There those, like MDC leaders, who have failed to understand
that power means everything to Mugabe and his Zanu PF ruling elite. This nation
has paid dearly for their folly.
As we now know, Mugabe has never cared about making Zimbabwe
a healthy and functional multi-party democracy. Ever since he got into power in
1980, he has systematically undermined the fledgling democracy bequeathed to
the nation by the 1979 Lancaster House constitution. Like all tyrants, all Mugabe
ever cared about then and to this day is securing absolute power at all cost;
even at the cost of riding roughshod over the ordinary people’s freedoms and
basic human rights like a meaningful say in the governance of the country and
even the right to life.
“We must all know that if you want to succeed in our
country, you must be a member of the ruling party; the party that has a
liberation struggle history; a party with leaders we can bank on because they
sacrificed a lot for this country,” said VP Mnangagwa, according to a New
Zimbabwe report.
VP Mnangagwa has the typical Zanu PF ruling elite mentality;
it is all about seizing absolute power and retaining it at all cost, nothing
else matter. He still talks of Zanu PF as the party that spearheaded the “liberation
struggle” and yet fails to see the tragic human misery the party has brought
upon the nation these last 37 years; contrary to the nation’s liberation
aspirations!
The ordinary people have no more political freedoms and
rights and they are considerable poorer under this Zanu PF government than they
were under white colonial rule!
When former VP Joice Mujuru had her snout in the feeding
trough, she too had nothing but praise for Mugabe and the corrupt and
tyrannical Zanu PF regime. It was only after she and number of her ZimPF
friends were booted out of Zanu PF in 2014 that they suddenly noticed the harm
and suffering the regime was causing. Mujuru said she did not criticized Mugabe
until then because her “puppy eyes” had not opened; it took 34 years for her puppy
eyes to open!
No doubt the puppy eyes of VP Mnangagwa and all the others
still in the Zanu PF ruling elite those still in the Zanu PF ruling elite are
yet to open, if ever! Meanwhile there is nothing wrong with the way the nation
is being governed and the status quo must be retained.
“Today we have President Mugabe as our leader. White people
might fume and say all sorts of things, but President Mugabe will soldier on
with his people. President Mugabe always tells them that he does what the
people want, reminding them to mind their own business,” said VP Mnangagwa.
There is a complete disconnect here, how can President
Mugabe be doing what the people of Zimbabwe want; surely the people do not want
to be denied their freedoms and basic human rights and dignity! The tyrant rigs
elections and then turns around and claims the elections were free, fair and
credible and the result is a true reflection of the people’s democratic will.
Of course, the people, who are suffering at the coal face
all the injustice and the economic hardship brought upon them by this corrupt
and tyrannical Zanu PF regime, are furious that regime. By attributing all the
criticism of the regime to whites, Zanu PF is only adding insult to injury by
refusing to acknowledge the ordinary blacks are as human as the whites and thus
capable of all the human emotions and of thinking for themselves!
“Zanu PF will rule forever and those ruled will forever be
ruled and I don’t understand why you opt to move away from the rulers and stay
with those being ruled. That’s pure madness. Zanu PF is the party that brought
independence under the leadership of President Mugabe,” boasted Mnangagwa with
the arrogance and certainty of one who KNOWS already that the 2018 election is
in the bag!
To be fair, Mnangagwa’s confidence is not without some
justification; Zimbabwe’s elections are not democratic contestation but rather a
meaningless ritual to rubber stamp a predetermined result – a landslide Zanu PF
victory. After the rigged July 2013 opposition politicians finally came to
their senses and vowed to stop contesting elections until reforms designed to
stop the vote rigging are in place. Sadly, they have since changed their minds,
they will contest the flawed elections. Given a licence to rig the vote, of
course, Zanu PF will rig the vote!
The real madness, the nation should be concerned about, is
the opposition’s folly of contesting flawed elections time and time again and
expecting a different result other than a Zanu PF victory!
By contesting the flawed elections, the opposition parties are
giving the flawed process some measure of legitimacy, which is the one Zanu PF
needs. In return, the regime is allowing the opposition to win a few seats in
parliament and senate.
Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti do not care about the
restoration of the people’s freedoms, right to free and fair elections, etc.;
if they did then they would have implemented the democratic reforms during the
GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so. Like Mugabe, what they too
care about is power; whilst they have deferred to Zanu PF’s claim to rule they
nonetheless believe they have the right to the scraps Zanu PF throws at the
opposition.
If the people of Zimbabwe are ever going to enjoy their
freedom, human right, free and fair elections, etc. it is imperative that they
realise that these sell-out opposition politicians who are contesting the flawed
elections are not fighting in their corner.
When Mugabe rigged the 2013 elections, he was cocksure he
would go on to rig an economic recovery too with his $27 billion ZimAsset plan.
He has since failed to get anyone, not even his “all-weather” Chinese friends,
to bankroll the plan. Zimbabwe’s economy is in a serious mess; unemployment has
soared to 90%, basic services like health, education and the supply of clean
water have all but collapsed; millions now live in abject poverty; etc. This is
socially, politically and morally unsustainable.
Like it or not, Zanu PF’s ambition to rule forever will not
happen because the root cause of the economic meltdown is the regime’s decades
of corrupt and tyrannical rule. Another rigged election will mean the economic
meltdown will get even worse than it is at present, as stated above, this is not
sustainable!
Ian Smith was smart enough to see his regime was going
nowhere, we are not so lucky with Robert Mugabe. There are “Dead end! Ahead!” warning
signs and yet Mugabe continues to scream, “Full steam ahead!” We are heading
for a catastrophic crash!
3 comments:
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered enough because of President Mugabe's shortsightedness, selfishness, greed and incompetence. And now the tyrant is at it again, trying to impose the same rubbish after his own image. What is there to recommend Gono other than he is the one whose reckless spending and money printing scheme fuelled the world record hyper inflation!
President Mugabe and his cronies should, by right, be in prison for all they corruption and murders they have committed against the nation. To reward them with power will be unforgivable!
President Mugabe has always rigged elections changing the rules to suit himself or simply ignoring the rules. We owe it to ourselves and history to thorough investigate and document how Mugabe rigged the 2013 elections, for example. We must establish once and once for all the facts and truth out of this mountain of lies, spin and propaganda.
It is nonsense for Mugabe to claim that he has the people's mandate!
If Zanu PF is allowed to rig next year's elections then this country has gone beyond the point of no return in terms of a peaceful democratic change. Zanu PF will try to hang on to power regardless of the human suffering the nation is going through. The people have been very patient but there is a limit to how much suffering they will endure before they finally say enough is enough. My guess is the limit of human endurance in Zimbabwe will be soon be reached and the dam wall will break to release a torrent that no one will be able to stop or control and it will sweep all before it!
Mugabe and his thugs feel, if the lost power, they have no future; which is true because they will certainly not afford their extravagant lifestyles if the looting is stopped, have their amassed wealth taken away and worse still be dragged before the courts to account for all the innocent blood they have shed over the years. What the nation must make very clear of is that Mugabe and his cronies must face justice and cannot hold the nation to ransom because they fear facing justice. The tyrant and his cronies must also know that by holding the nation to ransom, which is what they are doing now, they are hardening the people's resolve for change and when change finally comes, the people will be ruthless in revenge! And rightly so too!
It is all very well for Mugabe to scream “Full steam ahead!” He will pay for all the damages, injuries and deaths, one way or the other!
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