Friday 12 July 2019

Having Zanu PF and MDC for leaders is like having parents who are not a full shilling - life is hell P Guramatunhu


In the rural village where I grew up lived an odd couple, both the husband and wife were “not a full shilling”, people said. As luck would have it, the two were blessed with a child. The two would not give up the child to anyone else to look after it. The family was poor and both father and mother were drunkards and violent, especially when they were drunk. The child was always dirty, ill clothed, hungry and sickly. How the child survived is a miracle!

The boy never went to school with the other children and so he never grew up to escape the life of poverty, neglect and beer fuelled violence. What a wasted life!

What is life like for Handifari, for that is the boy’s name; I had often wondered. Not any more, I have the answer at a national level.

I know what is life like for the millions of Zimbabweans out there stuck with a ruling party, Zanu PF, and the opposition, MDC, who are not a full shilling. 39 years of Zanu PF misrule has turned Zimbabwe from one of the richest nation in Africa to the poorest. Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 90%, 3/4 of the population now live in abject poverty, basic services such as supply of clean running water and health care have all but collapsed. The party has rigged the elections to maintain its iron grip on power and has recently shot dead protesters to remind us all the regime will never hesitate to use brute force to maintain its iron grip on power. 

The people elected MDC leaders on the promise they would implement the democratic reforms to restore the people’s basic freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life. They have failed to implement not even one reform in 20 years although they had many golden opportunities to do so, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

Now it is clear that MDC leaders have not only abandoned all efforts to implement the reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship, they are now hell bend on participating in flawed and illegal elections and thus giving the dictatorship some modicum of political credibility and legitimacy. Instead of fighting Zanu PF to restore the individual freedoms and rights MDC are now complacent in the Zanu PF dictatorship ethos that Zanu PF has the divine right to rule. MDC leaders have switched all their attention to advising the dictators on what economic policies it must follow. They are hell-bend on making the dictatorship work at all cost!


“We are doing so many of the right things, our team is looking much better than previous teams and slowly we are earning recognition that we may even win a game or two! However, I identify seven areas where we need immediate action or we will be kicked out of the contest. These are:

“Exchange rate

“We have now done almost everything that we need to do to establish a market-driven exchange rate that will allow us to meet our needs for all essentials and at the same time get our export industries going.

“But it is not happening. Statutory Instrument 142 did a great deal — the market rates are converging, the informal traders are moving hard currency into the formal market and exchange rates have strengthened — but not enough.”
He went on to enumerate other areas needing immediate action, “Fuel supplies, “Electricity load-shedding, and Wheat, maize, soyabeans”.

What Eddie Cross is ignoring is that this so called “our team” is certainly not a national team because Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections.

Whilst Eddie has been relentless in heaping praise on this Mnangagwa regime insisting it is “looking much better than previous teams and slowly we are earning recognition”. The cold reality is the regime is composed of the same incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs.

The thugs are so incompetent they cannot follow through even on common sense advice, even their own. Both Mnangagwa and Mthuli Ncube said Zimbabwe “ensure the economic fundamentals were in place” before introducing the local currency as the only legal tender. SI 142, which Eddie Cross is praising here, was introduced before any of the fundamentals were in place.

It is therefore naïve to believe the Zimbabwe economic will ever recover whilst the country economy remains in its comatose state brought on by the criminal waste of human and material resources because of the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. A recent Auditor General report confirmed millions of dollars are still be wasted in government institutions and parastatals over and above the billions be looted in the diamond industry and other areas. Mugabe admitted US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue was “swindled”. No nation on earth can afford such a wholesale haemorrhage of wealth and resources.

Zanu PF has done nothing to end the mismanagement and corruption because these are an integral part of the regime’s political patronage system that has helped keep the party in power. The Zanu PF leaders themselves are the God Fathers of corruption. The only sure way to end the mismanagement and corruption is to remove these Zanu PF thugs from office. The only way to remove them from office peacefully is to implement the democratic reforms designed to free state institutions such as ZEC and the Police of the corrupting influence of Zanu PF to ensure free, fair and credible elections. The very thing the people elected MDC leaders to do but have failed to do and will never do.

We are stuck with a corrupt, incompetent, murderous and vote rigging ruling party. And the opposition party we elected to end the Zanu PF dictatorship is now the regime’s greatest acolyte; I now know how hopeless and helpless Handifari must have been. Handifari is Shona for “I am not happy!”

“It is extremely frustrating to sit on the sidelines of this game we are all playing called "getting Zimbabwe back on track!" For the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans, the Handifaris, forced to watch this macabre game Zanu PF and MDC are playing, their miserable existence is heart-breaking for no human being should ever be forced to endure such economic hardships denied their freedoms, human rights and hope! No one!

10 comments:

Patrick said...

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has been touting a budget surplus of nearly ZWL500million (R19.6m) as signalling the government’s success in effectively managing fiscal spaces.
“The government is no longer running huge fiscal deficits.

“Inflation or other challenges on the exchange rate are caused by the creation of money,” Guvamatanga said.

Government increased the civil servant wages by 22% three months ago and has just increased the wages again by 40%. We all know government was spending up to 80% of paying the wage bill and that the Zimbabwe economy has been shrinking. So, where has government got the money to pay these wage increases and still have a budget surplus of Z$ 500 million? This surplus is just creative accounting!

Patrick said...

Yes Zanu PF rigged last year's elections and the regime is illegitimate what is wholy unacceptable is that MDC is seeking to give the regime legitimacy in return for a few seats on the gravy train. MDC sold out in failing to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and the party is seeking to sell-out again!

Zimbabwe Light said...

This comes after the Finance minister recently said government was working on increasing the price of fuel in line with the interbank rate, which could be between ZW$9 and ZW$12 — up from the current ZW$5,26 — as well as electricity tariffs.

Though such increases may make sense in view of the loss of value of the local RTGS currency, the major question is: How are ordinary people going to be cushioned against such "astronomical" increases, given that salaries are rarely going up? This is something that government needs to look into to ensure that ordinary people do not get the short-end of the stick.

Zanu PF should not have scrapped the use of the foreign currency before it had got the economic fundamentals to ensure a stable local currency were in place. Imposing the local currency as the only legal tender at a time when inflation was already 100% and no measures in place to stop printing money to finance government expenditure was a dead give away the regime was being reckless. The fuel hikes will fuel inflation and cause a new wave of price increases.

We are on the slippery inflation slope and we are gathering speed as we slip down the slope. In 2008 inflation peaked at 500 billion %. We are already at 100% and one wonder how high will inflation be allowed to soar before those in power finally come to their senses. This is a nightmare!

Nomusa Garikai said...

This has been worsened by corruption and incompetence at the state entity. Among a number of fraudulent deals, the Auditor-General's report for year-ended December 2018 exposed shocking levels of graft with the power utility paying Pito Investments US$4,9 million for transformers nine years ago which were never delivered.

Zesa subsidiary Zimbabwe Power Company paid well over US$560 000 to the same company for the supply of another set of transformers which were also never delivered.

Anyone who expects any meaningful economic recovery when there is so much criminal waste of resources does not know what he/she is talking about. Worse still, by allowing this level of waste to continue, this proves Zimbabweans are not yet ready for a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is in this mess because Zimbabweans have shown no interest in ending misrule and until they do, the country will continue to sink into the abyss.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Chamisa says Chingumba will not run the next elections.

What will that change? MDC asked the last ZEC chairperson to go and that did not stop Zanu PF rigging the last elections. We need to fix the problem and not to keep kicking the can down the road!

Zimbabwe Light said...

It was Zanu PF who imposed this disastrous and murderous de facto one party, Zanu PF, dictatorship on the nation. There have been many golden opportunities to end the dictatorship, especially during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, but they have all been wasted and none other than the MDC.

Ever since the GNU, MDC have certainly given up all attempts to dismantle the dictatorship, they have paid lip service to reform for the sake of silencing the naive and gullible. They have accepted the dictatorship complete with its carte blanche dictatorial powers including the power to rig elections in return for the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.

Indeed, by participating in flawed and illegal elections, MDC have given the election and Zanu PF so modicum of credibility and legitimacy. For the last year MDC have been pushing Mnangagwa to include Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders in the Zanu PF cabinet, as the price for MDC endorsing Mnangagwa as the legitimate president following the rigged elections.

So, it correct to say Zanu PF dragged us into this hell-on-earth and MDC, whom the people risked life and limb on the promise of helping us to get out of the hell, are now actively helping Zanu PF stay in power and keeping us imprisoned.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Thank you Zimeye for taking up the challenge of Cheer Leader, your support of our girls in this competition was invaluable. Thank you!

Zimbabwe Light said...

Zanu PF apologist call for the arrest of those who roughed up S B Moyo.

Was this not the same S B Moyo who was a member of the November 2017 putsch and the blatant rigging of national elections last July! How ironic that the man who guilty of high treason should be complaining of common assault.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Zimbabwe had its own local currency up to 2008 and that did not stop the economy crashing; inflation peaked at 500 billion %, Z$ 35 quadrillion (35 followed by 24 zeros) = US$1.00, shop shelves were empty, etc. The scrapping of the Z$ was the most logical thing to do and the economic recovery that followed speaks volumes; instead of the negative economic growth rates of the last ten year Zimbabwe register a 12% growth rate.

Whilst there is nothing wrong to reintroduce the local currency, per se, it is foolish to do so without first making sure the economic fundamentals that had cause the last hyperinflation are not addressed. None of the economic fundamentals have been addressed; we still have gross mismanagement and rampant corruption, nothing has been done to revive local production resulting in skewed balance of trade, etc.

People like Linda have no clue what they are talking about but it is to be expected especially from our corrupt and incompetent opposition. Linda and her fellow opposition friends participated in last year's elections and judge them free, fair and credible. Of course, Zanu PF rigged the elections and Linda and company did not even have the common sense to demand that ZEC produce a verified voters' roll.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Zimbabwe is a banana republic and you want Zimbabweans to bury their heads in the sand and pretend it is a healthy and functioning democracy.

You are just a hypocrite who is condemning the protesters for roughing up Minister SB Moyo, a minor civil offense, and yet you have never condemned him and his Zanu PF friends for state capture and blatantly rigging last year's elections, high treason!