I would like to congratulate the Daily News in taking the lead in breaking the tradition of the vague and ambivalent coverage of last year’s elections and in stating why the west is right in retaining the targeted sanctions against Zanu PF leaders.
“Since coming to power in November 2017 through a "soft coup" that overthrew long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, Mnangagwa has made it his number one priority to see the end of Zimbabwe's isolation from the Western block,” stated the Daily News its Editorial.
“Mnangagwa was asked to implement a number of reforms by these world super powers in order for his government to be fully-recognised and earn lines of credit. However, nothing much happened on the reforms front as evidenced by what occurred during last year's harmonised elections.
“Electoral, media, and human rights reforms were never fulfilled resulting in the disputed outcome which effectively ended any hopes of Zimbabwe's smooth return to the global political arena.
“The US extended their targeted sanctions on Mnangagwa and other selected government officials while Zimbabwe readmission to the Commonwealth is still on ice.”
“Mnangagwa was asked to implement a number of reforms by these world super powers in order for his government to be fully-recognised and earn lines of credit. However, nothing much happened on the reforms front as evidenced by what occurred during last year's harmonised elections.
“Electoral, media, and human rights reforms were never fulfilled resulting in the disputed outcome which effectively ended any hopes of Zimbabwe's smooth return to the global political arena.
“The US extended their targeted sanctions on Mnangagwa and other selected government officials while Zimbabwe readmission to the Commonwealth is still on ice.”
For the EU, the Americans, the Commonwealth and many other foreign nations and organisation to dismiss the elections as flawed and illegal is one thing but to get a leading independent paper like Daily News to come out and same the same thing is another. Gone are the wishy-washy phrases like “disputed elections” as if the journalist has no clue what constitutes free and fair elections and therefore has no opinion of his/her own on the matter.
The Editorial was firm and decisive; “the electoral, media and human rights reforms were never fulfilled.” The editorial title said it all; “Mnangagwa shooting himself in foot over sanctions”.
The Daily News has put to shame those opposition candidates who had foolishly participated in these flawed and illegal elections knowing fully well Zanu PF was stubbornly refusing to implement the reforms. Everyone knew that Zanu PF had refused to allow the 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora to register to vote, for example. It beggars belief why any opposition candidate would still participate in an election in which ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll.
Now that the Daily News has confirmed the international community’s condemnation of last year’s elections as a farce; Zimbabwe’s opposition who had given the elections a thumbs-up and accepted the result as legitimate will now have to explain why they had ignored all the glaring flaws and irregularity!
Deputy Minister Victor Matemadanda and his war veterans are going to stage a demonstration at the USA Embassy calling for the lifting of the sanctions. The demonstrators will look very foolish indeed when they see newspaper headlines making it clear it was Mnangagwa who shot himself in the foot on the matter by failing to implement reforms.
Now that the Daily News has admitted that last year’s elections were indeed not free, fair and credible and therefore Zanu PF and its leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, are illegitimate. The gene is out of the bottle and it will not be put back in. The question the nation must now answer is; what are we going to do with the illegitimate Zanu PF regime.
Some people would argue that we should just let Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta friends serve the rest of their five year term to 2023. This is a very foolish idea for five main reasons:
1) Zimbabwe’s economy is in total meltdown because by rigging the elections Mnangagwa confirm the country is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. As long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Unemployment has soared to 90%, basic services such as water supply, working sewage, health care, etc. have all but collapsed. The prospect of four and half more years of this economic nightmare is simply unthinkable.
2) If Zanu PF is allowed to remain in office until 2023 then we can be certain that the regime will never implement any meaningful reforms and it will rig that year’s elections as readily as it rigged last year’s elections. Allowing Zanu PF to rig elections again will be madness.
3) In rigging the elections, Zanu PF was committed high treason; we have pretended not to notice and even rewarded the party with absolute power. We have paid dearly in the economic chaos and political oppression and paralysis that have ensued. We must now put an end to this madness. Zanu PF must be forced to step down, at the very least, as punishment for rigging last year’s elections.
4) We need Zanu PF to step down a.s.a.p. to allow the political space and time for the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the reforms to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible.
5) The international community will work with an interim administration to rebuild the democratic institutions and to restore basic services.
19 comments:
"The message I am carrying is that Zimbabwe is making excellent progress in its reform agenda under the TSP (Transitional Stabilisation Programme)," said Prof Ncube. "The discussions on the SMP (Staff Monitored Programme) and debt arrears clearance are (also) gathering pace.
"However, in the interim, Zimbabwe needs international support, financially, to rebuild people's lives after the devastating effects of Cyclone Idai.”
The trouble with Professor Ncube is that he is too clever by half, always talking about how clever he is and how his policies are “making excellent progress”. This is all very impressive stuff to these who are naive, gullible and have no clue what he is talking about like Mnangagwa. IMF and WB people know the mess Zimbabwe’s economy is in and what caused it; they are not going to be fooled by Ncube’s foam no beer talk!
When Professor Ncube was appointed Minister of Finance back in September last year he hit the ground running, promising to bring investors and get IMF and WB to renew their financial assistance of Zimbabwe. Eight months later, he has failed to deliver on both fronts.
Zanu PF has fallen flat on its face on the two most important reforms - reform to ensure free, fair and credible elections and reform to end corruption. Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last year’s elections and as for ending corruption he has failed to arrest even one of the swindlers looting US$15 billion every 2 to 3 years from Marange and Chiadzwa. We know the looting is still taking place because government collected revenue has remained low.
Minister Ncube is being naive in thinking investors and lenders would ever want to invest their money in a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs.
I agree that the Daily News is the first major Zimbabwean newspaper to admit that last year's elections were NOT free, fair and credible, Mnangagwa and Zanu PF rigged the elections, and therefore have no democratic mandate to govern the country. I believe the rest of the media houses will be forced to follow suit and admit the elections were rigged.
Even the Herald, Chronicle and ZBC who had ignored the facts on the ground of accepting the judgement of ZEC and the Constitutional Court. "ZEC declared President Mnangagwa the winner of the July 2018 elections and the Con Court confirmed the result after due process" The apologists used to argue, as if ZEC and the Con Court's are staffed by demigods whose virtue is impeccable and judgements are sacrosanct.
The truth is ZEC and Con Court are staffed with mere corrupt and incompetent mortals whose track record is there for all to see. ZEC has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll, failed to release all the V11 forms giving summaries of the votes each candidate received, etc. although these are all legal requirements. It should be remember that the same judiciary had ruled the 15 November 2017 military coup "legal, justified and constitutional!"
Now that the Daily News has broken rank and openly admitted that Zanu PF rigged last year's elections; declared the naked Emperor was indeed naked complete with the detailed description of his shrivelled manhood and sagging buttocks to the amusement of the public. We will not hear Mnangagwa claim the elections were free, fair and credible just as the Emperor never again paraded naked after the folly of his vanity was exposed.
@ Maphosa
If the reforms are implemented fully then the nation can stamp out corruption and the mismanagement and we will have a competent government for the first time in 38 years. With these three in place I cannot see why the economy should fail to improve!
Former President Robert Mugabe then convinced the leaders of all the states in the SADC region to dissolve the Tribunal. He was actively supported in this regard by former President Jacob Zuma and Minister Jeff Radebe.
AfriForum has been supporting the Zimbabwean farmers since 2009 in their struggle to enforce the findings of the SADC Tribunal. With the Constitutional Court’s finding that the South African government had acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally, the causa petendi for the damages claim against the South African government was completed. Luke Tembani and 19 other farmers, together with the companies through which they operated their farming activities, now claim damages that they had suffered at the hands of the South African government.
“We are delighted to be part of the ongoing struggle for justice in Zimbabwe after everyone has suffered so much. We thank God that we have got this far and encourage others to take heart and not give up. We also thank AfriForum for all their help and our amazing legal team for sticking with us and believing in seeking justice when so often all seemed lost,” says Ben Freeth, spokesperson of the Mike Campbell Foundation.
I can fellow the argument and there is no doubt in my own mind that Robert Mugabe “convinced” the other SADC leaders to unlawfully scrap the SADC Tribunal as he would have done if it had been a Zimbabwean institution.
What I find unpalatable is the the R2 billion damages will be paid by the SA taxpayer and not Zuma. The same taxpayer who, no doubt, have been short changed by Zuma on countless occasions but will never be compensated by the state or whoever is the guilty party because the common person is not so conversant with the law and does not know his/her entitlement. So the common person is short changed by Zuma and when the law savvy are short changed by the State the common person will end up paying them the compensation.
The white farmers who had their farms seized by Zanu PF are going to be compensated and it is the common person who will pay the bill. In this case, those who benefited from the seized farms and never paid even one cent to the state are not being asked to pay the compensation. This is not just!
I have nothing against the white farmers who had their farms seized by Zanu PF being compensated what I am against is that the common person should be the one paying the bill. We all know the ordinary Zimbabwean did not benefit anything from these chaotic land seizure. Those who benefited, never paid even one cent to the state for all the infrastructure and assets and yet they are not being asked to pay the compensation. How can this ever be called justice!
Workers from China and Zimbabwe work on the construction site of Zimbabwe’s new Parliament building in Mount Hampden, Zimbabwe, on April 8, 2019. Infrastructural development has become the cornerstone of China-Zimbabwe cooperation with the Asian giant investing billions of U.S. dollars in infrastructural projects in various sectors of the Zimbabwean economy.
There is nothing wrong with investing in new and grand projects the only problem in Zimbabwe is such grand projects are for prestige and for the ruling elite. And, worse still, the projects are being undertaken regardless of the appalling state of the infrastructure used by the common people.
Not only is the state not building new project for the benefit of povo but has failed to maintain what is there. The state of such hospitals as Mpilo and Parerenyatwa were the ordinary people who cannot afford the fees of the private hospitals is a crying shame.
How can anyone ever justify the building of this grand new parliament when the country’s four biggest referral hospitals are in very advanced stages to rot and decay. If the referral hospitals do not have pain killers, no bandages, etc. how much worse off are the provincial and district hospitals!
Millions of our people live in mud huts with no clean water and no sewage in this day and age and 2500 years after the Roman invented cement!
Zimbabwe does not need this grand parliament no more than the nation can afford all these palatial mansions the ruling elite are building for themselves when the majority still live in mud huts!
In her opening remarks at the national multi-stakeholder post-election conference in Nyanga yesterday, Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said the commission was now conducting an introspection of the 2018 election cycle to assess its shortcomings and seek ways to improve its management of future polls.
"The main thrust of this conference is to introspect on the 2018 harmonised elections as the commission seeks to formally bring the 2018 election cycle to its logical conclusion in preparation for the 2019-2023 election cycle," she said.
Chamisa has insisted that he won the general elections despite losing a Constitutional Court challenge and often calls Mnangagwa an illegitimate President. He also wants political dialogue to address the question of Mnangagwa's legitimacy.
Last year’s elections were a farce at anyone who cares about free, fair and credible elections readily admitted.
“The right to an effective legal remedy was not adequately provided for, there is no equal suffrage and shortcomings in the registration of voters somewhat compromised universal and equal suffrage,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
“Notably, major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party.
“Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability.
“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign.
“As such,” summed the report, “many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake!
After 38 years of rigged elections our people deserve better and they will have free, fair and credible elections next time. To achieve that we have to force this illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down complete with all its surrogate political appendages such as ZEC, Con Court, Police, etc.
It is naive to expect Zanu PF to implement any meaningful democratic reforms. It is disappointing that nations like Switzerland have chosen to support such foolish notions as Zanu PF implementing meaningful reforms even after 38 years of the party rigging elections!
Well, well! Until a few days ago Al Bashir thought he was untouchable and his rule would last and last! Now it is all over!
In Zimbabwe Mugabe thought exactly the same until 15 November 2017 when he was booted out. Sadly for Zimbabwe the country booted out one tyrant only to get another!
Zimbabwe's worsening economic meltdown is the one thing that will force the people to rebel against Mnangagwa. He is going! Mark my word, his days in power are numbered!
In her opening remarks at the national multi-stakeholder post-election conference in Nyanga yesterday, Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said the commission was now conducting an introspection of the 2018 election cycle to assess its shortcomings and seek ways to improve its management of future polls.
"The main thrust of this conference is to introspect on the 2018 harmonised elections as the commission seeks to formally bring the 2018 election cycle to its logical conclusion in preparation for the 2019-2023 election cycle," she said.
Chamisa has insisted that he won the general elections despite losing a Constitutional Court challenge and often calls Mnangagwa an illegitimate President. He also wants political dialogue to address the question of Mnangagwa's legitimacy.
Last year’s elections were a farce at anyone who cares about free, fair and credible elections readily admitted.
“The right to an effective legal remedy was not adequately provided for, there is no equal suffrage and shortcomings in the registration of voters somewhat compromised universal and equal suffrage,” stated the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
“Notably, major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party.
“Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability.
“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign.
“As such,” summed the report, “many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake!
After 38 years of rigged elections our people deserve better and they will have free, fair and credible elections next time. To achieve that we have to force this illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down complete with all its surrogate political appendages such as ZEC, Con Court, Police, etc.
It is naive to expect Zanu PF to implement any meaningful democratic reforms. It is disappointing that nations like Switzerland have chosen to support such foolish notions as Zanu PF implementing meaningful reforms even after 38 years of the party rigging elections!
Mnangagwa's world is falling apart, big time. A few days ago, the Daily News broke rank to openly admit that last year's elections were not free, fair and credible, that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party had rigged the elections. And now another leading independent paper has too broken rank to openly admit that Mnangagwa has failed to end corruption but worst of all that corruption was the one problem stopping economic recovery.
The accepted position in Zimbabwe is to blame the country's economic meltdown on sanctions; the Independent did not even mention the sanctions as a contributing factor. The paper has rightly blamed corruption as the main cause of the country's economic woes and has rightly blamed Mnangagwa for failing to stamp it out.
With unemployment at 90%, the nation facing critical shortage of fuel, foreign currency, medicine, wheat, etc. the situation has certainly reach crisis point. This is not the time to be blamed for making the crisis situation worse. Being blamed for the worsening economic situation is bad for a government with the people’s mandate to govern it is intolerable for a vote rigging and illegitimate regime.
“Did you rig the elections so you can continue with the looting and make our lives hell?” the electorate will ask. And rightly so too!
The imposed sanctions have been more symbolic than anything else because the West has never really done anything to make sure they hurt those on the list. President Trump's Admin has done things differently, they have tightened the screw.
Standard Bank was fined US$18 million for trading with people on the sanctions list; look more closely and one will probably find this has been going on ever since the sanctions were first imposed in 2001! The fine has forced everyone to seat up and pay attention! Those on the sanctions list will now find that it will not be business as usual.
Sanction means sanctions just as holding free, fair and credible elections should mean holding free, fair and credible elections. Those who ignoring the sanction just like rigging elections will from now on be punished.
Trevor Ncube is smart enough to know that life is going to get a lot more difficult for those on the sanctions list and he is trying to make us, ordinary Zimbabweans, believe that we too will suffer. All nonsense, we will not even notice it if Standard Bank closed shop today! Trevor Ncube would notice it and hence the reason the Americans should add him on the sanctions list!
@ Benzon
“If what you are saying is true, that sanctions are targeted only on a few, can you please explain to me why my Son who is studying in Malaysia, he's 21 was denied the right to open an account because of sanctions in Zimbabwe,” you say.
There are many things you have not told us! To start with all those on the sanctions list have continued to do business with the rest of the world including Malaysia. It is no secret that Mugabe and his family and many others on the sanctions list have being going to Malaysia, Singapore, and many other countries for education, health care, etc. and have made these countries their own to escape poverty and the collapsed services in Zimbabwe. No doubt, you too have sent your son to Malaysia to student for the same reasons.
There must be so other reasons why your son was denied the reason to open a bank account. The targeted sanctions are not UN sanctions and Malaysia is not an American colony so why. There are Zimbabweans in America with bank accounts so why would the American object to Malaysia allowing your son open an account there when they would allow him to do so in the USA!
How many ordinary Zimbabweans, am talking of the ¾ of the population now living on US$30 per month or less, have their sons and daughters who are studying in Malaysia, SA or some such country? It is therefore nonsense to suggest the targeted sanctions are hurting the ordinary Zimbabweans.
The millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty as a consequence of Zanu PF rigging elections and not because of the sanctions. So it makes sense that anyone fighting for the ordinary people should demand free, fair and credible elections and support the imposed sanctions as a means of piling the pressure to end the curse of rigged elections.
Since you can afford to send your son to Malaysia you are certainly not affected by the decades of bad governance, indeed you are profiting from it! The overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans are suffering and even dying from the bad governance. You clearly do not give a damn about the suffering majority but, thank God, there are some who care!
HUNDREDS of formal jobs are on the line in the economy as various businesses grapple with the realities of hyperinflation and exchange rate-induced losses. The market has witnessed massive price hikes since the announcement of the October 2018 and February 2019 monitory policy statements by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
According to ZimStat, year-on-year inflation jumped from 5,39% in September 2018 to 20,85% in October 2018. Inflation closed the year at 42,09% and has increased sharply to 59,39% in February 2019
Zanu PF rigged the 2018 election confident that Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra would attract a flood of new investors his ex-University of Cambridge Professor Minister of Finance will sweet talk the IMF, WB, ADB, etc. into giving the country all the cash it wanted. None of these things happened. Investors and lenders do not do business with corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Zanu PF rigged the elections but cannot rig economic recovery.
The only way out of this mess is for Zanu PF to step down. Zanu PF has used brute force to maintain its iron grip on power, just like Omar Al-Bashir in Sudan has done in his 30 years in power. Where is Al-Bashir now? Mnangagwa is destined to go the same way too!
Mnangagwa fudged changed following the November 2017 coup, this time the nation will not be so easily fooled!
Believing that the Mnangagwa coup of 2017 was a fresh start for the country was certainly one of the biggest mistake the people of Zimbabwe have ever made. Removing one dictator only to replace him with another was not enough to transform the corrupt and murderous dictatorship into a democratic party. It is pleasing to note that so far the people of Sudan have avoided making the same foolish mistake.
Defence Minister Awad Ibn Auf announced his decision on state TV. He named as his successor Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan. It comes after protesters refused to leave the streets, saying the coup leaders were too close to Mr Bashir.
The army has said it will stay in power for two years, followed by elections.
Replacing Omar Al Bashir with, first, his former Defence Minister Awad Ibn Auf and now this Lt Gen Abdel Burham, is an insult to the people. The people have been dying for real change and not to be presented with a fudge dressed up as change.
Sudan is in this economic and political mess because of the decades of military dictatorship of course it is nonsensical for the army to insist it is the one best place to end the mess when it has refused to accept all these years that it had failed.
The army has no business in political and governance matters best left to civilians elected by the people through free, fair and credible elections. The army should accept they had messed up big time, go back to the barracks and never ever again interfere in government.
It is pleasing to note that the people of Sudan have had the wit to stand their ground and refused to be hoodwinked the same way where hoodwinked following the November 2017 coup! Zimbabweans would promised a new dispensation and a second republic only to discover that it was the same corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. We had our noses rubbed into the bull when Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections!
@ Susan Benzon
“Wilbert Mukori I thought you were a person of integrity but I see your are an imbecile, you always think that there's always something behind because yourself you live on publishing rubbish on social media only to gain mileage on your political agenda, remember that not everyone is into politics, as a mother I only strive to give my children the best I can no matter what circumstance I'm in because IM A MOTHER, I can not live my child to study here and be stuck here just because I want to prove to people like you, that I'm not part not benefiting from government, all my life I have worked so hard to fend for my child I never got any assistance from anyone or any organisation, we are one of the few people who work hard for themselves and try to mind our own business, not like you who think writing a few I'll informed articles on social media then you think you know it all. Why don't you use that small brain of yours to write about victims in Chimanimani which is a place you can visit and get your facts write,I pay fees for my child every year, I sent him upkeep money every months and it's not easy when one is self employed and in a bond infested country. I think you need to get better glasses do that you see what's going own clearly or better ask me more of these banks and find out your self so that you write real articles with the truth in them ...I'm hurt because I'm an ordinary citizen and a parent and here you are thinking that you have balls to try n put me down....get a life you moron, varume vari pama door epa toilet nxaaa!!”
I have never doubted for one minute that you ARE A MOTHER who cares passionately about your children and I am not question that you “are one of the few people who work hard for themselves and try to mind our own business”. Still the reality is there are millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who are out of work and cannot put one decent meal on the table. 3/4 of the population now live on US$30 per month or less. They are mothers too, just like you.
The country’s economic meltdown can only be resolved by curing ourself of the curse of rigged elections and the imposed sanctions are helping us get there. To argue that the sanctions should be lifted for you and your son’s sake regardless of the suffering of the millions of others is foolish and selfish of you!
A democratic Zimbabwe with a competent and accountable government will benefit every Zimbabwean including yourself. So it only beggars belief why you are fighting to keep the corrupt and vote rigging Zanu PF thugs in power - if you are not one of them!
@ Susan Benzon
“Wilbert Mukori open your eyes, maybe since you know it all I can give you details of the banks that denied him that because THEY mentioned our country on sanctions list,I'm a worried mother,I'm not here to play dirty politics game, to you it might be a way of making headlines...but if you care so much then maybe that's an angle for you to research on and why they said so,I'm no body in politics nor do I want any special recognition but my point remains that my son could not open an account, because they told him our country is on the list ,since you know it all enlighten me then…” you say.
Just for the record the sanctions were not imposed on Zimbabwe but a select individuals and entities there in. So whoever said that he/she/they were wrong.
For the record, let me state it here and now, that I accept that even the targeted sanctions have caused some hardship on the ordinary people, these on the sanctions list saw to it that happened just as punishing an abusive husband has not stopped him taking his anger on the neighbourhood cat, his wife and children. Are we therefore going to scrap domestic violence from our statute book because while the offering breadwinner is in jail his family has suffered or worse he came back only to reoffend?
Millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty and the country’s basic services such as supply of clean water, health care, etc. have all but collapsed. Why? Because the nation has been stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 38 years because the thugs rigged the elections. We can end all this tragic human suffering if we can end this curse of rigged elections. Imposing the sanctions on those rigging elections makes perfect sense.
Are we going to let the Zanu PF off the hook to continue to deny millions of ordinary Zimbabweans their freedoms, human rights including the right to life itself because your son suffered the inconvenience of being denying the opportunity to open a bank account? Of course, that would be foolish!
A Government of National Unity mighty be set up with in the next six months Human Rights Watch Director Dewa Mavhinga has revealed.
Mavhinga said he met a ZANU PF official on Friday who informed him.
"I bumped into a senior ZanuPF official today (Friday) who said a Government of National Unity (GNU) is the only viable solution for Zimbabwe and that it might happen with 6 months." Mavhinga said.
The only plus from this is that the penny has finally dropped even in the heads of the Zanu PF hardliners that the current economic situation is socially, economically, politically and morally unsustainable. The regime has been aware of this for the last decade, at least, but the regime has stubbornly refused to change course and soldiered on.
The regime is considering another GNU now just to avoid the fate that has befallen to Omar Al Bashir’s regime.
Zimbabwe had a Zanu PF and MDC GNU in 2008 to 2013 and it failed to implement even one democratic reform. It is nonsense to think the same crooks will implement any reforms this time around. We do not want another meaningless political fudge.
The only acceptable solution is for Zanu PF to accept that it rigged last year’s elections, it has no democratic mandate to govern and must step down.
The country’s worsening economic situation has forced Zanu PF hardliners to accept this new GNU. The economy will not improve because no one in their right mind will accept this Zanu PF fudge. The pressure of the worsening economic situation will force Zanu PF to step down just as the same pressure has force the regime of Omar Al Bashir to give up power!
In the end, Zanu PF will step down!
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba has revealed that the elections body only had a 2 percent margin of error given that there was no room for the manipulation of the elections outcome.
ZEC failed to do something as basic as release a verified voters' roll which it was expected to do by law. With no verified voters’ roll there was no benchmark and so talking of margin of error is nonsense!
All the election observers condemned last year’s elections as a farce and why we are being insulted by those behind this treasonous act is a mystery!
Zanu PF does not have the people’s mandate to govern Zimbabwe and we should demand that the regime step down so we can finally implement the democratic reforms necessary to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
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