When Zimbabwe gained her independence in 1980, the country had the potential to become a prosperous nation, the South Korea of Africa. The last 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has changed all that. Zimbabwe is in economic ruins; unemployment has soared to the dizzying heights of 80% plus, basic services such as supply of clean water, working sewage, health care, etc. have all but totally collapsed.
3/4 of our people now live on US$30 or less per month; the poverty datum line is US$650 per month.
The nation has had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but has wasted them all.
“Chawawana batisisa midzimu haipi kaviri!” so goes the Shona adage. The English/Latin equivalent would be “Seize the day!” “Carpe diem!”
Most of the golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship fell to the MDC and one has only to listen to some of the party’s leaders to know why the opportunities were wasted.
“Today Zimbabwe reminded me why I think this is such an amazing place to live,” wrote Eddie Cross, a leading MDC leader since 1999 until his retirement from active politics last year.
“I drove down town to a cafe for breakfast with a few friends and enjoyed a cup of coffee at a place where I was greeted by name by the security guard at the gate and by every waiter.
“And it's not just the physical beauty of the place and the magnificent weather, it is the people. … A church put out an appeal for aid for the people caught up in the cyclone in the east and the police had to direct traffic when the response simply overwhelmed the church. One elderly woman walked 17km to give her surplus kitchen utensils — carrying them on her head. A local businessman who saw the picture of her doing so came up with an offer to buy her a home of her own.”
Are we talking about the same Zimbabwe where 3/4 are so poor they cannot afford even one decent meal a month much less a treat of breakfast in a cafe!
If the aid from fellow Zimbabweans was so “overwhelming” then why was it that two weeks after the cyclone there were still many Zimbabweans in desperate need of food, drinking water, etc.
I know there are some filthy rich Zimbabweans out there who live in palatial mansions, own multiple farms and businesses, have a fleet of posh cars, travel outside Zimbabwe for all their education and health needs, live extravagant lifestyles, fly in luxury private jets (at taxpayers’ expense), etc., etc. This is the first time I have ever heard the a businessman buying an old lady a home of her own!
If this was the real Zimbabwe then why would anyone want anything changed.
Mr Cross is careful to distinguish the Zimbabwe now from the Zimbabwe of Mugabe days which he, readily admits was a disaster for the nation.
“When President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the exercise in November 2017 to remove the then President Robert Mugabe from power, it was our people who gave the operation legitimacy by a national demonstration of joy and support for the tough soldiers on every street corner. This was not contrived and people across the globe watched as we freed ourselves from a tyranny — many with tears in their eyes as they watched history being made in a small way in an African State that had lost its way after Independence in 1980,” wrote Mr Cross.
“And boy, had we lost our way!”
So why did MDC fail to implement even one democratic reform to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule when the party had the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU? This is the question Mr Cross has failed to answer in his article and in the past.
“Facing a hostile and sceptical world; including the Zimbabwe population, the new leadership struggled to convince people that anything had changed — but it had,” Cross continued.
“A transition was underway and the new government needed the help of both the domestic and international community to fix the problems they had inherited.”
The truth is, other than the cosmetic change of replacing the top dog, Robert Mugabe, with Emmerson Mnangagwa; nothing had changed. Mnangagwa promised to end corruption but has failed to do so.
In 2015 Mugabe admitted the country was “swindled” out of $15 billion in diamond revenue. He never arrested even one swindler or recover one dollar.
Indeed the swindling continued as the then Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, told parliament in 2016 that the country was getting 1/6 of the expected diamond revenue.
Mnangagwa has been in power for over a year and a half and yet he too has yet to arrest one swindler and recover one dollar. The same players are still mining the diamonds and collected revenue has not improved and so the looting is still taking place.
“An amnesty for stolen funds has recouped $825 million in three months but, as Mr Mnangagwa admits, the difficulty is in fighting a corruption so deeply embedded that even government officials cannot tell who is (not) tainted,” reported The National, Abu Dhabi.
Mnangagwa also promised to hold free, fair and credible elections but has failed to honour that promise too. By blatantly rigging the elections, Zanu PF has confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state.
The flood gate of new investors who were expected to answer Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” call has not happened. The nation was assured new lines of credit would soon open so the IMF and WB will once again bankroll the country’s development efforts; that too has not happened. The domestic and international help Mr Cross is talking about has not materialised.
Ever since the July 2018 rigged elections the country has lurched from one economic crisis to the next caused by shortages of fuel, food, medicine and foreign currency. Since the regime allowed the de facto local currency, RTGS$, to float it has already lost a quarter of its value compared to its value in January.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. The economic meltdown and the shortages and the hardships they bring are set to get worse.
“Did we really think we could fix all our historical problems without pain? If we did, we were mistaken,” says Eddie Cross.
How ironic and absurd is that! Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power on the ticket they Eddie Cross and company will implement the necessary reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. As if it was not bad enough MDC leaders sold-out on reforms, they now have the chic to ask the people to bear even worse human suffering and deaths in the vain hope that will bring about economic recovery regardless of the continued Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical misrule.
By being incompetent and corrupt, rigging the elections, carrying out the murderous oppression, etc. Zanu PF leaders have proven they are unfit to govern this great country. Zanu PF does not have the people’s mandate to govern and should step down. Why anyone should want the regime to remain in office for even one more day is a mystery!
13 comments:
@ Eddie Cross
For the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans living in abject poverty with no clean water, no health care services and no hope of landing a proper job, etc.; they would not agree that Zimbabwe is an amazing place to live.
“The new dispensation is going to strengthen the productive elements in our society — those who actually produce value are going to prosper and in the process this will eventually make Zimbabwe one of the fastest growing economies in the world — one of the new African lions of growth,” you say.
This is nonsense, as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovering. The worsening economic meltdown we have seen since the rigged July 2018 elections are here to stay.
These people risked life and limb to elect you, Mr Cross, and your fellow MDC leaders into office on the understanding you will implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and riding roughshod over the people's freedoms, human rights, hopes and dreams. You have wasted the many golden opportunities to do this and now want the people top bury their heads in the sand and expect to accomplish meaningful economic recovery through suffering and death.
@ Eddie Cross
“When President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the exercise in November 2017 to remove the then President Robert Mugabe from power, it was our people who gave the operation legitimacy by a national demonstration of joy and support for the tough soldiers on every street corner. This was not contrived and people across the globe watched as we freed ourselves from a tyranny — many with tears in their eyes as they watched history being made in a small way in an African State that had lost its way after Independence in 1980,” you admitted.
Surely you are not saying that the nation is now free from tyranny when 8 months latter Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the elections and ruthless silence those who dared to voice their disappointment at the rigged elections and the worsening economic meltdown.
The nation’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections is the root cause of the why we are in this economic and political mess. And, by the same token, those who think the country can ever recover from this mess without exorcising the demons behind the vote rigging and wanton violence are either naïve or reckless sell-outs.
Breakfast at the café! Good for you but how many Zimbabweans out there have to live for the whole week on what you spend on breakfast! It is very disappointing that people like Eddie Cross should refuse to see the tragic human suffering around them just because they are doing well and continue to enjoy the comforts of life!
So you agree that Zanu PF rigged last year's election and hence are illegitimate. The proposed 10 year GNU led by Zanu PF and MDC will accomplish nothing, they failed to implement even one reform last time. This is clearly meant to appease Zanu PF by keeping them in power under the pretext of a GNU and punish the innocent who have suffered all these years under the corrupt and vote rigging regime!
No Zanu PF rigged last year's elections, the regime has no mandate to govern and must step down. The country must then appoint an interim administration that will implement the democratic reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections. Enough is enough!
"Facing a hostile and sceptical world; including the Zimbabwe population, the new leadership struggled to convince people that anything had changed — but it had," Cross continued.
How anyone can say Zanu PF had changed when the party has just blatantly rigged the elections beggars belief. MDC leaders like David Coltart and Eddie Cross have again and again made these nonsensical comments suggesting last year's elections were free, fair and credible when the regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll!
It is heart breaking that the ordinary Zimbabweans risked their life and limb, over 500 lost their lives and millions were beaten and/or raped in 2008 alone, to elect people like Cross into power in the hope they would deliver the democratic changes the nation has been dying for. Now, it turns out, these MDC leaders have no clue what constitute free, fair and credible elections!
How I wish people like Coltart and Cross would do the nation a great favour and shut up!
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Wednesday accused local businesses of profiteering for linking price increases of basic goods to exchange rate movements of a new transitional currency.
Since the RTGS dollar was introduced in February, prices of staples including sugar, cooking oil and rice have risen as much as 60 percent, squeezing already hard-pressed consumers and fuelling resentment against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government.
The RTGS launched at 2.5 to the U.S. dollar on February 22 and now trades at around 4.3 on the black market.
Price changes should be determined by inflation trends, Ncube said, adding that month-on-month inflation was slowing.
"It is actually bad economics to link price increases to the exchange rate. That's not how you do it, it is profiteering," Ncube told reporters.
This is just nonsense, of course people should link prices to the exchange rate since most goods and services have a significant foreign currency input, direct or indirect.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the country’s economic woes will only get worse. No investors and lenders will want to do business with a pariah state!
Minister Mthuli Ncube is clearly confusing sound economic principles with political spin verging on voodoo economics! The reality is Zimbabwe’s economy is in serious trouble and his blundering from pillar to post is not helping one bit!
"It is clear, therefore, that re-engagement will be more of a process than an event; That it will be anchored in confidence-building measures, sending the right signals with regard to reform and with regard to our commitment to the conduct of 'decent politics'; and the pursuit of economic policies that will restore and sustain macro-economic stability and that will provide guarantees on government's intention to meet its international obligations," said Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo.
"Re-engagement will be more of a process than an event!" Yeah right. Whom do you think you are fooling! We all know that the re-engagement drive has stalled. "Zimbabwe is open for business!" is all but dead!
By rigging last year's elections Zanu PF confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs.
Ever since his "this is not a military coup but a military assisted transition" Moyo has fancy himself as a great orator whose mastery of the language is second to none. By the clever usage of language he could make people believe red is blue, rigged elections were free, fair and credible. Well the reality is he is just another ignoramus who, promoted way above his level of competency, has made a complete ass of himself!
The latest increment effectively means the lowest paid government worker will take home RTGS$ 600. According to the rate of 3.70 the lowest paid civil servant will get US$163 but the rate is expected to increase as civil servants get their salaries.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) secretary general Japhet Moyo said “RTGS$ 600 is a third of what workers are supposed to earn in terms of the PDL (poverty datum line) remember the PDL is a moving earache (sic) and currently is at 1800 by next week it’s expected to be double.”
This is a fudge, government is trying to bully the civil servants into believing that they are getting a pay rise when they are getting a pay cut. Most basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed but are about to get even worse. The salary the civil servants are getting is not enough to pay for transport, food, accommodation, etc. There is no way one can expect a worker to turn up for work every day with no transport, on an empty stomach, etc.
Government pretends to pay the workers and they will pretend to work!
All those calling for the so called "national dialogue" must know their initiative is doomed to fail from the word go because they have not been honest in making this call.
We are not talking of a nation that has just had national elections that failed to produce a clear winner and the dialogue is to allow the formation of a coalition government. We are talking of a country in which the elections were blatantly rigged and an illegitimate party now forms the ruling party. Those calling for talks are, by so doing, giving the illegitimate regime some modicum of credibility. There is nothing honest or honorable in doing that!
Zanu PF must be told in no uncertain terms that the party rigged last year's elections and so it does not have the mandate to govern the country. The only national dialogue with Zanu PF is to talk about how and when party will step down. Zanu PF must not be allowed to remain in power in whatever form because the nation's top priority now has to be to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible. If Zanu PF is in power in 2023 then the party will rig those elections too.
Chinono is admitting that Zanu PF is illegitimate well, well! But like the clever Alec he is he admits it in one breath and in the next he is fighting for Zanu PF. He blames the disputed elections not on Zanu PF rigging but on the election themselves for not being democratic!
So after blatantly rigging the elections Zanu PF is to be rewarded with not just the usual five-year term in office, Chinono wants the term doubled. 10 years without having to bother with holding elections! Why he is bothering to suggest there will be a referendum to approve the proposed solution is laughable - Zanu PF has just rigged the elections does he really believe they would not rig the referendum too particularly since this would be what the MDC leaders want too!
I agree that the international community will not be easily fooled.
The only logical way out of this mess is for Zanu PF to step down. After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule; there is nothing for it, Zanu PF must go! My greatest wish is that Zanu PF goes peacefully but with each day the regime remains in office the greater the chance the regime will be booted out of office. Idiots like Chinono are not doing the nation any favours by encouraging the Zanu PF thugs to hang on to power with all these appeasement packages!
Amnesty International on Thursday called a police raid on the newsroom of a Zimbabwe online news site, 263 Chat, in the capital city a blatant assault on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom.
The police chased reporter Lovejoy Mtongwiza to the website’s offices after he was seen filming them removing vendors from the streets in Harare, Amnesty said in a statement. It said the reporter ran into the offices and that the police, who had followed him, fired teargas into the newsroom.
Zanu PF is a party of thugs and all those who thought the party had changed with the removal of Mugabe now know that nothing changed. Nothing!
“The distribution of Cyclone Idai donations must be left to NGO’s on the ground and not politicians. The heartless and corrupt Zanu-PF politicians seeking to profit from this crisis must be brought to book,” Trevor Ncube wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday night.
We all know that the Zanu PF politicians will never be brought to book. Indeed this is standard Zanu PF modus operandi and Trevor knows it. When he agreed to be a member of the President Advisory Council, he knew that Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections and using state or donor aid for political gain is one of the many Zanu PF dirty tricks. Mr Ncube is just grant standing for selfish reasons! He craves publicity!
Mnangagwa: “The one which pleases most is the one by Trump. It is Trump I am talking about. Do you really know Trump? The very same man who put sanctions.
“Just yesterday he sent his ambassador over here, and he came with 2 and a 1/2 million dollars, heee! heee!
“2 and a 1/2 million dollars from their own country not our RTGS [KWETE: SHONA STRONG PERJORATIVE DISAPPROVAL FOR THE CURRENCY ] . From their own country. 2 and a 1/2 million dollars from their own country, and he said go and help yourselves.
Zanu PF has rigged elections and committed other human rights violations for the last 38 years and has so far managed to get away with it. The West has always made a big farce about it but has always done very little or nothing about it. The sanctions imposed by the West on the regime in 2001 have been more an inconvenience than an effective punishment.
Before last year’s elections the West, especially the American, went to great length to explain they would want Zanu PF to honour the promise to hold free and fair elections for them to lift the economic sanctions. Zanu PF has ignored the warning and blatantly rigged the elections.
The EU was the first to blink, they condemned the elections in very strong terms but they did not have the commitment to impose the sanctions. The economic greed of some EU members like Belgium who are keen to join the Chinese, Indians, Russians, Israelis, etc. in the looting of Zimbabwe’s resources got the better of them.
The reason why Mnangagwa is over the moon on the American donation is because he sees it as the first act in the Americans turning a blind eye on Zanu PF’s failure to hold free and fair elections. But even if the Americans were to relent, in the name of “America first!”; still I do not believe the investors and lenders will follow suit. The EU and the American governments can afford making a bad financial decision but not so with investors and lenders. They cannot afford to be reckless with their own or someone else’s money!
Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is set to continue as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Mnangagwa's celebrations may well be pre-mature.
"Government policies in Zimbabwe are worsening the country’s economic crisis, causing immense hardship to those less well-off, and crushing the human rights of those who dare complain, a group of UN experts* has warned." This is true.
There is no doubt that the poorest of the poor are paying dearly for Zimbabwe's austerity measures. Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube's 2% electronic transaction tax targeted the vendors because they were no paying income tax. He knew these vendors were earning as little as US$30 per month in a country in which the poverty datum line is US$650 per month. He wanted to a cut from their meagre earnings the Shakespearean pound of flesh!
What is more, Minister Ncube knows that the country is losing billions of dollars every month through rampant corruption as former President Robert Mugabe readily admitted in 2016. The Minister has done nothing to make sure the looters pay tax much less stamp out the corrupt!
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs and as long as nothing is done to end this curse there is very little hope of a meaningful economic recovery. Investors and lenders do not do business with pariah state.
The poor are paying for Zimbabwe's austerity policies with their very lives and it is all for nothing because without first correcting the country's skewed political and economic system there will be no economic recovery. None!
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