Global Witness add their name to those ruling out
any hope of Zimbabwe holding free, fair and credible elections without first
implementing the democratic reforms given the military involved in the present
regime and their involvement in the looting in Marange.
“Global Witness has long probed the relationship
between the security forces and diamonds, given the potential impact on
Zimbabwe’s human rights record and democratic functioning,” reported New
Zimbabwe.
“Alongside
the CIO connection, we set out in our 2017 investigation extensive
evidence that the military were also a major beneficiary of Marange diamonds.
The military’s power in Zimbabwe has been made highly visible in recent months
through their role in the “soft coup” that saw Mugabe ousted and the
installation of Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“In
a further sign of the immense political power the defence forces wield, the new
cabinet includes Perence Shiri and Sibusiso Moyo both formerly senior security
force figures, while new Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, retired as
Commander of the Defence Forces to take up his post.”
Anyone
who thinks the November coup was about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship is naïve.
It was about making sure the Joint Operation Command junta stopped Mugabe
handing over power to his wife and the G40 faction. Having secured power these
thugs will never give it up. They have the looted wealth and the murderous past
to protect.
“Apparently, representatives from the Defence
Forces defied a summons to attend the parliamentary hearing earlier this week.
Whether they will submit to any questioning at all remains to be seen.
President Mnangagwa has been trumpeting anti-corruption and a new era
of economic recovery since his inauguration,” continued the report.
“A
public explanation by the army of their interests in the diamond mining
industry would be a sign that these moves are serious and indiscriminate.”
President Mnangagwa was himself named in the UN
reported as one of the Zimbabwe leaders involved in the looted of minerals in
the DRC following the deployment of Zimbabwe soldiers in that country in 1998.
He cannot rein in any of his military thugs looting in Marange, after all they
are only playing catch-up!
If we are serious about ending the de facto Zanu PF
dictatorship that has ruled this nation with an iron fist, then we must demand
the implementation designed to break the umbilical code tying Zanu PF to the
Army and other State institutions, to end the party’s unfettered access to
state resources, etc. BEFORE the elections.
The
elections taking place right now are flawed and illegal, the whole process is a waste of time and
resources and must be declared null and void. Without reforms, it is impossible to hold free and fair.
5 comments:
President Mnangagwa and his coup junta tried their best to deceive the Zimbabwe public and the world at large that the November 2017 coup was about removing the dictator Robert Mugabe and the criminal elements around him. What was left behind; the Lacoste faction, men and women of outstanding character and purity of heart and whose dedication to duty and country is second to none, All lies, of course!
The truth is President Mnangagwa and his Joint Operation Command junta friends have been Mugabe's henchmen; they planned and executed all the vote rigging, looting and murderous campaign that help establish and retain the de facto one party can one man, Robert Mugabe (and now Emmerson Mnangagwa) dictatorship. Except for former Police Commissioner Chihuri, former CIO director Bonyongwe and Robert Mugabe himself few other G40 members were in the junta.
Both Lacoste and G40 members have enjoyed the spoils of absolute power made possible by the dictatorship and have all joined in the wholesale looting of farms, diamonds, etc. that has been going on.
The coup was about stopping Robert Mugabe booting Mnangagwa and everyone else in the junta who supported him out of the dictatorship just as the tyrant had booted out Mai Mujuru and her supporters in 2014. The dictatorship itself has remained because those involved with the core activities of the dictatorship, the looting, vote rigging, political thuggery, etc. have remained.
Indeed, the Zanu PF dictatorship of post coup is a more ruthless setup than the one before, until now the henchmen had remained in the shadows have now come out with vengeance. The Zanu PF leaders who will contesting this year's elections will be mainly war veterans and ex-security personal with very few civilians.
Global Witness is right, the individual at the heart of the Mnangagwa regime have been and are still at the heart of the the wholesale looting in Marange. They will not want to give up the looting muchness held to account for it and all the other evil deeds they have committed. Shine the light of justice on Mnangagwa and his coup junta and they will glow like scorpion under ultra-violet light from all the innocent blood they have shed!
As long as they remain in power they know no light of justice will ever turned on them. They only sure way for them to remain in power is by making sure they retain the veto on who rules the country in the form of the power to rig elections.
President Mnangagwa and his coup junta will never ever hold free and fair elections; that is simply a luxury that cannot afford! Another rigged election and five more years of this corrupt Zanu PF regime is a luxury the long suffering people of Zimbabwe cannot afford. It is not right that a whole nation should be held to ransom to gratify the insatiable greed of a few!
@ Mupfudza
There are many ordinary Zimbabweans like Farai Maguwu who have spoken against the wholesale looting of diamonds going on in Marange. There would be lots more beside if Zimbabwe had freedom of expression, a free media and the people had a political voice. The 90% unemployed, the 3/4 of our people living on US$1.00 or less a day, etc. would have plenty to say about the looting, vote rigging and tyrannical rule of these Zanu PF thugs.
To argue that we should allow Zanu PF thugs to continue looting, ride roughshod over our freedoms and rights because "a foreign controlled neoliberal organisation" has flagged what the thugs are doing is the height of stupidity only a thug benefiting from the looting or an idiot would say.
President Mnangagwa and his coup junta have clearly shown that they are incapable of holding free and fair elections. These elections are an insult to the nation and a mockery of democratic elections, they must and will be condemned as such.
Ruhanya cautioned Zimbabweans to elect their leaders carefully come 2018.
"When you decide in July 2018, keep this in mind, it could be worse if you give them five more years of full military rule," said Ruhanya.
I agree with everything else Ruhanya said up to this point. How many elections have been free, fair and credible in Zimbabwe in the last 38 years? Not one! We already know that with not even one reform implemented Zanu PF is rigging these elections. So, what is Ruhanya blubbering about "elect leaders carefully" when the elections are done already!
This is like telling someone to swim across a crocodile infested Zambezi, "be careful!" If you are going to give someone advice make sure it is sound and some stupid, ill-conceived and idiotic nonsense.
The people of Zimbabwe must denounce these elections because they are being rigged already. It is insane to keep participating in rigged elections and hoping for a different result! Denounce these flawed and illegal elections here and now, not the day after the rigged results are announced, and demand the process be declared null and void.
@ DM
Will knowing where the ballot papers are printed stop Rugeje and his war veterans frog marching rural voters to vote for Zanu PF? Will knowing where the ballot papers are kept stop Zanu PF looting billions of dollars from Marange and use the cash to bankroll its vote rigging schemes? If we are going to have free, fair and credible elections we know we must implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed at the start of the 2008 GNU.
We must stop wasting time on these foolish MDC ideas of demanding one thing today and then something else tomorrow.
@Knowledge
I agree with some of what you have said but you need to get your facts right on what SADC have done.
If we put to one side whether the GNU was a good thing or not it is a matter of public record that SADC leaders tried to get Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement the democratic reforms and they were ignored. The regional leaders tried to get the elections postponed to allow reform and, again they were ignored.
If Zimbabweans insist on contesting flawed elections, there is nothing SADC or anyone else can do to stop us. These elections should not be going ahead without reforms, it is us Zimbabweans who want them to go ahead.
Stop blaming outsiders for the mess in Zimbabwe, we are the ones who have made the mess!
The international community will declared these elections null and void, they can see the elections are being rigged, but it is for us, Zimbabweans, to lead in, first, demanding the reforms BEFORE the elections and, failure to get reforms, to stand up tall and demand the process be declared null and void.
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