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.
11 comments:
We may not agree with everything that Jabulani Sibanda has said and done over the years but no one can deny that he was right to say we are dealing with "bedroom coup" here. Grace has already taken over as Supremo President and she is the one calling ALL the shots.
Mugabe rigged last year's elections where he and he alone effectively vetoed the electorate’s wish as to who was to rule the country. And now he is being bullied by his power hungry wife to hand over power to her. People like Sibanda have been the tyrant’s foot-soldiers but even they find this new dimension unacceptable.
@Maita
Yes Mugabe has the Army, CIO, Judiciary, etc. behind him and had all along but the Army, CIO, etc. did not stop MDC implementing any of the reforms. It was for parliament to propose the reforms and pass them, MDC had the majority in parliament and so would have had no problem get parliament to pass the proposals. There was not even one proposed reform tabled in parliament throughout the five year life of the GNU. Not one!
When are you going to stop blaming everyone else but not MDC for the failures, betrayals and breath-taking incompetence of MDC? You need to look at the issue before you and judge it on its own merit and stop looking at who said it and judge the person first and then the issue. You are mentally locked in the belief that Tsvangirai can do no wrong and hence you failure to accept that on reforms he did just that!
The "bedroom coup" jab has stung Mugabe more than Muhammad Ali's left hook that floored George Foreman in the rumble in the jungle in 1974! Mugabe is now being ruled by his power hungry but clueless wife and now she wants to rule Zanu PF and the country as well! This is one additional layer of this nightmare that we must resist!
@ Dr Wezhira
The main reason Zanu PF is celebrating this EU decision is that the demand for it to hold free and fair elections is now forgotten. So even if the party fails to delivery new jobs, etc. there is nothing you can do about it. The party now has a licence to rig elections and so its wish of no regime change is now a given.
Last year people celebrated the July elections prematurely without understanding that holding the elections with no reforms was folly. Sadly the same is happening here again; the EU have just sold us short by re-engaging the Zanu PF regime regardless the fact Mugabe blatantly rigged last year’s elections.
Did The British trade delegates agree to pay Dr Mujuru her standard 10% cut or did they get a better deal from her?
Just because MDC betrayed the nation and failed to get even one democratic reform implemented is no reason the whole nation and generations to come must now be condemned to life under a tyrannical and corrupt regime! The people of Zimbabwe have every reason to aspire for freedom, peace, justice, human dignity and to have a fair share of the country’s riches. What the EU is doing now is allowing the tyrannical regime in Harare to ride rough shod over the people’s hopes and dream in return for a share of the nation’s plundered wealth.
The British government should be ashamed to be leading in this EU policy of appeasement and plundering. The British people must hang their heads in shame at what this government is doing on their behalf. This is no different from the slave trade of two centuries ago!
“She (Mujuru) made it clear that her intention was not to remove the President. She made convincing arguments and that is why even the President has decided to probe both factions. However, you could tell that Mugabe has been arm twisted by the wife and he is being told what to say. We can only feel sorry for the old man,” said the highly placed source.
If corruption allegations against Mujuru are dismiss it will be because the process to deal with the problem is corrupt. Mai Mujuru is corrupt because there is no other way that woman would be a billionaire otherwise!
“You could tell that Mugabe has been arm twisted by the wife,” commented the source! Well Jabulani Sibanda was right then that there has been a bedroom coup! The tough talking tyrant who has often boosted of having degrees in violence is nothing but a hen pecked cock!
So instead of addressing the substantive issues raised by Grace the politburo has decided to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the existence of the factions in Zanu PF. This is just kicking the can down the road; the issue is not going away and sooner or later the party will have to deal with the issue of who is to replace Mugabe which is the core issue behind all this dog-eat-dog in fighting.
He added that Compaore's departure was expected to bring little change, calling his replacement by Traore a "transition of personalities, not of the regime" This is a tragic reality repeated again and again in Africa.
Mujuru, Sibanda and all the other liberation war heroines and heroes have "deleted" their own heroic past by allowing greed and not reason to rule them. There is no denying that Mujuru and Sibanda are corrupt because how else would they have amassed such huge fortunes otherwise.
It is greed that made them corrupt and accept political repression as the vehicle to allow them to be corrupt. It is nonsense for them to expect anyone to honour them as war heroes when to feed their greed they are denied the people the freedom, human rights, justice, etc.; the very things the nation was fighting for
I am sure the British adventurers who had been left out of the looting and plunder that has been going on in Zimbabwe the last 15 years led by the Chinese, Israelis and Indians welcome the chance to join in. In that regard, yes the trade mission was a resounding success.
For the ordinary Zimbabwean whose lives have become a hell-on-earth after all the decades of corruption, looting and plunder by this Zanu PF government in cahoots with the above named nations and throwing the door open to more outsiders to join in the plunder will only make their lives even worse. Countries like Israel and China have played a key role in Zimbabwe’s rigged elections in the past. But worse still, this EU re-engaging with Zanu PF means all pressure for the latter to hold free and fair elections is off and extinguishing our hope of ever ending this nightmare peacefully!
“It was devastating for an ordinary Zimbabwean to realise that senior government ministers including the Vice President are accused of corruption,” you said. I agree with you there, many Zimbabweans have been devastated to know that senior government officials are corrupt. It is no secret that Mai Mujuru is a billionaire in her own right and she did not amass her vast wealth last year but has been doing this ever since Zanu PF got into power.
She is not the only one; they have all been at it. Some of the other leaders have been better at covering their tracks than her but even they could not hide the fact that they have many farms, for example. The Mugabes are believed to have as many as thirteen farms. There is the $20 million Blue Roof mansion for the first family and their $ 1 million and $5 million birthday and wedding parties respectively; they could to hide these even if they wanted to.
Ordinary Zimbabweans have very selective minds that simply refuse to believe much less remember what does not fit with their preconceived ideas; Zanu PF leaders are the nation’s liberation heroes and heroines and to think of them as corrupt and murderous tyrants is simply unthinkable! There is a mountain of evidence that Zanu PF leaders are all these things and still many Zimbabweans have continued to deny what is there before their own eyes.
Indeed many have closed their eyes to this reality as if that would change the facts on the ground. If anything if has only served to encourage the leaders to be more arrogant and ruthless in their drive for absolute power to better gratify their insatiable appetites for power and wealth.
The people have readily accepted Zanu PF propaganda dismissing all charges of corruption and tyrannical rule as western inspired “regime change” lies. The propaganda fitted with their own preconceived idealistic image of the party and its leaders. The people are devastated to hear senior Zanu PF leaders publicly accusing another senior leader of “illicit dealing in diamonds”, as Grace accused VP Mujuru of. They are devastated that the regime has shatter the smokes and mirrors screen it had erected for them to hide from the truth and now they have no excuse for not seeing the harsh reality of Zanu PF leaders as the corrupt and murderous tyrants they are!
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