"Next year will start prosperity period" - we must forget mirage, focus on accountability N Garikai

"Next year we will be starting entering the prosperity period because my understanding is that it can only be austerity for a year and you cannot have austerity for three years that's not fair. The beginning of next year will be less and less austerity," said Professor Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance.

This is just the usual nonsense the nation has come to expect from our Minister-Know-It-All! He promised to attract foreign and local investors and to have IMF and WB back on board funding the country’s economic recovery. 8 months later there are still no investors and lenders and he has quietly shelved the idea.

When Zimbabwe introduced the Bond Note currency in 2016 the nation was assured their US$ bank balances will be protected and it was Minister Ncube who instructed the banks to convert all existing bank balances to Bond Notes at the official exchange rate of 1:1 to the US$ although the black market exchange rate was 3:1 or worse.

The Minister has promised to bring stability to the local currency but has clearly failed. The new local currency, the RTGS$ introduced end of February 2019, has already lost half its value as exchange rate has soared from 2.5:1 US$ to 5:1. The prices of goods and services have soared too. The price of bread has nearly double with the price of internet data soaring 1300%!

"Money supply is not growing on the market and my question is where the pressure for foreign currency is coming from. That has mainly been driven by speculation in the market and I urge private sector to utilise the interbank market," said Ncube.

If the money supply WAS growing, would you admit it? Of course, not! It is almost certain that the money supply has been growing. The failure to revive the country’s economy means the country continues to import far more than it earns from exports and hence the local currency is valued less than the foreign currency.

It is government’s responsibility to come up with policies that stimulate economic growth and stability. This government has clearly failing to do this and instead of owning up to its failures it is blaming everyone else or worse.

""I want to give a stern warning to those practicing financial terrorism in the country. We will react accordingly as Government and nobody should claim that they were not warned. We'll take very strict measures," said VP Constantino Chiwenga.

Yes, VP Chiwenga the whole world knows the unfathomed depths of barbarism Zanu PF will sink to in the regime’s resolve to hang-on to absolute power. The regime’s hands are red with the fresh blood of nearly 30 innocent civilians murder in August 2018 and January this year. They crime was to dare protest against another rigged elections and the soaring cost of living.

The Zimbabwe economy is in total meltdown because of 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness and thuggery that has destroyed the promising economy the nation inherited in 1980 and forced all would-be investors and lenders to stay away. President Mnangagwa has since admitted his failure to end corruption because it is “deep-rooted”, he said. He could not and will never up-rooted corruption because he and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite are the godfathers of corruption.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will never be any meaningful economic recovery much less prosperity.

“Next year we will be starting entering the prosperity period!” This is a mirage the people of Zimbabwe have been promised for the last 39 years, there only thing certain is that the economy will be worse off and the regime will once again push back the start date of prosperity.

After 39 years of living on empty promises the people of Zimbabwe should not concern themselves with whether or not Zanu PF will deliver prosperity next year but with what the nation will do if they do not. For the last 39 years Zanu PF has failed to deliver economic prosperity and delivered instead economic poverty. We have done nothing about it because the regime has usurped our democratic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s worsening economic meltdown is bad governance it is our duty and responsibility to end the Zanu PF dictatorship a.s.a.p. We must implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. It is clear Zanu PF cannot be trusted to reform itself out of office and hence the reason the regime must be pressured to step down.

If Zanu PF is still in office in 2023 then we can be 100% certain of two things:

1)   Zimbabwe’s economy will still be in the doldrums and Minister Ncube will have moved the start date of economic prosperity in the future.  

2)   Zanu PF will rig that year’s elections, just as the party has done these last 39 years, to extend the regime corrupt and tyrannical reign by another five years.

The nation will be powerless to hold the regime to democratic account for all the decades of heart-breaking economic austerity with nothing to show for it. Minister Mthuli Ncube’s austerity have left so many people destitute, many people are dying for want of food, medicine, etc. “Next year we will be starting entering the prosperity period!” Many, many people are dying already, victims of his draconian austerity measures, and we are being asked to accept 8 more months of this! Worse still, with Zanu PF still in power we can be certain the nightmare will continue! 

"No elections for 10 years whilst focus on reconstruction" - what if leaders focus on corruption, what then P Guramatunhu

“Elections have become a problem that has sunk us into vicious violence, unreformed state institutions, political and economic strife.

Let us do away with them for 10 years and focus on reconstruction,” argued Hopewell Chin’ono.

The country is in this economic and political mess precisely because Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the elections so the regime is no longer democratically accountable to the people. For the last 39 years Zanu PF has rigged elections and stayed in power to do as the regime pleased. Our biggest mistake was to allow the regime to get away with this. The greatest challenge before us all today, tomorrow and everyday until victory is to demand the restoration of the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life. 

It is therefore shocking that anyone with a working brain would suggest we give up the fight and grant the political thugs a bonus of 10 years for having rigged elections and denied the people the vote for the last 39 years. 

The one thing from the Lancaster House Constitution that Zanu PF has failed to take away from the ordinary Zimbabwean is the regime’s obligation to hold regular elections. The elections should be regular free, fair and credible. The people have never had free, fair and credible elections and that is what we should be fighting for. The argument that because we have been denied free, fair and credible elections we should just give up the right to regular elections too is foolish, to say the least.

If the nation has sunk “into vicious violence, unreformed state institutions, etc., etc.” when these politicians feared that the nation may hold them to democratic account what hope is there that they will do anything of value when they know they have the licence to do as they please. Indeed, who will stop them extending the 10 years with no elections to 20 years or do away with elections altogether,

What if the leaders focus on corruption and not reconstruction during the 10 years!

"ED in fix, prices are soaring and workers asking for more" - deja vu, now nation is in fix N Garikai

“ED in fix …. as government workers want more money” screamed the Daily News Live headlines! 

"With only less than a month gone after their pay cheques were reviewed upwards, government workers are pushing for another cost of living adjustment to cushion them from inflation, which is edging close to 70 percent," the paper reported.

The regime is fearful that the worsening economic meltdown, if not addressed as a matter of urgency will lead to serious social unrest.  Deja vu! 

"Firstly, we wish to assure the nation that His Excellency, The President, of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G Mugabe and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed. We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice. As soon as we have accomplished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy,” said Major General Sibusiso Moyo, his TV address in the small hours of 15 November 2017.

So the November 2017 military coup was to end the country's economic meltdown and the the suffering it had brought. No doubt President Mnangagwa had meant to hit the ground running with his promise to end corruption and appeal to new investors with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” campaign. All those around him joined in the campaign, all wearing in the trademark brightly coloured scarf even in the Africa mid-day heat. 

A year and half since the coup, it is now clear the flood of investors and lenders the regime was confident would follow in answer to its “Zimbabwe is open for business!” invitation has not materialised. And we know why. What is the point of crowing from the rooftop “Zimbabwe is open for business!” when the impediments that had had made it impossible to do business in the country all along have not been removed.  Mnangagwa promised to end corruption, hold free and fair elections, etc. but never kept any of these promises.  

The military coup was first and foremost about making sure that the coup plotters as members of the Joint Operation Command (JOC), the shadowy Junta that has ruled the country all along, retained absolute power. Mugabe was threatening to take away the power from JOC and give it to his wife and the G40 Zanu PF faction. The coup was to restore the Zanu PF dictatorial power back JOC hence the reason the coup was called "Operation restore legacy".

Mnangagwa and his coup plotters had risked their lives and limbs in wrestling power from Mugabe, they were not going to risk losing the power in a democratic elections, especially when it was in their power to rig the said elections! And so they rigged the July 2018 elections! 

There is no doubt that Mnangagwa and his cronies fully appreciated the need to end corruption, to end Zimbabwe's pariah state status, etc., etc. as the pre-requisite to ending Zimbabwe's worsening economic situation. They also fully appreciate that doing nothing about the worsening economic situation is no longer an option as the threat of social unrest is real. 

However, they are also painfully aware that they cannot end corruption, hold free and fair elections, etc. and still hang on to power. And so what they have done since the November 2017 military coup is bluff. President Mnangagwa has been forced to admit that he has failed to end corruption.

"I now realise corrupt is deep-rooted!"  he admitted. So deep-rooted he cannot uproot it because he and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite are the godfathers of corruption but, of course, he would never admit that.

He admitted there was little progress in arresting the corrupt because those tasked to do so; Police, anti-corruption unit, the prosecuting authority, the judiciary, etc.; are all corrupt. But quickly added that not everyone in the Police, etc. was corrupt and it is these few the country was to rely on to stamp out corruption. 

In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was being swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone. We know the wholesale looting of diamonds has been going on for decades and is going on to this day. So why have these squeaky clean Police Officers failed to arrest even one swindler in all these years? Of course, Mnangagwa is bluffing that corruption will ever be stamp out as long as the Zanu PF godfathers of corruption remain in power. 

Similarly Zanu PF has bluffed about holding free and fair elections and thus ending the country's cursed pariah state. Zimbabwe will never hold free, fair and credible elections as long as Zanu PF remains in power. Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office, period.

Whilst Zanu PF has bluffed about ending corruption, about holding free and fair elections and about addressing all the other underlying problems causing the country's economic meltdown; what the regime has clearly failed to do is bluff about the worsening economic situation itself. The “degenerating political, social and economic situation in our country which if not addressed may result in violent conflict”, as now Minister Moyo admitted in November 2017, is still present today!

The solution to Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis has been staring us in the face all along; we must stop bluffing and address corruption, bad governance, etc. And since Zanu PF is not going to address these problems we must find others who will. We must restore the people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country including the right to effect regime change. 

We must demand that Zanu PF step down to create the political space for an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to rig elections. 

The country’s basic services such as supply of clean water and health care have all but collapsed. People are dying because they cannot afford US$5.00 per month of medicine, assuming they can get the drugs given the chronic shortages of cash, food, fuel, medicine, etc. It is not so much Mnangagwa who is in a fix, the whole of Zimbabwe is in a fix, the threat of serious social unrest, if we do not end the worsening economic meltdown, is now more urgent than ever. We must pressure Zanu PF to step down now; not in 2023, not next year, NOW!

"Compensating white farmers is an obligation" said Mnangagwa - bribe and last throw of the dice W Mukori

“Zimbabwe was proceeding with the compensation of former commercial farmers who were displaced during the country's agrarian reform despite growing criticism against the policy, President Emerson Mnangagwa said last week, highlighting that compensation for land improvements was a constitutional obligation,” reported Bulawayo 24.

Mnangagwa said "the land reform is irreversible", adding: "We fought for the land and we will never regret.”

Rubbish! The Zanu PF inspired land reform, like so many other things in post independent Zimbabwe, was NOT what the nation had fought and many had died for. The chaotic and violent seizure of white owned farms that started in earnest in 2000 were for two reasons:

1.                Mugabe needed something to give away to his ever demanding but wasteful Zanu PF loyalists and their families and friends; with the country’s economy already in ruinous there was nothing else left for him to give away other than land. Zanu PF has maintained that the land would be given to the landless peasants but in practice it was the ruling elite who benefited and the millions of peasants are still stuck in the overcrowded and unproductive rural areas. Mugabe and his family got no less than 13 commercial farms. 

The Zanu PF cronies got the farms but failed to put it into productive use resulting in the country losing its cherished position as the breadbasket of the region. For the last decade, Zimbabwe has failed to produce enough to feed its own people, for Pete’s sake! 

Worse still, the total collapse of the country’s agricultural sector was one of the contributory factors to the country’s record breaking economic meltdown of the last 20 years. The collapse of the farming sector, commerce and industry has send unemployment rocketing into 80% plus and has yet to come down. Basic services such as supply of water and health care have all but collapsed. Millions of our people now live in abject poverty.  

To crown it all, Zanu PF is using taxpayers’ money to compensate the white farmers. Why should those who suffered from the chaotic land reform pay the compensation when those who inherited the looted farms and benefited from it all are once again allowed to go Scott free! 

Of course, the ordinary people deeply regret Zanu PF’s chaotic and violent land reform because it is NOT what the nation fought and many died for! The land issue is one of the many botched issues in Zimbabwe that will have to be revisited once the nation rid itself of the Zanu PF dictatorship. The country needs to put land into productive hands to have any hope of reviving the country’s comatose economic; it will therefore nonsensical to allow the looters to keep the land. 

2.                The chaotic and violence farm seizures were used by Zanu PF as a smoke screen behind which to hide the party’s sinister political scheme of using violence to deny the people of Zimbabwe their right to free, fair and credible elections. The party accused all its political critics and opponents including the ordinary Zimbabweans in the urban and rural areas of being against the party’s land reforms and so the violence that always flared up in the farms during elections would soon sweep the whole nation. 

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck for 39 years with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. It is ironic that the regime has used the botched land reform to justify rigging elections and extending its oppressive and ruinous reign. Fortunately for the nation, this is becoming increasing difficult to sustain.

When Mnangagwa seized power from his former boss and mentor, Robert Mugabe, in the November 2017 military coup; he promised to end corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections. He knew the old worn-out excuses of blaming white farmers, western sanctions, etc. would never get the nation out of the economic mess the regime had landed us in. Alas, he failed to end the corruption and blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections and messed up the chance of ending Zimbabwe’s isolation and economic meltdown.

Mnangagwa’s resolve to compensate the white farmers is but a cheap bribe. He is offering the white farmers but a fraction of what the Zanu PF thugs looted from them and, worse still, he is asking the impoverish taxpayers to foot the bill because the looters cannot stomach paying back a fraction of their vast loot. The world will not be so easily fooled. Poor Mnangagwa, it is his last throw of the dice and it will accomplish nothing!

The only way out now is for Zanu PF to step down and allow the nation the time and space to implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state!

"Resolute in faith, we will triumph" Mnangagwa argue - faith in voodoo policies delivering prosperity, insane N Garikai

This is just wishful thinking! Here is a regime that promised to hold free, fair and credible elections only to blatantly rig the elections. 

Mnangagwa promised “zero tolerance on corruption” and one year and half later has failed to arrest even one of the big fish. He has since admitted that “corruption is deep-rooted”. Of course, it is deep-rooted; he and his fellow ruling elite leaders are the godfathers of corruption! 

“For a while the challenges we face are significant, we are resolute in our faith that with hard work, sacrifice and unity we too will triumph. May the Almighty protect and bless our land,” he continued.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-hole because of 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and tyrannical Zanu PF rule. The regime has managed to stay in power regardless of the people’s democratic wish for meaningful regime change because it rigged elections. 

Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is a man-made problem; mismanagement, corruption, etc. are problems of bad governance. It is, per se, within our mortal power to end this mess by replacing the bad government with a good, competent and accountable government. 

It is ironic that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are the ones who have created the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship, ruthlessly imposed it on the nation and ruthless resisted its dismantling. His solution is that we must have faith and work hard. Have faith in what? In Zanu PF's voodoo economic policies delivering economic recovery regardless of the corruption, mismanagement, etc.! 

After 39 years of Zanu PF misrule with disastrous consequences it will be insane to expect the regime to delivery economic recover. 

If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in office until 2023 the regime will rig that year's elections too and retain Zimbabwe's pariah state status complete with the economic meltdown we see today. No doubt Zanu PF will be arguing the nation to work even harder, suffer even more heart-breaking hardship as part of the "austerity for prosperity" and never to lose faith in the regime delivering economic prosperity, its Vision 2030 Middle Income status. 

Vision 2030 is nothing but a mirage and after 39 years of chasing mirages; it is madness to continue. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs economic recover much less prosperity will remain a mirage.  

"Our own struggle of light over darkness!" Our struggle is for democracy over dictatorship. The only sure way to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship is for Mnangagwa et al to step down so allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be entrusted to implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for all these years.

"Cannot separate democracy and discipline" say Moyo - has neither or common sense to see it P Guramatunhu

Zanu PF leaders are once again up in arms blaming business operators for the country’s worsening economic situations as shown by the increasing prices of goods and services - if they can be found given the shortages.

"This is a very temporary phenomenon, what we are going through and sometimes also they say in a democracy there must be discipline," Foreign Minister, Sibusiso Moyo said.

"We cannot separate democracy and discipline. If you lack discipline, then what it means is that people would want to maximise on profits, but in reality profits are basically 10-15%. That is not exactly what is happening on the market.”

Common sense is the one thing that is clearly lacking in those who lead us.

"With effect from midnight tonight, a fuel pump price of $3.11 per litre for diesel and $3.31 per litre for petrol will come into effect. These prices are predicated on the ruling official exchange rate of 1:1 between the bond note and the US dollar and also on the need to keep fuel retailers viable," Mnangagwa on 12 January 2019.

Before the increase, diesel cost $1.38 a litre, and petrol $1.43 a litre.

Where was Mnangagwa’s discipline when he increased the price of diesel and petrol by 125% and 131% respectively?

The exchange rate of the country’s local currency to the US$ was 1:1 in January and today it is 4:1 which means the prices should go up 400%! So what is the regime complaining about, especially when it is the one responsible for the local currency losing its value! 

“As government we are going to enforce discipline (price control)!” said Minister Moyo.

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and thus dashing the nation’s hope of emerging from the shadow of a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. The regime was confident it will rig economic recover and that is now proving a bridge to far!

“We cannot separate democracy and discipline!” You are right Minister Moyo and you and your fellow Zanu PF thugs are and not only deficient in two virtues but worse still have no common sense. You have dug yourself and the nation into a hell-hole and lack the common sense to stop digging

Mnangagwa is illegitimate by virtue of rigged elections regardless of Chamisa climb-down W Mukori

As far as Mnangagwa is concerned last year’s elections were free, fair and credible. He has invited opposition parties, civic society and all other interested parties to a national dialogue to discuss the country’s worsening economic situation, etc. on condition that the participants recognise him as the legitimately elected president of the Republic. 

So far Nelson Chamisa and one or two other opposition leaders have refused to attend the national dialogue because he refused to accept Mnangagwa’s legitimacy. He has now softened his stance. 

“MDC-Alliance president Mr Nelson Chamisa has made a major climb-down on his hardline stance against inter-party dialogue and called for an engagement between him and President Mnangagwa to tackle national challenges affecting the country,” reported Bulawayo 24. 

“In a clear about turn, Mr Chamisa said he was willing for a direct engagement with President Mnangagwa to discuss political, economic and social issues affecting the country, while the party's spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume said they were willing to compromise on their previous demands.” 

Some of the demands by the MDC-Alliance described by some political analysts as bizarre included the establishment of a Transitional Authority to run Government.

Other demands included opening up debate on President Mnangagwa's legitimacy which has long been concluded by the Constitutional Court which upheld his election victory after Mr Chamisa approached the superior court challenging the July 30, 2018 election results. 

Mr Chamisa posted a conciliatory message on his twitter account at the weekend where he called for people to rise above party politics.

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance, like all the other opposition parties and candidates who participated in last year’s elections, knew that Zanu PF was going to rig the elections. They knew what since the 2013 rigged elections not even one meaningful reform was implemented and with no reforms it was clear Zanu PF will rig the 2018 elections. And they did.

Compromise! What is there to compromise about? Whether or not Mnangagwa and his regime are legitimate is not a matter of what Mnangagwa, the sell-out opposition or anyone else says but what the historic facts say.

Last year’s elections were a repeat of the 2013 elections complete with the same glaring flaws and illegalities. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote only for Mnangagwa to promise after the vote they will get the vote next time. The public media remained the exclusive monopoly of the Zanu PF. Zanu PF operative and local leaders used state aid and resources to coerce the voters, especially in the rural areas, to attend party rallies and then to vote for the party’s candidate. 

ZEC failed to release a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. The regime increased the number of polling stations from 2 000 in 2008 to 9 000 in 2013 to over 11 000 last year. ZEC failed to make public some of the polling station results although this was another legal requirement.  ZEC was also required by law to keep a record of all voters who refuse to vote in both the parliamentary and presidential race; again there was no such record. There were over 70 000 more ballots cast in the presidential race than in the parliamentary one. Ever the blind could see the elections was being rigged!

“The electoral commission (ZEC) lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission’s final report. 

“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

In short Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party are illegitimate because last year’s election process was pregnant with flaws and illegalities, errors and irregularities, etc. It simply beggars belief how anyone could ever judge such a flawed and illegal process free, fair and credible. And if the process failed to meet international standards of free, fair and credible; how could the result be anything else other than illegitimate. 

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is a result of 39 years of criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resources by the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. As much as Mnangagwa would like to give the impression that he has transformed Zimbabwe since taking over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup. The truth is Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. 

By blatantly rigging last year’s elections Mnangagwa has confirmed Zimbabwe is still very much a pariah state governed by an illegitimate regime. Even if Chamisa join all the other opposition parties and candidates and proclaim Mnangagwa the legitimate president, that will not change the reality that he is illegitimate.  

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery because no local and foreign investor or lender will ever want to do business with a pariah state. No one!

Mnangagwa is illegitimate because last year’s elections were not free, fair and credible. It was clear from the start that the elections would be rigged. No one in the opposition camp should participated, they did out of greed. It is the same greed that have the opposition taking part in these Zanu PF led national dialogue. 

Chamisa, you are now ready to recognise Mnangagwa as the legitimate president in return for a seat on the gravy train. This is not the first time MDC have sold out and Mnangagwa knew you would sell-out. Still both Mnangagwa and yourself can delude yourself that Mnangagwa is now legitimate, he is not, and that the compromise will deliver any meaningful economic recovery, it will not! 

"We need to put an end to these economic problems for the sake of ourselves and our children,” maintains Chamisa.

Zimbabwe’s economic problems will remain, indeed will get worse, as long as the country remains a pariah state. We need to cures ourselves of the curse of corruption, vote rigging and illegitimate regimes by acknowledging the problem of vote rigging and dealing with it and not selling-out by pretending the illegitimate is legitimate!