"Stop deriding ED regime by calling it a Junta," complain Chinono - but it is a Junta

Hopewell Chinono, you are a shallow minded person with a very large ego, you think you are an intellectual of merit. Your articles are nonsense dressed in a flowerily language designed to fool the politically naïve and gullible.

“Most people in the opposition deride the assumed contested legitimacy of the current President Mnangagwa administration by calling it a “Junta”, a word which means a political group that rules a country after taking power by force,” you say.

“This is meant to unfairly hurt the credibility of the government and how it is perceived both locally and internationally.”

Chinono, it is a historic fact that in the small hours of the morning of 14 th November 2017 Commander General Constantino Chiwenga and posse of other top brass Zimbabwe Defence Forces Officers seized the key State Institutions, neutralized the Police and CIO and woke the then President and Commander-In-Chief of all Zimbabwe’s defence forces including ZDF, Police and CIO, Robert Mugabe, to tell him he was no longer had any of the powers of the presidency and Commander-In-Chief.

The coup plotters told the world what they had done was “a military assisted transition” but that is all flowerily language design to fool fools. This was a coup d’état, plain and simple! President Mnangagwa and his administration are a Junta with no legitimacy, that too is a plain and simple historic fact!

The world is not going to rewrite the definition of coup d’état and add “a military assisted transition (Zimbabwe November 2017, is the only known example)” just to suit Mnangagwa and company. If the coup plotters resent being called a Junta then they should have never stage the coup in the first place. They have welcome the absolute power the coup brought but they do not want the stigma that comes with it!

“We only had two options, the continued ruinous rule by Robert Mugabe that would have seen his wife Grace Mugabe take over, or the military intervention that happened in November,” continued Chinono.

The decision by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to stifle debate and democratic competition has help him create the de facto one-party dictatorship he wanted but at the price of political stagnation and rot. Whilst Zanu PF is imploding because the centre cannot hold, the party is rotten to the core. The choice of which of the two factions, G40 or Lacoste, was going to emerge out of the dog-eat-dog factional war tearing Zanu PF apart is an internal matter and not to be confused with the nation.

The people of Zimbabwe have been fighting for democratic change, free and fair elections and, ultimately, regime change.

The insistence on fostering the choice Zanu PF’s grime choice, of either G40 or Lacoste, on the whole nation is nothing new; like all ruthless tyrannical regime Zanu PF has placed its selfish party and person interests above those of the nation. The party, Zanu PF, has become more important the nation, Zimbabwe. And for many years the individual, Robert Mugabe, has become more important than the party and the nation. The coup removed Mugabe and replaced him with Mnangagwa.

The subordination of the nation’s interest to selfish interest of the party and/or individual(s) is heart and soul of the political struggle in Zimbabwe.

Zanu PF is not Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe is not Zanu PF!

Whilst the November 2017 accomplished the task of removing the dictator Robert Mugabe from power what is failed to do was end the dictatorship itself. President Mnangagwa and the Junta have preserved the Zanu PF dictatorial powers to rig elections untouched. President Mnangagwa has promised free, fair and credible elections but have done nothing to implement the democratic reforms to make this possible.

Zimbabwe will not have free and fair elections without implementing the reforms first. The economic recovery the Junta has been angling for will not happen because foreign investors and donors will continue to shy away from Zimbabwe. By failing to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections the Junta will be effectively telling the world Zimbabwe is still a nation ruled by ruthless thugs or be it under a new dictator.

Foreign investors do not do business with pariah state in which regime change is only possible if there is a coup d’état or some such violent act!