In his interview with CNBC Africa Dr Nkosana Moyo got two things right:
a) that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s trip to Davos, Switzerland was a waste of time and resources.
"He goes to Davos without a product to sell. He's trying to ask the world to come and put money into Zimbabwe when the evidence that is there for these people to see is that he cannot preside over managing Zimbabwe's resources properly. It's totally irrational," Dr Moyo said.
Last year, when Mnangagwa made his maiden Davos appearance with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra the world had listened out of curiosity. Investors had shied away from Zimbabwe for decades because the country was a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. Investors are a shrewd lot, they were not going to take Mnangagwa’s word that Zimbabwe was no longer a pariah state. They needed to see something more substantive to convince them Zimbabwe had changed.
Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections; this was the acid test which if the country passed would convince investors that it was safe to do business in Zimbabwe. And so by blatantly rigging last July’s elections, Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs.
Until Zimbabwe takes the necessary action to end the country’s pariah state status there will be no meaningful direct foreign investment coming into Zimbabwe. It does not make any sense for the country to be spending a fortune to attract investors whilst doing nothing to remove the obstacles forcing investors away.
The NewsDay newspaper has estimated that Mnangagwa's trip will cost at least US$25 million. The hired jet for the trip will cost US$17,76 million alone. He has hired a luxury Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet to fly to Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Switzerland. The trip start on 13th January and will end 22nd January, at the earliest. The jet costs US$74,000 per hour to hire.
This is a criminal waste of money given the country is so impoverish it is paying its doctors less than US$200 per month and 3/4 of the population are now living on US$1.00 or less a day. Worse still, we already know the whole trip would accomplish nothing of substance.
b) that we, Zimbabweans are our own worst enemy.
"The starting point for Zimbabwe is to understand that we, Zimbabweans, destroyed our country. No foreigner destroyed Zimbabwe. We did,” said Dr Moyo.
We, Zimbabweans are to blame for allowing this Zanu PF dictatorship to become the all powerful monster it has become and for the regime to last this long, 38 years, and drag the nation this deep into the economic and political abyss.
We have had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but have wasted them all. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had five years to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 GNU and failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one! And yet many Zimbabweans continue to slavishly support the party.
Nation get the government they deserve and we, in Zimbabwe, certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties - all 130 of them at the last count.
When even opposition presidential candidates including Dr Nkosana Moyo himself, do not even have the common sense to demand that ZEC must produce a verified voters’ roll, something as basic and essential for a meaningful election; it is not surprising why the country is in such a mess. Worse still, unless the nation snap out of its sloth-like mental slumber there is no getting out of the mess!
4 comments:
Calling Zanu PF to the negotiaring table is one thing knowing what you want out of the negotiations is another.
Zanu PF must step down for two reasons:
1) the party rigged last July's elections and therefore is illegitimate
2) we want to implement the democratic reforms to prepare the nation for free, fair and credible election and it is naive to expect Zanu PF to play any constructive role in that process. The party was involved in the last GNu and failed to get even one reform in place.
We do not want Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance involved in the GNU either for the simple reason that they too were involved in the last GNU and sold out on reforms.
“Over the past few weeks, government has closely monitored activities of a coalition of non-governmental organisations in the country, especially in and around Harare. It has become obvious that there is a deliberate plan to undermine and challenge the prevailing constitutional order born out of the 2018 July 30 harmonised elections which were democratic, free and fair, and which were subsequently upheld by the highest court of the land,” Nick Mangwana said.
“This brazenly unconstitutional plan which sought financial support from some regime-change organisations based in America and Germany, among other countries, represents a serious threat to our consolidating democracy, to the rule of law in our country, and to the authority of Government and the State. Government is under no illusion as to the intentions and import of this plan, which is being partly orchestrated through social media.”
Mangwana added: “Should that happen, the State, through the government of the day, is mandated to step in with appropriate firmness, and on the strength of a mix of lawful instruments at its disposal, to protect and restore law and order in the Republic for the benefit of the ordinary citizen. This is more so when intelligence available to government clearly points to a foreign hand bent on aiding and abetting such chaos. Government is aware of the involvement of non-citizens in the orchestration of this futile exercise. Government will not hesitate to take action against such persons by withdrawing their visas, deporting them and declaring them persona non grata.”
The article states that ‘the receiving State may at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata or that any other member of the staff of the mission is not acceptable. In any such case, the sending State shall, as appropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with the mission. A person may be declared non grata or not acceptable before arriving in the territory of the receiving State.’
This is just nonsense, the regime is doing what it has always done under pressure – blame someone else for all the country’s problems.
Everyone knows that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last July’s elections and thus confirmed that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and murderous thugs. The regime has failed to rig the economic recovery and is now finding it difficult to contain the growing anger of ordinary Zimbabweans who cannot endure the economic hardship brought on by the economic meltdown.
The suggestion that ordinary Zimbabweans would never figure out for themselves that they are suffering is insulting! People do not need Americans or anyone else to tell them that the economic meltdown is now costing them their very lives!
Zimbabwe's economic and political mess is multi-layered:
first layer - the ruling party Zanu PF led by Mnangagwa, Chiwenga, Mthuli Ncube and other key player backed by the Army, Police, judiciary and the host of other state institutions that have been corrupted into Zanu PF departments in all but name.
Zanu PF is incompetent and corrupt to the core and the party’s primary function is to make sure the party retains its iron grip on power at all coast for the benefit of the few ruling elite the great majority of the other members are as poor as church mice. Many of them have kept faith with the party for many reasons including fear they will be even worse off if the left the party and ignorance that Zanu PF dictatorship doom to fail because it is, by its very nature, wasteful of human and material resources.
Second layer - the opposition including the various MDC factions, the parties formed by ex-Zanu PF members, etc. The MDC leaders have proven beyond all doubt that they breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs.
Instead of championing the role of dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship the opposition has accepted Zanu PF as the ruling party and have been contend fight each other for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF has seen fit to give away to entice the opposition to participate in elections to give the process some credibility.
Third layer - is the ordinary Zimbabweans. The professional and educated citizens have taken a collective decision to let Zanu PF do as the party pleased by going along to get along, at best, and at worst to join the regime.
The rest of the Zimbabwe masses have never understood that they have freedoms and rights and so denying them of the same has been as easy as taking away pearls from a pig! Povo have never grasped the notion that their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country was key to good governance, freedoms, justice, economic prosperity and even their right to life itself. And so when Zanu PF denied them their freedoms and rights the people did not even notice it.
Whilst people have often looked to Zanu PF and MDC as the layers needed change if the country was ever to escape from the economic and political mess the nation has been stuck in. The truth is neither Zanu PF nor MDC will ever be the instrument of meaningful change because the former has an invested interest in maintaining the status quo, it is serving the selfish interests of the ruling elite. The latter is contend with the scraps Zanu PF throws at them.
Meaningful democratic change has to come from povo.
“Unless the nation (povo and complacent educated many) snap out of its sloth-like mental slumber there is no getting out of the mess!” you said. I agree with you 100%.
Zimbabwe has often boasted of having some of the most literate people. What good is being able to read and write when one does not have the common sense of how to survive! Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is not only causing heartbreaking human suffering, it is also claiming human lives!
@ Ntombi Langa
“But was it not the same Nkosana who told us that Mnangagwa is a smart man who will things differently? We have not forgotten by the way,” you said.
You are right, he said that. He even served in Mugabe’s cabinet for a while, just as Mthuli Ncube and Kirsty Coventry is doing now, even though he knew Zanu Pf had rigged the elections to stay in power. The Zanu PF dictatorship would have never survived was it not for the Zimbabweans who have again and again sold-out and co-operated with the corrupt and tyrannical regime for selfish gain.
With so many sell-outs, it is little wonder this nation is stuck!
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