"Zanu PF has no legitimacy to amend 2013 Constitution" says Biti - he foolishly gave away legitimacy P Guramatunhu

 “Mnangagwa, Chamisa in fresh legal fight!” read the headlines. And my instinctive reaction was the sinking feeling of pending doom.

MDC A are going to challenge in the Constitutional Court the passage of the Constitution Amendment bill No. 1. 

Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution stipulated that the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and judges be appointed following public interviews. And Amendment Bill No 1 gives the State President the power to appoint all these senior judiciary officers. This is problematic in that it undermines the concept of judiciary independence from the executive. 

MDC A are not challenging the passage of the Bill on the substantive matter of judiciary independence but on procedural grounds. 

"The starting point is that the Bill is illegal. The sitting and reading of the Bill happened in the Robert Mugabe era. Section 147 of the Constitution is clear that any motion lapses at the dissolution of Parliament. The Seventh Parliament was dissolved on May 28, 2018 and the motion also lapsed," explained Tendai Biti.

"That's unconstitutional and illegal, we will go to court about that. Zanu-PF can't unilaterally amend a negotiated Constitution, which was voted for by three million people in a referendum. The challenge should be how to implement the Constitution.”

The best MDC A can therefore expect from the Constitutional Court is that the laid down procedure was not followed in the passage of the Bill. This will delay the date the Bill will be enacted nothing more! 

Zanu PF has 2/3 majority in parliament and senate and that gives the regime the constitutional power and authority to amend the constitution. 

As for the legitimacy; Zanu PF does not have legitimacy in so far as the July 2018 elections were not free, fair and credible. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, a very significant number given Mnangagwa reported won with 2.4 million votes. Mnangagwa has since admitted there was no justification for denying the diaspora the vote. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement. 

“The electoral commission 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 Mission Observer final report. 

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime derived their fig-leaf legitimacy from the participation in the flawed and illegal elections by MDC A and the rest in the Zimbabwe opposition camp. What is worse, the MDC A knew that by participating in the flawed elections they would give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, as David Coltart, MDC A Treasurer General admitted in his book. 

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” wrote  Coltart.

“The 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.”

MDC A challenged the July 2018 elections results on the frivolous grounds that Chamisa garnered 2.6 million vote to Mnangagwa’s 2.4 million only for MDC A to fail to produce the V11 forms evidence, the Polling Station vote count summary sheets. The substantive challenge was the elections were rigged given the denial of 3 million in the diaspora the vote, failure to produce verified voters’ roll, etc., etc. 

History is once again repeating itself; MDC A is challenging the Constitutional Amendment Bill No 1 on trivial ground and not on the substantive one. Such is the curse of having a corrupt, incompetent and utterly, utterly useless opposition party as MDC A.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck for 41 years and counting with a corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF regime that has been rigging elections to stay in power. The nation had its best opportunity ever to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. MDC leaders wasted the opportunity and failed to implement even one reform in five years! 

Zimbabwe would not still be stuck in this economic and political mess if MDC leaders were not so corrupt and incompetent. 

“Zanu PF has no legitimacy to pass Constitutional Amendment Bill No 1” - MDC A gave them the legitimacy!

"Health experts bemoan poor covid-19 testing" - first time ever experts dared criticise Zanu PF blundering incompetence W Mukori

 There is growing evidence the third wave of the corona virus outbreak is upon us. We have known it was coming; not that we were ready for it. Worst still, there are more waves to come. 

“According to a situation report released by the ministry of health and Child Care, a boarding school in Matabeleland South province recorded 78 Covid-19 cases on Friday,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Sacred heart Girls high School and Mzingwane high School in Matabeleland South had recorded 106 cases on the previous day.” 

Government’s response has been to blame the schools authorities and the public for breaking government orders not to travel during Easter break.

“But health experts bemoaned poor testing facilities and relaxation of contact tracing measures, which was resulting in a high number of cases left without being detected, fuelling further transmissions,” Bulawayo 24 reported.

Well this is the first time since the corona virus outbreak that any health expert has dared criticise the Zanu PF government's blundering incompetence in the handling of the pandemic.

In a country where all professionals from across the board are “captured” by the ruling party, Zanu PF, getting anyone to say anything that may be read as critical of the regime is unheard of. When it comes to saying anything exposing government blundering incompetence, there is dead silence. 

Professional ethics and one’s obligation to society count for nothing in Zimbabwe!

As citizens, we all have a duty and responsibility safe guard the truth, not to be complacent in helping to bury it, and to ensure those in positions of power and authority are held to democratic account for their acts. The very fact that Zanu PF does not take kindly to being held to democratic account is no excuse the nation’s professionals have abandoned their democratic obligations. The country’s health professionals have indulged the regime and the nation is paying dearly for it.

It is no secret that Zimbabwe’s official corona virus cases and deaths figures of 37 273 and 1 528 respectively, are but a fraction of the real figures. The country’s frontline health professionals have known all along that  government’s testing regime has been wilfully inadequate to pick up all the cases. The people have been blissfully unaware there are many more covid-19 cases in their midst than the government let out. And when dealing with such a deadly disease like corona virus, ignorance is deadly!

By failing to carry out adequate tests, tracking and isolation, it is obvious a high number of covid-19 infection cases have gone undetected and thus helped the spread of the virus far and wide. 

Reports of the third wave of corona virus outbreak only serves to underline the seriousness of the pandemic and why everyone, more so the health experts must now play their full role by making sure the people are well informed and that this Zanu PF government held to account for its actions.

Indeed, given the regime’s blundering incompetence in the handling of the vaccine roll out, it could be a long time before the country reach herd immunity. And God only knows how many new covid-19 waves will buffet the nation until then. 

The first corona virus vaccines were approved in December 2020. Some nation are looking at reaching their herd immunity targets by June this year. Not so for Zimbabwe!

Zimbabwe received its first Sinopharm vaccine in mid February and so far has received over one million doses. Less than 200 000 have been vaccinated in the last two months which is 2% of the 10 million (assuming one dose will give some immunity) required to reach herd immunity. It beggars belief why two months after receipt 800 000 vaccines are still in storage instead of people’s arms! 

Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence in the handling of this corona virus has underlined the importance of good, competent and accountable government. We are not out of the woods yet as far as this covid-19 pandemic is concerned and if every one, notably the health expert, take up their democratic duty to tell the truth and to hold this Zanu PF regime to account many Zimbabweans will be spared the agony of corona virus infection and many lives will be saved! 

"MDC A will boycott 2023 elections" - why now, participated since ignoring 2013 SADC plea P Guramatunhu

 

“Parties went into the 2018 elections after they had already been rigged as Zanu-PF had implemented cosmetic electoral reforms,” wrote Chief Chiduku. He was spot on there.

 

Parties did go into the 2018 elections when the process had already been rigged. Zanu PF denies 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. And the party denied hundreds of thousands more Zimbabweans the vote by failing to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll; they had registered but only discovered on voting day that the name was not on the voters’ roll.

 

“The best the opposition can do amid Zanu-PF political intransigence is to galvanise its supporters to vote en masse so that there is little room for manipulation of the results.” He continued in the next breath, completely contradicting himself.

 

What difference would galvanising someone who has no vote do in an election?

 

The opposition likes to talk of devising “strategies to win rigged elections” or “mobilising its supporters to protect the vote”; this is all pure nonsense. You cannot protect a vote you never had. What good will come of bolting the stable door long after the horse has bolted out!

 

Zanu PF does not have the right to deny Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote because the law is clear that every Zimbabwean has the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

 

It is a legal requirement that ZEC must produce a verified voters’ roll at least a month before nomination day. In all the 41 years of our independence Zimbabwe is yet to produce a verified voters’ roll.

 

Zanu PF has again and again flouted the rules governing the conduct of elections. The opposition’s willingness to participate in flawed and illegal elections have only served to encourage Zanu PF to flout the rules and rig election.

 

Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti and all the other MDC leaders who were in the 2008 to 2013 GNU have a lot to answer for. They had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms ending Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers to deny the people their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote. They failed to implement even one token reform in five years.

 

Having failed to implement the reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections, MDC and the rest in the opposition camp have been participating in flawed and illegal elections, regardless, for selfish reasons. They knew Zanu PF was rigging the elections but, more significantly, they also knew that the party was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. They have found bribe irresistible; greed has trumped reason; self-interest has trumped the national cause of free, fair and credible election.

 

“Boycotting the coming elections as announced by MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende at the weekend is not even an option. The opposition must prepare and harden its membership for the impending "war",” continued Chief Chiduku.

 

No one with any common sense would ever believe that MDC A boycotted the 2023 elections to press for electoral reforms. The same individuals have ignored calls to boycott the elections, notable the call by SADC leaders in June 2013. So why are MDC A now heeding the call?

 

The obvious explanation why MDC A leaders are now serious contemplating boycotting the election is because they are broke. Many of the MDC A leaders who lost their elected office position following the recalls also lost their only source of income. The party is not getting a penny from the Political Party Finance Act and the party has lost so much political credibility there will be very few, if any at all, donors to bankroll MDC A political activities.

 

Make no mistake about it, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A friends would solely love to contest the 2023 elections but only if there is a realistic chance of winning the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away. They will be contesting the election on a shoe-sling budget and their main challengers vying for the same gravy train seats, Douglas Mwonzora and his MDC-T, will have all the cash.

 

The decision to boycott the elections is one MDC A must now seriously consider and is one forced upon them by financial considerations and nothing else. Of course, the party would want to claim they are making to force Zanu PF to implement reforms, a lead balloon only the naïve and gullible will believe can fly.

 

“In short, people must not expect free, fair and credible polls. That is a myth. It will never happen as long as the Zanu-PF regime is in charge of national affairs,” persisted Chiduku.

 

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections, the opposition are the ones giving the process credibility and, by extension, giving the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy. How anyone cannot see the futility of participating in these elections beggars belief. It is insane!

 

It should be remembered here that most the leaders in both Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A and Douglas Mwonzora and his MDC-T were key players in the 2008 to 2013 GNU that failed to implement even one reform in five years. The dramatic events of the last year have pitted the former colleagues in dog-eat-dog which have only underlined why they failed to implement any reforms – they corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.

 

Both MDC A and MDC-T have lost political credibility. Don’t tell Mnangagwa and Zanu PF, that!

 

Mnangagwa is still banking on the opposition participating in the flawed and illegal elections to give the process credibility and, by extension, give the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy. A discredited opposition cannot give the process credibility nor, by extension, give the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy!

 

Zanu PF lost legitimacy following the 2008 elections, no one, not even SADC and AU would recognise Zanu PF as the winner because of the blatant cheating and wanton violence. History is set to repeat itself in 2023; Zanu PF will not be recognised as the legitimate government because the elections were not free, fair and credible and a discredited opposition will not give the regime legitimacy!

 

The idea that the nation is stuck with the vote rigging Zanu PF and must expect no change, is absurd. Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are mere mortals and there is no prison built by mortals that man cannot escape from. The Zanu PF dictatorship has been a curse to the nation and its demise is long overdue.

"Zanu PF has dismembered MDC A, will not need to rig to win 2023" - only counter, demand reforms before 2023 W Mukori

 

Dear Tony Reeler

 

Thank you very much for your thought-provoking article 'Zanu PF won't concede electoral defeat' in New Zimbabwe and Bulawayo 24. The root cause of Zimbabwe economic meltdown and political paralysis – we are stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling party and an equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition – is the country’s failure to remove Zanu PF from office. You have never given up hope of finding a solution to end the de facto one-party dictatorship.

 

On behalf of the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans, the victims of the economic ruins and tyrannical oppression, thank you for never giving up the fight for a just, free and democratic Zimbabwe.

 

"Zanu PF cannot afford to lose political power for two reasons; It fears being held accountable for all the gross human rights violations committed over the past 40 years. It fears accountability for the massive corruption that has increased under the new dispensation," you wrote.

 

"The first strategy of the ruling party is, therefore, to continue to dismember all opposition forces, political and civic, to ensure that it will be the only major political force able to contest an election in 2023.

 

"The recall of all the genuinely elected MPs of the MDC Alliance (most recently Tendai Biti) and their replacement by unelected appointees of minority proxy political parties, is central to this strategy.

 

"Through the demolition of the MDC Alliance cutting it off from financial support and creating multiple contestants for its political base Zanu PF has a forlorn hope that it will need neither coercion nor rigging to win the election in 2023."

 

Chamisa’s seizure of MDC-T leadership after Morgan Tsvangirai’s death was unconstitutional and Biti failed to handle the transition of PDP to MDC A. The two gentlemen shot themselves in the foot big time and not for the first time, one might add.   

 

Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” initiative is dead in the water, he has failed to stamp out corruption and mismanagement and has long run out of ideas what else to do to revive the comatose economy. Going into the 2023 elections with the economy is such a sorry state was Mnangagwa’s worst nightmare.

 

MDC A’s implosion is therefore a God-send life-line as far as Mnangagwa is concerned. To blame him for MDC A’s implosion is not only give him undue credit but, most important of all, is to fail to identify the real culprits – the MDC A leaders themselves. As stated above, Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti shot themselves in the foot and this is not the first time they have done this.

 

Zimbabwe had its greatest opportunity ever to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship once and once for all during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti were MDC-T ministers in the GNU and it was incumbent on them and their colleagues in the MDC-Ncube faction to implement the democratic reforms. They failed to implement even one reform in five years!

 

Ever since the GNU debacle, MDC leaders have participating in elections, knowing fully well that, with no reforms implemented, Zanu PF will rig the elections. They participated, regardless of the rigging, out of greed. They have known all along that by participating they will be giving the flawed process “credibility”, as David Coltart, MDC A Treasurer General (MDC-Ncube minister of education in the GNU) readily admitted.

 

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” wrote Coltart in his book The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

 

“The 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.”

 

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections the MDC leaders are giving credibility to the process and, by extension, giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.

 

41 years and counting of Zanu PF tyrannical rule has left the ordinary Zimbabwean convinced they are totally helpless without the politicians leading the way.

 

 Many Zimbabweans regarded Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies as liberation heroes and refused to see them as anything less even in the face of the mountain of evidence of corruption and the Gukurahundi massacre. It took many of them 20 years before they finally admitted Zanu PF leaders were incompetent, corrupt and murderous tyrants and to actively seek regime change by demanding democratic change leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections.

 

Zimbabweans have risked life and limb in the fight for democratic change. The people elected MDC leaders on the understanding the party will deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for.

 

We cannot deny that Zanu PF is still in power today because MDC leaders like Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. They have failed to implement even one reform when they had the chance to do so and they would not boycott elections, to push for reforms, even thou this was and still is the obvious thing to do.

 

Zanu PF will never implement any reforms as long as the party is assured of the opposition’s participation in the elections regardless how flawed the process. We all know that nothing anyone of us say or do will stop Chamisa, Biti, Mwonzora, Mahere and the rest of the MDC leaders and the usual suspects in the opposition camp participating in the next elections. Absolutely nothing!

 

Blaming Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti for MDC A’s implosion is vital in that it is the truth but, more significantly, in forcing those who prefer to bury their heads in the sand to see MDC leaders for who they really are – corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless individuals who cannot be trusted to do the obvious thing of boycotting the elections until reforms are implemented.   

 

The most foolish thing Zimbabweans can do right now is to participate in the next elections with no reforms in place and will give vote rigging Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies legitimacy. MDC leaders will participate out of greed, we cannot stop them. What we can do is denounce the elections as a farce and all opposition politicians who participate as sell-outs.

 

"Demanding dialogue requires there be an intention, an end goal. It is not open ended, but has to have a rationale accepted by the people as a whole. For example, the single most important demand in the late 1970s was one person, one vote: without this, nothing could have changed in Rhodesia," argued Tony Reeler.

 

“One person, one vote!” is still a valid rallying call today as it was in the 1970s. Zimbabweans are still hungering for the country’s first ever free, fair and credible elections. Both Zanu PF and MDC have all had many golden opportunities to deliver justice, liberty and human rights to all Zimbabweans but have failed because greed got the better of them.

 

The ordinary Zimbabweans must demand the implementation of the democratic reforms to guarantee “One person, one vote!” If “One person, one vote!” is not guaranteed then the election is a waste of time and resources. If the people can hold stand up and be counted on this, then it would be the most important self-empowering stance in Zimbabwe’s history!

""MDC A must NOT boycott elections" Magaisa advised - echo of the ruinous advice NOT to implement reforms P Guramatunhu

"If there is a phrase that must not be entertained by the MDC Alliance right now, it is the phrase ‘boycott by-elections'. Not when the opponents are doing everything to take you out of political spaces. Boycott is exactly what they want you to do; it guarantees an easy ride," advised Alex Magaisa.

 

“Musangoto makudo namasvere!” So goes the Shona adage meaning, in this case, there are advisers whose words are full of wisdom and then there are those whose words are deadly poison! Alex Magaisa is one of those advisers who belong in the latter group.

 

We must never forget that Alex Magaisa was the Special Legal Adviser to the late Morgan Tsvangirai during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. And lest we forget, the primary task for Tsvangirai and his MDC friends in the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA). If implemented the reforms would have stopped the blatant cheating and wanton violence that marred the 2008 elections.

 

As the Special Legal adviser, it was incumbent on Magaisa, to make Sure Tsvangirai and his MDC friends kept their eyes on the important task of implementing the reforms. He should have even drafted the reform proposals and made sure MDC leaders submitted the proposals to parliament for debate and followed them through to implementation.

 

MDC failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Not even one token reform!

 

SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the 2008 GPA, knew it was futile to go ahead with the 2013 elections with no reforms in place and they tried to have the elections postponed until reforms are implemented.

 

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza, SAPES director, told Journalist Violet Gonda.

 

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.

 

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”  

 

On return from the Maputo summit, Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF’s Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in the GNU, called a press conference. He explained that Zanu PF was rejecting postponing the elections because there were NO outstanding reform proposals to be implemented. None!

 

Lal behold! MDC had not submitted even one reform proposal in five years! The party had a Special Legal Adviser whose paid and only task was to advise the party on the reform proposals and he had not even get one reform proposal tabled in parliament! Not a sausage!

 

No doubt Special Adviser Alex Magaisa gave MDC leaders the same advice he is giving them now; "If there is a phrase that must not be entertained by the MDC Alliance right now, it is the phrase ‘boycott elections'!” You do not boycott elections to protest against the failure to implement reforms when it turns out that you are the one had five years golden chance to implement the reforms and failed to implement even one reform.

 

If the truth be told, MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform during the GNU because they had no idea what reforms were required much less how they could be implemented. All in their 21 years of wittering about reforms, not even one MDC leaders has ever spelt out what reforms were required on even one issue. Yes, MDC leaders are that incompetent!

 

The same cannot be said of the Special Adviser, Alex Magaisa; he certainly knew the principal purpose of the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms, knew what those reforms were and how they were supposed to be implemented. He is smart enough to have known all that stuff!

 

So Special Adviser, Alex Magaisa’s failure to get MDC to submit even one reform proposal during the 2008 to 2013 GNU was not a mistake; it was a deliberate and calculated move. MDC’s primary task in the GNU was to implement the reforms and, per se, Alex Magaisa’s prima facia task was to implement the reforms. We know that not even one reform proposal even saw the light of day, that is a historic fact and proof his real task was to give MDC the wrong advice!  

 

Morgan Tsvangirai contested the 2013 elections with no reforms in place against the sound of SADC leaders and Zanu PF blatantly rig the elections, as SADC leaders had predicted at the June 2013 SADC summit.

 

Soon after the 2013 rigged elections, Dr Alex Magaisa was seen in the company of Professor Jonathan Moyo, according to Vincent Tsvangirai, the son of the MDC’s leader. Professor Moyo, was Zanu PF’s chief strategist, sat next to Minister Chinamasa when he announced that MDC had failed to table even one single reform proposal at the post SADC Summit press conference above.

 

There is no doubt that MDC’s failure to implement even one single democratic reform during the five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was one of the worst acts of high treason, second only to the Gukurahundi massacre. The nation had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections peacefully and MDC, with special ruinous advice from Alex Magaisa, wasted the opportunity.

 

Zanu PF retain its dictatorial power included the power to rig elections post the GNU because MDC had failed to implement the reforms. And so the nation has found itself still stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime with all the economic, political and social consequences that reality entailed.

 

Zanu PF’s post 2008 GNU strategy was to entice the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegitimate the process got. The party has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and with the seats a share of the Political Party Finance Act budgetary allocation and the opposition have found the bribe irresistible.

 

By participating in the elections the opposition has given the flawed process credibility and given the result legitimacy.  

 

If Morgan Tsvangirai et al had heeded the SADC leaders’ advice and boycotted the 2013 elections, even when it was clear that MDC had dropped the ball by failing to implement the reforms; SADC leaders would have had the power and authority, as the guarantor of the 2008 Global Political Agreement, to declare the election null and void. Just because MDC dropped the ball was no excuse for SADC to do the same.

 

David Coltart, MDC-N Minister of Education in the GNU and now MDC A Treasurer General, admitted in his book that boycotting the 2013 elections was the “obvious” decision. However, he and his friends did not boycott the elections out of greed.

 

If the opposition boycotted the elections and/or the participating opposition had no political credibility; the elections process will lose credibility and the result will lose legitimacy. Without legitimacy Zanu PF will find itself back in the position it found itself in after the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections.

 

The 2013 and 2018 elections have been so flawed and illegal it has become a totally meaningless charade. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, etc. The case to boycott elections is stronger now than ever.

 

Why anyone in their mind would want the opposition to continue participating in even one more meaningless elections beggars belief! And yet that is exactly what Alex Magaisa is asking the opposition to do. To understand why, one must remember that it was the same Magaisa who advised MDC NOT to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU.

 

"If there is a phrase that must not be entertained by the MDC Alliance right now, it is the phrase ‘boycott by-elections'.” But of course, this is the echo of the ruinous advice NOT to implement the reforms! 

"Imposing sanctions of Zanu PF for human rights abuses is not the solution" - rubbish, punishment is tripod tenet rule of law stand W Mukori

 

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!" Is rightly considered the "Golden Rule" because it is the fountain of all just, fair and peaceful human relations; the fountain on which human civilization is build.

 

Like all rules, the Golden Rule is there to protect the just against the unjust and the weak against the strong, the fair against the unfair and the peace loving against those who would disrupt the peace for whatever reasons. There are unjust and selfish individuals out there who, if left to do as their please, will spoil everything for us all.

 

It is therefore imperative that those who break the Golden Rule must be punished. The punishment must serve two purposes; to reprimand the wrongdoer and thus making it clear their behaviour will not be tolerated. The punishment must assure the victims and society at large that the lawlessness will not happen again and, if practical, compensate the victim(s) of their lose.

 

The Golden Rule is common sense really. Sadly, many societies, nations, etc. have descended into chaos and lawlessness with some of them stuck there for generations because they have failed to apply common sense. It is not so much that these societies have failed to grasp the essence of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!” They grasped all that! They have fallen flat on the faces on policing and enforcing the Golden Rule.

 

So, the Golden Rule alone is not enough to guarantee justice, peace, liberty, progress and prosperity for all. The Golden Rule must be policed and enforced without fear or favour. That too is common sense!

 

There is no denying Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a failed state, a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have been rigging elections to extend their tyrannical rule. The Golden Rule has been corrupted the wicked rule the roost. There is no justice, no peace and no progress.

 

The few ruling elite have become filthy rich at the expense of the majority who have been denied their freedoms, human rights and dignity. 41 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption  

And rank lawlessness have all but destroyed the country’s once robust and promising economy. 50% of our people are now living in abject poverty and basic services like education and health care have collapsed after decades of being starved of funds.

 

Zimbabwe is standing on the edge of the precipitous abyss; the decades of corrupt and tyrannical rule have brought us here. There is only so much human beings can endure before they rebel and all hell breaks lose. Rebellion transforms rational humans into a lawless mob hell bend on death and destruction. Zimbabweans have been pushed well beyond the limit of endurance. We must act quickly to restore the rule of law and walk away from the edge of the abyss.

 

"The findings of the United states on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe are correct and everyone wants a situation where we don't continue on that path," acknowledged Lovemore Madhuku, National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader and a member of Mnangagwa’s POLAD.

 

Madhuku was commenting on the recent USA report castigating the Zanu PF regime for its repeated human rights violations. The Americans have made it clear they will not lift the economic sanctions impose of the regime until there are democratic reforms and good governance in Zimbabwe.

 

"The re-engagement efforts must not be affected by the human rights issues,” argued Madhuku, according to The Standard.

 

"There must continue to be reengagement, but the fact that there are human rights abuses must not justify the continuation of sanctions.

 

"Their approach to punish by imposing sanctions is not the way. You keep pointing them out and ensuring that Zimbabweans themselves are alert.

"For example, let us convince those that continue to vote for Zanu PF not to do so and let us continue to have reforms and push for electoral reforms and political reforms so that the next elections will be better and ultimately the solution to end all this is to change the government in the future.”

 

Madhuku’s arguments must be dismissed with the contempt they rightly deserve for two reasons:

 

1)     Madhuku does not deny that Zanu PF is a repeat abuser of human rights notable denying the ordinary Zimbabweans the right to a meaningful vote and good governance. For 41 years and counting Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections and has, to this day, stubbornly refused to implement any democratic reforms. To argue that the regime should not be punished for its contemptuous disregard of the rule of law and the heart-breaking human suffering and deaths the decades of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule have brought is foolish.

 

It is the more contemptuous considering Madhuku is a Law Professor! One shudders to think what he is teaching his students if he is against punishment, one of the trio tenets without which rule of law cannot stand.

 

2)     “Let us continue to have reforms and push for electoral reforms and political reforms!” This is laughable if this was not such a life and death matter! The MDC leaders had five years to table reform proposals during the 2008 to 2013 GNU; they did not have to “push” Zanu PF then. They failed to table even one token reform in five years.

 

And ever since the GNU debacle, the MDC and the rest in the opposition camp, including Madhuku, have all participated in the flawed and illegal elections for the sake of few gravy train seats, a cut of the Political Party Finance Act budget allocation and, for presidential candidates, a seat on POLAD.

 

By participating in the flawed elections the opposition have given credibility to the process and legitimacy to the results. As long as Zanu PF is assured of the opposition’s participation and legitimacy the party will never ever implement any reforms. The opposition is not doing anything to end Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule; they doing the exact opposite, they are perpetuating Zanu PF’s tyrannical rule.

 

Instead of lifting the sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leaders, the Americans and their Western allies must increase the sanctions and make them bite. Indeed, there is good reason to extent the sanctions to include the opposition leaders who have taken it upon themselves to frustrate efforts to pressure Zanu PF to implement reforms.

 

The worst this to happen to Zimbabwe today would be for all those in a position to punish Zanu PF thugs, for their contemptuous disregard of the Golden Rule, to let the rogues go scot-free!

"Informal sector is 70% GDP but remitting 1% in taxes" - get nothing from imaginary wealth, common sense P Guramatunhu

 “Shocking evidence of tax leakages hogged the limelight this week, with Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube saying the informal sector, which makes up 70% of Zimbabwe's gross domestic product (GDP), was remitting less than 1% in taxes,” wrote Eddie Cross.

 

“This explains why the ailing economy has been struggling with crumbling public infrastructure, while social security interventions are grounded. It also reveals how a cluster of interventions unveiled three years ago to pin the informal sector to pay taxes failed to yield results.”

 

There is nothing shocking about the informal sector contributing only a paltry 1% in collected revenue. Most of the people in the informal sector live from hand to mouth selling tomatoes, airtime and all manner of trinkets by the roadside. Most of these people are not earning enough to pay for their basic needs and should be on social welfare support.

 

However, this government has revalued the informal sector for the purpose of boosting the nation’s GPD and so came up with the result of 70% GDP is the informal sector. And the regime even devise ways of collecting tax from the informal sector.

 

So, 70% of Zimbabwe’s GPD is contributing a paltry 1% in tax; this must be yet another world record!

 

Zimbabwe’s economy shrunk by a record 50% in the period 2000 to 2008. The country’s inflation peaked at 500 billion percent in 2008, a world record for a country not at war, on the back of the collapsed agricultural sector and the regime’s voodoo-economic policy of printing money to bankrolling its reckless spending.

 

The Zimbabwe economy had been “ailing” because of decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement and rampant corruption and the economic chaos of 2000 to 2008 delivered the knockout punch from which it has never recovered.

 

Indeed, it is now clear Zimbabwe’s economy will never recover, as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to stay in power.

 

The truth is there is no wealth in the informal sector and the claim it is contributing 70% GPD is just an outrageous claim. The informal sector is failing to contribute even 1% in tax revenue because you cannot collect tax from an imaginary resource much less use the imaginary tax to bankroll economic recovery.