“What kind of leaders would the armed struggle throw up?” Was the rhetorical question Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, and the other leaders asked themselves.
“And are those the men and women we would want to rule India?”
India did not wage an armed struggle to end British rule and when the country finally gained her independence the nation ripped its reward - it had competent men and women humble enough to accept that they are fallible mortals.
Nehru and others embraced the democratic ethos that every citizen has right to a meaningful say in who governed the country. And, more significant, embraced the possibility that armed struggle leaders would be tempted to impose their will on the unarmed civilians.
Zimbabwe’s armed struggle forced the white colonialists to give up power but only to for the liberators to set themselves up as the new oppressors. “Zanu PF yakashungunura nyika akashungirira vanhu!” (Zanu PF liberated the country but not the people!) as my late mother would say.
The war of independence throw up leaders who believe that they had the divine right to rule Zimbabwe as they saw fit.
“We are the stockholders of Zimbabwe and everyone else is a stakeholder!” said Victor Matemadanda. He was expressing a view passionately held by Zanu PF members and the war veterans. As stockholders, they have the veto, exemplified by Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers to rig elections to guarantee no regime change. We, ordinary people, the stakeholders, have the meaningless vote as elections were routinely rigged to deliver Zanu PF landslide victories.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political problems is the country’s failure to remove Zanu PF from office even when there was overwhelming evidence the party’s leaders were corrupt and incompetent.
The corollary is equally true; the only solution to Zimbabwe’s economic and political problems is stopping Zanu PF rigging elections to ensure free, fair and credible election.
In other words, the one change the nation has been dying for these last 38 years is to have democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections implemented. Without free and fair elections all hope of a just and peaceful political system and economic recovery and prosperity will remain a pipe dreams!
“I am aware that many will have a difficult Christmas,” Mnangagwa acknowledge in his Christmas message to the nation. “I encourage all of us to be patient, resilient and to work harder in collective unity, as we create a better, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe for all.”
This is all wishful thinking of course Mnangagwa has just rigged the recent elections and thus failed to deliver on the one change without which there will never be any meaningful political and economic change.
For the last 38 years, Zanu PF has promised the nation a better life and yet years after year the situation has got worse and worse. Mnangagwa is asking the nation to be patient. Patient for five more years of heart-breaking human misery whilst Zanu PF blundering from pillar to post!
And worst of all, Mnangagwa is asking the people of Zimbabwe to be patient and let him remain in office until 2023. If Zanu PF remained in power until 2023 we can be 100% certain the party will rig those elections to extend its rule by yet another five years!
The people of Zimbabwe should have never allowed Zanu PF thugs to deny them their birthright to a meaningful vote. We have allowed the thugs to ride roughshod over our freedoms and rights and have paid dearly for our folly and after 38 years, with the nation in a real economic and political mess the cry to end the madness of appeasing Zanu PF thugs is deafening. Sadly there a few who still want to appease Zanu PF thugs!
“I get attacked for having faith in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s sincerity in changing Zimbabwe,” twittered Trevor Ncube, CEO and owner of NewsDay, The Standard and Zimbabwe Independent newspapers.
“I perfectly understand why some people are angry with me. I have met the man and am convinced he is committed to durable change. In any case I can’t see anybody else with potential to deliver change.”
No Mr Ncube, you think you understand what is going on here but actually you have no clue. Let us just consider three key points:
- Your faith in Mnangagwa’s commitment to deliver durable change is clearly misplaced. The only durable change in Zimbabwe has to start with implementing the democratic reforms and holding free, fair and credible elections. Mnangagwa has stubbornly refused to implement even one reform since taking over from Mugabe and then blatantly rig the 2018 elections. He did not stop there, he went on even further to shoot dead six civilians, just to underline that he would shed even more innocent blood in his resolve to hang on to power at all cost.
Lest we forget, Mnangagwa and his junta staged a military coup for the sole purpose of wrestling power from Mugabe and the the G40 faction. And before the coup it was Mnangagwa and his junta who had played the major role in creating and retaining the Zanu PF dictatorship. Mnangagwa has no intention of dismantling the dictatorship and the commitment to change, Mr Ncube is talking about is delusion.
- “I can’t see anybody else with potential to deliver change!” Of all the feeble excuses that takes the biscuit. So because Ncube cannot see anyone else capable of delivering change he going to support a corrupt and murderous tyrant whose has already proven beyond all doubt that he does not want change!
- The political environment in Zimbabwe is like a lifeless sewage pond and hence the reason there are no quality leaders on either side of the political divide.
The way forward is for country to appoint an interim administration whose number one task will be to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed at the on set of the 2008 GNU. The reforms will free state institutions like ZEC, Police and Judiciary to play their part in delivering free, fair and credible elections. The reforms will also end the present culture of stifle debated and democratic competition, this will air the pond to allow life to return and thrive.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged the recent elections. They have no mandate to govern. They are illegitimate. They must step down.
Fighting in the liberations war is no excuse for Zanu PF thugs to grant unto themselves the dictatorial powers to deny the ordinary Zimbabweans their birthright to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. It is tragic that this tyrannical mentality was ever allowed to take root in Zimbabwe and to last all these last 38 years. It must be stamped out immediately!
What Zimbabwe needs right now is man, men, woman or women who will standup and look Mnangagwa and his junta straight in the eyes and tell them in no uncertain terms that they are illegitimate and must step down!
“All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart!” said the cowardly lion in Wizard of Oz. Next line he was asking everyone “Talk me out of it!”
We are looking for a courageous lion and we got someone worse that the cowardly lion!
“I have faith in Mnangagwa’s sincerity to deliver change!” says Trevor Ncube. Zimbabwe’s dandy-lion has not only talked himself out of standing up to ED but is now talking us all to follow his cowardly and foolish example!
After 38 years of appeasing Zanu PF thugs at the cost of dragging the whole nation right up to the very edge of the abyss; it is time to say enough is enough. It is time for this nation to deal with its thorny problems and end the heart breaking human suffering and deaths brought on by our failure to accept that our war of independence did throw up corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical leaders whom we have foolishly rewarded with absolute power.
Mnangagwa and his junta are illegitimate and they must step down; this is not negotiable!
16 comments:
Oppah Muchinguri Finally Opens Up On Gen Tongogara’s Death, Says Mugabe Ordered Me Not To Write My Book
Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs and the biggest mistake the nation has ever made was to allow the party to exercise absolute power!
According to sources who spoke to The Standard, State Security minister Owen Ncube, has effected the transfer of suspected Mugabe loyalists from their stations to different provinces.
Others have lost their jobs. The source said operatives who were using the office of the president to extort money from business people were also transferred.
Zanu PF leaders are more interested in consolidating their own hold on power than in sorting out the nation’s worsening economic situations. As for regime change anyone who thinks Zanu PF leaders will ever concede meaningful reforms is daydreaming!
Of course, Trevor Ncube knows that Mnangagwa rigged the recent elections for no other reason other than to stifle all hope for meaningful change now and as long as he can.
Zimbabwe is cursed in having more than its fair share of narrow minded people who are so selfish they only think of themselves here and now and fail to see the bigger picture that none of us are an island. They think they can live in comfort and prosperity even if the rest are grovelling in the dust hence the reason why they have again and again wasted the golden opportunity to make the world a better place for everyone because they sold-out on the common good to pursue selfish interest.
Mugabe, Mnangagwa and most of the liberation war heroes probably believed in "One person, one vote!", in freedom and liberty for all, etc. when the first joined the war. But when they realised that they could use the gun to impose themselves on the ordinary people, they simply could not resist the temptation to do so. After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule with a mountain of evidence of Zanu PF's failure and still we find Zanu PF thugs like Mnangagwa who will not accept the dictatorship failed and still continue to imposed themselves on the nation.
Of all people Trevor Ncube knows Mnangagwa has failed but will nonetheless never give up the dictatorship. Ncube is cosying up to Mnangagwa for selfish reasons. Ncube has his newspaper empire and other business interest and knows supporting ED will be in his business interest in a Mnangagwa ruled Zimbabwe. So he is propping ED all he can regardless of the fact the Zanu PF dictatorship is NOT in the national interest.
The owner of NewsDay, Standard and Independent newspapers also took potshots at the opposition MDC, saying they played a role in getting us here: “You played a big role in getting us here. Carry your cross. In future take seriously your democratic responsibilities. As for me l am positive about our future.”
Of course Ncube was right that the MDC leaders sold-out big time. They have had many golden opportunities to implement the reforms but failed to get even one reform implemented because they were busy feathering their nests and forgot what they people had elected them to do.
The real big disappointment here is that Ncube was urging MDC leaders to “take seriously your democratic responsibilities” and yet he was doing the exact opposite himself.
Ncube and his media empire should be right at the front demanding that Zanu PF step down, demanding a free media and freedom of expression, promoting free debate and democratic competition, etc. Newsday, Standard, etc. are not exactly the Chronicle, Herald, ZBC, etc. in the support of ED; still their support of the Zanu PF dictatorship cannot be denied.
If we are serious about dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship then we must confront the tyrants , Mnangagwa and his junta, and demand they step down. At the same time we must also confront the sell-outs, MDC leaders, the Trevor Ncubes of this world, and demand they step aside and stop aiding the regime.
Trevor Ncube is confusing Mnangagwa's ability to change the nation's political and economic fortunes with that of changing Ncube's economic fortune. I would not be surprised if Ncube is not receiving the benefit of the later already. Government only has to increase its advertising with Ncube;s media empire and to treat him with kid gloves and Ncube will star smiling.
As for Zanu PF seeking change to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans, it is very hard for anyone to believe that given the regime has said that for the last 38 years and life has got progressively worse not better for the ordinary person. Worse still, by denying the ordinary people a meaningful vote Zanu PF leader send out a clear message that the ordinary people are fools who cannot be trust with a vote and by implication who can be easily cheated of everything else including promising them change that never comes.
@ lovejones
“Trevor is entitled to his opinion. Can't shoot him because I disagree with him. Of course he is in denial. We had one Harvard educated journo who spoke the same language but lately he has changed his tempo. So for Trevor just give him time.”
Of course, Trevor, you, me and everyone of us are entitled to his/her opinion but that is not to say we must all accept it. In this case,Trevor is not just wrong, he is selling-out. ED has just rigged the elections and therefore to claim that is proof of his commitment to change is just nonsense. Ncube is trying to sell this nonsense just to win favours from ED much the same way MDC leaders pretended they were implementing the reforms during the GNU to win favours from Mugabe.
We will never get out of the hell-hole we find ourselves in if those in a position to do something to get us our be it implementing reforms or demand for meaningful change are allowed to sell-out the common cause for Judas Iscariot’s thirty pieces of silver. Worse still, we will only encourage the sell-outs if we fail to condemn such blatant betrayal!
Trevor Ncube is smart enough to know Mnangagwa rigged the recent elections and is only pretending not to notice because he is selling-out to Zanu PF.
As a people, blacks' humanity qualities are not as well developed as they are in other races. We have problems empathising with others and hence the reason blacks had no qualms hunting their own kith and kin and selling them as slaves to the white-men!
When slave trade was finally abolished the same white men had no trouble colonising Africa and exploiting its people and resources. It was easy to divide and rule a people who were already deeply divided by their mutual distrust of each other with each always on the lookout to take advantage of the other.
The end of colonial rule has failed to bring peace, justice and prosperity to Africa because instead of co-operating for the good of all we have been fighting to dominate each other creating a fluid situation in which many nation have never known peace and stability.
Of course, Trevor Ncube, of all people, KNOWS that Mnangagwa rigged the elections. He also KNOWS that Mnangagwa and Zanu PF will resist change even if that means destroying the country. The only reason Ncube still support Mnangagwa and is doing his best to allow Mnangagwa to stay in power is because he is seeing a great opportunity for him, Trevor Ncube, expanding his business empire under Mnangagwa rule.
Ncube has no empathy for the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans desperate for democratic change and an end to the political and economic mess; he has his eyes fixed on propping the dictatorship to win himself favours with the dictator. Ncube is nothing more than the black man hunting his own kith and kin and selling them for pieces of calico cloth and a fist of shiny beads. He will be disappointed to see the Zanu PF dictatorship dismantled just as his counterpart was disappointed to see slavery abolished two centuries ago!
@ Timothy
“It is very difficult to rely on Coltart's opinion because as a member of the MDC he is seriously conflicted. He cannot suddenly assert that “The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw," you say.
The flaws and illegalities Coltart admitted were there for all to see. The failure to produce a verified voters roll, for example, was something everyone with eyes to see saw. The conclusion that boycotting the elections was the only logical thing to do was also the obvious thing to do. And so your claim that Coltart was "seriously conflicted" is totally irrational!
What did you want Coltart to do to prove he was not conflicted?
@ Timothy
If we are going to have a meaningful discussion then we must start by being respectful of historic facts.
“Zanu PF never claimed to have won the 2008 March elections. MDC did. However, there was no outright winner on the Presidential vote and MT chickened out after realising that if he had gone ahead he was going to lose(wise). The action by MT forced the GNU. In other words there was no June election,” you say.
Zanu PF disputed MDC’s claim of the March result to the point of forcing ZEC to withhold announcing the result for six weeks. It took the party this long to whittle down Tsvangirai’s 73%, by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip, to 47% to force a run-off.
Tsvangirai “chickened out” because Zanu PF was using wanton violence to punish the voters for having rejected Mugabe and Zanu PF in the March vote and make sure they voted for Mugabe in the run-off. Mugabe got 84% of the votes in the run-off but no one, not even SADC and the AU, recognised the result as a true expression of the will of the people given the wanton violence and the blatant cheating.
It was the international community’s refusal to accept the election process as legitimate one that forced Mugabe and Zanu PF to accept the formation of the GNU and not that Tsvangirai had “chickened out” of the race.
Your lack of common sense to grasp what constitute free, fair and credible elections is what is shocking here. Even the 2008 elections with all its glaring flaws and illegalities, you still fail to see them. How can anyone be so shallow, thick and slow? And yet, you are.
No wonder Zimbabwe is one serious political and economic mess; with voters like you and tyrants like Mugabe only too keen to take full advantage of them, the nation’s fate was sealed. Worse still, there is no hope of ever getting out of this hell-hole as long as people like you continue in their sloth-like slumber! None!
@ Succuda
“And if I remember correctly, they issued around five different versions of the roll, each time flaws were found and they said it would be corrected, the last one issued had major flaws and Moyo (i think) said that one was not the final one that would be used... they never released the final one....
“... Why would that be Timothy?”
What I find really disappointing here is the even now with millions of our suffering and dying unnecessarily because the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has completely failed yet there are still some individuals stoically defending the dictatorship.
Even if people like Timothy are the ones who are the beneficiaries of the dictatorship racking in hundreds of thousands of dollars from the wholesale looting going on. Still, one would expect them to at least acknowledge that their wealth is becoming utterly meaningless in the face of the growing desert of abject poverty.
What is the good of having a fleet of posh cars when one cannot drive them anywhere because the roads are full of potholes or, worse stil, there is no fuel!
The political system has failed how is it possible that some people cannot see something so obvious.
A nation whose people are so blind, deaf and dumb they cannot even see the obvious is a doomed nation. We are a doomed nation, alright!
You will never get Timothy to admit the elections were rigged even if you have a mountain of evidence to prove it. If you have your eyes close you will never see the mountain before you. Timothy has his physical and mental eyes closed!
@Timothy
“Socrates refused to subscribe to the one man one vote narrative arguing that decisions were made through an election by people who did not know what they were voting for,” you said.
Socrates believed in the democracy. Yes he was aware that not everyone who claimed to know something know what they were talking about but he had a solution to that – knowledge acquire through inquiry and cross examination. The Greeks valued freedom of expression and freedom of association.
The situation in Zimbabwe has gone beyond empathy and doing unto others as you would them do unto you; it is now common sense and survival. You do not s***t in the well from which you will be drinking out of yourself. You do not do so out of consideration for others but yourself interest.
The political and economic chaos in Zimbabwe is not affecting the poor alone it is affecting everyone including the filthy rich ruling elite. What good is living in these mansions with a fleet of posh cars, 45 gold watches, etc. when the mansion is an island in the middle of an ocean of grinding poverty. Each time you are not well you have to fly to SA or Singapore because none of the local hospital have competent staff, lack even the most basic equipment, administer expired (if they are lucky to even have them), etc.
We need genuine change in Zimbabwe as a matter of survival of the nation. This nation is dying and we are all going under with it! Only first class idiots would want this madness to continue only because they are so shortsighted they cannot see beyond the tip of their nose! We would be totally irresponsible if we allowed idiots have the final say on such a life and death matter!
Read my lips: Mr Trevor Ncube you will s***t in the well over my dead body! You now Mnangagwa will never dismantle the dictatorship and that is why he and his junta must step down - that is not negotiable!
@ Bee
“You obviously have some reason for giving Mnangagwa the benefit of the doubt. Let's wait and see what history tells us. I am sure you are somewhere far away from Zimbabwe or else benefitting somehow from a corrupt system. How on earth do you explain the delay in releasing the election results and the fact that 6 people were shot by the army on the 1st August. They knew they had rigged, they wanted to nip any protests in the bud.”
I agree with you 100% except for the "let's wait and see what history tells us"! The economic situation in Zimbabwe is so dire the suffering is truly heart breaking and people are dying unnecessarily right now. We cannot wait another day, this Zanu PF dictatorship must be forced to step down now before the whole country descend into utter chaos. Time is running out!
@Timothy
“Over the years I have learnt that when people start raising irrelevant issues in an argument such as education or links to a matter under discussion they have failed to articulate their position and lost the argument. Democracy is already institutionalized in Zimbabwe. The past election was the first where the political space was fully opened up. Several parties failed to take advantage because it appeared too good to be true given our past history. The issues we have discussed here are matters for improvement and not reasons for discrediting the past election. We are a young democracy and we will definitely build on what we have started. Utopia is a pure fallacy and has never been achieved. Claims of superior intellect and deeper critical thinking ability can only be adjudged by the strength of your arguments and not by describing opponents as shallow, thick and slow.”
Well that is true but when the argument has been heard and cross examined we have to come to a conclusion. If, from the sheer fluidity and logic of the argument one can judge Socrates a genius one should also be able to judge one Timothy Thorn from the sheer foolishness of what he said, “shallow, thick and slow”.
You do agree that there geniuses out there, you are the one who name Socrates. Well there are also individuals who are “shallow, thick and slow”. You should look in the mirror and you will see one!
Zanu PF tyrannical rule has caused heart-breaking suffering in Zimbabwe. Those shallow, thick as a brick individuals like you who want this swept under the carpet cannot be allowed to have the final say in this life and death matter. It is for that reason that dimwits like you must be reminded in no uncertain terms that they are dimwits!
@ Succuba
“The voters roll is a mess, riddled with mistakes, you chose to cite that the only difference in those released rolls is the total of eligible voters, this is not the main problem, that merely points out that the roll is full of discrepancies.
“I ask you again as you seem to be dodging the question, why are there duplicate entries on a voters roll that was compiled by biometric technology?
“Care to take a stab at this question Timothy?”
A dung beetle thrives on s***t but will never ever admit it! You will never get Timothy to admit ZEC failed to release the verified voters' roll although this is a legal requirement because it was an integral part of the Zanu PF vote rigging process.
Zanu PF rigged the 30 July 2018 elections just as the party has rigged many other elections in the past. Timothy and his masters in Zanu PF HQ know it but will never ever admit it! Zanu PF thrives on rigged elections but will never ever admit to rigging elections.
We, the ordinary people, are the ones Zanu PF has been short changing by rigging the elections our principle task is to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and not getting the thugs to admit it. And what better way of stopping Zanu PF rigging elections than making sure the party is pressured to step down and not rewarded by being allowed to stay in power.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power to the end of the five years, 2023, then we the people would have failed ourselves. Come the 2023 elections we can be certain of one thing - another Zanu PF landslide victory!
@ Bee
“I did not say the majority. I said many of the rural folk support Zanu PF. Whatever argument you might put forward, the majority of Zimbabweans know that the elections were rigged. What exactly are you trying to do here? Rub salt into the wounds? It actually doesn't benefit Zanu PF winning the elections. They cannot rig the economy!”
Retaining their iron grip on power is everything to these Zanu PF thugs. Yes Mnangagwa will be glad if he can also revive the economy but that is only a bonus. He will rather see the whole nation dragged into the deepest hell-on-earth if the price of stopping that happening is giving up power!
Tyrannical regimes do not give up power, it is not in their DNA to do so. Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF thugs are tyrants who not only love absolute power but have all the looted wealth to protect and the murderous past to keep under wraps.
Mnangagwa and the rest in Zanu PF cross the Rubicon River decades ago, they are tyrants and there is no turning back now!
If we are serious about ending the crippling economic meltdown and a just and democratic Zimbabwe then we must be prepared to confront and confound the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zanu PF rigged the recent elections and we must look Mnangagwa and his junta straight in the eyes and tell them they are illegitimate and must step down AND mean it!
@ Timothy
Zanu PF rigged the elections and they are therefore illegitimate and must step down. If you think Zanu PF is going to be allowed to stay in power as happened in the past you better think again.
You and your masters in Zanu PF HQ will never admit that you rigged the elections, you are dung beetles they will never ever admit to thriving on s***t! The challenge is not to force Zanu PF to admit it rigged the elections but to make sure the regime does not benefit from rigging at the nation's great expense!
Zimbabwe's economic recovery will never happen as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. So what is the point of discussing the economy! The economy remains relevant in that it is a pressure point, the economic situation will only get worse and remind us all of the need to end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state!
If Zanu PF remain in power till 2023 then we, the ordinary Zimbabweans, would have failed ourselves in two ways. One, we have suffered the consequences of the corrupt and tyrannical rule for yet another five years. Two, and most important of all, we would have facilitated Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections and thus extend its rule by yet another five more years!
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