“For this country to reintegrate into the international community fully and create an environment which creates confidence for investors to come back, it is critical that these (2018) elections are peaceful and lead to an acceptable result which means that there should be a minimal level of transparency and fairness in the system. If you don’t have that you create a new cycle of instability which will scare off investors,” Ambassador Philippe Van Damme, the EU Head of Delegation to Zimbabwe told the The Zimbabwean.
“The conclusion of everybody (European investors) is always the same, they are all charmed by this country and impressed by the potential of this country but they all have the same type of concerns. The legal framework remains very uncertain.”
No thinking Zimbabwean would disagree with that. The billion-dollar question is; how do we remove a well-entrenched corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship that has corrupted every State institution and has a well-organized and well-funded vote rigging juggernaut so the country can finally hold it first ever free, fair and credible elections?
After 36 years of independence the country is nowhere near holding its first free and fair elections. Zimbabweans themselves have struggle to define what constitute free, fair and credible elections and thus agree on what democratic reforms the nation needs to implement. The EU’s policy inconsistences have not helped the people of Zimbabwe.
“What is important is that we continue dialogue with stakeholders to see how we can entrench a democratic culture. Constitutionalism is about aligning the laws to the constitution. It is also about people being aware of the contents of the constitution and what are the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution and knowing what are the consequences of that to their daily lives,” said Van Damme.
This is not helping the people of Zimbabwe for two reasons:
a) No
Zimbabwean worth his/her salt has ever argued that aligning existing law with
the new 2013 constitution will deliver the free, fair and credible elections
because the latter is a weak and feeble constitution that has given the State
president “excessive powers with no democratic checks and balances”, according
to Senator David Coltart. Just because some of the country’s feeble minded
opposition leaders have been calling for this realignment does not mean it is
the right solution. The feeble minds failed to implement the reforms during the
GNU and insisted the 2013 elections would be free and fair.
b) Everyone
else has been calling for the formation of a National Transition Authority or
some such independent body to implement the democratic reforms necessary to
dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and the vote rigging machinery to ensure the
next elections are free and fair. It is shocking that the EU is trusting the
Zanu PF regime to implement the reforms.
It is no secret that the EU lifted its targeted sanctions on all the Zanu PF individuals and institutions, all except President Mugabe and his wife Grace, in 2015 not because the Union was ever under any illusions that the July 2013 elections were free and fair. The whole world saw the blatant vote rigging of bussed hooded voters, the regime stubbornly refusing to release the voters roll, etc. The sanctions were lifted out of economic consideration; Belgium, in particular, was desperate to renew trade in Zimbabwe diamonds; and so democratic values were trumped by economic consideration.
Zimbabwe is in serious economic trouble and another failed election in 2018 could send the nation tumbling over the edge into the abyss. This country cannot take any chances; the solution we want MUST deliver free, fair and credible elections.
Anyone, anyone at all, still arguing that realigning the exist laws to a weak constitution and that we should trust this Zanu PF dictatorship to preside over its own demise regime is not a true friend of the longsuffering people of Zimbabwe and must be ignored! We are looking for a way out of this hell and not for yet another quick-fix solution that will drag us even deeper into this hell!
We
have the Zanu PF dictatorship being assisted by the Chinese, Israeli and other
foreign nations to rig elections, on the one hand. On the other, we have a
basketful of corrupt, incompetent and confused Zimbabweans who have failed to
get even one reform implemented when they had the golden opportunity to do so.
The last thing we want is add the EU in the mix, when all they are doing is muddy
the already mudded waters.
1 comment:
Sometimes it pays to call a spade a spade and, if necessary, a bloody shovel! War veterans like Jabulani Sibanda, Joseph Chinotimba, right up the ladder to Perrence Shiri, Emmerson Mnangagwa right up to Robert Mugabe himself have not only denied many of our people their freedom and basic rights but have shed the blood of over 30 000 innocent people for their own selfish political gain. How can someone who commits such a heinous crime still be considered a hero?
We must confront this rotten culture of entitlement and greed that has destroyed our nation. It is bad enough that people like Mugabe believed they were entitled to material wealth as payment for their contribution during the war but surely by denying the people their freedom, human rights and stripping them of all wealth he was making a mockery of his claim that he liberated the people. By murdering so many the tyrant crossed the double red line no nation worth its salt would permit!
Calling Mugabe and his murderous thugs heroes after all they have done to this nation will be an insult to all the true national liberation struggle heroes and heroines who believed in the freedom and dignity of all Zimbabweans and have never condescended to such demonic barbarism as Mugabe had done. All the dead true national liberators, the victims of Mugabe’s murderous reign of terror and all the nation’s ancestors will be spinning in their graves that treasonous sell-outs should be ever be counted among the nation’s honoured.
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because we made the big mistake of treating people like Robert Mugabe as gods whose material needs must be fulfilled regardless of the price to the nation. At a time when 90% are out of work and living in abject poverty, the public health and educations services have all but collapsed, etc. how can Mugabe spend $10 million on the birth of his grandson. $15 billions of public is looted and no one is arrested and not a single dollar is recovered. To crown it all Mugabe has his shown contemptuous disregard for the suffering of others and sanctity of human life.
In our effort to appease murderous tyrants and thugs we have ended up losing so much treasure, human suffering and even human lives. You give a tyrant like Mugabe an inch he will take one foot and will be back tomorrow to take a mile. Their greed knows no bounds!
We must reset the dial and restore our humanity and respect of human life. Every Zimbabwean has the right to life and the primary purpose of the state is to safe guard the life of every Zimbabwean their freedoms, human rights and economic rights. No one regardless of their back ground has the right to deny others their freedoms and human rights; those who do have by their action forfeited their own freedoms and rights.
It is not for you Vince Musewe or anyone else to bargain the freedoms, rights and the very lives of others with murderous tyrants like mangoes in the market. The rogue war veterans must know that in denying povo their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful vote they were committing treason against this nation. This must stop forthwith; no nation in its right mind will ever tolerate that!
War veterans are subject to the rule of law same as everyone else; why should we have to "appeal" to them to respect the freedoms and human rights of others? Treat them as it they are special and they will start behaving as if they are gods; look at Mugabe!
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