After 15 years in the cold, Zimbabwe is applying to re-join the Commonwealth.
“Zimbabwe joined the Commonwealth on its independence in 1980 and withdrew from the organisation in 2003,” reported The Zimbabwean.
“To re-join, Zimbabwe must demonstrate that it complies with the fundamental values set out in the Commonwealth Charter, including democracy and rule of law plus protection of human rights such as freedom of expression.
“The membership process requires an informal assessment to be undertaken by representatives of the Secretary-General, followed by consultations with other Commonwealth countries.
“Zimbabwe has also invited the Commonwealth to observe its forthcoming elections in July. The Secretariat is now mobilising a team of observers to do so – and their observations will form part of the Secretary-General’s informal assessment.”
Zimbabwe can be re-admitted to the Commonwealth but on one condition – the prodigal son must prove he has repented, must hold free, fair and credible elections! President Mnangagwa and his junta regime have promised to hold free and fair elections and this is proving a bridge too!
When the Commonwealth election observers arrive in Zimbabwe they will find the country's public media is not free. The voters' roll is what one can call "an organised" state of chaos in that the chaos is deliberate and calculated. The observers will be shocked that Zanu PF candidates, Chiefs and other party operatives are drive brand new vehicles, all paid for by the party, in a country whose hospitals have no ambulances; etc.; etc. It is inconceivable to see how anyone can, in all conscience, say elections are free, fair and credible under such flawed and illegal conditions!
Zimbabwe is in this economic hell-hole, with unemployment soaring to 90%, etc. because, for the last 38 years, the nation was stuck with a corrupt and murderous regime that rigged elections to stay in power against the democratic wishes of the people. It is not surprising therefore that the nation’s number one priority these last three decades has been to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
One only hopes that in their eagerness to welcome Zimbabwe back into the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth elections observers are NOT going to turn a blind eye to all these blatant vote-rigging Zanu PF shenanigans and endorse the flawed elections. The restoration of the ordinary Zimbabwean’s individual freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections must be valued about the junta’s bragging rights claiming the “new dispensation” when nothing has changed.
Welcoming back the repentant prodigal son is one thing and not to be confused with welcome an unrepentant prodigal son hell bend to carry on with his wasteful and downright criminal ways. This Zanu PF regime has stubbornly refused to implement any democratic reforms and has, instead, resolutely held on its carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections.
Let’s face it, all the regime has since last November’s coup is remove one dictator but only to replace him with another; the Zanu PF dictatorship itself has not changed, repented much less denounced its corrupt, vote-rigging and tyrannical ways. To readmit Zimbabwe with the Zanu PF dictatorship untouched will be to betray the ordinary Zimbabweans who have suffered under the regime and are desperate to for meaningful political change!
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THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy has warned it could summon former president Robert Mugabe to appear before it after he failed to pitch up for a hearing yesterday to give evidence on his claim that diamonds worth US$15 billion were looted in Chiadzwa. He has been asked to appear on Monday 28 May.
Does the parliamentary committee have detailed line of inquiry they want to follow? In the past the committee has asked many people to appear before it but have failed to ask any substantive questions.
The issue of the wholesale looting in Marange is a very serious matter but, to be blunt, nothing much will ever be uncovered because those tasked to do so are themselves utterly useless.
@ Faith Zaba
However, utterances this week that the military will not allow MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa to rule should he win the make-or-break elections were a new low.
Mukupe was nothing but reckless when he made the inflammatory statement that poisons an already volatile atmosphere.
It is clear that you were one of those political green horns with their head buried in the sand that these elections were going to be free, fair and credible; Mukupe's remarks were therefore a welcome wake-up call. But typical of green horns you are foolishly dismissing the warning as "reckless". It is people like you who will not accept the reality that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and do something about it who are reckless and foolish.
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-hole because of people like you who will not accept the reality that Zanu PF is rigging elections even after they have their noses rubbed into it repeatedly. Zanu PF has been rigging elections for 38 years and still you think it is reckless when someone tells you that! How naïve!
"Hungwe's remarks come barely two months before the national election which for the first time in the history of Zimbabwe is expected to take place in a free and fair manner." Dream on, green horn, dream on!
President Mnangagwa has promised to hold free, fair and credible elections and yet he has never implemented even one democratic reforms called for and agreed at the onset of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Indeed, instead of implementing the reform the junta has been implementing the vote rigging activities such as buying the Chiefs new twin cab trucks Mugabe promised them, carry on with the chaotic voter registration exercise, etc.
There are those who have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and refused to see the political reality of Zanu PF blatantly rigging the elections because they wished to see free and fair elections. Minister Hungwe, deputy Minister Mukupe and VP Chiwenga who have all said the same thing should be a wake-up call for all the political green horns out there!
In A development that marked a clear departure from former president Robert Mugabe-era tactics, Zanu-PF turned a corner by hosting President Emmerson Mnangagwa's rally at Sakubva Stadium on Saturday without frog-marching vendors and forcing closure of business to boost numbers at the gathering.
As long as Zanu PF is confident its more subtle vote rigging tactics are going to deliver the landslide victory the party is after, Zanu PF will not use any direct violence. The party has shown this to be so in 2013 and is repeating this this year.
We should be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking if there is no violence the elections are free, fair and credible. There are other important issues such as free media, verified voters' roll, open and transparent use of public funds for political activities, etc. that must be consider too.
@Dhewa Igwee
"My brother all what you are saying is very correct however your solution of boycotting elections is not effective in that the Junta has placed many so called political parties with people with an insatiable appetite for power and money who are more than happy to participate in a fake election and get those few seats that the Junta is prepared to donate for purposes of covering up their election fraud! The biggest case scenario being the Khupe project! If the Mdc boycott Khupe's fake Mdc will be happy to contest and claim the name Mdc and these junta guys don't care as long as they remain in power! It was easy had the Mdc and all the major players been in the alliance! That's why Chamisa is fighting so hard to minimise the fraud in the hope that Zanu Pf s rigging might not be able to overwhelm the number of the people's votes - just like what happened in 2008!" you say.
So when Khupe failed to implement even one reform during the GNU, participated in the 2013 elections together with Chamisa, Biti Ncube and all the other MDC leaders it was not out of their "insatiable appetite for power and money". She has only become the devil incarnate when she fell out with the others? How convenient.
What exactly will Chamisa and his MDC Alliance accomplish by participating in elections you and I know are flawed and illegal - either than stop Mai Khupe getting the few gravy train seats?
Stop deluding yourself with all this talk of "Chamisa is fight so hard to minimise the fraud" because he is doing the exact opposite. He had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the GNU and he never lifted a finger. By agreeing to take part in these elections with not even one reform in place has been the greatest encouragement Zanu PF ever wanted to do nothing about reforms.
There three reasons why anyone worth his salt should boycott these elections:
1) Zanu PF has already shown by ordering ZEC to recount and whittle down Tsvangirai' 73% March victory to 47%, for example, that the party cannot be defeated no matter what. It is utterly pointless taking part in a process knowing the end result is already pre-determined.
2) Zanu PF is giving away these few gravy train to the opposition to entice them to participate in the elections to give the process some modicum of credibility. The opposition are taking part out of greed and ordinary Zimbabweans out of stupidity. I am not that stupid!
3) Even if I cannot do anything to stop both Zanu PF and the greedy opposition holding these flawed elections I can at least get the international observers to rule the process null and void. They will listen to someone who boycott the election but not one who participated ignoring their warning not to.
Tyrants like Mnangagwa and Mugabe and their corrupt and incompetent acolytes like Tsvangirai and Chamisa have always relied on naïve and gullible followers like you with a very selective memory who will see and remember what there are told slavishly. A naïve and gullible electorate is a curse to any nation and it is little wonder Zimbabwe is in this real mess.
Apparently, Kasukuwere said he has never committed any crime and is ready to have his day in court if there are any cases levelled against him.
For a man who once upon a time throw such a large shadow in Zimbabwe politics at a time when Zanu PF wield power over life and death and looted so much wealth as can be seen from the size of his mansion; that is very brave indeed. Well, mark my words, Kasukuwere will have his day in court alright!
"Mhoswa havori!" (A crime, once committed it cannot be undone!) as the Shona would say.
@ Hopewell
“WITH elections approaching, the new dispensation’s international re-engagement drive is clearly winning over the opposition’s isolation pleas. Britain and her allies have thawed relations with the new dispensation, incensing the MDC Alliance, whose electoral strategy still hinges on delegitimising Zanu PF,” you say.
This is just propaganda from an ED apologist! The West are not re-engaging with this junta regime because by failing to implement even one democratic reform they can see the regime is going to rig these elections and confirm that nothing has changed. The world shied away from Zimbabwe because the country was a pariah state ruled by thugs. All that happened since the November 2017 coup was the replacement one dictator for another and no amount of whitewashing can fool the world that the regime has changed from a dictatorship to a democracy.
If President Mnangagwa thinks he can get away with yet another rigged elections then he is in for a wake-up call! No self-respecting international elections observer would consider elections with no free press, no verified voters' roll, where Zanu PF is free to rob the impoverished nation blind to bankroll its vote rigging schemes, etc. free and fair. These elections are going to be declared null and void allowing Zimbabwe to revisit the raft of democratic reforms agree on the eve of the last GNU.
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