Jabulani Sibanda
revealed the fundamental flaw in his thinking which goes a long way to explain
why we are in this political and economic mess.
“If
he (Mugabe) calls me I will go and meet him, even if he calls Tsvangirai he
will go and meet him or even Biti will go and meet him because what we want is
to find best ways of reviving the economy not removing as he is told by the few
fake war veterans who are surrounding him,” said Sibanda.
We
are in this political and economic mess because Mugabe has refused to accept
that he is democratically accountable to Zanu PF members and, even more
significantly, to the people of Zimbabwe. It is not for him to decide how
longer he will remain as leader but for the party members and the nation in a
free and democratic vote.
So
instead of telling Mugabe the nation demands free, fair and credible elections
and an end to all his political shenanigans and vote rigging; Jabulani will
meet his to appease him and tell him he can continue doing what he has been
doing to accomplish his no regime change ethos as long as he allows the nation
to revive the economy!
No
doubt this is the reason Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not implement any
of the democratic reforms throughout the GNU; they wanted to revive the economy
without ever doing anything that would threaten to weaken in any way Mugabe’s
iron grip on power.
Tendai
Biti, as Minister of Finance in the GNU, complained that government was not
getting all the revenue it was entitled to from the diamond mining in Marange.
He was even aware that the money from Marange was “funding a parallel
government” in the form of the Joint Operation Command (JOC), this secretive
Junta pooling the top brass from the Army, Police, CIO, Prison Services, a
select few from government and Zanu PF headed by Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
MDC
did not pursue the matter further when it became clear JOC was the heart and
brains of the Zanu PF dictatorship, disband the Junta and Mugabe’s iron grip on
power will disappear overnight. So to appease Mugabe MDC turned a blind eye to
all the looting and plunder in Marange and, worse still, to all the lawlessness
and thuggery of JOC.
Gorden Moyo was
MDC Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals in the GNU and he uncovered a lot of corruption and flagged this with his MDC
leader Tsvangirai and Mugabe had the stories swept under the carpet. Dealing
with the corrupt individuals would have weakened Mugabe’s political patronage
system and thus his grip on power because he allows the corruption as a reward
for the individual’s blind loyalty to him.
In
the end MDC failed to revive the Zimbabwe economy, the country continue to lose
jobs throughout the GNU years as the nation failed to restore confidence in the
restoration on the rule of law and to end the rampant corruption. Of course the
idea that the nation could have a thriving economy but still have an
incompetent and corrupt government is an oxymoron!
President
Mugabe is in State House to lead the nation in our search for freedom, justice,
human rights and economic prosperity and not to gratify his insatiable appetite
for absolute power and wealth. There is no doubt that he has failed dismally in
his primary task.
A
healthy and functioning democracy says the people hold the leaders to account
and, in a free, fair and credible electoral process, the people will express
their democratic wish whom they want to lead them. It is not for Jabulani
Sibanda, Morgan Tsvangirai or anyone to make a deal with Mugabe the terms the
tyrant will be allowed to stay in power. It is the people of Zimbabwe and them
alone who decide that.
The
root-cause of the country’s political and economic mess is because the people
have been denied the opportunity to remove an incompetent, corrupt and
tyrannical regime from office. We should stop wasting time pussy footing over
this matter and call a spade a bloody shovel; Mugabe and his Zanu PF
dictatorship is the disease killing the nation and free and fair elections is
the cure.
We
must implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA and then hold
free and fair election.
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