education and health care are barely functioning and 49% of the population are now living in abject poverty.

The poverty has hit the ordinary Zimbabweans hard as the country’s Zanu PF ruling elite, the pigs in George Orwell’s allegory, creamed off the nation’s wealth to feed their own insatiable greed. The criminal waste of human and material resource is the root cause of the country’s economic meltdown, and it was a matter of time that the rising flood of poverty would soon affect the ruling elect. And the ruling elite have been squalling like pigs at the sight of a member of the ruling elite living and dying in poverty!

“In news just received I’m deeply saddened to hear of the passing of the first former First Lady, Mai Janet Banana. I’m angered by the fact she died a pauper, once again another example of Govt not looking after our National Heroes’ wives,” tweeted Mliswa, himself a former Zanu PF bigwig and now Independent MP for Norton.

“After the immense contribution her late husband made to the country, regardless of anything, she died a destitute in Luveve. I thought the 2nd Republic would address issues neglected by the 1st Republic and it’s about time we’re able to move motions in Parly to this effect.”

So, Temba Mliswa is angry about Janet Banana dying paupers has hardly ever notice the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are born paupers, live all their days on this earth in heart breaking poverty and die paupers!

Indeed, it was this callous indifference of Zimbabwe’s ruling elite to the suffering and deaths of others that inspired Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to ruthlessly deny the masses their freedoms and rights, including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.

Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have remained in power these last 41 years by rigging elections. And as long as the country remains a Banana Republic (there is no difference between Mnangagwa’s so called Second Republic from Mugabe’s the First it is the same Banana Republic under a different dictator), there will be no meaningful economic recovery.

As long as nothing is done to revive the national economy then more and more Zimbabweans will be forced to live in abject poverty and die paupers; Zanu PF ruling elite including Temba Mliswa himself will not be spared the hardships of ever-rising flood of poverty.

Parliament can pass a law stipulating a king’s ransom allowance to every member of the country’s ruling elite and their family; the country broke, the ransom will never be paid! You cannot legislate prosperity, no one can; not even you Temba Mliswa.

“I’m angered by the fact Janet Banana (wife of Zanu PF ruling elite grandee) died a pauper!” So, you expect Zanu PF’s ruling elite to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth, to enjoy a pampered lifestyle of wealth and luxury and to die in a five-star hospital in a far away land (there are no such hospitals in Zimbabwe); untouched by the rising Noah flood of abject poverty sweeping the country -poverty brought on by and fuelled by the ruling elite’s unbridled greed. How naïve!

"We have a solid plan that will deliver real change" says Chamisa - said same of 2018 stringent measures N Garikai

 "We have a SOLID Plan. There will be real change in Zimbabwe," said Nelson Chamisa, leader of MDC A. And, as usual, he would not say what the plan is for fear of Zanu PF sabotaging the plan.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Chamisa and his fellow MDC friend into power on the understanding they will bring about the democratic changes the nation was denying for. MDC stands for Movement for Democratic Change!

Sadly, after 21 years since the party was launched in 1999, 5 of the years in the GNU, the party has failed to bring about even one single democratic change. Not even one change!

Chamisa said "MDC A has measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections!" (He did not say what these measure were because he did not want to give the game away!) We all know that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections and, by participating, MDC A give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

Chamisa can keep his SOLD PLAN but it must be put into practice and stop Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections. If the solid plan does not include stopping Zanu PF rigging the elections then MDC A must NOT participate in the  elections until reforms are implemented to stop this curse of rigged elections.

The people of Zimbabwe must never forget that MDC leaders were in fact given a solid plan to stop Zanu PF rigging elections; the primary 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) was about implementing a raft of democratic reform designed to stop a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence that marred the 2008 elections. The task of implementing the reforms was left to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends; they failed to implement even one reform in the five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

When SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the GPA, realized MDC had not implemented even one reform; they wanted the 2013 elections postponed until reforms were implemented. They told Tsvangirai and company "If you go into the elections next month, you will lose; the elections are done!" Tsvangirai and company paid no heed, Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections.

If anyone thought the MDC leaders had learned the lesson, Chamisa, who had taken over the leadership of the main MDC faction after Tsvangirai's death, went on to participate in the 2018 election with no reforms in place. He claimed he had "stringent measures to stop the rigging", as noted above.

Of course, the obvious thing for MDC leaders to have done during the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms; they did not implement even one reform because they, no doubt, had a better plan. And ever since the GNU debacle they have participated in the 2013 and then 2018 elections against advice not to until reforms are implemented. If will be foolish for the nation to allow ourselves to be dragging into yet another meaningless election process only basis of another mystery MDC plan!

If Mr Chamisa’s plan was worth anything then it should have included elements designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections and Chamisa should have implemented those elements by now. It is naïve to believe the laws to allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote, for example, can be passed and the process of getting them to register can be done in the remaining two years. It is exactly two years left to the 2023 elections.

If the truth be told (and it must be told) Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because Robert Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, the generous salary and allowances, the US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. With their snouts in the feeding troughs, MDC leaders forget about the reforms for five years of the GNU!

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC people have learned to enjoy the gravy train good life; they will not rock the boat!) was the shared boast in Zanu PF circles when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing any democratic reforms.

Some of the MDC leaders like David Coltart did realise that participating in the flawed elections would only give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and yet they still 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 elections,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“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.”

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A friends will be participating in the 2023 election knowing fully well that Zanu PF is rigging those elections and that by participating the opposition will once again give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF. In other words, the sum total of Chamisa’s solid plan is to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help perpetuate the dictatorship. Only Chamisa will consider that the “real change” Zimbabweans have risked life and limb for these last 21 years. 

"Entrepreneurship, not politics, will solve our problems" insist Masiyiwa - rubbish, solution is good governance N Garikai

“Masiyiwa challenges entrepreneurs to solve problems in their communities” screamed the headline. When Strive Masiyiwa speaks, you listen and, I will hasten to add, I am not the only in that! When you are rich, Strive Masiyiwa, is filthy rich and so when he speaks even the rich and powerful sit-up and listen.

“At the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020, I was told that one of the biggest problems was testing for the virus,” revealed Masiyiwa, in the article.

“African countries had no access to test kits and masks (used in hospitals). We have probably already forgotten how hard it was to get them. But it was not that long ago that African governments were paying crazy prices for these things. Corruption erupted across the continent, as unscrupulous thieves moved in to take advantage. Some ministers and civil servants even joined in!

“I was asked by President Cyril Ramaphosa to solve the problem.”

Masiyiwa went on to describe how he and three other Africans went to build Africa Medical Supplies Platform, “within 6 weeks”; an eCommerce platform on which many African countries (was later expanded to include some countries in the Caribbean) pooled their orders to take advantage of bulk order and African Export Import Bank (AfriEximbank) facilitated the payments.

Well done Strive! Well done everybody!   

“Not every problem out there is screaming for a political solution. Leaders need to trust those with the right skills to step forward and help them,” concluded Masiyiwa.

“Now here is something that might surprise you: Today, the AMSP is the largest eCommerce platform in Africa by volume of products sold and by value.

“This should inspire you to go out and solve problems in your community, particularly those you complain about.”

Frankly, I for one, and the overwhelming majority of ordinary Africans, the impoverished and powerless povo; are not not inspired, not in the least!

Mr Masiyiwa it is hard enough to be a successful entrepreneur even in a country like the UK, Japan South Korea as many a citizen from the said nation will readily testify because everyone else wants the same thing – success. In the above-named countries the entrepreneur gets a leg-up; it is relative easier raise the working capital from the Bank or own resources, the country’s stable and booming economy creates many opportunities for all, etc.

In Zimbabwe and many other African countries, the entrepreneur does not get any help from anyone or anywhere. Decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left many countries with a few ruling elite and their cronies who are filthy rich. Their appetite for looting and good life is insatiable and like all looters their criminal waste of human and material resources knows no bounds. Africa has become synonymous with such dichotomous contradiction as a nation being the breadbasket a whole region during colonial days finding itself total dependent of important food aid or face starvation after independence.

The overwhelming majority of ordinary African are wallowing in abject poverty; they do not dream of becoming an entrepreneur because they have no money, no education. They are hoping to get a job, God knows there are no employment opportunities given the economic meltdown due to decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness earning the country the pariah state label and forcing would-be investors to shy.

An entrepreneur in UK is like a salmon fish in a salmon fish-farm; there is competition for food with the fish of all sizes but there is enough for all.

In Africa most people are poor, are the kapenta fish in a pool that is shrinking fast by the day. They share the pool with catfish and crocodile and these have been joined by the herons, marabou stock, etc.; all have kapenta fish on their menu!  

The way out of the trap of poverty and hopelessness for millions of Africans is for them to find a job; they are not dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur. Anyone serious about ending poverty in Africa must therefore address the root cause of poverty – the curse of rigged elections that have allowed corrupt and incompetent leaders to remain in office.

“If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn't have to work hard.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The most important men in town would come to fawn on me!
They would ask me to advise them,
Like a Solomon the Wise.
'If you please, Reb Tevye...'
'Pardon me, Reb Tevye...'
Posing problems that would cross a rabbi's eyes!
And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong.
When you're rich, they think you really know!”

Chaim Topol: Fiddler on roof

Well, Topol was right, the rich can be arrogant and patronising! Mr Strive Masiyiwa you can biddy biddy bum with Africa’s Godfathers of corruption and tyrannical oppression all day every day. We must address the problem of rigged elections and bad governance because it is the root cause of why millions are wallowing in abject poverty and their ticket out of poverty. Mnangagwa and his cronies’ insatiable greed for power and wealth are the reason millions are poor and their future is grime and will remain so until we end dictatorship.

Mnangagwa and company are not special, crocodiles, whilst we, are the kapenta fish who exist for the sole purpose is to be eaten. Mnangagwa and company a mere mortal just like the rest of us, fallible just like all human being; the idea that they have the right to ride roughshod over the rest of us denying us our freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life is an outrage.

The big issue in Zimbabwe is implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections and to pretend that the nation can thrive regardless of the criminal waste of resources by the corrupt ruling elite is nonsense. And, given the seriousness of our situation, all those who continue to champion such nonsense, must shut up! 

Zimbabwe's No: 1 known knowns: Zanu PF has already rigged 2023 and participating will give illegal regime legitimacy P Guramatunhu

 

"There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know." That Donald Rumsfeld’s, USA Secretary of Defense, explanation on the limitations of intelligence report in February 2002.

Just over a year later, March 2003, the United States led coalition launched a war to overthrow the authoritarian government of Saddam Hussein on the basis of intelligence reports claiming Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. To this day, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found.

Fancy that, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld talked about known knowns and unknown unknowns and left out the most important of the lot; known knowns and unknowns alike all twisted and distorted for the sake of deceiving the naïve and gullible audience - lies. That is to say, people giving false narratives claiming they are based on proven facts when it is all guess work, at best, or deliberate falsehoods, at worst.

Liars are Steve Wonder’s “Misstra Know-It-All”; they will never admit they don’t know and even if they are confronted with the evidence of their mistake, they will find a scapegoat to blame for the mistake. To admit than they don’t or made a mistake is simply unthinkable, it is sacrilege!

Soon after the November 2017 military coup that booted out Robert Mugabe from office, Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies were out peddling the lie “Zimbabwe is open for business!” The mantra was to lure back investors who had shied away given the country’s reputation as a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rigged elections to stay in power.

Of course, the mantra was a lie; other than replace Mugabe and a few other Zanu PF thugs close to him – in a musical chairs game – Mnangagwa had done nothing merit the claim Zimbabwe was a “new dispensation, a Second Republic” with who investors could now return and do business. Investors are a shrewd and savvy lot, they were not to be easily fooled and so stayed away.

But, of course it is not everyone who is shrewd and savvy; indeed the world is full of the naïve and gullible, they constitute the weeds in a long neglected field!

Zimbabwe is stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF thugs because Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends wasted the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and for five long years Tsvangirai and company were foolish enough to believe they were life-members of Zimbabwe’s ruling elite and so do not bother implementing even one democratic reform. Why dismantle the dictatorship now they were enjoying the benefit of being a member and guaranteed to continue doing so for life!

Tsvangirai and company went into the 2013 elections with no reform in place and yet still very confident they would win the elections because the MDC votes will overwhelm all Zanu PF vote rigging antics. SADC leaders warned the MDC leaders it was folly to participate in the elections with no reforms in place but the warning was ignored. Talk of some one being naïve, MDC leaders did not even have the common sense to ensure there was a verified voters’ roll; Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections the 2013 elections and all elections thereafter.

It is already clear the 2023 elections are not going to be free and fair, Zanu has already rigged at them two years in advance! Last month Patrick Chimanasa, the Zanu PF acting National Political Commissar announced that the party will not be honouring Mnangagwa’s 2018 promise to give the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. Mnangagwa won the 2018 elections with 2.4 million votes or 50.8% of that year’s cast votes. How can the election be anything but a mockery if more voters are denied the vote than those voting for the winning candidate!

MDC leaders have been participating in these flawed and illegal elections to win the few gravy train seats Zanu PF offered as bait. At least for the few MDC leaders there is the few gravy train seats; there is absolutely nothing for the ordinary Zimbabweans freely participating in these flawed elections. (Zanu PF has reduce many Zimbabweans especially the rural folk into medial serfs beholden to the overbear Zanu PF thugs and their proxies, traditional leaders, war veterans and party’s youth militia supporter by the securocrats.)

By participating in these flawed elections, the opposition and their supporters, are giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF regime and are thus helping to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship. God knows how many times this has been flagged up but to no avail. It is only by appreciating the scope and depths of the naivety and gullibility of Zimbabwe’s opposition and their as-faithful-as-a-dog supporters that one will understand why Zimbabwe’s democratic experiment had a still birth and why the last 40 years have been a relentless march deeper and deeper into hell.

It was the Greeks, 2 500 years ago, of Greece’s golden age, who gave mankind the Olympic Games and Democracy, government of the people for the people by the people; the two legacies have shaped mankind, help mankind understanding the world around us and, ultimately, to attain so measure of control of the world around us and not just a helpless victim of whatever chance and fate brings.

The Greeks argued that for democracy to work the people must be educated so that they are naïve and gullible and then easily conned by Zanu PF thugs or worse still follow blindly the corrupt and incompetent opposition. The comforting thing about history is that if the Greeks and many other nation after them have been able to attain the same level of education to make democracy work for them Zimbabweans should be able to do the same; it has been long in coming but that is no proof it will never happen.

By arrogantly denying 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote or 30% plus of the potential voters, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2023 elections in advance. Of course, it will be very foolish to participate in any election process whose outcome is predetermined especially when doing so gives democratic legitimacy to the flawed and illegal process. This is one KNOWN KNOWNS that every Zimbabwean out there must know and understand because both Zanu PF and MDC leaders will be out to trick voters into participate for the leaders’ selfish gain.

Just because Zanu PF trick MDC leaders not to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU does not mean we no longer need the reforms implemented. We need free and fair elections as the guarantor of good governance and a government that is always democratically accountable to the people; we must implement all the democratic reforms to guarantee free and fair elections.

Just because MDC leaders were not up to the task of implementing the reforms does not mean there are no Zimbabweans out there who are up to the task. It does not require a team of rock scientists to know what the democratic reforms are and to implement them; just a group of individuals with common sense and the political will to get the job done.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because, for the past 41 years and counting, Zanu PF has rigged elections and got away with it every time. We must put an end to this by refusing to participate in the already rigged the 2023 elections and the election is declared null and void. Zimbabwe must then appoint an interim administration, a new GNU, whose primary task will be to implement all the democratic reforms and lay a solid foundation for a democratic Zimbabwe so the hard work of rebuilding the nation from the ruins Zanu PF created can finally begin!  

"Zimbabwe has 2 747 covid-19 deaths" - how much longer will sloth-minded believe the lie W Mukori

 Zimbabweans are a naive and gullible people, easily fooled; hence the reason the country is in such a mess. Indeed, in some cases as now we like to be fooled so we do not have to deal with the consequences of knowing the truth!

Only a village idiot believes Zimbabwe has had 88 415 corona virus cases and 2 747 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. One of the reasons why the numbers have remained very low is because the regime has not been testing for the virus even when common sense dictated it. By not testing, tracing and tracking as diligently as we should we have allowed many people with the virus to continue to mix and spread the virus.

We have found comfort in the official figures suggesting there are very few people out there with the virus and dying from it. False comfort since many more people have the virus and died than the official figures and more significantly hundreds of thousands of those who had the virus and thousands of the died would have been spared if only the nation had the common sense to demand to know the truth and due diligence in the testing!

We are a foolish and conceited people who insist on seeing what we want to see regardless of how far-fetched that happens to be from the reality.  Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth of our own making and we are not getting out of it by pretending everything is just fine!

The corona virus has happened at the time when Zimbabwe was already down and out after decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness making the country a Banana Republic in which nothing worked. The idea that the country has fared much, much better than countries like SA with a robust economy, working health care services, etc. is just nonsense.

SA has over 2 million corona virus cases and over 68 000 deaths and Zimbabwe, with ¼ SA’s population and an all but collapsed health care service and economy, should be faring far worse than having ¼ of SA’s cases and deaths. Instead of over 500 000 cases and 17 000 deaths; Zimbabwe, officially, has 88 415 cases and 2 747 deaths, less than 20% in each case. No wonder the Zanu PF regime has been bragging about it!

"Despite Zimbabwe's COVID-19 response being one of the best on the continent as evidenced by fewer deaths and infections as compared to other nations, for government, a single death is one too many," boasted Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information (read Propaganda), Monica Mutsvangwa.

In a way that there should be such a wide discrepancy between the official corona virus cases and the real numbers on the ground should not come as a surprise; Zanu PF ruling elite have always ridden roughshod over the masses denying them their freedoms and rights including their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life. The testing, tracking and isolation protocol was diligently carried out to reduce any of the ruling elite getting the virus; the protocol was largely ignored when it was the life of povo at stake.

To include all the corona virus cases and deaths among the povo in the official count would have exposed the Zanu PF regime’s blundering incompetence in the handling of the pandemic and that was sacrilege.

Indeed, the first thing the Zanu PF regime soon after the outbreak of the pandemic was to ensure it alone controlled who get tested of the virus and only the official figures are released for publication. A 20-year jail sentence awaits anyone who publish anything other than the official corona virus cases and deaths.

A 20-year jail sentence for taking away Zanu PF’s bragging right that the regime’s handling of the corona virus pandemic is “one of the best on the continent” although we all know that is a lie. Worse still, this is a damned lie that has helped the virus spread more widely and faster causing more economic disruption and more human misery and deaths.

There is not one Zimbabwean out there with half a working brain who does not know that the official covid-19 cases and deaths are damned lies; they know in country of 15 million the undertakers would not be overwhelmed by 50 or so additional deaths per day over the normal. And yet the majority of Zimbabweans have elected to believe the damned lie “Zanu PF’s handling of the pandemic is one of the best on the continent” because to do otherwise will force them out of their sloth-like slumber – this, just like Zanu PF’s lying, is nothing new.

Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2018 elections; the regime denied over 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote (more than the 2.4 million who voted for Mnangagwa), ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, etc.; and still the regime maintain the elections were legal, free, fair and credible. Zimbabweans, for the sake of maintaining their sloth-like slumber have pretended their right to free and fair elections is not a right but a privilege and so the blatant vote rigging was all water off a duck’s back.

It is true that in the long run, each nation get the government it deserves; we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with the entourage of equally corrupt and useless opposition parties. Zimbabwe is in this man-made economic and political mess because for the last 41 years and counting Zimbabweans have maintained this stony indifference to criminal waste of the nation’s material and human resources, causing untold human suffering and deaths, by the country’s ruling elite. It sickens me to admit this but readily do so because it will kill me not to; it is far better to throw up, unsightly as that may be, than hold down the poison.

Mankind is a creature of reason and one does not need to be a rocket scientist to an election in which 30% plus of the electorate are denied the vote cannot be a free and fair election.  When 49% of the population is languishing in abject poverty, basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed and the corona virus is caused heart-breaking human sufferings and deaths – far more that the official lies; surely this must force everyone out of their sloth-like slumber and demand change. Sadly, the sloth has not even stirred!

The corona virus storm is not done yet, Zimbabwe will have done very well indeed if the country was to vaccinate the 10 million herd immunity by this time next year (the regime claims it will achieve this target by end of the year, that is doubtful given it took six months to vaccinate 1 million (first dose) and 600 000 (required two doses) and so the grime-ripper has time to increase the covid-19 cases and deaths toll.

And as long as the country remains a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants who are not democratically accountable to the people, the country’s relentless march deeper and deeper into this man-made hell will continue; the march will continue as long as the people remain in their sloth-like slumber. The sloth-like slumber has lasted 41 years now, only time will tell how much longer it will last?

SA Minister made a fool of himself on BBC by denying ANC failures and yet admit "slow response gave rioters field day" P Guramatunhu

  “The people responsible for the riots sparked by the jailing of former South African President Jacob Zuma failed in their insurrection because the ground for them was not fertile, the country’s transport minister has said,” reported BBC.

“While the government’s slow response to what was happening gave them a “field day”, they could not achieve what they wanted, Fikile Mbalula told BBC Hardtalk.

“More than 200 people died in the recent violence. It is estimated to have cost the economy in KwaZulu-Natal province alone at well over $1bn (£730m).

“South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the riots were a "coordinated and well-planned attack".

There is no denying that former South Africa President Jacob Zuma and his supporters very much hoped that the looting and burning following his arrest would spread nationwide, not just KwaZulu -Natal and one or two other areas, making the country ungovernable, an insurrection. The majority of South African did not agree with the position that Zuma should not face the wroth of the law for defying the court order, particularly since this was over very serious corruption charges. The people certainly did not want to endorse the foolish notion that anyone is above the law especially someone implicated in serious corruption charges.

There is evidence to show that most of the people behind the looting and burning in KwaZulu-Natal and other areas were venting their anger and frustration against the government for their sorry economic situation, nothing to do with supporting Zuma. After nearly 30 years since the end of the apartheid era, in which the whites were filthy rich and the expense of the impoverished back majority; things have not changed much, other than a few ruling elite blacks who have become filthy rich the overwhelming majority of blacks are still languishing in abject poverty.

“South Africa, according to many studies, is one of the most economically equal societies in the world,” Stephen Sackur, the Hardtalk presenter, pointed out. "ANC is failing the people!"

SA’s Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, gave a spirited defence of the ANC, the party that has ruled since independence in 1994, economic performance; arguing the party is on track to deliver economic prosperity and should not be expected to reverse the 300 years of white colonial exploitation and oppression in three decades. The facts on the ground tell the story of decades of wasted opportunity or worse.

President Thabo Mbeki and now Cyril Ramaphosa have been mediocre leaders who have blundered from pillar to post. In this case, to mobilize the security sectors to giving the rioters “a field day”, as Minister Mbalula and President Ramaphosa himself readily admitted. The delay has costed the nation billions of Rand in lost property and infrastructure and over 200 lives.

When former President Jacob Zuma was in office, SA quickly earned the reputation as just another African country ravished by gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. Yes, the ruling party ANC finally acted and had him removed from office and is now carrying out a thorough investigation into state capture. One hopes the investigation are very thorough and the rot is stamp out.

Still the ANC was very slow in nipping misrule in the bud and the experience has damaged the country’s standing as a stable democracy, one of the few in Africa. Investors shy away from pariah state; look at Zimbabwe, the one thing all South Africans should be scared stiff of is to be another Banana Republic like Zimbabwe.

Jacob Zuma and his supporters were hoping for a nationwide revolt demanding that Jacob Zuma should not be investigated for corruption and position him as above the law, a stance that would have confirmed SA’s position as a pariah state. As much as many people are disappointed with ANC government’s failure to address the nation’s economic challenges they, nonetheless, realised that the Zuma’s supporters’ agenda was to reject rule of law and democracy; they had the good sense to know this was throwing away the baby, democracy, with the bath water.

South Africa’s democratic institutions are strong and holding; former President Zuma is still in jail, where he belongs; the country’s next elections will hold free, fair and credible; etc.

However, there is no deny the country’s democracy has, so far at least, failed to elect a competent government and deal with the country’s economic challenges; the impoverished masses are not going to wait another 300 years! The anarchist did not get much support from the impoverished masses this time but as long as millions are forced to live in abject poverty, the anarchists know they have a chance of garnering nationwide support next time.

As long as poverty rules the roost, SA will remain fertile ground for a nationwide revolt to dismantle rule of law and democracy!

"Mnangagwa honored 2% of 2018 pledges, a call to elect Chamisa" - actually, elections were rigged with Chamisa's connivance P Guramatunhu

 

According to Stephen Sarkozy Chuma, MDC Alliance Youth Assembly National Spokesperson, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has only managed to carry out 5 out of the 237 electoral promises he pledged in 2018, the 5 only 2%!

“Never mind about his useless and senseless “huge progress” rhetoric, Mnangagwa is failure personified!” commented Chuma in Zimeye.

“Among a plethora of lies that he promised, Mr 2% failed to fulfil his 1,5 million housing program, 2000 new schools and employment pledges.

“This is a wake-up call to all Zimbabweans that we should elect servant leaders who honour their promises. A pro-people and God-fearing leader in the mould Advocate Nelson Chamisa can surely do better if given a chance.

“It’s time to reject Mr 2 % and all that he represents – failure!”

The people of Zimbabwe have known for decades that Zanu PF had failed them. By the late 1980s the nation was painfully aware that Robert Mugabe’s promise of mass prosperity, “Gutsa ruzhinji!” as he never seemed to tire of saying it; was transforming into mass poverty as the country lost its lofty position as a middle-income nation, the breadbasket of the region to become a Banana Republic wallowing in abject poverty and now dependent on food aid.

By the late 1990s the nation finally wake-up to the political reality that the country’s relentless economic decline will continue as long as Zanu PF remain in power and the party will remain in power as long as Mugabe and company continue to exercise their dictatorial powers to rig elections. The nation needed democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections or there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends launched their party in 1999; if elected into power, they promised to deliver the democratic changes to end the curse of rigged elections the nation was dying for. The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb, the price they have had to pay for supporting any other political party other than Zanu PF, to elect MDC leaders for the sake of meaningful democratic change and reform.

MDC leaders have been on the political centre stage for 21 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly, MDC leaders have failed to bring about even one token democratic change in all those years. Not a sausage!

The 2008 to 2013 GNU was, without doubt, the best opportunity the nation has ever had to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship once and for all. Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and company with the trapping of high office and with their snouts in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms for the five years of the GNU.

Worst of all, ever since their blatant betrayal during the GNU, MDC leaders has all but abandon the cause of demanding reforms and free, fair and credible elections; they have participated in flawed and illegal elections giving the process credibility and the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy all because they could not resist Zanu PF’s bribe of a few gravy train seats for participating.

“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,” confessed David Coltart in his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. Mr Coltart was an MDC Minister in the 2008 to n2013 GNU and is Treasurer General in the MDC A.

“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.”

Well, Mr 2% and his Zanu PF cronies are gearing for the 2023 elections and with not even one token democratic reform implemented, it is certainty the party will blatantly rig the election to yet another landslide victory. Indeed, the blatant rigging has already started with the party announcing that it will continue to deny the 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, another broken Mnangagwa promise. The diaspora vote is very significant considering Mnangagwa won the 2018 elections with 2.4 million votes!

The truth is Mr 2% and company did not want to risk losing the 2023 elections by implementing even one reform because he KNEW Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends will participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happened to be as long as he offered them the few gravy train seats bribe – which he is doing.

What are you, Chuma, wittering about, "This is a wake-up call to all Zimbabweans that we should elect servant leaders!" The people of Zimbabwe did not elect Mnangagwa and his cronies, they rigged the elections and got away with it thanks to Chamisa and company who participated giving the process credibility and Zanu PF regime legitimacy.

Right now, Mr 2% is gearing to blatantly rig the 2023 elections; confident Chamisa and company will participate to guarantee the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy!

No, the real wake-up call for all Zimbabweans is to the political reality that MDC leaders will never ever implement any meaningful democratic changes and with no democratic reforms, the nation will never have free and fair elections, will never ever end the curse of bad governance and thus will never, never ever end the criminal waste of human and material resources behind the country’s economic ruin.

Democracy, Mandela's greatest legacy to SA, had it's stress test, Trump test, and passed W Mukori

 

“Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, statesman and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election,” states Wikipedia.

Wikipedia does not do justice to the man, Nelson Mandela was above all else a visionary leader and, as befitting all visionary leaders, his influence was felt during his lifetime and will echo for many, many more generations to come.

What makes Nelson Mandela such a colossus is that visionary leaders are rare, one in a dynast if you luck, one in a generation if you are very, very luck. In Africa, it is no exaggeration to say visionary leaders are so rare one was given to believed they are extinct. Mount Everest stands majestic as the highest peak in the Himalayas Mountain range. How much more majestic Mount Everest would be if all round it was land as flat as a pancake with a few anthill and rock outcrops a few metres high; such is the standing of Nelson Mandela amongst his fellow Africans.

Some people have criticized Nelson Mandela for failing to lift his fellow blacks out of poverty, “as President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, has done!”.

Full kudos to Paul Kagame for he has indeed managed to stamp out corruption and implement very progressive economic and social policies which have improve the qualitative and quantitative standards of living of Rwandans. Paul Kagame has had the time to implement his transformative agenda; he has been president for the last 20 years and before that, 1994 to 2000, he was VP; Mandela was president for 5 years.

Paul Kagame has created a political system that has allowed him to stay in power regardless of the democratic wishes of the people. It has been ok whilst he remained in power because he has clearly shown that he has very sound economic and social policies to take the nation forward. The problem arises with those who will come after him they will all want to enjoy the same carte blanche powers that has allowed Kagame to stay in power all these years, regardless of their leadership abilities.

All living things will seek power and dominance over others, Charles Darwin called it survival of the fittest or natural selection; it is the most primeval and dominant force on planet earth and will rule supreme to the end of time. What has taken Kagame nearly three decades to accomplish will take a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant - the overwhelming majority of African leaders fit the bill – will destroy in a matter of months! And there lies the distinction between Paul Kagame and Nelson Mandela.

Mandela’s legacy is one of a healthy and functioning democratic system of government enabling society to elect the most competent competitive individuals into power and, just as important, to remove them from office before their primeval instinct to dominate kicks in. There is nothing Paul Kagame has done in Rwanda to stop that country being stuck with just another mediocre leader or, worse, a murderous tyrant.

All Kagame’s achievements are just sandcastles, easily washed away in the next tide or wave. Mandela laid a solid foundation on which a stable and prosperous SA can be built.

True, none of Nelson Mandela’s successors, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and now Cyril Ramaphosa, have accomplished anything of note in their years in office. If the truth be told the ordinary South Africans themselves are to blame for failing to take advantage of the country’s democratic institutions to ensure the elected leaders with some common sense. One hopes that the last 25 years of mediocre to downright corrupt governance under Zuma has a steep learning curve for all South Africans.

Of course, it is very frustrating to every South African that the country has not made any significant inroads into ending poverty in that country; however, no one can deny that the country’s next elections will be free, fair and credible and thus there is hope the nation will be more careful and elect leaders with some common sense, at least.

South Africans are better off than other nations like Zimbabwe in which the individuals who fought to end white colonial rule turned the guns on the ordinary people to impose themselves as the nation’s next rulers; for 41 years and counting the nation has been stuck with corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. Zimbabwe’s economy is in total ruins; the nation has sunk from a upper middle income nation in 1980 to one of the poorest in Africa.

Zimbabwe is due to hold elections in 2023 and already it is clear that Zanu PF will rig the elections, the party has already said it will, once again, deny 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. Mnangagwa reportedly won the 2018 presidency with 2.4 million vote constituting 50.8% of the cast votes! How can an election in which 30% of the eligible voters are denied the vote be a legal, free, fair and credible elections!

The last few weeks have stress tasted SA’s democratic system of government. Former SA President Jacob Zuma and his supporters triggered some of the worst looting, burning and lawlessness since the country’s independence to protest the imprisonment of Zuma. They believe Zuma is above the law and the looting and burning was not going to stop until Zuma was released!

The looting and burning has largely stopped and the lunatics who inspired it are now condemning. They have had the chance to sober up, look down the precipitous fall into the abyss and turn back. They are now agreeing on the need for rule of law, that no one should be above the law, and are ready to embrace Nelson Mandela’s legacy of democracy as SA’s system of government.

In 2016 the American made the mistake of electing Donald Trump President and his four years in office was to tress-test that country’s democratic institutions like nothing since that country’s civil war. The institutions held and in 2020 the nation replace Trump and the country and most of the free world heaved a big sigh of relief!

South Africa and most African nations heaved a big sigh of relief when the looting and burning in SA stopped and Zuma was still in prison where he belongs!

If rule of law and democracy, Nelson Mandela’s greatest legacy to SA, SA will thrive and, in good time elect competent and accountable leaders who will finally address the nation’s economic and social challenges to create a more just, free and prosperous nation in which no one is left behind. If democracy and good governance is proven to work in SA, the pressure for the other African countries to adopt it as a tried and tested system of government will be irresistible. And so Mandela’s legacy to SA will sweep the continent, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, like the life giving rain storm after a prolonged drought!

Zimbabweans have never ever participated in a legal, free, fair and credible elections; a right many the world-over take for granted but one which we have been promised but cheated of again and again. As a child I used to dance for joy in the first rain to mark the end of the dry season I know many Zimbabweans will cry for joy the day Zimbabwe holds its first ever free, fair and credible elections given how long the nation has had to wait for that day!  

Looting and burning are echoes of apartheid era and proof SA's failure to make quantum leap W Mukori

 

“Before independence corruption was considered a bold and patriotic act especially as the corruption was considered an act of defiance against white colonial government. It is just that after independence the corruption continued; Nigerians consoled themselves by arguing Nigeria is very rich and there is plenty more where the looted wealth came from!” A Nigerian acquaintance once told.

“Cold comfort! Look what Sani Abacha has done; completely destroyed the country!”

If the truth be told, many African countries have been in economic decline ever since they attained their independence for various reasons including corruption. The corrupt and incompetent ruling elite have conned the ordinary people into believing there was nothing wrong with corruption, lawlessness, rigged elections, etc., etc. and those advocating for these values are brain washed puppets of the dethroned colonial whites who are seeking regime change and then recolonize the country.

I had hoped that South Africans would have learned to avoid the mistakes Nigerians and the rest of independent Africa before them made; they would not be so easily conned into throwing out the baby with the bath water. The basic rule that no one should be above the law is pivotal to fighting corruption, I thought every South African will see that!

Many South Africans are still living in abject poverty, the country’s wealth is still in the hands of the whites. Independence brought an end to political apartheid in the sense that blacks now have a vote and the racist laws have been abolished. However the laws and practices that had given the whites the economic advantage before independence have remained; economic apartheid is alive and thriving; as far as the impoverished majority are concerned.

The Court that sentence former SA president Jacob Zuma to 15 months for contempt of court has enforced property rights and other laws that have helped maintain the economic apartheid and so it comes as little surprise that the ordinary South African should revolt against the Court and reject rule of law.

The overwhelming majority of the owners of the shops, factories and businesses that were looted and burnt belong to the privileged white owners; burning shops, factories, etc. before independence was considered a legitimate target and since the economic emancipation did not happen in1994, the struggle continues.

A luta continua!

Deng Xiaoping. China’s economic miracle that has transform that nation from a marginal nation to the world’s second largest economy happened when Chairman Xiaoping embraced capitalism as an ideology to drive economic growth. Chairman Mao Zedong, his predecessor had rejected capitalism born out of the deep-rooted mistrust of the British, Americans and the West.

"It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice." Argued Chairman Xiaoping.

In the first two decade of China embracing capitalism the country’s economy grew in leaps and bounds puling hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty and the country has never looked back ever since!

Africa can too, enjoy its economic miracle, we have the rich soil and wonderful weather to produce the food, the vast minerals wealth and the flora and fauna “lovely beyond any singing of it” as Alan Paton put it so poetical. Sadly, Africa’s economic renascence is more uncertain now that South Africans have too the capitulation and rejected the rule of law for no better reason than it is a carryover from the apartheid era!

To paraphrase Chairman Xiaoping, "It doesn't matter whether the judge is black or white, as long as he/she enforces the rule of law and stamp out corruption!" I do not see Cyril Ramaphosa and certainly not the likes of Zimbabwe’s Emerson Mnangagwa ever making that quantum leap; the former lacks the intellectual ability whilst the latter lacks the intellect and is rotten to the core with corruption to ever change!  

"Zimbabwe's covid-19 response in the best in Africa!" bragged Zanu PF - damned lie and an insult P Guramatunhu

"Despite Zimbabwe's COVID-19 response being one of the best on the continent as evidenced by fewer deaths and infections as compared to other nations, for government, a single death is one too many," said information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa.

This is just an insult and one thing I hate above all others is being taken for a fool!

The Zimbabwe government announces there were 2 661 new corona virus cases and 51 deaths bringing the total number of cases and deaths to 76 381 and 2332 respectively since the outbreak of the corona virus in March 2020. If this was true, then our hospitals and clinics will not the overwhelms and the graveyards looking like freshly ploughed fields with new graves.

Zimbabwe’s official covid-19 figures have remained low because the country has not followed the WHO and common-sense recommendation of testing, tracing, tracking and isolating. It is common knowledge that Zimbabwe has deliberately and consistently carried out the fewest covid-19 tests per capita even at a time when the is a significant surge in the covid-19 cases.

In December last year for example, when there was a significant number of corona virus cases in both SA and Zimbabwe; whilst SA was carrying out over 44 000 test per day, Zimbabwe with ¼ SA’s population should have been doing over 11 000 test per day. We were doing 1 500, maximum!

If you were not tested for corona virus then you will never be counted as a corona virus case or death. So, the fewer the tests the fewer the official figure of covid-19; it sounds cynical because it is cynical.

The nation has paid dearly for the bragging rights of “Zimbabwe's COVID-19 response being one of the best on the continent as evidenced by fewer deaths and infections as compared to other nations!” By failing to carry out the tests, the nation could not carry through the follow up activities of tracing, tracking and isolation. And so many individuals who should have been in isolation were left to mix and mingle with the rest spreading the virus far and wide and fast!

There is no such thing as good time for a disease outbreak much less a pandemic; this corona virus has happened at the worst time for Zimbabwe. The outbreak occurred at a time when the country’s economy is in total meltdown and its health care service has all but collapsed after decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption and, to crown it all, the nation was still stuck with the corrupt and dysfunctional government.

Ever since the country attained her independence in 1980, over 40 years ago; Zimbabweans have known the country’s ruling elite were corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants who rigged elections to stay in power. The nation has had a number of golden opportunities notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but wasted them all.

In the long run, nations get the government the deserve. We in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of equally corrupt and utterly useless opposition parties, all 130 of them at the last count.

There is no denying if the corona virus pandemic had happened before independence or some thereafter when Zimbabwe’s economic and health care service were robust and strong, the nation will have fared a lot better than it is doing right now – forget the official covid-19 figures there are lies and an insult!

The corona virus storm is not over and no one knows how long it will last. Whilst we mourn and bury our died, we must remember the worst of this catastrophe could have been avoided if only we, the people of Zimbabwe, had taken our duty to ensure the country had competent and accountable government with the seriousness and urgency the matter demanded. And, more significantly, reflect on what we must do now to finally put an end to the tragic human suffering and deaths that will continue as long as we have a corrupt, tyrannical, vote rigging and utterly useless government.

The Zanu PF government has already started rigging the 2023 elections by arrogantly announcing that 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora will once again be denied the vote. How can the elections be legal, free, fair and credible when 30% of the electorate are denied the vote for no other reason than that Zanu PF does not trust them to vote for the party and it has no opportunity to rig the vote?

It is incumbent on all Zimbabweans to ensure all democratic reforms are implemented to guarantee free and fair elections. Zanu PF and it’s acolyte MDC opposition are gearing for the 2023 elections to proceed with no reforms, knowing fully well the elections will be rigged. It is our duty to make sure the elections are legal, free, fair and credible.

The Zimbabwe ravaged by corona virus whilst the government of the day insults us by falsifying the seriousness of the pandemic and our suffering and deaths is NOT the Zimbabwe we want. And it is high time we demanded the Zimbabwe we, the people, want.

In Zimbabwe it is the ruling elite, tail that has been wagging the dog; that must change, it is the people who must call the shots. “Nyika vanhu!” (It is the ordinary people who constitute a nation!) as one would say in Shona. 

"Citizens duty to correct (reform) delinquent Zanu PF" said Chamisa - and what is MDC's duty N Garikai

 "The national army is a people's army. Citizens have a duty to correct delinquent characters whose misconceived and misbegotten view seeks to reduce a people's military into a militia of a political party," Nelson Chamisa, leader of MDC Alliance, to New Zimbabwe.

"Those utterances are not only a source of national instability and threat to national security but also earn the country a banana republic and pariah status."

Chamisa was responding to Patrick Chinamasa, Acting Zanu PF National Commissar, who was boasting that the bond Zanu PF and Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF) was “unbreakable”.  We all know that the army has played a key role in the rigging of elections to keep Zanu PF in power notably in the 2008 elections and the 2017 military coup to topple the late dictator Robert Mugabe.  

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Chamisa and his MDC friends into power on the understanding they would implement the democratic reforms necessary to end Zanu PF’s strangle hold on ZDF, Police, ZEC, Judiciary and all the other state institutions. It was for you, Mr Chamisa, and your fellow MDC friends to propose the democratic reforms to break the unholy Zanu PF – ZDF, Zanu PF- Police, etc. bonds during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when you had the best chance ever to do so. MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU.

The tragic reality is not only did Nelson Chamisa and his fellow MDC friends waste the golden opportunity of the GNU to implement the democratic reforms but, worst of all, they will never ever get any reforms implemented in the future even if they were given another golden opportunity to do so because they have no clue what these reforms are, how they should be implemented and by whom!

Chamisa is expecting the people to “correct” Chinamasa and his fellow Zanu PF thugs and break the Zanu PF – ZDF bond. He does not say what it is exactly the people are expected to do or say much less how these action will end Zanu PF’s strangle hold on the Army and all the other corrupt state institutions under the regime’s spell.

The last 41 years of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness have left Zimbabwe in economic ruins and political paralysis – stuck with a vote rigging corrupt and tyrannical ruling party, on the one hand, and on the other, an equally corrupt and incompetent opposition that does not even have the common sense as how to end the dictatorship. The economic situation is now so bad basic services such as education and health care have completely collapsed and 49% of the population now live in abject poverty. The situation is socially, economically and politically unsustainable; we need to implement the democratic reforms, they are the prerequisite for meaningful political and economic change, as a matter of great urgency.

Just because Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends have failed to implement even one reform in 21 years does not mean no one else can do it. We need to find the men and women who will implement the reforms a.s.a.p.

MDC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform these last 21 years because they have never understood what the reforms are much less who should implement them. This is a cold political reality many Zimbabweans have been slow to accept as shown by the number of people who continue to follow Chamisa et al and participate in these flawed and illegal elections. Like it or not, by participating Zimbabweans are giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF; this is insane and we must stop the madness.

“Citizens have a duty to correct delinquent Zanu PF leaders!” So now it is the citizens’ “duty to correct” Zanu PF thugs, deliver the democratic changes and we will all live happily ever after! No wonder MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform in 21 years; they have been waiting for povo to implement the reforms! 

“Judiciary abuse liberator, Zuma; stark warning for Zanu PF” – indeed, for no one is above the law! P Guramatunhu

 In the Movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” there is a scene where Jack Sparrow tells the young Will Turner “Stay here! And please don’t do anything stupid!” Pretty damn good advice one should give to our Dr Masimba Mavaza for his stupidity, as expressed in his articles, knows no bonds!

“The problem of judges playing to the gallery is that they will expose the law to ridicule. The situation in South Africa has pitted the judicial system against the democracy and political system,” charged Dr Mavaza.

“It is indeed a shame on the South African Constitutional Court judges for failure to understand their own supreme law. They ignored their own constitution just because they want to fix and not to help. It is a wonder that when the constitutional court set they forgot to be guided by the law and by their own constitution.”

He was commenting on the sentencing of Former President Jacob Zuma to 15 months in jail for contempt of court by SA Constitutional Court. The former president has not been cooperating with the court’s investigation into his corrupt charges and abuse of office.

Jacob Zuma was forced to step down as president in February 2014 when his own party ANC threatened to have him impeached. It is right and proper that the courts have since pursued the corruption charges against with due diligence and thus reaffirming the fundament principle that no one, not even a former state president is above the law.  

One has to plough through a lot of rubbish before finally arriving at it is Mavaza’s found objectionable about the court judgement in this case.

“But in this case the constitutional judges have acted to settle scores,” he argued.

“In this case one would ask how can a Constitutional Court convict and sentence an individual to prison as a court of first instance and leave the accused person without a right to appeal? This question is the reason of all the uproar in South Africa today.”

Of course, this is just Mavaza making a mountain out of a mole hill! The Constitutional Court is the supreme court in the land and, per se, there is no other court to appealing its judgement. Mavaza and the overzealous Zuma supporters who have been holding public demonstrations and even threatening to “shut down South Africa” would not be pacified even if Zuma was allowed to appeal against the court’s judgement; it is the very idea of Zuma being held to accountable in a court of law that they find unpalatable!

“What we see in South Africa now are lessons to be learnt and a stark warning to Zimbabwe. What happens there will happen to our revolutionary stalwarts once they leave office. The judiciary is behaving as the avengers sent by the disgruntled colonialists cum Westerners. This is legal system at war with the executive,” wrote Mavaza. The title of the article was “When The Judiciary Abuses The Liberators: Revolution Under Attack The Zuma Debacle”.

Thank God South Africans have never allowed themselves to be swayed by the foolish notion revolutionary stalwarts are special and therefore above the law. The country’s democratic constitution has delivered on its promise to protect the freedoms and rights of the citizens; keeping the checks and balance between the three arms of government, the executive, judiciary and legislature; etc.; and long may this continue. The same cannot be said about Zimbabwe.

Mavaza should know Zanu PF ruling elite will never ever being brought before a court of law to account for their amassed wealth, rigging elections, staging military coups, Gukurahundi massacre, etc., etc. At least, not in any of Zimbabwe’s courts as the judiciary, like all the other state institutions in the country are Zanu PF departments in all but name. High Court Justice George Chiweshe ruled the 2017 military coup was “legal, justified and constitutional”; just to underline how utterly useless and “capture” the courts are.

The root cause of Zimbabwe economic meltdown and political paralysis is the 41 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness earning the country the Banana Republic and pariah state status. The country is in economic ruins, 49% of the population now live in abject poverty, basic services such as education and health care have collapsed, etc. The economic and social situation is simple unbearable and the demand for meaningful change, for a competent and accountable government, is now political reality that Zanu PF cannot ignore.

Change is coming and the day Zanu PF’s ruling elite will be brought before the court of law to account for their past is nigh upon us. Like it or not Zanu PF's ruling elite will be asked to account for their past. 

 “Judiciary abuse liberator, Zuma; stark warning for Zanu PF” – indeed, for no one is above the law! The suggestion that liberation war heroes are above the law is foolish and the reason why Zimbabwe is in a mess!

"It is not up to Zanu PF but ZDF to be a professional army" - naive, neither will reform themselves out of office N Garikai

"Chinamasa is an attention seeker and just wants to be slightly relevant. The fact of the matter is that it is not up to Zanu-PF for the Zimbabwean military to be professional, it is not even up to Chinamasa. It is up to the military to decide whether or not it remains professional and that there is no party, state conflation," Nkululeko Sibanda said.

Sibanda, MDC A leader, Nelson Chamisa, was responding to Patrick Chinamasa, Acting Zanu PF National Commissa, who was boasting about Zimbabwe Defence Forces’ (ZDF) checked history of political interference, at the behest of Zanu PF, in the country’s politics from the vote rigging, the military coup and the Gukurahundi massacre.

 “Always be mindful that there is this unbreakable continuity between the liberation struggle and Zanu PF, between the armies of liberation Zipra and Zanla and the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) of independence,” boasted Chinamasa.

“Any notion which seeks to break this bond should be rejected outright.” 

Zimbabwe is not the only nation to have gained her independence out of a bitter armed struggle. Many other nations had a similar experience and still they have managed to produce an integrated national army’s loyalty is to the nation and not to the political party or parties that waged the armed struggle. Zanu PF corrupted the ZNA; just as it did with many other state institutions such as the judiciary, ZEC, Police, etc.; for selfish political gain.  

Indeed, ever since the late 1990s the number one priority on the national agenda has been to implement democratic changes designed to break corrupting bonds Zanu PF had fostered on ZNA, judiciary, etc., etc. The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders on the understanding the party will deliver the democratic reforms the nation was dying for.

The 2008 to 2013 GNU gave Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader then and of whom Chamisa is his successor, the best opportunity ever to implement the democratic reforms to break all the tyrannical bonds Zanu PF leaders had created to corrupt and control the army and all the other state institutions. Alas! MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years and we know why! Tsvangirai and company had no clue what the reforms were much less how they were to be implemented. Even to this day, with all the benefit of hindsight and volumes explaining what the reforms are, etc.; MDC leaders still have no clue what reforms are about.  

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

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power. MDC leaders have been on the national political stage; for the last 21 years, 5 of which in the GNU; they have not only failed to bring about even one reform but, worse still, by participating in flawed elections they are the ones giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.

Last week, Patrick Chinamasa announced that Zanu PF will deny the 3 million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote “as long as the sanctions imposed by the West remain!” Of course, this is just a feeble excuse; one does not beat up ones’ wife and children because they quarrelled with the neighbour.

Chinamasa’s announcement was not exactly a bolt out of blue, Zanu PF has resisted demands for diaspora vote for decades; this was just one more piece of evidence that the party was rigging the 2023 elections. Zanu PF knows the party will get away with yet another rigged elections as long as the MDC leaders participate; they have always done so in the past and, all signs are, they will do so again. Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train seats to the MDC leaders to entice them to participate regardless how flawed and illegal the election process got – it has worked!

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zanu PF has since corrupted the MDC leaders, they now do Zanu PF’s bidding and hence are now an albatross round the nation’s neck, just as Ambassador Dell had predicted.

“It is up to the military to decide whether or not it remains professional and that there is no party, state conflation!” How nauseatingly naïve and idiotic! Of course, the Zanu PF ruling elite who are also the top brass in the Army will never reform themselves out of office. The people have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders on the understanding they will implement the reforms and now they are fighting in Zanu PF’s corner, resist reforms!