Mnangagwa says rigging elections "satisfied people's needs" N Garikai

“We feel that we are almost two decades behind in terms of development as a result of economic sanctions that have been imposed on us,” Emmerson Mnangagwa told The National in an interview in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

“We are saying yes, we wish that these sanctions would be removed yesterday by those who have imposed sanctions on us, but beyond that we should not put our heads in the sand and cry,” he said. “We should, with the resources that we have, do our best to attract global finance into our economy.”

But asked if the administration of US President Donald Trump had detailed the required reform it wants to see in order to lift sanctions, Mr Mnangagwa said the measures had “no basis at all” and that he would not take action to please another country simply to see them removed.

I salute those at The National Abu Dhabi for asking that question because the Americans had indeed given a detailed list of what Zanu PF had to do for the sanctions to lifted. The list included:

·       Making sure the 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora were given the opportunity to register and to vote

·       The country’s public media must give fair coverage to all the contestants in the elections

·       The election process is transparent, free, fair and credible, etc.

President Mnangagwa had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections and there was nothing on the US list that anyone interested in delivering on that promise would object to. Nothing! And yet he went on to blatantly disregard even the most basic requirements for free and fair elections such as producing a verified voters’ roll.

“We cannot say that there is something which we must do to satisfy America,” explained Mnangagwa. “Our concern is to do those things which satisfy the needs of our people.”

How does denying 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora a vote “satisfy” their needs?

With no verified voters’ roll it is impossible to verify who voted in last year’s elections, how they voted, etc. By failing to hold free, fair and credible elections Zanu PF only confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by lawless thugs. It is naïve to think investors would want to do business in a pariah state. Who does rigging elections and sending away would be investors help meet the people’s need for meaningful economic recovery?

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta are beyond the pale, the regime should not be allowed to remain in office one more day even as a partner in a GNU. The regime rigged last year’s elections, it has no democratic mandate to rule and must be forced to step down, certainly before the 2023 elections.

If Zanu PF is in power in 2023, the party will rig the elections and extend its illegitimate and tyrannical rule. That would be unforgivable!

Ramaphosa seeking a $2.2 b bailout for Zimbabwe - bailing out ED at nation's expense N Garikai

“President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s top ally, South African leader, Cyril Ramaphosa’s government is working to raise about US$2,2 billion, together with France and Japan as a financial lifeline for Mnangagwa’s broke administration,” reported Spotlight Zimbabwe.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic problems is bad governance, chronic bad governance at that; the people of Zimbabwe have ignored this problem for the last 38 years and have paid dearly for it. There has been a growing awareness amongst the people of Zimbabwe of the need to deal with this problem. The last thing the nation wants is some filthy rich outsiders with money to waste undermining the people’s drive for democratic change by bankrolling the illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship!

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs have rigged elections for the last 38 years and this is the elephant in the room in Zimbabwe. The regime must be told in no uncertain terms that it has no mandate to govern and therefore must step down. Period!

It is a great pity that SADC leaders, notably SA’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, have abandoned the regional grouping’s position until 2013 demanding that Zimbabwe must not hold elections without first implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. There were no reforms implemented before the 2018 elections. Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake! How someone like President Ramaphosa can ever endorse such a flawed and illegal electoral process beggars belief!

There is no chance of Zimbabwe ever registering any meaningful economic recovery whilst the country remains a pariah state governed by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. No investors want to do business with in pariah states; we know this already. The argument that the consortium will pressure the Mnangagwa regime to implement meaningful democratic reforms as a condition for the bailout is a nonsense.

The American went to great lengths to explain to Mnangagwa what he needed to do to ensure last year’s elections were free, fair and credible for them to lift the economic sanctions. Indeed, if last year’s elections had been free and fair the country would not need this bailout! Mnangagwa did not implement any of the reforms the Americans called for because he did not want to risk losing power in a free and fair election.

It is naïve, to say the least, for SA, France and Japan to think their $2.2 billion bailout will entice Mnangagwa to give up Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers including the carte blanche powers to rig elections.

The only “reforms” Zanu PF is certain to implement in the coming months are the reforms to make it even more difficult for the opposition leaders to boycott the elections regardless for flawed and illegal the process got.

“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,” admitted David Coltart, a leading MDC member, in his book.   

“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 explaining why the two MDC factions had participated in the 2013 elections even though they had been warned by SADC and others that the elections were be rigged.

Mugabe, Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF leaders knew that as long as the Zanu PF allowed the opposition members to win a few gravy train seats the opposition will never boycott the elections. Indeed, Chamisa acknowledged Tsvangirai’s “stupidity in contesting the 2013 elections without a verified voters’ roll”. Only for him to make the same stupid mistake in 2018!

Mnangagwa will be amending the constitution to create the post of official opposition leader and shadow ministers complete with ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, etc. Zimbabwe’s opposition members do not care that the elections are not free, fair and credible as long as they have a chance of winning the scraps Zanu PF is giving away!

Rewarding Zanu PF with absolute power for rigging elections was a big mistake because the party now believes it has the right to rig elections. 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule has destroyed Zimbabwe’s once promising economy leaving millions of our people living in abject poverty. Yes Zimbabwe needs financial help to kick start its comatose economy but no amount of money will change anything until the nation first deals with the problem of rigged elections and bad governance.

What Zimbabwe needs is a chance to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the oppressive de facto one-party dictatorship, end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.

Whilst the ordinary Zimbabweans are doing everything possible to force Zanu PF to step down, many have been beaten, raped and even shot dead for daring to protest Zanu PF’s continued misrule. It is most disheartening that their sacrifice is being undermined by nations who would never tolerate what Zanu PF has done in their own country. It is an insult that such nations should abuse their economic muscle and prop up an illegitimate regime only to extend Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule to 2023 and beyond.

If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 the regime will rig that year’s elections! The bailout is for Zanu PF and not the people of Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa rigged last July’s elections, he is illegitimate and no amount of bailout can ever make him legitimate. Mnangagwa is not democratically accountable to the people of Zimbabwe for their tax, the looted national wealth, much less the $2.2 billion bailout. Is President Ramaphosa and his friends in the consortium will have to hold Mangagwa to account and take the hit if the money is wasted!

The long suffering people of Zimbabwe have been denied the democratic say in who governed the country; surely that must be a key consideration in deciding whether the country gets the $2.2 billion bailout or not. Why does SA, France and Japan respect their own nationals’ democratic freedoms and rights but are treating the aspirations of Zimbabweans for the same freedoms and rights with contemptuous indifference? This is so infuriating!

"Zanu PF has failed to provide health care, we must" - wishful thinking that got us in this mess. P Guramatunhu

The trouble with Zanu PF apologists like you Hopewell Chinono is that they are incapable of thinking logically. 

“Ultimately the responsibility for health care in Zimbabwe lies with the State, but until the State has fully grasped that reality, we can do what is within our means because the people who are dying are our kith and kin,” you say.

“It is shameful for the rest of the world to watch our health delivery system become a death trap whilst we claim to be an educated nation. 

“In the event that we don’t get a buy in from government, we can come up with other plans that can help save lives. 

“After talking to doctors working at the four major hospitals, it was clear to me that the doctors do not trust the health authorities either, so the best thing will be to get a logistics company to do this for free.”

1.           Zimbabwe’s health service did not collapse in the last week or month but has been in decline these last 38 years. If it is the state’s responsibility to provide health care, as you readily admit, and the said state has failed to “fully grasp that reality” in the last 38 years; what makes you believe they will ever do so? 

2.           It is the donor community that has carried the burden of Zimbabwe’s health, education, food air and many other areas which would have totally collapse a long time ago. The tragic reality is that the more the outsiders helped the more the Zanu PF government neglected its duty and responsibility. It is a matter of record that the donors sourced and pay for up to 80% of Zimbabwe’s medicine is some areas. Even with the best will in the world there is a limit to what the donors can do especially when the Zimbabwe government authorities are known to seek health care outside the country and waste vast fortunes of luxuries.

3.           The suggestion that individual Zimbabweans can take-up the challenge of sourcing and paying for all the nation medical needs is laughable. With unemployment in the country a nauseating 90%, Zimbabweans in the country are in no position to pay for the medicine. And Zimbabweans is the diaspora are already doing their best to keep the nation ticking and will not be able do much more. But even if the people can be mobilised to make the sacrifice, this can only be a short term solution. We need a cure and not just another painkiller!

4.           Zimbabwe is in a serious mess with 90% out of work, 3/4 of the population living on US$30 or less a month, with health care and other basic services all but collapse, etc. We know the root cause of the country’s economic problems is the 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule by Zanu PF. We know Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged last year’s elections to extend their misrule. We can continue to bury our heads in the sand and pretend we do not know about the corrupt and tyrannical misrule but must know it is insane especially when the price for our insanity is now human lives.

The idea that the people of Zimbabwe should find other means to finance public services which should otherwise be provided by government through their tax payments is absurd. So why are we paying the tax for?

We have this Zanu PF government that has failed to provide the basic services such as health care and education because it is corrupt and incompetent. It has remained in power regardless of its pathetic performance record only because the party has rigged elections to stay in power. The solution is not for the people to dig deeper into their pockets to fund basic services; this is not sustainable as we can. The solution is to get a competent government.

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last July’s elections and therefore has no mandate to govern. The party must step down to create the political space to allow the implementation of reforms, followed by the holding of free and fair elections. The Zanu PF dictatorship is the elephant in the room, we have pretended not to know it for 38 years, and have paid dearly for our folly. This must now stop. 

Doctors give government 2-week ultimatum on medical supplies - decisive action at last P Guramatunhu

“DOCTORS at government hospitals have denied claims by the Health ministry that they had received supplies of medicines, bandages and critical accessories to alleviate their plight, following last week's protests,” reported Newsday.

"The minister (Obadiah Moyo) told us that there were stocks at NatPharm. He told us to send representatives to go and see on our behalf and when they went there, all they found were a few samples," a doctor, who refused to be named, said.

"People were discussing on whether to hold a Press conference or to wait for two weeks and give the government a chance to act. Eventually we agreed to wait and see if concrete action will be taken.” 

The first question one would ask is do these doctors really believe that government will source and deliver to drugs, accessories and repair/ replace all the equipment in two weeks? If government could do that then why it done nothing until now! 

The doctors are giving government two weeks not because they expect government to perform miracles but this is part and parcel of their modus operandi, kicking the can down the road. The situation at the hospitals have reached this sorry state of affairs where a referral hospital like Parirenyatwa has no painkiller, no bandages, etc. The situation is infinitely worse at provincial and district hospitals; they should have just shut their doors years ago. Of course, the doctors have been aware of the rot and decay in the health service but have done nothing about it all these years. Nothing!

The rot and decay is everywhere, in education, NRZ, ZESA, transport, judiciary, everywhere. So it is not just the doctors and nurses who love kicking the can down the road, everyone else does. Doing nothing to stop the rot in the country is a favourite obsession of Zimbabwean right across the board.

The doctors have finally been forced to act and demand that the governments buys the supplies because there was nothing left at the hospitals. The doctors acted because they had kicked the can down the road and had finally ran out of road!

It is a great tragedy that Zimbabweans have allowed Zanu PF to destroy the country’s economy, health and education services, to corrupt the country Police, ZEC and other state institutions, etc. Even now, with the millions of people living in abject poverty and hundreds if not thousands dying every month of hunger and easily preventable diseases there are  Zimbabweans bending over backwards to let Mnangagwa and his junta regime do as they please rather than hold the regime to democratic account. 

Zimbabwe’s health services has all but completely collapsed because of 38 years of bad governance. For 38 years we have pretended not to notice that Zanu PF leaders were incompetent and corrupt and only remained in power because they rigged the elections and brute force to impose themselves on the nation. 

For the last 38 years we have done nothing to stop the vote rigging and thus end Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule. For 38 years we have kicked the can down the road and now we are being forced to act because the economic, social and political situation is now so bad it is and unsustainable and unbearable! 

Now that we have worked ourselves into a tight corner, after 38 years of dithering and kicking the can down the road, we must now act, do or die. Here is what doctors, nurses, teachers, engineer, rural peasant, every Zimbabwean out there must do: demand that Mnangagwa and his junta step down.

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged last year’s elections just as the regime has done in the past. How can the elections be judge free, fair and credible when 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, there was no verified voters’ roll, vote count from many polling stations were never released, etc. 

Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past and was allowed to stay in power only for the party to rig the next elections. The only sure way to break this vicious cycle is to force Zanu PF to step down. If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 then we can be 100% certain the party will rig that year’s elections too!

Besides, we need Zanu PF to step down now to allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. 

If we are serious about reviving our collapse health and education service, bringing back to life the country’s commerce and industry and productive farms and to restore the individual freedoms and rights of all our people then we must first restore good governance. We must restore the democratic values necessary for free, fair and credible elections. 

“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you,” said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. He was right. 

For the last 38 years Zimbabweans have buried our heads in the sands and have done nothing to end the criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resources by a corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. Now with the country is a serious mess, one only hopes that we have finally learned the lesson that good governance is important and it is our duty as citizens to secure such a government! 

"We come to certify died bodies" cried Dr Mashumba - crocodile tears never move Mnangagwa N Garikai

“Senior doctors at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals yesterday narrated to the minister of Health Obadiah Moyo, of the horrors and deaths occurring everyday at major hospitals because of acute shortages of drugs and hospital consumables,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“The medical practitioners yesterday embarked on a public protest demanding government's speedy intervention citing that the situation has forced them to scale down their services except for dire emergencies only. Moyo met the doctors at Parirenyatwa during their protest.

“Raising concern on behalf of the distraught doctors Azza Mashumba, a paediatrician, wept before Moyo as she narrated how several patients had lost lives due to the lethargy from authorities in dealing with the situation.  "We are coming to certify dead bodies…," she said.

What is sickening about this story is:

1.               that Dr Mashumba has allowed the situation to get this bad that patients and suffering and dying needlessly

2.               that Dr Mashumba should feel so helpless that her only course of action was to cry. 

3.               Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and that of its health services and other basic service did not take place over night as a result of an earthquake or some such catastrophic event; it has happen over the last 38 years. 38 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical rule by this Zanu PF dictatorship has dragged this once upon a time prosperous nation into the gutter.

4.               If Parirenyatwa Hospital, a referral hospital, does not have painkillers and other basic necessities; what worse the provincial hospital and worst of all the district hospitals in the rural backwaters. 

5.               For decades the donors have supplied the bulk of Zimbabwe’s medicine, education, food aid, etc.; they must be sick and tired, especially when they see Zimbabwe ruling elite galavanting in hired luxury jets, living in palatial mansions, etc. 

6.               It is disheartening that Dr Mashumba, just like all the other Zimbabwean professionals, has never lifted a finger in 38 years to stop Zanu PF thugs dragging the nation into the gutter. 

7.               Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections and not many Zimbabwe professionals said a word in protest, it was all water off a duck’s back. Dr Mashumba you have done nothing to stop thugs imposing their corrupt and tyrannical rule on the nation. You got what you wanted so stop shedding those crocodile tears!

8.               Dr Mashumba you and your fellow professionals can cry Zambezi River flood of tears, that will not change anything. If you are serious about wanting an end to this criminal waste of the nation’s material and human resources then you must demand that Zanu PF steps down so the nation can implement the reforms and finally have its first ever free, fair and credible elections! 

9.               When the country gained her independence in 1980 most Zimbabweans sat back and relaxed expecting a rich harvest of freedom, human rights, justice, peace and economic prosperity. For the last 38 years the nation has harvested brutal oppression, economic hardships and hopelessness and despair. Good governance comes to those willing to roll-up their shirt sleeves and work for it. It is incumbent on all Zimbabweans out there to make sure Zimbabwe has a democratic government accountable to the people. 

10.     The Zanu PF thugs are not going to give up absolute power, especially now the regime is well dug-in and has so much at stake - power, looted wealth and criminal past to hide. Still, these Zanu PF thugs are mere mortals; it is foolish to be grovelling up to them as if they are Gods! Tyrants thrive on making everyone else feel totally powerless and helpless. Dr Mashumba’s tears will not move Mnangagwa to give up absolute power, it will encourage him to be even more arrogant.  

VIDEO: "Sanctions are shattering economic recovery" - we must be prudent

 

"Sanctions shatter economic recovery" insists Zanu PF - denying facts

 Starts 13 March 2019 at 23:29 (GMT)

"Sanctions are shattering economic recovery" - for once, we must be prudent W Mukori

Tyrannical regimes have no respect of the law, fact, truth and reality. They will ignored well established historic facts that do not suit their narrative. In his recent article, “US sanctions shatter Zim's economic revival roadmap”, Elijah Chihota, a well known Zanu PF apologist, has been distorting historic facts to blame Zimbabwe’s economic mess on sanctions.

“By addressing the land question to correct colonial historical land imbalances, Zimbabwe seemed to have stepped on a lion's tail as Britain sounded the trumpet of distress,” wrote Chihota.

“Zimbabwe never interfered with the USA business interests, but because of the above dispute with Britain, the US took sides with the country's former colonisers. The result was the imposition of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) of December 2001. With it came the so called "targeted sanctions" which are not targeted after all but affect all people even those not on the sanctions list.”

There are a number of historic facts that Chihota has air-brushed out which must be reinstated.

1.               When the West imposed the targeted sanctions, they said these were imposed as punishment on the Zanu PF leaders for denying ordinary Zimbabweans their basic human freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections and even the right to life. Whilst it is highly probable that the West had another ulterior motives for imposing the sanctions, still it cannot be denying that Zanu PF was riding roughshod of the ordinary people. For the regime to belittle its corrupt and tyrannical rule is therefore to rub hot chilli into the open wounds it had inflicted on the long suffering masses.

2.              By 2001, the time the sanctions were imposed, the Zimbabwe economy was already in serious trouble. The country had already gone through two five-year economic reform programmes designed to revive the economy. The programmes failed to revive the economy because Zanu PF never implement the core reforms called for such as the reduction of the country’s bloated army, civil service and cabinet, end the mismanagement and corruption, etc. Indeed these core economic structural problems have remained to this day or be it have grown worse. Corruption, for example, has become so rampant the country lost $15 billion of diamond revenue alone in 2010 to 2014, according to Mugabe’s own admission. 

3.              During the 2008 to 2013 GNU the Zimbabwe economy registered a 12% growth rate after a decade of economic decline. The country scrapped the Z$, after inflation had soared to a record 500 billion per cent, and one or two other things was enough to restore some order and sanity. The sanctions remained in place throughout the GNU and yet the country enjoyed so economic recovery; proof that sanctions are not the ones fuelling the economic meltdown. 

4.              The Americans promised to lift all the sanctions if Mnangagwa honoured his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections in 2018. And they explained to him what exactly they were looking for. They wanted to see the 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora allowed to vote; a free public media; etc.; etc. Mnangagwa failed to deliver on any of these things and so the Americans are right to retain the sanction. Every Zimbabwean who appreciates the importance of ending the curse of rigged elections as the key to good governance, welcomes that decision.

5.              As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery. Investors do not do business with thugs for obvious reasons, they do not trust the thugs, there are too many risks, etc. Whilst Zanu PF can deny the reality; what the regime cannot do, however, is change reality. Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is real and cannot be wished away.  

“Learning from yesterday, today acts prudently lest by his actions he spoils the future.” This is the message encapsulated in Tiziano Vecelli’s (Titian) great painting, The Allegory of Age Governed by Prudence. 

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because for 38 years Zanu PF has denied the nation the opportunity to learn from the past. We must change this here and now or we will continue to forfeit our chance get out of the mess and build a better and brighter future for ourselves and posterity. 

Mnangagwa and Zanu PF rigged last July’s elections, the regime has no mandate to govern and it must therefore step down. If Mnangagwa et al are still in office in 2023; we can be certain of one  thing - they will rig the 2023 elections and extend their corrupt and tyrannical rule. We must not let that happen!