War vets can have Mnangagwa Zanu PF leader but cannot impose him on the nation. By Patrick Guramatunhu

“You must be careful of people who speak with a forked tongue and, whatever happens, you must never give in to the temptation of being one such person yourself,” my late mother used to warn us. “The world is full of conman would take you for a ride at your expense and often they become victims of their own deception.”

“Asia for the Asians!” was Japan’s slogan and excuse for fighting in the Second World War to drive the Americans, British and other western nations out of Asia in a straight swap of one colonial power for another. Forget all the black nationalists’ rhetoric of fighting for freedom, justice and human rights; just like the Japanese, President Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leaders were fighting to replace the whites as the new lord of the manor.

It took the average black Zimbabwean ten years or so after independence to accept that they were second class citizen whose freedoms, human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance and even the right to life itself were routinely denied by the ruling elite.  After 36 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF rule with millions now languishing in abject poverty and over 30 000 murdered by the regime in pursuit of its selfish agenda of staying in power at all cost; there can be no doubt that Zanu PF leaders spoke with a forked tongue and they still do to this day.

“When you went to war (ex-combatants) you were very young but you remain resolute, but up to now you don’t have anything to show (for it). All I see is poverty written on your faces,” war veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa to his members in Masvingo las week, according to a Daily News report.

“But we have seen the bad part of not rewarding ourselves, the G40 is doing whatever they want with us because they corruptly acquired wealth.”

The notable thing here is how Zanu PF leaders like Mutsvangwa have again and again expressed their concern about poverty amongst the war vets but have refused to even acknowledge that millions of ordinary Zimbabweans too are wallowing in poverty. Worse still these Zanu PF leaders have refused to acknowledge that root cause of the country’s economic mess is because for the last 36 years the ruling elite have allowed mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread precisely because they were “rewarding” themselves.

Whatever quarrel Mutsvangwa has with the G40 faction it is nonsensical to blame the later for the war veterans’ poverty given the faction only emerged in August 2014, long after the nation’s economic decline was well established. Worse still Mutsvangwa and his fellow war veterans are deluding themselves if they believe imposing Mnangagwa, just as they have imposed President Mugabe on the nation, is the panacea to their economic poverty. It will take a lot more than swapping one dictator for another to achieve meaningful economic recovery.

“The president acknowledged that we are the ones who gave him that position, we the war veterans and war collaborators, we campaigned for him to win elections in 1980,” said Mutsvangwa. President Mugabe acknowledged the war vets’ contribution in the 2008 run-off where President Mugabe used wanton violence to force the people to vote for him. The war vets were the regime’s storm troopers then and have been ever since.

“We the war veterans, are the compass of this country, isu toziva ichi (chigaro) kwachinoenda (we know who is going to take over).”

My late mother would have never guessed that self-deception could have more tragic consequences than is seen in Zimbabwe today; the whole nation is already up to its eyes in this man-made cesspit after 36 years of Zanu PF misrule but instead of those responsible seeing the serious shortcomings they still believe they “are the compass” of the nation. We are completely lost because the compass, the maps, etc. are all wrong!

The right to a meaningful vote is a right, not a privilege to be granted to some and denied others by war veterans and Zanu PF leaders. But most important of all, the right to a meaningful vote is the heart and soul of good and competent government. Given the economic mess the country is in after 36 years of Zanu PF misrule it is imperative that the people now claim their right to a meaningful vote with resolve and refuse to be detracted by misguided individuals like Mutsvangwa whose ego is blinding them from seeing themselves as the corrupt and incompetent individuals they are.

If the ordinary person has been short changed all these last 36 years because they played a small or no part in the liberation way, then it is time they played their part be demanding the full implementation of the democratic reforms to restore all their individual freedoms and rights. The right to a meaningful say in who is going to rule Zimbabwe from now is everyone’s right and not a preserve of war veterans alone – that is no negotiable! 

Zanu PF is imploding and Manheru is singing a mournful "Zanu ndeyedu tinoida" karaoke. By Patrick Guramatunhu.

“… there is this lame argument around bussing people he he he! Nonsense!” wrote the insufferable Nathaniel Manheru. “Did we not see the Youth League executive addressing meetings in all the country's 10 province? Do you reach 10 provinces to raise crowds for a local rally? And were people supposed to come on foot from those provinces?

“How is it different on Election Day? Is there a law that stops bussing of voters seeking to reach a booth, assuming there will be some booths far away from the voting public? What is the point? Yes, people were bussed from all over the country, people today, voters tomorrow. And the difficulties by some in getting back to their home provinces. What does that tell?

“That resources for the million man march were sparse, hard to come by. What was abundant was the zeal, the will to march for a million. You can't argue that State resources were abused and still find people stranded in Harare. Does that make sense? What is your day like, dear critic?

“Zanu-PF will did it again! Zanu Yedu/ Tinooidaaa Zanu Yedu tinoida/ Kunyangwe zvavo/ Kunyangwe zvavo vakachema, vakarovera musoro padombo, mangopinda tinokunda.”

Such boastfulness even now with the writing of Zanu PF’s demise on the wall is typical of tyrannical regimes who have refused to accept change until it is too late to do so. Whilst they know they are staring defeat in the face, they put on a brave face and pretend their tyrannical rule will last until the donkey have horns!

No, Manheru, there is nothing wrong with bussing people from one rally to the next and, come election day, bussing the supporters to polling stations.  However there is something wrong with bussing people who do not live in one constituency to another to vote. There is something wrong with increasing the number of polling stations from 2 000 to 9 000 just two days before polling day and then bussing supporters from one polling station to the next to cast multiple votes.

It is a criminal offence for the government of the day to refuse to release a voters roll although it is required by law to do so a month before voting day. Up to this day Zanu PF has refused to release the voters roll. They know the voters roll is one of the smoking guns to the vote rigging of the 2013 elections.

It is interesting to note that a few months ago the same Manheru, who is pretending today that the last elections were free and fair, was reminding the then Minister Chris Mutsvangwa that he should not be too boastful about him having the people’s mandate to govern when his election victory was fixed!

There is no doubt that people like you Manheru love Zanu PF “Zanu yedu tinoida!” you are chanting; why not you have had your fair share of the looted wealth. From your PSMAS board membership fees alone you have earned a cool $100 000 per year! You have shown any sympathy for the civil servants, whose membership subscription you are looting, who have been forced to do without the medical help because the doctors are asking them to pay cash because PSMAS, looted by the top managers, is not paying the doctors’ bills.

The poor civil servants, who earn as little as $500 a month, cannot afford to pay PSMAS membership subscriptions and then pay cash to the doctors are being forced to do without life- saving medical help!

President Mugabe has been doing his bit fleecing the Zimbabwe people. He has send his daughter overseas to study staying in a $50 million mansion, had a $5 million wedding for her, has just spent millions for her to have her baby in the Far East, etc. and yet the hospitals the rest of us ordinary mortals are forced to use are so poorly funded most of them do not have something as basic as an incubator!

Yes Comrade Manheru you, President Mugabe and all the other Zanu PF cronies have been singing “Zanu yedu tinoida!” for the last 36 years but even amongst yourselves there is discord. Where is the likes of Mai Mujuru and her supporters? There are today two factions the Mnangagwa and the G40 factions fighting it out. The one-million man march was a G40 rally in all but name. Zanu PF is imploding and the country’s worsening economic meltdown is fuelling the break up.

Zanu PF’s no regime change is socially and politically unsustainable just as the economic meltdown due to the decades of Mugabe misrule is now unsustainable because it is caused so much human suffering and now threatens the very survival of the nation. You know Zanu PF is doomed, regime change is now as certain as a ripe mango falling; you are just putting a brave face!

Mugabe sternly warned that firing war vets from security "will not be tolerated".

In the boldest challenge ever to Mugabe’s tyrannical, the war vets and the security chefs, notably Commander Chiwenga, told Mugabe in no uncertain terms they constitute “the stockholders of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe and the leaders are stakeholders who can come and go!”

On Wednesday Mugabe, emboldened by the one-million man march organized by the party’s Youth League, hit right back repeating his earlier statement that war vets were an affiliate organization that cannot dictate to the party Zanu PF. The following day he reduced the retirement age of all those serving in the security services from 60 years to 50. This clearly opened the door for Mugabe to retire many of the former freedom fighters who have become increasingly critical of his rule.

When it suited his political needs of imposing on the nation his no regime change mantra after he lost the March 2008 vote, Mugabe kept the current security services chefs beyond the official retirement age of 60 years. Now that the same chefs have been increasingly critical of his tyrannical rule he drops the retire age even to get rid of most of his liberation war colleagues from the security sector.

How ironic that anyone over the age of 50 is considered too old to serve in the security sector commanded by a 92 year old Commander-In-Chief! Needless to say it was the 92 year old dictator who made that unilateral decision without even consulting his rubber stamping parliament! It is great to be a dictator.

Mugabe must be sweating because the last thing he expected was a defiant challenge to his diktat.

"We are equally worried that these quarters within the party refuse to accept that war veterans have an interest in Zanu-PF approximated to ownership," came the nuclear bomb response from  Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA) spokesperson Douglas Mahiya.

"We should have been told during the war that we did not belong to the party and needed not join. Had that been made clear to us, then we would have dealt with those issues in the appropriate manner at the appropriate time."

"We need to make it clear that war veterans cannot be retired or removed from Zanu-PF as well as the security establishment. Any attempts to retire us on the basis of age is to us a cover to perpetuate the regime change agenda of security sector reform. Regime change to us means to rid Zanu-PF and the security establishment of the liberation component, which will not be tolerated under any circumstances."

Mugabe has deliberately undermined the independence of the state institutions like the judiciary, ZEC and security services by appointing individuals run these institution he could trust to neglect the institution’s democratic duties and promoted Zanu PF his selfish objective of creating a de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship. He sugar coated the tyrannical pill by claiming that there were outside forces working with the “puppet local opposition” seeking regime change.

Frankly, not even the simpletons amongst the war vets like Jabulani Sibanda of Joseph Chinotimba ever believed the lie of the West being behind the increasing demand for meaningful democratic change and free and fair elections; it was ordinary Zimbabweans and not the British or Americans, who were risking life and limp demanding change. The war vets, security chefs and all the other Zanu PF operatives subscribed to no regime change agenda at all cost mentality on the understanding they will have a share in the absolute political power and the wealth and looted riches it brought.

The root cause of Mugabe and the war vets’ quarrel is the country’s poor economic performance which has left more and more war vets economically destitute. Although Mugabe has once in a while made a token payment to alleviate the war vets’ economic hardship as the national economic sunk deeper and deeper into trouble it dragged more and more into poverty and many war vets were caught up in the drag net.

Douglas Mahiya, Chiwenga and all the others in the war vets and security sector know that if Mugabe was to sever their links with Zanu PF he would have condemned them to the same grinding poverty the majority of Zimbabweans are facing right now!

"We plead with the party's leadership to explain to us the principle of one centre of power. We hope it does not mean that power is vested in one person because if that is so, then it is against the Zanu-PF constitution and traditions of the party," another war vet said.

"The principle of having one centre of power needs to be explained. Power resides in the people as represented in the central committee in between congresses. Anything beyond that is unheard of to us and is dictatorship."

It is refreshing that some of these war vets have finally woken up to the reality that Mugabe is a dictator! The next thing they need to know now is that he is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant and the economic meltdown the country is facing is the consequence of 36 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. The misrule has continued for all these years because the nation was denied the opportunity to elect a competent and accountable government because the people were denied a meaningful free and fair vote.

By foolishly supporting Mugabe’s no regime change mantra the war vet, ZEC, judiciary, security services, etc. had all played their part in imposing a corrupt and incompetent regime on the nation. The only way to end Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is to have meaningful democratic reforms followed by free, fair and credible elections.

MDC mourns Mugabe globe-trotting yet did nothing to end the dictatorship. By Nomusa Garikai

“After the so called million man march in Harare where crowds were rented and school heads suffered extortion to surrender school buses by force, President Mugabe is at it again. His foreign trips never cease and it seems like he gets sick if he spends a single month in Harare,” mourned MDC-T spokesman Obert Chaurura Gutu.

“So far this year his trips have gobbled a whopping $80 million and there is not a single achievement made through his insatiable appetite for air travel.”

There is no doubt that President Mugabe loves globe-trotting; here is a man who loves travelling and delivering grand and officious speeches regardless how low key the occasion happen to be. His latest trip to Papua New Guinea, which prompted Gutu to write, being one such occasion; Mugabe will be the only foreign head of state attending the meeting.

Yes President Mugabe’s globe-trotting had gobbled millions of dollars every year and given he has been in power for 36 years and counting it has gobbled billions of dollars and the nation has precious little to show for it. The people of Zimbabwe have known President Mugabe is incompetent, corrupt and a murderous tyrant for years and hence the reason why they have risked life and limp to elect MDC on the understanding Tsvangirai and company would bring democratic change and regime change.

MDC had the golden opportunity during the GNU to bring about meaningful democratic changes in Zimbabwe and they wasted the chance because MDC leaders were distracted by the gravy train lifestyles being in government offered and they forgot they were there to implement the democratic reforms. It is rich that Comrade Chaurura Gutu should be mourning about President Mugabe’s insatiable appetite for luxuries and globe-trotting when it was the same insatiable greed that made MDC forget why they were is the GNU.

President Mugabe loves this highflier lifestyle and so did Morgan Tsvangirai the difference between the two men is that whilst the former in all his globe-trotting and wallowing in luxuries he has never for one minute lost sight of his goal of ruthlessly establishing and retaining a one-party cum one-man dictatorship. The latter, Tsvangirai, was so easily distracted from his set task of implementing the democratic reforms. The ease with which President Mugabe has con Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into doing nothing about implementing the reforms, which would have effectively ended his dictatorship, during the GNU years is the stuff of legend!

Ever since the day Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe his head swelled beyond all proportion blinding him to reality. Tsvangirai was given the opportunity to hobnob with the world leaders like President Barack Obama and Tsvangirai did not just have the cheeky of telling them Mugabe had changed but ignored their warning that the tyrant had not changed.

Tsvangirai, like Mugabe, loved globe-trotting but did not know where he was going

If Morgan Tsvangirai had not been so single track minded about the globe-trotting, the chasing of women and all the other trappings of high office and instead had implemented the democratic reforms then we would not be in this tragic situation stuck with a wasteful tyrant but worst of all stuck with the dictatorship! It is ironic that the people who should have ended the dictatorship are mourning about the globe-trotting as if that was an attainable dream with the dictatorship still firmly in place. 

"Go hang!" Mugabe tells Americans - out of his own mouth cometh the nation's judgment! By W Mukori

Mugabe is renowned for his long winded speeches “full of sound and fury but signifying nothing” as Shakespeare would say. When he addressed the one million man-march crowd he did delivery another long winded speech with even more sound and fury and signifying nonsense.

“I belong to my people, my people say stay here, I'm not a Britain, I don't like it, I'm not America n, I'm not a Yankee, I'm not Britain, I told Blair to keep his England so I can keep my Zimbabwe,” he said at one point. (The speech would not be complete if he left out bashing the British and the Americans).

“So I belong to Zimbabwe, so they say I must go, but within the party, the outsiders why do they want Zimbabwe,to stand down, to resign, retire?

“Vanhu vanguka, ndovangati aah, chiretireyi. Ko MDC shungu, itsitsi here dzekunzwira VaMugabe kuti vaneta kana kuti kutya VaMugabe, kutya VaMugabe? So tell the paper that VaMugabe says no, you go hang, hang yourself.”

“Anyway tiri tese, I am at the service of the people. If the people tell us to go I will go, but as long as I feel I should serve the people and I will do my best as I have done in the past, I will do my best and when time comes I go.”

Mugabe is fooling no Zimbabwean with all his metaphors! He is saying here and has said the same thing on countless other occasions that it is the British and American who him to go, want regime change. And he is telling them the usual answer “Go hang!”

What makes all his panted up anger against the British and American such a phony is that neither the British nor Americans have a democratic say in who governs Zimbabwe; they never had such a say or sought to have it. It is the people of Zimbabwe who should have the democratic say but have never exercised it as Mugabe has systematically deny them the free vote by rigging the elections. It is in reality the people of Zimbabwe who often risked life and limp to try to end his incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical rule. It is the people of Zimbabwe Mugabe has said "Go hang!" repeatedly in the past and is telling on this occasion.

It is absolutely imperative that there is a thorough judiciary investigation into Zimbabwe's past elections to establish the historic facts of whether or not President Mugabe has ever rigging elections. If the investigation found that he has indeed rigged elections, then it is in the country’s political interest to punish all those responsible for treasonous crime.

By rigging elections the criminals were telling the people of Zimbabwe "go hang!" Out of their own mouth comes the nation’s judgement; we must hang them instead!

Grace rides the 1m men march wave to re-launch G40 not knowing Mugabe has lost his veto on elections.

If anyone thought Grace Mugabe’s “meet the people” rallies – a polite name for her accelerated programme to launch her political career which started in earnest in August 2014 with her ruthless attacked on former VP Joice Mujuru and now has shifted focus on VP Mnangagwa the next threat to her ambition to be the next president – were over following three months of inactivity, the rallies are back and with a bang.

 

Grace is having a two-day meeting in Bulawayo this Friday and Saturday at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and no fewer than 15 ministers and two deputy ministers have been collar to attend. Purpose; “the ministers will explain how the city can continue to benefit from ZimAsset and other government programmes,” we are told.

 

“Can continue to benefit”! What nonsense is this? ZimAsset is dead in the water. Zanu PF promised the nation 2.2 million new jobs in five years following the 2013 elections and three years down the line the party has failed to create even one new job instead the country has lost over 300 000 jobs. Neither Bulawayo nor any other city, town or growth point up and down the country has been saved from the economic hardships of the economic meltdown so the purpose of the rallies is not what we are being told it is.

 

Zanu PF is now locked into this North Korea mentality in which the powers that be are totally focused on presentation and they do not care about content and substance. Hence the reason the party has been spending a lot time, energy and very much treasure staging these one-million men march, no expense spared meetings with war vets, meet the people rallies, overseas trips, conferences, birthday parties, etc.  All staged with the usual fan-fair, glitz and publicity but nothing of substance is ever accomplished.

 

The two-day Bulawayo meeting is Grace Mugabe re-launching her G40 faction and her bid to be the next president of Zimbabwe. Her campaign had taken a serious beating when the war vets backed by security chiefs had told her husband they were “the stockholders of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe and he was just a stakeholder who comes and goes!” Grace is banking on the one-million men march as proof that the war-vets were wrong, her husband is still the only stockholder and everyone else is a stakeholder who will come and go at his whim as has been the case ever since Mugabe assumed the leadership of Zanu back in 1974!  

 

What Grace and Robert Mugabe, as has all the other Zanu PF members engaged in this factional dog fight, have failed to see is that the country’s political centre of gravity has shifted considerably, it is not going to be Mugabe and Mugabe alone who will decide who will rule Zimbabwe as has been the case until now. The 36 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have resulted in a serious economic meltdown that has forced the populous to demand a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

 

The economic situation with its 90% unemployment rate, 76% of the population living on $1.25 or less per day, health and education services that have all but collapsed, etc. is socially, morally and politically unsustainable. Whether Mugabe or anyone in Zanu PF likes it or not the country’s economic recovery is now right on top of the nation’s political agenda.

 

Since Mugabe and Zanu PF have failed to rig economic recovery, all these expensive presentational but no substance shows have accelerated economic decline instead of bringing recovery; the people want to see meaningful regime change. Mugabe and Zanu PF have found comfort in the opposition’s incompetence and failure to implement even one democratic reforms and thus leaving the door open for him to rig the 2013 elections. Since no reforms have been implemented since the July 2013 rigged elections Zanu PF is hoping to rig the next elections too. The 2018 elections are increasingly looking like they will be a repeat of the 2008 elections.

 

The worsening economic meltdown is hardening the people’s resolve to have regime change just as it did back in 2008.  By reintroducing the bond notes, the Z$ by the back door, the regime is recreating the 2008  economic backdrop of hyperinflation, shops with empty shelves, etc. that fired the people to risk life and limp to vote for change back then. They will be doing exactly the same come 2018!

 

In the desperate effort to retain power there is no doubt Mugabe and Zanu PF will once again resort to the same wanton violence they used in 2008. One has to remind the regime that the whole world including SADC and AU refused to accept its electoral victory as a true reflection of the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe. Zanu PF was forced to join MDC and form the GNU as the price for international recognition and legitimacy. If there is wanton violence in 2018, Zanu PF will not be let off the hook so gently!

 

The nation is being told a lie that Grace’s two-day rally in Bulawayo in to discuss any substantive economic issues. The rally is a futile attempt to re-launch her bid to succeed Mugabe as president. Little does she understand that unlike in previous rigged elections in which Mugabe imposed his no regime change mantra the people will have a meaningful say in the next elections even if that means risking life and limp as they did in 2008!

 

One way or the other the people of Zimbabwe are going to have a meaningful say in who rules Zimbabwe in 2018. Mugabe has lost his veto on who rules Zimbabwe and not even a hired one-million men march can change that!

 

The serious economic meltdown, and all these expensive gimmicks by government have made the situation worse, is forcing the people to risk all for regime change and economic recovery.  

 

“It is the economy stupid!” said US President Bill Clinton. He was right, in the end it is the economy that is going to force regime change and derail Mugabe and his wife’s ambitions to rule Zimbabwe.  

MDC will win "free and fair" elections - what has the opposition done to ensure free elecions. By Patrick Guramatunhu

"We have the people and the required formula to boot Mugabe out of office in a free and fair election with or without State-sponsored political violence,” said MDC spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi.

Well this is typical Zimbabwe opposition party talk that makes one despair.

Many people have said as far back as 2000 that Zanu PF would not win a free, fair and credible election and thus setting the challenge for the opposition – implement the democratic changes to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible.

The best chance to get the democratic reforms implemented was without doubt during the GNU when Professor Welshman Ncube, the leader of MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai leader of MDC-T and Tendai Biti, secretary general of MDC-T during the GNU but now leader of PDP, etc. were all in cabinet and had parliamentary majority. SADC leaders, amongst many other people, literally begged these MDC leaders to implement the democratic reforms necessary to ensure free, fair and credible elections. MDC leaders would not listen; they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years of the GNU.

Without even one democratic reform implemented it was a foregone conclusion that Zanu PF will rig the 31 July 2013 elections and they did just that and blatantly too. The Zanu PF vote rigging machine is well oiled with billions of dollars looted from Marange. We are not dealing with some mickey-mouse problem which MDC can wish away!

Naïve and gullible political upstarts like Kurauone Chihwayi must be forced to read the history of vote rigging and Zanu PF inspired political violence before they talk about “with or without State-sponsored violence”! We do not want this nation dragged back into the wanton violence of 2008 or worse still the Gukurahundi madness.

If Chihwayi cannot read then listen to the video on the following website, https://www.enca.com/africa/viral-video-alludes-zim-vote-rigging.

Since the July 2013 rigged elections, what has MDC or any of the other opposition parties done to ensure the next elections are indeed free, fair and credible? Nothing!

So MDC is repeating the same stupid mistake of the GNU years of assuming Zanu PF will be defeated in free and fair elections when the opposition has still done nothing to ensure the elections are indeed free and fair. No doubt Chihwayi and friends will complain that Zanu Pf rigged the elections after the fact as they have always done! How stupid is that?

Professor Ncube, Tsvangirai and all the other MDC leaders should not be in active politics because by failing to get even one reform implemented during the GNU they proved beyond doubt that they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. They sold-out! They are so incompetent in fact that even now with the benefit of hindsight of the rigged 2013 elections they still failing to understand why we must implement the democratic reforms first for the nation to have free and fair elections. Just as happened during the GNU, the need for reforms has been explained to MDC countless times and still they do not get it. I doubt they will ever understand this!

I totally subscribe to the school of thought that failed leaders must step down; in Zimbabwe we like recycling our leaders even when they are so old they doze off at the drop of a hat. The great irony here is that dozy President Mugabe completely outwitted the MDC leaders into doing nothing to implement the reforms during the GNU; a measure of just how breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent the MDC leaders are!


If we fail to implement any meaningful reforms before the 2018 elections, the signs are this is what is going to happen, then the elections will marred by vote rigging and violence. The elections will be a contest between recycled Zanu PF deadwood and recycled incompetent MDC, as for which side “win” is a matter of indifference. What is certain and of great importance to the nation is that the country will continue to blunder from one crisis to the next as it has done for the last 36 years! 

1m -men march cannot make Mugabe competent more than calling a dog's tail a leg makes a 5 legged dog.

Mugabe's 7 April 2016 meeting with 10 000 war vets costed $2 million and nothing of substance was achieved. 

This 25 May meeting with one million Zanu PF youth members will $200 million, if we assume the cost per head remain the same, and it too will accomplish nothing. The meeting is no different from $800 birthday party for Mugabe in February 2016 or the $ 1 million Zanu PF party conference in December last year, etc. they will accomplished nothing of note. 

In between the meetings or parties, Mugabe has often gone on very expensive overseas trips. Right now, he is in the Far East to collect his grandson. His daughter Bona went there to have the baby because the country’s health service has all but collapse and so his whole family now travel overseas for all their health needs. Grace and her entourage joined the expectant mother a month ago and they have all stayed on. The total bill must now be $12 million, at least, and it is taxpayers who will pay for it! 

Zimbabwe is facing very serious economic challenges right now given unemployment is a nauseating 90%, 5 million are facing starvation, etc. Can this nation real afford to spend millions of dollars every two or three months on these meetings, birthdays, etc. whose only purpose is to gratify Mugabe's ballooning ego?

Mugabe wants to be seen as a great statesman of great talent and wisdom, loved by his people and blacks everywhere and feared and loathed by the whites and Western nations. Zimbabwe economic meltdown and his reputation for rigging the vote using violence to coerce the vote for him tells a different story of corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant. The meetings and parties are nothing more than futile attempt to hide the murderous tyrant by clothing him in royal robe.

The one-million men marching and praising Mugabe as a great leader will not create even one new job for povo out of the 2.2 million he promised in 2013 elections.  

The whole Zanu PF edifice is falling apart as party members fight to the death for the little wealth the nation has left as each tries to avoid sinking into abject poverty as the overwhelming majority have done already. The party is rotten to the core and the whole edifice is collapsing.

“How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?” asked President Abraham Lincoln. “Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn't make it a leg.”

Even if Mugabe has to get ten million to join the march on Wednesday all signing of his greatness as a leader that will not change a single thing the country will still be facing a serious economic meltdown, Zanu PF in fighting will continued, etc.

Since Zanu PF has failed to deliver economic recovery, it follows as day follows night that the country must elect a new regime that will address the root causes of the economic meltdown and thus deliver the economic recovery. All the country needs is to implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the no-regime-change mantra, the five-legged dog nonsense, Mugabe had imposed on the nation.  

Grace God sent to "end all suffering" says MP - tacit admission Mugabe Devil sent to cause the suffering. By W Mukori

"Leaders are chosen by God and we were given.... Amai by the heavens, she is the one who will end all the suffering and I believe that with people like her Zimbabwe is in safe hands. To me she is like an angel and I believe in her," said Harare South MP Shadreck Mashayamombe

 

Many Zanu PF members have said Robert Mugabe was chose by God to lead the nation but since his 36 years in power has brought poverty and great suffering to the nation are these party chefs now tacitly admitting the corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant was not sent by God but rather by the Devil himself!

 

MP Mashayamombe must be the only one who does not know that Grace Mugabe has already caused untold suffering to the people of Zimbabwe. How many millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money has she wasted on expensive shoes and other luxuries, weddings for her daughter and right now she has been in the Far East at great national expense at the time when hundreds of babies are dying every week because there is no money to buy incubators!

 

People like MP Mashayamombe must not evoke the name of God in situations in which he, of all people, knows have offended man and God. We all know that Mugabe has been rigging elections and has even murdered many innocent people to extend his stay in power. Did God play any part in the rigging or murders?

 

Now that Zanu PF is imploding as the party members fight over the little wealth the country is still able to generate; the party will be forced to accept democratic reforms followed by free and fair elections, as the only way to save the country from further suffering. I do not need to say that there will be regime change because Zanu PF will never win free and fair elections. Still, I will say it just for the thrill of saying it – there will be regime change!

 

Zimbabwe must carry out a thorough judiciary investigation into rigged elections, politically motivated murders and many other heinous crimes committed against the good people of Zimbabwe. We owe it to ourselves and posterity to establish the historic facts of the last 36 years given all the lies and blasphemes we have been subjected to. We also need to punish those found guilty of committing these crimes, to recover as much as we can of the looted wealth and used it to compensate the victims and, most important of all, to establish a precedence that those who abuse public office for selfish gain will be held to account no matter hold long it takes.

 

Grace Mugabe an angel! What angel would squander millions of dollars on Gucci shoes and other luxuries money the nation should be spending to save the lives of 100s of babies dying every week for want of something as basic as an incubator! 

Regime change "never" Muage tells the Americans - but since when have they ever voted in Zimbabwe!

One of the things the white colonialists used to do was speak for the blacks. "Our blacks are very happy with this! They are very happy about that!" they would say. How patronizing! Robert Mugabe has become as oppressive as the what colonialists and, worse still, just as hypocritical and patronizing.


Having denied the blacks a fair of the country's wealth and vote in the governance of the country the white added insult to injury by denying the blacks a voice. The whites took it upon themselves to tell the blacks they must be gloriously happy being exploited and treated as a third class citizen in the country of their own forefathers. 


It does not matter how many time the white told the blacks they were happy being exploited and treated as third class citizens the truth is the blacks were not happy. No human being is ever happy about being denied their freedoms, their basic human rights and dignity. 


The white racists tried to dehumanize the blacks but failed because it is not for another mortal to deprive another of their God given humanity.


Zimbabwe's struggle to end white colonial domination and exploitation was meant to reaffirm the blacks's humanity by restoring their freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful say, vote, in the governance of the country and the right to life itself. Little did Zimbabweans know in 1980 when the country attained her independence that we were removing the white colonial oppressors only to replace them with black oppressors. 


It does not matter what Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies say the fact of the matter is the regime has systematically denied the overwhelming majority of black Zimbabweans their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. 

 

"You get countries like France that think they can run our affairs. America has been quite open, they say they can change regimes and in Zimbabwe they say they will change. I say never. That is why I am still here, because regime change will never come," he said.

 

Yes Mr Mugabe you are still president of Zimbabwe 36 years after independence because Zimbabwe is a de facto one-party cum one-man dictatorship. You laid the ground for it soon after independence by destroying all the country’s democratic institutions and have even killed many innocent black and white Zimbabweans to accomplish your goal. Over 30 000 Zimbabweans have been murdered for selfish political gain.

 

Since when have the Americans or any other foreign nationals cast a vote in Zimbabwe? So how has Mugabe denied the Americans “regime change” in Zimbabwe if they have never ever cast a vote to demand regime change? It is the people of Zimbabwe Mugabe has cheated by denying them a meaningful vote in free, fair and credible elections to decide whether or not there should be regime change.

 

Mugabe could not achieve his no-regime-change mantra and still hold free, fair and credible election that is nonsense, it is an oxymoron. It is not the Americans he has denied the right to free, fair and credible elections but follow black Zimbabweans.

 

It is the Zimbabwean electorate in a truly free and fair democratic election, who alone decide who governs the country and not some select group of individuals regards of their position in society. It is not the Americans Mugabe is denying regime change but the people of Zimbabwe.

 

Just like the white racists before him, Mugabe has been riding roughshod over our freedoms, hopes and dreams but to add insult to injury he tell us this is what we wanted and are very happy about it. What chutzpah!

 

Mugabe is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrant, he can say what he please but history will catch up with him just as it did catch up with Ian Smith and his fellow white colonialists! As for regime change; in 1965 Ian Smith said they would be no black majority rule in “a thousand years”, his regime did not last for more than 15 years; Mugabe’s reign of terror will not last for much longer now. Zanu PF is imploding as the party members fight over who is to take over after him but the coup de grace is coming from the economic meltdown. 36 years of gross misrule have taken its toll and economic recovery is impossible with regime change! 

Mawarire #thisflag social media sensation evokes Arab spring memories and panic in equal measure. By W Mukori

Higher Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo is accusing the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Harry Thomas Jnr, of fanning Arab Spring type of social media unrest in Zimbabwe. The Minister is responding to the #thisflag social media started by Pastor Evan Mawarire in which Zimbabweans have been complained about the country’s economic hardships and corruption – row nerve for a corrupt and incompetent regime.

 

“US envoys ignited social media revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, whose common outcome was bloodshed. (US) government declares Zimbabwe poses a continuous security threat to (its) interests. And some people think that’s okay. If these images don’t tell the story of the evil ways of US interference in Zim affairs, none will,” twittered Professor Moyo.

 

As Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is the one problem this Zanu PF regime has been warned was not sustainable ever since the regime assumed power after the rigged July 2013 elections but it would not listen. Pastor Mawarire talked about his despair at failing to raise enough money to send his children to school; his posting have gone viral because millions of other Zimbabweans can relate to his suffering because they are in the same boat with him.

 

An economic situation in which unemployed has soared to 90% plus, where millions are living in abject poverty, there is no clean running water for weeks even months on end, regular electricity power cuts are the norm, etc. is not sustainable. The situation becomes totally unbearable considering the millions being squandered by the entourage that has been in the Far East for over a month for the birth Mugabe’s grandson, billions looted to bankroll rigged elections, etc.

 

In March Mugabe admitted that $15 billion of revenue from Marange diamonds was looted. $15 billion that is the nation’s GDP for Pete’s sake! He did not seem concerned and so far, two months later, the nation has heard of no one being arrested but, worse still, there is no reason to believe the looting has stopped!

 

 

In two months-time the economic situation is set to get even worse with the introduction of the bond notes; Z$ by the back door. The bond notes will fall in value compared to the basket of foreign currency because people will be chasing the latter needed to pay for imports given we import a lot more than we export. Any attempt to reduce imports will result in price rise and/or shortages of food and goods; taking the nation back to the 2008 days! The people's outcry then, be it through #thisflag or whatever, will go up a few more decibels.

 

We are in this economic mess because for the last 36 years this Zanu PF regime has found comfort in excuses or finding scapegoats for the nation’s problems instead of addressing them with the seriousness and sense of urgency they demanded. Minister Moyo is blaming the Americans for the social unrest caused by the worsening economic situation out of habit; old habits die hard especial if they are dirty too! Unlike in the past this time the economic situation has reached crisis point; this time Zanu PF will have no choice but to do something to address the worsening economic situation.

 

Since Zanu PF itself has run out of solutions to deliver any meaningful economic recovery the party will have no choice but to accept meaningful democratic reforms followed by free, fair and credible elections. Mugabe and Zanu PF have resisted regime change for the last 36 years. It has taken the economic meltdown forcing unemployment to soar to 90% plus, forcing millions into abject poverty and forcing millions to scatter all over the globe to escape economic poverty and/or political oppression to force the regime to finally loosen its iron grip on power. Regime change is finally upon us!

 

It is the economy stupid!

Ministers are "ashamed" of $15 b diamond looting - need a lot more than shame to stop the looting.

“Wherever we are invited, together with Information minister Christopher Mushohwe, we don’t want to be recognised, as we are ashamed because the diamond looting was done under our watch,” said Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandiitawepi Chimene. She was referring to the $15 billion in Marange diamond revenue that disappeared according to Mugabe’s own admission.

Minister Chimene is just an empty drum making a lot of noise as her statement confirms;

a)    Since Mugabe’s admission of the wholesale looting and plunder of Marange diamonds on 3 March 2016, nearly three months ago; there has been no investigations, no one has been arrested, nothing. So if no one knows how the looting was done, those responsible, etc.; how does Minister Chimene know that the looting has stopped? By saying the looting “was done under our watch”, she is implying the looting has now stopped! There is not one iota of evidence to suggest looting has stopped.

b)    If the Minister has the power and authority, as the provincial minister, to stop the looting in Marange, which she is claiming to have otherwise why should she be ashamed of something that is beyond her to prevent, then why she not using that power and authority? The minister is as useless at stopping the looting in Marange as a chiwawa guard dog will be at stopping a hungry elephant herd invading a maize field. The minister is making a lot of noise now about the looted diamonds just like the chiwawa barking at the elephants long after they are gone.

In one of his recent articles the Japanese researcher and commentator, Ken Yamamoto, dismissed RBZ governor, Dr Mangudya’s pathetic attempts to deny that the bond notes are Z$ by another name and that the bond notes will maintain their 1:1 value with US$ for long. Ken argued Dr Mangudya was bullied by the “musketeer” regime to introduce the bond notes and now found himself in the awkward position of defending the move. Dr Mangudya was as helpless and lost as “a fence post tortoise”, said Ken.

”When you’re driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a tortoise balanced on top, that’s a fence post tortoise,” came the explanation. “You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, he’s elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb arse put him up there to begin with.”

President Mugabe is renowned for promoting people like Dr Mangudya, Minister Chimene, etc. way above their level of competence for his own selfish and cynical purpose. It is his cynical answer to the Roman poet Juvenal’s age old challenge of “Who will guard the guards themselves (if they should become corrupt)?” (Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?) (Satire VI, lines 347–8).

Whilst Juvenal acknowledged the need for the guards to stop corruption and was concerned with the next problem of making sure the guards are not corrupted, Mugabe has turned the problem on its head. He has devised a system of making the guards are completely useless by promoting them way above their level of competence so that in performing their guard duties they are ineffective as a tortoise stuck up a fence post.

Mugabe has promoted officials so that right across the board the country’s public officials have all to the last man and woman proved useless at stopping him and his cronies looting, rigging elections and even committing mass murder. Over 30 000 innocent and defenceless Zimbabweans have been murdered for selfish political gain.

Corruption has been rampant in Zimbabwe for many, many years; by denying the problem, Zanu PF has allowed it to grow and spread like a cancer. When President Mugabe admitted that $15 billion was looted from Marange, few people were surprised. It is no secret that there has been wholesale looting and plundering of Marange diamonds; Africa Partnership Canada reported that Mugabe pocketed as much as $2 billion in 2012 alone!  

Most of the money Mugabe used to bankroll his and Zanu PF’s very elaborate and expensive 2013 vote rigging scheme was wealth looted from Marange diamonds.

Before independence the slogan of the day was the struggle continues – luta continua. Since independence it seems Mugabe and his cronies have adopted a new slogan, the looting continues – pilhagem continua. By promoting fence post tortoise like Minister Chimene who think by her head in shame she has STOPPED the wholesale looting that has been going on for years, there is no doubt that the looting will indeed continue for as long as we have fence post tortoises for guards.