MDC’s Minister of Public Service, Ms Matibenga, and a former Trade Unionist herself, has been under increasing criticism for not pushing hard for civil servant wage increases. Her excuse for doing nothing is that she “can’t run with the hounds and the rabbits together.”
What the civil servants and the nation at large want to know, Minister Matibenga, is why this government had the money to pay Ministers like you good salaries and generous perks but have no money to pay civil servants a living wage? Yes Minister, you are now a member of the pampered ruling elite, the hounds, and you certainly can't hunt with the hounds and run with the rabbit! You are no longer one of the oppressed and impoverished mass.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs were yesteryear’s national liberation heroes but as soon as they tasted power they became the ruthless tyrants we see today. Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have undergone a similar transformation. What the nation need is leaders who really care about building a free, democratic and just nation and not people who pay lip-service to these values.
&&&&&&&
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Friday, 27 January 2012
Zambia President Sata calls Tsvangirai a "stooge" - heard that one before!
Zambian President Sata calls Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, a “stooge”. It was a very undiplomatic remark to make, to say the very least. Still, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, Tsvangirai’s leadership ability will be called into question.
As far back as 2001, the then USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell told his bosses in Washington Tsvangirai was a “flawed and indecisive character”. The cable was not meant for public consumption and it would have remained a secret were it not for WikiLeaks. After years of Tsvangirai’s blundering, the biggest blunder was allowing Mugabe back into power through the back door; only the blind MDC supporters still have any doubt Ambassador Dell was wrong.
Zimbabweans have to deal with this elephant in the room, Tsvangirai, if this country is ever to get out of this mess!
$$$$$$$$$
Amnesty International calls on the Zimbabwe government to end human rights abuses.
What else can AI do other than high light the abuses and campaign for them to end.
What I cannot accept, and I am not the only one here, is why this MDC controlled parliament has been so totally useless at stopping this madness. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were beaten and/or rapped and over 500 lost their very lives to give MDC its parliamentary majority because they believed in a parliamentary democracy to end this dictatorship. They were wrong; this MDC parliament has been more subservient to Mugabe than all the other Zanu PF controlled parliaments!
%%%%%%%
Zimbabwe had its best chance to end Mugabe's reign of terror after the 2008 elections sadly we had the most incompetent political party led by the most indecisive character in the country's political history! Tsvangirai allowed Mugabe back into State House through the back door and has since been at the dictator's beckon and call.
Parliamentary democracy works as but like anything else even the best designed system will never achieve its intended objects in the hands of half-hearted or worse human operators.
As far back as 2001, the then USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell told his bosses in Washington Tsvangirai was a “flawed and indecisive character”. The cable was not meant for public consumption and it would have remained a secret were it not for WikiLeaks. After years of Tsvangirai’s blundering, the biggest blunder was allowing Mugabe back into power through the back door; only the blind MDC supporters still have any doubt Ambassador Dell was wrong.
Zimbabweans have to deal with this elephant in the room, Tsvangirai, if this country is ever to get out of this mess!
$$$$$$$$$
Amnesty International calls on the Zimbabwe government to end human rights abuses.
What else can AI do other than high light the abuses and campaign for them to end.
What I cannot accept, and I am not the only one here, is why this MDC controlled parliament has been so totally useless at stopping this madness. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were beaten and/or rapped and over 500 lost their very lives to give MDC its parliamentary majority because they believed in a parliamentary democracy to end this dictatorship. They were wrong; this MDC parliament has been more subservient to Mugabe than all the other Zanu PF controlled parliaments!
%%%%%%%
Zimbabwe had its best chance to end Mugabe's reign of terror after the 2008 elections sadly we had the most incompetent political party led by the most indecisive character in the country's political history! Tsvangirai allowed Mugabe back into State House through the back door and has since been at the dictator's beckon and call.
Parliamentary democracy works as but like anything else even the best designed system will never achieve its intended objects in the hands of half-hearted or worse human operators.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Zimbabweans voted MDC to stop the gravy train not to get on it!
The gap between what Minister BIti and MPs get in salary, allowances and other perks and that even the most senior civil servant like School Head or Doctors are paid is now a chasm. It simply does wash that a Doctor should be paid starvation wages whilst politicians are paid luxury wages in comparison. There is certainly a crying need for a more equitable allocation of scarce national resources.
The people are forced to live in abject poverty whilst the politicians are getting filthy rich. The politicians are in power to enrich themselves and escape the grinding poverty. They are there to look after number one - themselves. This is why politics has become such a dirty game; it stinks and, like a rotting carcass, it is attracting the worse in our society, the vultures and hyenas.
Holding public office is about serving the common good first and last and not a chance for individuals to enrich themselves. Well paid teachers, for example, will mean a quality education system; everyone will to benefit from that. Using the money to buy luxury cars for the Ministers, which is what this regime is doing, will serve to message the individual’s ego. Having two or three luxuries cars will not make the Minister perform his/her public duties any better? If anything, it is the promise of these luxuries and an escape from the growing poverty in the land that most of these politicians seem to care. Indeed holding public office has become so lucrative and of those aspiring for office have lied, cheated and even killed to for what they consider to be unfettered access to public funds and resources for selfish gain.
In some rural constituencies the MP’s expenditure constitute a significant part of total public expenditure in the constituency. Rural School and Clinic are barely functioning and yet hundreds of thousands are spent the constituency representative.
Zimbabweans risked all and over 500 lost their lives to elect Minister Biti and his MDC friends in the hope that they will stop the run-away Zanu PF gravy train. They did stop the gravy train, long enough to get on and then it was full steam ahead!
Those who have no interest in serving public interests other than their own should do so within the confines of the private sector and not the public sector.
The public have a right to demand a more equitable allocation of public resources, and a public strike is their way of registering that demand.
The people are forced to live in abject poverty whilst the politicians are getting filthy rich. The politicians are in power to enrich themselves and escape the grinding poverty. They are there to look after number one - themselves. This is why politics has become such a dirty game; it stinks and, like a rotting carcass, it is attracting the worse in our society, the vultures and hyenas.
Holding public office is about serving the common good first and last and not a chance for individuals to enrich themselves. Well paid teachers, for example, will mean a quality education system; everyone will to benefit from that. Using the money to buy luxury cars for the Ministers, which is what this regime is doing, will serve to message the individual’s ego. Having two or three luxuries cars will not make the Minister perform his/her public duties any better? If anything, it is the promise of these luxuries and an escape from the growing poverty in the land that most of these politicians seem to care. Indeed holding public office has become so lucrative and of those aspiring for office have lied, cheated and even killed to for what they consider to be unfettered access to public funds and resources for selfish gain.
In some rural constituencies the MP’s expenditure constitute a significant part of total public expenditure in the constituency. Rural School and Clinic are barely functioning and yet hundreds of thousands are spent the constituency representative.
Zimbabweans risked all and over 500 lost their lives to elect Minister Biti and his MDC friends in the hope that they will stop the run-away Zanu PF gravy train. They did stop the gravy train, long enough to get on and then it was full steam ahead!
Those who have no interest in serving public interests other than their own should do so within the confines of the private sector and not the public sector.
The public have a right to demand a more equitable allocation of public resources, and a public strike is their way of registering that demand.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Free Zimbabwe demonstrators should blame MDC for lack of progress not SA.
This weekend there were demonstrations to pressure SA to end the political crisis in Zimbabwe.
Whilst it is true that "South Africa, through its former President Thabo Mbeki, was the chief architect of the GPA and the coalition government"; the fact remains that MDC was free to refuse entering into the agreement, particularly by the time the GPA was signed it was clear Mugabe had all his dictatorial powers.
It is very simplistic to say South Africa must “take measures against the Mugabe regime”. To start with there is no such thing as a Mugabe regime any more; we have GNU, totally dysfunctional but a GNU nonetheless. Secondly, and more significantly, what measures can SA take against Mugabe? Short of SA sending SA Police Officers to arrest the rogue ZRP Officers, for example, what else can stop the scourge of political violence increasingly orchestrated by ZRP?
Ever since signing the GPA MDC has committed one blunder after another thus further strengthening Mugabe’s tyrannical hand. Why has MDC failed to use its parliamentary majority to rein in the rogue ZRP baggers belief?
Zimbabwe is NOT a one-party dictatorship. It is a de facto one-party state which is not the same thing. MDC's parliamentary majority should have tested this political presumption to destruction. The only reason why this has not happened is because MDC is a party with no vision led by a flawed and indecisive character.
As far back as 2001, the then US Ambassador to Zimbabwe cabled Washington to say Tsvangirai was a “flawed and indecisive character”. With all the hindsight and blundering since; we should acknowledge the Ambassador was right. And better still start the serious business of getting a competent team before we start pointing fingers at South Africa.
If these demonstrators are serious about freeing Zimbabwe then they should targeting MDC to finally make good use of the electoral mandate the people of Zimbabwe gave him in 2008!
The last thing Zimbabwe is for SA to do what Tanzania did in Uganda by kicking out Idi Amin and kick out Mugabe. Uganda ended up with yet another dictator; we could well end up with a Somalia as the country breaks up into warring factions. Tsvangirai will not be able to hold the country together even after it is given to him in a silver platter; that is just how incompetent the man is!
Whilst it is true that "South Africa, through its former President Thabo Mbeki, was the chief architect of the GPA and the coalition government"; the fact remains that MDC was free to refuse entering into the agreement, particularly by the time the GPA was signed it was clear Mugabe had all his dictatorial powers.
It is very simplistic to say South Africa must “take measures against the Mugabe regime”. To start with there is no such thing as a Mugabe regime any more; we have GNU, totally dysfunctional but a GNU nonetheless. Secondly, and more significantly, what measures can SA take against Mugabe? Short of SA sending SA Police Officers to arrest the rogue ZRP Officers, for example, what else can stop the scourge of political violence increasingly orchestrated by ZRP?
Ever since signing the GPA MDC has committed one blunder after another thus further strengthening Mugabe’s tyrannical hand. Why has MDC failed to use its parliamentary majority to rein in the rogue ZRP baggers belief?
Zimbabwe is NOT a one-party dictatorship. It is a de facto one-party state which is not the same thing. MDC's parliamentary majority should have tested this political presumption to destruction. The only reason why this has not happened is because MDC is a party with no vision led by a flawed and indecisive character.
As far back as 2001, the then US Ambassador to Zimbabwe cabled Washington to say Tsvangirai was a “flawed and indecisive character”. With all the hindsight and blundering since; we should acknowledge the Ambassador was right. And better still start the serious business of getting a competent team before we start pointing fingers at South Africa.
If these demonstrators are serious about freeing Zimbabwe then they should targeting MDC to finally make good use of the electoral mandate the people of Zimbabwe gave him in 2008!
The last thing Zimbabwe is for SA to do what Tanzania did in Uganda by kicking out Idi Amin and kick out Mugabe. Uganda ended up with yet another dictator; we could well end up with a Somalia as the country breaks up into warring factions. Tsvangirai will not be able to hold the country together even after it is given to him in a silver platter; that is just how incompetent the man is!
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Mugabe says there will be no security sector reform!
In the boldest statement Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba has made it clear that there will be no security sector reforms.
“They should move to other areas,” Charamba reportedly told The Daily News in respond to calls to replace Police and Army chiefs Chihuri and Chiwenga whose terms of office are coming to an end next month. “Apa pavatanga pakasungwa neutare (This is a no go area)”.
This power sharing arrangement has always been one sided - Mugabe does all the cherry picking and Tsvangirai has to accept whatever is left; which, so far, has meant nothing of any consequence.
Elections are about the people freely electing who should rule; if that means regime change then so be it. Mugabe and Zanu PF should not be allowed to deny the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country! And it is Tsvangirai who is allowing the tyrant and his thugs to do this.
Tsvangirai got his mandate to rule from the people of Zimbabwe who voted in droves in March 2008 for regime change and paid dearly for it.
It was bad enough that Tsvangirai brought Mugabe back into power through the back door by signing the stupid GPA. But if at the end of the GNU the people are once again denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country, and all signs are that this is exactly what will happen, one has to ask why the devil Tsvangirai signed it! The only thing MDC gained from the GNU was that they got to drive Ministerial cars!
Zimbabwe is stuck in this political and economic nightmare because for decades after independence the people did very little to get Mugabe and Zanu PF out of office although it was clear the later was a ruthless tyrant running a dictatorship. And now the people making the same mistake by giving their political support to Tsvangirai; an incompetent and indecisive character. We will have to do a lot better if we are ever to get out of this mess!
“They should move to other areas,” Charamba reportedly told The Daily News in respond to calls to replace Police and Army chiefs Chihuri and Chiwenga whose terms of office are coming to an end next month. “Apa pavatanga pakasungwa neutare (This is a no go area)”.
This power sharing arrangement has always been one sided - Mugabe does all the cherry picking and Tsvangirai has to accept whatever is left; which, so far, has meant nothing of any consequence.
Elections are about the people freely electing who should rule; if that means regime change then so be it. Mugabe and Zanu PF should not be allowed to deny the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country! And it is Tsvangirai who is allowing the tyrant and his thugs to do this.
Tsvangirai got his mandate to rule from the people of Zimbabwe who voted in droves in March 2008 for regime change and paid dearly for it.
It was bad enough that Tsvangirai brought Mugabe back into power through the back door by signing the stupid GPA. But if at the end of the GNU the people are once again denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country, and all signs are that this is exactly what will happen, one has to ask why the devil Tsvangirai signed it! The only thing MDC gained from the GNU was that they got to drive Ministerial cars!
Zimbabwe is stuck in this political and economic nightmare because for decades after independence the people did very little to get Mugabe and Zanu PF out of office although it was clear the later was a ruthless tyrant running a dictatorship. And now the people making the same mistake by giving their political support to Tsvangirai; an incompetent and indecisive character. We will have to do a lot better if we are ever to get out of this mess!
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Zimbabweans are stuck in a rat race, running in circles!
Over the weekend the Police raided MDC-T’s party offices in Bulawayo and arrested a number of the party’s supporters and looted the offices. Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told VOA Studio 7 that party was “making efforts to reclaim the seized property”.
This is a typical mother hen response after the eagle has snatched one of her chicks the nation has learnt to expect from MDC - make a big farce cursing and swearing and running and flapping her wings as if to say this time she will eat the eagle alive but, of course, her feet never even leave the ground! What makes the Zimbabwe situation so intolerable is that rogue Police Officers are nothing more than gutter crows and the mother hen is in fact the all powerful fish eagle!
Parliament is the most powerful institution in the land, it could have had all the Police Officers involved in this raid fired and jailed. Why have parliament failed to do so in this case and in all the other similar cases across the land? Unlike in the past, since the 2008 elections Tsvangirai and his MDC party have the majority in parliament.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police have repeated failed the people of Zimbabwe by failing to arrest unruly Zanu PF thugs. It is the Police’s sacred duty to maintain law and order. Their excuse for doing nothing was that their hands are tied when it comes to political violence by Zanu PF supporters. MDC’s Home Affairs Ministers has said again and again that the Police are getting their instruction “from high places” to do nothing against Zanu PF thugs.
The situation has got even worse now; the Police are themselves directly involved in the political violence, as happened with this raid in Bulawayo.
It is a well known fact that Mugabe has used his position as State President to undermine the independence of country’s democratic institutions including the Police to impose his one-party dictatorship. He has denied the people their basic and fundamental rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and the right to life.
Mugabe is a ruthless tyrant.
It is a tragic curse to befall a nation when those in positions of power and trust such as State President, Zanu PF leaders and the Police abuse their positions. It is an abomination those entrusted to guard against such blatant abuse of power, out of cowardice or for selfish gain, do nothing; their inaction is aiding and abetting the abusers.
It is the ordinary Zimbabweans one fells sorry for; they are the ones who are paying dearly for all the rampant lawlessness and abuses. For years they have hoped against hope for the return of law and order, freedom and peace; sadly the situation has been getting worse and not better! They are caught up in a rat race going nowhere!
“When people
run in circles
It’s a very, very
Mad world”
Sung Gary Jules.
Zimbabwe is become that mad world!
This is a typical mother hen response after the eagle has snatched one of her chicks the nation has learnt to expect from MDC - make a big farce cursing and swearing and running and flapping her wings as if to say this time she will eat the eagle alive but, of course, her feet never even leave the ground! What makes the Zimbabwe situation so intolerable is that rogue Police Officers are nothing more than gutter crows and the mother hen is in fact the all powerful fish eagle!
Parliament is the most powerful institution in the land, it could have had all the Police Officers involved in this raid fired and jailed. Why have parliament failed to do so in this case and in all the other similar cases across the land? Unlike in the past, since the 2008 elections Tsvangirai and his MDC party have the majority in parliament.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police have repeated failed the people of Zimbabwe by failing to arrest unruly Zanu PF thugs. It is the Police’s sacred duty to maintain law and order. Their excuse for doing nothing was that their hands are tied when it comes to political violence by Zanu PF supporters. MDC’s Home Affairs Ministers has said again and again that the Police are getting their instruction “from high places” to do nothing against Zanu PF thugs.
The situation has got even worse now; the Police are themselves directly involved in the political violence, as happened with this raid in Bulawayo.
It is a well known fact that Mugabe has used his position as State President to undermine the independence of country’s democratic institutions including the Police to impose his one-party dictatorship. He has denied the people their basic and fundamental rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and the right to life.
Mugabe is a ruthless tyrant.
It is a tragic curse to befall a nation when those in positions of power and trust such as State President, Zanu PF leaders and the Police abuse their positions. It is an abomination those entrusted to guard against such blatant abuse of power, out of cowardice or for selfish gain, do nothing; their inaction is aiding and abetting the abusers.
It is the ordinary Zimbabweans one fells sorry for; they are the ones who are paying dearly for all the rampant lawlessness and abuses. For years they have hoped against hope for the return of law and order, freedom and peace; sadly the situation has been getting worse and not better! They are caught up in a rat race going nowhere!
“When people
run in circles
It’s a very, very
Mad world”
Sung Gary Jules.
Zimbabwe is become that mad world!
Friday, 13 January 2012
MDC Ministers are nothing more than prefects with Mugabe as the Autocratic Headmaster!
Zimbabwe Home Affairs Minister Makone says she can not stop Police Officers who are terrorising the public.
This is really tragic. If the Minister of Home Affairs can not do anything to force the Police carryout their duties; who can?
The reality is the Minister has the law and authority to rein in these rogue Police Officers. MDC, Minister Makone's party, has control of parliament. MDC and Minister have, out of cowardice and incompetency, have failed to their parliamentary power and authority to restore the rule of rule. Zimbabwe desperately need competent Ministers and political leaders and not this MDC lot who view themselves as nothing more than school prefects before the Headmaster, Mugabe!
This is really tragic. If the Minister of Home Affairs can not do anything to force the Police carryout their duties; who can?
The reality is the Minister has the law and authority to rein in these rogue Police Officers. MDC, Minister Makone's party, has control of parliament. MDC and Minister have, out of cowardice and incompetency, have failed to their parliamentary power and authority to restore the rule of rule. Zimbabwe desperately need competent Ministers and political leaders and not this MDC lot who view themselves as nothing more than school prefects before the Headmaster, Mugabe!
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Postpone elections in not the answer to Zimbabwe's violence!
The GNU was a stop gap measure whose main task was to draft a new constitution and, although it was not stated explicitly, then organise fresh elections. There was an explicit time scale for drafting the new constitution - 18 months starting February 2009. By end of this month the GNU would have had 36 months, twice the time allowed for, and yet have not even produced the first draft. Judging from the undue influence Mugabe and Zanu PF have during the consultations, the proposed constitution would not be worth the paper it is written on.
Those who want elections delayed on the grounds that the country needs a new constitution must shut up because they had had three years already to carry out a task that could have been completed in six months or less. And, which is more, the nation can not wait for something we already know is worthless!
All those familiar with Zimbabwe will have good reasons to want to postpone the elections for fear of political violence. Still one has to ask; why has been done in the last three years to end this national scourge? Mugabe won the “one-horse” race in 2008 after Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the race because of the country wide institutionalised political violence whose sole purpose was to force the electorate to vote for Mugabe. The one thing top on Tsvangirai and MDC’s list, one would think, was to ensure there would never again be political violence in Zimbabwe. Without concrete guarantees of meaningful democratic reforms then there was absolutely no reason why Tsvangirai agreed to be party to this GNU!
Sadly Tsvangirai did not demand concrete guarantees the GNU will deliver on its promise to end political violence because he is a “flawed and indecisive leader”, as USA Ambassador Chris Dell rightly said back in 2001.
Holding regular elections is a key requirement in functional democracy. We should not postpone elections because we fear political violence or those who seek to undermine the democratic process. We should instead seek to end the scourge of political violence and punish those responsible for the lawlessness.
Those who want elections delayed on the grounds that the country needs a new constitution must shut up because they had had three years already to carry out a task that could have been completed in six months or less. And, which is more, the nation can not wait for something we already know is worthless!
All those familiar with Zimbabwe will have good reasons to want to postpone the elections for fear of political violence. Still one has to ask; why has been done in the last three years to end this national scourge? Mugabe won the “one-horse” race in 2008 after Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the race because of the country wide institutionalised political violence whose sole purpose was to force the electorate to vote for Mugabe. The one thing top on Tsvangirai and MDC’s list, one would think, was to ensure there would never again be political violence in Zimbabwe. Without concrete guarantees of meaningful democratic reforms then there was absolutely no reason why Tsvangirai agreed to be party to this GNU!
Sadly Tsvangirai did not demand concrete guarantees the GNU will deliver on its promise to end political violence because he is a “flawed and indecisive leader”, as USA Ambassador Chris Dell rightly said back in 2001.
Holding regular elections is a key requirement in functional democracy. We should not postpone elections because we fear political violence or those who seek to undermine the democratic process. We should instead seek to end the scourge of political violence and punish those responsible for the lawlessness.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Elections are more than putting X on a ballot paper!, much more
Come February 2012 it will be exactly three years since the swearing in of Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and marking the start of the GNU. A lot was expected from this government; Zimbabwe was in a great political and economic mess - a man made mess, one must add.
Three years since the formation of the GNU the political mess is still there; untouched!
Three years since the formation of the GNU the economic mess is still there; hardily touched!
Before the GNU the national economy had sunk by a staggering 84% in the six years 2002 to 2008 alone. The two things that the GNU did was scrap the by then worthless Zimbabwe dollars and the misguided price controls bringing some sense of financial sanity and stability. Sadly nothing has been done to address all the other important and critical tasks like the restoration of the rule of law and stamping out the mismanagement, corruption and looting. These were the cancers behind the economic melt down and thus the failure to address them has meant the much hoped for economic recovery has failed to materialise.
The Zimbabwe economy has remained firmly stuck in the doldrums; unemployment has hardly improved from 90% to 80% and basic services like education and health have never recovered.
On the political front nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - has been achieved. Before the formation of the GNU the country was under the iron grip of a tyrannical and oppressive regime. Tsvangirai and his MDC party promised the people democratic changes and the most significant of these changes was putting an end to the use of violence for political gain.
The GNU was never meant to last for much more that two years. And now with fresh election looming, the prospect of another violent election hangs over the nation like the sword of Damocles.
What Zimbabweans should be asking themselves today is was the GNU what they risked their lives in 2008 for. Sadly the answer has to be a resounding no.
Yes, there are some people who are bending over backwards to find excuses for Tsvangirai and MDC’s failures out of loyalty to the leaders. The reality is Tsvangirai is a “flawed and indecisive character” as the former USA Ambassador, Chris Dell once said and it is his breath taking incomplete that has left the nation in this mess. It is this blind loyalty that has encouraged tyrants like Mugabe and incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai to remain in power and ruin people’s lives.
Every generation has its challenge and this generation’s challenge of the last thirty years has been how to deliver the promise of economic prosperity, freedom, liberty and human dignity - the promise of independence. So far we have not done well. We installed a ruthless tyrant into State House and, for the last ten years, have appointed a totally incompetent man as the front man in our attempt to dethrone the tyrant. We should have done a lot better. We must redeem our past failings.
The greatest weakness of the Zimbabwean people, one that runs true throughout, is being naïve; naïve enough to entrust the leaders with a blank cheque to delivery the economic prosperity, etc. We have yet to understand that leaders, regardless of their past heroic exploits, must always be held accountable to the people. Looking at Mugabe, it would right to say it is him who is holding the people to account. It is the tail that is wagging the dog!
Elections are a lot more than putting an X on a piece of paper. The voting is just one aspect of a multifaceted process of judging leaders and holding them accountable. The electorate have a duty and obligation to at least try to understand what should and can be done to deliver the economic prosperity, freedom, liberty, etc.
Three years since the formation of the GNU the political mess is still there; untouched!
Three years since the formation of the GNU the economic mess is still there; hardily touched!
Before the GNU the national economy had sunk by a staggering 84% in the six years 2002 to 2008 alone. The two things that the GNU did was scrap the by then worthless Zimbabwe dollars and the misguided price controls bringing some sense of financial sanity and stability. Sadly nothing has been done to address all the other important and critical tasks like the restoration of the rule of law and stamping out the mismanagement, corruption and looting. These were the cancers behind the economic melt down and thus the failure to address them has meant the much hoped for economic recovery has failed to materialise.
The Zimbabwe economy has remained firmly stuck in the doldrums; unemployment has hardly improved from 90% to 80% and basic services like education and health have never recovered.
On the political front nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - has been achieved. Before the formation of the GNU the country was under the iron grip of a tyrannical and oppressive regime. Tsvangirai and his MDC party promised the people democratic changes and the most significant of these changes was putting an end to the use of violence for political gain.
The GNU was never meant to last for much more that two years. And now with fresh election looming, the prospect of another violent election hangs over the nation like the sword of Damocles.
What Zimbabweans should be asking themselves today is was the GNU what they risked their lives in 2008 for. Sadly the answer has to be a resounding no.
Yes, there are some people who are bending over backwards to find excuses for Tsvangirai and MDC’s failures out of loyalty to the leaders. The reality is Tsvangirai is a “flawed and indecisive character” as the former USA Ambassador, Chris Dell once said and it is his breath taking incomplete that has left the nation in this mess. It is this blind loyalty that has encouraged tyrants like Mugabe and incompetent leaders like Tsvangirai to remain in power and ruin people’s lives.
Every generation has its challenge and this generation’s challenge of the last thirty years has been how to deliver the promise of economic prosperity, freedom, liberty and human dignity - the promise of independence. So far we have not done well. We installed a ruthless tyrant into State House and, for the last ten years, have appointed a totally incompetent man as the front man in our attempt to dethrone the tyrant. We should have done a lot better. We must redeem our past failings.
The greatest weakness of the Zimbabwean people, one that runs true throughout, is being naïve; naïve enough to entrust the leaders with a blank cheque to delivery the economic prosperity, etc. We have yet to understand that leaders, regardless of their past heroic exploits, must always be held accountable to the people. Looking at Mugabe, it would right to say it is him who is holding the people to account. It is the tail that is wagging the dog!
Elections are a lot more than putting an X on a piece of paper. The voting is just one aspect of a multifaceted process of judging leaders and holding them accountable. The electorate have a duty and obligation to at least try to understand what should and can be done to deliver the economic prosperity, freedom, liberty, etc.
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