“SADC Troika meeting: Did Ibbo Mandaza's prediction fail again?” commented Dereck Goto on X
“The SADC Troika meeting, which was "scheduled" for the just-ended week, did not take place. This is despite the prediction of Ibbo, a Zimbabwean political activist, that it would.”
The regional body was supposed to meet and endorse the SADC Election Observer Mission’s (SEOM) report that condemned Zimbabwe’s 23 August 2023 elections as flawed and illegal, so flawed the process could not produce a legitimate result. The regional body would therefore deny the Zanu PF government in Harare political legitimacy.
“It is unclear why some people continue to believe Ibbo's predictions. It is possible that they do so out of respect for his old age or because they share his political views,” continued Dereck.
The 23 August 2023 elections were flawed and illegal, that is a historic fact. Zimbabwe is a failed state with all the economic, social, political and tragic human suffering that entails precisely because we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections all these last 43 years. This means the curse of rigged elections is a very serious matter and what SADC is going to do next a matter of great importance to us all and not just Dr Ibbo Mandaza and a select few.
Why SADC has not convened the meeting to decide on Zimbabwe’s flawed 2023 election, it is now over three weeks since the 25 August 2023 SEOM damning report, is worrying us all.
Let’s be brutally honest here; any one who knows anything about SADC and AU will tell you these are very weak and indecisive organisations. They are consensus organisations meaning they are as strong as their weakest link and we all know most African countries are weak and feeble.
The very fact that SADC and the AU election observer teams came up with a strong report condemning Zimbabwe’s 23 August 2023 elections was a surprise to all and sundry not because the reports said the election was flawed and illegal; we all knew that. The surprise was the teams dared to say the obvious. In the past election teams have glossed over and turned a blind eye to the vote rigging.
Now that the election was condemned it will be very hard for both SADC and AU to grant Zanu PF political legitimacy. It is possible that both organisation are developing cold feet and are looking at how they can grant Zanu PF legitimacy without losing face - not that they have much to lose, with a reputation is not worth the spit!
Still, we have to make the most of what we have. If you have lemons make lemonade and stop wishing you had oranges.
Both SADC and AU did Zimbabwe a great favour by condemning the 23 August 2023 elections as a farce; they were a farce. We, the people of Zimbabwe, must give SADC and AU our heartfelt pam-pam applause for standing up to the Zanu PF tyrants and telling them some home truths for a change.
We must now stand up and be counted in support of SADC and AU following through with their reports and get the regime to step down and give the nation a chance to finally implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
As a nation, we must put our hands up and admit we have let ourselves down badly more than SADC and AU has done. We are our own worst enemy. It is a crying shame that the 2008 to 2013 GNU, for example, failed to get even one token democratic reform implemented. It was all Zanu PF and MDC leaders’ fault, especially the latter, and yet to this day some Zimbabweans blame SADC for it!
SADC has created a golden opportunity for a new GNU and a chance to implement the democratic reforms. Let’s be grateful for that and make sure we do not waste this chance too!
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ReplyDeleteZimbabwe chokes🤮under weight of $13 billion China loans.
It is ironic that some of our African leaders like the late Robert Mugabe have made a name for themselves the world over for their anti-west vitriolic rhetoric are the ones who have sold their nation for a song to the new colonial oppressors from the East - China and Russia in particular.
Meanwhile, Finance and Investment Promotion Minister Mthuli Ncube said that it is baffling that a foreign currency parallel market still exists in Zimbabwe.
ReplyDeleteNcube said the parallel market “shouldn’t even exist” as “every piece of policy that is necessary for a stable currency has been put in place”.
Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and failed state label will remain as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state and nothing proclaims our pariah status more loudly than our failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. One hopes that SADC will have the political will and stamina to force this illegitimate Zanu PF regime and its parasitic CCC sidekick to step down so the nation can finally implement the democratic reforms.
The only viable option is a GNU that wll implement the democratic reforms and per se neither Zanu PF nor CCC can be in that GNU because they are the ones who got us into this mess by failing to implement even one token reform during the last GNU. Neither Zanu PF nor CCC must be allowed to hold this nation to ransom!
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with Chamisa. Zanu PF and CCC are the ones who got us into this mess they are part of the problem and therefore not the solution!
ReplyDelete@ Bachipeneti
ReplyDeleteI have just explained why Zanu PF and CCC cannot be in the new GNU - they failed to implement even one reform in the last GNU they are the problem and cannot be the solution too. The trouble with you comrade is you are an empty head programmed to accept whatever Chamisa offers and to reject everything else.
The "Napoleon is right!" horse Boxer in Animal Farm mentality. Chamisa has blundered from pillar to post, dragged the nation into these flawed elections insisting he has plugged all vote rigging loop holes. And you still maintain the idiotic "Chamisa is always right!" mentality.
No wonder Zimbabwe is a failed state, we have some buffoons in power and the army of village idiots who are keeping them in power.
@ D Nyamaropa
ReplyDelete“How on earth can you think mdc didn't want to do reforms, do you really understand the Zimbabwean politics, it's all dictatorship you can't do anything with a dictator and at the same time you can't just leave them to do what they want, whatever the mdc ccc could change they did and what the Zanu PF didn't want to be changed cannot be changed.”
No one is denying that Zanu PF is a party of corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs. Zanu PF lost their dictatorial power during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and they failed to implement even one token reform in five years.
MDC failed to implement even one reform not because Zanu PF is a party of thugs but because MDC leaders sold out. Mugabe bribed MDC leaders with the trappings of office and the rest is history. It is shocking that even now, with the benefit of hindsight, we still have some people still wittering about the “Zanu PF dictatorship”.
The GNU was our get-out-of-jail card and it is nonsensical to complain about how thick the jail walls are, the round the clock tight security, etc. We have the chance of having a new GNU and it would be disappointing if we waste this get-out-of-jail card too because we don’t have the common sense to use it.
@ D Nyamaropa
ReplyDelete“I don't agree with you here we never said Chamisa is always right, but what l can tell you is he is more brave than you because anotombokwanisa kumira achi oppoza Zanu PF which we all know it's very dangerous in Zimbabwe. If you are a true Zimbabwean you will not dispute this.
There was no way Zanu PF could give in 50 reforms, they fully know once they give into that they are done and dusted. Have you seen how much they tried to thwart Chamisa but he stood against all odds. If you want to be neutral and be analytical you will understand this.”
I am sure you would not deny that all the Zanu PF operatives involved in the liberation war were very brave indeed. But you would also agree with me that Zanu PF rigged the 23 August 2023 elections and, more pointedly, that it would idiotic to evoke Zanu PF’s liberation war heroics when we are discussing the rigged elections. Similarly, Chamisa’s bravery, is irrelevant in the discussing why MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform in 23 years!
You do not have the intellectual ability to accept that MDC leaders sold out during the GNU and hence the “Chamisa is always right!” mental blockade.
Both Zanu PF and CCC leaders cannot be in the new GNU because we are in this mess because they failed to implement even one reform last time. We are not going to allow those with a mental blockade a the last say on this matter!
@ D Nyamaropa
ReplyDelete“Zanu PF never lost control of Zimbabwe, the actual thing that happened there is Tsvangirai (MDC) went into unity government to save the nation from hunger things had gone too bad at that time. If you remember very well MDC had only the weak ministerial positions. The commander in chief of the army was Mugabe, minister of Home Affairs was Zanu PF, Information and Publicity was Zanu PF and that was all done by Thabo Mbeki.”
Once again you are way out of your intellectual depth! No one would dispute that the sharing of power in the 2008 to 2013 GNU could have been more equatable. Did that stop MDC implementing even one token democratic reform in five years? Certainly not. The process of implementing the reforms had absolutely nothing to do with which party controlled what ministry.
MDC leaders were bribed by Mugabe with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, very generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Save, etc., etc. and the forgot about the reforms.
“Mazivanhu 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 when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing reforms during the GNU.
For you part, you will never accept MDC leader sold-out by failing to implement even one reform and by participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed. You do not have the intellectual capacity to grasp all that.
You accept Zanu PF as the bad guys and MDC/CCC as the good guys just as before independence you accepted Zanu PF as the good guys and the whites as the bad guys. It took you 20 years, Gukurahundi massacre, etc. before you finally accepted Mugabe and his Zanu PF friends were corrupt and murderous thugs too. Accepting that MDC/CCC leader corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless is a bridge too far. Your CPU is on overload already!
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is that village idiots like you have the vote! Zimbabwe is a failed state ruled by buffoons and village idiots are the ones keeping them in power. The is a real danger that the new GNU will fail to implement all the democratic reforms because the buffoons backed by the village idiots will disrupt the implementation.
@ Chokolate-black
ReplyDelete“Hwiribheti!!!!! Come and vote. You are barking from abroad and demising not the opposition but Chamisa.l wonder if you're sincere to say you want the changes. Your intention clearly comes out in the open that uri murakashi. Deployed to discredit Chamisa at all cost.
Journalist have their journalistic powers and l can see your zenith powers pressured on hate of Chamisa.
As a journalist, you could have ideally informed the youth to vote. We have a million plus youths who don't mind voting in Harare only and they can always make that change.
Your skill stinks and is poisonous. It shows true hate, ZANU hate.”
I have said on this platform that Zanu PF was rigging the 2023 elections and dismissed all CCC’s so called winning in rigged elections as hot air. Time has proven me right and instead of you admitting it you still call me “murakashi”! Well it proves the other thing I have said all along, that we have the great misfortune in have more than our fair share of village idiots.
You have learned nothing from these 2023 rigged elections. Nothing! No wonder Zimbabwe is a failed state we really have some village idiots who are beyond the pale.
@ Osama23
ReplyDelete“@Wilbert Mukori you need to read this and LEARN
BOYCOTTING ELECTIONS in Africa or anywhere else in the world really DOESN’T stop a dictator from ruling.
If this doesn't get to your head, then nothing is going to.”
Did the people in Congo have the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and wasted it? If you are given a get out of jail card people will ask why you failed to use it. Only fools who have no clue what the get out of jail card mean will accept the hen's teeth story about the 10m thick and 20m high walls, the razor wire fence, etc., etc.
Right now we need to focus on a new GNU and a new get out of jail card, it is utterly pointless to allow the same idiots who failed to make use of the last card have another go!
“In your fantasy world, you believe that a ruling party would reform itself out of power out of its own volition or alternatively facilitate whilst a junior coalition partner enacts substantive legislation that would threaten the survival of the ruling hegemony. Such thinking requires a wilful suspension of disbelief.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it is clear that the required mindset shift is beyond your limited cognitive processes. So it’s safe to expect you to keep on parroting your usual hogwash ad nauseam in the futile and misguided belief that the sheer monotony of it will bully us into submission.”
Have explained the difference between a Zanu PF government and the 2008 to 2013 GNU a thousand times but clearly nothing has sunk in!
The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in Bulawayo has come to the defence of the newly elected mayor, David Coltart, and his deputy, Donaldson Mabutho, stating that they were chosen based on their track record and not because of any influence from party leader Nelson Chamisa.
ReplyDeleteCCC Bulawayo spokesperson Swithern Chirowodza emphasized that councillors unanimously selected Coltart and Mabutho. Coltart, who previously served as the Primary and Secondary Education minister during the inclusive government from 2009 to 2013, is credited with revitalizing the education sector. Mabutho, who was elected as ward 9 councillor in the 2018 elections under the MDC Alliance, continued working in the same ward after being recalled by Douglas Mwonzora, contributing to the CCC's strong showing in the August elections.”
This is laughable. What achievements does David Coltart and his fellow CCC leaders accomplished in the last 23 years? Coltart, Chamisa and many others were all in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, when the party had their best opportunity to implement the democratic, the number one task MDC/CCC were entrusted to do.
People like Coltart has been seized out of parliament and senate after decades of doing nothing there and have muscled into local authority in their desperation to hold on to some gravy train seats out of greed. It is nonsensical to confuse greed for ability!
SADC Troika meeting is yet to take place. Leaders will be in New York, USA, for the annual UN GA talk-shop. So there will be no SADC meeting this week.
ReplyDeleteWhilst we wait for the SADC meeting we must do our own homework - define what GNU we want. The number one task of the GNU must be to implement all the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. And so all those who landed us in this mess CANNOT be in the GNU.
Zanu PF and CCC cannot be in the new GNU - that is not negotiable!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hOjNlA2SqU
@ Matemadanda
ReplyDeleteThis is so, so true! The tragedy between the filthy rich and the filthy poor is now so big and the former have become so addicted to their multi-million dollar life-styles giving it up is unthinkable. The shrinking national economy has forced Zanu PF ruling elite to fight among themselves like hyenas at a kill and the opposition have been more like jackals fighting for scraps.
MDC/CCC leaders have not been fighting for a democratic Zimbabwe, all pretence of that were thrown out of the window during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Mugabe bribed them with the trapping of high office the same he way he had entrap his Zanu PF colleagues.
“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” boasted Zanu PD cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing any reforms during the GNU. The cronies themselves had learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life and not to rock the boat. Exactly what Matemadanda is talking about.
The tragedy is the ordinary Zimbabweans have been slow to realise that ever since the GNU MDC/CCC leaders have been running with the povo hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds. Chamisa and company have been participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy for a share of the spoils of power.
CCC will never ever implement the democratic reforms necessary to ensure a healthy and functioning democracy, they are too corrupt and incompetent to do that. If we want a democratic Zimbabwe we must get a new GNU to implement the reforms. Zanu PF and CCC must play no part in the new GNU because they have an invested interest in keeping the status quo!
@ Osama23
ReplyDelete“Nonsense.
Is this what u call critical thinking?
Excluding the major players from a government?
How do u stop these two from being part and parcel of the govt?
By typing nonsense into your phone.
What are you using to think?”
Even you, smart Alec, cannot deny that we are in this mess - another rigged elections - because Zanu PF and CCC leaders failed to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections even when they were given the golden opportunity to do so during the last GNU. Surely that disqualifies they from being in the next GNU!
“How do you stop these two from being part and parcel of the govt?”
I have just done so by publicly stating my case why they cannot be in the next GNU.
You believe political leaders are infallible demigods who cannot be questioned. I know they are ordinary mortals who have proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent and must be held to democratic account. They have certainly betrayed the nation by failing to implement the democratic reforms the idea that they should be allowed to continue in office and hold the nation to ransom is idiotic and outrageous.
Of course, I will denounce such nonsense and dismiss it with the contempt it rightly deserve. No one is allow to hold the nation to ransom. No one!
So you think Zanu PF is thrilled to hear that the we need to implement democratic reforms to ensure elections are free, fair and credible. Of course Zanu PF wants CCC to participate in flawed to give the regime legitimacy and so the party will not be thrilled to hear anyone advising the opposition to do otherwise. You have heard none of this because you are tuned to hearing CCC criticism only.
ReplyDeleteI have criticised Chamisa and CCC for failing to implement even one token reform in 23 years you should address the issues raised and stop giving feeble excuses. “CCC is not the only opposition” is a foolish argument. Are you saying the party must not be held to account because it is not the only opposition party?
In the last elections Chamisa garnered 44% of the votes whilst all the other opposition leaders failed to get 1% proof Chamisa is the main opposition leader and one is right in directing criticism the opposition at him and not bother with the rest. In you own wittering you acknowledge this fact.
“You intention is to denigrate the only legitimate threat …..” you said.
You cannot bear to hear Chamisa question much less held to account. You have the idiotic mentality that anyone who is not with us is against us that has poisoned and stifled debate and democratic competition in Africa. MDC/CCC have given up on reforms and free and fair elections and only idiots with their binary and blinkered mentality cannot see it.
CCC were in the last GNU and sold out by failing to implement even one reform in five years, this is a historic fact. That disqualifies them from being in the new GNU. Get that into you thick head!
Chamisa has a solid plan! Sure and even he does not know what that plan is! It is all part and parcel of the "God is in it!" and "strategic ambiguity" mysticism! The real tragedy is even after 23 years, including 5 in the GNU, of MDC/CCC blundering from pillar to post there are still some Zimbabweans who still continue to follow the corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent upstart blindly.
ReplyDeleteIf Chamisa and company had implemented the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when they had the golden chance to do so, Zimbabwe will not be in this mess.
Zimbabwe's hope for change now rest with SADC standing firm and deny Zanu PF political legitimacy after the sham 23 August elections. What the country needs is a new GNU whose primary task would be to implement the reforms.
Chamisa is campaigning to be in the new GNU. It would be very foolish to allow CCC and Zanu PF to play any role in the new GNU. They have disqualified themselves; they failed to implement even one reform in the last GNU!
They would want to hold the nation to ransom and that is the one thing no one should ever be allowed to do.
Chamisa has "a solid plan". Don't ask what is the plan because he does not know it himself. It s all part and parcel of all that "God is in it!" spiritualism cum "strategic ambiguity" mysticism stuff! The tragedy is that there are many who continue to believe in these illusionary plans and follow Chamisa blindly like sheep to the slaughter even after 23 years of blundering from pillar to post.
ReplyDeleteThis time the "solid plan" is CCC to play a leading role in the new GNU. MDC/CCC failed to implement even one reform in the last GNU and participated in these 2023 elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed. Of course, that disqualify CCC!
https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-local-byo-235593.html