There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: "A republic, if you can keep it."
“The brevity of that response should not cause us to under-value its essential meaning: democratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people, they are also absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health,” commented Professor Richard Beeman.
If Benjamin Franklin was alive today, he would be the first one to admit that his fellow Americans have done very well indeed in keeping the republic. And he would, no doubt, agree with Professor Beeman that the secrete of their success is in “the active and informed involvement of the people”.
Zimbabwe “is unitary, democratic and sovereign republic” according to our Constitution. If the truth be told we lost all that before we ever got it!
It is no secrete that the 1980 elections to elect the country’s post independence black majority rule government were not free, fair and credible. Robert Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leaders did not withdraw all his freedom fighters into assembly points as agreed. These cadres were deployed for one purpose and one purpose only - to remind the electorate that if Zanu PF did not win the elections the civil war would continue.
Such was the prevalent influence of the Zanu PF cadres, vast swathes of the country were no-go areas for Zanu PF’s political rivals. The people of Zimbabwe voted to end the civil war; the very antithesis of what a democratic election should be.
Some people have argued that the threat by Zanu PF cadres in 1980 was just a bluff with very little or no effect on the populous. Zanu PF launched the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre; there was no doubt then of the party’s murderous intent.
The primary purpose of Gukurahundi was to crash PF Zapu, Zanu PF’s main political rival, and impose the one-party state. PF Zapu was forced to sign the unity accord and, Walla, Mugabe got the de facto one-party state he was after.
As soon as Zanu PF got into power in April 1980, the party has worked tireless to undermine the country’s democratic constitution, institutions and usurped the people’s freedoms and rights to establish and retain the de facto one party dictatorship.
When Emmerson Mnangagwa removed Zimbabwe’s last dictator, Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup; he promised the nation “a new dispensation, a Second Republic, free, fair and credible elections, etc.” Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s right hand man and chief enforcer throughout the failed first Republic; no one expected him to keep any of his promises. He did not! The Second Republic was a still-birth.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. Forty years of corrupt and tyrannical rule have reduced the country into one of the poorest nation with soaring unemployment rates and basic services such as health care all but collapsed.
Zimbabwe is not a peaceful and prosperous republic because the nation’s founding fathers never intended it to be anything other than a dictatorship masquerading as a republic.
If we are serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship then we must force the regime to step down so we can implement the democratic reforms necessary to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Nothing of any substance will ever be accomplished in Zimbabwe until we cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections.
16 comments:
Father Mukonori said with the influence Mugabe had, his writings could live forever and be useful to generations to come.
Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant and his misrule has condemned millions of ordinary Zimbabweans to a life of abject poverty. It is therefore shocking that anyone with half a working brain would still consider Mugabe anything else other than the corrupt dictator he was! It is disappointing that people like Father Mukonori are fascinated by power they are now totally blind to reality.
Almost all hospitals nurses report for duty twice a week because they are not paid enough even for transport. If this does not move the minister of health what then can move him.
It can be said that failure in service provision, implementation of misguided health policies, plans and projects; and above all corruption, have had a devastating impact on the health care sector in Zimbabwe.
Healthcare problems in Zimbabwe range from inadequate policy monitoring, mistreatment of patients, shortage of drugs and medical supplies in public health institutions, poorly equipped health centres, lack of labs, lack of modern medical equipment, scattered storage facilities for drugs, to proliferation of poorly constructed health centres with no water facilities.
The total collapse of Zimbabwe’s health care services is a great tragedy but what makes it worse is the fact that the nation has allowed the situation to sink to these nauseating depths of human tragedy. It is bad enough that Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is a man-made problem it is unforgivable that we have allowed this tragic situation to go on all these years and dragging the nation this deep.
What have you ever done to stop and/or end the Zanu PF misrule? This is the haunting question millions of Zimbabweans out there must ask themselves. Sadly, many of them will have no answer - this is indeed the greatest curse of this nation. We have many Zimbabweans but very few citizens with half a brain!
“We continue to participate to expose the chaos and bias in Zec, its incapacity to run a credible election and its unwillingness to implement recommendations of the 2018 observer missions,” said Jacob Mafume, MDC Secretary for elections.
“To date, they have not released the 2018 election report as required by law, neither have they done so for subsequent by-elections.”
Zanu PF knows that it will risk losing elections if they were free, fair and credible and hence the reason the party will never implement any reforms. The party knows that as long as it allows MDC to win a few gravy train seats the opposition will always participate regardless how flawed and illegal the process got. David Coltart admitted this in his book.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections,” admitted Senator Coltart.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
MDC has always struggle to explain why the party has continued to participate to hide their greed. Mafume has come up with many excuses and this is just one such feeble excuse.
"As DIRCO we acted on the SADC decision, but we felt that we may need to go one step beyond such a call and begin a process on reflecting on the solutions that could be considered to actively address the challenges. We have all become very competent at addressing and adopting resolutions yet far too inadequate in informed reflection on what solutions or approaches may be practicable."
Commenting on Zimbabwe's situation, Minister Pandor noted that the political formations in Zimbabwe remain at loggerheads and have apparent deep antipathy toward each other which makes joint decision making and planning extremely difficult.
"It seems clear that even as we support the call for an end to economic sanctions, the political dynamics are inextricably linked to the economic and thus should be confronted simultaneously." She said.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state riled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs the country will continue to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss.
Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 90, with the firing of the doctors and nurses the regime has just delivered the coup de grace on the country’s health care services, inflation is soaring to 400% plus, etc. The country is now standing on the very edge of the dangerous precipice; the danger of Zimbabwe moving up a gear from a failed state to an unstable nation like Libya or Syria is real.
Zimbabwe needs to address the curse of rigged elections with the sense of urgency the matter demands. Sanctions is but a decoy and it is very disappointing that SADC leaders have allowed themselves to be conned by Zanu PF into believing that sanctions were country’s number one problems, especially given the mountain of evidence proving otherwise.
Many Zimbabweans are, for the first time, facing up to the country’s corrupt and tyrannical ruling elite and demanding free, fair and credible elections. It is really infuriating that their courage and sacrifice is being undermined by our own fellow Africans, especially those who have routinely enjoyed democratic elections as a matter of cause.
In continuing to foolishly support the sanctions, Minister Pandor, like President Cyril Ramaphosa, has shown once again just how foolish she is. Sadly for Africa, we have had more than our fair share of foolish leaders and hence the reason the continent has remained the dark continent, forever blundering for pillar to post.
Chin'ono said, "Empty and Ghostly, this is Parirenyatwa Hospital this evening! Only tired army doctors who are providing an auxiliary service. Ward after ward, it was empty! Not only doctors are off work, even the hard working nurses have left their stations due to wage incapacitation!”
If there were any doubters that Zanu PF has no clue how to revive the nation’s economy the firing of doctors and nurses to deliver the coup de grace on the country’s health care service removed all the doubt. If a big referral hospital like Parerenyatwa is in this sorry state, what more the backwater rural hospitals.
It is unforgivable that Zimbabweans have allowed themselves to be dragged this deep into the economic and political mess. The nation has paid dearly for its folly and it will take generation, if at all, for the nation to recover out of this mess.
If there is anything that Zimbabweans should have regrettably learnt the hard way, over the past years, is never to support or celebrate ZANU PF internal factional fighting, especially when this culminates in military intervention (in other words, a coup d'etat) - as these not only have absolutely nothing to do with the welfare and wellbeing of the over-burdened ordinary people, but actually intensifies our suffering.
The November 2017 military coup did not give us a better government or any hope of ever getting one. The very fact that those involved in the coup believed that the new dispensation was going to revive the nation’s economic fortunes only goes to show how naive and gullible they are. If there was ever any doubt of just how hopelessly incompetent this Mnangagwa regime is the firing of the doctors and thus delivering the coup de grace on the health care service was the last straw.
@ Dobbs Arthur
“There is nothing to learn from ED. Let's us all join People Power Movement coordinated by Matapo and remove evil ED and ZANU PF system using international laws.”
I agree “there is nothing to learn from ED” per se, but there is plenty to learn from the nation has gone through these last 40 years. Those who fail to earn from the past are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
There is nothing in what Matapo has said so far to convince me that he understands why Zimbabwe is stuck in this mess. He has talked endlessly of “removing ED and Zanu PF” but has yet to say how! The devil is always in the detail. Zimbabweans are desperate for change but, I hope, not so desperate as to join this People Power Movement on the basis of Matapo’s word that he alone KNOWS what needs to be done and we should all blindly follow him.
Junior doctors have mocked Health Minister Obadiah Moyo’s remarks that the government will avail ZUPCO buses for doctors to alleviate their incapacitation.
In a post on microblogging site Twitter, Zimbabwe Hospitals Doctors Association (ZHDA) secretary-general, Mthabisi Anele Bhebhe expressed down on whether Minister Moyo knows what a doctor does.
BY firing doctors and delivering the coup de grace on the country’s health care services this Zanu PF government has once again proven it has no clue as to how to get the nation out of this economic and political mess.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and the party was cocksure it was going to revive the Zimbabwe economy; the latter has turned out to be a bridge too far. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs this country is destined to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss.
The doctors and nurse are asking for living wage not ZUPCO buses!
“Paul Mangwana and Mwonzora were invited to KGVI to look at ways, within the context of the constitution, to legitimise the coup and for two days both Mangwana and Mwonzora moved around in convoys guarded by the army.”
Mawarire said he was not sure whether MDC had sanctioned Mwonzora to render the services.
“I don’t know but the fact of the matter is that Sen Mwonzora worked with his buddy Munyaradzi Mangwana, from KGVI, to look for ‘constitutional’ ways of legitimizing the coup. Ever wondered why Chiwenga was happy to be photographed waving the constitution during coup meetings?”
Another human rights lawyer who offered services to the military during the coup was South African based Gabriel Shumba.
And all the three amigos came up with was to recommend that Justice Chiweshe declare the coup “legal, constitutional and justified!” How typical!
Not many people out there would be surprised if this was true. After all MDC leaders including the party president at the time, Morgan Tsvangirai, whole heartedly supported the coup in the hope that it would result in yet another GNU and gravy train seats for MDC leaders.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because the country has had the great misfortune of having more than its fair share of Judas Iscariot type sell-outs. Mangwana, Mwonzora and Shumba are three out of hundred of thousands of others like Jonathan Moyo, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Kirsty Coventry, David Coltart, Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, Mnangagwa, etc., etc.
Zimbabweans must step up their campaign to hold sell-outs to account including having them added to sanctions lists, etc. No nation can advance one inch when there are so many individual ready and willing to sell-out at every turn!
I agree, Zimbabwe's founding fathers never wanted the ordinary Zimbabwean to enjoy freedom, justice and liberty. Robert Mugabe and company wanted to end white colonial oppression and domination but only for them to be the next oppressors. Gukurahundi was all about Zanu PF fulfilling its political ambition of being the dominant political party in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe did not put PF Zapu to the sword in 1980 for the simple reason that the latter had fought in the war of liberation. The party hard no such qualms putting Muzorewa and his supporters to the sword from the word go. Zanu PF has shown the same ruthless intolerance to other opposition parties with no liberation war background. The dissent threat provided Mugabe with the smokescreen cover he wanted to go after PF Zapu.
If is nonsense to expect Zimbabweans to keep Zimbabwe as a republic since Mugabe and company never gave the nation a republic. How can one defend and keep something they never had.
If Zimbabweans want a republic complete with the basic human freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections; then we have to fight Zanu PF for it. Mnangagwa insist last year's elections were free, fair and credible and he will never implement any reforms to change that reality. The only sure way to get the reforms implemented is to force Zanu PF to step down and appoint a competent body to implement the reforms.
@ Mukwirivindi
You are once again showing just what a shallow minded individual you are. The article is about how Zanu PF short changed the nation in 1980 by giving it a dictatorship under the pretext it was a democracy. The 1980 elections was about stopping the civil war and NOT about a free, fair and credible election process.
“Wilbert, some of the gorillas did not go to assembly points as a strategy against possible bombing of the assembly points by Rhodesian soldiers, and in fact Peter Walls had crafted Operation Zero, a code name for the attack plan on assembly points, that only got abandoned in the last minute. But apparently, our Wilbert would have been very happy if Peter Walls had efficacious executed Operation zero,” you argue.
Even if it was true that the whites were planning this Operation Zero; this did not justify denying the ordinary Zimbabweans their right to free, fair and credible elections.
“However, even if all the gorillas had gone to the camps, Zanu PF would still have won by the same margins, given the degree of politicisation that the gorillas had done to the rural masses during the war, the vestiges of which Zanu PF is exploiting up to now.”
Zimbabwe Human Right Commission, a government appointed body confirmed in its report that Zanu PF operative, rogue war veterans and traditional leaders had used state aid and threats of intimidation and violence; “vestiges of Zanu PF politicisation”, you would call it; to mobilise the rural voters. You can call them whatever you please but these are the very antithesis of free, fair and credible elections!
@ Machakachaka
“This they used to inflict harm on civilians, and the blame would come to national forces. This tactic was used successfully by Ian Smith, who would dress and arm his Selous Scouts like guerillas. These would wreak havoc amongst unarmed civilians, and this would weaken support for the guerillas. This is a painful chapter in the history of our country, and no one side can be fully blamed and the other exonerated. Zanu PF are not saints, but lies do not help anyone.”
Most of what you have said is true, these are historic facts. What you have failed to address are two central points:
1) Blame for what happened during Gukurahundi cannot and will never be shared equally between the dissidents and the Zanu PF government because the former were criminals and the latter was the one entrusted with the sacred duty to up hold the law and protect civilians. The was no excuse whatsoever for government to behave like the criminals they were hunting. None!
2) Gukurahundi was a politically motivated massacre for the selfish purpose of establishing the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship.
If the Zimbabwean populous had been an active and informed people they would have wrestled their freedoms and rights from Zanu PF by now. Yes Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies are ruthless tyrants but they are also corrupt and incompetent. If the people of Zimbabwe were smart enough to know what constitutes free, fair and credible elections they would not have been cheated of the fundamental right so easily and repeatedly for 40 years!
In the long run, nations get the government they deserve. Zimbabweans deserve this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt, incompetent and sell-out opposition politicians!
The contrast between America's founding fathers and Zimbabwe's could not be more stark- whilst the former strived to create a free and stable nation the later have strived to enrich themselves and have ridden roughshod over the people and nation's hopes and dreams!
Whilst Benjamin Franklin was encouraging the Americans to strive to keep the republic we in Zimbabwe have been fighting Zanu PF and now MDC politicians to dismantle the autocracy so we can replace it with a democracy!
It must be said, we have been fighting a losing battle given most Zimbabweans have proven to be so naive and gullible they have continued to follow MDC leaders blindly even when they have sold-out! We certainly do not have an active and informed electorate!
@ Mukwirivindi
"Cde Machakachaka, you removed all the words from my mouth. No one can further explain it better. And I hope those who masquerade as activists for democracy, yet their were and are sympathisers of Muzorewa and Smith got factually hit where it matters most. I see they go on stammering trying makes lose their ulterior motive."
Rubbish! Mugabe did not murder over 20 000 PF Zapu members and supporters because he mistook them for Muzorewa or Smith sympathisers! Even if they were Muzorewa or Smith sympathisers and it is a crime to be one; he should have had them arrested, charged and convicted in a court of law.
The real tragedy in Zimbabwe is that power was seized by corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants who never cared about freedom, justice and creating a democratic nation. All they have ever cared about is seizing absolute power so they can loot!
Now as the Zanu PF dictatorship is collapsing the thugs are in a panic - they are desperate to hang on to their looted wealth and worse still desperately trying to keep their corrupt and murderous past covered! The truth is coming out! "Rinemanyanga hariputirwi!" as one would say in Shona.
America's founding fathers bequeathed the nation a republic with strong democratic institutions that have withstood the many trials and tribulations and is still standing strong and proud nearly 300 hundred years later. Sadly, the same cannot be said about Zimbabwe's founding fathers. They bequeathed the nation a corrupt, incompetent dictatorship that did not last even one decade!
Within a year or two after Independent Zimbabwe's economy was flagging as the voodoo spend, spend policies were taking effect. In 1983 the country was thrown into the nightmare of Gukurahundi which resulted in the death of over 20 000 innocent Zimbabweans and birth of the de facto one-party dictatorship that has destroyed all hope of good governance.
It is sickening to hear a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant like Mnangagwa proclaim Zimbabwe a "Second Republic" and last year's rigged elections the "freest and fairest"! It is clear that whilst tyrants like him remain in power, this country is doomed to suffer and this tyrannical dictatorship masquerading as a republic!
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