“Why Nations Fail The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty” is to economic development what Mendeleev's Period Table to Chemistry. W Mukori

 LondonCNN — 

Three economists were awarded the Nobel Prize Monday for their research into how the nature of institutions helps explain why some countries become rich and others remain poor.

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson will share the prize, which carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million).

The Nobel Committee praised the trio for explaining why “societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better.”

“When Europeans colonized large parts of the globe, the institutions in those societies changed,” the committee said, citing the economists’ work. While in many places this was aimed at exploiting the indigenous population, in other places it laid the foundations for inclusive political and economic systems.

“The laureates have shown that one explanation for differences in countries’ prosperity is the societal institutions that were introduced during colonization,” the committee added.

Countries that developed “inclusive institutions” – which uphold the rule of law and property rights – have over time become prosperous, while those that developed “extractive institutions” – which, in the laureates’ words, “squeeze” resources from the wider population to benefit the elites – have experienced persistently low economic growth.

In their 2012 book “Why Nations Fail,” Acemoglu, a Turkish-American professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Robinson, a British professor at the University of Chicago, argue that some nations are wealthier than others because of their political and economic institutions.

The book opens with a comparison of living standards in two towns called Nogales – one in Arizona and one south of the border in Mexico’s Sonora region. Whereas some economists have argued that differences in climate, agriculture and culture have huge impacts on a place’s prosperity, Acemoglu and Robinson argue that those living in Nogales, Arizona, are healthier and wealthier because of the relative strength of their local institutions.

Last year, Acemoglu and Johnson – a British-American professor at MIT – published “Power and Progress,” a study of how technological innovations over the past 1,000 years, from agricultural advances to artificial intelligence, have tended to benefit the elites, rather than creating prosperity for all.

The authors warned that “the current path of AI is neither good for the economy nor for democracy.”

Democracy equals growth?

Asked whether their research simply argues that “democracy means economic growth,” Acemoglu said “the work we have done favors democracy” but added that democracy “is not a panacea.”

“Our argument has been that this sort of authoritarian growth is more unstable and does not generally lead to very rapid and original innovation,” Acemoglu said in a phone interview during the announcement ceremony.

In “Why Nations Fail,” he and Robinson argued that China, because it lacks inclusive institutions, would not be able to sustain its economic growth. More than a decade since the book’s publication, Acemoglu said China has posed a “bit of a challenge” to that argument, as Beijing has been “pouring investment” into the innovative fields of AI and electric vehicles.

“But my perspective is generally that these authoritarian regimes, for a variety of reasons, are going to have a harder time in achieving long-term, sustainable innovation outcomes,” he said.

The economics prize is officially known as Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Unlike the prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace, it was not instituted by the Swedish industrialist but rather by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.

Last year, the prize went to Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard University, for her research into women in the labor market.

Using more than 200 years’ worth of US data, Goldin showed how the nature of the gender pay gap has changed over time. Historically, much of the gap could be explained by differences in education and occupation. But in more recent history, she found, the bulk of the gap has been between men and women in the same occupation, and it largely emerges when a woman has her first child.

Zimbabwe is failed state. Forget the lunatics who are in denial that it is a failed state and ask the rest why is Zimbabwe a failed state. In their book “Why Nations Fail The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty” I believe Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson have provided all we need to know to not only answer the why we are a failed state but, more significantly, to get us out of this hell-hole.

If I had my way “Why Nations Fail The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty” would be compulsory reading for all especially those in position of power and authority and those entrusted with the vote. If you are going to buy someone a Christmas present this year, buy them this book.

It is not so much that Acemoglu and company said something new or profound; they did not. All they said in the book was already known. They great contribution, in my view, was to explain how all the various ideas and story relate to make some nations poor and others rich. Their work can be compared to the work of individuals like Dmitri Mendeleev in producing the periodic table. The periodic table lifted the fog of how and why chemically react with other materials the way they do.

The periodic table is an arrangement of the chemical elements, structured by their atomic number, electron configuration and recurring chemical properties. In the basic form, elements are presented in order of increasing atomic number, in the reading sequence. Then, rows and columns are created by starting new rows and inserting blank cells, so that rows (periods) and columns (groups) show elements with recurring properties (called periodicity). For example, all elements in group (column) 18 are noble gases that are largely—though not completely—unreactive.

The history of the periodic table reflects over two centuries of growth in the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of the elements, with major contributions made by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, John Newlands, Julius Lothar Meyer, Dmitri Mendeleev, Glenn T. Seaborg, and others.[1][2]

Countries that developed “inclusive institutions” – which uphold the rule of law and property rights – have over time become prosperous, while those that developed “extractive institutions” – which, in the laureates’ words, “squeeze” resources from the wider population to benefit the elites – have experienced persistently low economic growth. 

This is Zimbabwe in a nutshell! Mnangagwa has just created Mutapa Fund which is empowered to cream-off the nation’s wealth from all sources, direct and indirect, legal and illegal, and yet only Mnangagwa will have the power to say how the wealth is spend! No one else or institution is allowed to have oversight on the dealing of Mutapa Fund. No one!

Zimbabwe is a failed state because for the last 44 years Zanu PF has done as it damn well pleased. Such bodies as the Auditor General have come up with damning reports of mismanagement and corruption, much to the embarrassment of the regime. Still the nation was not able to remove Zanu PF from office because the regime rigged elections and so was not democratically accountable. The creation of this Mutapa Fund operating in this black box will allow the regime to loot at leisure without ever having to fear any expose and embarrassment!

USA Ambassador Dell was right, Tsvangirai was a "flawed" figure who became an albatross round nation's neck.

 SUMMARY As Christopher W. Dell leaves Zimbabwe after three years as American ambassador, he sends a frank account of its aging, erratic leader, Robert Mugabe.

DATE 2007-07-13 10:04:00

SOURCE Embassy Harare

CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000638

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR P, AF, AND AF/S FOR MOZENA AND HILL, NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN AND B. LEO; USAID FOR M. COPSON AND E. LOKEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2017 TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ZI SUBJECT: The End is Nigh

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.4b/d

1. (C) Having said my piece repeatedly over the last three years, I won't offer a lengthy prescription for our Zimbabwe policy. My views can be stated very simply as stay the course and prepare for change. Our policy is working and it's helping to drive change here. What is required is simply the grit, determination and focus to see this through. Then, when the changes finally come we must be ready to move quickly to help consolidate the new dispensation.

THE SITUATION

2. (C) Robert Mugabe has survived for so long because he is more clever and more ruthless than any other politician in Zimbabwe. To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactitian and has long thrived on his ability to abruptly change the rules of the game, radicalize the political dynamic and force everyone else to react to his agenda. However, he is fundamentally hampered by several factors: his ego and belief in his own infallibility; his obsessive focus on the past as a justification for everything in the present and future; his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics, including supply and demand); and his essentially short-term, tactical style.

3. (C) While his tactical skills have kept him in power for 27 years, over the last seven this has only been achieved by a series of populist, but destructive and ultimately self-defeating moves. In reaction to losing the 2000 referendum on the constitution, a vengeful Mugabe unleashed his QGreen BombersQ to commit land reform and in the process he destroyed ZimbabweQs agricultural sector, once the bedrock of the economy. While thousands of white farmers saw their properties seized, hundreds of thousands of black Zimbabweans lost their livelihoods and were reduced to utter poverty. In 2005, having been forced to steal victory by manipulating the results of an election he lost, Mugabe lashed out again, punishing the urban populace by launching Operation Murambatsvina. The result was wholesale destruction of the informal sector, on which as much as 70-80 percent of urban dwellers had depended, and the uprooting of 700,000 Zimbabweans. The current inflationary cycle really began with Murambatsvina, as rents and prices grew in response to a decrease in supply.

4. (C) And now, faced with the hyperinflationary consequences of his ruinous fiscal policies and growing reliance on the printing press to keep his government running, Mugabe has launched Operation Slash Prices. This has once again given him a very temporary boost in popularity (especially among the police, who have led the looting of retail outlets and now seem well positioned to take a leading role in the black market economy) at the cost of terrible damage to the country and people. Many small grocery and shop owners, traders, etc., will be wiped out; the shelves are increasingly bare; hunger, fear, and tension are growing; fuel has disappeared. When the shelves are still empty this time next week, the popular appeal of the price roll back will evaporate and the government simply does not have the resources to replace the entire private commercial sector and keep Zimbabweans fed. It may attempt to do so by printing more money, adding even more inflationary pressure on a system already reeling from the GOZQs quasi-fiscal lunacy combined with the price impact of pervasive shortages. The increasingly worthless Zim dollar is likely to collapse as a unit of trade in the near future, depriving the GOZ of its last economic tool other than sheer thuggery and theft of others’ assets.

5. (C) With all this in view, I’m convinced the end is not

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far off for the Mugabe regime. Of course, my predecessors and many other observers have all said the same thing, and yet Mugabe is still with us. I think this time could prove different, however, because for the first time the president is under intensifying pressure simultaneously on the economic, political and international fronts. In the past, he could always play one of these off against the other, using economic moves to counter political pressure or playing the old colonial/race/imperialist themes to buy himself breathing room regionally and internationally. But he is running out of options and in the swirling gases of the new Zimbabwean constellation that is starting to form, the economic, political and international pressures are concentrating on Mugabe himself. Our ZANU-PF contacts are virtually unanimous in saying reform is desperately needed, but won't happen while the Old Man is there, and therefore he must go (finding the courage to make that happen is another matter, however, but even that may be coming closer). This is not some sudden awakening on the road to Damascus, but a reflection of the pain even party insiders increasingly feel over the economic meltdown. We also get regular, albeit anecdotal, reports of angry and increasingly open mutterings against Mugabe even in ZANU-PF's traditional rural bastions. Beginning in March, the other SADC leaders finally recognized (in the wake of the terrible beatings of March 11 and the international outcry that followed Q another self-inflicted wound for Mugabe) that Zimbabwe is a problem they need to address. Thabo Mbeki appears committed to a successful mediation and is reportedly increasingly irritated with Mugabe’s efforts to manipulate him or blow him off altogether. If Mugabe judges that he still commands all he surveys by virtue of being the elder statesman on the scene, he may be committing yet another serious blunder. Finally, one does well to recall that the only serious civil disturbances here in a decade came in 1998 over bread shortages, showing that even the famously passive Shona people have their limits. The terror and oppression of the intervening years have cowed people, but it’s anyone’s guess whether their fear or their anger will win out in the end.

WHAT WILL THE END LOOK LIKE

6. (C) This is the big, unanswerable question. One thing at least is certain, Mugabe will not wake up one morning a changed man, resolved to set right all he has wrought. He will not go quietly nor without a fight. He will cling to power at all costs and the costs be damned, he deserves to rule by virtue of the liberation struggle and land reform and the people of Zimbabwe have let him down by failing to appreciate this, thus he need not worry about their well-being. The only scenario in which he might agree to go with a modicum of good grace is one in which he concludes that the only way to end his days a free man is by leaving State House. I judge that he is still a long way from this conclusion and will fight on for now.

7. (C) The optimal outcome, of course, and the only one that doesn't bring with it a huge risk of violence and conflict, is a genuinely free and fair election, under international supervision. The Mbeki mediation offers the best, albeit very slim, hope of getting there. However, as Pretoria grows more and more worried about the chaos to its north and President Mbeki’s patience with Mugabe's antics wears thin, the prospects for serious South African engagement may be growing. Thus, this effort deserves all the support and backing we can muster. Less attractive is the idea of a South African-brokered transitional arrangement or government of national unity. Mbeki has always favored stability and in his mind this means a ZANU-PF-led GNU, with perhaps a few MDC additions. This solution is more likely to prolong than resolve the crisis and we must guard against letting Pretoria dictate an outcome which

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perpetuates the status quo at the expense of real change and reform.

8. (C) The other scenarios are all less attractive: a popular uprising would inevitably entail a bloodbath, even if it were ultimately successful; Mugabe’s sudden, unexpected death would set off a stampede for power among ZANU-PF heavy weights; a palace coup, whether initiated within ZANU-PF or from the military - in which Mugabe is removed, killed, exiled or otherwise disposed of, could well devolve into open conflict between the contending successors. Similarly, some form of "constitutional coup" i.e., a change at the top engineered within the framework of ZANU-PF’s "legitimate" structures could well prove to be merely the opening bell in a prolonged power struggle. None of the players is likely to go quietly into the night without giving everything they have, including calling on their supporters in the security services. Moreover, experience elsewhere would suggest that whoever comes out on top initially will struggle, and more than likely fail, to halt the economic collapse. Thus, there is a good prospect of not one but a series of rapid-fire transitions, until some new, stable dispensation is reached.

9. (C) The final, and probably worst, possibility is that Mugabe concludes he can settle for ruling over a rump Zimbabwe, maintaining control over Harare and the Mashona heartland, the critical forces of the National Reserve Force and CIO and a few key assets Q gold, diamonds, platinum and Air Zimbabwe to fund the good times. Under this scenario the rest of the country, in one of the comrade’s favorite phrases, could “go hang” leaving it to the international community to stave off the worst humanitarian consequences.

WHAT OF THE OPPOSITION

10. (C) ZimbabweQs opposition is far from ideal and I leave convinced that had we had different partners we could have achieved more already. But you have to play the hand you’re dealt. With that in mind, the current leadership has little executive experience and will require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power.

11. (C) Morgan Tsvangarai is a brave, committed man and, by and large, a democrat. He is also the only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability to rally the masses. But Tsvangarai is also a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him. He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power. In short, he is a kind of Lech Walesa character: Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery. Arthur Mutambara is young and ambitious, attracted to radical, anti-western rhetoric and smart as a whip. But, in many respects he’s a light-weight who has spent too much time reading U.S. campaign messaging manuals and too little thinking about the real issues. Welshman Ncube has proven to be a deeply divisive and destructive player in the opposition ranks and the sooner he is pushed off the stage, the better. But he is useful to many, including the regime and South Africa, so is probably a cross to be borne for some time yet. The prospects for healing the rift within the MDC seem dim, which is a totally unnecessary self-inflicted wound on their part this time. With few exceptions Q Tendayi Biti, Nelson Chamisa Q the talent is thin below the top ranks. The great saving grace of the opposition is likely to be found in the diaspora. Most of Zimbabwe’s best professionals, entrepreneurs, businessmen and women, etc., have fled the country. They are the opposition’s natural allies and it is encouraging to see signs, particularly in South Africa and the UK, that these people are talking,

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sharing ideas, developing plans and thinking together about future recovery.

12. (C) Unfortunately, among the MDC's flaws is its inability to work more effectively with the rest of civil society. The blame for this can be shared on both sides (many civil society groups, like the NCA, are single-issue focused and take the overall dynamic in unhelpful directions; others, like WOZA, insist on going it alone as a matter of principle), but ultimately it falls to the MDC as the largest and the only true political party, to show the way. Once again, however, these are natural allies and they have more reason to work together than fight against each other.

STAYING THE COURSE, PREPARING FOR CHANGE

13. (C) If I am right and change is in the offing, we need to step up our preparations. The work done over the last year on transition planning has been extremely useful, both for stimulating a fresh look at our own assumptions and plans and for forging a common approach among the traditional donor community. But the process has lagged since the meetings in March in London and should be re-energized. It is encouraging in this respect that USAID Washington has engaged the Mission here in discussing how we would use additional resources in response to a genuinely reform-minded government. I hope this will continue and the good work done so far will survive the usual bloodletting of the budget process.

14. (C) The official media has had a field day recently whooping that "Dell leaves Zimbabwe a failed man". That's not quite how it looks from here. I believe that the firm U.S. stance, the willingness to speak out and stand up, have contributed to the accelerating pace of change. Mugabe and his henchman are like bullies everywhere: if they can intimidate you they will. But they're not used to someone standing up to them and fighting back. It catches them off guard and that's when they make mistakes. The howls of protest over critical statements from Washington or negative coverage on CNN are the clearest proof of how this hurts them. Ditto the squeals over “illegal sanctions”. In addition, the regime has become so used to calling the shots and dictating the pace that the merest stumble panics them. Many local observers have noted that Mugabe is panicked and desperate about hyperinflation at the moment, and hence he’s making mistakes. Possibly fatal mistakes. We need to keep the pressure on in order to keep Mugabe off his game and on his back foot, relying on his own shortcomings to do him in. Equally important is an active U.S. leadership role in the international community. The UK is ham-strung by its colonial past and domestic politics, thus, letting them set the pace alone merely limits our effectiveness. The EU is divided between the hard north and its soft southern underbelly. The Africans are only now beginning to find their voice. Rock solid partners like Australia don’t pack enough punch to step out front and the UN is a non-player. Thus it falls to the U.S., once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of ordinary Zimbabweans of all kinds have told me that our clear, forthright stance has given them hope and the courage to hang on. By this regime’s standards, acting in the interests of the people may indeed be considered a failure. But I believe that the opposite is true, and that we can be justifiably proud that in Zimbabwe we have helped advance the President’s freedom Agenda. The people of this country know it and recognize it and that is the true touchstone of our success here.

DELL

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/28/world/20101128-cables-viewer.html#report/cables-07HARARE638

Eddie Cross defying SADC and insist Mnangagwa won 2023 elections. America sussed out MDC leaders were "flawed" back in 2007. W Mukori

 Mr Eddie Cross, former MDC MP and confidant of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai reiterated his claim on Denny J Show that Mnangagwa won the 2018 and 2023 Zimbabwe elections. This is an outrage!

Comrade Cross and his MDC/CCC friends were elected by the people to implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections, as their party name implied - Movement for Democratic Change. Mnangagwa was able to blatantly rig the 2023 elections and get away with it precisely because MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one token reform in 24 years including 5 years in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. And ever since the GNU debacle, they have participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed. They know it and have admitted it!

“Look, you can't keep on participating in flawed electoral processes that serve to give big benefits to dictators such as Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has perfected the art of winning elections. So it will be very foolish for the opposition to continue legitimizing these sham elections which don't deliver. This country will go through a serious economic crisis in 2020 caused by Zanu PF. And yet, this is the only country where a government doesn't perform, it is encouraged by a super majority in parliament,” admitted Tendai Biti in a 2015 interview with Isaac Mugabi.

“So you can't continue subjecting Zimbabweans to processes where their hopes just get crushed.”

David Coltart went one step further and admitted why MDC/CCC have been participating in the flawed elections knowing fully well doing so would give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship.

“The (2013) electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility,” confessed  Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. 

Of course, it is very disappointing that Mr Cross and his MDC/CCC colleagues double crossed the people of Zimbabwe who have risked livelihoods, limbs and even their very lives to elect them into power on the understanding they would implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF Dictatorship. They not only failed to implement even one token reform but have conned the people to participate in flawed elections to PERPETUATE the dictatorship. 

What is shocking here is that many Zimbabweans are still unaware that MDC/CCC leaders have sold out even after 24 years, including 5 in the GNU, and not even one token reform implemented.  The Americans sussed it all out way back in 2007 that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were corrupt, incompetent and would be a disaster for the nation. 

“Tsvangirai is also a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him. He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power,” wrote USA Ambassador Chris Dell in one of the quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. The cable was dated 2007 - 07 - 13.

Tsvangirai and company did get into power, in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, and they had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reform. They failed to implement even one token reform. Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office; the E-Class Mercedes Benz ministerial limos, very generous salaries and allowances, a US$ 4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. And, in return, MDC leaders forgot about the reforms. 

Last year SADC and AU election observers joined the rest of the free world in condemning Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections as flawed and illegal. Chamisa and his CCC friends insisted in participating knowing fully well the process was flawed and went on to take up the few gravy train seats they won even after the damning SADC and AU reports! In insisting that Mnangagwa won the 2023 elections, Eddie Cross is only reiterating what his former CCC colleagues had done in defying SADC and AU to take up their elected seats.

The real shock here is that it has taken Zimbabweans 24 years, including 5 in the GNU, to finally realise that MDC/CCC leaders have been running with the povo hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds. Indeed, even with the mountain of evidence of MDC/CCC selling out, millions of Zimbabweans still refuse to believe their own eyes! 

If millions of Zimbabweans are conned to participating in the flawed 2028 because they believed yet another idiotic lie about winning rigged elections, as happened in the past, then we have only ourselves to blame. The danger Chamisa supporters will participate in flawed 2028 elections in their millions is real.

After 44 years of rigged elections do we still lack the common sense to realise we have the right to free, fair and credible elections and that it is, indeed, very foolish of us to give up the right for idiotic promise of winning rigged elections. It is insane that we have allowed this to happen and with all the tragic human suffering that entailed!

Mnangagwa and Chamisa are con men selling Mutapa Fund and winning rigged elections, Brooklyn Bridge. W Mukori

Emmerson Mnangagwa is a con man, he has sold the nation the notion that Mutapa Fund, funded from public funds, will take over the running and funding of the nation’s key institutions such as ZESA, NRZ, NASA, ZISCO, etc., etc., and revive them. All these parastatals have all but collapsed due to decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. So what is it exactly that the Mutapa Fund will do differently to revive these parastatals?

Under the Mupata Fund, the Fund’s board together with the relevant parastatal’s board and managers are now freed to conduct their business activities without parliamentary oversight, freed from public procurement rules and not be compelled to produced audited financial reports nor Auditor General oversight. What!

These parastatals have collapsed precisely because the Zanu PF government has again and again failed to act on the Auditor General’s damning on corruption and mismanagement. It is naive, to say the least, to believe that stopping parliament, Auditor General, etc. oversight will, somehow stamp out the corruption and mismanagement. 

If anyone believes that the Mupata Fund will stamp out corruption and mismanagement by removing all the check and balances and demands for transparency and accountability then “I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you!” as George Parker, renowned New York City con man who sold gullible immigrants a century ago, would say

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends have failed to implement even one token democratic reform in the last 24 years including the 5 GNU years when they had the opportunity to do so. Ever since the GNU Chamisa and company have participated in flawed elections knowing fully well that doing so would give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. They soldiered on regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF would give away a few gravy train seats.

Chamisa has conned his followers to participate in these flawed elections again and again on the basis he had devised winning in RIGGED elections strategies. Last year he told them the idiotic lie that he had plugged all vote rigging loop holes, when he could not even deliver a verified voters’ roll or deploy election agents at all the Polling Stations. Two million of his supporters believed the lie and participated in the flawed elections giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the dictatorship. 

Just as the Zanu PF supporters believe in Mutapa Fund reviving ZESA, NRZ, etc. Chamisa supporters believe they will win RIGGED elections. No wonder Zimbabwe is a failed state, we have some of the most gullible people on planet earth; so easily conned!

We been warned about the wholesale looting of our resources and are doing nothing to stop it at our own peril. W Mukori

 @ Farai Maguhu 

The relationship between Chinese-owned extractive companies and local communities in Zimbabwe has deteriorated, marked by growing mistrust, suspicion, and a series of reported abuses. A recent report by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), titled "Investments or Plunder: An Assessment of the Impacts of Chinese Investments in Zimbabwe's Extractive Sector," sheds light on the troubling dynamics surrounding these investments, revealing severe consequences for local populations.

Launched last Friday in Harare, the report presents compelling evidence of the disregard Chinese investors have shown for the cultural sensitivities of host communities. It outlines shocking accounts of environmental degradation, health hazards, violations of labor rights, and instances of sexual abuse, particularly affecting women working in homes associated with Chinese companies.

According to the report, which assessed the environmental, social, cultural, and economic impacts of Chinese investments, local communities have consistently raised alarms over the destructive practices employed by these companies. Farai Maguwu, the director of CNRG, noted the incessant distress calls received from mining communities where Chinese operations are prevalent.

"Every day, we are receiving distress calls from different mining communities where Chinese are blasting mountains," Maguwu stated. "Our goal is to defend the communities affected by the extractive industry, and the current model being pursued by our friends from the East is not pleasing."

Despite China being Zimbabwe's largest trading partner and controlling approximately 90% of the country's mining sector, the report highlights an alarming trend of exploitation. Maguwu criticized the lack of value addition to the country's vast mineral resources, which include over 4,000 gold deposits, platinum, chrome, lithium, coal, and diamonds. He pointed out that minerals are being exported to China for processing, leaving local communities impoverished.

The report also raised concerns over the impact of pollution on local water sources, with many communities reporting contamination from harmful chemicals like mercury. Maguwu emphasized that this issue is not merely the concern of CNRG but of all Zimbabweans, as communities see their natural resources exploited with little regard for their well-being.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have rigged elections these last 44 years to stay in power, or be it the last 24 years is with the connivance of the corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC leaders, nothing will ever change. The criminal waste of the country’s human and material resources will continue. 

It is within our power to end this madness by implementing the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. We are paying and will continue to pay dearly for our failure to deal with the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.