“Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has claimed that leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been consulting with him to seek his opinions on how to resolve Zimbabwe's current political crisis following the contested general election,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“During a CCC provincial council meeting in Chinhoyi, Chamisa emphasized that he had won the presidential election despite intimidation tactics and alleged rigging by Zanu-PF-aligned Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ). He described the recent election as a "war" rather than a proper election.
“Chamisa revealed that he had recently participated in a lengthy video conference call with SADC officials who were seeking his proposals for resolving the political impasse in Zimbabwe, which has resulted from the widely criticised elections.”
The truth is Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because the nation has been stuck for 43 years with this corrupt , incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. The party has rigged elections to secure its stay in power.
By the late 1990s the nation finally came to a consensus that for there to be any hope of putting an end to the dictatorship, the nation must implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. The nation has risked all to elect MDC/CC leaders for the express purpose they implement the democratic reforms.
After 23 years, including 5 in the GNU, MDC/CCC has failed to implement even one reform. Worse still, they have given up on reforms to participate in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a share of the spoils of power.
Zimbabwe is a failed state because of the Zanu PF dictatorship and Chamisa and his CCC friends have played their part in keeping Zanu PF in power. Zanu PF and CCC are the reason Zimbabwe is in this mess, they are the problem and per se cannot be the solution too!
So what the devil is SADC doing “consulting Chamisa on the way forward”?
Both Zanu Pf and CCC were involved in the 2008 to 2013 GNU that failed to implement even one reform, SADC leaders know this. What hope is there that a new GNU with the same two political parties in power would do any better.
What SADC leaders must do is convene the meeting and endorse the SADC election observer mission report condemning the 23 August 2023 elections were a sham and there is no legitimate government in Harare. SADC played the leading role in the 2008 to 2013 GNU which failed to implement even one reform. There is no shame in SADC acknowledging this fact and, more significantly reaching out to UN to ask for help.
A joint body of UN and SADC must decide the way forward for Zimbabwe.
The people of Zimbabwe want a solution to this political crisis and not another fudge!
SADC leaders are consulting Chamisa on the way forward. CCC and Zanu PF ARE the problem and can never be the solution too.
ReplyDeleteWe already know this from the last GNU. We want the solution to the curse of rigged elections and bad governance and not a carry-on!
https://www.facebook.com/4415858595176450/videos/675103884336987
@ Seal4
ReplyDelete@
“Mbeki suggests a GNU like one in 2009 could solve crisis in Zimbabwe.”
The was nothing wrong with the 2008 to 2013 GNU per se other than that it failed to get even one token reform implemented in five years. Why? Because the MDC leaders appointed to carry out this important task turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.
In this new GNU, we have the second chance to get these democratic reforms finally implemented. It is therefore imperative we appoint competent individuals who will implement ALL the democratic reforms. Only a fool would appoint the same individuals who failed to get even one reform implemented ten years ago!
SADC did not have the courage to keep Zanu PF and MDC leaders out of the last GNU although it was obvious at the time, given the two parties’ checked past of corruption and incompetence, these guys would never implement the reforms. It is already clear SADC leaders still want to appease Zanu PF and CCC leaders at the expense of getting Zimbabwe out of this mess.
SADC must admit the 2008 to 2013 GNU was a failure and invite UN to spearhead the new GNU!
@ Machimbirike
ReplyDelete“Was there enough democratic space to implement the said reforms? In as much as they could have had the political will the situation is similar to the circumstances that local authorities find themselves in in terms if service delivery.”
It is bad enough that any one failed to understand that MDC sold out of reforms during the GNU, it is unforgivable that even now, with the benefit of hindsight, any one should still be wittering about “no enough democratic space to implement the reforms!”
No wonder the country is a failed state, we have more than our fair share of village idiots who simple refuse to see the mountain of evidence that MDC/CCC leaders are sell outs.
The truth is we can go ahead and continue to bury our heads in the sand and appoint CCC and Zanu PF in the new GNU but we can be 100% certain not all the democratic reforms will be implement, if any at all. And if we waste this chance, God only knows if we will ever get another one!
43 years after independence and n this day and age and we still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections. What cannot even appoint someone with the common sense to know what the democratic reforms are! What a palaver!
It is former US President Dwight Eisenhower how underlined the need to understand that not everything we do is urgent and/or important producing the Urgent vs Important Matrix. The priority ranking top to bottom:
ReplyDelete1) important and urgent
2) important but not urgent
3) not important but urgent
4) not important and not urgent
With Zimbabwe a textbook case of failed state with all the telltale consequences of economic ruin and chaos and the heartbreaking human suffering; all because we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections for 43 years and counting. The need to cure our self of this curse of rigged elections and bad governance is the MOST important and MOST urgent task of our generation.
Implementing ALL the democratic reforms is the Holy Grill task before us today. We had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The opportunity was wasted and to waste this second opportunity by once again appointing the wrong people, worst of all, the same people we already are corrupt and incompetent will be treasonous and unforgivable!
Of course, all the SADC leaders know that CCC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and will never ever implement ALL the democratic reforms if they should implement any at all this time. As for Zanu PF leaders they have always insisted elections are free, fair and credible and therefore they role in the GNU will be to disrupt and undermine the reform implementation at all cost.
If CCC are allowed in the new GNU it is a waste of time to even think Zanu PF can be left out! Appeasing CCC and Zanu PF must not compromise the important task of implementing ALL the democratic reforms. Zanu PF and CCC must not be allowed to hold the nation to ransom!
AMEN!
DeleteIt is tragic that it is none other than the ordinary Zimbabweans ourselves who want CCC and Zanu PF in the new GNU more than SADC leaders! Whilst SADC leaders know MDC/CCC and Zanu PF sold out by failing to implement even one reform most Zimbabweans out there have no clue what the reforms are much less that the primary task of the GNU was to implement reforms.
Even if Zimbabwe was to get ALL the reforms implemented and the nation finally got a healthy and functioning democracy on a silver platter; it will not last long. If we got it in the morning by noon nuclei cells of future autocratic rule will have formed. A healthy democracy needs informed and diligent electorate not a naive and ignorant one!
Implementing the democratic reforms and cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections is the Holy Grail task of our generation.
ReplyDeleteIt would be treasonous to compromise this by failing to appoint competent men and women to carry out this important task worst of all by appointing individuals who have already proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.
SADC leaders sold out by appointing corrupt and incompetent individuals in the last GNU, they must not repeat the same mistake!
https://www.zimeye.net/2023/09/24/sadc-consulting-ccc-leader-no-to-another-sugar-coated-placebo/
SADC dd lift its head and formed the 2008 to 2013 GNU which failed to implement even one reform in 5 years. Kasukuwere was one of the Zanu PF ministers in the GNU and was vociferous in resisting reforms.
ReplyDeleteNow that SADC has condemned the 2023 elections the need for another GNU is obvious. The focus is on what must be done to ensure the new GNU implements ALL the democratic reforms. No doubt Kasukuwere would love to see himself back in the new GNU with some of his G40 friends.
If the same corrupt and incompetent individuals are appointed into the new GNU then it would be yet another wasted opportunity!
@ Frank
ReplyDelete“Please give us the better alternative people to represent us in the so called GNU.”
Do you think Zimbabweans have elected MDC/CCC leaders these last 23 years because they did not have "better alternative people to represent" them? Or is t that they believed these MDC/CCC leaders are the best leaders in the world?
These people have no clue what the democratic changes they have been clamouring for n the empty slogans are about, even now with the benefit of hindsight. It is therefore not surprising they have no clue MDC/CCC sold out on reforms. How can they blame Chamisa for failing to do something they themselves have no clue what it is!
There is no reasoning with this wildebeest herd once they have been whipped up into their Chamisa Chete! Chete! frenzy. Even if you had an Albert Einstein of political administration he/she would have lost a free, fair and credible elections to Chamisa!
Anyone who blames the political mess and chaos in Zimbabwe on the lack of better alternative has no clue what he/she is talking about!
Zimbabwe is a failed state because Zanu PF has no respect of the laws and rule of law but also because the laws themselves are weak. The 2013 Constitution was dictated by Mugabe, as Paul Mangwana boasted; it grants you the freedoms and rights in one section and take them all away in the next!
ReplyDeleteCCC and Zanu PF cannot be in the new GNU because they are the ones who failed to implement the democratic reforms and landed us in this mess of rigged elections and failed state. They ARE the problem and therefore will never be the solution too.
ReplyDeleteThe new GNU must implement all the democratic reforms without failure. CCC and Zanu PF will never do this. They must go! Period!
SADC want CCC and Zanu PF in the new GNU to appease them. We must not allow CCC and Zanu PF to hold Zimbabwe to ransom.
https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-opinion-sc-columnist-byo-235812.html
Zimbabwe's Chief Director of Strategic and Presidential Communications Dr Anyway Mutambudzi has described veteran journalist Hopewell Chin'ono's social media posts as "a threat to national security" in an intimidation move meant to silence him.
ReplyDeleteOnce Zimbabwean officials, just like any other servants of dictatorship, classify a person, including journalists, as "a threat to national security" they make them fair game for attack, arrest or any form of harm.
Said Mutambudzi: "Your output seeks to put a wedge between citizens on one side and the ruling party, government and the state on the other. In summary some of your posts, including their sum total effect, are a threat to national security."
Politics, like everything else in Zimbabwe, is governed by the Darwinian ethos that those who are not with us are against us. Most activists have no clue what is going on and to hide their ignorance they have adopted Boxer, the horse in Animal Farm, “Napoleon s always right!” mentality. Of course, they do not understand what the leaders are doing, they follow blindly and will mercilessly attack all who dare to act differently much worse dare to question the great leader.
Zanu PF fostered this political intolerance during the liberation war with the slogan “Pasi naye!” (Kill him/her!) and since the party’s operatives had the gun and were a law unto themselves they followed through the threat. After independence the regime has used the state institutions to stifle dissent and democratic competition and scrutiny.
Alas! The opposition parties have copied the Zanu PF political modus operandi. Criticise Chamisa and company for failing to implement even one reform in 23 years, a historic fact which is why we are still stuck in this mess, and the CCC wildebeest herd will attack on mass in defence of the party leaders.
Now that intolerance is ingrained into our social fabric, uprooting it will not be easy and yet we must uproot it if we are ever to have a healthy and functioning democratic system of government instead of this failed autocracy.
19 November 2017 - The Zanu-PF central committee holds a meeting in Harare. The party resolves to remove party president Mugabe as well as reinstate Mnangagwa, who was then elected as interim party president.
ReplyDeleteThe central committee gives Mugabe until midday 20 November 2017 to resign as President of the country.
Mugabe's G40 allies, including his wife Grace, Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko and ministers Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, Patrick Zhuwao, Ignatius Chombo, Samuel Undenge and Walter Mzembi are expelled from the party.
At a time he was expected to announce his resignation, Mugabe in a live broadcast acknowledges difficulties facing the country, but says he will preside over the Zanu-PF electoral conference in December.
21 November 2017-Legislators accept a motion calling for debate regarding Mugabe's impeachment. Zanu-PF and opposition legislators resolved to jointly support the motion. Mugabe announces his resignation, in a letter read out in Parliament.
22 November 2017- Mnangagwa arrives back in Zimbabwe from South Africa.
24 November 2017 - The High Court rules that the ZDF's actions were legal: "It is ordered by consent that the actions of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) in intervening to stop takeover of first respondent's [Robert Mugabe's] constitutional functions by those around him are constitutionally permissible and lawful". The ruling was based on an application made by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association. Mnangagwa is inaugurated as President of Zimbabwe.
It is laughable that the High Court ruled the military coup “constitutionally permissible and lawful”! Judge George Chiweshe did not quote the chapter and verse of the constitution his judgement was based because there is no such chapter and verse!
It came as no surprise that the MDC opposition joined to coup bandwagon when they were promised a new GNU and share of the spoils of power. Greed ruled the opposition roost. Zanu PF disregarded the GNU promise as soon as they got what they wanted.
The people of Zimbabwe should have never supported the coup and demanded far reaching democratic reforms instead. It was a lost opportunity.
Do not pretend you know what the democratic reforms are much less the process of implementing them. If you did then you would also know that MDC leaders did not submit even one reform proposal and it is nonsensical to blame Zanu PF much less ANC for it!
ReplyDelete@ Chitando
ReplyDelete“These meetings or workshops are not arranged by Councillors but by Min of Local government. These ministry officials know how to get allowances. Remember their pay is peanuts. They have these workshops outside the City eg Masvingo City had three day workshop on water in Vic Falls . The looting is mainly by these Min of Local government officials. The Councillors will have no say to the Ministry directives.”
So the Councillors are attending these expensive workshops to top up their earning, their “pay is peanuts”, you say. Of course, as a former MDC MP yourself you are all too familiar with the gravy train mentality.
“The (2013) electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
Of course, Coltart was being brutally honest here; the opposition have not only given up on reforms and free elections but, more insidiously, are now keeping Zanu PF in power for a share of the spoils of power! The ordinary Zimbabweans are too naive, gullible and dum to realise this even after 43 years of rigged elections and the nation up to its eyes in the s***t!
So it is ok for CCC to loot because Zanu PF are doing it! The opposition's number one purpose is to hold the ruling party to democratic account and not to join Zanu PF for the share of the loot!
ReplyDeleteNo one is saying people should ignore Gold Mafia. What they are saying is those who were elected to stop the looting are doing fokol because they are busy looting themselves!
ReplyDelete@ Zimbabwe
ReplyDelete“How many billions/trillions of dollars zanu-pf looted since independence and now you're being crazy for peanuts. Why did you fail to hold them accountable??”
Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders during the GNU so that they would forget about implementing the democratic reforms and thus allow Zanu PF to rig elections and stay in power to continue to loot.
MDC/CCC have been participating in these flawed elections knowing fully well that the process is flawed and that participating will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF, for its part, has allowed the opposition to win these few gravy train seats to entice them to participate no matter how flawed the process got.
The people of Zimbabwe have risk all to elect MDC/CCC leaders into power for the primary purpose of implementing the democratic reforms and restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. MDC/CCC leaders have sold out and the people must be educated so they stop following the sell outs blindly.
MDC/CCC leaders no different from Muzorewa and Sithole in Smith’s 1978 Internal Settlement, they too sold out on the national agenda for selfish personal gain. Smith bribed them with the share of the spoils of power just as Zanu PF has done!
You have never understood what is going on all these years. You don't know that Zanu PF has rigged elections for the last 43 years, you can hardly count. Whilst those with the intellect are rightly concerned about this madness, t is all water of a duck's back to you.
ReplyDeleteYou just want to forget everything and wait for the next elections, next rigged elections. There are many lessons to be learned and they must be learned if we are to stop this madness. Just because you have no clue what is going on does not mean everyone too has no clue! You should let those with the brain get on with the analysis!
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
ReplyDelete― Benjamin Franklin
We in Zimbabwe have been denied our basic freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life under the pretext of unity and keeping out the imaginary west hell bent on recolonising the country.
In Zanu PF, we have yesteryear' liberators now today's oppressors.
In MDC/CCC we have risked all to elect them to implement reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship and after 23 years find they have not only sold out on reforms but are now the ones keeping Zanu PF in power for a share of the spoils of tyrannical rule!
Zimbabweans have done nothing to show their appreciation of the contribution the SADC and AU election observer teams' reports have made in forcing Zanu PF to accept the curse of rigged elections. The deafening silence from the people will only give the SADC faction led by President Cyril Ramaphosa of SA to dismiss the damning SADC reports and grant Zanu PF political legitimacy.
ReplyDeleteZimbabweans are not ready for a healthy and functioning democracy. We do not deserve one and even if it was handed to us in a silver platter - we will not be able to keep it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfKW64GRloc