The doctors strike is over, hurrah!
In their statement announcing the end of the
strike, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) National Executive raised
some interesting points and I have just picked a few to comment on.
1. Procurement of essential medicines and drugs is in motion and
we expect an improvement soon, so as to offer
quality health care to ALL patients.
I wish I could share the doctors’ optimism, I
do not. The Zimbabwe economy has been in the doldrums for decades now and there
is nothing that has happened to make me believe things are about to change.
President Mnangagwa and his Junta regime have
made a big song and dance about “Zimbabwe is open for business!” to attract the
much-needed foreign investors. Sadly, there has been no takers because investors
continue to shy away from Zimbabwe because the still see it as a lawless nation
ruled by thugs.
The regime’s failure to implement the
democratic reforms and thus deliver free, fair and credible elections it has
been promising since the November 2017 coup has only confirmed to all that the
Zanu PF dictatorship is very much alive or be it under different management.
Zanu PF is rigging this year’s elections.
Indeed, one can even say “the elections are done” as SADC leaders said a month
before the 2013 rigged elections. No investors are going to do business in a
country in which the next regime change is yet another coup or “military
assisted transition”, as the coup plotters would put it.
With no meaningful prospects of meaningful
economic recovery, it is naïve to expect hospitals to have drugs, basic
equipment, etc. anytime soon. These things cost money and this is another
regime promise, just like free and fair elections, that will never be honoured.
2. We have received an upward review of on call allowances,
noting that members work round the
clock for up to 360 continuous hours. This is a health specific allowance.
Understanding the current limitations in the economy, we hope to continually review until we attain regional and international standards.
Understanding the current limitations in the economy, we hope to continually review until we attain regional and international standards.
Well doctors will be lucky if their reviewed
allowance will ever be paid, especially once the regime has rigged the
elections when the usual political arrogance returns with vengeance. As for
doctors earning becoming comparable to those in the region – dream on.
Zimbabwe’s economy will never improve until we
deal with this cancer of bad governance, so graphically rubbed in by Zanu PF’s periodic
blatant rigging of elections in the name of the party’s no-regime-change mantra.
3. With effect from today, until latest 02 April 2018, ZHDA
members will report for duty.
Normal work has resumed.
Should the HSB fail to honour the agreement, we will have no choice but to express our grievances again.
We would like to thank His Excellency, Cde. E. D Mnangagwa for his intervention and swift action.
Normal work has resumed.
Should the HSB fail to honour the agreement, we will have no choice but to express our grievances again.
We would like to thank His Excellency, Cde. E. D Mnangagwa for his intervention and swift action.
His Excellency was a senior member of the Zanu
PF regimes that has ruled this nation with an iron-fist these last 38 years. He
has played his part in the total destruction of the Zimbabwe economy. Of all
Mugabe’s cronies, President Mnangagwa was the tyrant’s right-hand man and
played a leading role in all the looting, vote rigging and political murders
that took place. Over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans were murdered by the regime
to establish and retain the one-party dictatorship that still dominate and rule
supreme to this day.
Like Pontius Pilate, President Mnangagwa, will
never wash the innocent blood he has shed. Shine the light of justice on ED and
he will glow like a scorpion under ultraviolet light!
This latest Doctor’s strike has lasted a whole
month; he had time for the usual globe-trotting and plenty of cash to buy the
Chiefs new twin cab trucks but did not have time and cash to pay doctors and or
buy incubators for new born-babies!
“Swift action!” What swift action are you
talking about?
12 comments:
In a rare moment of unintended blatant honest, Noble Ngara, one of President Mnangagwa's apologists described Mnangagwa as a ruthless operator who cares about no one but his own selfish interests.
"My whole argument is that Robert Mugabe and his wife were driven to go exactly where ED and his team wanted them; the masses also went where they were bid (the 18 November 2017 street demos) and they did so happily," wrote Ngara in a recent article.
"ED's modus operandi is quite simple-he goes with the flow-he follows the path of least resistance but at the end of it all, he knows how to manipulate events and personalities to his full advantage-always ending up on top of the situation.
"It is a rare talent and it is this very talent that saw Mzee Simon Muzenda recommending ED as presidential assistant to Mugabe-all the divide and rule antics attributed to Mugabe were the brains of ED in action-it is now quite clear that he was the cornerstone of Bob's long stay in power."
The easy with which the striking doctors have been taken by President Mnangagwa is proof of what a smooth operator ED is and, more significantly, how politically naïve the doctors are. Zanu PF has not changed one bit and therefore there is no chance of any meaningful economic recovery. After decades of being hoodwinked one would think the doctors, would not be so easily fooled by the regime as the masses.
ED is rigging these elections dragging the nation even deeper into economic trouble!
Democracy demands an electorate that is wide awake and take their duties of understanding the issues of the day and holding those in public office to account very seriously. If the doctors, the country's crème de crème, cannot see that the November coup removed one dictator but only to replace him with another what hope is there of my aunt in the rural back-waters will see that?
Nations get the government they deserve, we certainly deserve this corrupt, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship.
@ Lazarus
If Nomuas is "bitter about Mnangagwa for no apparent reason" then there is nothing to worry about her scarring away investors. It is naive and even insulting to suggest that investors would pass on a great opportunity to make money because they read an article what was way off the mark.
However, if Nomusa's article has hit the nail on the head, which I for one believe it has, then the article is stating the reality on the ground - there have been no takers on ED's "Zimbabwe is open for business!" cry. I would not want to insult the investors by suggesting they needed any advice from Nomusa or anyone to stay away, they are smart enough to see Zimbabwe is still ruled by thugs.
You are attacking the messenger, Nomusa, because you cannot attack the message. The message is a simple one; Zanu PF is rigging these elections and Zimbabwe cannot afford another rigged election. You bury your head in the sand, but do not expect everyone else to do the same!
"His Excellency, the President will be accompanied by about 10 Ministers and various officials and the private sector. Remember the thrust is that the Government is there to provide appropriate business environment and the private sector is the foot-soldier and in that regard there are 77 business-people to attend several meetings that have been lined up here by Chinese people for them to interact," said Foreign Affairs Minister, Rtd Lt Gen Moyo.
President Mnangagwa has certainly got former President Mugabe's globe-trotting bug bite! Every week, two-weeks maximum, he has been off somewhere outside the country. The irony is all this globe-trotting is a complete waste of money, at least in terms of attracting foreign investors; they are not convinced Zimbabwe is now a law-abiding nation.
The regime is fooling no one with its promise to hold free and fair elections and yet continue with its vote rigging schemes.
No foreign investors from the West have flooded into the country. I have a feeling the Chinese will not be impressed too especially after so many Chinese nationals are among those accused of externalising cash!
There will be many independent candidates in the urban areas than in the rural areas because most of the candidates know Zanu PF has the rural voters by the throat and, sometimes, the candidates themselves are roughed up too. In other words, these opposition candidate know the rural voters are been systematically harassed, beaten or worse; they have no chance of exercising their right to free and fair elections. These candidates do not care about the rural voters as long as they win the few urban gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away!
These opposition candidates are just selfish opportunists who do not care about the rural voters are always the ones who suffer the most from Zanu PF thugs! This is totally unacceptable!
@ Zhuwao
Blessed are those who see and perceive hear and understand, you Mr Zhuwao are one of those to whom the gift of insight has been denied. The events of November 2017 that have forced you to go into hiding should have been the catalyst forcing you to take a hard look at your past and thus force the penny to finally drop. It is disheartening to note that the penny has not dropped!
"ZANU PF's founding values, principles, ideology and constitution have been eroded with the most recent and dramatic assault being the 15 November 2017 coup that trampled on the Party's time-honoured principle that politics must lead the gun," you say.
Zimbabwe's founding values and principles of freedom, human dignity, justice, peace and economic prosperity for all. It was Zanu PF, your uncle Robert Mugabe in particular, who betrayed the nation in 1980 and since by selling out on all the values and principles the nation had fought and many died for. Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-on-earth because of Zanu PF thugs' betrayal and greed for power and wealth.
The overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans welcomed the 15 November 2017 coup because it removed from office Robert Mugabe and a few Zanu PF thugs like you, Zhuwao and Jonathan Moyo. Of course, the nation would have wanted the others like Emmerson Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and all the others still constituting the Zanu PF Junta government ruling today gone. Still getting rid of Mugabe and the G40 faction was a good start!
The very fact that you still consider the 15 November 2017 coup, "the most recent and dramatic assault" on Zimbabwe values and principles goes to show just how hopelessly out of touch with reality you were during your years in power and still are now even after the months of cooling off hiding in your fox hole.
Your uncle murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans to establish and retain his de facto one-party dictatorship and you think the worst thing that ever happened was to depose the corrupt and murderous tyrant! What an insult!
You are clearly hoping that one day the Zanu PF of your uncle Bob will get back into power. Dream on! My hope is Zimbabwe will get rid of this Lacoste Zanu PF dictatorship soon and then come after you, if you nothing else, just to get you to shut up!
@ Awesome
I beg to differ with you there Awesome, whilst Patrick has dropped his usual nonsense he still has a long way to go. Here is a man whose uncle's regime murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans to establish and retain his de facto one-party state and has the chutzpah to say the worst thing to happen to Zimbabwe was the booting out of the corrupt and murderous tyrant from power!
However I can see why you, Awesome, did not find Zhuwao's twisted logic an insult. You are ED's apologist and ED was Mugabe's chief looter, vote rigger and murderer. You cannot therefore condemn Mugabe's murders without condemning the Chief murderer!
The November coup got rid of one faction of the Zanu PF dictatorship, we still need to get rid of the remaining Lacoste faction. It is busy rigging this year's elections and there lies its Achilles' heel because the Junta regime desperately needs to keep its promise to hold free and fair elections to have any hope of attracting foreign investors. The Junta's love of power is so powerful holding free and fair election is simply a luxury it cannot afford!
For the last 37 years it was ED and the Junta who have rigged elections to help Mugabe and Zanu PF stay in power. In November last year ED and the Junta staged a coup to remove Mugabe and this year they will be rigging the elections to ensure THEY stay in power! Asking them to hold free and fair elections this year of all the years is simply asking them for too much!
ED and the Junta are rigging these elections because they know they cannot win free and fair elections and they love absolute power too much to ever risk losing it. Their biggest problem now is rigging the elections and getting away with it! They will not get away with it; you know it, I know it and ED and the Junta know!
The Zanu PF dictatorship, like all other dictatorship before it, was doomed to end in tears. Mugabe and the G40 members are crying and soon it will be ED and the Lacoste members' turn to cry.
"Every little helps!" so goes TESCO catch phrase advert. Will the mega deals ED is hoping to sign with China help revive Zimbabwe's economy, is what many Zimbabweans would be asking? Sadly, the answer is no. Every little helps, yes but that is not to say you can drive from Harare to Bulawayo on one litre of petrol!
Zimbabwe has lagged behind economically for decades, what the country needs is a massive injection of foreign aid and foreign and local investment. By failing to hold free and fair elections ED has ruled out all West financial assistance and investment; the West simply do not do business in a country whose next regime change can only be yet another coup. China will certainly be more supportive of ED than it was of Mugabe, who begged them for $27 billion for his ZimAsset and got $400 million - most of which were in post dated cheques only to be cash if Zimbabwe repaid its outstanding debts.
China will be a lot more generous to ED than to Mugabe but that will not be enough to revive Zimbabwe's economy.
Ambassador Catriona Laing, you have worked very hard to clear the diplomatic and any other obstacles to ensure EU - Zimbabwe, but even more UK - Zimbabwe, relationship and trade can be restored as quickly as possible. But all your hard work will come to naught if there is no democratic change in Zimbabwe.
"The elections will be an important milestone," you told the Sunday Mail.
"Around that, we want to see genuine commitment to fulfilling all the obligations in the Constitution, which the President himself has committed to doing. We want to see the next stage on the economic reform plan and we hope to see that soon, as Zimbabwe prepares for the annual IMF-World Bank Spring meetings."
Madam, you can forget about the economy; President Mnangagwa and his Junta regime have promised free, fair and credible elections and yet they have stubbornly resisted implementing the democratic reforms. Indeed, the regime has carried on with its vote rigging schemes such as bribing Chiefs with new trucks so they can play their usual role of intimidating and frog march the rural voters to vote for Zanu PF. There is no freedom of expression and free media; etc.
By failing to honour the promise to hold free and fair election President Mnangagwa and his government have confirmed what many, especially the shrewd foreign investors, suspected - that Zanu PF is still a party of lawless thugs and all talk of the new dispensation after the November 2017 coup was just hot air.
Zimbabwe has been a pariah state for decades; the country needs meaningful political reform first, to restore foreign and local investor confidence, and thus prepare the way for meaningful economic recovery. Those who are focusing on economic recovery without first securing political transformation are putting the cart before horse and wasting everyone's time and money.
The people of Zimbabwe cannot afford the economic, social or political luxury of yet another rigged election this year. This is why the British's position of down-playing the reality of Zanu PF rigging the elections is down-right dangerous for Zimbabwe!
ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) calls upon the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to initiate a process of wholesale reform of electoral laws to ensure the conformity of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] to the Constitution.
The trouble with many of Zimbabwe's NGOs and opposition political parties who have been call for reforms is that they have no clue that these reforms are and much less what is the process of getting the reforms implemented. If they did, then they would know no meaningful reforms can ever be implemented now, three - four months maximum before voting day!
What these organisations should be calling for is the boycott of the flawed elections. With no reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the process it is no exaggeration that the "elections are done" as SADC leaders said a month before the 2013 elections. There is really no point in taking part in the elections in which are "done" months before the first ballot is cast!
@ Nomazulu
It is a great pity that many of our church leaders have themselves been corrupted in their search for opportunities to hobnob with those in power in their Blue Roof mansions. These corrupt church leaders have turned a blind eye to the evil things the politicians and the rich and powerful are doing, they have become Zanu PF political commissars in their own right!
Look at the likes of Father Fidelis Mukonori SJ, he has spent more priest-years ministering to the corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant Mugabe and his family and completely ignored the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who are the tyrant's victims of decades of misrule. Father Mukonori has turned the Christian doctrine of the prophets speaking truth to power on its head!
If I was a Christian, then I would pray for priests like Father Mukonori to go to hell so he can continue to minister to Mugabe forever - it is not a Christian thing to say but then I did say that I am not a Christian!
@ Lazarus
I am not a journalist and have never claimed to be one. As for being objective, we should all aspire to be objective regardless of whether we are a journalist or not.
If you are going to be the one policing the important matter of whether one is being objective or not you would do better by proving to us all that you understand what being objective means. You cannot claim that I was not being objective and then fail to provide the evidence.
The world is full of people who claim to be what they are not. You are talking of being objective when you do not even know what the word means much less apply it to a real-life situation.
Many war veterans and ex-soldiers will see this year as their last chance to get into power and on the gravy train after 38 years of being promised "next time, tomorrow, etc.!" Given that the war veterans and security services personal are the people who have kept Zanu PF in power particularly since the blatant cheating and wanton violence of 2008 it is no surprise that they have become embolden and are demanding power for themselves no other people.
These thugs have never believed in ordinary Zimbabweans having a meaningful say in the governance of the country and, now with the chance of finally getting a seat on the gravy train within their reach, they are not going to let the chance slip through their fingers in the name of free and fair elections!
Take this as read, Zanu PF will have more war veterans and ex-security services personals contesting these elections than ever before.
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