“Charova sei chando kukwidza hamba mumuti!” (The winter will
have to be extraordinarily cold to force the tortoise to climb a tree!) so goes
the Shona adage. Well after weeks of dismissing the Al Jazeera Gold Mafia
documentary as a storm in a tea-cup, the Zanu PF tortoise has lumbered up a
tree!
“Government takes note of a documentary titles “Gold Mafia”
currently being serialised by an international broadcasting channel which
purports to expose a network of alleged
money laundering and gold smuggling in Zimbabwe” stated the Press
Statement signed by Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, Minister of Information,
Publicity and Broadcasting Services.
“Government takes the allegations raised in the documentary
seriously, and has directed relevant organisations to institute investigations
into the issues raised therein. Any person found to have engaged in acts of
corruption, fraud or any form of crime, will face the full wrath of the law.”
Bollocks! These Zanu PF thugs must think every Zimbabwean is
a certified village idiot who will believe anything the regime says!
In Zimbabwe corruption has been tolerated as the norm and
even approved and legitimised and thus institutionalised. It is not just a few
individuals who are corrupt the whole organisation is rotten to the core.
When those in position of power and authority are corrupt, it
is not surprising how quickly the rot will spread. When the subordinates are
armed with the details of the criminal activities of the boss, they are emboldened
to commit similar crimes themselves confident the boss would never act for fear
of self-incriminating.
The very fact that 80% of Zimbabwe's US$2 billion gold or 16%
of the country's GPD is being smuggled out of the country every year, this has
been going for years and it is not only gold but diamonds and other resources;
proves corruption in Zimbabwe has reached pandemic proportions. All our
institutions and organisations, banks, security services, Customs, right up to
government itself; are not just corrupt but rotten to the core!
“Any person found to have engaged in acts of corruption, will
face the full wrath of the law!” Yeah right!
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission was launched in 2018
with the usual funfair and razzmatazz and so far ZACC has spent US$ 33.3
million fighting corruption. The Commission has not managed to have even one
big fish charged and convicted. The modus operandi is catch and release, and
after a while the case kicked into the long grass and forgotten.
The British Football Premier League is one of the most
successful sporting leagues in the world. Their secret? Teams attract the best
players and managers in the world and anyone whose performance falls short of
the demanding standards is sacked.
So far, with 28 games played out of 38 in a 20-team in the
Premier League, 13 managers have been sacked. There are no sacred cows!
43 years after independence, Zimbabwe has only had two leaders
and it took a military coup to remove Robert Mugabe only for the coup plotters
to replace him with another dictator, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. The root
cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and political paralysis is political
stagnation, the nation has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and
tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 43 years and counting, regardless of the
regime’s pathetic track record of failure corruption and tyrannical oppression.
It was none other than President Mugabe and after him Mnangagwa
who has presided over the wholesale loot Al Jazeera Gold Mafia has uncovered. It
was Mnangagwa himself who appointed this third-grade crook, Prophet Uebert
Angel, ambassador-at-large and granted him the plenipotentiary, carte blanche,
powers! How can such a dunderhead be the Head of State! And yet Mnangagwa is
Head of State but only because Zanu PF has rigged elections
these last 43 years, denying the ordinary people a meaningful say in the governance
of the country! The failure to hold free, fair and credible elections is the
root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic decline, notoriety as one of the most corrupt
nation on earth and political paralysis. Nothing of substance can ever be
accomplished until we cure ourselves of this curse of rigged elections and bad
governance. Nothing!
Zimbabweans will be going to the polls in four months, the
exact date is yet be announced; the signs are Zanu PF is once again blatantly
rigged these elections. The regime has stubbornly refused to produce something
as basic as a verified voters’ roll, has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the
diaspora the vote or 37% of the electorate, etc., etc. This time Zanu PF must
be denied political legitimacy for filing to hold free, fair and credible
elections.
Deny Zanu PF political legitimacy will force Zimbabwe to set
up an interim government, a GNU, as happened in 2008. This time we will appoint
individuals with at least the common sense to implement the democratic reforms to
dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and end the curse of rigged elections!
“Zanu PF government will “institute investigations into the
issues raised therein. Any person found to have engaged in acts of corruption,
fraud or any form of crime, will face the full wrath of the law.” No, forget
Zanu PF launching yet another ZACC! We know already the criminals behind the
economic meltdown, the tyrannical oppression and the looting of our gold and
diamonds and they must now face the full wrath of the electorate in a free,
fair and credible 2023 elections! If Zanu PF rigs the 2023 elections, as it did
with past elections, then the party must and will be denied legitimacy!
Outgoing Zanu-PF Buhera South MP, Joseph Chinotimba said war veterans needed to be liberated through a proportional representation in parliament.
ReplyDeleteThis comes after most war veterans lost their posts within their respective political parties to a younger generation using money to elbow them out.
Chinotimba fell to Ngonidzashe Mudekunye in Buhera South primary elections
Chinotimba is only saying out loud what Zanu PF has been saying all along – that Zanu PF alone must rule the country regardless of the democratic wishes of the ordinary people because the party “liberated Zimbabwe”. Zanu PF leaders have never believed in the right of every Zimbabwean to a meaningful vote hence the reason why the party did not have the Freedom Chart articulating such rights, unlike Nelson Mandela and his ANC friends who did. Zimbabweans have never ever had free and fair elections unlike Southy Africans who have had free and fair elections ever since the end of apartheid!
Zanu PF liberated the country from white colonial oppression only to have Zanu PF oppression imposed on the people. It is rich to expect an empty head like Chinotimba, drunk from power and the looted wealth, to think any differently. The fight to liberate all Zimbabweans from all manner of oppression is yet to be won.
Since the start on the season 13 England Football Premier League managers have been fired- this is what makes it one of the best sports leagues in the world. In Zimbabwe we are stuck for 43 years with a dunderhead foolish enough to appoint Uebert Angel ambassador-at-large and grant him plenipotentiary powers. When you have a dunderhead who has never accomplished anything of substance masquerading as Mr Special, you know you are in deep trouble!
ReplyDeletehttps://bulawayo24.com/index-id-opinion-sc-columnist-byo-229352.html
Former Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri was forced to cut and run soon after the November 2017 military coup, because he was in the G40 Zanu PF faction, wrong basket! The winning Lactose faction has been after him or, at least, after his US$32 million loot.
ReplyDeleteChihuri amassed his wealth the same was Mugabe, Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and every other Zanu PF chef has amassed their wealth by looting.
So if Chihuri had not been in the wrong basket it would be him Mnangagwa would be ordering to investigate the Al Jazeera Gold Mafia scandal. Those ordering the investigation, those tasked to do the investigations and all involved in the looting.
So the order to investigate is just a cover up, to give the impression something is being done to punish the criminals when nothing is being done. The criminals are regrouping to tighten their operation and it will be business as usual.
Zimbabwe is a lawless nation and it is nonsense enforcing the law that is broken! Mnangagwa and his cronies have broken the laws because it was an inconvenience for their looting activities.
When Mnangagwa announced that "Zimbabwe was open for business!" we thought it was legitimate business. Now we know better!
POLITICAL activists are piling pressure on the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) to move a motion in Parliament to impeach President Emmerson Mnangagwa over alleged corruption in the gold sector by his cronies.
ReplyDeleteThis follows an exposé by international news channel Al Jazeera, which produced a documentary, Gold Mafia, exposing alleged smuggling of the country's gold and money laundering by Mnangagwa's allies.
Activists Team Pachedu said impeachment was the "most viable" way for CCC to bring Mnangagwa to account for the acts of corruption in his government as it could not call for protests over the issue.
"As Team Pachedu, we think the opposition should put the necessary pressure on Mnangagwa to step down and a good safe way is to move a motion to impeach him in Parliament.
"The legislators have a role to play in checking the executive," Team Pachedu told NewsDay yesterday.
The group said Mnangagwa also violated the Constitution by failing to gazette the delimitation report as required.
The people of Zimbabwe will only end corruption by implementing the democratic reforms, the prerequisite for free, fair and credible elections. As long as Zanu PF is able to rig the elections and stay in power the mismanagement, corruption and tyrannical oppression will continue.
Zimbabweans are in the middle of an election campaign and will be going to the poll in four months’ time. There is overwhelming evidence already to show the process is flawed and illegal. Zanu PF is rigging these elections. The number one task is surely to expose that these elections are a farce, and no legitimate government can possibly come out of this. Team Pachedu guys should be leading from the front on this fight and not waste time on this wild goose chase.
Yes the opposition can table a motion to impeach Mnangagwa, if they even get that far, but the motion will never go any further because Zanu PF has 2/3 majority in parliament and the MPs are not accountable to the people but Zanu PF – Zanu PF rigs elections, remember!
The opposition will only love taking up such wild goose chase and forget about reforms and free elections. They are participating in these elections knowing fully well the process is flawed and that doing so will only give Zanu PF legitimacy. They are participating regardless out of greed and if they can say the tabled a motion to impeach Mnangagwa on Gold Mafia – that will be a priceless feather in their cap!