"We’re not far from Rwanda in 1994,” warned Biti. Because we’re cursed with great man who’re easily corrupted by power. N Garikai

 “He (John Kumalo) is a big man, in this place, your brother. His shop always full of men, talking as you have heard. But they say you must hear him at a meeting, he and Dubula and a brown man named Tomlinson. They say he speaks like a bull, and growls in his throat like a lion, and could make men mad if he would. But for that they say he has not enough courage, for he would surely be sent to prison.

. . . . Because the white man has power, we too want power. But when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupt. I have seen it often. He seeks power and money to put right what is wrong, and when he gets them, why, he enjoys the power and the money.”

Cry, the Beloved Country. Alan Paton

Alan Paton hit the nail on the head right there. He was writing about South Africa but he might as well have been writing about Zimbabwe or any other African country. “Same shit different country!” to paraphrase a favourite Caribbean slogan. We in Africa are cursed with this “Big man who speaks like a bull, growls like a line and could make men mad if he had the courage. When he gets power and money, he is a great if he is not corrupt!” Alas, he is almost always corrupt!

"Politics, in Zimbabwe, is suffocating because it is politics of intolerance, durawalls and division," warned Tendai Biti, CCC MP for Harare East. He is just one of the many big man John Kumalo Zimbabwean aspirants strutting on one of his favourite stages, parliament.

"Where you have such corrosive politics Mr. Speaker Sir, it is difficult to come up with a common division. It is politics of hatred, exclusion, intolerance, and regrettably Hon. Speaker Sir, 42 years after Independence, that politics is entrenched."

"If you look at the hatred on social media Mr. Speaker Sir, if you look at some of the things that are said in this Parliament – the language of hatred is so entrenched.

"We are not very far from Rwanda in 1994.  Mr. Speaker Sir, you know what happened in Rwanda in 1994. (Rwanda's 1994 Genocide claimed more than 900,000 lives.)”

What our strutting peacock did not say and never ever admitted is that he and his MDC colleagues had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship; the root cause of all the economic mess and political paralysis in Zimbabwe, he is wittering about each time he opens his mouth. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, and they threw all reforms out of the window.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Tendai Biti and company into power on the understanding the MDC would bring about the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, suffocating the nation. In the 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC has failed to implement even one reform. Not even one!

Indeed, the nation would not be messing around implementing reforms if Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies had not betrayed the nation after independence. Instead of honouring the independence struggle promise of freedom, human rights and justice for all, Zanu PF thugs imposed the de facto one-party with the disastrous consequences we see today.

Zimbabwe is blessed with rich agricultural land and excellent climate for growing crops all year round. The country was, during the colonial rule, the breadbasket of the whole Southern Africa region. Twenty years after independence Mugabe started seizing the white owned farms, often accompanied by gratuitous violence against the white farmers and their black workers. The seized farms were given to Zanu PF loyalists mostly.

Within ten years of the farm seizure, Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector collapsed, never to recover, and took with it the economy. We are starving in the country which is for all practically purposes, is the Garden of Eden! A damning testimonial to Alan Paton’s “when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupt!”

Of course, our strutting peacock, Tendai Biti does not give a damn about the tragic human suffering resulting from the decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and riotous lawless that have earned the country the failed state label. He would have implemented the reforms to end the dictatorship during the GNU, if he cared.

Indeed, Biti is already campaigning to win back the Harare East or some such seat in 2023 elections. He, like everyone else in CCC, is as keen as mustard to participate in next year’s elections. Of course, he knows that Zanu PF is rigging these elections just as it has rigged other elections in the past and, most important of all, he knows that by participating CCC is once again giving Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.

Biti and company are as keen as mustard to participate in flawed election to give Zanu PF legitimacy because Zanu PF is giving away a few urban gravy train seats. CCC are selling out the nation’s opportunity to implement the reforms and end the curse of bad governance for 30 pieces of silver! And this has been going on for the last 22/42 years and counting for CCC/Zanu PF respectively. The same story of power, corruption, betrayal and heart-breaking human misery is being peated with sicken regularity in Africa.

Cry, the beloved country! Cry, the beloved continent of Africa! 

Chamisa resorting to double-Dutch to sell autocratic CCC – anything to avoid demanding Truss vs Sunak democratic slug P Guramatunhu

 "It (CCC party structures) is a dead issue, a non-issue really," Chamisa said. "We are introducing fresh politics and new culture and, of course, it will have a new structure carrying within it new strategies,” Nelson Chamisa told The NewsHawks.

"Those who believe in old ways will get lost in locating the new us. The new is centred around the citizens. This is not from the ordinary citizens, but from other quarters and those quarters are detached from reality and those quarters are detached from citizen struggles."

This is just double Dutch rhetorical nonsense!

Chamisa is claiming that it is the citizens’ desire to have no constitution, no party structures, hold no party congress, etc. He still insists that CCC is a democratic party and it is the people who are making all the decisions. This beggars the question; how the people are making these decisions to have no constitution, etc. and communicating them to him when without these basic party structural frame work the people have no meaningful.

The party constitution and structure are as important to giving people a meaningful say a healthy and functioning democracy as a voice box, ears and common language is to effective communication.

After four decades of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule the nation is yarning for a political system in which the ordinary citizen’s freedoms and rights, including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, are restored. Chamisa knows this and is offering a democratic CCC party make a big song and dance, in typical Mugabe style, and yet making sure CCC is an autocracy and remains an autocracy.  

Chamisa has no wish to make CCC a truly people’s party in which all the leaders are democratically accountable to the party members and the public at large. The prospect of him having to fight a leadership battle the same way Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are slugging it out for the leadership of the Conservative Party, scares the hell out of Chamisa. It is not surprising, given his MDC track record of corruption and breath-taking incompetence – the party failed to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, for Pete’s sake.

What Chamisa is failing to understand is he cannot have his cake and eat it too. CCC, as it is presently constituted is a one-man band, an autocracy, in which he and alone makes all the decisions, calls all the shots. It is deceitful, to say the least, to present the autocratic CCC as a democratic party.

The chef can get away with passing mutton for lamb but not so with hot chilli for tomato.

But knowing Nelson Chamisa and company as we all do, they are renowned for defending the indefensible, we will have hot chilli, autocratic CCC, shoved down our throats, for many moons to come. A truly democratic CCC is a luxury Chamisa et al can ill afford; just as implementing reforms and holding free and fair elections is a luxury Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies can ill afford.

A number of Zimbabweans are finding Chamisa’s insistence on calling CCC a people’s party insulting because they can see with their own eyes that it is not. A few more have gone one more step further and are questioning CCC’s insistence on participating in flawed and illegal elections only to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

With each passing day, more and more Zimbabweans are realising the seriousness of the situation Zimbabwe is in; stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship and, instead of helping to end the dictatorship, the corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC is the one helping Zanu PF stay in power by selling out on reforms and insisting on participating in flawed elections.

Zimbabweans are a naïve and gullible lot; it took them 20 years to admit Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were corrupt and murderous tyrants. It has taken 22 years and counting for Zimbabweans to finally figure out that MDC/CCC are corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless. That the so called democratic CCC party is just another autocracy. 

Zanu PF lose 2 more by-elections to CCC – vote rigging juggernaut barely hit 2nd gear, come 2023 it’s overdrive N Garikai

 Zanu PF has lost the Chipinge and Kariba local government by-elections to the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

Yeah!  I will bet my bottom dollar the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut, if deployed in any of these by-elections, hardly ever reached second gear. Come the 2023 elections, it will be a different kettle of fish, the juggernaut will go through all the gears to reach overdrive if need be!

For the first time ever since the country’s independence, the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut was switched off for the March 2008 vote; there was no intimidation, violence or the usual vote rigging; the nation had the nearest thing ever to holding free, fair and credible elections. The people jumped at the life-time opportunity to vote Zanu PF out of office.

However, when it was clear Zanu PF was losing the election, the party quickly switched the juggernaut back on. ZEC was instructed not to announce the results and after six weeks of cooking up the figures, Tsvangirai’s 73% was whittled down to 47%, enough to force a runoff. During the runoff the juggernaut went into overdrive, unleashing the worst election related wanton violence in the country’s history.

Mugabe won the June 2008 runoff with 84%. The super-charged Zanu PF juggernaut boosted his 27% March 2008 vote to 84% in three months!

The 2008 elections were a watershed elections; Zanu PF demonstrated that the opposition winning 73% of the vote was not good enough for them to win power!

The 2008 to 2013 GNU was supposed to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut. Not even one token reform was implemented, and Zanu PF retained all its carte blanche dictatorial powers including those to blatantly cheat and use wanton violence to win elections.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a cunning fellow, there is no denying that. Yes, he also had the great fortune of having mentally challenged individuals like the late Morgan Tsvangirai, also late Simon Muzenda, Emmerson Mnangagwa, etc. as his advisories; there in no denying that either.

Still, Mugabe deserves credit for conning the entire MDC leadership, including luminaries like David Coltart and Tendai Biti, into believing that MDC was so popular not even a turbo-charged Zanu PF voter rigging juggernaut would ever overturn the MDC victory. With the party this popular, MDC leaders did not need to bother themselves with implementing even token reforms. To have kept the whole MDC leadership in this cloud cuckoo land for five years of the GNU, was a political feat.

Ever since the GNU debacle, MDC leaders have compounded their foolishness of failing to implement the reforms by maintaining they have “winning in rigged elections (wire)” strategies. All just hot air, of course. Strategies to beat the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut that gave turned a 73% to 27% defeat into a 84% to 16% landslide victory. Zanu PF does not only have a loaded dice but one with 6 on all sex sides; only a fool will bet against them throwing a 6!

Two of the many lessons Mugabe learned from the GNU was to let the opposition win some seats to keep up the appearance that Zimbabwe is a multi-party democracy. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win some gravy train seats, bait to entice them to participate no matter how flawed and illegal the process get.

Mnangagwa has gone one step further and created POLAD, a political body grouping all the losing 2018 presidential candidates who publicly acknowledged the elections were free and fair and that Mnangagwa was the legitimate winner. POLAD members have been showered with benefits including free new cars.

The second lesson was to use the Zanu PF dictatorial powers sparingly, especially the wanton violence; only when the party’s iron grip on power is under serious threat.

Whilst the EU, Commonwealth, etc. have all condemned Zimbabwe’s elections as a farce. SADC has always judged the election as “substantial free and fair” giving Zanu PF legitimacy. The only occasion SADC condemned the Zimbabwe elections was 2008 and Zanu PF lost legitimacy forcing the party to accept the humiliation of having to share power with MDC in during the GNU.

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections, confident the bait of the few urban gravy train seats plus the POLAD cherry will work its magic to guarantee the participation of everyone in opposition camp. What Zanu PF is not sure of is that SADC will give the usual “substantial free and fair” verdict and the legitimacy; especially South Africa whose ANC government is under increasing pressure for falsely endorsing rigged Zimbabwe elections in the past.

After 42 years of rigged elections and with the country on the edge of the precipitous abyss, Zimbabwe cannot afford yet another rigged election – at least, one in which Zanu PF get legitimacy – that could be the last step sending the country over the edge.

The challenge is to expose the scandal of Zanu PF rigging the elections, CCC participating to give the flawed process some credibility for the sake of 30 pieces of silver and SADC’s shameless “substantial free and fair” endorsement giving Zanu PF legitimacy. The treasonous betrayal and insanity must be exposed and stopped now and not wait for the rigged 2023 election results to be out; it will be too late, the damage would be done and it would be even harder to reverse it. 

“ED is Zanu PF’s 2023 presidential candidate” Chiwenga (grudgingly) endorsed – which Zanu PF rigging to guaranteed legitimacy, thanks to CCC sell outs P Guramatunhu

 

The 2017 military coup that removed the late Robert Mugabe from office was about power and not good governance, as the coup plotters’ spin-doctors would have us believe. Each and everyone of the coup plotters got a share of the spoils; Emmerson Mnangagwa became State President, Constantino Chiwenga who was the Army commander who gave the illegal coup order became VP, the other senior Army officers who carried out the treasonous order Perence Shiri and Sibusiso Moyo became Ministers, etc.

It was widely believed Mnangagwa and Chiwenga had agreed the former will serve one presidential five-year term and then hand over power to the later. The rivalry between the two gentlemen for control of the party, Zanu PF, has been the backdrop of the endless political machinations in the party, Army and government as each fought for dominance.

Zanu PF is heading for an elective congress this year and Mnangagwa has already made it clear he intends to stand as the Zanu PF presidential candidate in the 2023 elections. There has been mounting public pressure from some within the party for him to honour the rumoured agreement to step down after one five-year term.

"As we move towards next year's harmonised elections, let it be known by everyone that our Presidential candidate is President Mnangagwa," VP Constantino Chiwenga told a party rally in Chimanimani also attended by Mnangagwa on Friday.

Whether or not Mnangagwa and Chiwenga ever agreed on a succession matrix is a moot point, what is crystal clear is both men are as keen as mustard to stay in power. Indeed, they keener now than back in 2017; the former has tasted absolute power and is hooked and waiting to take over has made the later hungrier than ever.

In the wake of the November 2017 military coup, Mnangagwa and his coup partners promised “free and fair elections”. It was just a gimmick; the thugs had risked all to secure power just eight months earlier they were not going to risk losing it in a free and fair election!

Those who believed Mnangagwa and company would keep their promise to hold free and fair elections in 2018 were naïve and should have learned their lesson. It is foolish for anyone to believe the 2023 elections will be free and fair; particularly when the Zanu PF thugs have already learned they can rig the elections and get away with it, thanks to MDC’s connivance.

There is no denying that by participating in these flawed and illegal elections MDC/CCC have given the process some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. What is more, the MDC leaders themselves know this and yet continue to participate out of greed, as one of them confessed.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs (MDC N and MDC T) couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” David Coltart wrote in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. He was the MDC N Minister of Education in the 2008 GNU and is Treasurer General in the CCC.

“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 come together to form the MDC Alliance before the 2018 elections and still they did not even consider boycotting the elections because greed – the same greed that had stopped them implement reforms during the GNU and forced them to participate in the 2013 elections – got the better of them.

The same greed is still ruling the MDC/CCC roost, the party is hell bent on participating in these 2023 elections regardless of the certainty of Zanu PF rigging the elections.

"We are certainly going to be launching the New Great Zimbabwe blueprint setting out our comprehensive policy alternatives that will set out a detailed plan on how to end Zimbabwe's international isolation as the government in-waiting," CCC spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere announced this week.

The “New Great Zimbabwe blueprint” is CCC’s party’s 2023 elections manifesto. CCC is hell bent on participating in these 2023 elections regardless of SADC, EU, etc. repeated advice not to participate without reforms and the party’s own leaders confessing it is foolish to do so.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because ever since the country’s independence in 1980 we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections. We have been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship that has rigged elections to stay in power.

The nation’s concerted effort to end the Zanu PF dictatorship by electing MDC to implement democratic changes designed to stop Zanu PF rigging have come to naught because Zanu PF has bribed MDC leaders to forget the reforms in return for a share of the spoils of power.

The A1 reason why Zimbabwe has failed to end the Zanu PF dictatorship this last 22 years is our failure to recognise that MDC leaders were corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. It is a crying shame that many Zimbabweans have no clue what constitute free elections and believe Chamisa’s oxymoronic nonsense of winning rigged elections, even after 42 years of blatantly rigged Zanu PF elections.  

Zimbabwe’s present political system is so corrupt it cannot produce competent leaders. We need to implement the democratic reforms now more than ever to overhaul the system and get rid of both Zanu PF and the compromised opposition. We need to drain the sewage swamp and have a clean and fresh start.

S A will slam door shut to Zimbabwean refugees – all we ask, please stop endorsing rigged elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy P Guramatunhu

 Zimbabwe is a textbook case failed state – a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and lawless thugs who have rigged elections to cement their iron grip on power. 42 years of criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resource have left the country’s economy in ruins.

Many Zimbabweans have left the country as economic and political refugees. There are over a million Zimbabweans in South Africa, some are there legally others illegally. What matters is their welcome in that country is wearing out!

“When it comes to the issue of Home Affairs, and you were saying maybe we are sending Zimbabweans back to starve, as the African National Congress (ANC) we believe that all countries need to take responsibility of their citizens,” Minister Lindiwe Zulu told Jacaranda FM.

“First and foremost, we take responsibility of our citizens, we make sure that despite the challenges that we have of poverty, unemployment and inequality, we shouldn’t be having South Africans leaving South Africa with almost nothing,

“ … leaving South Africa and going to neighbouring countries to go and look for greener pastures when they aren’t even that much of the greener pastures that we can talk about.”

Lindiwe Zulu, social development minister and chairperson of the ANC's (S A’s ruling party) international relations sub-committee, this means a very significant policy shift by the government. Zimbabwean economic and political refugees are no longer welcome in South Africa.

Anyone, anyone at all, who has followed the political intrigue during the 2008 to 2013 GNU in Zimbabwe will tell you that Lindiwe Zulu was the one SADC official who nagged Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends the hardest to get them to implement the democratic reforms.

Anecdotal story tells of Lindiwe Zulu reminding MDC leaders to implement reforms. The MDC leaders reported the otherwise private and confidential advice to Zanu PF leaders. Robert Mugabe, the Zanu PF dictator, whose plan was to bribe the MDC leaders so they forgot about the reforms was clearly working, was furious at the prospect of Ms Zulu foiling his plan.

Mugabe was so furious with Ms Zulu he called her an “idiotic street woman”! Mugabe had a foul mouth!

Of all the SADC leaders Ms Lindiwe Zulu has good reasons to be disappointed with Zimbabweans, especially MDC for failing to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU, end the Zanu PF dictatorship and with it the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

As much as Minister Zulu has causes célèbres to be disappointed with Zimbabweans for selling out on implementing reforms; still in her more cerebral moments she too must admit that SADC’s decision to endorse Zimbabwe’s rigged 2013 (all others thereafter) as “substantially free and fair” and thus giving Zanu PF legitimacy was:

a)      Was a foolish move as it did nothing to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Indeed, by giving Zanu PF legitimacy guaranteed, the regional body has given the regime the confidence to ignore all calls from ordinary Zimbabweans, EU, Commonwealth, etc. to implement reforms before elections.

 

b)     Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections. The regime will be forced into a new GNU arrangement if SADC denied Zanu PF legitimacy as happened in 2008. There are many competent Zimbabweans who can be trusted to implement the democratic reforms and get the nation out of this economic and political mess.

So, the people of Zimbabwe are not asking South Africa to continue its open-door policy to allow Zimbabwean economic and political refugees, Zimbabweans would have no cause to be refugees if the country finally sorted it problem of rigged elections. All we are asking is that South Africa must stop giving Zanu PF legitimacy for blatantly rigged elections and thus perpetuate the dictatorship and pariah state. 

Bishops call for synodal dialogue, no party can go it alone – won’t speak truth to power then “say nothing”! W Mukori

 

Zimbabwe’s Catholic Bishops renew their call for the country’s political leaders to hold dialogue.

“If, as Catholic social teaching says, the value of polices is assessed by how they impact the poor then one can safely say that our political and economic policies have failed. There is so much dehumanizing poverty and despair among our people. In order to overcome our socio-political and economic challenges there is need for a meaningful inclusive dialogue in the country. If there is a lesson from our synodal journey it is precisely that we cannot go it alone” wrote the Bishops in their latest Pastoral Letter.

“No single political party has all the answers hence the importance of listening to each other as we journey together.”

Zimbabweans have become masters in the art of talking about trivial matters, repeatedly as in this case, just to avoid talking about the elephant in the room. “Kuroimbwa waka vinga mupini!” as one would say in Shona.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political trials and tribulation and the heart-breaking human misery they have caused is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. We have a regime, Zanu PF thugs, that believes it has the divine right to rule the country and so for the last 42 years and counting has ridden roughshod on the people, denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life.

Many have dialogued with the regime reminding it of its duty and responsibility to uphold the laws of the land and respect the freedoms and rights of all Zimbabweans. The message has gone one ear and out the other!

If these Catholic Bishops are serious about end Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance then they must join SADC, the EU and many others who have been demanding the implementation of democratic reforms, the prerequisite for free and fair elections. And stop wasting time calling for dialogue.

Dialogue on what? What is there new that has not been said these last 42 years? Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies will happily hold these synodal dialogues to the end of time as long as the party retains its iron grip on power.

Millions of Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty the nation is standing on the edge of the precipitous abyss. Zimbabwe must deal with the problem of rigged elections and bad governance head-on

Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past and is set to rig the 2023 elections. The regime must be told in no uncertain terms that this is not acceptable and must stop!

If the Bishop don’t want to speak the truth to power then they “must say nothing”, as the Prophet Daniel aptly put it!

“Hospitals must be exempt from ZESA load shedding” – not when it's generating capacity, wake up Nomusa Garikai

 "These power cuts are already piling more costs in some hospitals such as Ingutsheni and Ekusileni Hospital that now have to rely on generators, yet fuel prices have been going up," complained Bulawayo provincial medical director, Marphios Siamuchembu, in response to the now all familiar ZESA power cuts.

"The hospitals cannot do anything about load shedding and fuel prices but the government should just make sure hospitals are exempt from load shedding, or ensure that they have adequate fuel for back-up if they can't be exempt.”

ZESA has been forced to switch off customers and ration supply because it is not generating enough to meet demand. The power generating capacity the nation inherited from the white regime in 1980 is all there is.

Indeed, the power generation capacity has even dropped over the years as many of the generators are either unreliable due to age and or poor maintenance. The Zanu PF government has failed to invest to meet the growing nation’s electricity power needs; any altogether familiar story.

Money that should have been spend building the country’s power generation capacity and other basic needs was squandered on such luxuries as the Blue Roof and extravagant lifestyles for the ruling elite. Mugabe’s Blue Roof mansion costed US$ 4 billion plus, enough to build, equip and commission Batoka Gorge Hydro – a second Kariba Hydro to the ordinary people.

The white colonial government would have commissioned Batoka Gorge Hydro in the 1970s if it was not for the civil war. The Mugabe regime should have built the Dam by the late 1980s if it was not for the corruption and mismanagement.

Think of the accumulated economic benefits to the whole nation of a second Kariba Dam pumping 600MW plus 24/7 for the last 30 years! Instead, the nation got the Blue Roof mansion which, like the rest Mugabe’s many of selfish projects is itself in any advanced stage of rot and decay. And the nation is paying dearly for the criminal waste of money and opportunity. The chickens are now home to roost!

Director Siamuchembu is asking for hospitals to be exempt from ZESA load shedding as if hospitals can ever get all their economic needs untouched by the economic meltdown affecting the rest in the country. No doubt, he is sold body and soul on President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030, Zimbabwe attaining upper middle-income status. A mirage since all evidence points to Zimbabwe sinking deeper and deeper into economic despair.

Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and lawless thugs who have rigged elections to stay in power. It is near impossible to do business in such a corrupt and lawless country. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no hope of meaningful economic recovery. None!

It is sad that intellectual like Dr Siamuchembu to bury their heads in the sand and ignoring the economic meltdown and human tragedy in the country caused by the decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawless. The nation has ignored the problem of Zanu PF misrule for decades and the nation has paid dearly for it in cash, lost opportunities and in human suffering and many lives lost unnecessarily. Enough is enough!

Forget asking for hospitals being exempt from ZESA load shedding, it is foolish asking for something that is not even there. We, all Zimbabweans without exception, must demand democratic reforms and free and fair elections as the only way to end this curse of pariah state.

If anyone was ever going to hold the belligerent, pompous and tyrannical Robert Mugabe to respect the freedoms and rights of the ordinary citizens in independent Zimbabwe, then that could only be intelligentsia. Fortunately for Zimbabwe, in 1980 the country had a sizeable number of very well-educated blacks. Unfortunately, they failed the nation in the principal task of restraining the arrogant Mugabe to keep him on the narrow and straight path.

Mugabe has never had any problems recruiting professional men and women to do his dirty bidding to establish and retain the de facto one-party Zanu PF dictatorship. Many joined out of the spirit of “if you cannot beat them, join!” Other just went along to get along.

Even those Zimbabwean intellectuals who have join the opposition, they too have not escaped Mugabe’s corrupting influence. When it came to the critical task of implementing the democratic reforms, for example, even the likes of David Coltart and Tendai Biti failed to submit even one reform proposal in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC people have learned to enjoy the trapping of power; they will never rock the boat!) boasted the Zanu PF intellectuals when asked why MDC were not implementing any reforms. They were smart enough to know what Mugabe was playing at; they too had fallen for the same honeypot trap and never rocked the boat.

Today, with the country’s economy in total ruins, the political system in paralysis (both Zanu PF and the opposition has corrupt and incompetent thugs with no clue how to get the nation out of this mess), millions living in abject poverty and the whole nation standing at the very edge of the abyss; it is for the intelligentsia to snap out of sloth like slumber and stop the nation walking over the edge.   If anyone can save Zimbabwe from this man-made hell-on-earth we are in, it is the intellectuals, if only they will finally wake up now before it is too late!

“Hospitals must be exempt from ZESA load shedding!” Of course, everyone knows that hospitals provide critical and essential, life and death, service but if you’re not generating enough to meet essential the load then even hospitals will be switched off.

The very fact that even hospitals re being switched off underlines to sorry state of the nation’s power supply industry. The decay and rot is not just in the power industry, it is everywhere – people like Director Siamuchembu must finally wake up and see the tragic mess we in! 

Chinon’o, we would NOT need Sri Lanka style protests if CCC finally stop selling out! Patrick Guramatunhu

 “Writing on his Twitter handle, renowned and corruption fighter journalist, Hopwell Chin'ono hinted that the CCC leadership has thrown Sikhala under the bus at his hour of need,” reported Byo24News.

"A political movement that doesn't robustly stand with its persecuted leaders will not be able to take power because it lacks coherent approach towards pushing back against oppressive rule,” quoting Chinon’o’s twitter.

"Until they stop seeing parliament and council as jobs, it will remain a dream  deferred.”

Anyone remotely familiar with MDC/CCC will NOT be surprised to hear the party has thrown Job Sikhala under the bus. Hopewell is right, there is no “coherent approach towards pushing back against oppressive rule”. Whilst the likes of Sikhala have pushed for a more robust direct confrontation or be in practice mere posturing. Nelson Chamisa has advocated nonviolence and peaceful demonstrations although he has yet to hold one successful demo.

It has been impossible to hold peaceful demonstrations in a country where the authority view any such demo as a serious threat to their hold on power and react accordingly. Those calling for the demo pretend they will be peaceful but know better.

Chamisa and Sikhala have one thing in common, they both know that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and that participating in these elections will only give Zanu PF legitimacy. They have known this since the MDC failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. And yet they have participated because they also know that Zanu PF is giving away a few gravy train seats, especially in urban centres such as the seat Sikhala is now holding.

The dog fight over the urban gravy train seats is intense and the likes of Sikhala, Tendai Biti, Fadzayi Mahere, etc. are all having to do something extra to be noticed. For Biti it is mourning day after day on how Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has messed up (Biti did nothing to stamp out corruption, the cancer killing the economy, but somehow expect Ncube to do so) and for Job Sikhala it is posturing pretending he will take on the regime single handed!

Both Tendai Biti and Job Sikhala won their respective urban gravy train seats in the 2018 elections. Zanu PF rigged the elections and secured 2/3 majority in parliament and senate plus the presidency. Zanu PF has been able to do as it damn well pleased. By participating Biti and company gave Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help perpetuate the dictatorship.

What is infuriating is that the opposition has known all along the sheer futility of their participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy as David Coltart readily confessed in his book.

In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the 2008 GNU, gave details of how Zanu PF was flouting the electoral rules in the upcoming 2013 elections. It was clear the elections would not be free, fair and credible.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” wrote Senator 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.”

The failure to have a coalition was just a feeble excuse for participating in the 2013 elections. Four of the main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties formed the MDC Alliance, just before the 2018 elections, and the coalition participated in that year’s elections. The question of boycotting the elections was never even discussed.

Indeed, it was none other than Nelson Chamisa himself, the MDC Alliance presidential candidate, who dismissed call for boycotting the elections. “MDC Alliance has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” he claimed. All hot air, of course.

Nelson Chamisa, Job Sikhala, Tendai Biti and the rest in CCC are divided and confused over many issues except one – they are united in their resolve to participate in the 2023 elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats offered by Zanu PF as bait. President Mnangagwa knows that and hence the reason why he continues to arrogantly and blatantly rigs the elections, he knows CCC’s participation guarantees Zanu PF legitimacy.

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections as we speak. The party has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, it is clear ZEC will not produce a verified voters’ roll and cases of wanton violence have increased considerably already. Zanu PF is guaranteed of yet another landslide victory in 2023 and, thanks to CCC’s folly of participating, guaranteed legitimacy too.

"Job Sikhala has just been brought to court movie style with an escort of riot police providing security for the tinted double cab State vehicle that brought him to court. He is charged with Defeating or Obstructing course of Justice. Very few CCC members are at Court," continued Chinon’o.

Unless the mass CCC supporters turn out resulted in mass street protests Sri Lanka style, peaceful or otherwise; nothing will change, as long as Zanu PF continues to enjoy its carte blanche power to rig the elections and get legitimacy from CCC participation.

Sri Lanka style mass protest, even if Chinon’o and all those advocating for it can guarantee they will be peaceful – a nonsense since Zanu PF will certainly use violence to quash the protest, will not necessarily achieve the desired changes. Zimbabwe had the 2017 military coup and it brought bout no meaningful change.

Mass protest and/or military coup are the last option when everything else has failed. We, in Zimbabwe, have not tried to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections. MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. And, to add insult to injury, they are the ones insisting on participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

Chinon’o, we do not need CCC members attending Court hearing in their hundreds of thousands or Sri Lanka style mass street protests to end the Zanu PF dictatorship! What we need is CCC leaders to finally stop selling out, to stop giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy for 30 pieces of silver! 

“Only Chamisa and Kasukuwere can deliver us out of this hell!” Nonsense they’re problem cannot be the solution too! P Guramatunhu

 

"There are two people at the moment who can deliver Zimbabweans from where we find ourselves in, some of us are just helpers and we are only mobilising 10%. These two people are Nelson Chamisa and Saviour Kasukuwere," said Godfrey Tsenengamu leader of Front for Economic Emancipation (FEEZ) and former Zanu-PF youth leader.

Tsenengmu is third-rate thug and, like all third-rate thugs, he has the IQ of garden slug. His promotion to be Zanu PF Youth leader made him big headed and so thinks himself an authority in matters far, far beyond his intellectual ability. Here, he clearly does not know what he is talking about.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 42 years and counting. How can either Saviour Kasukuwere and/or Nelson Chamisa get us out of the mess when they have played their part in landing us in the mess or keeping us there.

Kasukuwere is a seasoned Zanu PF thug who played his part in establishing and retaining Zanu PF as the de facto one-party state. Kasukuwere started his political career as a Zanu PF youth leader, just like Tsenengamu, and Mugabe promoted him to become one of the key members in his cabinet because he was a ruthless thug whom the dictator could count on to do his dirty work no questions asked.

Kasukuwere had to run for his life after the November 2017 military coup because he suddenly found himself on the losing G40 faction side. Someone had to lose!

If G40 had prevailed in November 2017, the country would have continued the disastrous road it had been travelling up to then. Mnangagwa and his Lacoste faction prevailed but the route did not change because the regime was still the same corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical dictatorship or be it under new management. If Kasukuwere was to stage a comeback and win the 2023 elections Zimbabwe will continue down the same disastrous path we are on under Mnangagwa.

To claim there is a difference between Mugabe and Mnangagwa or Mnangagwa and Kasukuwere is as nonsensical as mouse comparing a cobra to a black mamba – the two snakes are fatally deadly to mouse!

The people of Zimbabwe have risked and lost their property, freedom and over 500 lost their very lives in the 2008 operation “Mavhotera papi” (Whom did you vote for) alone electing MDC into power on the understanding the party will implement the democratic changes and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. MDC has failed to implement even one token reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU.

Worse still, it is MDC now CCC that is keeping Zanu PF in power by insisting in participating in elections so flawed there is not even a verified voters’ roll giving Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF has given away a few urban gravy train seats as bait – a bribe MDC leaders have found irresistible!

To get out of this hell-on-earth we find ourselves in Zimbabwe must implement the democratic reforms and restore the democratic right of every Zimbabwean to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

Chamisa’s ethos of “winning rigged elections” is an oxymoronic nonsense because it grants Zanu PF carte blanche powers to rig the elections. His flagship strategy to register 6 million new voters to count Zanu PF’s rigging is dead in the water already because CCC has only registered 250 000, 4% of their target.

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections to win with yet another landslide. No doubt Chamisa will make the usual big song and dance complaining that Zanu PF rigged the elections. Again, no one with half a brain will listen to him because they know he is only addressing his naïve and gullible followers who don’t know he knew about the rigging and participated regardless out of greed.

The only way CCC or anyone else can ever be in power in Zimbabwe without implementing the democratic reforms first, is if there are violent street protests and/or another military coup. Chamisa and company read stories of what is happening in Sri Lanka and can’t wait to see it happen in Zimbabwe.

“Only Chamisa and Kasukuwere can deliver us from this hell!” Nonsense they landed us in this hell, they are the problem and cannot be the solution too!

Why MDC/CCC participate in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy in an open book – read it for yourself N Garikai

 “Electoral watchdog, the Election Resource Centre says Zimbabwe's total eligible voters should hover around eight million, meaning that nearly three million people are not interested to vote,” reported News Day.

“A graphic report produced by ERC this week revealed that opposition strongholds such as Harare and Bulawayo have the least number of potential voters registered to vote in the 2023 elections compared to rural constituencies.

“According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), only 5 804 975 people are on the 2023 voters roll, a 2% increase from the 2018 figure of 5 695 706 registered voters.

“Zec has promised to introduce more voter registration blitzes.”

There are four key points to be noted from the News Day report:

1)     There are three million plus Zimbabweans in the diaspora that Zanu PF has denied the vote because “the West imposed sanctions on Zanu PF leaders” explained Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF acting spokesperson last June. Of course, it is a feeble excuse; why should the Zimbabweans in the diaspora be denied their fundamental right to a meaning full vote over something nothing to do with them. How can these elections be anything but a farce, if three out of eight voters are denied the vote?

 

2)     Past experience teaches us that the voter registration blitz ZEC will carry out in the coming months will just be mudding the waters, all the new registrants will be duplicates, fictious voters, etc. to benefit Zanu PF. ZEC will never produce a verified voters roll, if you are going to use the voters’ roll as one of your key tool to rig elections, of course, you do not realise a voters’ roll. ZEC has never ever produced a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. How can these elections be anything but a farce, if there is no something as basic as a verified voters’ roll?

 

3)     Come rain come high waters there is one thing one can say with 100% certainty – Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends will participate in these farcical elections. Ever since the 2008 to 2013 GNU it has become clear that MDC leaders do not real care about implementing the democratic reforms and end the nation’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance. All they real care about is participate in these farcical elections, give Zanu PF legitimacy for a share in the spoils of power. Why?

 

The answer to all the three questions above is any open book, one has only to open their eyes and read it for oneself!

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the trappings of power and will never rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were not implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

Of course, the Zanu PF cronies were right and, most importantly of all, time has proven them right! MDC failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years; not even the relentless nagging by Sadc leaders to implement reforms was able to get MDC to budge and implement even one token reform.

Sadc leaders told Tsvangirai and company to their faces “If you go into the elections next month (July 2013), you will lose. The elections are done!” in a last-minute desperate attempt to get the 2013 elections postponed until the reforms are implemented. MDC leaders ignored the stain warning; they were not going to rock the boat – period!

Sadc leaders finally got the message and thrown in the towel. They reverted to their default position of supporting Zanu PF by endorsing the rigged elections giving the regime legitimacy!

The real tragedy for Zimbabwe is that many Zimbabweans out there have yet to realise that MDC/CCC are now working for Zanu PF and will never implement any meaningful reforms and rock the boat! Never! MDC are selling this nonsensical oxymoron of “winning rigged elections” as cover for giving up on implementing reforms and the naïve and gullible public have swallowed the bait, hook and sinker!

Boris is still PM, he never “mentioned resign” – fake news to sooth jarred regime change sensitive nerves P Guramatunhu

 “We must all remember that until a British Prime minister talks to the Queen he will not resign without her majesty’s consent. So, until then Johnson is very much the Prime minister. Not once in his speech did, he mention the word resign. Not even once did he refer to a meeting with the queen. So yes, he has not resigned yet,” wrote Dr Masimba Mavaza, to reassure the nervous Zanu PF regime.

“When those who claim to be masters of democracy slip into democratic confusion it is those who follow them who get the sharp edge. It is true that sometimes democracy is costly. Britain has experienced four general elections in three years and is likely to have the fifth.”

There are many take home lessons to be learned from the Boris Johnson saga, one of which being that no individual, no matter how high up the grease-pole they happen to be, is untouchable. This is a very important point because it gives confidence to those below to hold the leaders to account.

Democratic account is a key tenet of a healthy a functioning democracy and one that has made the system champion in quickly, efficiently, and effectively handling mismanagement, corruption and stamping out tyranny.  

In a dysfunctional autocratic political system such as that in Zimbabwe, the top dog is untouchable and hence the reason why not even one Zanu PF minister dared to even protest much less resign even at the height of such madness as the wholesale looting of Marange diamonds or the Gukurahundi massacre. Mugabe and now Mnangagwa has enjoyed absolute power and the protesting individual would not have stopped the madness but rather booted out of the party. And all who have been booted out of Zanu PF have found “it is cold out there!” as Professor Jonathan Moyo has testified.

"But as we've seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves,” announced Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside the door of 10 Downing Street.

"And my friends in politics, no-one is remotely indispensable and our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader, equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.

"Not just helping families to get through it, but changing and improving the way we do things, cutting burdens on businesses and families and yes, cutting taxes, because that is the way to generate the growth and the income we need to pay for great public services.

"And to that new leader, I say whoever he or she may be, I say I will give you as much support as I can. And to you, the British public.

"I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world.”

Of course, Boris Johnson was disappointed to give up being Prime Minister “the best job in the world”; he would not be human if he otherwise. The point is he is giving it up because the Conservative MPs, in the first instance, and the voting public if they had failed to act, wanted him to go. And he is going; the starting gun for electing a new party leader who will then become Prime Minister has been fired.

The truth is the Zanu PF regime, like all other authoritarian and political despots the world over have been angling for Boris Johnson to defy the democratic wishes of his party and the voting public and refuse to leave office. It is not so much that Zanu PF wanted Boris to remain in office; they loath regime change because every time it happens, they fear the people of Zimbabwe might be inspired to seek regime change too.

When then President Donald Trump stormed Capital Hill on 6^th January 2021, the date that has gone down in human history as the day American democracy was tested to destruction and passed; despots from Beijing, Moscow and most of Africa and South America were disappointed Trump failed. Nothing would have helped consolidate their own authoritarian dictatorship than Trump defying the democratic wishes of the American people! Nothing!

In an interview with Trevor Ncube, Professor Welshman Ncube revealed why the late dictator Robert Mugabe had stubbornly refused to appoint him Deputy Prime Minister in place of Arthur Mutambara – he feared contingency. If the MDC-N herd can elect a new leader and have him replace their leader in the GNU, the Zanu PF herd would certainly want to do the same threatening Mugabe’s own position!

So, Dr Masimba Mavaza’s article in Zimeye “Boris Johnson, Zimbabwe View”, no doubt reproduced in the Zanu PF control public media, is to reassure the Zanu PF leaders and supporters that reports of PM Johnson throwing in the towel, is all fake news. The Zimbabwe economy is in total meltdown and, needless to say, the people of Zimbabwe are desperate for regime change and view the coming elections as an opportunity to finally deliver that change.

Zanu PF is set to rig the 2023 elections thanks to MDC/CCC leaders’ not only selling out on reforms but insisting on participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. However Zanu PF knows it is not out of the woods yet because the possibility of street protest and/or another military coup to force regime change is a certainty.

The present economic chaos that has forced millions into abject poverty and despair cannot continue for much longer. Regime change in in the air, you take it with very breath, and no wonder the whole Zanu PF regime is a nervous wreck!

“Not once in his speech did, he mention the word resign!” proclaimed Dr Mavaza. Talk of fake news – that takes the biscuit! The Conservative party machinery is expected to produce a new party leader by November and Boris will walk the plunk, jarring the regime change sensitive nerves of the Zanu PF regime leaders and cronies alike!

“No politician (in UK) is remotely indispensable” warned Boris – not so in Zimbabwe, they’re divinely ordained W Mukori

When Nelson Chamisa launched the new political party, Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC), in January this year, he went the extra mile to emphasize this would be a democratic and people’s party. He knew after the disappointment and fractious chaos of MDC, worse the corruption and tyranny of the Zanu PF dictatorship, the nation was yarning for a healthy and functioning democratic party in which the people will have a meaningful say in the party and country.

And yet, since the launch of the party, now six months ago, Nelson Chamisa has yet to announce the party’s constitution, allow members to join, have party structure, hold party congress, etc.; the prerequisites of healthy and functioning democratic people’s party. He has resisted implementing these basic requirements under the pretext the party will be infiltrated. This is just a feeble excuse!  would allow the people to own CCC and have a meaningful say in where the party is going.

Chamisa viewed CCC as the vehicle that will restore his position as leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party and help him win the presidency of the Republic of Zimbabwe in the 2023 elections. And to be absolute certain no one will dilute his powers much less scuttle his plans, he is determined to retain the ownership and control of the party – what better way of  achieving that than remaining the sole power and authority in the party.

So, in theory CCC is a democratic and people based political party. However in reality, it is a “secret society”, as Professor Jonathan Moyo, aptly put it.

"Whereas elsewhere, a political coalition is an umbrella group or an alliance of different political parties and groups with either an electoral pact or a governance pact or both; in Zimbabwe, it is one constitution-less and structureless political party with unelected leadership!" commented Professor Moyo in his latest barb.

Chamisa’s fear of  truly democratic CCC being infiltrated is just as feeble and hollow as Mnangagwa’s promise to hold free and fair elections in 2018 only to renege on his promise for fear G40 or MDC A would win. At least Mnangagwa has not made a fool of himself by repeating the lie the 2018 elections were free hand as Chamisa has been doing defending the infiltration hen’s teeth lie. He will do well learn from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has just resigned because he has been economical with the truth and has been defending the indefensible.  

"But as we've seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves,” admitted Boris in his resignation speech.

"And my friends in politics, no-one is remotely indispensable and our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader, equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.

“And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world.

"But them's the breaks!”

Chamisa is resisting calls to keep his promise of making CCC a healthy and functional people based democratic party because he does not trust the people will make especially when it comes to electing leaders and making key decisions. He wants to retain absolute power and total control because he is convinced than that he is indispensable.

"I'm going to lead, no doubt about that, the heavens have endorsed me!" Chamisa proclaimed last month at the funeral of the late Dr Alex Magaisa.

Of course, when you believe you have been divinely ordained to rule, the people’s right to meaningful say in matters is, per se, superfluous. No mere mortal should dare question the divine decision.  And, to goes without saying the divinely ordained are indispensable!

God has never endorsed Nelson Chamisa, if He had done so then Chamisa’s past would not be catalogue of blunders and failures. There very fact that there some people who still continue to follow Chamisa regardless of his all failures, paying lip service to a democratic CCCC, etc. The people do not know their rights and have no clue what is going on.

It is no exaggeration to say that in Zimbabwe political leaders have all the power and the people are helpless. The leaders are holding the people to ransom, it is the tail that is wagging the dog.

“Can elect a bad CCC government or worse Zanu PF one” – being tricked into giving Zanu PF legitimacy again P Guramatunhu

"But Coltart, a comparison of ‘worse' and ‘bad' does not make the ‘bad' good,” was Professor Jonathan Moyo’s answer to David Coltart, CCC Treasurer General’s hypothetical choice between “bad CCC government and worse Zanu PF”.

"You don't become a democrat by self-proclamation nor does an old intolerant party become tolerant by a nominal change of its name; when its base typically caricatures and demonises divergent views!"

Yes, given the choice of bad and worse, of course we will all choose bad. But that is NOT the choice before the nation back in these 2023 elections or back in 2013. By failing to implement even one meaningful democratic reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, when the nation had the best chance ever to end Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections, the nation was stuck with no meaningful electoral choice.

One of the late dictator Robert Mugabe’s political trickery was to trick the late Morgan Tsvangirai and his team of special advisers, professors, lawyers, engineers and God knows what else beside to believe, for five years of the GNU, that MDC would win the elections without the need to implement even token democratic reforms. Even now, with the benefit of hindsight, many of the MDC/CCC leaders still believe in the oxymoronic nonsense of “winning rigged elections” or at least pretend to!

The likes of David Coltart have known it is futile to participate in the flawed and illegal elections. He has participated in the elections regardless out of greed, he confessed in his book.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote 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.”

Of all people, David Coltart, knows that with no meaningful democratic reforms Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections in the past and will do the same in coming 2023 elections. And participating in these flawed and illegal elections will only give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

CCC is therefore conning ordinary Zimbabweans into believing they are choosing between “bad” CCC and “worse” Zanu PF. When all they are doing by participating in the flawed process is give Zanu PF legitimacy and in doing so forfeit the chance to boycott the elections to demand reforms and free and fair elections!

CCC is an autocracy masquerading as a democracy party, “it is not a dirty tactic to point out this fact!” N Garikai

 

"It is a confirmed fact that CCC is a brand new party with no founding process, no constitution, no structures, and no elected leadership. This fact means CCC is operating illegally, like a secret society. It's not a dirty tactic to point this fact out," Professor Jonathan Moyo tweeted.

Of course, Professor Moyo is right, CCC cannot be a democratic and people based political party and yet has no constitution, etc. Ever since the party’s launch in January, six months ago, the only official CCC office bearer is Nelson Chamisa. All the others were co-opted into the new party by Chamisa from their old MDC Alliance position, nothing has been done to have their position formalised.

Nelson Chamisa makes all the decisions without reference or consulting anyone. No questions asked.

So, when Nelson Chamisa announced last week at the funeral of the late Dr Alex Magaisa that "I'm going to lead, no doubt about that, the heavens have endorsed me." We can be 100% certain that no one in CCC saw this coming much less dared to ask. They all busted into spontaneous applause – Joseph Stalin Russia style. Professor Jonathan Moyo had no such inhibitions.

“When it comes to politics, God is out of it. Unlike religion which is divine, politics is sin; whatever your religion, you sin alone; and so you must carry your own cross!” Professor Moyo shot straight back!

Nelson Chamisa is an autocrat who does not trust anyone else particularly those who might take his crown from him. As for the ordinary people, he has nothing but contempt and will never allow them to have a meaning say in the running of the party. He will never ever allow the ordinary people to have free, fair and credible vote – if he believed in that then he would have implemented the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when MDC had the golden opportunity to deliver free and fair elections.

Chamisa is well aware of the political mileage to be gained from selling CCC as a democratic party “of the people, for the people and by the people”. His autocratic instinct tells him CCC is his baby and to be absolutely certain he does not lose it to anyone else, all power must be in his hands and he alone must dictate and control everything.

Chamisa would like to have his rhetorical democratic CCC complete with the constitution, members having a free and meaningful vote, etc. on the one hand. On the other hand, retain the present status quo in which he continues to enjoy absolute power over the party’s affairs.

Chamisa’s excuse for refusing to have a constitution and opening up the party to democratic participation is that he fears infiltration of CCC by the party’s many political enemies is hogwash! It is the feeble excuse a tyrannical autocrat, who believes himself to be infallible and knows what is best for all at all times, would give. Of course, the position is nonsensical and unsustainable.

CCC is just a one-man, Nelson Chamisa, band; not a democratic and people’s party. To pretend otherwise is silly and unsustainable especially with someone like Professor Jonathan Moyo pelleting Chamisa with the mud just to remind him how foolish he is!

Indeed, it is for every Zimbabwean aspiring for a democratic Zimbabwe and an end to the curse of rigged elections and tyrannical dictatorships masquerading as democratic parties to demand that all political parties in Zimbabwe must be democratic in everything they say and do and not just rhetoric.

It is a pity that the naïve and gullible CCC supporters have swallowed the lie of infiltration no questions asked. They have learned nothing from the decades of blundering from pillar to post first under Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF then under Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC!

Those who will not learn from their past mistakes will be forced to relive the same mistake over and over again until the learn! After 42 years of rigged elections in this day and age, 2 500 years after the Greeks gave mankind democracy, we have yet to learn what constitute free, fair and credible elections! We have yet to distinguish a democratic people’s party from a one-man autocracy!

CCC is just a one-man autocracy masquerading as people’s democratic party. Of course, “it is not a dirty tactic to point out this fact!”.

"Zimbabwe elections are game of thuggery and violence" - Our fault, "kurumwa nechokuchera!" P Guramatunhu

  “Our peace activists say each time an election date is announced, fear grips the communities. This is not how things must be. Elections must bring joy to citizens that they now have an opportunity again to have their say in how the country is run. In Zimbabwe it brings fear because violence is assured,” stated a ZimRights report.

“Our politics is now an art of war. What political party you support determines if you are going to have access to food and participate in the economy, among other things.

“This state of war is the main reason citizens are withdrawing from public life and women are no longer interested in participating in politics. It has become a game of thuggery. Without the nerve to violate other people’s rights, you can’t participate in our politics.”

The ZimRight report is aptly titled “Zimbabwe on the Brink: Living in Fragile Peace”.

Sadly, what the report failed to say is this is all self-inflicted. “Kurumwa nechokuchera!” as one would say in Shona!

Of course, we Zimbabweans are responsible for the economic and political mess we find ourselves stuck in. The late Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs dragged us into this mess. 42 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness have left the country in economic ruins and a pariah state no one would want to do business with.

Now also late Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC fiends had many golden opportunities, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, to implement the democratic reforms which would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship. They have not only failed to implement even one token reform but to add insult to injury, they have been participating in these flawed and violent elections to give the Zanu PF regime legitimacy thus perpetuating the Zanu PF dictatorship.

And we, the people, have played our part in this tragedy in failing to stop the Zanu PF dictatorship juggernaut and failing to supervise the corrupt and incompetent MDC. It is unforgivable that even now with the benefit of hindsight many Zimbabweans out there still have no clue the primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the democratic reforms much less that MDC leaders sold out by failing to implement even one reform.

Indeed, the reason why many Zimbabweans believe in Nelson Chamisa’s oxymoronic nonsense of “winning blatantly rigged elections” stems from their initial failure to recognise MDC leaders for the corrupt, incompetent and sell outs after the GNU.

It is a universally accepted rule of thumb, that nations get the government they deserve. We, in Zimbabwe, have certainly done nothing to deserve anything better than this corrupt, tyrannical and vote rigging Zanu PF dictatorship complete with the coterie, 130 at the last count, of corrupt and utterly useless opposition parties.

Zimbabwe is an independent nation and as of 18 April 1980, we are, per se, masters of our own destiny, masters of our own ship. We had the potential to become the “South Korea of Africa” as Japanese scholar and writer, Ken Yamamoto once noted. We have become a quintessential failed state, a pariah state, with a filthy rich ruling elite riding roughshod over the filthy poor majority denying them a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life.

At the heart of Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. Of course, Zanu PF does not have the right to rig elections it has blatantly rigged elections since 2013 only because MDC failed to implement the reforms and has participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

It is for the ordinary people of Zimbabwe to wake up to the political reality that MDC/CCC leaders are sell outs and stop following the party into this insanity of participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Deny CCC political credibility and the party’s participation in the flawed elections will not give Zanu PF legitimacy.

We, the ordinary Zimbabwean, can neither stop Zanu PF going ahead with these flawed and violent 2023 elections nor can we stop Nelson Chamisa and his fiendish CCC participating out of selfish greed. What we can do is deny CCC political credibility and deny Zanu PF political legitimacy.