Canada agonize readmitting Zanu PF into Commonwealth - trade democracy for ED's company, gold for fool's gold W Mukori

“After allowing a wave of authoritarian regimes to become members in recent years, the Commonwealth and member states such as Canada are now pondering one of their toughest dilemmas: whether to approve Zimbabwe's bid to re-join their club,” reported The Globe & Mail.

“The timing would be awkward. As he prepares for an election this year, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has become even more repressive than his notorious predecessor, Robert Mugabe, crushing opposition meetings and imprisoning activists. But after other autocrats were permitted to join, the Commonwealth might now find it difficult to draw the line at Zimbabwe.

“A high-level delegation, sent by the Commonwealth Secretariat to Zimbabwe last November to study the situation, met Mr. Mnangagwa and praised the country for its "very impressive progress" – but provided little evidence for the comment. Its findings are now being drafted in an "informal assessment report," but the process is veiled in complete secrecy.

"Please note that the informal assessment reports are restricted to Commonwealth member governments and are not for public consumption," said a spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, who did not give her full name.

“Canada, too, is declining to say whether Zimbabwe should be readmitted to the Commonwealth, although its diplomats have been discussing the issue informally for months.”

Of course, Canada, UK and any Commonwealth country with any democratic credentials worth a spit know that admitting autocratic regimes like that of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda into the Commonwealth was a big mistake. And now they are loathed at compounding that mistake by readmitting unrepentant prodigal Zanu PF regime.

These nations know they are giving up the Commonwealth’s democratic values and principles of rule of law and free elections to appease the tyrannical ruling elite for the pleasure of their company. Trading gold for fool’s gold! Of course, the democratic nations are ashamed and hence the reason why the decision to readmit Zimbabwe is being conducted under a veil of secrecy. Let’s lift the veil and peek!

Admitting Rwanda into the Commonwealth led by the tyrannical regime of President Paul Kagame, knowing fully well he is a tyrant, is like letting a skunk into the house you cannot complain of the smell nor expect it to stop being a skunk. President Kagame has robustly rebuffed all pressure to implement democratic reforms. Having lowed the bar of democratic values and principles to get Rwanda admitted, the Commonwealth leaders have since discovered they could not raise the bar back up. And as far as President Kagame is concerned, the lowed position is the new normal!

Indeed, President Kagame has used the Commonwealth platform to pontificate and harangue neutrals and critics alike about Rwanda’s autocratic system of government as the new “African democracy”. Of course, it is nonsense, the right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country is not only a universal right but the very foundation of good governance and social justice and cohesion – the very things Africa is dying for.

It is not surprise that President Paul Kagame is one of the Commonwealth leaders demanding the readmission of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth with no conditions attached. If it was up to him alone, President Kagame would have readmitted Zimbabwe before the 2023 elections even in the face of the evidence Zanu PF is rigging the elections.

Well if Zimbabwe is readmitted before the 2023 elections, expect in August at the latest, and Mnangagwa blatantly rigs the plebiscite; the Commonwealth will regret the discussion. For having booted Zimbabwe out for fragrant disregard of the democratic principles and values and readmit the country knowing fully well the country had not repented, it would be idiotic to boot the country out of the club a second time. And yet foolish not to!

If Zimbabwe blatantly rig the 2023 elections and the Commonwealth does punish the Zanu PF regime, then many other Commonwealth countries will replicate Zanu PF’s vote rigging antics confident they too will get away with it. The rock bottom democratic values Zanu PF will have set will be considered the new normal.

Zimbabwe and all the other nations aspiring for democracy and good governance will be better off leaving the Commonwealth to join other bodies who still value rule of law and free elections. To remain in the Commonwealth will be to join the autocratic rat-race to the bottom in the name of African Democracy, Paul Kagame’s new Pan Africanism.

"Chamisa with defeat Mnangagwa with 53%" - will never fool investors, the real acid test P Guramatunhu

 

We all love to hear a bit of good news, especially when all we have heard for a long time in bad news.

“Results of a British organisation survey of Zimbabwean voters show that Nelson Chamisa will defeat the incumbent president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, obtaining an outright majority of votes in elections scheduled for later this year,” read the report in Bulawayo 24 and a number of other Zimbabwean media outlets. The good news was shared far and wide.

“The survey was conducted for The Brenthurst Foundation by the London-based SABI Strategy Group, which is not affiliated with a Zimbabwean party. The survey, conducted in January using an in-depth 15-minute questionnaire, shows Chamisa would win 53% of the vote to Mnangagwa's 40% among those who say they will definitely vote.”

Everyone involved in this survey worked on the assumption that the Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections would be free, fair and credible – a foolish presumption given the country has never held free and fair elections ever since the country’s independence in 1980! The survey does not mention it’s erroneous assumption, and focus instead on telling the people what they want to hear, that there will finally be regime change.

What the people ought to and must hear is that participate in these flawed elections is insane because not only does their participation have no effect on the predetermined Zanu PF victory but doing so gives legitimacy to the regime. Participating will help perpetuate the dictatorship and not end it.

In the watershed March 2008 Zimbabwe elections MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 73% of the votes, a bigger winning margin than the 53% forecasted win for Chamisa; but, as we all should know by now, that was not good enough to give Tsvangirai the keys to State House.

The Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut, which had been switched off up to voting day, was quickly switched back on to stop the results being announced. The regime ordered a recount of the votes which took six week. Tsvangirai’s 73% was whittled down to 47%, enough to force a runoff. Zanu PF then used wanton violence to punish the people for having rejected the party in the earlier vote. Mugabe won the runoff with 84%!

The primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut and restore the people’s right to free and fair elections. It is a matter of historic record that not even a token reform was implemented during the GNU or since. The Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut been fully operational and is well-oiled and well-funded for the 2023 elections.

Like it or not, admit it or not, the fact remains that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections just as blatantly as it regime has rigged past elections. The regime has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, has stubbornly refused to produce a verified voters’ roll, etc.

How anyone can ignore the political reality that Zimbabwe IS a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent Zanu PF thugs who continue to enjoy carte blanche powers to rig elections beggars belief! MDC/CCC have long given up the fight for reforms and free elections and are now participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a share of the spoils of power.

“Chamisa to defeat Mnangagwa with 53%' British survey group says” screamed the headlines. Sweet, sweet music to the gullible CCC supporters. However, this will not open the floodgate of the needed investors and lenders; they know Zanu PF is rigging these elections and Zimbabwe is still a pariah state. They are shrewd lot not easily fooled.

CCC duplicity, hell bent on participating in 2023 with not a cat in hell chance of winning, has it, Zanu PF and SADC exposed N Garikai

 

Yes, Zimbabwe is heading for yet another rigged elections. Zanu PF has learned the lessons from the past and by putting these into practice, the party is hoping to get political legitimacy from SADC and AU and thus get away with the rigging.

Zanu PF was forced to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, accepting the need for implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the carte blanche dictatorial powers that had kept the party in power since independence in 1980. And to accept to share power with MDC in the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

Zanu PF expected SADC and the AU to turn a blind eye to the cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections as the regional and continental bodies had done in the past. Of course Mugabe was shocked that they not only refused to grant him legitimacy but had the audacity to impose the GPA on him knowing fully well that if implemented that would end his Zanu PF dictatorship.

Mugabe learned three important lessons during the GNU:

1)    That the days of the de facto one-party state were over and so he embraced the concept of Zimbabwe as a multi-party democracy. And so, whilst Zanu PF has done everything in its power to retain and benefit from the exercise of its dictatorial powers it has been extra careful to maintain the new multi-party façade.

 

2)    Even as he signed the 2008 GPA, agreeing to the democratic reforms, Mugabe must have been hatching schemes to make sure as few as possible meaningful reforms ever see the light of day. Of course, he was pleasantly surprised that not even one meaningful reform was implemented in the five years of the GNU. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. He bribed them with the trappings of high office and the rest is history!

 

3)    Mugabe learned, and so too has Mnangagwa after him, that he can cheat and use wanton violence to retain absolute power as long as he gives up the sweeteners to guarantee MDC/CCC participation in the elections no matter how flawed the process got. Mnangagwa has learned that lesson so well he has even created POLAD to reward losing elections candidates.

Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends are hell bent on participating in these elections regardless of the mounting evidence the process is flawed. CCC’s repeated claims of having winning in rigged election strategies have fooled some in the past but not this time. The truth is CCC are hell bent on participating in these elections out of greed, a fact first admitted by David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“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 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.”

So SADC granted Zanu PF political legitimacy in 2013 and then again in 2018 rigged elections on the basis MDC’s participation. Now that there is irrefutable evidence MDC/CCC is participating in these flawed elections out of greed, there will be no finger behind which SADC can hide.

CCC has lost political credibility so how their participation give the 2023 election process credibility and Zanu PF political legitimacy?

Ever since the 2008 GNU, Zanu PF has had to perform a very delict balancing act; continue to blatantly rig the elections as the only sure way the party would retain its iron grip on absolute power, on the one hand. On the other hand down play its dictatorial practices, even prop up the opposition, to keep the appearance Zimbabwe is a healthy and functioning democracy.

Zimbabwe was a de facto one-party dictatorship before the 2008 GNU. Zanu PF emerged at the end of the GNU in 2013 with all its dictatorial powers intact with just the de facto one-party state persona replaced with multi-party state façade.

The November 2017 military coup gave Mnangagwa a chance to promote Zanu PF’s transformation from a one-party dictatorship to a multi-party democracy. He renamed the country a Second Republic, new dispensation and he even promised to hold free and fair elections. All lies of course, he blatantly rigged the 2018 elections just as he is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections.

Well, Zanu PF’s high stakes balancing act is now over. MDC/CCC has been exposed as a discredited opposition party that failed to implement even one reform in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU and is hell bent on participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed.

The truth of Zanu PF as a de facto one-party dictatorship masquerading as multi-party democracy with the help of the corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC sell outs was bound to come out. And now that it in out, the gene is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back.

“Renemanyanga hariputirwi!” as one would say in Shona!  

Had potential to be South Korea of Africa, today SA Railways ban ramshackle NRZ wagons - why W Mukori

 

“Uncle, where did Zimbabwe go wrong? And why?” my nephew asked me.

 He had just read the story, SA had banned the use of NRZ wagons in their territory. The sorry state of NRZ wagons, after decades of poor maintenance, rot and decay, have raised the risk of train derailment to unacceptable level.

My nephew knew I had worked on the Dabuka to Harare NRZ rail electrification project soon after independence. The system was designed to last 40 years, at least, with good maintenance. It had lasted half that when the copper conductors started to disappear. Soon there were 30 metres tall gum trees in the middle the track and then steel rail and concrete sleepers stolen, etc.

“The short answer to your questions,” I replied, “Is it pays in the end to get the best in the beginning. We got the worst government you can ever imagine in 1980 and have paid dearly for it ever since!”

It was the Japanese scholar and writer, Ken Yamamoto, who said, soon after our independence in 1980, Zimbabwe had the potential to become the South Korea of Africa. A just, stable and prosperous nation if only we had the great fortune of having a healthy and functioning democratic system of government.

Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies who formed the first black majority rule after independence, want absolute power and so impose a de facto one-party dictatorship. The country has been stuck with the autocratic government since independence with disastrous economic, political and social consequence we see today.

We should have foreseen the dictatorship coming and taken the necessary counter measures. We did nothing.

When Mahatma Gandhi and his fellow Indian nationalists lead put under increasing pressure to abandon Gandhi’s “none-violence” in favour of an armed struggle to end British rule of India. “What kind of leaders would the armed struggle throw up?” they asked themselves. “Would they be the men and women we would want to rule India?”

The people of Zimbabwe should have asked themselves the same questions. And when Mugabe and his colleagues too the decision to wage an armed struggle, the people should have stiffened themselves to made sure the nation did not get rid of the white oppressors only to replace with black ones. The people were a push over.

Mugabe let it be known that the bush war would continue if Zanu PF lost the elections. The people obliged by voting to end the war.

As soon as Mugabe got into power his number one priority was to undermine the country democratic institutions turning them into Zanu PF department in all but name to consolidate his autocratic grip on power. Again the nation failed challenge him.

In the last 43 years the nation has had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship with the best chances coming during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who were tasked to implement the democratic reforms, failed to get even one reform implemented. Robert Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and the rest is history.

“How are we going to and this nightmare?”

The obvious solution would be for Zimbabweans to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms to restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. The people have never made any such demands. Never!

Many people have yet to understand that the primary purpose of the 2008 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms, they still have no clue even now with the benefit of hindsight. It is therefore not surprising they do not realise MDC leaders sold out big time by failing to implement reforms.

Worse still, the people are forfeiting the chance to get the reforms and free elections by participating in flawed elections on the oxymoronic basis CCC has strategies to win rigged elections. The very idea the elections are rigged should have alarm bells rings because it is proof the country is not yet ready for free elections – prerequisite for stable and good democratic government.  

There are somethings the nation can should be discussing and debating over and others we should be of one accord. The need for a verified voters’ roll and need to implement the democratic reform before holding elections are so basic and of critical importance. The very fact that are still people prepared to hold elections out them proves we are not yet ready for a health and functioning democratic system of government.

So, for Zimbabwe to have a healthy and functioning democracy we must first learned the basic requirements for rule of law, for free elections and implement the democratic reforms. Until we do this Zimbabwe will remain a failed state, a pariah state, whom neighbours will be loathed to let our ramshackle train wagons used in their territory!  

 

CCC hell bent on participating in 2023 elections regardless how flawed out of greed P Guramatunhu

 

The 2023 Zimbabwe elections will be taking place by August 2023, that is seven months to go. The political temperature is rising!

When Emmerson Mnangagwa seized power following the November 2017 military coup he was cocksure sure his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra will open the flood gates of investors and kick-start the country’s economic recovery. Very few investors have responded to the call.

The mantra was dead in the water when, by rigging the 2018 elections, Mnangagwa confirmed Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and ruthless thugs who rigged elections to stay in power; as was the case before the coup.

Indeed, the coup was just a musical chair to replace the dictator and a few around him with another dictator who added a few new faces to the old administration. As for policy, vote rigging, etc. it was business as usual.

It is therefore no surprise that country’s economic fortunes have not change much; employment is still a nauseating 90%, basic services like health care and education have all but collapsed, nearly 50% of the population now live in abject poverty. And so to retain power in these 2023 elections, Mnangagwa has no other option than to pull all the stop to rig the process and use wanton violence.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and there is already a mountain of evidence of the rigging. Last week ZEC confirm the commission’s delimitation report tabled in parliament was not based on a verified voters’ roll and that the elections will go ahead, regardless. There are a number of reported cases of violence and the numbers and the seriousness of the cases will increase and get worse as election temperature increases.

What outsiders not familiar with Zimbabwe politics will find surprising is the reaction of CCC and the rest in the opposition camp; they are hell bent on participating in these flawed elections no matter how hot the temperature rises. Why, the outsiders, may well ask?

Nelson Chamisa and his friends in the opposition know that Mnangagwa needs the opposition to participate in these elections to maintain the illusion Zimbabwe is a healthy and functioning democratic country to win legitimacy from SADC. And to entice the opposition Zanu PF allows them to win a few gravy train seats – small price to pay for legitimacy.

MDC had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one token reform in five years for the same reason MDC and now CCC has been participating in flawed elections – greed.

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trapping of high office and the rest is history.

MDC/CCC leaders have been given all manner of excuses to justify why they persist in participating in these flawed elections just to hide the real reason -greed. Most of the times they pretend the elections are free, fair and credible and doggedly refuse to even acknowledge the mountain of evidence of rigging. This always culminates with the same individuals complaining of Zanu PF rigging the morning after the voting when it’s all too late since Zanu PF has secured legitimacy.

When the evidence of vote rigging and violence cannot be ignored, Chamisa and company claim they will win big regardless because they have winning in rigged elections (wire) strategies. When the election result are announce, they will once again complain the elections were rigged without ever admitting their wire strategies were just hot air.

The temperature of the 2023 elections is hotting up and Chamisa and company are playing one of their favourite tricks – appeal to SADC and the international community at large to intervene.

“The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) says it has sent an appeal to Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and African Union (AU) and will also lobby international organisations to intervene on political violence as the country heads for polls in July or August this year,” reported Newsday Zimbabwe.

It was SADC that intervened following the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections and forced Mugabe to agree to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections in future. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends failed to implement even one reform in five years.

SADC advised MDC leaders not to participate in the 2013 election without first implementing the reforms and their advice fell on deaf ears. As noted above MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU and have been participating in flawed elections because of greed.

SADC, EU, the Americans, etc. have all recommended that Zimbabwe must implement democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections. It is none other than CCC and the rest in the opposition camp who have insisted on elections with no reforms for selfish reasons. And Chamisa and company know this too!

“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 David Coltart, CCC Treasurer General, 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 short CCC leaders know that Zimbabwe will never ever have free, fair and credible elections and good governance without first implementing the democratic reforms. Chamisa and company’s call for SADC intervention is just another time-wasting gimmick to hide they their iron resolve to participate in these flawed elections to once again give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a share of the spoils of power!

Mnangagwa swore an oath to serve the good of Rome and not the glory of Caesar - by rigging the elections W Mukori

If we in Zimbabwe are serious about digging ourselves out of the economic and political hell-on-earth we are in, then we must start by paying attention to detail on why we got into this mess. If we know and understand why we got into this mess; knowing and understanding how to get out, will be that much easier.

Detail matters. Indeed, detail is everything!

"I Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa swear that as president of the republic of Zimbabwe I will be faithful to Zimbabwe and will obey, uphold and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe." This is the oath of office which President Mnangagwa was obliged by law to take.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, is a universal maxim.

The nation untrusts a lot of power and authority in the man/woman holding the office of state president. The oath is he/her promising they will exercise the state presidential powers for the good of the nation and never ever abuse it.

 The temptation to use the state power for Caesar’s glory and not the good of Rome is the stuff of history. And those who do not learn from history and their own past are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again and pay dearly with each pass.

The root cause why Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-hole is because Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before him, has repeatedly violated his oath of office to further his selfish interests at the expense of the national good. Zimbabwe is in economic ruins not only because of Zanu PF misrule but, more significantly, because the nation has been stuck with the corrupt and incompetent regime foe 43 years and counting.

Zimbabweans have failed to remove Zanu PF from power long after the people realised the party was corrupt and incompetent because Mnangagwa/Mugabe abused the state presidential powers to deny the people their fundamental right to a meaningful vote, to rig elections, and thus extend the regime’s stay in power.

Free, fair and credible elections are more than just another UN Human Right Declaration nicety; they are the alpha and omega of peace, justice, prosperity and good governance. Zimbabwe got into this man-made hell because for the last 43 years we have failed to hold free and fair elections.

If we are serious about getting out of this hell-hole, we must hold free and fair elections. But to do that we must first understanding that it is Zanu PF that has stopped us holding free and fair elections. We must know and understand the regime that has held the nation to ransom these last four decades.

“The ‘new’ regime can be viewed from different angles, but the nub of it is this: there’s a recognition that the economic fiasco of the last 20 years was suboptimal, but Emmerson Mnangagwa and his fellow travellers will burn the house down if they feel it necessary. Make no mistake, their will to power is every bit as intense as Mugabe’s—as is their belief that they own the country’s choicest fruits by right of conquest,” wrote Stuart Doran in The Strategist.

“There’s no comprehending Zimbabwe without an appreciation of that mentality. Yet many fail to get it because they don’t read the country’s history. In 1979, at the height of the struggle against white rule, a diplomat who mixed frequently with Mugabe and other leaders of his party observed that ‘ZANU does not seem to attach much importance to the destruction caused by prolonged war’. They said they were content to see Zimbabwe ‘totally’ demolished if that was the price to be paid for preventing others from ruling it. That attitude has not changed an iota, notwithstanding the passage of 40 years and Mugabe’s departure. After all, the men who now rule wielded his hatchets for most of that period.”

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections, just as the party has rigged past elections. Last week ZEC acknowledged the commission had failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, a must-have for free and fair election, but elections will go ahead regardless.

Another rigged elections will help Mnangagwa and Zanu PF stay in power, the glory of Caesar, but at the expense of the good governance and the good of Zimbabwe. This is the very thing the presidential oath of office is supposed to stop!

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections in advance and we, the people, must condemn the process in advance. Zanu PF must be denied legitimacy fo rigging 2023 election in fragrant violation of Mnangagwa’s oath of office to uphold the constitution and the good of the nation.

Mnangagwa must be held to account for failing to uphold his oath of office by failing to ensure 2023 elections are free, fair and credible and thus deliver good governance for the benefit of the commonwealth. If he is unfit to hold the office of the presidency now, how can he be fit to do so post 2023 elections!   

"1987 Unity Accord brought peace" - Shut up! It was capitulation and de facto dictatorship W Mukori

 

It is a matter of public record that Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi of Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is one of Zimbabwe’s many church leaders who have received farms, generous bank loans and many other benefits from the Zanu PF in return for his blind support of the corrupt and tyrannical regime. Bishop Mutendi must remember that Zanu PF propaganda is not historic fact and must never confuse the two. Never!

“Bishop Mutendi said unity among different ethnic groups in the country dates back to December 1987 when the late former President Robert Mugabe and the late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo signed the Unity Accord which brought together PF-Zapu and Zanu (PF),” reported The Chronicle.

Correction! The 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre was about coercing Dr Joshua Nkomo and his PF Zapu supporters into giving up their democratic right to belong to a political party of their own choice and for the said party to contest for public office in free, fair and credible elections. Lest anyone should forget the 1979 Lancaster House constitution made Zimbabwe a multi-party democratic republic.

PF Zapu was, without doubt, Zanu PF’s main political opponent in post independent Zimbabwe.

So, after five long years of reign of terror and barbarism at the hands of state security services that left hundreds of thousands of mainly PF Zapu leaders and supporters beaten and maimed to say nothing of the destroyed properties and livelihoods and over 20 000 innocent civilians murdered in cold blood; PF Zapu finally buckled and signed the so called Unity Accord. It was PF Zapu capitulation, clearing the way for Zanu PF to impose the de facto one-party dictatorship which the regime has ruthless enforced under the pretext of unity, peace and development.    

"Let's be careful of external forces who turn us against each other. As citizens, we should not allow individuals and organisations being sponsored by Western countries to divide us," Bishop Mutendi told his audience in Gwanda.

"For us to develop our country, we must remain united and maintain peace. As a church, including leaders of the country, we should continue praying for our country."

How naïve! Zimbabwe is a textbook failed state; a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to retain absolute power whilst the loot the nation blind. Four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the country in economic ruins, basic services such as education and health care have collapsed and 49% of our people now live in abject poverty.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and, to be absolutely certain of victory, the regime will brazenly use wanton violence just as it did during Gukurahundi and the 2008 run-off.  

"We would like to thank Bishop Mutendi for the work that he is doing by moving around the country preaching peace and development. This is the kind of partnership that we need as Government," Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Abedinico Ncube, praised Bishop Mutendi.

"Church leaders play a crucial role in the community and we need them to change the mindset of the people and to bring everyone on board. As churches let's continue to play our part in building society."

The church and church leaders have always been the last line of defence, calling for peace, justice and rule of law, speaking truth to power, on behave of the oppressed and voiceless. Not so in Zimbabwe, the church leaders are Zanu PF political commissars spreading party propaganda from the pulpit for a share of the spoils of absolute power.

Church leaders praying for peace knowing all along that it is the Zanu PF regime; they are crediting for bringing peace, unity and development; whose insatiable greed for power and loot is the root cause of the country’s culture of political violence and tyranny, the economic meltdown and the tragic human suffering. With Zimbabwe’s political, economic and political stability now at stake; we, Zimbabweans, own to ourselves and posterity to tell sell outs like Bishop Mutendi they are sell outs! Shut up!