ICT Minister Chamisa reduce US$200 SIM card price to 50c in 1 month - but entire MDC implemented 0 reforms in 5 years W Mukori

 

“When @nelsoncha became Minister of ICT, a mobile phone SIM card was US$200 in Zimbabwe due to the incompetence and looting of Zanu PF.

It took Chamisa less than a month to bring the price of a SIM card to first US$1 then 50 cents.

He did this when sanctions were in place.” Twittered Hopewell Chin’ono.

True! And the message Mr Chin’ono is sending is clear: “Follow Chamisa, he is the man who will get Zimbabwe out of this economic and political mess!”

Chamisa and his CCC have come under increasing pressure to justify why the party is insisting on participating in the 2023 elections when it is crystal clear not even one token reform in place Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections just as it rigged the 2018 elections!

Speaking in the House of Lords Friday, Lord Robert Hayward, who was an observer at the country's last general elections, questioned the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's (ZEC) capacity to provide an uncontested poll, referencing the 2018 one.

"My Lords, reference has already been made to the elections in 2018; the report was pretty damning, particularly in relation to the events after the general election in 2018,” commented Lord Robert Hayward in a recent House of Lords debate in UK.

"Can my noble friend ensure that very strong representations are made to the electoral commission, because it has been lamentable in any action.

"It was before the 2018 election, and there is no sign that it will enforce any form of free and fair elections next."

The debate has received wide social media and print media coverage, once again highlighting the folly of participating in the elections with no reforms.

Chamisa and his CCC friends are hell bent on participating in these elections and Hopewell Chin’ono is one of those who have backed CCC’s position to the halt. The twitter above is no doubt meant to buttress that position by reminding us all what a competent Minister Chamisa was during the GNU. Chin’ono only told a small part of the GNU story and one has to ask why!  

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends failed to implement even one token reform in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. How was that possible especially for one who sorted the SIM card problem and a multiple of other problems in record time?

The primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the democratic reforms and restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Zanu PF was able to rig the 2013 elections at the end of the GNU and get back into power precisely because MDC failed to implement the reforms.

There is no doubt that implementing reforms was more important and urgent than reducing the price of SIM cards, especially when failing to implement reforms allowed Zanu PF back in power!

“Mazivavhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life, they will never rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies during the GNU when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the reforms.

It was bad enough that MDC sold out by failing to implement even one reform during the GNU the situation could have been redeemed if MDC leaders paid heed to SADC leaders’ advice not to participate in the flawed elections until reforms were implemented. They ignored the advice for the same reasons they failed to implement reforms – greed and incompetence.

Whilst one can accept that my uncle and Nice in Zimbabwe’s rural back waters will not know that the primary purpose of the GNU was to implement reforms, that MDC leaders sold out by failing to implement reforms and that it is insane to participate in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. A town-wise person like Hopewell Chin’ono, Award winning International Journalist| Film Maker | 2 Time African Journalist of The Year | Africa Leadership Fellow I Nieman Fellow, will know ll these historic facts.

So, one has to ask why is savvy Chin’ono determined to see CCC participate in a flawed elections process when the obvious and rational thing to do is demand reforms, more so now after 42 years of rigged elections?

Whatever corner Hopewell is fighting for, it is not the long-suffering ordinary Zimbabweans’ corner. Participating in these flawed elections will only serve to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship, that is the last thing povo want!

“Zimbabwe is indeed open for business!” Yeah right! 1 – 5 = -ve 4 not +ve 4! P Guramatunhu

“Zimbabwe is indeed open for business including our air space where Ethiopian Airways had its maiden trip to Bulawayo today. There was water canon salute for the inaugural Ethiopian airlines flight connecting Bulawayo and Addis Ababa, becoming the first airline to service Bulawayo!” read the WhatsApp text.

The text was accompanied with a photograph of the Ethiopian plane on the tarmac and in the foreground a water canon shooting a jet of water at the plane!

Following his visit to Zimbabwe soon after independence, Ken Yamamoto, a Japanese scholar and analyst, said the country had the potential to become the South Korea of Africa. After decades of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule, there is no denying we are the North Korea of Africa.

Zimbabwe is a pariah state, a failed state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have rigged elections to retain their iron grip on power. And as long as the country remains a pariah state; there will be no meaningful economic recovery.

The Zanu PF propaganda machine has always gone into overdrive celebrating every positive development, many of the developments long overdue and over budget, the nation has done. What the regime has been very careful to hide is the regime’s many failures. For every one step forward, the nation has taken five or more steps backwards.

One positive step forward followed by five negative steps backwards = four negative steps backward

No among of propaganda or spin will change the negative backward steps into positive forward steps.

Ever since the country’s independence in 1980 Zimbabwe’s economic trajectory has been negative. The seizure of the white own farms to give to Zanu PF loyalists mostly aided by the idiotic printing of money that saw inflation soar to dizzying height of 500 billion percent accelerate the economic meltdown. The Zimbabwe economic shrunk by a world record 50%, for a country not at war, in the period 2000 to 2008 alone.

The economy has never really recovered even after the scrapping of the of the worthless Z$ during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because no meaningful democratic reforms to dismantle the dictatorship were implemented.

When Mnangagwa replaced Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup he promised to stamp out corruption and hold free, fair and credible elections. These changes would have gone along way to end the pariah state and restore business confidence. Sadly, he did not keep his promises and so Zimbabwe remained a pariah state or be it under a new dictator.

In the 42 years of Zanu PF rule the country’s basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed. Millions have left the country to escape the economic chaos and/or political tyranny. The country has a staggering 80% plus skilled manpower shortage in many key sectors such as engineering, education, health care and farming. How the country can survive let alone thrive without skilled manpower, an ill-educated population, etc. beggars belief!     

“Zimbabwe is indeed open for business!” Yeah right! 1 – 5 = -ve 4 not +ve 4! 

SADC's tous pour un, un pour tous over sanctions must NOT extend to 2023 Zanu PF rigged elections P Guramatunhu

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections and the party knows that there is real danger of SADC and AU condemning the process and deny Zanu PF legitimacy as happened after the 2008 elections. The party’s strategy is therefore double edged, the blatant cheating and wanton violence will be accompanied by the propaganda to draw attention away from the flawed and illegal election process.

President Mnangagwa and his cronies must be really pleased with the way African leaders in both SADC and the AU have responded to the anti-sanction mantra. Every hour spent discussing sanctions is an hour that would have been spend discussing Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal election process! As much as Zanu PF will go into overdrive with its anti-sanction propaganda, the regime’s legitimacy and thus continued rule depends on this, we too must intensify our campaign to remind the SADC and AU leaders to keep their eyes on the ball – free, fair and credible elections.

Zanu PF is denying 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora, by the regime’s own reckoning, the vote, for example. This is a very significant number given Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the 2018 elections with 2.4 million votes.

“Zanu PF will not grant the diaspora vote as long as sanctions imposed by the West remain,” acting party spokesperson, Patrick Chinamasa explained. Nonsense! One does not beat up the wife and children because he quarrelled with the neighbour!

Why should the ordinary Zimbabweans be denied their fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country because the West imposed sanctions on Zanu PF?

It is no secret that the majority of Zimbabweans in the diaspora are economic and/or political refugees and they blame Zanu PF for their plight. And so, most of the diaspora votes would not be voting for Zanu PF and, worse still, the party would not have the same opportunity to rig that vote as it does with the local vote.

Zanu PF is denying 30% of the population the vote. How can the election be free, fair and credible when one contestant is allowed to cherry pick the electorate?  Is the right to a meaningful vote sacrosanct or not? This is the question SADC, AU and all the election observers must bear in mind here.  

It is most reassuring that the British and American continue to support the ordinary Zimbabweans demanding free, fair and credible elections.

“UNITED States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) yesterday rubbished anti-sanctions marches that took place on Tuesday, saying the demonstrations will not jolt them into removing them until there is rule of law and democracy in the country,” reported Bulawayo24.

“The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Anti-Sanctions Day was held on Tuesday in solidarity with the Government of Zimbabwe to force the US and UK to remove the sanctions imposed in 2001 following chaotic and bloody invasions of white commercial farms.”

Zanu PF is hoping SADC and AU’s tous pour un, un pour tous (all for one, and one for all) anti-sanctions support will be replicated endorsing Zanu PF rigged 2023 elections. The regional and continent leaders must remember that national elections are, above all, about the sacrosanct right of all ordinary citizens people to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

Zimbabwe is standing at the very edge of the precipice, four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left millions of Zimbabweans living in abject poverty and hopeless despair. The situation is socially, economically and politically unsustainable. The cure for Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. By endorsing yet another rigged Zanu PF elections SADC and AU leaders will be once again helping Zanu PF ruling elite stay in power at the expense of the ordinary citizens desperate for good governance.

SADC and AU leaders musketeers style support of Zanu PF over sanctions is foolish enough and it must not be repeated come the 2023 elections to grant vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and push Zimbabwe over the precipitous abyss!  

Sanctions must remain until there are free elections and is Zanu PF stopped from marking its own homework N Garikai

 

SADC leaders, in their infantile wisdom, have put aside a day, 25^th October, as Anti-Sanctions Day, to demand the lifting of the sanctions imposed on the Zanu PF regime by the West. It is great pity that the regional leaders have been listen to Zanu PF propaganda and no one else!

“The United Kingdom (UK) has dismissed continued claims its sanctions and those imposed collectively with western allies on Zimbabwe have impeded economic development in its troubled former colony,” reported Zimlive.

“This comes after Harare has gone into overdrive in its denunciation of western measures imposed soon after the turn of the century in response to gross rights abuses, unbridled corruption and poll fraud presided over by the Zanu-PF led authority.

“Zimbabwe has roped in its SADC allies to try and add impetus to protracted demands for the unconditional scrapping of the measures culminating in the so-christened Anti-Sanctions Day now observed every 25 October by the region.

“The Western powers have steadfastly maintained the measures pending Harare's behavioural change, though they have gradually relaxed them.”

Zimlive is 100% correct to say Zanu PF has “roped” in SADC to join in this foolish campaign to have the sanctions lifted. Everyone knows that the root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown are the decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. The sanctions’ contribution to the meltdown is 5% at most. Why make a big song and dance to fix 5% whilst doing nothing about the 95%!

SADC leaders have joined the chorus demanding the lifting of the sanctions to appease Zanu PF and have some peace! After two decades of Mugabe and now Mnangagwa nagging endlessly about sanctions, it was doing everyone’s head in!

What is interesting to note here is that SADC leaders themselves have never disputed the fact that Zanu PF has ridden roughshod over the people denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life! It was the regional leaders themselves who refused to rubber stamp Zanu PF’s 2008 election victory because of the blatant cheating and wanton violence by the party.

SADC forced Robert Mugabe to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) whose primary purpose was to implement a raft of democratic reforms to restore the individual freedoms and rights and stop the cheating and violence of the 2008 elections. A GNU comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC factions was tasked to implement the reforms.

SADC headed by SA was the guarantor of the GPA. Not even one meaningful democratic reform was implemented in the five years of the GNU in spite the best efforts, especially by SA’s Minister Lindiwe Zulu, to get this done.

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high-office and they forgot about the reforms!

SADC leaders asked the 2013 Zimbabwe elections to be postponed until reforms are implemented. “If you go into the elections next month, you will lose. The elections are done!” they warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends at the June 2013 SADC summit in Maputo, Mozambique.

As we know, MDC leaders ignore the warning and Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2013 elections as SADC had predicted. The regional leaders washed their hands of Zimbabwe and reverted to endorsing Zanu PF rigged elections and granting the party legitimacy.

MDC participated in the 2018 elections once again ignoring advice to have reforms implemented first. SADC leaders, for their part, have granting Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuated the dictatorship.

With each year Zanu PF has remained in office the country has sunk deeper and deeper into economic trouble as the criminal waste of human and material resources from gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have taken their toll.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections because not even one token reform has been implemented. CCC, rebranded MDC, is participating in these flawed elections for the same reasons they failed to implement even one reform during the GNU – greed and incompetence. The big question is: Will SADC, once again, rubber stamp the rigged elections, grant Zanu PF legitimacy, and perpetuate the dictatorship?

Zimbabwe’s worsening economic situation has forced millions of Zimbabweans into abject poverty and millions have left the country as economic and/or political refugees. If Zanu PF rigs the 2023 elections, which is now almost certain, there will certainly be a new wave of economic and political refugees leaving the country.

SA, Botswana and Zambia have a significant number of Zimbabwean refugees and their presence is already causing economic and social tension, especially in SA. Another wave of Zimbabwean refugees will only make matters worse.

Of course, it will be hypocritical of any SADC leader to stop Zimbabwean escaping poverty in Zimbabwean when it is the leaders themselves who have been frustrating efforts to restore good governance in Zimbabwe by granting vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

SADC leaders should be piling pressure on Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance, the prerequisite to ending mismanagement and corruption. And since the primary reason the West imposed the sanctions to pressure Zanu PF to implement reforms and hold free elections; the sanctions must remain until there are free elections.

Of course, it is foolish to lift the sanctions to appease Zanu PF. There is nothing to be gained from appeasing tyrants and dictators. Give a tyrant an inch, he will take a foot and will soon be back demanding a yard. Give him a yard, he will take a mile.

Besides, the people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is sacrosanct, it is the guarantor of good governance, and per se cannot be bargained like tomatoes at the market; especially after 42 years of Zanu PF rigging elections.

We demand reforms and free elections. Zanu PF has marked its own homework for 42 years, this is insane and must be stopped.   

What have we got, a republic or a monarch? - "A republic, if you can keep it" answered B Franklin N Garikai

 

The story goes on the last day of Constitution Convention, 18 September 1787, a lady asked Doctor Benjamin Franklin, one of the convention delegates and America’s founding fathers; “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

“A republic, if you can keep it.” Replied Dr Franklin, according to James McHenry (1753-1816) journal entry.

America’s founding fathers had produced a constitution in which political power derived from the people through the holding of regular free, fair and credible elections. The American Constitution has become one of the most influential documents in human history because it has successfully delivered a government of the people, by the people and for the people and has endued the test of time. Dr Franklin was right to be concerned if the people would be able to keep the political power and not lose it to the elected officials.

The events of 6th January 2021 when President Donald Trump and his supporters refused to accept he lost the elections and stormed Capitol Hill, the sanctum sanctorum of USA political power, to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden as the dually elected president of USA. The rioters sort to set aside the democratic wish of the majority of the voters and usurp power. If they had succeeded, America would have seized to be a democratic republic there and then!

In 21^st December 1979 Zimbabwe’s founding fathers signed the Lancaster House Constitution marking the end of the war of independence and paving the way for the country’s first multi-racial elections. If someone had asked Robert Mugabe, “So, what is it, a democratic republic or a socialist dictatorship?”

“A democratic republic but not for long!” Mugabe would have replied.

It is no secret that both Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies and Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu wanted the independent Zimbabwe to be a one-party dictatorship along the same lines as communist China or Russia. Attempts to unite the two parties had failed, they could never agree on the sharing of the spoils of power, and so they had no choice but to agree to a multi-party Lancaster House Constitution.

Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies made it clear that it they did not win the 1980 elections they would disregard the election result and restart the bush war. Of course, the people voted to end the war. And as soon as Zanu PF got into power the party has worked tirelessly to consolidate the party’s iron grip on power by appointing party loyalists in key institutions, disregarding the law, etc.

In 1983, three years after the country’s independence, the political rivalry between PF Zapu and Zanu PF reached boiling point with Mugabe accusing the late Joshua Nkomo of plotting a military insurgency to topple the Zanu PF government. Mugabe launched the 1983 to 1987 Gukurhundi military operation supposedly to stamp the dissents but also to force PF Zapu to disband and join Zanu PF.

Mugabe had his wish when Dr Joshua Nkomo signed the 1987 Unity Accord, paving the way for the imposing of de facto one-party, Zanu PF, state. Zanu PF has ruthlessly crashed it political critics nd opponents under the pretext, they threatened the nation’s unity achieved by the signing of the signing of the 1987 Unity Accord.

It is correct to say the ordinary Zimbabweans have never had a meaningful free, fair and credible say in the governance of the country. The Lancaster House Constitution promised them that right but Zanu PF snatched it away before they had even tasted it.

The opposition parties, notably the MDC, had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one reform because they are corrupt – there is no denying the bribes they received from Mugabe made them forget about reforms - but it was much more than just greed. Tsvangirai and company failed to implement even one reform because they are breathtakingly incompetent.

Indeed, it is for the same two reasons why Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies denied the people the vote and imposed the one-party dictatorship – greed and breathtakingly incompetent.

Benjamin Franklin and his fellow American founding fathers are visionaries who understood the benefits of creating a democratic republic and giving power to the people as essential for stable, just and prosperous nation. Robert Mugabe, Donald Trump, Morgan Tsvangirai are myopic leaders who only see the here, me and now and therefore would only create an autocracy with themselves as the centre of power.

It is the myopic autocrats that Dr Franklin was fearful of, that they would short-change the people. In Zimbabwe our independence was a meaningless void, all we did was replace a white colonial oppressive for an equally oppressive black regime.

Zanu PF has captured all institution, state or not including the opposition parties. The party in blatantly rigging the 2023 elections as it has done since the first elections in 1980, and the opposition parties are participating in the flawed process to give Zanu PF legitimacy for the sake of a few gravy train seats.

America’s republic has not only survived but has thrived for nearly 250 years and counting. We in Zimbabwe have been groaning under this Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 42 years and counting; it is now deeply entrenched and uprooting it will be hard.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a dysfunctional dictatorship ruled by myopic men and women who don’t even have the common sense to see the system is doom much less the courage to change it, this country is doomed. The people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is more than a right, it is pivotal in ending the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

We, in Zimbabwe, have not been diligent in our search for leaders and we will not escape out of this hell-on-earth we find ourselves stuck in until we find competent leaders. It pays in the end, to get the best in the beginning!

"Those not voting for Zanu PF are sell-out" said ED - real sell-outs are violating sanctity of free elections P Guramatunhu

 

“Zimbabwe is open for business!” was more than a mantra to Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies when the seized power in the 2017 military coup. It was a shibboleth! The regime’s was elected into office in the 2018 elections, using the vote rigging juggernaut alone without resorting to the wanton violence to get it over the line, because many people gave the regime the benefit of the doubt it will revive the national economy!

It has been five years since the coup and the much hoped for economic recovery has not happened. Those in the know said, back then in 2017, that “Zimbabwe is open for business!” was a lead balloon that would never fly. It was obvious why!

Business had all but ground to a halt in Zimbabwe because the country was a pariah state ruled by corrupt and incompetent thugs who rigged elections to stay in power. The decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness had made it near impossible for business to survive.

Mnangagwa promised to exorcise the pariah state curse by stamping out corruption, holding free and fair elections, etc. and thus open the country for business. Those in the know knew Mnangagwa would never stamp out corruption, hold free and fair elections, etc. because to do so would be to undermine his own power base.

After37 years of rigged elections, for example, Mnangagwa and his coup cronies knew that Zimbabweans would jump at the opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship if the 2018 elections were free, fair and credible. And so, to remain in power Zanu PF had to rig the elections.

But, of course, by failing to stamp out corruption, hold free elections, etc. Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was indeed still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent thugs who rig elections to stay in power. He confirmed the country was NOT yet open for business. Who would want to do business in a pariah state!

Mnangagwa’s failure to revive the Zimbabwe economy has hardened the people’s resolve to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The people are itching for regime change in the coming 2023 elections.

Mnangagwa and company know to retain political power in 2023, they will have to resort to wanton violence to buttress the usual subtle vote rigging measures such as failure to produce a verified voters’ roll, pro-Zanu PF public media, etc. In the 2018 elections, Mnangagwa had restrained the war veterans, the Zanu PF youth militia and the traditional leaders backed by the Police, Army, and CIO from harassing, beating the people to force them to vote for Zanu PF. This time, he has unleashed them!

“I have heard that some parts of Mutasa South are rural and urban. I know that in urban areas when we fought the liberation struggle that’s where most sell-outs ran to. It honestly does not surprise me that those from urban areas don’t support the revolutionary movement because they are sell-outs,” thundered Mnangagwa.

“This next generation should be taught to be patriotic about their country. They should be taught that their freedom was brought through the liberation struggle. They are the ones to whom we are going to leave the leadership of this country.”

Echoes of the 2008 elections when Zanu PF unleashed the party thugs to inflict some of the worst election violence in the country’s history. “What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered the late Robert Mugabe then.

The right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country is sacrosanct because it is rock on which good governance stands.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country is a pariah, ruled by corrupt and incompetent thugs, in power because they rig elections. Holding free, fair and credible elections is the nation’s only hope of getting out of this mess peacefully.

The 2017 military coup removed one dictator only to replace him with another. There is no guarantee that another military coup and/or bloody street protest will do any better.

The people of Zimbabwe must stand firm in our demand for reforms and free elections and in our demand for good governance and an end to the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.

We know Zanu PF has never respected the citizens’ freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and will continue to call all those demanding free elections sell-outs to justify the blatant rigging of elections and use of wanton violence.

As the government of the day, Zanu PF has the duty to ensure the 2023 elections are free, fair and credible. Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections, just as the party has rigged elections in the past.

We cannot stop the 2023 elections going ahead nor stop Zanu PF rigging them. What we can do is refuse to participate in any way because doing so will only give credibility to the flawed process and thus some modicum of legitimacy to the result. We must point out the glaring irregularities and illegalities including the wanton violence in the election process and make sure such bodies as SADC do not rubber stamp the process giving Zanu PF legitimacy!

“Those who do not vote for Zanu PF are unpatriotic and sell-outs!” Actually, the real sell-outs are those violating the sanctity of free elections as the bedrock of good governance! The war of independence was about “One man, one vote!” and not about keeping Zanu PF in power against the democratic wishes of the people!

"Fellow citizens, be strong" edges Chamisa - but why forfeit free for uphill battle of violent elections W Mukori

“VIOLENCE IN MATOBO, INSIZA & CHIRUMANZU ..Zpf panicking, desperate & violent because they are not supported in villages, in rural areas. Thuggery is not politics. Violence is not civilized campaigning. Their violence will increase. Fellow Citizens, be strong. Change is in the air!” twittered Nelson Chamisa.

This is midsummer madness! Instead of the increasing cases of violence forcing Chamisa to rethink the madness of participating in these elections without first implementing the reform, it is energizing him to do the opposite.

Zanu PF whittled down Morgan Tsvangirai’s 73% votes in the March 2008 elections to 47%, enough to force the runoff. During the runoff the party used wanton violence to punish the people for having rejected Zanu PF and Mugabe in the earlier vote. The violence was so bad over 500 people were murdered hundreds of thousands were beaten and/or raped and millions were internally displaced.

Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the race and Mugabe went on to “win” the one-horse race with 84% on the votes.

Is Chamisa suggesting that Mugabe won the 2008 runoff because the people were not strong? What did he want them to do?

Chamisa had his motorcade stoned and rallies disrupted by Zanu PF thugs. He has turned tail and escaped back to the safety of his low-density home. What is at issue here is the political violence is a regular occurrence to the ordinary Zimbabwean living in the high-density suburbs and rural areas and they have nowhere to go to escape it.

Fighting back the Zanu PF thugs is not an option since the Zanu PF captured Police, judiciary, etc. have always favored Zanu PF at the expense of justice.

Is Chamisa asking Zimbabweans to be strong and have even more people beaten raped and murdered. Over 40 000 innocent Zimbabweans have been murdered by Zanu PF in politically motivated violence since independence. He has been calling for street protests knowing fully well the Zanu PF regime has always used violence to end street protests.

What is really infuriate about Chamisa and his CCC friends is that they had many opportunities to implement the democratic reforms taking away Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to rig elections and use wanton violence and they wasted them. They have been participating in these flawed elections even when they themselves realized it was foolish to do so.

“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,” 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.”

David Coltart was one of MDC ministers in the 2008 to 2013 GNU that failed to implement even one reform in five years. He is the Treasurer General in the Chamisa led CCC, rebranded MDC. CCC is participating in these b2023 elections knowing fully well that doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy for the same reason MDC failed to implement reforms – greed.

Zanu PF is rigging these elections and, given the regime’s vast experience in rigging plus the ability to supplement the rigging with wanton violence, it near impossible for Zanu PF to lose the elections. Zanu PF is playing with a dice with 6s on all six side, if they want a 6 they will throw a 6!

The only time there has been political change in Zimbabwe was as a result of the November 2017 military coup. It was a Zanu PF in-house coup and it replace one dictator with another. Another military coup and/or bloody street protests may deliver the next change, which will be compromised democracy, at best. Violent revolutions very rarely produce a stable democracy.

What is infuriating here is that MDC/CCC have not only forfeited the chance to delivery democratic change by failing to implement reforms but are the ones keeping the Zanu PF regime in power by participating in flawed election out of greed to give the regime legitimacy. And to hide their greed they are blaming the decades of failure to deliver change on citizens’ lack of courage in confronting Zanu PF wanton violence!

The real tragic here is that the ordinary Zimbabweans have not cussed, even with the benefit of hindsight, that MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. These people don’t even realize they are forfeiting the right to have reforms implemented and free and fair elections by participating in these flawed elections. They don’t know they are being asked to concede high ground to the enemy for they to fight uphill!

“Fellow citizens, be strong. Change is in the air!” Yeah right! Was that why MDC has failed to implement even one reform in 22 years forcing people to fight the uphill battle of rigged and violent elections! 

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging 2023 and EU set to grant it legitimacy under guess of "constructive dialogue" W Mukori

 

“EU abandons confrontation with Zimbabwe!” screamed The Herald headline!

“CHARMED by President Mnangagwa’s open door policy and far-reaching economic reforms, more investors will be coming from the European Union (EU) which is prepared to extend loans to the private sector as relations between the 27-member bloc and Zimbabwe continue to improve,” The Herald reported.

“After presenting his credentials to President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare yesterday, incoming EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Jobst Von Kirchmann, said the bloc is available for constructive dialogue with Harare.

“Prior to the advent of the Second Republic, relations between Zimbabwe and the EU were strained after the latter sided with Britain in unjustifiably sanctioning the country following its land reform programme that redressed land inequities.

“But President Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe is Open for Business policy has seen a number of European countries setting up shop in the country in yet another remarkable feat that Ambassador Kirchmann said can only be deepened.”

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country is a failed state, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt and murderous tyrants whose 42 years in power is because they rigged elections.

The trouble with President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies, propagandists and apologist is that they believe they can ignore the facts and reality, make up their own narratives instead, and the whole world will be as they wish.

President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra, for example, was a lead balloon that never took off. He promised to stamp out corruption, to hold free elections, etc.; he never delivered on any of these promises and thus confirming that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery and to say otherwise is wishful thinking.

The fight for Zimbabwe to implement the democratic reforms and hold free and fair elections is therefore more than just fight for restoration of this basic human right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. It is a fight for good governance, fight to end the curse of rigged elections and to cleanse the nation of pariah state stigma.   

“My mission here is targeting constructive dialogue with Zimbabwe. I said this today when the President said the EU no longer has sanctions on Zimbabwe, that is exactly what makes it possible for us to engage on trade aspects, we are the fourth largest Zimbabwean trading partner in the country,” said Ambassador Kirchmann.

What constructive dialogue can the EU have with this Zanu PF regime?

The EU had a 246 strong team of election observers for the 2018 Zimbabwe elections and they dismissed the elections as a farce.

“Notably, major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party. Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” EU Observer Mission final report stated.

“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

Why the EU Foreign Ministers disregarded the EU Observer Mission’s damning report on Zimbabwe and reward the Zanu PF regime by lifting the sanctions imposed on the regime for failing to uphold human rights including the failure to hold free elections was a mystery.

The 2018 EU election observer mission report made 23 recommendations to bring the Zimbabwe elections process to international standards. And a month ago the mission team leader reported that not even one of the recommendations was meaningfully implemented. Not even one!

ZEC has failed to produce even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake!

Zanu PF is set to blatantly rig the 2023 elections. Blatantly rig the 2023 elections!

Does “constructive dialogue” with Zanu PF mean the EU is going to lower the international accepted elections standards and grant vote rigging Zanu PF political legitimacy?

After 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule that has left the national economy in ruins, forced millions of our people to scatter as economic and/or political refugees and the millions still in the country are living in abject poverty; of course, Zimbabweans are desperate for meaningful change, for free and fair elections. For EU, of all people, to condone Zanu PF’s continued flagrant denial of ordinary Zimbabweans’ freedoms and human rights and dignity is not just an insult, it is an act of dehumanising betrayal.

"Zanu PF will never win free elections!" said CCC. True, so why is CCC the one insisting on elections with NO reforms? N Garikai

 

When it comes to elections, Zimbabwe is caught in a catch 22 situation. After 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule that has left the country in economic ruins, a pariah state and forced millions in abject poverty; the nation is for free and fair elections, the only sure way to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. And here is the catch 22; to remove Zanu PF we need to implement democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections, the opposition has failed to implement even one reform in the last 22 years and has all but given up the fight for reforms.

To end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance we must first implement the reforms and hold free elections. To implement the reforms we must first remove Zanu PF from power and that will never happen whilst the regime has carte blanche powers to rig elections.   

A catch 22 is a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.

The truth is Zimbabwe’s reforms and rigged elections catch 22 is not as intractable as many, especially the opposition leaders, would want us to believe.

No one would dispute that Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office. Of course, they will never do that.

Mugabe and his cronies have expended a lot of time, sweat wealth and shed over 40 000 innocent Zimbabwean lives to create and retain this de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship giving them absolute political power and all the influence and wealth. Of course, they will not want to give it all up, more so now when they have become addicted to power, have a lot of loot to lose, have too many skeletons to hide, etc.

Of course, Zanu PF will never give up its carte blanche power to rig elections and thus retain its iron grip on political power. The question then is where there any times in the last 42 years when Zanu PF’s grip on power was shaky and the carte blanche powers diluted and weak?

The answer is yes there have many times when Zanu PF’s grip on power was not solid, the 2008 to 2013 GNU was, by far, the best opportunity the nation has ever had to date to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. SADC, who were the guarantor of the agreement, forced Mugabe and Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the reforms to end the regime’s dictatorial powers.

Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were supposed to implement the reforms and the rest is history.

Anyone who understand that the primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the reforms, knows that MDC leaders sold out big time because there is no rational excuse why MDC failed to implement even one reform in five years. None! Worse still, since the GNU debacle, MDC leaders have insisted on participating in the flawed and illegal elections giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections, Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends know this and still they are hell bent on participating in the flawed elections.

"We've consistently said that each by-election is a dry run for 2023. We're keenly aware of the assisted voting, political violence, banning of CCC meetings and voter intimidation that took place in Mberengwa and Nyanga. Zanu-PF will never win a free and fair election in Zimbabwe,” said Fadzai Mahere, CCC national spokesperson. CCC was walloped by Zanu PF in the weekend two local by-election.

"We've begun our post-mortem review of these elections to examine how to sharpen our response to electoral manipulation in these areas. We have a model of how to win rural elections that has worked in places like Binga and Bulilima which we are scaling across the country.”

True, Zanu PF would never win free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe given their track record of four decades of corruption and tyranny. MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections during the GNU and they failed to implement even one reform. CCC have the chance to force Zanu PF implement the reforms by insisting on reforms before elections. They are insisting on participating in the flawed elections instead for the same reasons they failed to implement even one reform during the GNU – corruption and breathtakingly incompetent.

During the GNU Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, very generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. With their snouts in the feeding trough the MDC leaders forgot about implementing reforms. They were foolish enough to think their gravy train good life will last forever. Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections and many of the MDC leaders lost their public office seats and with it their gravy train privileges.

Ever since the GNU Zanu PF has been careful to make sure the opposition wins 1/3 or so of the gravy train seats to entice them to participate and give the appearance Zimbabwe is a healthy and functioning democracy. President Mnangagwa has since created POLAD to reward losing presidential candidates.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and CCC and the rest of the opposition camp are hell bent on participating in these flawed elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats and POLAD freebees!

The ordinary Zimbabweans, who are the big losers in these fraudulent elections, must wake up to the reality CCC will never implement reforms and deliver free elections the prerequisite to stopping Zanu PF rigging elections and ending the curse of bad governance. It is for the people to denounce CCC as the sell outs they are. Deny CCC political credibility and you deny Zanu PF political legitimacy!

"I taught at Eton College!" says Mliswa - pity exposure did not take jungle mentality out of the ape W Mukori

 

Many people have listened to an audio posted on Zimeye in which the Right Honourable Themba Mliswa, Independent MP for Norton, was ranting and raving calling me “a political novice”. What was all that about, some people have asked.

The whole argument started with the Right Honourable MP arguing that if Zimbabweans wanted political and economic change in Zimbabwe then they must register to vote for the upcoming 2023 elections. It is bad enough to have to listen to the brain-dead MDC/CCC supporters regurgitating the same foolish argument; it is too much ask to hear it from an MP too!

In the watershed March 2008 elections 73% of the people voted for Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends but before the results were announced the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut stepped in. Zanu PF led by none other than President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself, by his own admission, whittled down the 73% to 47%, enough to force a presidential runoff.

During the runoff the party unleashed the party’s militia, war veterans backed by the Police, Army and CIO for the express purpose of punishing the people for daring to reject Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March vote.

“What was accomplished by the bullet cannot be undone by the ballot!” thundered Robert Mugabe throughout Operation “Mavhotera papi!” (Whom did you vote for!)

Themba Mliswa was a senior Zanu PF member, an MP and was, at one point, Zanu PF chairman of Mashonaland West. Of course, he played has his role in the establishment and retention of the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship that has ruled the country to this day with an iron fist.

SADC refused to endorse Zanu PF’s election victory in protest against the blatant cheating and wanton violence, a historic first given the regional body had always turned a blind eye to Zanu PF rigged elections in the past. SADC forced Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement a raft of democratic reforms to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections.

Themba Mliswa knows that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends sold out big time by failing to implement even one democratic reform in the five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. “Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good life, they will never rock the boat!) Zanu PF cronies openly boasted during the GNU when asked why MDC were not implementing reforms.

Mliswa would have joined his fellow Zanu PF cronies in celebrating the end of the GNU in 2013 with not even a token reform in place. They all knew that as long as Zanu PF retained its carte blanche powers to rigged elections and use wanton violence, the party would NEVER EVER lose elections as the 2008 watershed elections had shown.

Unlike in 2008 when the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut turned off and only turned back on to stop the unedited elections results be announced, it is turned on all the time. Hence the reason ZEC has only registered 250 000 in the period 2018 to May 2022 regardless of opposition’s effort to register six million, for example!

Of course, Themba Mliswa knows it is futile to participating in these flawed and illegal elections – the opposition will only give the process some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. He does not care about that because he also knows that Zanu PF will give away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. He won one of these bait seats in the last elections and that is all he cares about.

“I am related to Didymus Mutasa and Emmerson Mnangagwa. And Nelson Chamisa is my sekuru (uncle).” Argued Mliswa. “Am I able to advance national interest? Yes I am!”

I judge people on merit and not on their political connections, gender, tribe, age, etc. The Zanu PF dictatorship is at the heart of the nation’s economic and political mess and only an idiot would think perpetuating the dictatorship for selfish reasons is in the national interest!

In his ranting and raving Mliswa revealed that he has studied and worked for some of the world-renowned education institutions in UK, USA and Japan. I for one was disappointed that Mliswa had clearly learned nothing; he did not even have the common sense to know one cannot have free and fair elections without something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.

It goes to show, one can take an ape out of the jungle, but you cannot take the jungle mentality out of the ape! Zimbabwe’s corrupted electoral system has allowed apes to be MPs and no wonder the country is in serious trouble! And the solution is to break this cycle of rigged elections that has kept the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF thugs in power for 42 years.

We cannot stop Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections nor can we stop Mliswa, his uncle Chamisa and the rest in the opposition camp participating in the flawed and illegal elections. What we can and must do is stop SADC endorsing the flawed process and granting Zanu PF legitimacy.

There is a lot more to implementing the democratic reforms and holding free and fair elections than restoring a fundamental right; it is the essence of good governance and our ticket out of the hellhole Zanu PF have dragged us into!

Themba Mliswa taught at Eton College and yet does not even have the common sense to know what constitute free, fair and credible elections. He and his like must not have the final say in 2023 elections!

(Right Honourable MP Themba Mliswa’s ranting, and raving audio is available on facebook.com/zimeye/videos/508767777357655/?flite=scwspnss)