“Outgoing Swiss envoy to Zimbabwe and Malawi Ms
Ruth Huber is confident of enhanced investment ties between her nation and
Zimbabwe building on the crucial engagements held between the two countries’
leaders at the Davos meeting last month,” reported Zimeye.
“Swiss investors are ready to invest in Zimbabwe, was the
massage from outgoing Swiss Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi after she bade
farewell to President Emmerson
Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices in Harare today.”
Swiss investors may be ready to invest in
Zimbabwe but that does not mean Zimbabwe is ready for foreign investors. Whilst
the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs;
foreign and local investors will continue to shy away.
President Mnangagwa has travelled far and wide
ever since he assumed the presidency following the coup that ousted Robert
Mugabe from office. “Zimbabwe is ready to do business!” he was shouted at every
opportunity he had. Sadly, without doing something concrete to end the country’s
reputation as a corrupt and lawless nation ruled by thugs, the country will not
be ready for local or foreign investors.
Switzerland must wait to see if Zimbabwe has
changed and will hold free, fair and credible elections as President Mnangagwa
has promised. One does not need to remind the Swiss that President Mnangagwa
has said a lot about free and fair elections and yet has done nothing on the
ground to make this happen. We have been asking the regime to implement the reforms
Zanu PF signed up to in 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The 2008 GPA was drawn with the help of SADC
leaders following Zimbabwe’s 2008 rigged elections. Not even SADC and the AU,
known for approving some dodgy elections in Africa, would endorse the Zanu PF
victory as a free and fair electoral process. It was agreed that Zimbabwe’s GNU
must implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop a repeat of the
blatant vote rigging and wanton violence of 2008. As a senior Zanu PF minister
in Mugabe’s government before, during and after the GNU, President Mnangagwa knows
only too well that not even one reform was implemented during or after the GNU.
President Mnangagwa knows that all talk of
free, fair and credible election in Zimbabwe without first implementing the
reforms is just that – talk! If he was serious about holding free and fair
elections he would have hit the ground running on implementing the reforms. He
has done nothing!
Indeed, President Mnangagwa has contemptuously dismissed those calling for the reforms as nothing more that barking dogs.
"Zanu PF ichatonga igotonga! Imi muchigohukura! Nokuhukura!" (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you (demanding reforms) bark! And bark!) Was Mnangagwa’s first words of assurance to his fellow Zanu PF hardliners on his return from SA following the November 2017 coup.
Indeed, President Mnangagwa has contemptuously dismissed those calling for the reforms as nothing more that barking dogs.
"Zanu PF ichatonga igotonga! Imi muchigohukura! Nokuhukura!" (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you (demanding reforms) bark! And bark!) Was Mnangagwa’s first words of assurance to his fellow Zanu PF hardliners on his return from SA following the November 2017 coup.
The Zanu PF hardliners, led by none other than
Mnangagwa and Mugabe, have rigged elections and used violence including mass
murder to ensure there is no regime-change in Zimbabwe. They nicknamed the
November 2017 coup, Operation Restore Legacy; the no-regime-change mantra is at
the very heart of that legacy!
Many Zimbabweans are determined to see the
country hold its first free, fair and credible elections. They not only see
free and fair elections as an inalienable right; they also know this is the basis
for good, democratic and accountable government. The country is in a serious
political and economic mess following four decades of corrupt and tyrannical
rule by this de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship; holding free, fair and
credible elections is the nation’s ticket out of this hell.
One hopes that the people of Switzerland, with
their own well-known tradition of good and democratic governance going back
generations, will understand why the people of Zimbabwe are yarning for democratic
change. And, more significantly, the Swiss will help pressure this Zanu PF
regime to honour its promise hold free, fair and credible elections.
3 comments:
What we, Zimbabweans, must not forget is that President Mugabe never said he was going to destroy Zimbabwe's economy, on the contrary he thought he was going to deliver mass prosperity, "gutsa ruzhinji". NRZ, like so many other national companies, is today a shadow of what it was in 1980. We got into this mess because we did not have the political power to remove Mugabe even when it was clear he was corrupt and incompetent and his continued rule was dragging the nation into mass poverty.
President Mnangagwa and his coup regime are facing an election in a few months' time, they are desperate to impress and hence all these big project announcements. He is promising to spend billions of dollars to revive NRZ, he is spending billions in his command agriculture, etc. This is all very well but he has not been forthcoming with information as to where he is going to get all the money for these projects. Even if he can raise the money there is no guarantee that it will all be put to good use and deliver the economic boom we are all hoping for.
The same corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF that destroyed Zimbabwe's economy of Mugabe's years, except for a few G40 members and Mugabe himself, is the one still in power today. What is worse, unless we do something to wrestle the regime's excessive political power to rig elections, we will be as powerless to hold this Mnangagwa regime to account much less remove it from office as we were with Mugabe if it should prove to be corrupt and incompetent.
The greatest challenge for the people of Zimbabwe these last 20 years has been to make sure the nation wrestles back the people's power to hold those in power to account and, if need be, remove them from office. Allowing Zanu PF usurp our right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country was greatest mistake we ever made since independence. Stopping Zanu PF rigging elections ever again has been the nation's number one priority for decades!
No one is stopping President Mnangagwa and his friends from doing everything in their power to revive the national economy and win the election. Go for it, why not! What the nation is finding totally unacceptable is lack of progress in implementing the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Since the November coup President Mnangagwa and his crowd have promised this year's elections will be free, fair and credible and it would be unforgivable if we allowed Zanu PF rig the elections and get away with it!
Throughout his decades in power former President Mugabe had earned a reputation of defying everyone and getting away with it, at least that is what the regime said. When President Mnangagwa and his coup plotters agreed to stage the November 2017 coup they also agreed that it "is military assisted transition" and that is what Major General Sibusiso Moyo announced to the world. The regime is convinced everyone out there was fooled by the lie.
The regime is convinced it can rig this year's elections and tell everyone the elections were free, fair and credible and get away with that too! The regime will probably pull this off with the Zimbabwe people, they are easily bowled over as history will show. I do not think many foreign investors will be so easily fooled. Mugabe tried to pretend the economy was doing well when it was not - the foreign investors were not easily fooled then they will not be easily fooled now!
Mugabe inherited a rich economy with lots of fat to burn and the reason the Zimbabwe economy has staggered along this far. President Mnangagwa inherit a sick economy, there will be nowhere for him to hide his failures for long!
President Mnangagwa, VP Chiwenga and Minister P Shiri are behaving as if they are the fountain of all wisdom the way they are pouring millions of dollars into their command agriculture schemes. They have been warned against government's reckless spending on ill-conceived projects. Government should make the money available and then let the banks pick who gets the money and under what terms.
Government has failed to produce audited reports on how well its command agriculture project have worked. Whilst President Mnangagwa has heralded it a great success there a reports saying harvest has been exaggerated. We do not want to go back to the old days when the regime claimed it had enough food for the nation when it did not.
The November coup has resulted in the replacement of the biggest number of individuals in the party and government since independence. Sadly, the direction of the government has not changed because the same autocratic mentality is still there. Autocrats like Mnangagwa who believe their know best will never ever accept that ordinary people can vote him out of office. He has promised free, fair and credible elections but he been doing everything to rig the vote.
Even if some foreign investors should believe that Zimbabwe has changed from the lawless nation ruled by thugs and start investing in the country. It will not be longer before the regime show its true autocratic colours and the investors will soon know they made a big mistake.
If Zanu PF has changed then it must give up its "I know best" mentality and accept that its actions must be subjected to close public scrutiny and that is only possible in a truly democratic environment. We must implement all the democratic reforms!
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