President Mnangagwa rigged the recent elections and is therefore illegitimate. It is now four months since the rigged elections and if he thought he was going to get away with it; he was wrong.
“In 2008, Canada adopted Special Economic Measures Act (Zimbabwe) Regulations with respect to Zimbabwe. These measures prohibit arms trade with Zimbabwe, and impose sanctions against listed Zimbabweans and entities. These measures will remain in place until there are positive shifts in Zimbabwean policy that result in improvements in human rights, democracy, freedom, and the rule of law” Canadian ambassador to Zimbabwe, René Cremonese, told the Independent is a recent interview.
Rigging the has been a tough and very expensive task for President Mnangagwa but rigging the economic recovery, without which his continued stay in power is impossible, is proving to be mission impossible.
Full marks to Mnangagwa, he did not need anyone to tell him the importance of attracting foreign direct investment as the only way to revive Zimbabwe’s comatose economy. He hit the ground running with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra which he adopted soon after last November’s military coup. Sadly, for him, he did not have the intellect to realise that investors are shrewd lot; they would not take his word for it, they would want to see his words backed by action.
President Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections, it was the ultimate assurance that Zimbabwe was no longer pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. He failed to keep the promise.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta friends had risked life and limb to wrestle power from Mugabe in the November 2017 coup; many had people doubted if the coup plotters would risk losing it in turn in a free and fair elections. The doubters were proven right.
The July 2018 elections were whole flawed and illegal. There were glaring irregularities such as the denying of 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote; the failure to produce a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement; etc.
The elections have been condemned as “biased, unfair and falling short of accepted international standards” - diplomatic language for the elections were rigged and therefore Zanu PF is illegitimate. All the western nations has retained the economic sanctions they had imposed on the Zanu PF regime, as noted above.
The greatest pressure on the Zanu PF regime to step down is coming from the sanctions but from the country’s worsening economic meltdown. The flood of investors the regime had hoped for in response to the “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call has not materialised. The shrewd investors and lenders did not miss the rigged elections, etc. and have shied away. They do not do business in a pariah state.
As soon as it became clear that Zanu PF had rigged the elections, thus confirming the country’s status as a pariah state, all hope of a meaningful economic recovery evaporated. There has been panic and chaos in the country’s economic and financial market caused by shortage of foreign currency, fuel, food, medicine, etc. and the fluctuation of the Bond Notes against the US$. The new Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube’s ill advised comments have not helped.
“It is the economy, stupid!” The Catch phrase helped former US President Bill Clinton win the elections. The phrase is having the opposite effect on Mnangagwa, the economy is sealing his doom!
In his epic poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge, describes a sailor who shoots a friendly albatross and, as punishment for his barbarism, is forced to wear the large bird’s carcass around his neck.
The worsening economic meltdown is the albatross round Mnangagwa’s neck, his punishment for blatantly rigging the elections.
Zanu PF is imploding, the factional dog-eat-dog infighting in the party is tearing it apart. However the party is as determined as ever to hang on to power and so whilst the party is sinking into the abyss it, nonetheless, still retains its strangle hold on the nation.
Zanu PF is sinking into the abyss and dragging the whole nation down with it. We must not and cannot allowed this to happen.
President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta must be forced to step down a.s.a.p.; the regime rigged the elections and is therefore illegitimate. Whatever happens the regime must not be allow to remain in office to the 2023 elections. Whilst the party remains in office it will never allow and meaning democratic reforms to be implemented and the nation cannot afford yet another rigged elections in 2023!
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"We have taken this petition to Sadc because that is our regional body. I am going to meet the President of Namibia very soon to officially articulate and explain the nuts and bolts, the ins and outs of this important document," Chamisa said, amid cheers from supporters.
Chamisa's a very poor memory and so too does his supporters but not so with SADC leaders. The latter will remember how MDC leaders had completely ignored the regional body's calls for them to implement the democratic reforms throughout the 2008 to 2013 GNU. It would be very naive of SADC leaders to even believe for one minute that the same MDC leaders will do any better now.
Whilst no one can ever deny that Zimbabwe is standing right on the edge of a precipice, if nothing is done quick smart the country will going to experience total economic collapse and suck the whole region into chaos. Forming another GNU with Zanu PF and MDC is a complete waste of time.
Some of us have been calling for the formation of an interim administration for years but one in which neither Zanu PF nor MDC leaders will play a part.
@ David Dhivha
Have a dialogue with people like you is always a trial, one needs to have the patience of a saint because what is obvious to everyone is a mystery to you. You need everything explained to you from start to finish in the simplest language possible.
“Wilbert Mukori election period is over what do you think its the best way forward coz we cant remain in election mood for the next five years ,if you think ed is going to fail why cant we let him fail and be removed the mugabe way by the masses,” you say.
Yes elections are over and we are discussing the results of the said elections. There is overwhelming evidence that the elections were rigged, ED is illegitimate and does not have the mandate to rule the country. The way forward is obvious he must step down because the country must only be ruled by someone with a democratic mandate.
By rigging the elections, ED has confirmed that Zimbabwe is still a country ruled by corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs and thus scuttled all hope of any meaningful economic recovery. Investors and lender do not do business with thugs, we should know this by now because that is what has been happening in the country these last 20 years, at least. We do not need to “let ED fail and remove him the Mugabe way” because we already know he is doomed to fail and want to remove him now before he drags the nation even deeper into the abyss and remove him peacefully.
@ David Dhivha
My dear fellow, you must respect the truth.
What Simukai Tinhu should have said is “Mnangagwa considered illegitimate by The West and everybody with half a brain!” No one with half a brain would deny ED rigged the elections.
Forget what the West, ZIDERA, SADC and everyone else said; tell us what You SAY. Were the 30 July 2018 Zimbabwe elections free, fair and credible?
I will assume that you do have half a brain and have accepted the glaring truth that ED blatantly rigged the elections. (I know I should not assume anything with people like you but I will do so for the sake of advancing this discussion.)
One has then to ask why, if you accept ED rigged the elections because that it a historic fact, are you forming at the mouth to hear the West have too come to the same conclusion?
Well one logical explanation is that you inferiority complex is clouding you judgement; you cannot bear the West putting down the blacks. A more rational reaction will be to accept that ED rigged the election, because as I have already stated it is a historic fact and it is stupid to deny such facts, and strive to put things right.
You are not proving your superiority over the white by denying the truth worse still if doing so makes your situation worse.
Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess and all because the country has been ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs for the last 38 years. Zanu PF thugs have stayed in power all these years because they rigged elections. And to end the regime’s ruinous and tyrannical rule; we must stop this curse of rigged elections, that it is obvious.
What better and sure way of stopping rigged election than making sure that all those who rig elections are forced to step down. Those who rig elections are committing high treason and the most foolish thing one can do is rewarding the criminals by allowing them to stay in power!
Wilbert Mukori YOU ARE THE ONE WHO BELIEVE THAT ANYTHING SAID BY THE WEST IS THE TRUTH WAKE UP MAN AND SMELL THE COFFE THE AFRICAN UNION AND SADC OBSERVERS WERE THERE WHY DON’T YOU TAKE WHAT THEY SAID. YOU BELIEVE CALLING SOMEBODY NAMES SHOWS THAT YOU KNOW, WAKE UP IF YOU HAVE POINTS TO PUT ACROSS JUST SAY IT. SOME CALLED FOR ZIDERA AND YOU ARE QUITE ABOUT IT.
I agree, it is the economic meltdown that will force Mnangagwa to step down just as happened with Mugabe. The dog-eat-dog factional war in Zanu PF are fuelled by the economic meltdown. When Zimbabwe was rich and Mugabe dished out cabinet post, appointments in parastatals, ambassadorships, former white owned farms, etc., etc. he had no problem keeping everybody happy.
Zanu PF ruling elite have proven to be a wasteful lot whose greedy is insatiable. It was just a matter of time when they turned up at Mugabe's door demanding more loot and the the latter had nothing left to give away. Trouble started when the last former white owned farm was given away and people started pulling rank with ministers with five farms booting out lesser mortals to give to their mistress. The growing tide of abject poverty that soon engulfed even Zanu PF grandees like the late Nathan Shamuyarira had everyone in the party panicking and the fight for position and a share of the shrinking wealth was on.
If Mnangagwa believes that he can still remain in State House for long with the economic chaos of shortages raging on and on, he is even more naive than he looks.
Mnangagwa is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs desperate to hang on to power because he now realises that if he is not in State House he will be in Chikurumbi Prison. In the end it is the economic meltdown that will force him out of State House in hand-cuffs or a rope of lynching mob round his neck!
@ Given
For just one minute, forget what the West, SADC, Commonwealth and everyone else said and tell us what YOU say. Were the recent elections in Zimbabwe free, fair and credible?
The 75% of Zimbabweans living on less than US$1.00 or less a day do not have land, have no jobs, have to make do with basic services such as health, education, supply of clean water, etc. that have all but collapsed. Why? Well because they have been denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
The rigged elections are not about Chamisa, the land distribution, etc. these are all side issues. The rigged elections is about restoring the right of every Zimbabwean to a meaningful say on who governs the country!
"The western will only support u when you walk by their rules and those rules are simple when u agree to build a dependant government where they give u instructions on what to do," you say.
It is not the West but Mnangagwa and his cronies who have been looted the diamonds from Marange and Chiadzwa.
The ordinary people have had no say in that! Instead of admit our own failures as a people, some blacks are now obsessed about blaming the white for everything. Tyrants like Mnangagwa thrive on such stupidity! They have continued to loot, rig elections and even murder innocent civilians at a drop of a hat confident there idiotic blacks who will blame the West whatever happens!
"Seek you first the political kingdom and the the rest will be given unto you!" said one of Ghana and Africa's most enlightened sons, Kwame Nkrumah.
@ Sarah Mahoka
"Stepping down for what?" Stepping down because he is illegitimate, he rigged the election and so has no mandate to rule!
Gone are the days when Zanu Pf rigged the elections and got away with it. Mnangagwa and his junta have the choice of stepping down peacefully or they will be forced to step down and they must know each comes with a price tag! Last November's coup was a close call, it was relatively peaceful, then next street protests/ coup will not be so peaceful.
@ given
Stop discussing the rigged elections based on what MDC said or did, everyone knows that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent. Only first class village idiots would agree to take part in elections in which ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. We all know that did not stop MDC and all the other village idiots participating.
I agree, Chamisa's argument that the elections are only free, fair and credible only if he wins is "childish" and must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves.
Focus on the elections themselves and you cannot deny ED rigged the elections. As a South African you should be concerned that SADC has rubber stamped a flawed and illegal election process and that does not auger well with the economic prosperity and political stability of Zimbabwe and the region.
When your neighbour's house is on fire, it is in your interest to help put out the fire because a change of the direction of the wind may make it your problem too!
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