“Seek ye first the political
kingdom and all else shall be added
unto you,” said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Independent Ghana.
After 38 years of blundering from pillar to
post whilst the country sunk deeper and deeper into poverty and hopelessness;
Dr Nkrumah’s words make a lot of sense and we in Zimbabwe must sit up and paid
heed.
We, the ordinary people, have never secured the
political kingdom as surmised by the right to a meaningful say in the
governance of the country.
During the fight for independence the carrion
call amongst the blacks was “One man, one vote!” By the time the nation
attained her independence the black nationalist leaders like Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF party and the late Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu party had moved on.
They wanted absolute power and giving the
ordinary person a meaningful vote and endangering their hold on power was simply
unthinkable. They wanted a one-party state hence the reason the Chinese and
Russian system of government as contrast to western democracy appealed to them.
The two political parties have co-operated,
particularly after signed the 1987 Unity Accord, to impose a de facto one party
state in Zimbabwe. Whilst the country has kept faith with the requirement to
hold regular elections Zanu PF has retained total control of the electoral
process to make sure the party always secured a landslide victory regardless of
the free democratic wishes of the people.
People have the vote but Zanu PF leaders have
the veto! The people were given the paper crown whilst the political leaders
retained for themselves the real gold crown.
Zimbabwe has fallen from its perch in 1980 as
one of the top five richest nations in Africa with very prospect of becoming
the South Korea of Africa to becoming the poorest nation in Africa today with
every prospect of sinking even lower. In a reversal of Dr Nkrumah’s maxim, we
lost the political kingdom and everything else; economic wealth, our hopes and
dreams and even the right to life itself; has been taken away from us.
For the last 20 years the people of Zimbabwe
have fought the Zanu PF dictatorship demanding meaningful democratic change
designed to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to
free, fair and credible elections.
After last November’s military coup that
deposed the long serving dictator Robert Mugabe and the promise by the new
Mnangagwa government to hold free, fair and credible elections; most people
genuinely believed the country had turned a new page. Sadly President Mnangagwa
did not keep his promise as he went on to blatantly rig the elections.
It is tempting to let President Mnangagwa get
away with another rigged elections, Zanu PF flexing its veto muscle, but after
38 years the realisation that it is the primary reason the country is in this
hell-hole is now the elephant in the room that cannot be ignored. Worse still,
we can no longer ignore the reality that until we cure ourselves of the curse
of rigged elections this nation will never ever get out of the hell-hole.
Allowing Zanu PF to get away with yet another
rigged election is therefore a luxury this nation can ill afford. All pressure
must be brought to bear of the regime to give up its carte blanche dictatorial powers
to rig elections and restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the
right to free, fair and credible elections.
Zanu PF rigged the elections, the party is
illegitimate and it must be pressured to step aside to allow the implementation
of the democratic reforms giving back the people their political power. Nothing
of any substance can ever be accomplished until this is settled.
It is therefore with anger that the British are
determined to work with this Zanu PF regime, ignore that it is illegitimate,
and undermining the efforts of everyone else pressuring the regime to change.
“Britain will support Zimbabwe to get on an
interim IMF staff programme to help the country quickly clear its foreign
arrears, Britain's ambassador in Harare said on Tuesday,” reported Daily News.
“Clearing the $1.8 billion arrears to the World Bank and AfDB is seen as major step for Zimbabwe to start accessing foreign credit, especially for the private sector as well as foreign direct investment.”
“Clearing the $1.8 billion arrears to the World Bank and AfDB is seen as major step for Zimbabwe to start accessing foreign credit, especially for the private sector as well as foreign direct investment.”
The irony is the British will never allow
anyone to get away with vote rigging in UK because they know that would
undermine the country’s democracy and good governance behind the nation’s
political stability and economic posterity. And yet they are the ones fighting
tooth and nail to let Mnangagwa and the junta get away with blatantly rigging
the recent elections!
Clearly the British, for their own selfish
reasons, want Zanu PF to remain in power regardless of consequence of Zimbabwe
remaining stuck in this hell-hole. Our task of seeking our political kingdom fighting
Zanu PF was always going to be a tough one. Now that we must fight the British
too, it is just a little tougher yes but still not impossible!
Besides we have some allies too. The Americans
have already said Zanu PF rigged the elections and the targeted sanctions
imposed on the party thugs will remain. It is not only the British, the
American too, have a say on whether the IMF and WB renew their funding of the Zimbabwe
government!
As for investors, few will be fooled by the
British’s attempts to portray the Mnangagwa regime as a stable democratic
government. Mnangagwa is just “Mugabe mark 2”, as UK MP Kate Hoey rightly pointed
following her visit to observe the elections, and Zimbabwe is still a pariah
state. Investors do not do business with vote rigging thugs!
9 comments:
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered and many have died under this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship the one thing the nation wants now is peace and a chance to rebuild the nation. The last thing the nation wants is to be dragged into yet another period of mindless strife and bickering. There is no need to break up the country. NONE!
“President Mnangagwa makes his move and addresses a joint sitting of National Assembly and Senate. Meanwhile, as we predicted MDC MPs stormed out. They came to Parliament only to sleep in hotels and get fuel coupons leaving the business they were elected for. Shame!” tweeted Mutodi.
Mutodi is just doing what he does best, bootlicking!
The twat is complaining about MDC MPs walking out on ED but he said nothing when ED and the junta rigged the elections. It is a shameless scandal that Zimbabwe failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.
This Zanu PF regime is illegitimate and the nation must not repeat the mistakes of the past of allowing the regime get away with rigging because this madness will never stop!
The root cause of Zimbabwe' political and economic problems is the decades of bad governance. By rigging the recent elections President Mnangagwa has just coonfirm that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state contrary to all new dispensation hyper.
Sorting out the problem of bad governance remains Zimbabwe's top priority because nothing of substance can ever be accomplish as long as the nation remains under the dictatorship.
What the British are trying to accomplish by propping up this illegitimate regime is a mystery. Are the British saying Zanu PF did not rig the elections? Or they agree it rigged the elections but that does not matter?
The irony is the Britsh would never ever permit anyone to get away with rigging UK elections because they know that would undermine good governance. And yet they want Mnangagwa to get away with blatant vote rigging!
Zanu PF has never held free, fair and credible election ever since the country’s first multi-racial elections in 1980. The real reason the country is in this economic and political mess is because the country has been stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime all these years.
Following last November’s coup, President Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, raising the nation’s hopes of finally making a break with the vote rigging culture of the past. Sadly, that never happened as Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the elections.
“As per my promise, the recently held Harmonised General Elections, whose outcome constituted this new Parliament, were peaceful, free, fair and democratic. Allow me, Honourable Members of Parliament, to take this opportunity to congratulate you all for having secured the mandate to represent our people for the next five years. Congratulations! Makorokoto! Amhlophe!” said Mnangagwa.
Yes Mr President, you are congratulating yourself and your fellow Zanu PF cronies for once again cheating the populous and denying them a meaningful vote.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in office for the full five years and are entrusted to hold the next elections, they will see to it that not even one reform is implemented and they will rig the next elections, guaranteed! The only way to break this cycle of rigged elections followed by five years of misrule which then end with another rigged election; is to starve the illegitimate regime of all support and force it out of office a.s.a.p.
This Zanu PF regime is illegitimate and it must not be allowed to stay in power for five years!
Mariga becomes the latest person to be charged with committing public violence during the
elections protest following the arrest of more than 30 people including Tendai Biti, one of the MDC Alliance party leaders.
Zanu PF took their foot off the violence pedal during the elections because the international community was watching but ever since the 1st August the regime has let loose its dogs and the crackdown on the opposition has been ruthless. We need to implement meaningful reforms or this nation will never know what it means to have freedom; free and fair elections; etc.
@Sibusiso Ndlamini
President Emmerson Mnangagwa will tonight leave the country, to attend the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) summit, in New York.
The summit comes at the backdrop of peaceful, free and fair elections that led to the birth of the new dispensation under the leadership of President Mnangagwa and his 'Zimbabwe is Open for Business mantra.'
The trouble with Zanu PF leaders and their apologists is believe in their own lies and propaganda and hence the reason Mugabe thought he was God's blessing to Zimbabwe and Africa for nearly 4 decades. Now a similar bubble is being created for Mnangagwa and some of the propaganda and lies are laughable and yet Mnangagwa clearly believe them all.
It all started with the now Foreign Affairs Minister, Sibusiso Moyo, telling the world the November 2017 military coup was a "military assisted transition!" The junta followed this up with having a couple of Super Court Judges to rule that the coup was "legal and constitutional".
The junta promised free, fair and credible elections but that was a bridge too far for thugs who have rigged elections for 38 years! They blatantly rigged the elections denying 2 to 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote for no better reason than the party feared many of them did not support it. The regime failed to produce even something as basic as a verified voters' roll. And yet, in typical Zanu PF contemptuous disregard of facts, the party maintains the elections were free and fair.
Not even one of the 20 or so nations/organisations from democratic nations who were in Zimbabwe to observe the elections has dared endorse the elections as having been free, fair and credible. How could they when they know the elections were rigged!
Apologist like Sibusiso Ndlamini are repeating the "Zimbabwe is open for business!" nonsense out of habit because even he knows that the expected flood of investors the regime was cocksure was coming never materialised. He knows investors do not do business in pariah states whose next regime change will be another military coup or widespread street protests. The penny has dropped on this score!
One day Zimbabwe will have a president elected by Zimbabweans in a free, fair and credible election; it will be great day marking a fresh great start!
Namibia-based academic and scholar Admire Mare said the opposition party must not only oppose for the sake of opposition but instead should give an alternative to the current dispensation through its control of local authorities.
He said Chamisa's refusal to accept the invitation, while it is another form of protest, is however, questionable given that his legislators plan to continue to attend, and even accept featherbeddings such as cars.
"I think there is too much grandstanding at the moment which is clouding proper engagement. Both parties seem to be finding it hard to eat the humble pie for the greater good of the country."
I have to agree with Mare that MDC MPs are not going to boycott parliament for long especially if that meaning losing out on the generous allowances and other privileges. It should be remember that MDC politicians took part in these elections knowing fully well that the process was flawed and illegal. They also knew that Zanu PF would be giving away a few gravy train seats as bait, it was these they were after and did not care that the elections were rigged.
Politicians like Tendai Biti and David Coltart who were in the GNU know that MDC sold-out then by failing to get even one democratic reform implemented. They have often criticized Zanu PF for failing to end corruption, implement reforms, etc., etc. but that is all grandstanding, the pot calling the kettle black!
Boycotting elections or parliament because the elections would be or were rigged is one thing and totally different ball game when it was your fault that not even one reforms to stop rigging were never implemented in five years of the GNU!
@ Khohliso Maqhoba
That man who believes that Ndebeles are cockroaches, Emmerson Mnangagwa, would smile if by any chance, he stumbles into your article. One of the main purposes of 1979 Grand Plan and Matabeleland genocide was to achieve a psychological effect such as what you have reflected in your article. Their intention was to see a submissive and fear stricken Ndebele who is afraid even to cough without the permission of a Shona person. Too afraid to express her/his political views and too frightened to fight for their independence. In short your alarmist strategy plays into the hands of the oppressor.
The Gukurahundi massacres were about Zanu PF trying to eliminate PF Zapu. Yes is just so happened that the two parties most of their supporters from some tribes/regions and not others still it is a historic fact that both parties had supporters from every part of Zimbabwe. The rivalry and mistrust between the two parties dates back to their formative days. What matters is that the political rivalry and mistrust has costed many innocent lives, number one. And two that the rivalry was political and not tribal/regional. The late Dr Joshua Nkomo said so himself.
Sadly there are many opportunistic politicians who have wanted to scale the rivalry between Zanu PF and PF Zapu into a tribal/regional conflict for their own selfish political gain. This is the one thing the people of Zimbabwe do not want.
Zanu PF is a party of murderous thugs and only last month the party descended on the protestors in Harare like a tonne of brick just to remind us all that the regime will not hesitate to shed innocent blood in pursuit of its long cherished goal of establishing and retaining absolute power at all cost.
Zanu PF has imploded and one of these fine days the regime and all its thugs will be history. It will be a great tragedy if Zimbabwe should find itself being dragged into a new conflict instead of focusing on rebuilding the nation for the good of all Zimbabweans.
"Their intention was to see a submissive and fear stricken Ndebele who is afraid even to cough without the permission of a Shona person." That is nonsense and you know it!
It is a great pity that we have failed to understand the intricate relationship between political power and economic wealth. Those who have sort to secure wealth without first securing the power with which to defend their wealth have always ended with nothing. The last 38 years has been a fast descend from riches to poverty. Before independence we, the blacks, did not have a vote but at least we had a voice in the form of great heroes like the late Chief Rakai Tangwena and the white oppressors at least had the common sense give us enough of the wealth to make us produce more.
After independence we were short changed. The Zanu PF thugs gave us the vote but saw to it that they had the veto to over rule any vote they did not approve of. Our vote was nothing more than fools' gold, it looks like gold but it is not gold and utterly worthless. To make our situation even worse the Zanu PF thugs were corrupt, incompetent, ruthless and had no common sense. The country's rapid economic decline is because in their greed the Zanu PF thugs have killed the goose that lays the golden egg.
After decades of enjoying absolute power and living in total luxury the Zanu PF thugs have become addicted to this life they are not going to give any of it up. Right now they are fighting each other like starving hyenas fighting over the scraps. Decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruptions have destroyed the nation's ability to create wealth and the thugs are fighting at the little that is there.
Giving up their veto and absolute power now is unthinkable for the Zanu PF ruling elite because they are addicted to power, many will soon join the millions living in abject power if they did and many of then have the dirty past such as the looting, the murders and coups which they alone can keep under wraps by remaining in power. So ending the Zanu PF dictatorship is not going to be a walk in the park. And yet the economic hardship decades of Zanu PF misrule have now reached the point where it is inhuman to let this continue! Meaningful political change is now imperative!
I believe the Zanu PF dictatorship will, in the end, collapse. Whether the nation will have the wisdom to build a more just and equatable society or simply descend even deeper into chaos, time will tell!
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