South Africa’s International Relations minister Naledi
Pandor said SA would support all efforts to bring an end to Zimbabwe’s
worsening economic and political crisis short of a military invasion.
“Non-interference means we wouldn’t use our soldiers, our army
to invade Zimbabwe to enforce a platform of democratic practice that we have in
South Africa,” said Minister Pandor.
“We would be greatly assisted in playing a positive role if we
knew there was a shared notion in Zimbabwe of what must be done, and this is an
extremely important point for us,” she explained.
“So, I think that we need to be provided with a path that
indicates that as we … provide support, all the parties, all the groupings, all
the stakeholders in Zimbabwe are at one, so that … support can be brought in.”
I totally agree with her!
In 2008; following the blatant cheating and wanton violence in
the March 2008 elections and June presidential run-off respectively; SADC
leaders helped to hammer out the Global Political Agreement (GPA). In the
agreement, Zimbabwe was to implement of a raft of democratic reforms designed
to stop the cheating and wanton violence.
The task of implementing the reforms were left to Morgan
Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. They failed to get even one reform implemented
in five years. Not one!
The people of Zimbabwe, ourselves, never lifted a finger to
force the MDC leaders to implement the reforms; proof we did not have a clue
what the GPA, the reforms, etc. were all about. Even today, with the benefit of
hindsight, many people still have no clue what the democratic reforms are much
less how they are going to be implemented.
Indeed, some Zimbabweans, notably church leaders and the MDC opposition
party leaders, have been calling for the formation of a National Transition
Authority (NTA); a watered-down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU in which Zanu
PF and MDC leaders are once again the principal players.
It is little wonder that not one SADC leader much less the savvy
international community players have given the NTA a second thought. If the
2008 GNU failed to get even one reform implemented what hope is there of the
NTA doing any better!
And so, it makes perfect sense for SADC or anyone else out there
to let Zimbabweans sweat it out and come up with the raft of democratic reforms
needed to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. After figuring out the needed reforms
ourselves; we can be certain that this time, the reforms will be implemented
without failure.
9 comments:
I totally agree; the outside world would like to help Zimbabwe got out of this mess but they have found it impossible because we have failed to play our part. In 2008 SADC leaders helped hammer out the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and Robert Mugabe to agree to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. All Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had to do was implement the reforms. They failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. We, the people, did not even lift a finger to get MDC guys to implement the reforms - proof we too did not appreciate the importance of the reforms.
Now if we are serious about wanting reforms then we must first demonstrate our resolve by workout the raft of reforms we need for ourselves! If we sweat that one out then we will make sure the reforms are implemented.
Malema applauded the investigative journalism spearheaded by senior journalist Hopewell Chin'ono, Mduduzi Mathuthu and Elias Mambo with the support of various news outlets in exposing the alleged tender scams.
Said Malema, "We applaud the fight against corruption and looting of public funds going on in Zimbabwe. It is cruel and evil for anyone regardless of who they are to steal money meant to help citizens fight Covid-19. There is nothing revolutionary or patriotic about thieving. Pasi neMbavha!"
It is little wonder that many donors have stopped giving any assistance to Zimbabwe! I think we the people of Zimbabwe have let ourselves down badly, corruption have been going all for the last 40 years and we have done very little to stop it!
@ Siphosami Malunga
Thank you!
“The election in July 2018 turned out to be anything but free and fair. Mnangagwa maintained the pro-Zanu-PF securocrats in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, effectively denting any hopes of its independence and neutrality in the poll. The voters’ roll – a default tool for electoral manipulation – was again kept a closely guarded secret until days before the election, again destroying all hopes in its authenticity,” you said.
This is all true but it is not the complete story. We must never forget the MDC had a chance to implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections but failed to do so because the sold-out. The opposition knew by participating in these flawed and illegal elections they would be giving the process and outcome some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. They participated regardless out of greed!
“No one can say with certainty when a people’s revolution will happen in Zimbabwe, but for a country where the living conditions have declined to unbearable and desperate levels, and the political system is impervious to reform and unashamedly continues to corruptly serve a small elite and impoverish the citizenry, it is surely just a matter of time,” you concluded.
“Undoubtedly, the shift by citizens from national consciousness to consensus and then to action is not easy and direct, but the fact that it is no longer a question of whether a revolution will happen in Zimbabwe, but when, suggests that the “revolutionary party” Zanu-PF’s days may be numbered.
“When the time comes, experience has shown that it will not matter that it has the strong backing of the army. All other revolutions that have successfully taken place elsewhere have been against repressive regimes with far stronger armies.”
I totally agree that the corrupt and tyrannical situation in Zimbabwe is long overdue for change. However if we, the people, do not think carefully about what kind of change we want then there is a real danger of yet another fig-leaf illusion of change as happened in 1980 and more recently in November 2017 military coup!
@ Mpho Tsimpa
“Wilbert so what are u saying?”
It is not what I am saying, but what South Africans, the rest of the SADC and the international community at large are saying and been saying for years, if you care to listen, that matters here. What all these people are saying is they will step in to support Zimbabweans in their fight for change but only in a supportive role. And I totally agree with that!
In 2008 SADC stepped up and played a leading role in trying to bring about democratic change in Zimbabwe by forcing Mugabe to agree to the GPA and the raft of reforms. We, the people of Zimbabwe did not care about the reforms and hence the reason we failed to get even one token reform implemented.
So what SA is now saying is “If Zimbabweans are finally serious about dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship then you must prove it by telling us what democratic reforms you want to implement!” That is not too much to ask!
It is only by taking the trouble to spell out the democratic reforms we want that we will get them implemented.
@ Clever Makura
“The author is purely a ZANU-PF corruption beneficiary who do not want to see other people happy in their motherland.”
And the readers are supposed to believe you, who is not a beneficiary of Zanu PF corruption, that SA will send its soldiers to help impose democracy in Zimbabwe!
The truth is if Zimbabweans want to be happy in their motherland then they must take up the challenge and demand democratic reforms but no one else is going to do it for them – that is a fact. I do know how stating a simple fact like that makes me a “beneficiary of Zanu PF corruption” but I do accept that there are some people who are not as clever as their names suggest!
Chamisa said the transitional mechanism must be a "creature of a national consensus and a comprehensive settlement anchored on reforms".
"That's what is going to save this country and the sooner we achieve that the better," he said.
"The country cannot proceed like this; the environment is too toxic, let us detoxify our environment. We must have a legitimate state, not a contested state. Organs of the state must be out of partisan politics. They must not be deployed for partisan acts.
"We now have a culpable state."
The 2008 GNU was meant to implement a raft of democratic reforms and it was up to MDC to implement the said reforms and they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years! Not one! The suggestion that another Zanu PF and MDC GNU will do any better is utter nonsense. All Chamisa and his MDC friends are after is to have their cabinet posts, ministerial limos, etc. backs.
Mnangagwa has already said the July 2018 elections were free, fair and credible and he will certainly not brook any meaningful reforms being implemented.
The way out of this mess is to accept that the July 2018 elections were not free, fair and credible, Zanu PF does not have the mandate to govern the country and must step down. There will be an interim administration backed by SADC and the UN tasked to implement all the democratic reforms and to deliver free, fair and credible elections.
The nation is not going to appease this illegitimate regime just as it did in the 2008 GNU by allowing it to play any part in the interim government, there will be no second soft landing for Zanu PF and its acolyte opposition party partners.
Zanu PF would not be in power today if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms during the 2008 GNU. By participating in flawed and illegal elections MDC has given legitimacy to this illegitimate Zanu PF government.
Zanu PF has held this nation to ransom for the last 40 years, this must be stopped here and now!
Justice Loice Matanda Moyo has refuted an allegation by Award winning journalist Hopewell Chin'ono that she told him the charge sheet of embattled businessman Delish Nguwaya was created by the police and not the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission which she leads.
Chin'ono had written of Twitter that, "I asked a rhetorical question to the ZACC Chairlady @matandamoyo WHY convicted criminal Nguwaya was being charged with NONSENSE charges. She has responded saying it was ZRP. She says she will charge everyone involved with FRAUD by Tuesday! Waiting!"
The tweet ignited Moyo to respond saying, "I am not impressed by that claim because it is blatantly false. You have not communicated to me in any manner whatsoever and if you wish to do so, you surely know how to. We all must fight corruption without name dropping to seek relevance. Let's focus on the needful."
It is no secret that worse losses to corruption are through the wholesale looting of the country’s diamonds and other assets. The Army, Police, CIO and many other individuals/bodies have each been granted mining concessions to extract the diamonds or minerals with no official oversight and so no one knows the quantity and quality of the diamonds to whom they are sold and for how much. And these licence to loot, for that is what they are, have been approved at cabinet level!
Senior Zanu PF leaders like former Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, General S B Moyo and VP Chiwenga (as top brass security official in the Police and Army), Mnangagwa and Robert Mugabe have all benefited from Zimbabwe’s institutionalised wholesale looting. To appoint General S B Moyo’s wife chairperson of ZACC was a dead giveaway – ZACC will never investigate the institutionalised looting, she will never investigate the source of her own husband’s fabulous wealth!
@ Tawanda Majoni
“It doesn't matter whether the said coup talk is real or not, or a coup is imminent or just some tall tale. The post-Mugabe dispensation is facing a vicious matrix of economic, social and political problems, some of them too tempting for coupsters. This is pretty the case with all the instances whenever there was coup talk, from Rhodesia to young Zimbabwe to the current Zimbabwe. There is no fuel. Prices are tossing like a hurricane. There is no money to fund the anti-Covid-19 campaign. There is talk of top-level corruption. Civil servants are getting peanuts, like that soldier whose payslip was leaked into the social media last week.”
The country's worsening economic situation is the greatest instigator of change and since there is no hope for a peaceful and democratic change that leaves the country with only one other route - a violent change! Zimbabwe is heading for street protests, another military coup or some form of violent transformation. The tragedy with the violent route is there will be destruction of property and many lives will be lost and, worse of all, result in a mediocre government or worse!
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