SADC leaders, in their infantile wisdom, have put aside a
day, 25th 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.
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