President Mnangagwa rigged the 30 July 2018 elections cocksure his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call would deliver economic recover. Sadly, that has no happened, the flood of investors has not materialised and it is his own fault.
The economic recovery was founded on the premise that the November 2017 coup did not just remove Zimbabwe’s long serving tyrant Robert Mugabe from office, it also transformed the country into a new democratic Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, proof of the “new dispensation” transformation.
And so by rigging the elections, he proved Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Of course, investors shied away for Zimbabwe because they know it is impossible to do business in pariah state, they know that from all the Mugabe years.
The economic turmoil and hardship brought about by serious shortages of foreign currency, fuel, food, medicine, etc. have all underlined one fundamental fact: Zanu PF rigged the elections but wrecked all hope of any meaningful economic recovery.
The truth is slowly dawning on Mnangagwa that his dream of bringing economic prosperity after the 37 years of economic ruin under Mugabe is but a pipe dream! The reality is the economic is sinking even deeper into the morass that Mugabe created.
The worsening economic situation is making Zimbabwe economically and socially more and more unstable. People are not going to tolerate these forex, medicine, etc. shortages forever; they will be street protests or worse!
What Mnangagwa should do is accept that the token changes of removing Mugabe were not enough to end Zimbabwe’s pariah state status. And, above all accept, that as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Accepting those political and economic realities is essential because only then is the solution obvious - that Zanu PF must step down to allow the holding of free and fair elections.
Instead of acknowledging the futility of his “new dispensation” as the answer to Zimbabwe’s serious economic situation, Mnangagwa is burying his head in the sand and hanging on to power at all cost. He, just like Mugabe before him, is resorting propaganda and violence to silence his critics and the victims of his failed leadership.
“At a moment when the economy is facing temporary economic challenges, the opposition has decided to politicise the situation, blaming Government for failing to redress these challenges,” Anesu Pedzisai wrote in Bulawayo 24.
“It is on the same background that MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has tried to ride on these mischievous shenanigans, promising pies in the air to citizens. It also does not come as much of a surprise that Chamisa is desperately trying to remain relevant, he has been at the forefront of preaching provocative and inflammatory statements, urging people to prepare to join him and take to the streets, at some point, and unseat a duly elected Government.”
Of course, Zanu PF is to blame for the country’s economic meltdown. It is the one that established and retained this de facto one-party state, the epitome of the pariah state curse, and landed the nation in this hell-on-earth. By rigging the recent elections, Mnangagwa has reaffirmed the party’s dictatorial strangle hold on the nation. It is therefore nonsensical that Zanu PF should be holding on to the dictatorial powers of a pariah state but refuse to accept the consequences of Zimbabwe being a pariah state!
Zimbabwe’s economic situation with its nauseatingly high unemployment rate of 90% and 75% of the population already living on US$1.00 or less a day is socially, politically and morally unsustainable. What is clear is that Zanu PF will use brute force to silence all demands for change.
The regime is using misguided MDC statements to justify repression. The people will overcome their fear of the brutality of Zanu PF to demand change because they can no longer stand the brutality brought upon them by the economic meltdown and chronic shortages of everything.
Pedzisai, people are dying already of hunger and disease brought upon them by the economic meltdown. People know that as long as Zanu PF remains in power their suffering and deaths will continue. Zanu PF is pushing the nation over the edge into the abyss.
The people have a simple choice facing up the Zanu PF regime and demand meaningful change or continue to die like damn sheep being driven over the cliff by a foolish dog. Common sense will prevail!
As for the “unseat a duly elected Government”; who elected Mnangagwa and this junta? The regime denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, there was no free public media and the election observers, not even ZEC, could verify and trace the declared election result.
ZEC’s task was to cross check the tally from the 11 000 or so V11 figures from each of polling stations. Some of the V11 forms were never released although this is a legal requirement. After four days of messing around ZEC finally declared Mnangagwa the winner but failed to show were their figures came from. Indeed, ZEC managed to come up with three different results and neither of which could be verified or traced!
There is no question that Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections and thus confirmed the country’s status as pariah state. There is no denying that whilst the pariah state curse hangs over the nation’s head there is no hope of economic recovery. After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule that have left 75% of our people living in abject poverty; there is a crying need for change. The Zanu PF dictatorship must be dismantled.
President Mnangagwa and his junta regime rigged the elections and are, per se, illegitimate. The regime must step down to allow the nation to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power until 2023, the party will rig those elections too! The only sure way to make sure Zanu PF does not rig another elections is for the regime to step down now so the nation can finally implement the democratic reforms that both Zanu PF and MDC failed to implement during the 2008 GNU.
6 comments:
You have not said what exactly people are demanding!
Zimbabweans played their part in the toppling of the white colonial regime only to see Zanu PF seize power and institute a dictatorial regime worse than the white colonial regime. Since independence Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders on the understanding they will bring about the democratic changes the nation was dying for. In all the 19 years of MDC leaders occupying center stage, the party has failed to get even one change implemented. All this because people had no clearly defined objectives beyond the usual vague ideas of a "better Zimbabwe for us all!"
Do not just call everyone to join you in street protests, tell them why they should believe this is not just another mass-action that will deliver nothing of note!
Mnangagwa rigged the elections because the whole process was flawed and illegal.
Chamisa's claim that he should be president is equally nonsensical because it is based on the MDC's position before the elections that elections are legal if MDC wins and rigged they do not win. The Zimbabwe constitution stipulates that winner must garner the majority of the votes in a free, fair and credible elections. It does not say if elections are flawed and illegal the one coming second will be declared the winner!
Chamisa's foolish claim is only serving to muddy the political water and confuse the confused electorate!
Mnangagwa appointed the Gukurahundi commission just to kick the issue into the tall grass because there is the Chihambakwe report and then the work done by the Peace and Reconciliation ministry with 3 ministers including a VP during the GNU. The commission into the 1st August shooting of 7 civilians by the Army is just another one of his dirty tricks!
Given that Zimbabwe imports about 70% of its groceries, it’s a large concern.
The health-care sector is also affected. Zimbabwe spends at least $12m a month on imported medications, and is said to owe suppliers $30m. Those in need of medication find that the drugs are either not available or pharmacies — in Harare, at least — will only accept US dollars.
This is just crisis management at its worst! Zimbabwe must bite the bullet and deal with its curse of rigged elections or the country will sink deeper and deeper into this mess.
"After 38 years of blundering from pillar to post, we have a chance of resetting our dysfunctional political system. The question is Do we have the vision to see the opportunity and the resolve to seize it?" you asked.
Tragically, the answer to that has to be: No, we do not have the vision to see the dysfunctional political system. How can we then fix something we do not see as broken and so we are destined to continue to blunder from pillar to post.
Whilst the country's worsening economic situation has touched everyone in the land; the filthy rich ruling elite have suffered the inconvenience of the pot-holes on the public roads and having to shoe off so many people begging for help. The 75% of the population now living in abject poverty, they are at the coal face, they may not know how and why the country is in a mess but they have sure suffered the consequences of the economic chaos and political tyranny.
The people can see things are not right but have no clue why much less what to do about it. They are no wiser than an animal caught up in a drought, it is starving to death because there is no grass to eat and water to drink. The tragedy here is that human beings should consider themselves to be as helpless as a dum animal especially when their problem is a man-made problem and thus within their power to solve if only they applied themselves!
@ Max Maphosa
“This Nomsa is out of touch with events in Zimbabwe meaning now and before the new government and as a result she is failing to assess the situation. Simply to demonstrate my point , who has 2/3 majority mps in parliament. Did they just happen to be falling from no where. Why are you targeting Ed instead of the whole process. People without brains never stop to amuse me.You enjoy to write rubbish, let's simply leave it at that.”
“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
It was not Nomsa who said that but the EU Election Observer Mission final report.
If you alone determine who is allowed to register to vote, fail to produce a verified voters’ roll, fail to produce the V11 to show were the votes came from, etc., etc. Of course, you can come up with whatever winning figure you damn well please.
Mnangagwa rigged the 30 July 2018 elections and you and the whole Zanu PF cabal can deny that but to no avail. The consequence of rigging the elections is wrecking the economy as no investors have responded to Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” None! If you really want to see people with no brains then look in the mirror and/or visit Zanu PF HQ!
Post a Comment