“After allowing a
wave of authoritarian regimes to become members in recent years, the
Commonwealth and member states such as Canada are now pondering one of their
toughest dilemmas: whether to approve Zimbabwe's bid to re-join their club,”
reported The Globe & Mail.
“The timing would be awkward. As he prepares for an election this year,
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has become even more repressive than
his notorious predecessor, Robert Mugabe, crushing opposition meetings and
imprisoning activists. But after other autocrats were permitted to join, the
Commonwealth might now find it difficult to draw the line at Zimbabwe.
“A high-level delegation, sent by the Commonwealth Secretariat to Zimbabwe last
November to study the situation, met Mr. Mnangagwa and praised the country for
its "very impressive progress" – but provided little evidence for the
comment. Its findings are now being drafted in an "informal assessment
report," but the process is veiled in complete secrecy.
"Please note that the informal assessment reports are restricted to
Commonwealth member governments and are not for public consumption," said
a spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, who did not give her
full name.
“Canada, too, is declining to say whether Zimbabwe should be readmitted to the
Commonwealth, although its diplomats have been discussing the issue informally
for months.”
Of course, Canada, UK and any Commonwealth country with any democratic
credentials worth a spit know that admitting autocratic regimes like that of
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda into the Commonwealth was a big mistake. And
now they are loathed at compounding that mistake by readmitting unrepentant prodigal
Zanu PF regime.
These nations know
they are giving up the Commonwealth’s democratic values and principles of rule
of law and free elections to appease the tyrannical ruling elite for the
pleasure of their company. Trading gold for fool’s gold! Of course, the democratic
nations are ashamed and hence the reason why the decision to readmit Zimbabwe
is being conducted under a veil of secrecy. Let’s lift the veil and peek!
Admitting Rwanda into
the Commonwealth led by the tyrannical regime of President Paul Kagame, knowing
fully well he is a tyrant, is like letting a skunk into the house you cannot
complain of the smell nor expect it to stop being a skunk. President Kagame has
robustly rebuffed all pressure to implement democratic reforms. Having lowed
the bar of democratic values and principles to get Rwanda admitted, the Commonwealth
leaders have since discovered they could not raise the bar back up. And as far
as President Kagame is concerned, the lowed position is the new normal!
Indeed, President
Kagame has used the Commonwealth platform to pontificate and harangue neutrals
and critics alike about Rwanda’s autocratic system of government as the new “African
democracy”. Of course, it is nonsense, the right to a meaningful say in the
governance of one’s country is not only a universal right but the very foundation
of good governance and social justice and cohesion – the very things Africa is
dying for.
It is not surprise
that President Paul Kagame is one of the Commonwealth leaders demanding the
readmission of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth with no conditions attached. If
it was up to him alone, President Kagame would have readmitted Zimbabwe before
the 2023 elections even in the face of the evidence Zanu PF is rigging the elections.
Well if Zimbabwe is
readmitted before the 2023 elections, expect in August at the latest, and
Mnangagwa blatantly rigs the plebiscite; the Commonwealth will regret the
discussion. For having booted Zimbabwe out for fragrant disregard of the
democratic principles and values and readmit the country knowing fully well the
country had not repented, it would be idiotic to boot the country out of the
club a second time. And yet foolish not to!
If Zimbabwe blatantly
rig the 2023 elections and the Commonwealth does punish the Zanu PF regime,
then many other Commonwealth countries will replicate Zanu PF’s vote rigging
antics confident they too will get away with it. The rock bottom democratic
values Zanu PF will have set will be considered the new normal.
Zimbabwe and all the
other nations aspiring for democracy and good governance will be better off
leaving the Commonwealth to join other bodies who still value rule of law and
free elections. To remain in the Commonwealth will be to join the autocratic rat-race
to the bottom in the name of African Democracy, Paul Kagame’s new Pan Africanism.
@ Silungisani Ndlovu
ReplyDelete“I believe this Little British Bulldog Puppy Wilbert Mukori is a Zimbabwean. He doesn't know Zimbabwean Politics.”
Let it be known that I am willing to learn. Tell me where I am wrong in my analysis and why you think I am wrong. I really would like to know and understand Zimbabwean politics and most important of all to find a solution to end the pariah state and the tragic human misery it has brought. Go head, educate me!
As Zimbabwe prepares for its next election, President Mnangagwa's tactics to secure re-election have come into question. According to sources close to the situation, the president has deployed emissaries to recruit and buy support from former Saviour Kasukuwere supporters. The emissaries are led by former Mp Maduza and former Mp Mashange, two former loyalists of Kasukuwere who have since been given money to sell him out.
ReplyDeleteKasukuwere poses a major threat to President Mnangagwa's re-election, as he is widely seen as the best candidate for the future of Zimbabwe. With a strong track record of public service and a commitment to making Zimbabwe a better place, Kasukuwere has the potential to lead the country in a new direction. His charismatic personality and ability to connect with the people have made him a popular figure in Zimbabwe, and his popularity continues to grow.
Kasukuwere is a ruthless thug how anyone can view him as suitable to lead the country beggars belief. The reason why Mnangagwa is after him is because there cannot be two thugs.
What Zimbabwe needs now more than ever is to implement the democratic reforms to completely overhaul the country’s autocratic political system in which one has to be a thug to survive. If we want a healthy and functioning democracy we must first implement the reforms to get rid of the autocracy and thugs , if we want fish we first drain the sewage swamp because no fish can survive in the swamp!
Moyo argued the research group was not independent adding that having high hopes on an online survey was desperation as it does not depict the situation on the ground.
ReplyDelete"It is a fatal desperation to pin hopes on a phoney ‘PHONE SURVEY' of 1000 registered voters in Zimbabwe done from London by a group paid by Brenthurst Foundation, founded by the meddlesome Oppenheimer family!
"Who gave them 1000 phone numbers of registered voters?
"London's allegedly independent ‘SABI Strategy Group' paid to do the phone survey, fraudulently presented as ‘fieldwork' as it smiled to the bank with dirty Oppenheimer money is in fact a partner of Brenthurst Foundation and is thus not independent at all. Phoney!," Moyo said.
The survey also revealed that 47% of the voters said the 2023 election will not be free and fair while 38% believed it will be fair.
Meanwhile the ruling Zanu-PF party has dismissed the survey claiming it is flawed, researchers are biased towards the opposition and want to solicit support for Chamisa.
The survey fooled no one except the naïve and gullible. How can the election be free and fair when not even one democratic reform recommended by EU or any other observer saw the light of day, there is no verified voters’ roll, Zanu PF cherry picked the voters denying 3 million in the diaspora the vote or 37% of the potential electorate, etc., etc.?
Chamisa and his CCC friends know Zanu PF is rigging these elections; they are participating to give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for the few gravy train seats on offer as bait. Chamisa and company have welcomed the survey as another tool to con their supporters into participating to hide the real reason of greed. CCC’s claim of winning in rigged elections strategies to hide the greed have been discredited especially the mass voter registration with the party registering ¼ million or 4% of its target of 6 million.
Shavi renhamo! Zanu PF is rigging these elections, the regime has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll, has been busing rural voters to register as voters in urban centres, etc., etc. and CCC is ignoring all this! Why?
ReplyDeleteAll you lot care about is the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away to keep the illusion the elections are free and fair. MDC/CCC has failed to implement even one reform in 23 years, 5 of which in GNU, because you lot do not care about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship as long as you get a share of the spoils of power!
No doubt you, Wakurawarerwa, like Chitando and many others have your beady eyes on one of the urban seats and will never ever admit Zanu PF is rigging the elections and are participating out greed. You are the modern-day Abel Muzorewa who participated in the 1978 internal settlement out of greed. This is the tragedy of Africa, we have a very few people with common sense and a glut of sell outs!
CCC member had used his combi to take people to register to vote in Mutasa had his vehicle set on fire by three suspected Zanu PF supporters.
ReplyDeleteThe political reality is that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and is using wanton violence to secure victory. How many times have people reported such incidence to the Police and nothing was done. The only sure way to stop the rigging and violence is by implementing the democratic reforms and give state institutions like the Police their power to carry out the duties without fear or favour.
What is infuriating here is that MDC/CCC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the GNU but failed to do so. To add insult to injury, they are the ones insisting on participating in these flawed elections. They claim to have “winning in rigged elections (WIRE) strategies.”
It is clear these WIRE strategies focus on winning the elections only and are doing nothing to stop the wanton violence. Chamisa and company do not care about the many Zimbabweans intimidated, beaten, raped and some even killed by Zanu PF as long as they win the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is giving away as bait.
43 years after independence and we are still failing the hold free and fair elections all because Zanu PF thugs believe they have the divine right to rule the country. And MDC/CCC had the chance to end this insanity but sold out for 30 pieces of silver! We really must put an end to this madness!
We must denounce these elections because they are a farce, denounce CCC for selling out and make sure Zanu PF does not get legitimacy. We need a new GNU and this time we WILL implement the reforms.
Posting on Twitter, Matutu said they welcomed the activists at Bondolfi Teachers College in Masvingo.
ReplyDelete"The #Reaturnees4ED mobilization agenda goes on. Today we took in more than 1000 returnees coming from the CCC at Bondolfi Teachers College. This year ED will get more than 6 million returnee votes and we wont rest until Chamisa is left with none other than his wife in the CCC." Said Matutu.
One of the prices the nation is paying for having a corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent opposition is that people lose hope in democracy as a system of government. After 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC has failed to deliver even one token reform. Indeed, the idiots are the ones now keeping Zanu PF in power by participating in the flawed elections to give the regime legitimacy for the sake of a few gravy train seats.
Re-joining the Zanu PF dictatorship is not going to change anything, Zimbabwe will still remain a pariah state sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss because no one will ever want to do business with us. We can make democracy work, all we need to do is implement the reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. We must make sure that Zanu PF does not get political legitimacy for rigging 2023 elections.
It was the Japanese scholar Ken Yamamoto who said Zimbabwe had the potential to be the South Korea of Africa, this is why. If Zimbabwe had built on the agricultural success of Rhodesia plus the the billions of dollars from the diamonds, gold, platinum, etc.; the sky would be the limit.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF seized the farms and gave them to the party ruling elite and their cronies and agricultural production collapsed. The bounty from our minerals have been a curse instead of a blessing. The wealth from the wholesale looting of our diamonds, gold, etc. is being used to bankroll the Zanu PF’s patronage system and the the regime’s insidious vote rigging juggernaut.
Zimbabwe can still be the South Korea of Africa; we still have the productive land, the minerals, etc. all we need is competent leaders. All we have to do is implement the democratic reforms, end the curse of rigged elections and give ourself the blessing of good governance. We have lacked quality leaders in the ruling party and in the opposition alike.
Zanu PF is rigging 2023 elections and yet CCC is hell bent on participating in these elections. WHY? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ky_bJGDlo
ReplyDeleteA source briefed on Mnangagwa and Chigumba's February 3 meeting revealed: "When Chigumba went to present her final delimitation report and her comments on earlier submissions by parliament and the president, Mnangagwa was first taken aback by the presence of journalists who had been invited to witness the handover of the final delimitation report.
ReplyDelete"Mnangagwa told Chigumba that ‘this report is not final'. He further informed her that he would study what she had presented and make further comments which would be ready by February 13.
"The president's expectation, therefore, is that Chigumba will return on Monday and pick up his further comments before she wraps up her delimitation report. On the other side, however, Chigumba stated after leaving the same meeting that she presented her final report which she said Mnangagwa should publish in the government gazette within 14 days, which sets a deadline of February 17.”
Zanu PF has perfected the art of deploying diversionary decoys, making a mountain out of a molehill of trivia to draw attention away from the real big issues.
The allegation that the delimitation report favours Chiwenga allies and the opposition at Mnangagwa’s expense is just that an allegation. There is nothing to stop Mnangagwa loyalists putting their names forward in the upcoming Zanu PF primaries and thus being the party candidates in the new constituencies. And so the so called benefit to Chiwenga and the opposition is spurious, to say the least.
The real important issue regarding the delimitation report is that it was drawn without a verified voters’ roll. This has been a burning issue since the 2018 elections and beyond. How can we have free, fair and credible elections WITHOUT a verified voters’ roll? Enough is enough.
Talk of a constitutional crisis, surely the failure by ZEC to produce a verified voters’ roll is a very serious matter worthy of a constitutional crisis!
Mzembi further claims that the government is stealing identification documents of Opposition supporters.
ReplyDelete"What is the point of holding elections if we are not ready to make them credible.. Banning Opposition rallies and stealing identification documents of Opposition supporters reinforces why they never wanted their structures known in the first place," Mzembi wrote on Twitter
Well, well! The sheer hypocrisy of the likes of Mzembi is astounding! Zanu PF has never ever held free, fair and credible elections since the country’s independence in 1980. Mzembi has been a senior Zanu PF member throughout, notable during the 2008 elections when the country witnessed its worst cases of election rigging and violence, he never said a word about the flawed elections. He remained faithful to the corrupt and tyrannical regime until his ouster in the 2017 military coup; he was in the “wrong basket”, as Mugabe would have said. And now the idiot has his eyes open and has a voice!
Mzembi is a seasoned Zanu PF thug, he is saying the right things just to win the people’s confidence so he can stage his comeback. He does not care about free and fair elections, all he cares about is power! Fool me once, twice and three time; shame on me. These Zanu PF thugs think they can fool every one all the time!
Zanu PF supporters have the backing of the Police and the rest of the state institutions, this is a fight CCC supporters are bound to lose. It is unwise to go into a fight you know is a trap especially when you have other options such as implementing the reforms to ensure free and fair elections!
ReplyDelete@ Godfrey
ReplyDelete“Wanted ask same question asked elsewhere
What is democracy
Take a situation where the general voter is willing to go along with ‘repressive’ electoral systems through ignorance.
Say in dictatorial regimes where there is no voice of dissent
What conditions determine democracy - absence of dissent or ?
Who decides
Are we victims of such.”
No one would willing and knowingly go along with a repressive anything! In Zimbabwe rural voters ate frog matched to vote for Zanu PF so they have no choice. In urban centre the ordinary people participate in flawed elections out of ignorance, they have brainwashed into believing CCC has winning in rigged elections strategies, and/or out of desperation, they desperate for change and an end to their suffering.
Zimbabwe is not like Russia, China or North Korea, where there has been little opportunity to voice dissent; we have had amble opportunity not only to voice dissent but better still to end the autocracy. We had the golden opportunity to end the dictatorship during the GNU and we wasted it.
We have the opportunity to force yet another GNU but are shooting ourselves in the foot by participating in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and CCC a few gravy train seats. Talk of insanity!
It does matter who says the elections were free, fair and credible as long as he/she is speaking the truth!
“No matter how ignorant , foolish or mad a ZanuPF supporter is there is only one thing he/she knows , that is to register to vote. ZanuPF has fewer supporters than CCC but they will never make a mistake of failing to vote. ZanuPF supporters even if they know that Mnangagwa will never be able to turnaround the economy they will vote that failure and celebrate it. Citizens who want change are far more than ZanuPF but their undoing is most of them will not bother to register to vote. It is these unregistered voters who have voted ZanuPF by not voting it out whom we must blame for our suffering.”
ReplyDeleteThe real tragedy here is how some people close their eyes and minds to reality and reason.
As of 30 May 2022 only 1/4 million new voters had registered or 4% of CCC’s set target of 6 million. It is hard work to register when a big city like Harare has only two ZEC offices!
We know from past experience that Zanu PF always register its supporters in the voter registration blitz a few months before the elections. Last week we saw videos of Zanu PF rural voters bused in from Domboshava, Goromonzi, etc. into Harare to registered. They are registered as voters in their rural home and now they are registering again as urban voters! They will vote in their rural home and then bused into Harare to vote there too.
Zanu PF is rigging these 2023 elections and those who bury their heads and pretend this is a free and fair election are not doing Zimbabwe any favours!
After 43 years of rigged elections we can stop this insanity by stopping the nonsense of pretending CCC has winning in rigged election strategies. They have no such strategies, this is just a smoke-screen to hide their greed!
“It is these unregistered voters who have voted ZanuPF by not voting it out whom we must blame for our suffering.” Yeah right! Actually it is the village idiots who will not accept that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and thus keep participating to give the regime legitimacy who are to blame for Zimbabweans’ suffering.