Zimbabwe’s
Roman Catholic Church Bishops call for a “national agenda for restoration
and peace in Zimbabwe following the July 2013 National Elections" in a
pastoral letter without saying what exactly is in this agenda.
Zimbabwe
had a real chance to bring about meaningful political change if the GNU had
implemented the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections as
agreed in the GPA. The country's leaders had five years, FIVE YEARS, to
implement the reforms and yet not even one reform was implemented.
Where were the country's civic and church leaders throughout the five wasted years? Why did they not get the politicians to implement the reforms?
It was not just the politicians that let the nation down but these good-for-nothing civic and church leaders too. Most of them were cheering and applauding the politicians along. They jointed the politicians in getting the people to vote yes to the weak and feeble Copac constitution which sealed the fate of the nation as far as getting any reforms implemented before the elections.
"Having been in the doldrums for more than a decade, Zimbabwe now needs both local and international support.” Father Clyde Murope SJ tells us. "Development and growth is possible only if we all oppose corruption and complacency."
Where were the country's civic and church leaders throughout the five wasted years? Why did they not get the politicians to implement the reforms?
It was not just the politicians that let the nation down but these good-for-nothing civic and church leaders too. Most of them were cheering and applauding the politicians along. They jointed the politicians in getting the people to vote yes to the weak and feeble Copac constitution which sealed the fate of the nation as far as getting any reforms implemented before the elections.
"Having been in the doldrums for more than a decade, Zimbabwe now needs both local and international support.” Father Clyde Murope SJ tells us. "Development and growth is possible only if we all oppose corruption and complacency."
If
the truth be told, the Zimbabwe’s Roman Catholic Church’s cozy relationship
with the corrupt and murderous tyrant Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs has been
unhealthy, to say the least. The Roman Catholic Church has become the church of
the tyrant and his filthy rich cronies. Not the church of the poor and down
trodden that Jesus Christ founded.
If the Zimbabwe’s civic-society
is serious about ending the country’s culture of corruption and brutal political
repression that has landed the nation in this hell-on-earth then they must start
treating Mugabe as the tyrant he is. They can start by denouncing Mugabe for
rigging the elections and join in the call for fresh democratic elections!
14 comments:
@ Ruwa
The Church leaders are talking about the nation being in the “doldrums” and of the “obscenely rich” because these things are the reality in Zimbabwe today. So what are you wittering about blaming the church leaders of bring a lot “of negativity in the people’s lives”. Sweeping all these negativities under the carpet is not helping the victims but only those tyrants responsible for all this tragic human sufferings and deaths.
These church leaders are, hopefully, finally coming to their senses and are starting to see Mugabe for the ruthless tyrant he has always been all these years.
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Australia, Zwambila, is seeking asylum because she “fears for her life,” she says. If the truth be told, she cannot stand the prospect of life without water, electricity, food shortages, collapsed health services, etc.
Zimbabwe is in serious trouble because of MDC's breath-taking incompetence. The party had five years to implement the democratic reforms agreed in the GPA; reforms everyone agree were necessary for free and fair elections. After five years not even one reform was implemented. Not even one reform!
It is hard for anyone to have any sympathy for Tsvangirai and any of his fellow MDC leaders. They were in power for five years and all they care about then was being on the gravy train and did not care about the long suffering people of Zimbabwe.
The greatest danger Ambassador Zwambila faces if she returned to Zimbabwe is how to readjust to the daily economic hardships in Zimbabwe after years on the gravy train. Since she played her part as an MDC leader in landing the nation is this mess, Australia should deny her asylum and send her back to face the hardships she and her party condemn the nation to.
@ Marcia
You are right religion has become the opium of the people in Zimbabwe. But then soon after independence one would have said Zanu PF was their opium; the people believed in everything Mugabe said or did. Mugabe a murderous tyrant!
Until July this year, the people believed in everything Tsvangirai said. He told them to approve the weak and feeble Copac constitution promising them that it would deliver free and fair elections. Of course it did no such thing and now the whole nation is paying dearly for their folly.
It would be more accurate to say that Zimbabweans are naïve, very naïve, and they are easily taken in by any cheap con man or woman who comes along. No wonder we are in a real mess, an electorate with a soft head will never ever elect/have competent leaders.
"Today’s savvy dictators know how to engineer electoral victory well before Election Day, especially when dealing with naïve rivals with limited political experience and strategic capabilities," wrote Zimbabwe Independent Editor, Dumisani Muleya. I would have said especially when the dictator is dealing with breathtakingly incompetent rivals; Tsvangirai and his MDC must be some of the most incompetent leaders in Zimbabwe's history. Still I will accept naïve!
What Zimbabweans have to realize now is that Mugabe and Zanu PF will not make their lives any better but worse. Some people would want to console themselves with that thought that Zimbabwe has hit rock-bottom and therefore things cannot get any worse that they are already. Of course, they are in for a big surprise; things are set to get a hell-lot worse.
Zimbabwe is on course to become a repressive and authoritarian Police State along the lines of North Korea. We are the most militarized nation in Africa.
Even since the nation attained its independence Mugabe has continued to invest heavily in the security sectors. Even when the nation's economy was in the doldrums in 2008 Mugabe still invested in a whole ship load of guns, bullets, tear-gas and other weaponry.
In a year when most other government departments had their budget savagely cut; the Ministry of Higher Education got $50k out of $380 m, for example; Mugabe went on to splash $ 200 m, unbudgeted, building a Spy-University for his notorious CIO agents.
The only way to stop Mugabe turning Zimbabwe into the North Korea of Africa is by rejecting the rigged July 2013 elections and demand fresh elections.
Making sure that the dictatorship does not get the financial assistance it so sorely needs.
The Americans, Australians and Canadians have refused to endorse the rigged July 2013 elections and these countries are not going to bail out the Zanu PF dictatorship. The EU, under pressure from the French and Belgians, looks like they will re-engage the Mugabe regime. This must not be allowed to happen.
If Mugabe's regime is allowed to survive until 2018, then the nation is doomed because the tyrant will have had the time he needed to put the final touches in turning the country into the North Korea of Africa!
@ Mabaso
Zimbabwe's civic society, including the church leaders, have had a very cozy relationship with Mugabe, especially Catholic leaders.
@ Yepec
The country is in this mess because MDC failed to implement the reforms because they were too busy having a nice time on the gravy train. It is only now that MDC leaders have been thrown off the gravy train they are crying foul.
After five years on the gravy train MDC leaders are scarred at the prospect of the reality life without water, no electricity, collapse health service, the national economy in total melt-down, etc.
If anyone does not deserve refuge status it is Ambassador Zwambila or any of the MDC leaders because they are the authors of this mess. Ambassador Zwambila must go back and face the music!
@ Smith
I agree with you 100%, 2014 will be hell for every Zimbabwean. It would be a serious failing on the part of the Australians to grant the very people whose selfishness and complacency landed the nation into this mess a bolt-hole out of the mess.
@ Yepec
MDC was "forced to sign the GPA document drawn up to legitimatise Mugabe and keep him in power" and yet for the next five years since the signing MDC have repeatedly said the agreement was working. Tsvangirai said the Copac constitution would bring free and fair elections and that the people should vote for it in the referendum, etc. Why?
You have your head stuck in Tsvangirai's backside and no wonder you can not even see what is before your own eyes. If you think you can use this site to spread your myopic points of view then you will have your backside kicked; that is my promise to you!
@ Denny
Yes CCJP did a good job in producing the report on the Gukurahundi murders but where was the Church whilst these murders took place? The Roman Catholic Church's cozy relationship with Zanu PF, especially Mugabe, is a historic fact. A fact the Church should be ashamed of but clearly it is not!
@ Denny
How many Catholic Bishops, Priests and other leaders are there in Zimbabwe? Name one other Church leader who stood up to Mugabe? When the tyrannical regime started turning the screw on Bishop Pius Ncube how many other Church leaders stood by him?
You should stop spending so much time with your head buried in the sand. The human brain needs oxygen to function well; your brain has turned into fat-tissue for lack of exercise and starved of oxygen.
You are angry and are lashing out at anyone and everyone who dares show they have some grey stuff between their ears. That is to be expected of mentally retarded people like you.
@ Mukaranga
You should stop talking nonsense. Tsvangirai and MDC have done nothing to implement the reforms. SADC leaders have reminded MDC on countless occasions to implement the reforms but to no avail. SADC leaders have accused MDC leaders of "enjoying themselves and forgetting why they were in the GNU"!
Even now with hindsight of MDC's incompetence in the last five years and the heavy price the nation is paying for it; it is intolerable that anyone can still be defending MDC's record! It is blind supporters like you who have dragged the nation into this mess by blindly following tyrants like Mugabe and incompetent idiots like Tsvangirai!
@ Bauhaus
If MDC were so fearful about anything then why the Dickens did they not implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship?
Tsvangirai, Ms Zwambila or any of the MDC leaders are not a threat to the Zanu PF dictatorship. How can such an incompetent bunch be a threat! These MDC leaders are scarred stiff of the economic hardships Zimbabwe's economic melt-down is set to bring. They are doing everything they can to get away and stay away from Zimbabwe.
The Australians should not be seen to be rewarding MDC leaders for the corrupt and selfish short sightedness by allowing people like Ambassador Zwambila escape the nightmare they condemned the masses to suffer.
@ denny
The Catholic church leaders have propped up Mugabe, a ruthless tyrant and murderer for 33 years. They did not have to do that. That is at issue here; no one said anything about the church having an army to fight Mugabe; you moron.
@ hilly1963
Mugabe is turning Zimbabwe into a Police State, the North Korea of Africa. Zimbabwe is already one of the heavily armed nations in the world. The tyrant is already spending $200 million building a Spy-University. If Mugabe remains in power until the 2018 elections, he will have the job completed by then.
Life will be a real nightmare for every Zimbabwean in a Police State Zimbabwe but let me tell you something else, life will be hell for everyone in the region too!
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