“Zimbabweans jam UK work visa applications” screamed the headline. 8 363 skilled and semi-skilled Zimbabweans were granted UK work permit in 2022 up from 499 in 2019. The truth is Zimbabweans have been leaving the country in droves since 2000 when the country’s agriculture sector collapsed and took the economy with it.
If there was ever any doubt that President Mnangagwa’s “Nyika inovakwa nevevayo!” (Zimbabwe will be rebuilt by Zimbabweans!) super plan was dead in the water; the news that Zimbabweans continue to leave the country in drove ended all doubt. Who are the Zimbabweans rebuilding the country if they all continue to leave the country!
Many Zimbabweans have left the country to escape the consequences of four decades of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule that has left the country is economic ruins and a pariah state shunned by investors and lenders alike. The people have been stuck with the Zanu PF regime all these years because the party rigged elections.
When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup, he was cocksure his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” super plan would change the country’s economic fortunes.
He was sure the change of leadership plus his promise to end corruption and hold free, fair and credible 2018 elections would end Zimbabwe’s pariah state status and open the flood gates of foreign investments to kickstart the comatose economy. He even named his administration a Second Republic and a New Dispensation, to underline the sea change brought on by the coup.
The truth is military coup had allowed the dictator, Mugabe, to be replace by another dictator, Mnangagwa, who then went on to make so token changes. This was just a musical chairs and no one, particularly the savvy and shrewd foreign investors, were ever fooled. Mnangagwa’s failure to stamp out corruption and to hold free elections in 2018 confirm Zimbabwe was still a pariah state.
“Zimbabwe is open for business!” was a lead balloon that never took off! It has taken two years or so for Mnangagwa to accept the reality there will be no significant foreign investment in Zimbabwe let alone the flood gate he anticipated. He needed a plan B.
If foreign investors would not help rebuild Zimbabwe’s collapsed economy, then Zimbabweans must do it themselves. And so “Nyika inovakwa nevenevayo” was born! It was a still birth!
Two years or so ago, the Zimbabwe government carried out a thorough manpower survey which showed the country had an 80% skilled manpower shortages in key areas such as engineering, education, health and agriculture. The irony is that the country’s continued economic stagnation meant the 20% or so skilled manpower available were under utilised!
Of course, it is laughable to keep wittering about Nyika inovakwa nevenevayo when the country continues to haemorrhage skilled and semi-skilled people precisely because the country’s economy is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss!
The only professions which have continued to do well in Zimbabwe in the last two decades are lawyers, politicians, pastors and local and foreign looters.
In 2016the late President Robert Mugabe talked of the country being swindled of US$15 billion in diamond revenue. In 2020 the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr John Mangudya, revealed the country was losing a staggering US$1.2 billion per year to gold smugglers alone. And last week it was reported the Chinese are exporting 500 tonnes per day of Lithium ore from Bikita, in Masvingo Province; contrary to a recent law banning the export of unprocessed Lithium.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state and, per se, not attractive to genuine foreign and/or local investors and that has made it very attractive to looters. And they are robbing the nation blind!
President Mnangagwa and his follow Zanu PF ruling elite and the godfathers of all the looting in the land. They are getting their share of the looted wealth and, most important of all, they are counting on their Chinese and Russian looting partners to help them stay in power. The country’s vast mineral wealth should be a blessing to the nation but it is a curse instead.
So here is President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s Working Plan
“Zimbabwe is open for business!”
“Nyika inovakwa inorakashwa ivenevayo imashefu namachaina!”
(Zimbabwe will be looted by ruling elite and the Chinese!)
“A pilhagem continua!” (Looting continue!)
Pamberimberi neZanu PF!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa told delegates attending the Zimbabwe Second Structured Dialogue Platform Meeting that the country is upholding tenets of good governance and democracy as part of efforts to resolve the debt crisis, but his claims differ from the reforms being demanded by opposition players and human rights watchdogs, The NewsHawks reported.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe this week hosted the second structured meeting, which sought to look into economic and governance issues constraining arrears clearance and debt resolution, headlined by African Development Bank (AfDB) president, Akinumwi Adesina and former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano.
Harare has been struggling to settle arrears with international financial institutions such as the World Bank, which has seen it fail to get loans.
Zanu PF has stubbornly maintained its stance that Zimbabwe is a healthy and functioning democracy holding free and fair elections because the regime has always pointed to the full participation of the opposition as proof of a functioning democracy. The failure by the MDC to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU gave Mugabe the courage to boast the country did not need any democratic reforms!
Even since the betrayal by MDC/CCC those who have continued to blame Zanu PF’s Zimbabwe’s autocratic system of government have missed the point completely. MDC/CCC lost political credibility and to pretend otherwise was to miss the new role MDC/CCC were now playing of giving Zanu PF legitimacy.
Zanu PF has seen to it that MDC/CCC is paid well to guarantee their participation in elections no matter how flawed the process gets!
In 2019, the then Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo hired four lobbyists - BTP Advisers, Mercury International Limited, Ballard Partners and Avenue Strategies - paying them millions of dollars, in a desperate bid to spruce up its battered global image and bolster the diplomatic re-engagement drive that had fallen off the rails.
ReplyDeleteBut the move yielded little as Washington demanded more political governance reforms such as upholding the rule of law, respecting property rights and an overhaul on electoral laws. The Zanu-PF government has for years been intransigent on the reform agenda, saying Washington is pushing for a change in administration.
Frederick Shava, Moyo's successor, told The NewsHawks that bilateral engagements between Zimbabwe and the United States will now be held at government level. This follows public outcry over the dolling out of millions of United States dollars to the consultancy firms.
Well, the penny has finally dropped that Zanu PF cannot bluff its way out of being a pariah state. The 2017 military coup changed absolutely nothing of substance.
Zimbabwe would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship if only MDC leaders had not wasted the golden opportunity to implement reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The international community’s failure to see MDC/CCC as the sell out on reforms and free elections has not helped us one bit!
We cannot force Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms as long as MDC/CCC are considered a credible opposition giving the regime legitimacy by participating in flawed elections out of greed.
@ Godfrey
ReplyDelete“CCC has sizeable following.”
The challenge has never been one of level of opposition support but rather one of a political system that does not allow the people's democratic voice to be heard because elections are not free, fair and credible.
MDC/CCC are now part and parcel of that failed system in that they failed to change the system when it was in their power to do so and are giving the system credibility by insisting on participation in the flawed system. These are the complexities one would not expect the ordinary citizens to understand. CCC is taking full advantage of the people's ignorance for selfish gain.
@ Leonard Kani
ReplyDelete“President Mnangagwa government’s must abide by the constitution and allow the opposition to campaign freely.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to have another disputed 2023 election.
Our democracy can be richer and stronger if every political party in the country is given a fair access to the media allowing them to gather unhindered and unharmed.
In terms of political repression, arresting political opponents, poor governance, banning of NGOs, mutilation of the constitution the Zanu PF government under this new republic has broken the record.
In November 2017 President Emmerson Mnangagwa said “the voice of the people is the voice of GOD” literally meaning that whatever people cried for he is supposed to incline an ear. Today Mnangagwa has changed goal posts and has become another Idi Amin of Zimbabwe.”
All you are saying is true and, if truth be said, has been said a thousand times over the year. What you should be saying is why is Zimbabwe heading for yet another disputed election even after 43 years of rigged election? The answer is clear as bell - greed!
MDC leaders have failed to implement the democratic reforms to stop the rigging and have insisted on participating in rigged election knowing fully doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy. And all because they knew Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seat to entice the opposition to forget the reform and then to participate. The election results are disputed because the process is flawed.
So if we are serious about ending the curse of rigged election, bad governance and disputed election result we must either implement the democratic reform to ensure free election and stop the corrupt opposition participating until the reforms are implemented.
What we have here is corrupt opposition who insist on participating and then shed buckets of crocodile tears mourning of rigged elections. And we foolishly give them a shoulder to cry on! What a palaver!
At the ongoing Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisations Ministerial Alliance meeting, Zimbabwe is represented by the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Jenfan Muswere.
ReplyDeleteThe invitation of Minister Muswere comes in the backdrop of a visit by a Commonwealth delegation led by the organisation's Assistant Secretary-General, Professor Luis Franceschi, that came to Zimbabwe in November last year and acknowledged that Harare has made tremendous progress in laying the desired foundation for re-admittance into the club of mainly former British colonies.
In 2022, ZimTrade joined the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council and also participated at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) business forum in Rwanda.
Political analyst Advocate Obert Gutu said the continued invitation of Zimbabwe, now at the ministerial level, to Commonwealth meetings, is testimony of the success of the engagement and re-engagement policy.
"This is a very huge indicator of better and bigger things to come. To all intents and purposes, Zimbabwe's re-admission into the Commonwealth is now just but a mere formality. It's a question of when, exactly, and certainly not whether Zimbabwe will be readmitted."
He commended President Mnangagwa's diplomatic thrust saying it is very quiet but at the same time, effective and impactful.
Zimbabwe should have been readmitted to the Commonwealth soon after the 2018 election. It was not readmitted because the country failed to run free and fair elections. As much as some members especially from Africa, notably President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, would like to see Zimbabwe readmitted, there are other members who know it will be foolish to do so on the eve of fresh elections in Zimbabwe they can see are being rigged.
If Zanu PF had any say as to when Zimbabwe should be readmitted it would say yesterday. Nothing would give the regime a bigger boost going into these elections that being back in the Commonwealth and the certainty the club and SADC will turn a blind eye to the rigging to grant the regime legitimacy.
For the Commonwealth readmitting a vote rigging Zanu PF back into the club will be letting the gene out of the bottle because all the other member, especially in Africa, will too want to rig election! The club might just as well tear up it good governance rules!
The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it is not advisable for Zimbabwe to mortgage its natural resources to access lines of credit.
ReplyDeleteIn an interview with Standardbusiness on the sidelines of a high level debt conference in Harare, AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina said it was difficult to value the resources that Zimbabwe mortgaged to international lenders, adding that nations were losing out from this kind of arrangement.
Adesina said Zimbabwe, along with other African countries, must seek other options available to secure loans and avoid mortgaging themselves.
How many times has Zanu PF been warned of this and ignored the warning! Zanu PF is on looting spree and will do anything to stay in power including selling off the nation’s treasure and the future for a song. As long as Zanu PF remains in power, the looting will continue!
@ Zimbabwean
ReplyDelete“I reckon this gives a strong message to the Chinese people operating in Rwanda and other African countries that they cannot continue treating our people in a discriminatory manner.”
Not so in Zimbabwe, the Chinese know that Zanu PF needs them to retain its iron grip on power and is taking full advantage of it. Mugabe booted the Chinese out of Marange and Chiadzwa in 2016 and a few months latter he was booted out of office and the Chinese were back. They have since expanded their operations into gold, lithium, platinum, etc., etc. Zanu PF is in the Chinese’s deep pockets!
There is no denying India is doing very well and political stability is one of the reasons for her success. It is laughable that both Zanu PF and CCC think Zimbabwe can prosper regardless of the rigged elections, the one is rigging to stay in power and the latter claim they can win rigged elections. The truth is the failure to hold free election is proof of political instability, no one would want to invest in an unstable country.
ReplyDelete@ Chickenbreast
ReplyDelete“You are the one who is not going to go but Zanu PF is going to go, whether you like it or not Zanu PF is finished and you too you are already finished.”
Well Zanu PF has remained in power even when the people voted for MDC by 73% of the votes because the party rigged the elections. Zanu PF still has these vote rigging powers and are rigging 2023 elections. And some of us are sick are tired of rigged elections and are saying so here and now instead of waiting until the election results are out!
Zanu PF will remain in power until we implement reforms, your claim that CCC will win is just the usual nonsense based on wishful thinking! It will be foolish to let VI like you silence me!
A four part Aljazeera documentary to reveal loot and money laundering in Zimbabwe.
ReplyDeleteAccording to RBZ Governor, Dr John Mangudya, Zimbabwe has lost US$1.2 b per year to gold smugglers! None of the smugglers would want the looting to end and so they will happily channel some of their wealth to Zanu PF's vote rigging machinery! For every dollar the opposition can raise for the campaign, Zanu PF will raise thousand plus!
Zanu PF is rigging these elections! The opposition know it and are participating in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed. Opposition greed has now become Zimbabwe’ number one curse because it is the one enabling the looting!