The single biggest stumbling block to ending
the Mugabe and Zanu PF dictatorship, other than the tyrant himself and his cabal,
has been the incompetent MDC leaders and the millions of unthinking party
members who have blindly followed them. MDC leaders and members have had a year
and a half now to reflect on why the party lost the 2013 national elections although
it had the popular mass support of the voters.
It is not enough for MDC to acknowledge the
2013 elections were a fraud, which they were, the party must understand why
Mugabe was able to blatantly rig the vote. If MDC do not understand what went
wrong in the 2013 elections – now with the benefit of hindsight and one and
half years after the vote for the penny to drop - then how can us, the rest of
the nation, be sure they will not make the same mistake again and again. How
can we be sure that they will not help this Zanu PF dictatorship stay in power
again because of their blundering incompetence?
By failing to get even one reform implemented
throughout the five years of the GNU MDC allowed Mugabe to blatantly rig the
elections and thus stay in power. We are all, MDC members and none members
alike, paying dearly for this blunder. It is therefore imperative that MDC does
not make yet another costly blunder and proof the party leaders and members
have used the last one and half years wisely in quiet reflection and that they
now understand what went wrong will assure the public that they will not be dragging
the nation into yet another costly blunder.
MDC leaders and members have the democratic
vote but they must now understand that that right comes with the duty to use
the vote wisely and that demands that the voter think through carefully, takes
time to understand the issues before them, ask questions, holds party and national
leaders to account, etc. and not just follow leaders blindly. Mankind is a
thinking animal and not a wildebeest hardwired from birth to follow blindly,
first its mother and then the herd!
MDC leaders and members alike must show us the
Zimbabwe public that they have learnt the lesson of their wildebeest mentality
of the past of following blindly and granting meaningless slogan. Failure to do
so means we the people of Zimbabwe must do everything in our democratic powers
to ensure MDC is never ever allowed to hold any political power!
So has the one and half year political sabbatical
been any help for MDC? Sadly, the answer has to be a no!
There is nothing from the MDC leaders or
members to show that any of them have understood what the democratic reforms
were about and that it was the failure to implement them that has allowed
Mugabe to blatantly rig the elections. If the any of the leaders have
understood this then they would have acknowledged it and publicly apologised.
Instead of acknowledging MDC’s serious failure
Morgan Tsvangirai continues to drum his chest like a silverback gorilla boosting
of the party’s achievements in the GNU govern as “a moment of magic”. “We know
we ought to have done more as a government,” said Tsvangirai in his end of year
statement, “but Zimbabweans know how Zanu-PF stood in the way of everything
progressive, particularly in the area of reforms.” That is a lie.
MDC had the majority in parliament and it was
for the party to draw up reform proposals and to get the approved in
parliament. In the five years of the GNU not even one reform proposal was ever
tabled in parliament so it is nonsense say Zanu PF blocked the reforms.
SADC Heads reminded the MDC leaders about
implementing the reforms but the later paid no heed. In one of his statement
Morgan Tsvangirai had the chutzpah to blame SADC for Zimbabwe’s stolen 2013
elections when they are the ones who literally begged him not to take part in
the elections without implementing the reforms first. Tsvangirai had once again
paid no heed to their begging.
What had really stood in the way of implementing
the reforms was that Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC friends had “been busy
enjoying themselves in government and forgot why they were there,” as SADC
leaders commented in sheer frustration with the MDC leaders. Ever since
Tsvangirai got his $4 million Highlands mansion his lips were super-glued shut
as far as reforms were concerned.
MDC has now vowed that the party will not take
part in any future national elections “in the absence of comprehensive reforms
that enhance both the framework and environment for free and fair elections.”
If the party even appreciated how much easier it had been to implement the reforms
during the GNU than now, then they would have implemented the reforms during
the GNU.
When one has committed the cardinal sins of being
corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent publicly acknowledging it is the last
thing some politicians would want to do. Of course if you are going to rig the
vote, like Zanu PF, or have supporters who will vote for you regardless how
corrupt and incompetent when one does not need to apologise. MDC leaders are
banking on the later for their political survival.
There is nothing in the MDC members that would
lead one to believe they have understood what the democratic reforms were about
much less the seriousness of their party leaders’ failure to get them
implemented. They have chanted “Chinja! Chinja!” (Change! Change!) Without having
a clue what these changes they called for were.
MDC members have had the benefit of hindsight
and one and half years since the rigged elections to reflect on why the GNU had
failed to deliver the single most important promise the GPA made – free, fair
and credible elections! Sadly there is no sign to suggest most of the members
have carried out any serious review because they would not be following the MDC
leaders with the same blind loyalty of yesteryears, now that they have shown
that they are corrupt and incompetent.
The reality this nation must face and deal with
that we are in this political mess because we have an electorate that has blindly
followed the corrupt tyrant Mugabe for the first two decades after independence
only to switch and blindly follow the blundering and incompetent Tsvangirai for
the last decade.
Zimbabwe has had three clear chances to create
a democratic, just and progressive system of government; in 1980 which Mugabe
and Zanu PF wasted, in 2008 which Tsvangirai and MDC wasted and in 2013 which
MDC and the electorate wasted. We must make sure that the next chance to create
a democratic government is not wasted because the people elected yet another
blundering and incompetent leader.
The real hindrance to implementing the
democratic reforms necessary to end this corrupt and oppressive Zanu PF dictatorship
is and has always been the Zimbabwean people. Mugabe and Zanu PF are no more a
hindrance to change than a mirage is a lake one should fear to drown in because
it is the incompetence of the electorate that place the tyrant on the throne.
It is the incompetence us the electorate, in electing an blundering and incompetent
opposition like MDC, that keeps the tyrant on the throne even longer than even
he ever thought possible.
A significant segment of the Zimbabwe
electorate still has the propensity to blindly follow without stopping to ask
where they are going and why. This is a worrying reality because whilst there
are such voters the possibility of electing a tyrant or a blunder idiot remains
intolerably high and as long as the nation’s party in government or opposition
is led by a tyrant or an idiot this country will remain stuck in this political
and economic hell we find ourselves in.
Mankind is a creature of reason and not
hardwired to follow blindly like a wildebeest, first its mother and then the
herd, without ever asking any questions. MDC supporters who have failed to see
MDC leaders like Tsvangirai, Biti and Ncube’s blundering incompetence in
failing to get even one democratic reform implemented are displaying the
hardwired follow the leader mentality that threatens the very existence of a democratic
Zimbabwe they too profess they want.
There is no way the country can hope to have a
healthy and functioning democracy with an electorate that follow blindly and
never stop to think for themselves.
15 comments:
@newage
The Zanu PF pantomime was always going to end in chaos, tears and back stabbing and a bloody dramatic end to the tyrant and his upstart wife. What we must be care of is that the chaos spreads beyond those who have prop up the dictatorship all these years!
@ Maggie Mzumara
“Mujuru's political obituary? Don't write her off yet!!” you say.
No one has written her off because she has done that herself. She has sat there like a cabbage and said and did nothing about all the corruption and murderous oppression that have become the hallmarks of this Zanu PF dictatorship all these last 34 years. She has a very senior member of the regime. The only time she stirred was to lead from the front in the looting and even have the chutzpah to denying there was no corruption when Cuthbert Dube and many others were caught with bags full of cash.
I know Zimbabweans like recycling deadwood and idiots but this is one piece of log that has been hollowed by termites, the knocking it has received in the on-going “baby dumping” in Zanu PF has left the thin wood skin that had retained it shape cracked. Try picking it up and the whole thing will just crumble! The only recycling you can do with this deadwood is to use it for fire wood!
Mai Mujuru is politically died and buried and here is her epitaph:
“Here lays T R J Mujuru. A very brave liberation war fighter but whose incompetence and greed after independence was a disgrace beyond words and a curse to the nation!”
@ Mukachana Hanyani
"The issue of corruption and abuse of office by top government officials could dampen the spirits of foreign investors who might want to partner the country in the implementation of Zim-Asset." Only a half-shilling or CIO would say this.
So you think the dumping of Mai Mujuru was about getting rid of corrupt ministers and now that is done the regime is squeaky clean, there will be no more corruption. How unbelievably naïve some people are! Is it any wonder the nation is in this mess – with so many half-shillings around where else but in this hell-hole could we have landed and in record time too.
With so many CIOs (now that the $200 million Spy University in Mazoe is open we will have more CIO thugs than teachers and doctors combined) paid to write such nonsense plus the half-shilling and naïve citizenry, one has to worry whether the nation will ever get out of the hell-hole!
"We know we ought to have done more as a government, but Zimbabweans know how Zanu-PF stood in the way of everything progressive, particularly in the area of reforms," said Tsvangirai. That is a lie and he should not be allowed to get away with it.
MDC was supposed to submit proposed democratic reforms for parliament approval and since MDC had the majority in the GNU parliament the proposals would have sailed through. The truth is they never submit even one proposal. What stood in the way was corruption.
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were to busy enjoying the gravy train lifestyles Mugabe provided for them. Ever since Tsvangirai got the keys to his $4 million Highlands mansion, his lips were super-glued and never to say anything to Mugabe about reforms.
Tsvangirai has had the chutzpah to blame SADC for Zimbabwe's 2013 "stolen elections" and yet they are the one who had advised him repeatedly to implement the reforms and he ignored them.
When is Tsvangirai and his follow MDC leaders going to stop treating the people of Zimbabwe as if we are all stupid and apologise for betraying us by failing to implement the reforms which would have stopped Mugabe from rigging the elections!?
@ Sparks
What you think is the light at the end of the tunnel is in fact the light of a runaway freight train. Zanu PF is set in its way to change now there only hope for the nation is for the regime to fcuk off but that is easier said than done!
The Chinese paid $4 billion down payment and a further $ 1 billion when they get their man, Mnangagwa as president. But even they must now realise that it will take a lot more than $5 billion to put the Zimba-bwe economy back on track. The Russians have come in with $3 billion only because Mugabe is literally giving them the nation’s mineral wealth for a song. They would have been foolish to refuse. If the Chi-nese thought the rest of the world would follow their example and throw good money after bad their an-swer already – no one. No one can trust this regime to uphold the rule of law and property rights!
The Chinese will not be paying the additional $1 billion dollars even if Mugabe stepped down tomorrow. Not that the money was going to make much difference to a country whose expenditure on wages alone to collected revenue deficit more than $1 billion a month already. One does not put out a forest fire with a few drums of water; China’s $1 billion is but spittle!
The only way the Zimbabwe economy will ever recover is by removing this illegitimate Zanu PF regime first.
Mnangagwa has finally got to be president after waiting for 34 years and, rest assured, he will fighting tooth and nail to stay in power. Just when the nation's hopes were being raised that Mugabe's hold on power was getting feeble after all these years of attaching himself to the presidency like a binnacle to a rock along comes Mnangagwa just as ruthless and even more hungry for power than the tyrant!
The chaos we see is nothing compared to the chaos that is coming and God only knows how long that is going to last. Only when the freight train has passed and we have survived, only then can we start talking of tomorrow; right now, brace yourself as best as you can for the loud noise, strong gusting winds and flying debris.
@sammy moyo
He/she is a nut-case alright, the Chinese throw $5 billion at Zimbabwe's corrupt system's ravenous appetite is finally satisfied! And in two years the country is able to recover and function; it is better than a hen's teeth story!
@ Wangu
"The son of a peasant whose meteoritic rise to prominence is unrivalled in recent history," you are right there.
You should have gone on to say that his meteoric fall from Prime Minister to nobody happened in the morning of 31 July 2013; he woke up confident of winning the elections but by noon that day he finally realised that the blatant vote rigging taking place was blowing him and his millions of MDC supporters out of the water. He had been boosting that no amount of rigging by Mugabe would overturn his popular support.
Tsvangirai is not going to get up from his meteoric political fall and you are just wasting your time trying to build up Tsvangirai into a great leader when the world see him for the blundering and incompetent vil-lage idiot who should have never been elevated to PM position. Tsvangirai should just go back to Buhera to herd goats, he will certainly never hold any position of power much less be president!
Wangu, you are just one of those hardwired supporters who will follow blindly. Tsvangirai is your leader and you are programmed to follow him and sing his praise regardless how incompetent he has proven to be. A nation of people who will not think is a doomed nation – it is idiots like you who dragged Zimbabwe into this mess and are now holding the nation back. What else does someone like Tsvangirai has to do to finally open your eyes?
@ Mnangagwa
Mugabe has stifled democratic debate and competition, denied the people their basic human freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life to create a corrupt and murderous tyrannical dictatorship. The regime has sold this as unity, peace and progressive and like all dictatorship no one else’ opinion matters and we are all expected to just take it as read.
Well, let it be said here and now that the people of Zimbabwe are sick to the back teeth of this corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship. We demand an end to this tyranny and the full restoration of all the freedoms and basic human rights and dignities. This tyrannical regime has run its course and its days in power are numbered.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s national elections and has just rigged the party’s own elections to stop Mai Mujuru from winning the position of VP. The root cause of the country’s economic meltdown is the illegitimate Zanu PF regime; the economy is not going to re-cover until the regime steps down and step down it will!
@Mutasa
There is no question that the purge that has resulted in Mai Mujuru and others being kicked out of Zanu PF was undemocratic and an abuse of power by Mugabe. What many people are failing to understand is why Mutasa is mourning about it now when this is in fact how Mugabe has always conducted business all these years.
Can Mutasa swear that last year’s national elections were free, fair and credible, for ex-ample? And yet the rigging of those elections has far reaching consequences in that is affects the whole nation whilst the rigged party elections affect him, those who were sacked with him and their families and friends. That is 500 people at most what is that compared to 12 million.
Mutasa and all the others sacked in the recent purge can fight Mugabe and Zanu PF all they please but they must never expect any support or sympathy from the ordinary Zimbabweans. Zanu PF is a party of corrupt and murderous thugs who rig elections to stay in power, people like Mutasa have been part and parcel of the regime for donkey years. There is justice in that people like Mutasa should now find themselves victims of the tyrannical regime they have, until now, been a key player.
@ Kundi
The roots of the economic meltdown griping the nation right can be traced back to last year's rigged elections.
For a whole year Mugabe has struggled to get funding for his $27 billion ZimAsset. The Chinese finally gave him $4 billion only on condition that their man, Mnangagwa, is the next president and thus secure their favoured nation status which has allowed them to plunder Zimbabwe’s resources. The Russian committed $3 billion only because Mugabe sold to them Zimbabwe’s platinum at a price they could not refuse.
The two Asian giants knew Mugabe was absolutely desperate for some cash and that in his desperation they will get from him whatever they wanted literally for nothing and so they did!
Mugabe was hoping the Chinese and Russians will be followed by other nations; no one else has showed up nor is any one likely to. All other investors are forced to take on a local partner, appointed by Zanu PF, and cede 51% of the shares. Of course they all know that the local partner will be no more than a tick the size of a monkey and no one wants that.
Even if the regime was to scrap this indigenisation law; no one will trust the regime to honour the new law because the regime is renowned for disregarding its own laws and treaties but, more significant, a regime that will blatantly deny its own people’s basic rights including the right to a meaningful vote cannot be trusted to up hold a foreigner’s property rights.
As long as this illegitimate Zanu PF regime remains in power the country’s economic meltdown will continue and get even worse. Zanu PF will step down that is certain, what is yet to be resolved is when and how!
There are reports Mnangagwa has promised to appoint Grace Mugabe his VP if she talked Mugabe into no running in 2018.
Mnangagwa has had his attention focused on rigging the national elections last year and then rigging the Zanu PF party elections he has overlooked the one thing that is more than a fly in his victory toast drinks the national economy.
For a whole year after the rigged 2013 elections Mugabe stared at the empty ZimAsset begging bowl; it was mocking him. It was not until August 2014 that the Chinese gave him $4 billion on condition that Mnangagwa, their man became president. The Russians signed a $3 billion deal giving them unfettered rights to Zimbabwe's platinum at a price they could not refuse.
The $7 billion was all for projects and none for budgetary support which is what Mugabe wanted.
Mugabe was hoping there would be a flood of other nation after the Russian; it did not happen.
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is now set to continue and get worse as long as this Zanu PF regime remains in power. 2 million Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty already, the economic suffering this is causing cannot continue for much longer. The regime will step down that is now a certainty the only questions to be answered is when (certainly before 2018) and how (one hopes peacefully but the longer the regime stays it may have to be the Gadaffi way).
All these plots of who is going to be in what position are a waste of time because they will never happen!
Yes Minister, we have all heard you make many, many promises only for you to break them again! This Zanu PF regime does not have the political will to address the real causes of the country's economic prob-lems and so has always ended up doing the wrong thing because that was the easiest thing to do.
You have imposed price controls before because they were the easiest thing. The easiest thing to do in life is not always the best solution and may even be the worst solution as happen here. Price controls ended up causing shortages and corruption and the black market forces took over so people ended up paying ten times or more the control price.
@ Maita
Mugabe is a corrupt and ruthless tyrant, I have said so myself a thousand times. It was going to be very difficult to get the tyrant to agree to democratic reforms but he did sign the GPA. The only two reasons not even one reform was implemented after that is because MDC leaders are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. Mugabe's only role in this was to make sure he laid a gravy train lifestyle that would make the MDC leaders forget about the reforms. He being a tyrant played no part in this.
We need to understand why no reforms were implemented to make sure we do not repeat the same mistake. We need to understand that it was because MDC leaders were corrupt and incompetent and thus to elect the same corrupt and incompetent individual to carry out the task is a sign we have not learned because we are repeating the same mistake!
MDC leader, Professor Welshman Ncube, delivers his Christmas message to the nation but no would not apology for GNU betrayals!
“While we in the MDC are aware that this festive season, Zimbabweans have little to celebrate and give, we should nonetheless fully embrace the spirit of Christmas while drawing on our collective strengths of resilience, discipline and commitment to work together to build a better and prosperous future for our beloved country so that in the coming years we can truly enjoy the festive season.” Is that all you have to say?
How about tell the nation that we are all in this s***t because for the five years of the GNU you failed to get even one reform implemented because you had your snout in the feeding trough. You are not going to feel the ill effect of the economic hardship, not yet, because you are still living off all that fat you salted away during the GNU when you lot were paid $1 000 for attending a cabinet meeting. MPs got most of the $100 million to write the weak and feeble Copac constitution which you, Professor, defended and claimed would delivery free and fair elections but of course it do no such thing.
What the people of Zimbabwe really want to know is; are you going to apologise for betraying them and selling out to Mugabe and Zanu PF by failing to implement even one reform? It is now one and half years since the rigged elections, when are you going to apologise?
@ Dzimiri
I agree Mugabe is a demon but this is one demon we, Zimbabweans, have allowed to run riot for 34 years because we would not stand up to him and his army of thugs and nincompoops!
I also agree Mugabe is not the last demon; there are others who have watched his demonic ways and have already taken over to continue the corruption and brutal oppression.
I do not agree that we should look to God to remove demons like Mugabe because, for all his demonic ways and black heart, he is still a mortal human being and not a God or Satanic imp. It is within the powers of a mortal to stop another mortal; we have been too lazy to stop Mugabe that is all.
Other nations have lived in peace, harmony and prosperity because they have stepped up and banished the demons amongst them. Whenever they have failed to do so, they too have suffered the ill effects of a demon on the throne. There are tried and tasted systems to stop demons getting absolute power, Zimbabwe do not need to re-invent them but only to apply them.
For the last 34 years we have done nothing to stop Mugabe and this Zanu PF dictatorship ride roughshod over our basic human rights, freedoms, hopes and dreams because we could not be bothered. That is right, we could not be bothered! Well like everything in this world there is a price to be paid for doing the wrong thing and as there is a prize to be had for doing the right thing.
We could not be bothered stopping the demonic Mugabe getting into power and so we paying the price of him and his cronies destroying everything. Each shall rip as he sowed; we are ripping a bumper harvest of misery because we sowed a demon!
If we want good government and put an end to corruption and tyrannical rule then we too must do our homework and be clear in our minds what qualities we should be looking for in our leaders and not just vote in tyrants and village idiots.
God has given Zimbabwe a great abundance of riches and resources but it is up to us, Zimbabweans, to make sure the nation lives up to its potential of being a great and prosperous nation or not. The Lord has done his bit and He does not do for mankind what they can and should do for themselves.
Post a Comment