It is important to
understand that Zimbabweans are the poorest nation on earth today NOT because
of some natural disaster like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti or because the country
has just emerged from a devastating war like WW2 that left most of Europe and
beyond in ruins. We are the poorest nation, with 72.3% of our people living on
US$ 1.00 or less a day, because of 37 years of gross mismanagement and rampant
corruption. 37 years of tyrannical rule has stripped us of our freedoms, human
rights, dreams and our very humanity, we are like a chicken with all its
feathers plucked away leaving it skin naked.
The tragic human
misery in Zimbabwe is a man-made one brought about by 37 years of corrupt and
tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship!
There is very little
man can do to stop a natural disaster like an earthquake other than build
structures designed to withstand earthquake or else avoid living in earthquake
prone areas. It is within the powers of you and me, ordinary mortals to solve all
man-made problems. There is no denying that Zimbabweans have had many, many
golden opportunities to stop Mugabe establishing the one-party cum one-man Zanu
PF dictatorship before it even took root and, once, established to dismantle it.
We have wasted each and everyone of these opportunities and, until we finally
do something to end the dictatorship, we will continue to suffer in dumb
anguish!
The 2008 to 2013 GNU,
for example, presented the nation with many golden opportunities to end the
Zanu PF dictatorship; all Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had to do then was
implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship. They
failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Mugabe and his cronies
took full advantage of the breath-taking incompetent of MDC leaders; the tyrant
rigged the July 2013 elections to get into power with all the regime’s
dictatorial powers of pre-GNU!
Whenever the devil’s imp
closes a door to imprison mankind; somewhere, the Lord opens a window to help
those who wish to escape. The savage dog-eat dog Zanu PF factional war to
decide who was going to succeed the aging and sick dictator, Robert Mugabe, has
weakened the regime and created a chance for us to force it to accept
democratic change.
As the dust of the
last and decisive Zanu PF factional clash settle, it does not look like the
people’s democratic reform agenda ever see the light of day.
Whilst many people
were over the moon with joy when Robert Mugabe was finally forced to resign they
joy was misguided since the Zanu PF dictatorship itself was still in power. The
demise of the dictator Robert Mugabe was not necessarily the end of the corrupt
and tyrannical Zanu PF rule especially when all that happened was a surgical
removal of one dictator to replace him with another in the name of Emmerson
Dambudzo Mnangagwa alias Ngwena or Crocodile!
The coup, according to
General Chiwenga, the ringleader, was about removing “criminal elements around
President Mugabe who had seized power and threatened the country’s
revolutionary gains”. He even code named the coup “Operation Restore Legacy”. All
bull!
The coup was about stopping
Grace Mugabe and her G40 faction inheriting the Zanu PF dictatorship and to
restore the political supremacy of the dictatorship under the leadership of
Chiwenga, Mutsvangwa, Mnangagwa, etc.
If the people of
Zimbabwe had their thinking caps on (alas many do not even know what a thinking
cap is because they have never had one) then on 18 November 2017 they would
have marched to a different drum beat to that Chiwenga and Mutsvangwa’s thugs
marched. Where war veterans marched north the people would have marched south.
Chiwenga’s “Operation
Restore Legacy” is about re-energizing the Zanu PF dictatorship. The people’s
Operation Restore Democracy agenda is about destroying the dictatorship. The people
should have never allowed Mugabe to establish the dictatorship in the first
place and now they must make sure it is totally destroyed.
Since his swearing in
as the new President, Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs have been on an all-out
charm offensive to win back the people’s trust and political support. They are
the same individuals who have masterminded and executed the looting, vote
rigging, the brutal political repression, etc. all these last 37 years. They
are working frantically to cover the past under a thick layer of “new era” whitewash.
“Let bygone be bygone,” argued President Mnangagwa!
If President Mnangagwa
& co. were serious about seeking a “new democratic era”, the least they can
do is implement the democratic reforms. The regime’s charm offensive does not
include giving up its carte blanche draconian powers to rig elections. The
all-out charm offensive is to take the sting out of the pressure to implement
the reform at a time when Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and the rest are still licking
their wounds from the Zanu PF implosion and the military coup.
President Mnangagwa
has no intention of making sure next year’s elections are free, fair and
credible because it is not in the DNA of Zanu PF to hold free and fair
elections. Operation Restore Legacy was about restoring the Zanu PF dictatorship
complete with its power to rig elections.
President Mnangagwa
will rig next year’s elections but will go the extra mile to hide the evidence.
We have a real chance of forcing Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms
but we must keep our eyes firmly fixed on reforms. We must go the extra mile to
uncover the vote rigging evidence.
We demand free, fair
and credible elections and must not give an inch! Next year’s elections must
judged a sham if there is no verified voters’ roll as required by law. We want
a free media giving equal coverage of opposing points of view. All political
parties must declare the sources of funds and audited expenditure to end the
culture of looting national resources for selfish party political advantage,
etc.
The Zanu PF
dictatorship is still smarting from the mauling from the dog-eat-dog factional
fighting. The recent military coup meaning Mnangagwa’s legitimacy is threadbare.
We, the people, have a golden opportunity to force the regime to accept
meaningful democratic change. We must not waste this golden opportunity to
bring about democratic change just as we wasted the golden opportunities the
last GNU brought!
3 comments:
To say I am disappointed is an understatement!
To start with Mnangagwa said he was “going to hit the ground running”. By the time, he was sworn in as President he had known already for two weeks that he was going to be president and yet he has taken a full week after his swearing in before he announced his cabinet. Some people thought he was consulting far and wide, hence the reason he took so long.
As much as 90% of his appointees are old geezers Mnangagwa has known for donkey years and worse still these are the individuals who had played a part in the rot and decay that been the hallmark of the Zanu PF government. It is wishful thinking to expect these individual to suddenly have even some common sense.
Personally, I had hope that President Mnangagwa was doing to scrap Ministry of Information; government has no business telling editors what to write. All the his government needed to do was to pass the necessary law to free up the media and encourage free competition and freedom of expression. We do not need Propaganda Minister much less big mouth Chris Mutsvangwa!
President Mnangagwa promise the nation a “new era”, looking at his cabinet line up one can see it is certainly going to be the same old rubbish! From the list of his appointments 95% of the individuals
@ Tinashe
“As a research and academic analyst my role is advisory be it the current Government, opposition and civic society, I simply lay facts on the table as they are without fear or favor. In the past, opposition's mantra was "MUGABE MUST GO" now that Mugabe is gone what's next? I for see opposition losing political relevance soon,” you said.
“Look the major obstacle for everyone was Mugabe, and this was the banner the opposition was carrying for the past 18 years or so but now there is a new leader in the currently after the Mugabe mantra so what is your next plan? Opposition never be adamant with facts, this is why MDC T lost in 2013, they don't want facts to be said as they are.”
It is true that many people, and not just the opposition, thought all the nation’s problems will go away the day Mugabe left office. These people are slowing coming to the realisation that Mugabe’s departure was good but not good enough because their problems have not gone away. In six months’ time, when the nation goes back to the poll, the penny will have dropped that the need the Zanu PF dictatorship itself to go. So I would not be too sure of your sweeping statement that the opposition itself is now irrelevant just because Mugabe has gone!
President Mnangagwa calls on Zimbabweans to modernise to be competitive.
To progress, what Zimbabwe needs above all else is to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections because it is only through free and fair elections the country will have any hope of electing competent leaders. Zimbabwe is in a real mess today because of 37 years of misrule by an incompetent and corrupt regime. The nation has been stuck with Zanu PF because the regime rigs elections.
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