Many people have often asked why Zanu PF has managed to stay in power for 40 years regardless of the party’s checked track record as a corrupt, incompetent and murderous regime? The answer is slowly but surely coming out; Zimbabwe has had the great misfortune of having some of the most corrupt and incompetent opposition parties the world has ever seen.
“We (MDC-T) were receiving money from Zanu PF. I don’t know who was the direct contact person who was bringing the money, but we got funding for the party from Zanu PF,” Linda Masarira, former spokesperson of the Thokosani Khupe led MDC-T.
“We were not a real opposition, this is why I took a picture of myself wearing Zanu PF regalia in Zambia and posted it on social media because I wanted to tell a story.”
“I just wanted to show people that we are being forced to fight over nothing. Zanu PF was funding the MDC-T and I asked questions. They did not want the questions I asked. But you can see from the events (POLAD) that are happening now, that they were just a project.”
Zimbabwe’s MDC opposition party died during the 2008 to 2013 GNU just as Dr Joshua Nkomo’s PF Zapu died when he signed the 1987 Unity Accord. Those who refuse to accept the reality of MDC’s demise do so only because they have never asked themselves why MDC failed to implement even one democratic reform in the five years of the GNU.
Those of us who have dared not ask, a thousand times and a thousand times again, the MDC leaders what happened have been brick walled a thousand times and a thousand times again. We have not given up. We will continue to ask again and again until Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, David Coltart, etc. all admit they sold-out big time during the GNU.
Mugabe bribed MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. In return MDC leaders kicked the reforms into the prickly pear thicket never to be recovered ever again, even after the GNU.
MDC leaders knew that with no reforms in place Zanu PF was blatantly rigging the elections and yet they still participated in the 2013 and then 2018 elections. Worst of all, they also knew that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections, they gave the process credibility.
“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,” confessed MDC Senator David Coltart in his book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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.”
In other words, Zanu PF’s thirty pieces of silver payment to the opposition for participating in flawed and illegal elections (ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement) were the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gave away as bait plus a cut of the Political Party Finance Act annual payout.
“MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections,” Chamisa claimed. Of course, MDC had no measures to stop the vote rigging. He was being paid to participated in the elections regardless of the rigging. He paid well too, for MDC received $3.4 million from Political Party Finance Act and it is said Chamisa as party leader gets 20%, $680 000!
Pretty good wages for one little Judas Iscariot kiss!
“That is utter rubbish. I am the party’s secretary for finance and I can tell you that we have not funded any other party,” chipped in Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF secretary for finance.
Of course, he was not going to endorse Linda Masarira’s story even if he was the one who had dolled out the money to MDC-T. Naming and shaming corrupt Zanu PF officials or double agents, is not something Zanu PF leaders have resisted for fear the named individual will not go down alone and name many other party leaders too.
Patrick Chinamasa certainly knew that MDC leaders had sold-out big time during the GNU and only revealed this when Zanu PF was pressure by SADC leaders to postpone the 2013 elections to allow democratic reforms to be implemented.
“I am Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Affair and I confirm that Zanu PF never blocked any democratic reform proposals submitted in parliament during the GNU years. There are no outstanding reforms to be implemented and therefore there is justification for postponing elections!” Chinamasa told the packed press conference, franked on one side by fellow Zanu PF Minister and the party’s chief strategist, Professor Jonathan Moyo.
So the secret of Zanu PF’s 40 years stay in power is not so much that Robert Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leaders are cunning and ruthless, admittedly they are all that too, is that Zanu PF has always had corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition! It is now impossible to pretend Zimbabwe has a competent opposition. Impossible! “Rinemanyanga hariputirwi!” as the Shona adage would say.
7 comments:
@ Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
The Constitution is a product of the tireless efforts by citizens to develop and entrench democratic ethos in Zimbabwe as a solution to decades of crisis. In this regard the Constitution represents the views and aspirations of citizens as demonstrated by 94.49% of the voters who voted in favour of the Constitution in 2013.
The Bill returns the Constitution Amendment Bill No.1 of 2017, which was rejected by citizens. It removes the role of citizens in nominating and monitoring the appointments of senior officers of the judiciary and gives the President the power to appoint. Judges and the Prosecutor General will now serve at the mercy of the President. This means that the Judiciary will no longer be independent.
What You Can DO To STOP Constitution Amendment Bill No.2:
a. Defend The Constitution By Rejecting All Amendments During The Public Consultations By Parliament in Your Area
b. Call your MP NOWand Register Your Disapproval to Amending the Constitution
c. Monitor Parliamentary Processes on the Amendments
d. Share This Information With Others!!!!!
Zanu PF is able to amend the constitution as it pleases because the party was able to rig elections and secure 2/3 majority. The 2013 constitution failed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and after that the party knew it would do as it pleased!
None of the four suggested actions by the individual will stop Zanu PF doing as it pleases. The party has the financial clout to stage another one million man march in support of the amendment!
Zimbabweans should have never approved the 2013 constitution and now they can see why!
As of yesterday, sources close to her (Khupe) revealed to ZimEye she sped out of the meeting in tears after being grilled on why her party juniors blew allowances money spending three weeks running inside the posh Crowne Plaza Hotel, under the guise of engaging Ambassadors and heads of foreign missions accredited to Zimbabwe.
POLAD is a waste of time but so too is the dialogue Chamisa is calling for which will result in an MDC and Zanu PF power sharing arrangement. The 2008 GNU failed to get even one reform implemented and it is naive to expect this new arrangement to do any better. Zimbabwe cannot afford another time wasting gimmick when the country is burning!
Own Correspondent|Former Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudzayi who enjoys a close relationship with exiled former information minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has claimed has claimed that Moyo raised funds used for Nelson Chamisa and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 2018 election campaign. Kudzayi said the money was used for adverts on radio, tv and print.
Edmund Kudzayi was responding to Freeman Chari who was saying that MDC should not entertain people like Jonathan Moyo who abused their positions when they were in position of power.
Moyo has openly admitted his involvement in funding Chamisa’s 2018 campaign.
Moyo doesn’t regret ever doing this openly as well implicating Patrick Zhuwawo whom he says provided US$6000 for radio advertisements.
“It is an open secret that my TL (timeline) in these streets actively supported @nelsonchamisa’s candidature in 2018.
Read Kudzayi’s full Twitter thread below:
Ultimately, it is the voters who decide. If anyone wants power, they must stand for election. No citizen can say so and so is disqualified. That said, I certainly have no ambition to join the MDC, nor does Prof Moyo, but we want to see opposition politics done competently.
In the 2018 elections, we ended up having to intervene to do radio, print, social media and television adverts for the MDC. Why? Because nobody was doing the work and Chamisa was the best foot forward.
Where did the money come from? It was raised by Professor Jonathan Moyo.
One unknown fact is that Jonathan Moyo did not want to publicly support the MDC in 2018, preferring to watch from the terraces. It took me four months, January to April 2018, to persuade him to help actively, after which #KwekweHim, #KutongwaKwaro, #Excelgate etc were born.
MDC stockholders need to stop worrying about sharing power that it does not have and focus on action.
What is the plan? Waiting for 2023? When are the protests coming? How do you sustain them Sudan-style?
These are the serious political questions that remain unanswered.
A PRAYER FOR ZIMBABWE: One of my favourite ads from the 2018 election, which was done for Chamisa by so-called Zanu PF infiltrators. ZBC ended up forcing the MDC to edit out ED and Chiwenga!
One of the set tasks of Zanu PF’s double agents masquerading as opposition members and supporters was to convinced the opposition, especially Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends that the must participate in the elections NO MATTER WHAT! Even when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as the verified voters’ roll, the opposition soldiered on regardless.
No doubt MDC leaders did not need much more persuading when hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars are promised!
There is no doubt that some one as shrewd as Professor Jonathan Moyo would never be so foolish to support MDC knowing the party would lose. MDC did lose so why did Moyo support MDC knowing the party will lose? Unless his real purpose was to encourage MDC into a Zanu PF trap!
As much as Moyo has a grudge against Mnangagwa, he also knows that it would not be in his interest to remove Mnangagwa from office. Moyo and Mnangagwa know each other’s secrets, they are like two cobras they would rather wrestle each other all day and no matter how frustrating that might be neither snake will bite the other because each know it will invite a lethal bite from the other, guaranteed.
Zimbabwe will, from next week, adopt a coupon system similar to food stamps amid growing concern that vulnerable groups are unable to access subsidised maize meal.
Addressing journalists after a cabinet meeting, information and broadcasting services minister Monica Mutsvangwa said there was a team compiling a database to ensure the smooth operation of the system.
“A targeted coupon scheme for the vulnerable is in the offing, with the compilation of a database at an advanced stage,” she said.
This is been done by a regime notorious for using state assistance for its own political gains. Those known to be opposition supporters, especially in the rural areas have good reasons to be worried sick!
@ Peacemaker Zano
“Of the resolutions agreed on at the AU summit which touched on Zimbabwe was to "(u)rge the Government of the United States of America (US) to lift the long-standing sanctions imposed on the Government and people of Zimbabwe, to facilitate the socio-economic recovery of the country. We acknowledge the steps already taken by the European Union (EU) towards removing sanctions (and) we urge that it takes all the requisite actions to ensure that all remaining sanctions are terminated,” you wrote.
Whatever hardship are brought by sanctions there are nothing compared to the hardship brought by gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. We have failed to remove the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime from office for the last 40 years because the party rigs the elections.
Sanctions are helping focus attention on the need to implement reforms and thus end the curse of rigged elections. Sanction must stay until Zimbabwe hold free, fair and credible elections.
AU and SADC leaders know Zimbabwe has been rigging elections. In 2008 they all refused to recognise Zanu PF as the legitimate government following a particularly nasty elections with blatant cheating and wanton violence. The July 2018 elections did not have the wanton violence but still had the cheating. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. How both SADC and AU still judged the elections as acceptable beggars belief!
The EU and the British must re-instate the sanction list; it was a grave mistake to have lifted the sanctions. The is an urgent need to expand the sanctions to pressure these Zanu PF thugs and their acolytes to listen to reason.
Every thinking Zimbabwean wants to see the tragic human suffering under this Zanu PF dictatorship to end. If UN sanctions were justified to end colonial oppression it is nonsense to say they are not justified in the fight to end this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Oppression is oppression it is nonsense that we, the victim, should be expected to suffer and die in silence just because the oppressor are blacks and not whites!
@ Ntokozo Msipha
Young people want a leader who understands the military apparatus of Zimbabwe, statecraft as a whole and carries economic goodwill from owners of investment capital. While Nelson Chamisa has served as a cabinet minister he does not grasp the intricacies of statecraft in Zimbabwe and is viewed as a novice who won't be able to unite the extremely polarized nation.
Young people in Zimbabwe have touted and continue to insist on Saviour Kasukuwere, former Minister of Local government as a leader who can steer the national ship out of the crocodile infested waters.
Are we this lost that we now view “no change” as change! Kasukuwere was in power for donkey years, what did he ever accomplish other than lead from the front in the thuggery and looting!
Desperate people do desperate things! Touting Kasukuwere, Chamisa, Mnangagwa and all the other recycled deadwood is an act of desperation! After 40 years of this foolishness, we are still at it. Those who will not learn from the past are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again!
Zimbabwe needs to turnover the page and have a clean start. We need to dismantle the dysfunctional de facto one-party dictatorship Zanu PF fostered on the nation and replace it with democratic institutions. We need to implement the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement, then and only then can we have free, fair and credible elections.
If Kasukuwere wins the free, fair and credible elections then he will have the democratic mandate of the people of Zimbabwe and no one will ever question his legitimacy. Without the reforms what is there to stop him rigging the elections, after all he is one of the luminary Border Gazi graduates.
@ Nhamodzenyika
“NOT MY CHOICE HE WAS PART OF THE JUNTA THAT IS NOW IN POWER , JUST BECAUSE THEY HAD DIFFERENCES DOES NOT ABSOLVE HIM.”
After 40 years of this corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship one would think every one has learnt the lesson and would want the system dismantle. Not so, there are still some village idiots who want to replace one dictator for another but for the dictatorship itself to remain.
All this talk of Mugabe being better than Mnangagwa and now Kasukuwere being better than Mnangagwa is all hogwash. A more rational approach is to avoid at all cost all deadly snakes and not to foolishly encourage a black mamba as a neighbour on the basis that a cobra is more deadly than black mamba.
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