"Firing nurses was a Machiavellian tactic and it is working," says Manjoni - yes but not on everyone N Garikai

And it would have met its objective of stopping swelling civil instability ahead of the polls. The nurses will be too happy to get back to work. The next time they think of protesting, they will start by looking over their shoulders. The same will happen with the teachers. Very soon, Chiwenga's blunt stunt of "expelling" the nurses will be forgotten.

There are clear indications that the Machiavellian tactic is working. Mnangagwa, through his spokesperson George Charamba, late last week betrayed a clever part of the strategy. It's instructive he waited for some time to announce that, practically, government would be readmitting all the "fired" nurses, even ahead of the High Court hearing. Charamba's statement puts the nurses in three bags—those that reported to work on Monday and, therefore, were not affected by the firing, those that went back to work upon a government directive to do so and those that are willing to return to work despite being fired. That means every nurse will be returning to work, but with the message back at their minds that striking is a no-no.

I have to admit, your analysis is spot on.

Fear and ignorance have always been Zanu PF’s favourite tools in their Machiavellian kit bag. You are right, the nurses and the rest of the civil servants are all quaking in their boots, who wouldn’t, fearful they will be fired at the drop of a hat. With unemployment a nauseating 90%; no doubt there will be many unemployed nurses, teachers, etc. in that lot; it is to better to have a job paying the pittance $284 a month than to have no job at all!

Zanu PF has always ruled the rural folk by fear and now the regime is extending its reach into the urban areas.

Our people are ignorant of the fact that Chiwenga and his corrupt ruling elite are filthy rich through mismanagement and downright looting and that if they, the people, do not stand up and demand an end to it, things will only get worse as they have done these last 38 years. The only effective way to deal with failed government is to hold it to account.

There is no Zimbabwean out there worth his/her salt who does not know by now that Zanu PF’s long stay in power was because the regime rigs elections. And yet you ask yourself, why have we, the people, allowed the regime to rig elections all these years making our lives a hell on earth? Zanu PF has everything set to rig this year’s elections and yet the overwhelming majority of our people will be no more than bystanders in it all.

During the GNU the nation got its best chances ever to implement the democratic reforms that would have stopped Zanu PF rigging elections. MDC leaders failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. Many of the nurses, teachers, etc. are MDC supporters and yet many of them, even to this day, have no clue MDC sold-out.

Nations get the government they deserve, we certainly deserve this corrupt and ruthlessly oppressive and manipulative Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties, now numbering 128. The penny has yet to drop that it is ordinary people, nurses, teachers, unemployment, everyone, who must all take the trouble to understand why the country is in a mess and take the necessary steps to put things right.

Much as President Mnangagwa would wish it was so, his regime’s Machiavellian charm has not fooled the foreign direct investors. The “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call has fallen on deaf ears. The regime is set to rig the coming elections and no investors wants to do business with vote rigging thugs!

President Mnangagwa is hoping he can hoodwink the international elections observer to turn a blind eye to the vote rigging and rubber stamp the rigged elections just as many of them did in 2013. It is the people of Zimbabwe’s responsibility to put an end to this sick political culture of rigged elections. Still one hopes that the observers will do the country a big favour and speak truth to the powers that be, for a change.

“We will see Mnangagwa using the same tactic even after the elections if he and his party win. That says the military will be a very present cog in the ruling machinery. In other words, it will be abusing its mandate by using the army or its proxies to rule. But the world will accept that because, one, it is anxious to see and work with a relatively stable post-Mugabe government and, two, the administration will be clever enough to fuse hard tactics with staged constitutionalism and other political niceties,” concluded Manjoni.

The is no “if” about Zanu PF winning these election, with not even one reform in place these “elections are done”, as SADC leaders once said of the 2013 elections. As for the world accepting and working with the regime, I doubt the world will ever want to work with a manipulative, vote rigging and corrupt regime. The world knows that Mnangagwa and company are the same thugs of Mugabe days, they have not changed one bit and never will!