Ignorance is a curse worse than death! The dead are not
tormented by anything whereas the ignorant are forever blundering from pillar
to post; excited, it does not take much to get this lot excited, one minute and
disappointed the next as the consequences of their folly come home to roost.
Zimbabweans are an ignorant and easily excitable lot. The
country’s worsening economic situation has shaken the nation like bee-hire everyone
is desperate for change. Other than the broad-brush regime change and economic
recovery, they have no clue what has to change much less how these changes will
be brought about. None!
It is their ignorance, their lack of detail and in-depth knowledge,
that is the Achilles’ heel. Ignorance has left them lose like fallen leaves,
even the lightest of breezes will have them on the move going nowhere or swelling
round and round.
Nelson Chamisa and his CCC has clearly captivated the
Zimbabwe public’s imagination judging from the euphoric reception he is getting
at his rallies. The public believe he is the very embodiment of the change the
nation has been dying for these last 42 years! The cold reality is Chamisa is
not offering the nation any changes, on the contrary, he is going out of his
way to reassure the Zanu PF ruling elite, who are the ones holding the nation
to ransom, that nothing will change.
“The CCC leader Nelson Chamisa has reassured the military
that their jobs will be safe after winning the 2023 elections,” reported Zimeye.
“Addressing his party supporters in Gweru Sunday, Chamisa
said all the top Junta would remain.
“Posted CCC on social media: 16/21 #MkobaRallyHighlights
Change Champion in Chief @nelsonchamisa assured the military, police, CIO,
prison officers & all civil servants (juniors &seniors) that their
positions & welfare will be safe under his government as we usher in
professionalism & constitutional order.”
It is no secret that top brass in the Army, Police and CIO are
the beneficiaries of the wholesale looting of the Marange and Chiadzwa
diamonds. The Zanu PF regime has granted these security services bosses mining
concessions so they do not have to declare the quantity and quality of diamonds,
to whom the diamonds are sold and for how much and who are the beneficiaries
and how much they get. With no tracible record of earnings all those involved on
have no corporate or person tax obligations. None! Of course, this is a licence
to loot!
Zanu PF has since expanded the security services diamond
looting licence to other areas. Other key players such as judges, senior civil
servants and chiefs have been rewarded with generous salaries, farms, etc. These
have all been down payments by Zanu PF ruling elite to buy the blind loyalty of
the securocrats, judges, etc. in pushing the party’s agenda of making sure Zanu
PF stays in power regardless of the democratic wishes of the populous.
Mismanagement and rampant corruption are the prices the
nation is paying for the Zanu PF dictatorship.
What Chamisa is saying is he will leave untouched the costly,
corrupt and wasteful social order that has helped Zanu PF retain its iron grip
on power as long as those involved switched their blind loyalty to supporting
him!
Of course, there will be no meaningful political change or
economic recovery as long as nothing is done to end the mismanagement and corruption.
This is stating the obvious but clearly the masses attending CCC rallies. These
people heard what Chamisa said but hearing is one thing and comprehending is another,
especially for one whose understanding of even the most basic ideas is superficial
at best.
MDC/CCC will never deliver any meaningful change in Zimbabwe.
The party had its golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and
wasted it. Even since the GNU MDC/CCC leaders have given up on reforms, free
elections and dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship and, instead, accept the
dictatorship as fait accompli.
To Nelson Chamisa and company Zanu PF ruling elite have the
right to rig elections and to loot as they see fit. The opposition participate
is these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy, first and foremost, and
for whatever share of the spoils of power Zanu PF leaders decide to give away
to entice the opposition to participate.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess today because
we have some of the most ignorant and naïve people on earth who have repeatedly
ignored the reality before their own eyes in pursuit of a rosy but imaginary
world. There was public euphoria in support of the November 2017 military coup,
for example, although it was self-evident this would never deliver any meaningful
change.
Today the same gullible public is embracing Nelson Chamisa
as Change Champion in Chief and yet MDC/CCC has failed to deliver even one
reform in 22 years and, to win the Zanu PF ruling elite’s support, is openly admitting
will not seek any meaningful change. These people are seeing change where there
is no change, a costly aberration common amongst those who understanding of the
subject matter is superficial, at best.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the understanding the party will deliver the democratic changes the nation needed to end the corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF dictatorship. After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC has failed to deliver even one token reform. Not even one! And all because when MDC leaders got into power, they started to enjoy themselves and completely forgot about the democratic changes.
ReplyDelete“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the trappings of power, they will not rock the boat!) boasted one Zanu PF crony when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms during the GNU.
Of course, the Zanu PF crony was right being a victim of trapping himself. It is no secret that throughout his 37 years in power Robert Mugabe showered his Zanu PF leaders with E-class Mercedes Benz, generous salaries, farms, etc., bankrupting the nation in the process; for one reason – to buy their blind loyalty to him.
It is no surprise that it was only when Mai Mujuru was booted out of Zanu PF that she said anything critical of Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe. “A puppy does not open its eyes the day it is born!” was her excuse. Yeah right! Dotito dogs (Joice Mujuru was born in Dotito) must be the only breed who puppies take 34 years to open their eyes for a creature with life expectancy of 12 years tops!
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is the double jeopardy of the ordinary people failing to have the common sense to anticipate the possibility of MDC leaders selling out – so, they failed to exercise due diligence in picking competent leaders – and in not having the common sense recognise MDC leaders sold out, even with all the evidence before them – hence the reason why so many continue to follow MDC leaders blindly like sheep to the slaughter.
I totally agree, ignorance is indeed a curse worse than death, worst of all when it is self-inflicted. Decades of mental slumber, generation after generation has ossified our people’s brain into useless fatty tissue impermeable to reason and logic!
@ Mbofana
ReplyDelete“There was no way Mugabe was going to wake up one morning, and say, "Hey, that guy Mbofana mentioned something profound in his article yesterday, which made me think long and hard, and have decided to stop looting state coffers for the enrichment of my family and peers, cease brutalizing my opponents, and end the rigging of elections"!
What would have motivated him to change his ways - when clearly, there was more to lose by reforming, than there was to gain through his regime's unrepentant corruption, oppression, and electoral fraud?
That is why, then information minister, Jonathan Moyo, had no shame in commenting, "ZANU PF will never reform itself out of power".
Indeed, no one will ever reform himself out of power - as power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely - but, only a power greater than him, can force him to reform!
Let us never lose sight of the fact that, how the ZANU PF regime has been misruling and mismanaging Zimbabwe, has more to do with power-greed and self-aggrandizement, than merely incompetence and cluelessness (although, that is also certainly a factor).”
Well South Africa’s Apartheid regime did reform itself out of office, at least when it realised apartheid was unsustainable. The Zanu PF dictatorship is unsustainable but given Mnangagwa and his greedy cronies’ warped mentality they will hang on to power to the bitter end. Having a corrupt and incompetent opposition like the MDC has not helped the country’s fight to end the dictatorship as Mugabe quickly learned Morgan Tsvangirai and his lot can easily be bribed to do the regime’s bidding!
Ever since the 2013 elections when SADC leaders literally begged the opposition to postpone elections until reforms are implemented all Zimbabwe’s opposition have known that by participating in the flawed elections, they were giving Zanu PF legitimacy. They participated regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats as bait, which they found irresistible.
Mnangagwa has since created POLAD to reward those who participate in the presidential race and will publicly proclaim the 2018 elections were free and fair. Joining POLAD is just the cherry the real damage is participating in these flawed elections.
After 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule that has triggered total economic meltdown and left millions living in abject poverty Zanu PF ruling elite should have realised by now this is a dead end and initiated reform. They have not done so because they lack the intellect to know to make that quantum leap. Having an opposition that is so inapt they have become Zanu PF’s cheer leaders instead of being the thorn on the regime’s backside constantly reminding the regime of the consequences of its misrule.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy is the narrow and straight path that many claim to follow but never do because they lack the intellect to overcome the primeval autocratic instinct that burn fiercely once one gets into power. A control freak like Chamisa will never be a democrat. Never ever!
ReplyDelete@ Bionic Vusa
ReplyDelete“Chamisa and his group don’t even want reforms, they think they are popular enough to win the elections without the reforms, and after they win they hope to use the same skewed electoral system Zanu PF is using to stay in power for the rest of their natural lives.”
I think you are giving Chamisa and company more credit than they deserve; these MDC guys would not implement the democratic reforms even if their very lives depended on it! They lack the intellect to understand the complexities of reforms. How can they implement something they don’t know!
Still, I agree with you that MDC leaders have never been daunted by the prospect of participating in the flawed and illegal Zimbabwe elections because they have never understood the rigging process and, most important of all, they were happy and content to win a few scraps. The big issues of reforms, free elections, the consequences of decades of rigged elections, etc. did not concern them. Not even the matter of their participation in these flawed elections is giving Zanu PF legitimacy has even registered in their pea-size working brain. They are just jackals at a lion’s kill!
Chamisa is doing his best to assure the Army, Police, etc. that they will keep their present generous looting rights into the future, their amassed loot, farms and, those with hidden skeletons, their secrets will remain secret. That is a tall order which everyone knows will be impossible to honour given the root cause for change is the reality the present political and economic situation is unsustainable and not, as Chamisa and company would claim, the opposition’s winning in rigged elections strategies finally working.
Chamisa and company will never have the economic and political muscle to bribe the securocrats, judges, traditional leaders, to have a well-oiled vote rigging machine comparable to what Zanu PF has had all these years. Given Chamisa and company’s blundering incompetence, the party will be very lucky indeed to last two terms! A lifetime – what a laugh! You sure have a good sense of humour.
GOVERNMENT has tightened screws on nurses wishing to resign from the civil service as it battles to stem the massive exodus of health workers.
ReplyDeleteHundreds of nurses are leaving the country for greener pastures following government's failure to remunerate them fairly and improve their working conditions.
The exodus has almost brought the country's health delivery to its knees.
Last month, government hiked fees for verification letters, a prerequisite for nurses to be employed in foreign countries, from US$150 to US$300.
The US$300 cannot be paid at its equivalent in the local currency.
To complete the verification process, nurses now have to go through numerous office stopovers, which can take up to five months for them to get the verification letters from the Nurses Council of Zimbabwe.
This Zanu PF regime has only managed to contain inflation, high as it is already, from soaring to the 2008 era when it finally peaked at 500 billion percent by throwing nurses, teachers and other more vulnerable civil servants and ordinary citizens without the political muscle of the soldiers and Police to the wolves. This happened soon in Mnangagwa reign.
When Mnangagwa takeover from Mugabe following the 2017 military coup, he was cocksure his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” call would open the flood gates of investors who will in turn kick start the stalled economy. When Mnangagwa failed to keep his promise to hold free elections that was the proof investors needed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state Mnangagwa’s call was just empty rhetoric. The economic recovery never happened, and regime’s response was to cut spending on health care, education, welfare etc.
The failure to pay nurses and teachers has the immediate impact of the individuals concerned who are clearly facing serious economic hardship, on society at large who are forced to make do without these essential basic services. The whole nation will pay dearly for it because the ill-effects of a whole generation denied basic health care and education will be felt for generation to come.