EU confirm Zanu PF re-engagement snuffing all our hope of free and fair elections!

In 2002 the Western countries, include EU, USA, Canada and Australia, agreed to impose targeted sanctions against Mugabe and a number of his cronies in protest against the regime's bad human rights record and repeated failure to hold free and fair elections. It was the reports of a dooming diamond trade in Zimbabwe’s diamond by the Chinese, Israelis and Indians that has shaken the west’s unity. For the last two years the EU, under pressure from Belgium in particular whose old diamond industry was been threaten by these newcomers, has threaten break rank and re-engage the Zanu PF regime regardless it failure to hold free and fair elections.

“We are most happy today to announce that the EU council confirmed this position (re-engagement with Zanu PF regime) and that appropriate measures will indeed effectively be lifted this weekend,” EU ambassador to Zimbabwe, Philippe Van Damme, flanked by diplomats from 10 EU states, told journalists in Harare

So it is official, the EU has broken rank with the USA, Australia and Canada and given up the demand for Zanu PF to hold free and fair elections as a lost cause. The EU has now joined China, Israel and India in the on-going looting and plunder of Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth and riches. Yes I said looting and plunder because that is exactly what is going to happen – the economic environment is not conducive for the normal medium and long term investor but ideal for the looters and plunders!

EU – Zanu PF re-engagement will not bring any investors who will open new companies and bring the much needed jobs because the Zanu PF government will not deliver the condition such investor demand.

“There is no investor who can come to an environment where their investments are not secure. The clarification [of the indigenisation law] is important. As far as the clarification of the indigenisation law, the investors are not saying change your law, but what they are saying is: ‘Make it clear that there should be predictability and transparency’. They are not saying change your laws to suit us,” Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa told a visiting UK trade delegates the other day.

The nation has been over this ground a thousand times already and no amount of spin by the Minister can change the fact on the ground that delivering that environment for normal business activities to thrive has been a bridge too far for Zanu PF.

In 2008 the Zanu PF regime passed a law that forces any foreign investor to sell up to 51% of their investment to a local black Zimbabwean partner. On Tuesday Mugabe warned against those who fail to follow the rules in the selection of the local partner, thus confirming he has no intention of scrapping the law. The only compromise the regime has offered since the rigged July 2013 elections is that the percentage sold to the local partner will be “negotiable”.

No foreign investor wants to be forced to take on a partner, period. And these Zanu PF approved partners are nothing but blood sucking ticks!

Even if the regime was to announce that it has scrapped the indigenisation laws, no one will trust the regime to honour the new law, a point UK Ambassador was quick to remind Minister Chinamasa.

“The promised clarification of indigenisation policy is welcome, which, if handled well, could have a major impact. The government must also show observers that rule of law is paramount, underlining this message as much in political rhetoric as in the conduct of its institutions,” Laing said.

The Zanu PF regime is well known for its disregard of even its own laws and treaties.

So the EU know the Zanu PF government will not give any would-be foreign investor any assurances – let alone ironclad  guarantees – that their investments will not be seized and yet they are still as keen as mustard to re-engage the regime and do business. Well the only business these Europeans must be after is the only business not requiring any medium to long term investment – looting and plunder.

The Belgians, who have been pushing hard for the EU to do business with Mugabe regardless the fact he had just blatantly rigged vote the July 2013 elections, have never cared about human suffering, justice, free elections or human life if it that person was an African. MDC had the best chance ever to implement the democratic reforms and force Mugabe to hold free and fair elections during the GNU. The failure to get even one reform implemented gave the EU the excuse they have been waiting for to abandon the demand on Mugabe to hold free and fair elections as a lost cause.

“Zimbabweans fcuked up big time,” the Belgians argued, no doubt. “Now let us end the sanctions so we can join in the looting and plunder!”

As far as Mugabe and Zanu PF is concerned the re-engagement with EU meaning the regime is off the hook, it does not need to hold free and fair elections. On the economic front the regime is hope the looting and plunder will generate addition wealth to easy the economic meltdown the country has faced these last year.

The people of Zimbabwe and history will never forget or forgive Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC village idiots for betraying the nation and failing to implement the democratic reforms throughout the GNU years. Their betrayal costed the nation its best chance to end the Zanu PF dictatorship.

Still, if the west had remained united and resolute in its demands for free and fair elections Mugabe was bound to give in. So all the human suffering and deaths the nation has endured over the years to get Mugabe to this point have all been wasted.

The only winners here are the EU in that they too will have a share of Zimbabwe’s looted wealth and Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs in that they can carry on with their nonsensical “no regime change” elections. The greatest losers are the Zimbabwe people who economic suffering will only get worse now that the plunder and looting will go into overdrive and any hope of free, fair and credible elections in the next ten years, at least, have been snuffed out!

Zimbabwe Social Democrats condemn British for putting rights to profits above basic human rights!

The British government has sent a high powered trade delegation to Zimbabwe, the first in ten years. The Zanu PF regime has heralded the move as proof of the British and European Union (EU) ending their insistence on the Mugabe regime up holding basic human rights including the right to meaningful elections before they would do business with the regime. 

The EU; under pressure from the Belgians, keen to join in Zimbabwe’s diamond trade; made it clear that the Union would accept whatever verdict SADC made of Zimbabwe’s July 2013 elections. If anybody was likely to turn a blind-eye to any elections irregularities; SADC was that body and they did not disappoint on that point.

Mugabe and Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2013 elections and SADC went on to give the process their thumbs up. The Americans, Canada and Australia did not even hesitate to condemn the elections as a fraud. The EU, after an initial hesitation, had no choice but to condemn the elections; the evidence of vote rigging was overwhelming it would have been a mockery to say otherwise. And yet ever since the rigged elections the EU has been pushing hard to justify its re-engagement with the Mugabe regime. This UK trade delegation to Zimbabwe is but one of the fruits of that hard work.

“Trade and investment is vital for Zimbabwe’s development. We want to strengthen business links and to show our commitment and we are sending a Trade Mission to translate interest into investment,” said Ms Catriona Laing, UK ambassador to Zimbabwe, in a statement.

She said the Zimbabwe government will need to reassure investors that their assets will be secure by clarifying its indigenisation policy, which stipulates that 51 percent of all foreign owned businesses worth over $500,000 must be sold to black Zimbabweans.

The lawless seizures of white owned farms and businesses have been going on for over a decade; the indigenisation policy is a belated but sorry attempt by the Mugabe regime to give the seizures a legal cloak. What the Ambassador is conveniently overlooking here is that it is not only the indigenisation laws alone that have hindered Zimbabwe’s economic development; gross mismanagement and rampant corruption are two of the major problems.  

The Mugabe regime have failed to end mismanagement and corruption and the people themselves have been powerless to remove the regime from government because the country is yet to hold free, fair and credible elections after 34 years of independence. As long as there are no free, fair and credible elections then the hope economic recovery will remain but a pipe dream.

The British and the EU must listen to the voices of the 300 000 or 80% of children who should be at school but are not because their parents are too poor to pay their fees; to the 16% or 2 million Zimbabweans now living in abject poverty; the 90% plus out of work; etc. They are the real victims of this Zanu PF dictatorship and are at the coal face of the economic meltdown the country is experiencing now right. These are the voiceless victims who want is a chance to go to school, to have at least one decent meal a day, to have their first job in ten years or more for many of the unemployed, etc. The British and the EU must not put profits from the plundering of Zimbabwe’s resources and turn a deaf ear to these voiceless victims of the plunder.

Zimbabweans have paid a dearly in economic hardship and political repression including the over 30 000 murder by this Mugabe regime to afford us this chance to force the regime to change. This proposed re-engagement by British and EU will get the regime off the hook and all the suffering and sacrifices we have made would come to naut. How ironic that the British and Europeans, who sacrificed millions of human lives in the WW2 fighting for freedom and the right to vote should be the ones fighting on the side of the tyrannical regime to deny us the same freedoms and rights!

Two centuries ago many Europeans were fighting against blacks slaves; whilst the blacks fought for freedom the whites were fighting for the “right” to own and hold blacks in servitude. Things have not change much really; today the same white are fighting to for the right to plunder Africa’s wealth and resources and the blacks fighting for basic human rights including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life itself are getting in the EU’s way!  

We in the Zimbabwe Social Democrats call upon the British and the EU to listen to the cries for justice and fair play from the long suffering masses in Zimbabwe and stop this re-engagement with the oppressive Zanu PF regime. Europe must not put the right to join in the plunder of Zimbabwe’s wealth and resource above the rights of black Zimbabweans to life and human dignity.

Free, fair and credible elections are the basis of good government in Britain, Europe and the world over; for this is what is at the heart of this struggle. The ordinary people of Zimbabwe are demanding a meaningful say in the governance of the country, a right denied them by this Mugabe dictatorship for the past 34 years. Surely, surely that is not too much to ask; it is a sore thing that the British should now be playing the leading role in the continued denial and oppression of the ordinary voiceless masses in Zimbabwe.

Signed:

Wilbert Mukori

Secretary General

Zimbabwe Social Democrats

Source: http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-18637-All+the+right+noises+as+UK+trade+team+arrives/news.aspx

Mujuru admit to being ugly but will not admit to being corrupt and to vote rigging.

Mai Mujuru is in trouble and if she thinks that she will wriggle out with some stupid double talk; she has something else coming.

"Hongu semunhu ndine zvitadzo, handingarambe. Asi musandipawo zvandisina," [As a human being, I have weaknesses, but people should not make false claims about me] Mujuru said at a party held in Dotito to celebrate her attainment of a PhD qualification last month.

"Some people might hate me simply because they dislike my face,” she continued. “It is not my fault that I might have an ugly face, but God might be proud of me. I say, don't despise me because of how I look, but [look at] what I can do."

Madam, please the people of Zimbabwe are paying dearly for you and your fellow Zanu PF friends’ weaknesses – the country is in an economic mess so much so that 300 000 or 80% of the children are out of school, 16% or 2 million Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty, etc. - do not rub hot chill in the nation’s eyes by insulting our collective intelligence. We are here to find a way to end the tragic human suffering so that the some of the 300 000 children can go back to school and the 2 million living in abject poverty can have once decent meal a day, at least. We really do not care a cat’s whiskers that you are ugly. Please stick to the point!

Grace Mugabe has accused you of “illicit dealing in diamonds”. Corruption is the cancer that has crippled the Zimbabwe economy after decades of this Zanu PF regime denying this is a problem. Grace Mugabe is the first senior Zanu PF official to even admit for the first time that there is corruption. So the nation ask you, Mai Mujuru, does your human weakness – which you have admitted to – include “illicit dealing in diamonds”?

Corruption in the diamond industry is not a trivial national issue; Chiadza and Marange diamond find was valued at a staggering $800 billion back in 2009, a generous windfall that should have fuelled the country’s economic transformation and yet so far only a few individuals have benefited from this bonanza.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because for the last 34 years the nation has not been given a chance to deal with honestly with its problems, corruption was one such problem. The country’s repressive political system has stifled all meaningful debate and competition landing us in this mess and the nation is not getting out of this mess until we end this repressive system.

Mai Mujuru, we want a straight answer from you and none of your “I am ugly” feeble excuse, does your human weaknesses include Zanu PF rigging elections, specifically rigging the 31 July 2013 elections?

Mai Mujuru the nation does not care about how ugly you look; it is the corruption and vote rigging that we are concerned about and are determined to put an end to. The people of Zimbabwe are going have free, fair and credible elections, after 34 years of being denied this basic right, and move out of this economic and political hell Zanu PF tyrannical regime landed us.  

Grace sets war vets on Mujuru but has nothing for her toughest challenger the economy!

If Mai Mujuru and her supporter thought the end of the meet-the-people rallies was the end of Grace Mugabe’s “hour on the political stage” they could not have been more wrong. Grace is still on a war footing and today she was back at her Mazoe Orphanage, where it all started two months ago and is becoming her political temple, telling war vets Mai Mujuru is not fit to rule Zimbabwe.

“There are plenty of people who can run this country, not Mujuru…we cannot go back to where we were before independence,” said Grace.

 “Hanzi ini ndirikuda kuita President, why not, handisi mwana wemuZimbabwe here? Hoo iwe ndiwe wakakodzera nhai? Today we now say chizororai amai, vanogona vaenderere mberi.” (They say I want to be President, why not, am I not a Zimbabwean? You think you are the only fit to be? Today we now say rest madam, let those who can go ahead.)

Hurricane Grace has hit Zimbabwe's political landscape and she is stirring up the worst emotions in those amongst our people known to be ruled more by passion and blind loyalty than by reason.  She is doing so for selfish political gain.

Zanu PF has ruled the country through chaos, fear and bloodshed. Each time the regime is fearful that power is slipping out of its grip, it has resorted to its most tried and trusted ways of consolidating power - chaos, fear and bloodshed and the mindless zealots like the war vets have been its foot-soldiers. Grace is mobilizing the war vets – the handiest and willing tool in the tyrannical regime’s tool box.

Grace assured the war vets that all their issues would be addressed and says that war vets deserve to be taken care of.

After 34 years of misrule by Mugabe the nation's life expectancy, the ultimate qualitative and quantitative measure of a nation’s standard of living and economic progress, has dropped from 68 years in 1980 to 34 years in 2004 according to some reports. It would be a lot worse if donors had not step in. Since 2008 it is the donors who have paid 98% of the country's medical needs, for example. The regime says it has no money but had $5 million to spend on Bona Mugabe's wedding!

Most of these war vets are now living in abject poverty; they have not been spared the economic hardship that has befallen the nation. The war vets have stubbornly refused to see the mountain of evidence of mismanagement and rampant corruption by the regime which are the root causes of the country’s economic ruin. They have, instead, readily accepted the regime’s explanation that it was “the illegal sanctions imposed by the evil West” that have caused the economic collapse.

It has never occurred to these war vets how it was possible that these sanctions that have made the rest of us poor have had the exact opposite effect on those on sanctions list; they have prospered to become millionaire! Now, Grace is promising them that “all” their problems will be addressed; how this miracle is to be achieved now with the evil sanctions still in place, she did not say. Her most important message to the war vets was to prime them and set them off like attack dogs.

“Kana wanga uchisupporta Mai Mujuru buda izvezvi, today is the final push, moment of truth is here,” ranted Grace. “Kana uri murume wotosunga mabrugwa diarrhoea isabude!” (Those who support Mrs Mujuru must come out in the open, today is the final push, moment of truth is here. If you are a man tighten your pants so diarrhoea does not leak out!)

Grace Mugabe knows that her husband, Robert Mugabe, has used the same dirty tactics creating chaos, fear and has shed the blood over 30 000 innocent Zimbabwe during his 34 years in power to maintain his tyrannical rule but it was not going to last. Any regime in history whose power was based on denying others their basic freedom, justice, liberty and human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life itself has always collapsed in the end. The dog-eat-dog fighting in Zanu PF is a clear manifestation of the collapse of Zanu PF.

Whilst Grace may use her “baby dumping” threats backed by the menacing war vets to subdue Mai Mujuru and her Zanu PF faction into submission she should not think she can do the same with the rest of the populous. The continued economic meltdown which has forced 300 000 children out of school and forced 16% or 2 million Zimbabweans into a life of abject poverty already in the nationwide manifestation of the failure of the Zanu PF autocracy. The people have suffered enough and they deserve a just government elected by the people in free, fair credible elections.

Grace will have to rig economic recovery and end the human suffering it has brought to consolidate her grip on power. She will find that the economy is not as easily subdued as Mai Mujuru nor is it so readily fooled as the war vet! 

Biti call Tsvangirai modern day sell-out Nyati denying this was an MDC team not individual sell-out

“Each struggle has its own sell-out and Tsvangirai is our own Nyathi,” said Tendai Biti.

Biti was comparing Morgan Tsvangirai to the infamous Morrison Nyathi, a liberation war fighter who turned coat and became an informer for the enemy. He is the one who led the racists Rhodesian Army deep into Mozambique to Liberation Camps resulting in the slaughter of thousands liberation fighters and the civilian refugees.  

“While Mugabe is a thief who stole our collective dream of a prosperous nation after independence, Tsvangirai is a bigger thief who nicked our dream of a new nation, our dream of re-birth in our lifetime,” continued Biti.

There is no doubt that had MDC implemented the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship brick by brick and rebuild new democratic institutions in its place this would have resulted in a new Zimbabwe, “re-birth in our lifetime”.

There is also no doubt that just as Morrison Nyathi was offered a reward by the white racist regime of Ian Smith to betray his fellow freedom fighters and the nation, Tsvangirai was offered a reward for betraying the nation and not implement the reforms. Mugabe offered the MDC leader the post of Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe (without any meaningful power or authority but Tsvangirai was too foolish to notice), the $4 million Highlands mansion, a chance to gallivant round the world chasing women of ill repute, a ministerial car and all the other glittering-today-but-gone-tomorrow attractions. Tsvangirai accepted the bribe and kept his end of the bargain – not even one democratic reform was implemented. Not one!

“Where did you want me to live? In the bush!” said Tsvangirai with palpable agitation and aggression when he was pushed to deny that the $4 million Highlands mansion was not bribe.

Of course the mansion was a bribe and Tsvangirai sold-out!

What is wrong with Tendai Biti and the rest of the MDC-Renewal’s narrative of this modern day Morrison Nyathi sell-out is just that – it was not one individual, Morgan Tsvangirai, who sold out but the entire MDC leadership!

Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma, of all the MDC leaders, knew exactly what the raft of the democratic reforms were because they were the MDC-T negotiators involved in the writing of the GPA calling for these reforms. Throughout the five year life of the GNU they were aware that none of the reforms had been implemented. Together with Tsvangirai and the other MDC leaders Biti and Mangoma had received reminders from SADC leaders concerned at the lack of progress in implementing the reforms. Reminders they all ignored. Why?

Simple, Mugabe bribed all the MDC leaders. Tendai Biti got Minister of Finance portfolio (he was to latter complain of another parallel but secretive body collecting all the revenue from the dooming but secretive diamond trade), ministerial car, etc. The other leaders got their share of the gravy train goodies.

There is no doubt that all the MDC leaders colluded in doing nothing about implemented the reforms. Indeed they were so pleased with their new-found benefactor they were tripping over each other in taking turns to sign the Mugabe’s praises. It was Tendai Biti himself who called the tyrant “unflappable and father to the nation”!

“Vanhu veMDC vadzidza kudya vanyerere!” remarked one Zanu PF loyalist, mockingly. (MDC leaders have learnt to enjoy the gravy train life and not make a fuss!) He was commenting at the metamorphic transformation in MDC leaders from the impassioned reformers determined to deliver real democratic changes and regime change to these placid poodles content to licking the tyrant’s feet.

What Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders thought was that they would still win the coming elections even if not even one democratic reform had been implemented. So by doing nothing about the reforms they would keep Mugabe happy and he will reward them by keeping them all well supplied with all those gravy train goodies. Come election day, the MDC vote will overwhelm whatever vote rigging schemes Mugabe will have planned.

MDC were naïve to underestimate the elaborate vote rigging scheme Mugabe would device given a free hand use all the state institutions and resources as he pleased. By noon of the 31 July 2013, the main voting day, it was clear to all that Mugabe and Zanu PF were heading for a landslide election victory; Mugabe’s vote rigging scheme had disenfranchised millions of MDC voters whilst generating millions of fictitious votes for Mugabe.

In fact MDC leaders had not just been naïve but had shown throughout the GNU years to be breathtakingly incompetent.   

“He has sold out the struggle. I asked him to seek the people’s forgiveness following the poll loss last year and he refused. He could not get himself to swallow his pride and admit he had failed the nation,” said Tendai Biti of Tsvangirai.

Mr Tendai Biti when are you going to stop lying to the people of Zimbabwe that it was Morgan Tsvangirai alone who failed the nation? You were all breathtakingly incompetent.

Indeed it is not just a matter of Tsvangirai “swallowing his pride” and you yours; you are all hankering to get back on the gravy train and therefore to public acknowledge that you were breathtakingly incompetent would be political suicide because you will have the impossible task to prove that you are not still breathtakingly incompetent.

We both know that you were and still are breathtakingly incompetent and you will never ever delivery any meaningful democratic change. You failed to do so during the GNU when MDC had the trump cards, what chance do you have of doing so now when Zanu PF is holding all the trump cards? None! Zero! Naught! 

Abject poverty awaits Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire - nhamo ichakudzikamisai!

The factional warfare going on in Zanu PF was expected; as the nation economy has continued to shrink – and it has been shrinking at an alarming rate since the 31 July 2013 rigged elections – and there was less and less wealth available to go round, fighting would break out amongst the ruling elite over who get what? The fighting is fierce because the ruling elite are used to getting a lion’s share and will not brook sharing. The very fact that a life of abject poverty awaits all those fail to get a share has turned the fighting into a dog-eat-dog.

There have been many skirmishes in the past but the decisive battles have been fought with the entry of Grace Mugabe on the political stage. Whilst Mugabe, as First Secretary of Zanu PF, banish everyone from campaigning for position in the forthcoming elective congress in December and banished everyone from holding an press interviews his wife was allowed to hold country wide rallies and the press followed her wherever she went. She attached VP Joyce Mujuru, who is her main challenger to the position of VP and ultimately to the presidency, for the word go.

Grace went for the kill, straight for the jugular vein, and poor Mai Mujuru had her hands tied behind her back and her feet too were tied so she not kick or run away through the gags Mugabe ordered. It is now certain that Grace Mugabe will be appointed one of the two VPs and heir apparent at the party congress.

The only real winner here is Robert Mugabe; he has, once again, outwitted his Zanu PF colleagues. He got the Mnangagwa faction to adopt his wife as their candidate for the top job which Mnangagwa had eyed for donkey years. The Mujuru faction was not only lost the top job but many of her supporters have lost their places at the top table too.

Both Mujuru and Mnangagwa have done nothing to stop the Zanu PF juggernaut that has destroyed the country’s once prosperous economy. 16% or 2 million Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty today thanks to the decades of misrule and corruption by this Mugabe dictatorship. In the next few months the number of those living in abject poverty will be swelled considerably as the thousands of mostly Mujuru supporters are “dumped” as Grace Mugabe blandly put it.

Energy Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire and his Masvingo homeboy, Provincial Affairs Minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti are two who have already been told they will be dumped. Welcome comrades! Welcome! Matitsika! 

The late Nathan Shamuyarira and Enos Nkala would have welcomed you comrades to Zimbabwe’s biggest and fastest growing group – 62% poor of which 16% are destitute. Life expectancy for filthy rich who can afford an eye check-up to Singapore eight times a year @ $3 million a trip is 90 years plus. When one cannot afford even one decent meal a day even party grandees soon succumb to death.

It is true that where there is poverty, death is not far behind!

When Shamuyarira and Nkala died, they got a decent coffin. Zanu PF even painted the former’s house the day he died to hide the years of neglect, rot and decay brought on by abject poverty. It was sickeningly cynical of the party but you, Comrade Mavhaire, must know all about just how cruel and cynical Mugabe and Zanu PF is.

Now that Zanu PF Supremo President, Grace Mugabe, has publicly denounced you it will be no surprise that you will not be declared district hero and thus get a State funded coffin which is what Shamuyarira and Nkala got. You will be buried in something befitting of your new found pauper social status - a dirty blanket. 

If there is anyone who “deserves” to living in abject poverty then it must be these Zanu PF Ministers and Officials. For 34 years they have been at Mugabe’s side whilst he destroyed the country’s economy and rod roughshod over the people’s dreams and hopes of freedom, liberty and justice. And throughout all those years they have done nothing to stop this criminal waste of the country’s wealth and rich and tragic human suffering and unnecessary deaths. Now these ministers will know exactly what we the ordinary people have been suffered!

Comrade Dzakamai Mavhaire, maivhaira muchifunga kuti zvehu Minister hazviperi. Nhasi zvapera; nhamo chiraira mapenzi, ichakudzikamisai. 

Was Grace's scathing dismissal of a sick VP candidate a subtle rebuke of R G Mugabe!

When you are not clever say nothing and let people think you a fool rather than open your mouth and prove them right! Being the First Lady for all these years Grace Mugabe could not always be on her guard and never say anything, so she said very little but enough to make people think her a half-shilling. But ever since she stepped into the full political spotlight by winning the Zanu PF Women’s League chairperson position she has been like a hyper active dog with its leash finally removed. The whole world now knows that she is a half-shilling all ‘give her the benefit of the doubt’ is gone!

Grace was scathing in her latest attack of one Zanu PF members who has dared put his name in the hat for one of the two Vice President positions.

“Uri murwere apo urikuisa zita rako forward. Unoita kunge dhongi. Pfungwa dzako hadzina kukwana. Tanga wazviongorora. Uchakambaira uchienda ikoko?” (You are sick and yet you put your name forward. You are like a donkey. You are not a full shilling. Are you going to crawl to get there?) She demanded to know.

There are five candidates vying for the VP position from the former PF Zapu camp alone. She did not say who she was speaking about.

Here is someone whose husband is not a spring chicken by any account, has been President for 34 years already, is as sick as a parrot – we all know since he has been going in and out of the country to Singapore like a yoyo, as much as eight times in one year, at princely sum of $3 million each trip. That has not stopped Mugabe putting his name in the hat again and she has never said anything! Or is this her telling him now in her own not so subtle way?

Grace Mugabe has grabbed as many as fifteen farms for herself; her son with her first husband, Russell; her brother the former Zimbabwe Ambassador to Canada; her daughter Bona (she was named in the latest farm seizure in Goromonzo); etc. She was boosting of how she seizure the Mazoe farm where she built the orphanage and that she will spill blood if anyone tried to take it away.

62% of the people are poor and 16% or 2 million now live in abject poverty because of the decades of corruption and all-out looting spree by this Zanu PF regime and Grace even boost of leading these marauding thugs from front. She uses a fraction of the looted wealth to build an orphanage to cater for but a tiny fraction of the impoverished populous and she expects the nation to be speechless and forever grateful! 

Now that Grace has grabbed the position of chairperson of Zanu PF Women’s League before she has been confirmed into that position she already has her sight on being one of the Vice President with the view of being the de facto president whether RG Mugabe or the party wants it or not! 

If the electorate think a particular candidate is not suitable for whatever reasons be it age, health, shameless greed, incompetence, whatever; they will simply not vote for him or her. Why do she and Zanu PF not trust the electorate to make this decision in a free, fair and credible election?

Ever since Grace Mugabe embarked on these meet-the-people rallies, a poorly disguised rallies to spruce her image and de-campaign her challengers, she has left no one in any doubt she here to grab as much power as she can and will ride roughshod over everyone to get it. She was given a long rope and is in the final phase of hanging herself with it; we must be careful that she does not hang a lot other innocent people first!

What are the ramifications of Grace denouncing VP Mujuru to the nation and to RG Mugabe himself!

Being vice-president is not about chillaxing in the office and leaving President Robert Mugabe to shoulder alone the responsibility of leading the country, the veteran leader’s wife said Monday while addressing a rally in Matabeleland South.

It is no secret that VP Mujuru has done very little in all her years in government. Her pathetic performance record is no worse than that of many of her Zanu PF colleagues. Look at Simon Muzenda, John Nkomo, Mnangagwa, Mutasa, etc. they all would have had Fs in everything year on year for 34 years if anyone had bothered to grade their work. It is not that VP Mujuru has been doing nothing that matters here but what the nation can expect from VP Grace Mugabe and, more intriguingly, what are the ramifications of Grace publicly denounce the chillaxing Mujuru!

Let us face it Mai Mujuru is as dim witted as they come; she has never come up with anything original or of any substance in all her 34 years in power. The only thing she and her late husband have been doing is loot. When it comes to looting anyone can walk onto someone's farm, for example, kick off the own and move in. All one needs to be a looter is to be greedy, have no sense of justice and contempt of the law and have the power to impose one's will.

The test if the looter has any brain is whether or not they are able to put any of the looted wealth and resource into productive use. God knows how many millions of dollars have been poured into farming to increase production but all to no effect.

The Mujurus are billionaires from the looted wealth but only because they kept looting to more than make up for all they wasted. None of all the mines, farms, business ventures they looted or started are a success. Not even one!

But to be fair to the Mujurus, the same can be said about all the other Zanu PF looters which is everyone.

Grace Mugabe has often given the impression that her Gushungo Dairy Business is a great success. What she has never said is how many billions of dollars have been poured into the business in the form of loans, none of them repaid, and in other indirect subsidies such as paying none of taxes everybody else pay. Include these things and the success story is seen for what it really is – a total disaster.

Grace wants the chillaxing Mai Mujuru replaced with none other than herself, of course. What is she offering?

When it comes to brains; she is just as dim witted as Mai Mujuru. There is very little brain activity in that fruitcake, capping her with a PhD and calling her Dr Grace will never change that basic reality!

As VP, Grace would commandeer state resources like Police, Civil Servants, Ministers, helicopters, etc. the same way she is doing right now with her meet-the-people rallies but with the added gravitas befitting her VP, Doctor and First Lady titles. She has not said anything of substance during these on-going country- wide rallies because there was never any purpose to holding these rallies in the first place.

The rallies are a foretaste of VP Grace Mugabe's ethos - she has nothing to say but will go to great taxpayers’ expense to say it! We have already forgotten what she said in Gwanda but the millions wasted to host these rallies have dragged the whole nation even deeper into the economic abyss adding to the nation’s mounting economic misery – no one will forget that in a hurry.  

Soon after independence Zimbabweans nicknamed Robert Mugabe the modern day Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese Explorer, the first European to reach India by sea. After two years in power, Mugabe had already travelled to every corner of the world.

"The only place Vasco da Gama has not been to is hell!" Zimbabweans commented, in sheer exasperation at all this waste of money on endless globe-trotting with nothing to show for it!

After 34 years Mugabe's appetite for globe-trotting has not abetted in anyway. Two years ago he travelled to Singapore alone eight times in one year and each trip costed the taxpayer US$3 million. The country’s economy has shrunk over the years but that has had no effect on his spending habits and extravagant tastes.

Mugabe has recently added a new dimension to his globe-trotting -begging. He was in China in August, his 13th trip to that country in his 34 years in power, begging the Chinese to bankroll his $27 billion ZimAsset economic recovery plan. The Chinese gave him $3 billion for specific projects but refused to give him a dollar in budgetary support because he is "a bad debtor" (不良债务人 in Chinese). They told him so to his face.

VP Grace Mugabe will definitely want to travel, she is shopaholic. We will now have two globe-trotters! We should just double our current president’s budget office allocation because we will a double the motorcade, double overseas trips, double everything. Indeed Grace is not wasting time in waiting for the official appointment and being sworn in as VP; she is VP already in all but name! 

One can even go so far as to say she is not VP and yet she already exercising the powers of Supremo President Grace Mugabe. No one, absolutely no one, but the Supremo President would have the audacity to publicly denounce VP Mujuru as a VP “who does nothing”. The nation is holding its collective breathe to see whether Robert Mugabe is going to finally rein in Grace and put her in her place. If he does nothing then we will all know that there has been a palatial Blue Roof coup, Grace now rules the roost!

Ken Mufuka it is Zanu PF corruption the real hyena we must take serious and not US sanctions the mythical three headed hyena!

I used to read Ken Mufuka's "Letter from America" in the Chronicle, I stopped because they became tediously monotonous - starting nowhere and going nowhere else. I can see that things have not changed; all Ken has done here (see Nehanda Radio opinion US sanctions should be taken seriously) is tells that he was in Washington and he knows "of a small but important office in the US treasury department called office of foreign assets control." 

If Zimbabwe is free to trade goods and services with China, Russia, India, etc. under whatever terms it sees fit then why should America not do the same? 

Ever since the west imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his cronies back in 2002 Mugabe responded with his look east policy and made a big song and dance about it. The message then was very clear Zimbabwe does not need the West because she will get all she need to grow and prosper from the East. 

Indeed Zimbabwe should have gone on to prosper because there was nothing Zimbabwe was getting from the West she could not source from the East. Ian Smith managed to grow the economy under even more stringent UN sanctions for Pete's sake! 

The Zimbabwe economy did not prosper but continues in its downward spiral showing that it was not the sanctions imposed by the West but something else. The something else was mismanagement and corruption which Mugabe vehemently denied allowing these cancers to grow and spread and after 34 years they are killing the economy. 

So the regime has been caught in this self contradictory position where it insists it does not need the West and yet blames the West for all the country's economic troubles! A hopeless and feeble excuse, only the brainwashed morons would believe.

When Mugabe signed the mega deals with China and Russia a few weeks ago he, announce the deals with a lot of chest drumming like a gorilla silver back; giving the impression that he has all he wanted for his ZimAsset economic recovery plan. It was all a bluff of course because none of these two country would give him a dollar for the budgetary support. The Chinese told him why to his face; "he is a bad debtor"! 

The Zimbabwe economy is in ICU and needs surgery to remove those cancerous tumours and instead of Mugabe admitting it he is now fishing for a new sanctions angle why the mega deals with China and Russia are not working. This article by Ken is giving that new angle more mileage. 

The Zimbabwe economy is in total meltdown and the economic hardships this is imposing on the ordinary people are truly heart-breaking. We know no economy in the world could sustain the criminal waste of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption that now exist in Zimbabwe. We need to deal with these cancers now and stop wasting time on these mythical sanctions. 

Indeed if these sanctions are effective as Mugabe says they are; then we need a government that can work with the West and Mugabe has clearly failed to do so.

Mugabe must go and go he will. Zimbabwe must have free, fair and credible elections in which the people have a say as to who governs the country. Let us put to rest this nonsense of no regime change by Mugabe and Zanu PF; if the people vote for regime change then there will be regime change!

After living in America for all these donkey years Ken Mufuka, of all people, should understand the critical importance of a free and meaningful vote in good governance. Sadly the years of exposure to a functioning democracy has had no effect on our Professor; his brain is impermeable to reason and logic but superconductive to nonsensical Zanu PF propaganda.

It is the rampant corruption of Mugabe and Zanu PF that the nation should take seriously and not the US sanctions; the former is the real hyena killing our goats the latter is the mythic three headed hyena with eyes that can see through stone the regime was created fear and panic to divert our attention!