Zanu
PF is a party of thugs, there is no question about that. Nothing showed the
party for what it really is – a party of thugs – than the dog-eat-dog factional
fighting that started in earnest with the “baby dumping”, as Grace Mugabe put
it, of Joice Mujuru and a truck load of senior party members in 2014.
Mujuru
amassed the support of 8 out 10 provinces in the up-coming contest for VP position,
that would have made her Mugabe’s heir apparent. Grace Mugabe and Mnangagwa
were eyeing the same VP position and so had to stop Mujuru and, in a party of
thugs, anything goes. Poor Mujuru was accused of “factionalism, being lazy,
corrupt and, most serious of all, plotting to assassinate Mugabe”. The last
change was dropped with no one ever arrested as soon as Mujuru was booted out
of the party. As for being corrupt and lazy; who in Zanu PF is not corrupt and
lazy? How soliciting for the support of party members can be a crime beggars
belief!
Emmerson
Mnangagwa was appointed VP in 2014 making him the target of Grace Mugabe’s
fire; she wanted that position for herself. President Mugabe supported his wife
and her G40 faction and poor Mnangagwa was in trouble, everything he did or say
was judged wrong. The factional war came to the head with the firing of
Mnangagwa for disloyalty which the later countered by staging the coup.
Whilst
Zanu PF indulged themselves in their factional fighting they completely ignore
the running of the nation’s affairs. The economic has been in total meltdown triggered
by the violent farm seizures, “njambanja”, in 2000, which cause the collapse of
the agricultural sector and the reckless printing of money which fuelled the
hyperinflation peaking at 500 billion per cent in 2008 when the Z$ was
scrapped. Unemployment has been 80% plus for the last 15 years and ¾ of
Zimbabweans now live on US$ 1.00 or less a day. The Zanu PF thugs were too
absorbed in their fighting for power they did not care that the millions of
ordinary Zimbabweans were suffering and dying of poverty, hopelessness and
despair.
Nothing,
absolutely nothing, has exposed Zanu PF for being a party of ruthless thugs
than the staging of the coup and the total indifference the party has shown to
the suffering and anguish of the ordinary Zimbabweans these last four years.
Only
now that President Mnangagwa and his faction have won the factional war and
have their hands firmly on the wheels of power have their turned their
attention on the ordinary people’s suffering.
“Government
will continue to work tirelessly to create a peaceful and stable political and
socio-economic environment which will enable us to be a prosperous nation and
to realise our full potential. 2018 should be the year of all Zimbabweans, 2018
should be the year of progress. 2018 should also be the year of credible, free
and fair elections,” said President Mnangagwa in his New Year message to the
nation.
This
would be highly commendable if only he meant it!
How
can 2018 be the year for “credible, free and fair elections”, when you have
done nothing, absolutely nothing to implement even one democratic reform necessary
for free and fair elections! Zanu PF has rigged elections ever since the nation
attained her independence but, as one would expect from a party of thugs, has
always claimed the elections were free, fair and credible. Even the 2008
elections which not even SADC and the AU, known for endorsing some dodgy
elections, condemned; Zanu PF claimed were free and fair and has maintain that
position to this day.
So,
Mr President Zimbabweans have to ask you whether the elections will be judged
free and fair to Zanu PF 2008 standards or the international accepted standards?
Zanu
PF, this party of ruthless thugs, has systematically denied the ordinary Zimbabweans
their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free, fair and
credible elections for 38 years now. Enough is enough. We demand the
implementation of all the democratic reforms BEFORE elections to ensure free
and fair elections. To hold elections with no reforms is just a waste of time
and resources because such elections cannot be free and fair.
“2018
should also be the year of
credible, free and fair elections!” That is simply not good enough; we should
have had free and fair elections from 18 April 1980! No “2018 will and must be the first year of
many years to follow of credible, free and fair elections, period!
15 comments:
Zanu PF thugs are used to dictating to everyone and authoritarian habits, once learned, are very hard to let go. In this case, it is clear, they are impossible to abandon.
“Vice President Retired General Constantino Chiwenga has called for unity of purpose among Zimbabweans in order to fulfil the vision set by President Emmerson Mnangagwa of positively transforming the country,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“Retired General Constantino Chiwenga's message was delivered by Zanu PF National Political Commissar, Lieutenant General Engelbert Rugeje, at the graduation celebration for Retired Police Commissioner Oliver Chibage, who attained a doctorate degree, as well six members of his family who attained degrees.
"Everyone should play their part, everyone should know that the wealth of Zimbabwe is ours and everyone must enjoy it. The gold, platinum and diamonds, were in the past being given to only a few but we want everyone to enjoy in the new dispensation," said Lieutenant General Rugeje.
What is Chiwenga wittering about, “new dispensation” and “everyone enjoying the wealth”? Everyone knows that he did not build his C&M mansion and amass his vast wealth from his Commander’s merge wages. He was one of the filthy few ruling elite. The raging factional war in Zanu PF has been to decide which few ruling elite retained power and the looting rights. The ¾ of Zimbabweans who were living on US$1.00 or less per day with no freedoms and basic human rights including a meaningful vote before the coup are still poor and still have no freedoms or rights.
Stop blubbering about a new dispensation when nothing has changed for the majority of Zimbabweans!
Zanu PF National Political Commissar, Retired Lieutenant General Engelbert Rugeje says he will work hard to woo people to the ruling party.
Speaking during a Provincial Co-ordinating Committee (PCC) meeting for the Zanu PF party in Masvingo, Rugeje said people should not be enticed by money but by good party ideology.
The Zanu PF Masvingo provincial leadership held a special meeting where they celebrated the appointment of several party members from the province into key national leadership positions.
Retired Lieutenant General Rugeje said his biggest role is to mobilise people for the party ahead of the 2018 general elections.
Engelbert Rugeje played a major role in the wanton violence of Operation “Mavhotera papi?” (Whom did you vote for!) in 2008. The harassment, beating, rape and even murder of civilians was so bad that even SADC and AU, known for approving some dodgy elections, were forced to condemn the election. So how can President Mnangagwa appoint this thug Zanu PF National Political Commissar and still pretend to want free, fair and credible elections?
Zanu PF is a party of thugs, they are calling for free elections and yet do nothing to implement the reforms necessary for free elections and, worse still, mobilise and deploy the party’s most ruthless thugs to start the election campaigning.
President Mnangagwa keeps talking about free and fair elections and yet he is doing nothing to make that possible. He knows that free elections are impossible unless democratic reforms are implemented. He has not implemented even one reform.
Indeed, he is doing everything to rebuild Zanu PF's ability to rig elections by appointing people like Engelbert Rugeje Zanu PF Commissar and Joint Operation Command members like Shiri, Chiwenga and Moyo into his cabinet. These individual have all show they have experience in vote rigging and intimidation.
@ Coltart
“Many Zimbabweans were so delighted by Mugabe’s removal that they were willing to overlook the coup, and some even praised the military for what they did,” you said.
Well that is very true, the people were indeed desperate. It is sad that there situation would have never reached this desperate state if MDC had implemented the reforms necessary to stop vote rigging. How ironic that you betrayed the nation but have never had the heart to admit your wrong doing. Indeed, you even consider yourself suitable to be elected back into power!
@ Coltart
“People have been so delighted to see the back of Mugabe that they have embraced the very people who have kept Mugabe in power for so long, and who have been the willing executors and beneficiaries of Mugabe’s violence, corruption and abuse of law for decades,” you rightly pointed out
.
“However despite this, Mnangagwa remains in a honeymoon period and it will be difficult for him to deliver on his promises in the short time left before the election. To secure the votes of urban working class people he has to convince them that he is serious about tackling corruption and cutting back on government expenditure. In that regard he has already failed in two key respects. His retention of a few extremely corrupt Cabinet Ministers, one in particular whose name I will not mention because of our defamation laws, but whose identity and deeds are widely known, has given the lie to his promise to tackle corruption. Most people are of the opinion that the arrest of certain ex Cabinet Ministers on corruption charges has more to do with settling factional scores than with genuinely tackling corruption.”
This are valid points, still I take issue with you from a slightly different angle. You want us to believe you will not name the extremely corrupt Cabinet Ministers for fear of our defamation laws, for example; I do not believe that nonsense. You were in parliament and were even in cabinet yourself; why did you not use your parliamentary privileges to name these corrupt individuals and cure the nation of this cancer?
You and your MDC friends were in the GNU to perform a very important task, implement the democratic reforms to ensure future elections are free and fair. In the five years of the GNU you failed to get even one reform implemented. “RIMWE ZVARO RAMATANDA NYADZI!” (NOT EVEN ONE TO HIDE YOUR SHAME!)
You did not implement even one reform because you too were too busy gorging yourselves on the trappings of high office. You were in and out of Zimbabwe like a yoyo, for example, no doubt you forgot about the reforms!
I can forgive people like Morgan Tsvangirai or that Mushonga woman for failing to implement the reforms, he has no idea even to this day what the reforms are and she is just , an empty head with a foul mouth. But will never forgive people like you, Coltart, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Eddie Cross and a few other MDC leaders because you guys knew what the reforms were but sold out!
Exactly! He admits that if MDC had boycotted the 2013 elections SADC would have turned the screw on Zanu PF to implement the reform. He and his MDC friends contested the flawed elections out of greed. Worse still the idiots are lining up to contest this year's elections still with not even one reform in place. They are not contended with selling out during the GNU they are still at it today!
As a white person the blacks suffered before independence to afford him and his fellow whites a privileged life, they had a first-class education, first-class health care, first-class everything. The whites were never asked to pay the blacks any reparations at independence. The least these whites could have done is use their first-class everything for the good of the nation, especially the blacks who were disadvantaged for generations. Instead these whites have joined in exploiting and selling out the black masses! How selfish is that!!!!
Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) tasked to guard five properties owned by Lebanese entrepreneur Jamal Joseph Hamed in Harare’s plush suburbs, allegedly at the behest of former First Lady Grace Mugabe have abandoned the properties and moved off site, NewsDay has established.
The development, which came shortly after Grace’s 93-year-old husband former President Robert Mugabe succumbed to public and military pressure and stepped down dramatically on November 21, confirms the adage that “when days are dark friends are few”.
No the adage more appropriate for Grace Mugabe is "Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down." She crapped on everyone in her vaulting ambition and it is little wonder she has no friends.
The real worry is how much are the ordinary people, who are the ones Grace short changed in all her foolish business dealing, losing in all this?
We must disregard whatever deal President Mugabe made with the Mugabes and thoroughly investigate all this evil family’s evil deeds with the view of recovering the looted wealth. There is a lot more to the Mugabe saga that we still do not know, there is a lot more to the hippo than the ears sticking out of the muddy water.
“In more than one way I also felt that we were no longer on the same wave-length in terms of priorities and goals. Somewhere along the lines I felt that there has been a digression from the principles that attracted me to the movement in the first place. I ceased to see the direction and the trajectory the organisation was now embarking on. I have made several attempts get clarity and explanations on that front, but sadly and unsuccessfully got any answers, except of being accused of betrayal, disloyalty and have sometimes being labelled by all the negative superlatives normally associated with anyone with any open mind, Etc., etc.” wrote “General” Knight!
Knight was one of the Zimbabweans who contested the flawed July 2013 elections on an MDC ticket. Like everyone else in the opposition then, he knew that MDC had failed to implement even one democratic reform and taking part in the election with no reforms was insane. He, like everyone else had his eyes set on winning a seat on the gravy train and would not listen to reason. He had soldiered on hoping his chance to win the coveted gravy train seat would happen this year. The mass desertion of MDC following the November coup was the final nail in the coffin for poor Sir Knight!
MDC did not have any sense of direction back in 2013 when he announced his intention to contest the flawed elections and nothing has changed in that front! So please spare us all this mambo jambo about MDC having lost direction, how can the party lose something it never had!
“In more than one way I also felt that we were no longer on the same wave-length in terms of priorities and goals. Somewhere along the lines I felt that there has been a digression from the principles that attracted me to the movement in the first place. I ceased to see the direction and the trajectory the organisation was now embarking on. I have made several attempts get clarity and explanations on that front, but sadly and unsuccessfully got any answers, except of being accused of betrayal, disloyalty and have sometimes being labelled by all the negative superlatives normally associated with anyone with any open mind, Etc., etc.” wrote “General” Knight!
Knight was one of the Zimbabweans who contested the flawed July 2013 elections on an MDC ticket. Like everyone else in the opposition then, he knew that MDC had failed to implement even one democratic reform and taking part in the election with no reforms was insane. He, like everyone else had his eyes set on winning a seat on the gravy train and would not listen to reason. He had soldiered on hoping his chance to win the coveted gravy train seat would happen this year. The mass desertion of MDC following the November coup was the final nail in the coffin for poor Sir Knight!
MDC did not have any sense of direction back in 2013 when he announced his intention to contest the flawed elections and nothing has changed in that front! So please spare us all this mambo jambo about MDC having lost direction, how can the party lose something it never had!
President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs have no objections to the country holding free, fair and credible elections as long as that does not lead to them being held to account and regime change. The coup was about the Joint Operations Command Junta, the old guard, getting back their political power which Mugabe was wrestling out of them to give to his wife and her G40 faction. Now that has been achieved, the Junta has already shared out the spoils of political power and the looted wealth and agreed on the political road map going forward. Mnangagwa will be president for one or two terms and then Chiwenga will takeover with other Junta members getting a share of the government posts, in the Army, etc. The idea of free, fair and credible elections threatening the Zanu PF succession matrix in anyway is preposterous to the Junta.
It is politically expedient, especially so soon after the military coup when they are still smarting from the coup – they know it was illegal -, to be seen to be actively seeking free and fair election. It soften the blow of illegitimacy brought on by the coup. The Junta will support free and fair elections publicly and meanwhile step up its vote rigging activities. If the voters decide they will vote for President Mnangagwa regardless of his close association with Mugabe then well and good, the party will never resort to some of its dirty vote rigging antics.
If, by the time the elections take place, the people realise the regime has no intention of giving the them a meaningful say in the governance of the country then the people will want to vote Zanu PF out of power. The regime’s response will be to rig the vote hence the reason for making sure the party has not boxed itself in by implementing the reforms.
The challenge is how to make sure President Mugabe’s election should be free and fair in turned into a must and will be free and fair because this it the one thing the regime will fight tooth and nail to ensure it does not happen!
@ James Chikuni
The reforms are about restoring the ordinary people's freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Whilst everyone had expected the MDC as the democrats in the GNU to implement the reforms this does not mean Zanu PF, as the corrupt tyrants in the GNU had no obligations to the people to restore their freedoms, they have. It is all nonsense that Zanu PF should now pretend they are not responsible for the failure to implement any reform. They are the ones who corrupt the state institutions in the first place and thus making the reforms necessary.
Just because no reforms were implemented during the GNU, it does not mean the people must therefore forget getting their freedoms and human rights back. The demand for reforms is now more urgent than ever because of the economic meltdown, we are not getting out of this mess until we have a competent and legitimate government.
Noble Ngara
Only a fool will repeat the same mistake over and over agian because he believes to go over what went wrong is to live in the past!
It took former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell, a few meetings with Tsvangirai for him to send a cable to Washington saying the MDC leader was "a flawed and indecisive character".
The failure by the MDC to get even one democratic reform implemented in five years of the GNU proved beyond doubt just how corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders were. For anyone to still continue to follow MDC after 2013 elections showed just how naive and gullible they were.
Many ordinary Zimbabweans lost confidence in the MDC after the 2013 elections but did not do anything to show it because they were like chickens caught in a storm with nowhere to go. The removal of Mugabe in November 2017 gave the people renewed hope in Zanu PF, it was the break in the storm, and they desert ed MDC in droves. Zimbabweans in SA got their chance to show they too have been waiting for an excuse to finally abandon the corrupt and incompetent and utterly useless MDC when Mnangagwa visited that country.
It was the mass desertion by povo of MDC that has forced the MDC leaders like Eric Knight, Tapiwa Chiyangwa and many others who have remained doggedly loyal to Tsvangirai, Biti, Ncube and other failed MDC leaders to finally accept MDC was useless led as it is by flawed corrupt and incompetent individuals. Now these opportunists claim they are leaving MDC because the party has no vision as if they themselves have the intellect to see such things!
“God has elevated me spiritually to a point where am seeing things more clearer and hence I have taken much more time to reflect on my political future,” writes Chiyangwa.
It took you nearly two decades to see that Tsvangirai was corrupt and incompetent even with the mountain of evidence before you. You failed to see the truth because you too had your eyes fixed on one day winning a gravy train seat on an MDC ticket. Your greed made you blind and stupid. Please, do not evoke the name of God in your stupidity!
In another dent on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s reformist image state security forces are out in full force as the 8 Gukurahundi protestors appear in court.
“Rinemanyanga hariputirwi!” (The truth cannot be hidden forever!)
President Mnangagwa, Minister Perrance Shiri, Commander Sibanda, VP Chiwenga and many others in this coup plotters’ administration’s Gukurahundi past, the vote rigging and corruption are all coming back to haunt them.
“Mthwakazi Republic Party youths have been removed from the Brady Military Barracks (and taken) to Bulawayo Central Police Station, but they are badly injured. The police insist that they are detaining them and charging them with breach of peace,” said one youth leader.
Ever since the November 2017 coup, the Army has been abusing civilians by assuming for themselves the powers of the Police. The Army had no business detaining the youths!
Is this not the same Jealous Mawarire who was used by Zanu PF to fill a court application to press for elections in 2013 when the logical thing was to demand reforms first? The idiot is at it again!
There are many, many other countries that are doing well and they are led by men/women who are over 40 years of age. You have supported Mujuru until now, is she 40 years old? This is stupid argument from a stupid person with nothing to say.
If Zanu PF's G40 faction had prevailed and Grace Mugabe and her friends went on to rig the next elections we would not be any better off!
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because Zanu PF thugs rigged elections and that is what we must focus on - demand reforms to ensure free and fair elections.
Post a Comment