Friday 29 July 2022

"We’re not far from Rwanda in 1994,” warned Biti. Because we’re cursed with great man who’re easily corrupted by power. N Garikai

 “He (John Kumalo) is a big man, in this place, your brother. His shop always full of men, talking as you have heard. But they say you must hear him at a meeting, he and Dubula and a brown man named Tomlinson. They say he speaks like a bull, and growls in his throat like a lion, and could make men mad if he would. But for that they say he has not enough courage, for he would surely be sent to prison.

. . . . Because the white man has power, we too want power. But when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupt. I have seen it often. He seeks power and money to put right what is wrong, and when he gets them, why, he enjoys the power and the money.”

Cry, the Beloved Country. Alan Paton

Alan Paton hit the nail on the head right there. He was writing about South Africa but he might as well have been writing about Zimbabwe or any other African country. “Same shit different country!” to paraphrase a favourite Caribbean slogan. We in Africa are cursed with this “Big man who speaks like a bull, growls like a line and could make men mad if he had the courage. When he gets power and money, he is a great if he is not corrupt!” Alas, he is almost always corrupt!

"Politics, in Zimbabwe, is suffocating because it is politics of intolerance, durawalls and division," warned Tendai Biti, CCC MP for Harare East. He is just one of the many big man John Kumalo Zimbabwean aspirants strutting on one of his favourite stages, parliament.

"Where you have such corrosive politics Mr. Speaker Sir, it is difficult to come up with a common division. It is politics of hatred, exclusion, intolerance, and regrettably Hon. Speaker Sir, 42 years after Independence, that politics is entrenched."

"If you look at the hatred on social media Mr. Speaker Sir, if you look at some of the things that are said in this Parliament – the language of hatred is so entrenched.

"We are not very far from Rwanda in 1994.  Mr. Speaker Sir, you know what happened in Rwanda in 1994. (Rwanda's 1994 Genocide claimed more than 900,000 lives.)”

What our strutting peacock did not say and never ever admitted is that he and his MDC colleagues had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship; the root cause of all the economic mess and political paralysis in Zimbabwe, he is wittering about each time he opens his mouth. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, and they threw all reforms out of the window.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Tendai Biti and company into power on the understanding the MDC would bring about the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, suffocating the nation. In the 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC has failed to implement even one reform. Not even one!

Indeed, the nation would not be messing around implementing reforms if Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies had not betrayed the nation after independence. Instead of honouring the independence struggle promise of freedom, human rights and justice for all, Zanu PF thugs imposed the de facto one-party with the disastrous consequences we see today.

Zimbabwe is blessed with rich agricultural land and excellent climate for growing crops all year round. The country was, during the colonial rule, the breadbasket of the whole Southern Africa region. Twenty years after independence Mugabe started seizing the white owned farms, often accompanied by gratuitous violence against the white farmers and their black workers. The seized farms were given to Zanu PF loyalists mostly.

Within ten years of the farm seizure, Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector collapsed, never to recover, and took with it the economy. We are starving in the country which is for all practically purposes, is the Garden of Eden! A damning testimonial to Alan Paton’s “when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupt!”

Of course, our strutting peacock, Tendai Biti does not give a damn about the tragic human suffering resulting from the decades of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and riotous lawless that have earned the country the failed state label. He would have implemented the reforms to end the dictatorship during the GNU, if he cared.

Indeed, Biti is already campaigning to win back the Harare East or some such seat in 2023 elections. He, like everyone else in CCC, is as keen as mustard to participate in next year’s elections. Of course, he knows that Zanu PF is rigging these elections just as it has rigged other elections in the past and, most important of all, he knows that by participating CCC is once again giving Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.

Biti and company are as keen as mustard to participate in flawed election to give Zanu PF legitimacy because Zanu PF is giving away a few urban gravy train seats. CCC are selling out the nation’s opportunity to implement the reforms and end the curse of bad governance for 30 pieces of silver! And this has been going on for the last 22/42 years and counting for CCC/Zanu PF respectively. The same story of power, corruption, betrayal and heart-breaking human misery is being peated with sicken regularity in Africa.

Cry, the beloved country! Cry, the beloved continent of Africa! 

22 comments:

Zimbabwe Light said...

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the South African state-owned power utility, is looking to replace Zimbabwe as an importer of electricity from Mozambique and Zambia to help ease rolling blackouts.

Zimbabwe's contracts with Mozambique's Electricidade de Mocambique and Zambia's Zesco are set to expire at the end of the month, according to Sydney Gata, the chairman of the country's Zesa Holdings Ltd. Zimbabwe is failing to pay the $6.3 million monthly import bill to Zambia, he said.

Eskom is now "putting pressure" on the Mozambique and Zambian utilities to take over the contracts, Gata said.

Zimbabwe has earned the reputation of not paying her debts and the chickens are coming home to roost. It is naïve to expect a country like Zambia or Mozambique to subsidise Zimbabwe, especially during difficult economic times as now.

Zimbabwe should have built Batok Gorge Hydro decades ago by now. This Zanu PF government got the feasibility report on the project in 1980 from the outgoing white regime of Ian Smith. Instead of building the US$3 billion dam Mugabe wasted the money building his US$ 4 billion Blue Roof Mansion, for example. The mansion is falling apart due to lack of maintenance and the worsening electricity supply situation will only serve to underline the sheer folly of having built the mansion instead of the dam!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mbofana

When a person is saved from a place of bondage, and rescued from the dungeon where he has been held captive under the most intolerable anguish and agony - subjected to the most horrendous unbelievable torture and subjugation - one would expect to live a new life of liberty, in which he enjoys his freedom to the fullest.

Is becomes, nonetheless, very troubling, shocking and unacceptable when the supposed liberator turns into a ruthless oppressor - holding the individual he apparently saved as a hostage, whereby he is made to feel perpetually indebted to his rescuer, who not only never allows him to forget this fact, but also controls his entire life, and never permitting him to disagree or express any dissent, should he find anything disagreeable.

Yes Zanu PF is holding the nation to ransom. If the truth be told, we should have seen this coming long before the country even attained her independence!

“What kind of leaders would an armed struggle throw up?” asked Mahatma Gandhi of his fellow Indians nationalists when they were pressured to consider taking up arms in the fight for independence.

“Would those be the men and women whom we would want to rule India?”

Zimbabwe did not consider the consequences of hawks emerging as the leaders and the nation has paid dearly for this folly. Zanu PF thugs believe they have the right to rig elections, rule the country and to loot its wealth because they liberated the country.

We did have many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, sadly the MDC leaders who had the chances to implement the reforms have turned out to be corrupt and utterly useless.

If we are serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship then we must first get rid of the corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC leaders who are now Zanu PF’s greatest enablers, deny Zanu PF legitimacy and, during the new GNU, make sure all the reforms are implemented without failure!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mbofana

“Quite frankly, I strongly feel that most of the debates on social media, more so on Twitter, are far divorced from real issues that ordinary poverty-stricken Zimbabweans are grappling with on a daily basis - as Twimbos (Zimbabweans on Twitter) are bogged down on matters and arguments that can best be described as elitist and out of touch with the grim realities on the ground for the population.

That is the main reason I do not even have an active visible presence on these platforms.

Surely, why would anyone spend hours on end, quarrelling about CCC structures and constitution (or, lack thereof) - when there are millions of Zimbabweans out there who do not have anything to eat right now, their children are either out of school or will not be sitting for their public examinations (due to their parents' inability to afford the exorbitant fees), whilst others are dying in their homes, as a result of the inaccessibility of desperately needed medications and medical care?”

I beg to differ with you there!

The root cause Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess is because of the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, in the first instance. In the second, and yet more significantly, because the ordinary Zimbabweans have been naïve and gullible to hold Zanu PF and even the opposition to democratic account.

Democracy demands that the electorate must be well informed and diligent.

Many Zimbabweans out there support Nelson Chamisa and his CCC party on the mistaken belief that it is a democratic party. CCC is a one-man autocracy and every opportunity should be taken to educate the populous on this otherwise we will end up removing one autocracy only to replace it with another and have the same naïve electorate into the future.

Even those who are languishing in abject poverty, indeed especially them, must pay attention to the discussion of what constitute a healthy and functioning democracy because it is the ticket out of the hell-hole we are in.

Zimbabwe Light said...

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party begins its key policy conference on Friday beset by internal divisions and the country’s economic woes.

The policy meeting is seen as a preview of the ANC’s December conference where it will elect its leader.

On the issue of stopping the refugee flood from such countries as Zimbabwe, ANC must accept that by endorsing Zanu PF rigged election and thus giving the regime legitimacy ANC has helped perpetuate the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe by perpetuating the Zanu PF dictatorship. ANC cannot grant Zanu PF legitimacy and they seek to avoid having to deal with the consequences of that folly by stopping the flood of refugees escaping from the Zanu PF dictatorship.

To judge an election process that has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll “substantially free and fair” is an insult some of us are not going to tolerate, especially from those nation a history of holding free and fair elections!

ANC will be asked to judge the 2023 Zimbabwe elections on the basis of the reality on the ground; nothing more.

Zimbabwe Light said...

ZIMBABWE missed out on a G7-backed multi-billion-dollar stimulus package designed to help countries of the global South weather economic shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reason for the country’s exclusion is the failure to pay arrears to international financial institutions (IFIs), Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented economic crisis worldwide, with disastrous social consequences. After 25 years of continuous growth, Africa was severely hit and suffered recession in 2020.
Despite receiving a quota-based allocation of nearly US$1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, Harare was ineligible to receive more financial support after its debt stock ballooned over the years.
The country defaulted on arrears payments at the turn of the millennium, resulting in the failure to access long-term funding from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.
As first reported by The NewsHawks last year, the world’s advanced economies parcelled out part of their IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to shore up developing countries currently reeling from the impact of Covid-19.
“Zimbabwe cannot adequately respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in a way that protects the vulnerable and addresses inequality without arrears clearance, debt relief and restructuring,” said Ncube said in the latest Arrears, Debt Relief and Restructuring Strategy availed to The NewsHawks.
“The country has already been left out of the Covid-19 pandemic responses by the IFIs, the G7 and G20 including the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and G20 Common Framework. The country has to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and debt crisis in a position to achieve its developmental goals in Vision 2030 and NDS [National Development Strategy].”

Poor, poor Zimbabwe we are caught between a rock and the deep blue sea! On the one hand we have the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF that will not accept that they have failed and insist they can solve all the country’s problem. When all the regime is doing is dragging the nation deeper and deeper into the abyss.

All meaning pressure to force Zanu to accept change is being undermined by MDC/CCC, the very people the nation risked all to elect into power on the understanding they will deliver change, who are selling out on implementing reforms on the foolish notion they can win rigged elections. MDC/CCC are keeping Zanu PF in power in return for a share of the spoils of power.

The ordinary Zimbabweans are the losers, they know the system has failed them but are powerless to change it since their “change champion”, as Chamisa often calls himself is deep in the pockets of the regime he is supposed to change!

Zimbabwe Light said...

I totally agree that Zimbabwe would not be in the economic and political mess if both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC leaders had not sold out. The 2008 to 2013 GNU was our get-out-of-jail card and, sadly we wasted if. Or rather MDC/CCC leaders wasted it.

It is most disconcerting that even now CCC leaders like Tendai Biti still refuse to accept that they sold out on reforms during the GNU. It is therefore not surprising that they continue to sell out by participating in these flawed elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

It is equally disconcerting that many Zimbabweans out there still have no clue what the reforms are about, much less how they were to be implemented; even now with the benefit of hindsight. A healthy and functioning democracy demands an informed and diligent electorate not a naïve and gullible one with no eye for detail. Detail matters, detail is everything!

If Zimbabweans had an eye for detail, they would know by now that both Zanu PF and CCC are corrupt and incompetent and therefore cannot be the solution going forward. They are the problem and not the solution.

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mbofana
Here is a spoiler for those who are still excitable over the few developmental projects currently being unveiled in Zimbabwe - we have, tragically, seen this movie before, and we know how it all ends - those in power will be the big winners, at the expense of the ordinary people, who will sink deeper into the abyss of poverty.

Mark my words!

Besides, why would any sane person expect the same people who wantonly destroyed the country, to be the ones entrusted with its revival?

If the ruling ZANU PF party could not reform its wayward ways, over the past 42 years of disgraceful grand pillaging and inaptitude - why would they start now?

Please Zimbabweans, let us not act dumb!

The choice of these projects speaks volumes of what the regime cares about. The regime is spending on New parliament, New Airport, the continued rat race for mansions to match Mugabe’s US$4 billion Blue Roof, etc.; whilst truly national projects like Batoka Gorge Hydro, upkeep of schools and hospitals, etc. are ignored.

In a country that has never ever held free, fair and credible elections, Zanu PF has imposed itself on the nation, the people have never had any meaningful say in the governance of the country.

The people voted MDC into power in the hope the party will implement reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. Sadly, that was not to be. MDC leaders have failed to implement even one meaningful reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU.

Zanu PF is set to rig 2023 elections and by participating CCC is giving Zanu PF legitimacy. As long as Zimbabwe remain a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Mbofana
There is a popular saying, "God helps those who help themselves"!

I am not quite sure just how scripturally accurate that is - but, it is clearly packed with some wholesome truths!

Even in our everyday lives, when we require assistance from others, in any struggles we may encounter, the cardinal rule for those around us to be willing and encouraged to chip in, is for us to be actively doing something concrete and tangible to alleviate our own plight - so that those who may assist are confident of our seriousness.

It is, therefore, disingenuous, insincere and rather disrespectful for a person in need, to merely sit back - as if in a total vegetative state, and completely incapable of doing anything - and, expect others to step in, and help them come out of their sorrowful dilemma.

That is exactly the extremely discouraging scenario in which I perceive our civil servants in Zimbabwe - who, in spite of crying and moaning each and every day over their deplorable work and living conditions, never appear to be genuinely serious about addressing their sad state.

A case in point was the announced two-day national civil servants strike that was supposed to have taken place on 27 and 28 July 2022 - but, turned out be nothing more than the usual hot air, and a whole lot of nonsensical hullabaloo.

Wars are often won by those who chose which battles to fight and which withdraw without a fight! It is utterly pointless to fight when you know there is nothing to gain and everything to lose!

As long as Zanu PF remains in power, Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state and there is no hope of a meaningful economic recovery. So civil servants can go on strike demanding a living wage but as long as Zanu PF remains in power they may just as well be expecting blood from a stone.

Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections these last 42 years and, like everyone else, civil servants have done nothing about it. The consequences of 42 years of Zanu PF corruption and tyrannical rule is the economic meltdown.

Civil servants can go on strike for months on end, that will change nothing as long as Zanu PF remains in power. What they should be fighting for is free and fair elections, the guaranteed for good governance. It is in everyone’s interest that 2023 and all future elections are free and fair.

Zimbabwe Light said...

"We are with Russia. We are encouraging our government to work with the Russians… Russia was there for us when it was not fashionable to do so," said Julius Malema

Julius Malema is just an intellectual fool with a megaphone and all he has ever done is talk nonsense! The idiot does not know that when “Russia was there for us when it was not fashionable to do so” Ukraine was an integral part of Russia called the USSR! So, the Ukrainians too were there for South African blacks as much as today’s Russians! And so, Malema should condemn the Putin Russia for invading Ukraine for no reason!

Even if Russia and Ukraine had been two different nations all along, a rational person will condemn Russia for invading Ukraine. The fact that Russia helped Africa end colonial oppression should not blind us to what is wrong and right, just and unjust.

Black Africans fought against oppression, period. The oppressors in colonial Africa happened to be white westerners and empty heads like Malema have brainwashed by tyrants like Robert Mugabe into believing only the white westerners are capable of oppressing others. And so, when Robert Mugabe started riding the people roughshod, denying them their freedoms and rights; empty heads like Malema have refused to that as blacks oppressing fellow blacks.

Malema does not have the intellect to see the idea, justice and oppression in this case, on it’s own; he has to see the person behind it and then end up judging the person and not the idea. He does not have the intellect to make that quantum leap needed to separate idea from the person.

Zimbabwe Light said...

Said Prof Moyo, "Dear Mazizi You can dot me, call me names, body shame me or lie about me for all you want; no sweat, nothing new about that, you've done it as far back as one cares to remember; but keep my sister, my late daughter & my family out of it; that's all. As for #NC, the jury is out!"
He added; "… it is not surprising that, to check against political destabilisation by secret societies, registration of political parties is the norm in countries like the US, UK, Germany & across Africa!

"A country, especially in the developing world, in which secret societies, such as the Triple K (Ku Klux Klan) or the Freemasons, can mushroom unchecked as political parties, is prone to predictable destabilisation & disorder. That is why political parties must be registered!"
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess precisely because Zanu PF has ridden roughshod over the people denying them their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. To get out of this mess we must end the dictatorship by implemented the democratic reforms and restore the individual freedoms and rights.
And to be absolutely certain we do not remove one autocracy only to replace it with another, as has often happened not only in Zimbabwe but in many other countries, we must demand that all political parties must commit themselves to uphold democratic values including making sure the members have a meaningful say in the party.
Parties that have denied their members a meaningful say in the running of the party have often gone on to deny the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country for all manner of spurious reasons. Zanu PF has denied the people free vote for fear they will elect western puppets seeking regime change. CCC is resisting giving members a vote for fear of Zanu PF infiltration. All nonsense of course, who is to say the party has not been infiltrated already and lack of democratic accountability will only mean the rot will grow and spread unchecked!
Having a democratic party is the right thing and we should not listen to feeble excuses for not doing the right thing!

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Don Kays
“Unorwara musoro bhangu. U think u know it all. Leave CCC alone. Dont tell them what to do. CCC does associate with political chameleons of your nature. Form your own political party and form the structures.”
After 42 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule every Zimbabwean with half a brain should be fighting tooth and nail for a healthy and functioning democracy. For anyone to therefore be defending CCC when it is clear it is an autocracy masquerading as a democracy only shows the individual has no clue what they want.
CCC should be fighting to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections instead it is wasting time defending the indefensible autocracy. No wonder MDC/CCC failed to implement even one reform in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU; the party leaders are corrupt and incompetent with no clue what they are doing! And the party supporters are even worse. We are our own worst enemy.

Zimbabwe Light said...

The country is a noisy democracy with a free and open media, lots of dissenting voices, and insulting the government of the day doesn't carry any overt sanction.

It could be a blessing in disguise that the country is perpetually in election mode.

The local government elections and national general elections occur every five years. Because they overlap each other, the country has an election every three years.

In between these events, political parties hold their own leadership contests, which serve as bellwethers for who is likely to occupy national office or local government seat.

This ongoing extra- and intra-political competition serves as a pressure valve to absorb the energy that might otherwise bubble over.
The country is a noisy democracy with a free and open media, lots of dissenting voices, and insulting the government of the day doesn't carry any overt sanction.

It could be a blessing in disguise that the country is perpetually in election mode.

The local government elections and national general elections occur every five years. Because they overlap each other, the country has an election every three years.

In between these events, political parties hold their own leadership contests, which serve as bellwethers for who is likely to occupy national office or local government seat.

This ongoing extra- and intra-political competition serves as a pressure valve to absorb the energy that might otherwise bubble over.

I totally agree that South Africa is “a noisy democracy” given to making a lot of noise and doing little of substance hence the reason the country has been on a steady path of economic decline and yet still have functioning democratic institutions. On the other hand, Zimbabwe is a ruthless dictatorship where all dissenting voices have been ruthlessly silence.

My beef with successive ANC government is why they have propped up the Zanu PF dictatorship by repeatedly endorsing rigged elections and thus giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections already and another “substantial free and fair” endorsement from ANC will be a dagga into the heart!

Zimbabwe Light said...

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki recently launched a sharp critique of the governing African National Congress (ANC) for failure to address what it has labelled the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Mbeki, who led the party from 1997 to 2007, said the government seemed to have no plan to address these problems, warning that rising poverty and hardship, poor governance, and mounting lawlessness could see South Africa erupt into its own version of the "Arab Spring".

The "Arab Spring" uprisings which swept across North Africa and parts of the Middle East more than a decade ago, led to the overthrow of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
The country is a noisy democracy with a free and open media, lots of dissenting voices, and insulting the government of the day doesn't carry any overt sanction.

It could be a blessing in disguise that the country is perpetually in election mode.

The local government elections and national general elections occur every five years. Because they overlap each other, the country has an election every three years.

In between these events, political parties hold their own leadership contests, which serve as bellwethers for who is likely to occupy national office or local government seat.

This ongoing extra- and intra-political competition serves as a pressure valve to absorb the energy that might otherwise bubble over.

I totally agree that South Africa is “a noisy democracy” given to making a lot of noise and doing little of substance hence the reason the country has been on a steady path of economic decline and yet still have functioning democratic institutions. On the other hand, Zimbabwe is a ruthless dictatorship where all dissenting voices have been ruthlessly silence.

My beef with successive ANC government is why they have propped up the Zanu PF dictatorship by repeatedly endorsing rigged elections and thus giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections already and another “substantial free and fair” endorsement from ANC will be a dagga into the heart!

Zimbabwe Light said...

DEMAND for the new Zimbabwean gold coins has been overwhelming and banks have been inundated by their corporate and individual customers seeking a legal and sensible way of preserving value.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced the coins a week ago to help cushion corporates and individuals from the negative impact of declining cash values and mop up large sums of Zimbabwe dollars sloshing around in some bank accounts of corporates and wealthy individuals.
With the local currency losing its value because of the soaring inflation, it is no surprise that one should want to get rid of the local currency a.s.a.p. by buying US$ or the next best thing, the gold coin. No one will use US$ to buy the gold coin.
The gold coin has given people one more option to get rid of their local currency. What makes this option unfair is that it is open to the few with large amounts of local currency, each coin is sold for US$ 1000 or equivalent; the ordinary people have no hope of amass that amount in a year even if they forgo buying food and all the other basics.

Zimbabwe Light said...

@ Likhwa Khumbuza
“If there is an intellectual fool, it is you Mukori. Raising one’s opinion is not being foolish, but it foolish to think that one’s opinion is foolish. In all these years you have been singing so many songs but no takers. Don't you see that you and only you have become a sadist among our intellectuals. Unonyora waka korewa se zita rako.”

I have given my reasons why I believe Malema’s views are foolish. If you think I am wrong and foolish then please give your reasons. The real foolish thing is to dismiss something and then fail to back it up.

Zimbabwe is in a real mess and I have said why it is in a mess. Are you denying that Zimbabwe is in a mess? If I am a “sadist” because I have dared speak the truth, then so be it! I will not lose sleep because a village idiot called me a fool – what does he know!

Zimbabwe Light said...

ZIMBABWE has been ranked one of the 22 countries with the highest burden of pregnant women living with HIV.

This is despite the country having made major strides in testing and preventing the virus which caused havoc in the 1990s and early 2000s.

As a result, the Health ministry has introduced a programme to eliminate HIV transmission from positive mothers to children through medication.

Zimbabwe is a pariah state and as long as the country remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery and thus no resources to spend in such key areas as health and education.

We need to finally implement the democratic reforms, the prerequisite for free elections, and cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.

Zimbabwe Light said...

PUBLIC Service minister Paul Mavima has invited more than 40 public service unions to a meeting to discuss salaries and conditions of service today.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube is expected to attend today's negotiations amid concerns that his mid-term fiscal policy review and supplementary budget announced last Thursday failed to adequately cushion workers from inflation. He raised the monthly tax free threshold to just $50 000.

Workers feel that Ncube's taxation measures are inadequate given that the country's poverty datum line is well above $120 000 and inflation shot up to 256,9% last month, according to latest official figures.

Civil servants want United States-denominated salaries, but government has shot down their demands.

Zimbabweans have eyes to see and ears to hear but it is not all who see who perceive, hear and understand. And so will say it again: “Zimbabwe is a pariah state and as long as the country remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery and thus no resources to spend in such key areas as health and education and pay civil servants a living wage!” And so, these negotiations are a waste of time.

After 42 years of rigged elections, Zimbabweans must now bite the bullet and finally address the elephant in the room – the failure to hold free elections, the root cause of the pariah state curse! It is shocking that Zimbabweans are so incompetent they are failing to comprehend what constitute free and fair elections and hence the repeated participation in elections so flawed there is not even a verified voters’ roll. How stupid is that!

Zimbabwe Light said...

Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has paid tribute to victims of August 1 2018 shootings.

Six people were shot dead by Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.

Mr Mnangagwa has been accused of ordering soldiers to kill innocent citizens.

CCC Youth Assembly spokesperson Sarkozy Chuma posted on Twitter:
“On this day in 2018 @edmnangagwa unleashed the army on defenseless citizens after losing elections to @nelsonchamisa. Mnangagwa must account for this criminal act! We shall not forget!
The Criminal in Chief who ordered soldiers to kill innocent citizens on 01 August 2018 must have his place at Chikurubi Maximum Prison and not @JobSikhala1, Godfrey Sithole & Nyatsime 13. We demand justice!”

It is sickening to hear MDC/CCC leaders pontificating Mnangagwa unleashing the army on defenceless citizens. These citizens were protesting yet another rigged elections – a situation the nation should have avoided if MDC had not sold out repeatedly! First by failing to implement the democratic reforms in 18 years, 5 of which in the GNU and second by insisting on participating in flawed elections.

“MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” insisted Chamisa before the 2018 elections.

Zimbabwe is once again being dragged into yet another meaningless elections by CCC under the lie the party will achieve its goal of mass voter registration to stop Zanu PF rigging. The party has only registered ¼ m or 4% of its set target of 6m!

Zanu PF is rigging these elections and by participating CCC is giving Zanu PF legitimacy. No doubt CCC will complain the elections were rigged and shed buckets of crocodile tears!

“We demand justice!” We demand justice, my foot! You are the one keeping Zanu PF in power for the sake of a few urban gravy train seats, for Pete’s sake!

Zimbabwe Light said...

US embassy officials in Harare would not immediately confirm whether President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration will be part of the December meeting that will see over 50 African leaders in attendance, but The NewsHawks is reliably informed that only countries which took part last year will participate in this year’s indaba again.

Last year, Zimbabwe was sidelined from attending the US Democracy Summit, with observers saying the snub confirmed the frosty relations between the two countries despite Harare’s efforts to re-engage with the international community.

Zanu PF has not implemented even one token democratic reform since the rigged 2018 elections and so the nation is once again being dragging into yet another utterly meaningless election process. I believe the Americans and the rest of the west must turn on the screw on Zanu PF if the later is ever going to listen to their calls for reforms.

The fact that Zanu PF has relied on the MDC/CCC to participate in these elections regardless how flawed the process has emboldened the regime. It is high time the world engaged these MDC/CCC sell outs, the insanity of rigged elections must be stopped here and now by engaging all those involve in this tragic affair!

Zimbabwe Light said...

As the ANC prepares for its national policy conference this weekend, uppermost in the minds of many will be whether its resolution on the step-aside rule will remain on the table for much longer.

The resolution, taken at its 2017 national conference, compels all leaders facing serious charges of corruption to vacate their positions until they are cleared by the courts.

It was a bold move from a party whose moral legitimacy has all but vanished in the eyes of the public because of entrenched corruption.

Democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people. All those who hold public office are therefore servants of the people and per se must always be accountable to the people. We, in Africa have often undermined democracy by placing our leaders on pedal stall making them demigods and end up with the situation where it is the tail wagging the dog!

Zimbabwe Light said...

newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
“The reality is that SA is a country that had apartheid thrust on it. That system was built on the backs of black people who were heavily exploited, discriminated, dehumanised and proletarianised.
As a result, black people today don’t own assets. They are uneducated. They earn poverty wages doing the most humiliating jobs in the land.
When, as a democratic government that must end the legacy of this kind of racism, you seek to build such a people from scratch, you cannot adopt a neoliberal approach that assumes the country doesn’t have an ugly past.
You’ve got to be a transformative government that delivers reparations to those who were oppressed by making the necessary policy interventions in the economy, the education system, and in communities to change the face of apartheid.
To do this kind of work as the government, you must first repossess the strategic assets of the country – farms, land, urban property, mines, electricity, food production and other relevant industries must be in the people’s hands. A people’s hand is from an arm of a democratic government that will execute its mandate for the public good.
Second, quality education and training must be made accessible to every one of the oppressed class who needs it – for free.
This education must be designed to achieve two outcomes: First, to surface critical skills that will help industrialise our country to create productive value and tangible jobs. Second, to empower the minds of our youth and ignite their curiosity to revisit our heritage, examine our current phase of struggle, and fashion a common programme and future of development for all.”

As a Zimbabwean I do acknowledge the frustration the poor in S Africa must be feeling still I think the country has one thing going for it – you have robust democratic institutions and hence the reasons why the country has been able to discuss issues openly and, if need be, boot out failed leaders. In Zimbabwe we have been stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship for 42 years and counting.

Whatever you do, don’t throw out your democratic institutions; indeed, you should be taking steps to strengthen them. You don’t want to throw out the baby with the dirty water.

Zimbabwe Light said...

"Citizenship laws must be tightened to avoid undeserving foreign nationals becoming SA citizens by default and through fraudulent means and in the process exploit the country for some criminal and underhanded business activities," a policy recommendation in the document reads.

The party points out that the US, Canada, Switzerland and Britain, as developed countries with more resources than SA, have strict laws governing citizenship, immigration and asylum "to protect the rights of their citizens".
It wants a new migration policy framework to be developed "to meet new challenges" locally and globally because, the party says, no such credible framework has been developed since 1994.

There are also suggestions that SA withdraw and then accede afresh with reservations and exceptions to the 1951 UN convention, the 1967 UN protocol and the Organisation of African Unity's 1969 convention on refugees.

SA acceded to these in 1996.

In 2013 Sadc leaders begged, literally, MDC leaders not to participate in the Zimbabwe elections without first implementing the democratic reforms. “If you participate you will lose. The elections are done!” they warned.

Morgan Tsvangirai and company ignored the warning and participated in the elections. As expected Zanu PF blatantly rigged the election and, a shocking volte-face, Sadc endorsed the elections as “substantially free and fair” and thus giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the dictatorship.

Indeed, Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the 2018 elections and Sadc has once again obligingly granted the party legitimacy. With not even one token reform in place, it is already clear Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections and what every level minded Zimbabwean is concerned about is whether Sadc, notably S Africa, Botswana and Zambia who have a history of holding free and fair elections themselves will, once yet again endorse Zimbabwe’s rigged elections out of spite!