SADC will not let Zanu PF "continue" rigging elections! Shame rigging has last 43 years and counting. W Mukori

 

"Zimbabwe has always been violating those (election) principles and guidelines as far as elections are concerned," acknowledged SADC Electoral Advisor, Likhwa Dlamini said after meeting Nelson Chamisa and his CCC team. CCC have the usual catalogue of issues to complain about.

"SADC is there to assess the likelihood of such incidents recurring, but our report does not address such issues and if they keep on recurring, there are other senior structures that deal with such issues.

"But SADC will not sit down and watch this continuing.

"We are not going to use force or push through the throat everything that we think of.

"We are going to do it in a way that would make us remain brothers and sisters."

"Our presence here is to do an assessment and detect issues, which I think are of concern and then assist."

It must be noted that SADC facilitated the implementation of the democratic reforms, the only sure way to end Zimbabwe’s culture of political violence and vote rigging, during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends wasted that golden opportunity by failing to implement even one reform in five years.

Worse still, SADC leaders wanted the 2013 elections postponed until reforms were implemented, in a last-minute attempt to get the reform implemented. “If you go into the election next month,” SADC leaders told Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to their faces. “You will lose. The elections are done!”

Alas! MDC leaders paid no heed and participated in the 2013 elections, which Zanu PF blatantly rigged, as SADC leaders had predicted. Zimbabwe’s opposition has insisted in participating in these flawed and illegal elections disregarding the repeated calls for reforms before elections from other quarters such as the EU and Americans.

There are five key points that must be said here:

1)     SADC election observer teams endorsed the Zanu PF rigged 2013 and 2018 elections as being “substantially free and fair”. Of course, it is disappointing that this was ever allowed to happen. One hopes the commitment “SADC will not sit down and watch this continuing” will be honoured from now on!

 

2)     Not even one meaningful reform has been implemented since the June 2013 SADC meeting when the leaders called for the elections to be postponed. The 2023 elections are four months away, no meaningful reforms can be implemented now. SADC must reiterate its 2013 demand for elections to be postponed until reforms are implemented!

 

3)     The MDC leaders did not implement any reforms during the GNU and squandered the chance to boycott the 2013 and 2018 elections and redeem themselves because of greed. CCC are hell bent on participating in these 2023 elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process get, Chamisa and company are just paying lip service to reforms.

4)     Indeed, it is this assurance that MDC/CCC will not implement reforms nor boycott elections no matter how flawed the process gets that have given Zanu PF the confidence to ignore demands for meaningful reforms and holding free elections. If we are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance then we must apply pressure on both Zanu PF and CCC to accept democratic changes.  

 

5)     If SADC will not condemn the 2023 elections in advance, then SADC election observers must judge the process on the evidence gathered on the ground. Whether or not the country should have another GNU if the election fail to produce a legitimate government as happened in 2008; is not for SADC to say. The regional body must allow the people of Zimbabwe and the rest of the international community deal with that. This is not too much to ask!

"I'm working for investor-friendly environment" insist Mnangagwa. Watch Al Jazeera's Gold Mafia. I rest my case! W Mukori

 

The spirit is willing, but the intellect is weak!

“Zimbabwe is open for business!” is the most enduring thing President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ever said since taking over from the late Robert Mugabe following the 2017 military coup. The mantra was motivated by his burning desire to revive the comatose Zimbabwe economy. Sadly, for him and the nation, he has no clue how to revive the economy. None!

"My government is continually working towards improving the sustainable investor-friendly business environment. This in turn should attract more foreign direct investment into our economy and generate employment in all sectors of the economy," said Mnangagwa at the official opening of the Varun Beverages water and closures project in Harare.

"Such investment projects as the one we are witnessing today, as well as those by other investors, are quite crucial as they significantly contribute to economic growth and create employment for our citizens."

When Mnangagwa took over from the late dictator Robert Mugabe in 2017, he had rightly identified the two areas he needed to improve to create the investor-friendly business environment: end corruption and bad governance. He promised zero tolerance on corruption and promised to hold free, fair and credible elections.

The floodgate of local and foreign investment expected to follow the official launch of his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” campaign in January 2018 in Davos Switzerland did not materialise. Investors are savvy and shrewd lot, they held back to see if he was going to keep all his promises.

The blitzkrieg to arrest the those responsible for the rampant corruption and gross mismanagement, the two cancers that had all but destroyed Zimbabwe’s once upon a time robust and promising economy, did not take place. Indeed, the corruption and mismanagement under Mugabe’s rule is nothing compared to what is today.

The four-part “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary on Al Jazeera has uncovered details of how Zimbabwe is losing US$1.6 billion per year to gold smugglers or 80% of traded gold and 5.7% of the country’s US$ 28 billion GPD. The documentary focused on gold smuggling and money laundering only but the looting is just as rampant in other areas such as diamond, lithium and platinum mining and the purchase of fuel and medicine by the various cartels.

 looting ood said Varun Beverages' investment will help in the production of more affordable goods and reduce the country's imports bill.

"By the time the Second Republic came into being, we occupied between 35 and 37% of retail shelves, but now I am informed that we are around 81% in terms of production locally," he added.

The Minister of Industry and Commerce Sekai Nzenza, speaking at the same Varun Beverages official opening, said at least US$101 million was invested into the country's manufacturing sector last year. This is less than the US$133 million per month the country lost to gold smugglers alone! No nation can afford this level of economic haemorrhage and criminal waste of resources.

The Al Jazeera documentary showed that corruption in Zimbabwe is not because of the usual one or two rotten apples in the Police, Bank and other key institutions; the top brass in these institutions are either themselves corrupt and/or are under strict orders to do nothing. Most of the gold smuggling kingpins in the documentary underlined their very close links with President Mnangagwa himself or a very close member of his family.

Ambassador-at-large Uebert Angel, alias Diplomat Mafia, offered to use his diplomatic bag to carry dirty money to Zimbabwe. The alternative was to use Mnangagwa’s presidential jet to transport the money. It was none other than President Mnangagwa himself who appointed Uebert Angel ambassador-at-large.

No wonder President Mnangagwa has failed to uproot corruption in Zimbabwe. How can he end corruption when he and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite are the principal beneficiaries and the godfathers of corruption.

President Mnangagwa failed to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections in 2018. No one in their right mind expected him to do anything else than rig the elections. He and his fellow coup plotters were not going to risk all in staging the coup only to risk losing power in a free election. Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” was a lead balloon that never took off and it is no surprise the economy is now in total meltdown. Still, Zanu PF’s hunger to retain power is as keen as ever and so the regime is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections.

Indeed, the looting of the country’s resources has gone into overdrive because Mnangagwa inherited a bankrupt nation from Mugabe and has had to dig deep, he is now selling the nation’s crown jewels, to raise the funds to bribe all and sundry to help him win these elections from the US$5 bag of maize meal for povo right up to the US$ 230 000 bonus paid to CIO directors and ZEC. The regime is also spending a fortune bribing the opposition to participate in these flawed elections.

Kamlesh Pattni, alias Brother Paul in the Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary, boasted how the wealth generated from his gold smuggling activities help Kenya’s dictator, Arap Moi “survive” by buying off the off the opposition. Pattni moved to Zimbabwe and continued with the gold smuggling to help Mugabe and then Mnangagwa “survive”. The failure by MDC/CCC leaders to implement even one reform during the GNU and they stubborn insistence on participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy all point to one thing – a corrupted and captured opposition.

Zimbabwe is a failed state, a pariah state that is failing to provide even the most basic needs such as clean water, education and health care to its people. Mnangagwa is selling the nation’s crown jewels in a desperate bid to stay in power only to drag the nation even deeper into the hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed us all into.

Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies are just buffoons whose hunger for absolute power is insatiable, they would rather see the whole nation in economic ruins than see anyone else rule the country. Our curse has just been compounded by having a corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition that has repeatedly betrayed the nation’s fight for reforms, free elections and good governance for a share of the spoils of power from Zanu PF.

Mnangagwa is rigging the 2023 elections so he can continue to preside over the wholesale looting of the nation’s gold, diamonds, etc. and the nation’s future, hopes and dreams. We must stop this insanity!  Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF do not have the divine right to ride roughshod over us denying us our meaningful say in the governance of the country. It is us who have let them ride over us roughshod and after 43 years it is insane to let this continue. They are not just mortals but buffoons, for Pete’s sake!

Professor Moyo dismiss Al Jazeera Gold Mafia as "disjointed thesis". He too must be feeling the heat Wilbert Mukori

 When the story first broke that Al Jazeera was going to air a documentary of the gold smuggling and money laundering in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF regime and its apologists dismissed the whole thing s inconsequential. Christopher Mutsvangwa heralded the story as a sanctions-busting success story.

After the first part of the documentary was aired, individuals like Uebert Angel, alias Diplomatic Mafia in the documentary, was stripped of his Ambassador-at-large title and privileges. Monica Mutsvangwa, Minister of Information and Publicity announced there would be a criminal investigation and all those found guilty would face the full wrath of the law.

Well, there is yet another change of direction, this time coming from Professor Jonathan Moyo, a seasoned political turncoat. He is dismissing the documentary as “a disjointed and incoherent thesis”.

“Now that three of its four episodes have been – and notwithstanding the fact that the fourth episode might have bombshells in the form of controversial or shocking utterances by its main interlocutors – there is nothing that the last episode will do to save the documentary's disjointed and incoherent thesis, which would have long gone up in smoke but for the gripping and often self-incriminating verbatim claims of its greedy interlocutors,” wrote Professor Moyo in a Bulawayo24 article.

The primary purpose of the public media the world over, is to educate, inform and/or entertain the public. The Al Jazeera “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary has certainly lived to its billing of educating and informing the world about Zimbabwe’s gold smuggling and money laundering criminal activities.  

The Al Jazeera documentary gave details of the quantity of gold smuggled, 80% 0f the US$ 2 billion per year and how the country’s gold is then paid with dirty money. The proceeds of all these criminal activities are shared amongst the Zanu PF ruling elite and their appointed enablers with the Gold Mafia criminal masterminds, get the lion’s share of the loot. The gold-panners, doing the donkey work, get the small change.

The nation has “very little to show for all its gold”, as Tendai Biti readily admits in the documentary because none of the beneficiary pay cooperate or income tax the Mafiosi invest their loot in Dubai and some such safe heavens. But most worrying of all is that the looted wealth is being used to keep the corrupt and tyrannical ruling elite in power at the expense of the long-suffering ordinary people.   

In the documentary, Kamlesh Pattni, alias Gold Mafia, a Kenyan gold smuggler whose activities “nearly bankrupted Kenya” during President Arap Moi’s days, has since immigrated to Zimbabwe to ply his trade. He boasted of helping many of Africa’s tyrants “survive” by using some of gold smuggling loot to buy-off the tyrants’ political opponents. Zimbabwe is awash with political intrigue and mysteries.

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, which would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship. They failed to implement even one token reforms. And to add insult to injury, ever since the GNU debacle, MDC/CCC leaders have insisted on participating in flawed elections knowing fully well that doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.  

CCC are hell bent in participating in these 2023 elections no matter how flawed the election process got. The only rational explanation to MDC/CCC’s irrational behaviour is that the opposition has been bribed to sell out on reforms and free elections!  

Of course, Al Jazeera’s “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary has been an eye opener, the nation would never ever get this from the Zanu PF controlled public media. As a former Minister of Information and Publicity, Professor Moyo, knows only too well how The Herald, ZBC and the rest of the public media had brainwashed the Zimbabwe populous. God only knows what Al Jazeera “thesis” he was wittering about!

“It is unfortunate that there has been a concerted but ill-conceived and desperate campaign to drag @ReserveBankZim into the documentary's mud in pursuit of a hidden agenda,” continued Professor Moyo.

“Factually, and legally in terms of the Gold Trade Act, the #RBZ does not issue gold export or dealership licences, that is a responsibility of Government through Treasury. Fidelity's licence to refine and export gold was therefore issued by Government, not by #RBZ.”

 It is nonsensical that US$2 billion worth in smuggled gold would leave the country and as much in dirty money would flow in and out of the country with no one at RBZ knowing. In this case two of the Bank’s senior managed were not only named but paid for their role in the gold smuggling/ money laundering activities and the Nutty Professors still wants us to believe the RBZ is squeaky clean!

The torrid of criticism of Al Jazeera’s Gold Mafia documentary by Professor Jonathan Moyo is not exactly a lightning bolt out of the clear sky! Professor Jonathan Moyo has criticized his erstwhile Zanu PF colleagues for haunting him out of the country following the November 2017 military coup but has always been careful never to cross certain lines.

He has never criticized MDC’s failure to implement even one reform during the GNU, on the one hand. He became one of Chamisa’s confidants before the 2018 elections and, no doubt, would be holding a senior government position if MDC A had won that election!

On the other hand, Professor Jonathan Moyo has been careful not to blubber too much about Zanu PF corruption and tyranny. He did not want to self-incriminate but also to keep the door open for re-joining Zanu PF.

The Al Jazeera documentary has uncovered so much, he must be feeling the heart even with him hiding in his fox-hole in Kenya. Could it be that one of the individuals named in the documentary helped him smuggle gold and some such valuable; after all that is something Kamlesh Pattni, alias Brother Paul, would do every day before breakfast!  

Zanu PF is rigging 2023 and CCC and povo are participating out of greed and ignorance. It's insane! W Mukori

 Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections. There will be no verified voters’ roll, no free public media, 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be denied the vote, thousands of rural voters will be frogmarched to vote for Zanu PF, etc., etc. 

Why is Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections?

Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF friends have alway believed they had the right to rule Zimbabwe, right of conquest, as the party that defeated the white colonial regime in the war of independence. And what better way to secure that right than by rigging the elections. 

The longer Zanu PF has stayed in power the more it has become obvious to the people that the party leaders were corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs and therefore not fit to rule. And so to retain power the party has resorted to more and more ruthless vote rigging measures including the capture of state institutions; bribing officials, critics and opposition; and use of wanton violence. There is already a mountain of evidence to prove that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections. 

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC/CCC leaders on the understanding they would implemented the necessary democratic change to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

Alas! After 23 year, 5 of which in the GNU MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform. Worse still, since the GNU debacle, MDC/CCC have participated in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.

What is really infuriating about MDC/CCC leader is that they know the sheer futility of participating in these flawed elections and yet continue doing it out of greed, as David Coltart 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,” confessed 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.” 

Coltart was an MDC-N Minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and is the Treasurer General in the CCC. 

So Zanu PF are rigging these elections and denying the millions of Zimbabweans the fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country because the party cannot risk losing its iron grip on power by holding free, fair and credible elections. MDC/CCC sold out on reforms and are selling out now by participating in flawed elections to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship because Chamisa and et al are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.

Why are the ordinary Zimbabwean participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy? 

The Zimbabwe populous can be divided into two groups; 

1. those who are politically powerless to stop the Zanu PF dictatorship, whether or not they understand what is going on is irrelevant. Zanu PF leaders have retained the coercive power from the liberation war days and abusing the state security services. The rural folk are as helpless as medieval serfs under their Zanu PF operative landlords. When you are looking up the business end of an AK47 rifle, it is unwise to argue.

2. the urban voters are not, as a rule, under the Zanu PF yoke, they should be better informed but, alas, they are not. It is disheartening that many urban voters have no clue the primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement reforms much less that MDC sold out, for example. Chamisa and company have conned them into believing in the oxymoronic nonsense of “winning rigged elections” even after 43 years of Zanu PF rigging and winning these elections. 

Zimbabwe is a failed state because we have a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling party whose leaders believe they have the right to rule regardless of their disastrous 43 years in power track record. Our political situation has been made worse by the MDC/CCC who have wasted the many golden opportunities implement the democratic reforms and end the dictatorship. The sell-out are now participating in the flawed election to keep Zanu PF in power for a share of the spoils of power. And to crown it all we have politically and/or intellectually powerless electorate to demand their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and both CCC and the populous are once again, for the umpteenth time in 43 year, foolishly participating to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed and ignorance respectively. Of course, this is inane the more so we have the cure for both greed and ignorance!

UAE refuse SA's Gupta brothers extradition for laundering. Pattni and other Gold Mafia must be equally relieved. W Mukori

 

Remember the many stories of State Capture involving former SA President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta brothers? Well whatever peanut butter bait the South African government was using in its Agatha Christie mousetrap, it snared Zuma and the Gupta brothers got away!

The South African authorities have been trying to get the Gupta brothers extradited from United Arabs Emirates (UAE) to South Africa to face charges of money laundering and fraud. The extradition request was turned down.

“We learnt with shock and dismay that the extradition have been concluded in the Dubai courts … on the 13th of February 2023, and our extradition request was unsuccessful,” Minister Ronald Lamola of Department of Justice and Correctional Services revealed.

“The court found that on the charge of money laundering, the crime in question is alleged to have been committed in the United Arab Emirates and in South Africa.”

Many of the big fish named in the ongoing Al Jazeera four part “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary such as Kamlesh Pattni have settled in Zimbabwe but have set up shop in UEA and other countries. In the documentary Pattni is seen flaunting his amassed wealth from smuggling gold and money laundering.

Of course, every thinking Zimbabwean will be equally shocked and dismayed by the UAE court refusal to have extradited the Gupta brothers; the same court will no doubt refuse to have Pattni extradited to Zimbabwe to answer similar charges!

The real crying shame for both South Africa and Zimbabwe is that corruption has been rampant for decades and it was at the very heart of government. Worst of all, corrupt is still rampant in the two countries as the Al Jazeera documentary clearly shows and we really have no clue how to uproot it!

“He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon!” so goes the old adage.

The rot has spread to every segment of society right up to the core. How does one uproot the cancer when those in positions of power and authority are the godfathers and principal beneficiaries of the corruption!

The Zimbabwe mousetrap will catch the small-time gold smugglers operators such as the Airport and Bank staff, they will serve jail time. The likes Uebert Angel and Henrietta Rushwaya have powerful political connections and/or know too much to risk them incriminating the Zanu PF godfathers; it will be catch and release.

Mnangagwa and the rest of the Zanu PF godfathers will use their looted wealth to rig elections and stop regime change at all costs! The Al Jazeera documentary has only served to harden their resolve to rig the elections and stop regime change.

The Mafia masterminds like Kamlesh Pattni know they are safe in UEA, they will live to a ripe old age in unparallel luxury and comfort. Pattni never invested any of his looted wealth in Zimbabwe because he knew the country was corrupt and unstable – he should know, after all he has played his role in creating the rot and chaos.

Obama was "fundraising phenomenon" but nothing compared to Mnangagwa's US$240 m war chest, thanks to Gold Mafia W Mukori

 When elections costs in an impoverished nation like Zimbabwe are comparable and even exceed those in a very rich nation like United States of America; you can be sure of one thing the Zimbabwe elections are NOT the same free, fair and credible democratic elections you get in the USA. For one thing, the budgetary difference between the contestants is so huge, it is like Fred Flintstone in his stone-age car racing against Lewis Hamilton in his F1 car.

The mismatch is so blatant one has to ask what the opposition is being paid to keep participating in such a clearly one-sided race!

Former US President Barack Obama is one of the American politicians known, amongst many other things, for his election fundraising prowess.

“In all, no US politician has ever raised so much money for a political campaign – and this one will be the most expensive ever. Of the $942m in receipts so far for the 2008 race, Obama has raised $347m, more than double John McCain's $143.8m,” reported the UK Guardian in July 2008

“If nothing else, Barack Obama has proved himself to be a financial phenomenon.”

Who would have guessed that President Obama would be outdone by President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, one of the poorest nations on earth!

"In this (2023) election, I think, they are spending something like US$240 million and that is his (Mnangagwa) money. It's not somebody else's. It's not the party, it's his money," Uebert Mudzanire alias Prophet Uebert Angel, alias Diplomat Mafia, claimed in the Al Jazeera “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary.

"So, when somebody has got that money to spend on an election campaign, you give him one million, it's like a slap in the face, unless you say this is to thank you.

"The guy doesn't take bribes. Oh no, no, he won't. There is a big difference in appreciating somebody and bribing."

The truth is Mnangagwa in raising a hell lot more for the 2023 Zimbabwe elections. His fellow Zanu PF ruling elite leaders like VP Chiwenga, ministers, high ranking officers in the Police and Army, etc. who too have benefited from the wholesale looting of the nation’s resources will show their appreciation of the Zanu PF dictatorship by making a generous contribution to keep the regime in power. The biggest donations will come from the Gold Mafia bosses, the individuals (mostly foreign) sitting at the apex of the gold smuggling and money laundering activities, who make a lot more money than the Zanu PF ruling elite who facilitate the looting.

Similar generous donations will come from the Diamond Mafia (country was swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue in the period 2007 to 2014 according to Professor Jonathan Moyo in a recent SABC interview), Lithium Mafia and platinum Mafia. More donations will come from the many cartels that have mushroomed including such tycoons as the Kundakwashe Tangwirei whose business empire is worth US$ billions, etc.

As the incumbent government Zanu PF will be creaming-off billions of dollars in material, labour and cash from the state to pay for Zanu PF election expenses.

All told Mnangagwa and Zanu PF will be spending a staggering US$4 billion to secure a Mnangagwa victory and Zanu PF parliamentary majority. Most of the money will be spend on vote buying from the few bags @ of food and/or agricultural inputs for the ordinary voters, buying US$60k cars for chiefs to turn them into party political commissars, US$230k bribes for key officials in ZEC, Police, etc.

The regime is spending millions of dollars in making sure the opposition participate in these elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process gets. Ever since the 2008 GNU, Zanu PF has been careful to ensure the party bribed opposition to entice them to participate in the elections to maintain the façade Zimbabwe is a healthy and functioning multi-party democracy. The GNU forced the party to discard the de facto one-party image.

CCC and the rest of the opposition parties will have done very well indeed if they raised US$4 million for their campaign, including the direct and indirect financial assistance from Zanu PF.

So, the opposition’s campaign budget is 0.1% of Zanu PF’s US$4 billion; that alone shows this is not a fair contest! There many other reasons making this an unfair contest such as ZEC’s refusal to produce a verified voters’ roll, a blatantly pro-Zanu PF public media, etc. The thing is the opposition know these elections are not free nor fair and yet they insist in participating regardless.

“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,” confessed 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.”

In other words, the opposition are participating in these flawed and illegal elections out of greed. Pure and simple!

USA GDP                            23 618.00 USD Billion.

ZIMBABWE GDP                       28. 00 USD BILLION

Zimbabwe’s GPD is 0.1% of USA and yet Zanu PF is spending US$4b or14% of the country’s GPD on elections! How is that possible?

Easy, Zanu PF has captured the state institutions and commandeered the nation’s material and human resources, which should be used for the good of all, to securing electoral victory for Mnangagwa and the ruling party, Zanu PF. The regime is squandering millions buying chiefs new twin-cab trucks every five years, down payment for them to frogmarch the rural voters to vote for the party, and yet many rural hospitals have no ambulance service!

The real big surprise is how Zanu PF has managed to get the opposition to work for the regime, making a mockery of the whole electoral process!

“The Gold Mafia is bigger than the government. Bigger than any authority!” boasted Dawood Khan Former Gold Leaf Mafia Member turned informer.

The opposition knew the 2013 election process was “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw”; they did not withdraw because the Gold mafia and their Zanu PF ruling elite partners had opposition in their deep pockets. Today, ten years later, two rigged elections later, the opposition are still hell bent on participating in the same flawed and illegal elections.

The one thing Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary has shown beyond all reasonable doubt is just how powerful the Gold Mafia and the Zanu PF ruling elite partnership is in Zimbabwe. Those who expect any meaningful democratic changes in Zimbabwe without first implementing the democratic reforms are naïve.   

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw!” confessed David Coltart in 2013, ten years ago. The electoral process today, 2023, is just as flawed and illegal as in 2013 and yet CCC are just as determined to participate in these 2023 elections as they were in 2013! Until we implement the democratic reforms designed to end the tyrannical hold of the Gold Mafia and Zanu PF ruling elite have over the people notably the opposition the country will never hold free and fair elections. Never! 

"Impeach Mnangagwa over gold mafia!" No, focus on denying him legitimacy and all else will follow. W Mukori

 

Team Pachedu have done excellent work in the fight for free, fair and credible elections. However in calling for Mnangagwa to be impeached over the Al Jazeera Gold Mafia expose, they are losing the plot.

"As Team Pachedu, we think the opposition should put the necessary pressure on Mnangagwa to step down and a good safe way is to move a motion to impeach him in Parliament.

"The legislators have a role to play in checking the executive," Team Pachedu told NewsDay.

Yes, the opposition MPs can table a motion to impeach Mnangagwa, but to what end and purpose! Even if they did table the motion, it will be quashed like a bug underfoot. Remember Zanu PF has 2/3 majority in parliament and these MPs are not accountable to ordinary Zimbabweans but to Mnangagwa and the rest of the corrupt ruling elite! Mnangagwa and his cronies rig elections – remember!

As long as Zanu PF is able to rig the elections and stay in power the gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and tyrannical oppression will continue. So, if we are serious about ending the mismanagement, corruption, etc. we must focus on implementing the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Anything else is just a waste of time and effort!

We are in the middle of an election campaign and will be going to the polls in four months’ time. There is overwhelming evidence already to show the process is flawed and illegal including the failure to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. Team Pachedu has done excellent work in helping to document some of the evidence.

Zanu PF is rigging these 2023 elections. After 43 years of rigged elections, it is insane to let this happen yet again!

With four months to go before polling day, it is too late to get any meaningful democratic reforms implemented nor can we stop the elections going ahead. What we can do is make sure everyone knows that these elections as flawed and illegal and cannot therefore produce a legitimate government. Zanu PF must not be allowed to get away with yet another rigged election and granted political legitimacy.

It is a well-documented historic fact that Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC/CCC have played a major role in helping Zanu PF rig elections and get away with it. MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one reform.

Worse still, Chamisa and his opposition friends have insisted on participating in these elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that participating will give the process some modicum of credibility and the outcome legitimacy. They have participated regardless out of greed.

“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,” confessed David Coltart, CCC Treasurer General,  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.”

Chamisa and his CCC friends are once again participating in these flawed and illegal 2023 elections to give Zanu PG legitimacy out of greed. How long are we going to allow this blatant betrayal of the people fight for reforms and free elections to continue, for Pete’s sake!!!!

The suggestion that the opposition MPs must table a motion to impeach Mnangagwa will be a welcome distraction from addressing with the critical questions; why the sold out on reforms and continue to do so by participating in flawed elections?

Indeed, the very act of raising the motion of impeaching Mnangagwa on corruption, even if everyone knowing it is academic, will be a feather in the opposition’s cap. They will see it justification for their continued participation in these flawed elections!

The number one task before us is making sure Zanu PF does not get political legitimacy and thus get away with yet another rigged 2023 election. The last thing we want is give the sell-out opposition a feeble excuse to justify their participation.

Tabling the motion to impeach Mnangagwa over the gold looting will be no more than a house-fly to a elephant, the Al Jazeera documentary has been a swarm of stinging bees, at the very least. Deny Mnangagwa political legitimacy and the Zanu PF dictatorship will end and with it the mismanagement, corruption, etc.

We can end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the regime is rigging these elections and knows that getting away with it is not going to be easy. The regime on the ropes and we need to stay focused and not the distracted by impeachment side show of no consequence!