DA criticise ANC for failing to condemn Zanu PF madness - what a hypocrite. N Garuikai

“The stability of Zimbabwe is critical to the stability of our region. The protection of democratic rights in Zimbabwe is critical to the advancement of democracy throughout the region. But more importantly, the safety and wellbeing of the people of Zimbabwe matter deeply to all of us, because we are one people here in Southern Africa. They are our brothers and sisters,” said Mmusi Maimane, leader of SA's main opposition party, DA.

It is gratifying to hear that you care. 

But why have you failed to act sooner and advised Nelson Chamisa and his fellow MDC Alliance members not to contest the last elections without first implementing the democratic reforms? It would have made better sense stopping Zanu PF rigging the elections in the first place. Now the regime is back in power it is terrorising the nation under the false cover it is the legitimate government!

DA has never criticised MDC for selling-out by failing to get even one reform implemented in five years of the 2008 GNU. If DA has not done some because you consider the party a sister party. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance did not even have the common sense to demand that ZEC release a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. 

“As chairperson of the Southern African Partnership for Democratic Change, which represents opposition parties from the SADC region, I have a duty to speak up on behalf of our member parties and to speak out against any injustice in the region,” as you said. 

Then one has point out to your hypocrisy in criticising ANC for failing to condemn Zanu PF for the rigged July elections, the shoot to kill on 1 st August street protests and the barbarism of the last two weeks.

“In the absence of any meaningful intervention by either my own government or regional African bodies such as SADC and the AU, I have no choice but to intervene in an effort to help find a peaceful resolution,” you said.

If you are not a hypocrite then you must accept that ANC has as much right to turn a blind eye to Zanu PF wrong doing just as DA has turned a blind eye to MDC Alliance sell-outs and betrayals. It is this hypocrisy born out of this binary mentality; having judge MDC Alliance as good and Zanu PF as bad DA has seen everything Chamisa and his friends do as good. 

For your own information Mr Maimane, MDC Alliance has already proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent. We in Zimbabwe do not see MDC Alliance as part of the solution going forward but part of the problem holding the nation back. 

If your request to meet Mnangagwa or any of the Zanu PF leaders is granted then tell them they rigged last July’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down.

As for Chamisa and his MDC Alliance friends, tell them they have had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and they have wasted them all. After 19 years on the political stage, they have failed to bring about even one democratic change. They must step aside. 

Zimbabwe needs the political space to appoint an interim administration that will be tasked to implement all the democratic reforms agreed at the on set of the 2008 GNU. The nation will not require any Zanu PF or MDC Alliance leaders in this administration. 

All attempts by either Zanu PF or MDC Alliance to hang on to power, especially with the former resorting to the use brute force to do so, is totally unacceptable. No one will be allowed to hold the nation to ransom and get away with it!

Whilst it must be said that we, Zimbabweans are to blame for the economic and political mess the country is in, still it must also be said that the SADC leaders, especially successive SA presidents’ “quite diplomacy” with Zanu PF has not help us end the crisis. The last thing Zimbabweans want is find ourselves stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime because SADC leaders once again handled the MDC opposition with kid-gloves!

Regular as clock work NANGO call "for dialogue on rule of law" N Garikai

The last two weeks have seen stay-aways to protests the soaring cost of living turn into street protests and looting. The Zanu PF government has, as expected, responded with an orgy of wanton violence; hundreds were arrested, hundreds of thousands were beaten up and/or raped and 25, according to some reports were shot dead. 

This is a regime that determined to the people complaining against rigged elections and the worsening economic meltdown at all cost, The populous are expected to suffer and die in silence like sheep in a slaughter house. 

Regular as clock work, the workshops (talk-shops really), reports, recommendations, etc. on the stay-away, street protests and orgy of violence from Zimbabwe’s bloated NGO community have started coming out. 

“In pursuit of a Zimbabwe people want, which is characterized by rapid and sustainable economic, social and political development underpinned by the rule of law, constitutionalism and unity, NANGO proffers the following recommendations for consideration:” said National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO). There are so many NGOs is Zimbabwe NANGO is the official umbrella body of NGOs operating in Zimbabwe.

1. Call to candid, inclusive and open national dialogue: The mammoth task ahead of Zimbabwe on the economic, social and political sphere demands more structured multi-stakeholder collaborations and partnerships between government, business, non-state actors and citizens on actions and activities which are crucial in addressing challenges bedeviling the country. We urge President Emmerson Mnangagwa to expedite the national dialogue involving key political parties, civil society, churches to resolve a myriad of issues faced by the nation. 

2. Rule of law and constitutionalism: We implore the government to investigate murders, assault, torture and other human rights abuses that were reported and bring all perpetrators to justice.”

The report goes on to list 9 recommendations in total and all they usual platitudes. This is very predictable and monotonous to the point of foolishness! 

NANGO is one of the many who have been calling for “all stakeholders’ meeting” but will not say what what exactly must be discussed?  

NANGO says it wants “Rule of law and constitutionalism: We implore the government to investigate murders, etc., etc.” This is just a cliché. If these NANGO members were serious about wanting rule of law and constitutionalism then why have they done nothing to stop Zanu PF rigging last year’s elections in the first place or stopping the regime getting away with it.

By addressing this vote rigging and, per se, illegitimate Zanu PF regime as “the government” NANGO have tacitly accepted the regime as the de facto legitimate government. Zanu PF has never ever held free, fair and credible elections in the last 38 years and hence the reason why the nation is in this mess. And yet, even now with the nation up to her eyes in this economic and political nightmare we still have some people pretending they do not know what constitutes free, fair and credible elections!

The Zimbabwe we want will never come to pass as long as those calling for rule of law, etc. are only paying lip service to rule of law, etc. 

“Alive to the economic recession, coupled with governance deficit, impunity, social, economic and political exclusion that has seen the majority of the population particularly the marginalized susceptible to hunger, social dislocation of families, high levels of poverty, unemployment and underemployment, human rights violations as well as severe shrinking of NGOs' operating space,” NANGO pontificated. 

The truth is NGOs do not give a damn about the economic recession, the serious human rights violations, etc. Indeed, they have profited from all the economic and political mess. The madness and orgy of violence of the last two weeks have created thousands of man-years work for the NGO directors all paid for by naive and gullible but very generous donors! 

Corrupt and tyrannical regimes do NOT shrink NGOs’ operating space, they expand it. 

NGO and religion are the two social sectors which have grown in leaps and bonds in Zimbabwe in the last 38 years and the directors and the pastors are living in comfort and luxury, comparable to that of the political ruling elite and their cronies. 

NGOs and Churches are doing well thanks to the corrupt, tyrannical and dysfunctional political systems there is now a symbiotic relation between political and civic leaders. Many politicians have cultivated good relationships with church leaders with many a politician becoming church leaders in their own and church leaders have become self-appointed political commissars on root to a political career. Call it civic society and politics cross pollination! 

Whilst civic society may publicly criticise one side or, on very rare occasions, both sides of the political establishment, civic leaders know there are lines which they must never cross. Of all the country’s brigade of NGOs only the Catholic Church has dared to tell Zanu PF to its face that last July’s elections were rigged. 

And, as if to attorn for their honesty, the Catholic Bishop have been bending over backwards to underline they are NOT asking for Zanu PF to step down. They want the Zanu PF thugs to lead the national dialogue hopefully leading to a GNU in which Zanu PF will call the shots. 

Civic society has been divided along party lines with pro-Zanu PF church leaders like Wutaunashe taking up the party’s propaganda lie of blaming sanctions for the nation’s economic ills. He would never admit that corruption is the cancer killing the economy even after Mugabe confessed in 2016 to $15 billion in diamond revenue being swindled. 

Neither Mugabe nor his successor, Mnangagwa, have arrested even one swindler and there is every reason to believe the swindling is still going on to this day. No nation, much less one with a mere $10 billion GDP like Zimbabwe, can sustain a $15 billion haemorrhage. Wutaunashe and others will not even acknowledge corruption is a problem. 

Many NANGO members have remained doggedly faithful to MDC leaders, they have cheered and applauded the oppositions even when the latter failed to implement even one reform during the GNU, for example. 

Linda Masarira, a human rights activist turned politician, confessed of how the NGOs and the opposition worked together to falsified their activities to defraud the naive and gullible donors.

The mission statement of each and everyone of Zimbabwe’s army of NGOs, if they all had one, would claim they work to establish a free, just and prosperous Zimbabwe. The irony is Zimbabwe would have become a free, just and prosperous nations decades ago if those working in civic society had pay little more than lip service to their respective organisation’s mission statement to ensure their organisation remained relevant and to secure their own job. 

A politician’s job is never done, this is certain true of Zanu PF and MDC politicians. If we accept the vague definition of the politicians’ work of creating a free, just and prosperous nation, then Zanu PF politicians’ work load has increased 100 fold, at least. Compared to 1980 since the ordinary people have moved from third class citizen to serf whose freedoms and rights are not worth even the paper they are written on. 

On the economic front the country’s per capita GDP was US$ 942 in 1980 it dropped to a record low of $479 (or 2.7% of US) in 2008 and was $1268 (3.8%) in 2018. As we can see above, whilst the economic meltdown is getting worse, Zanu PF has given up all hope of an economic recovery and is retaining its iron grip of power by stepping up its political repression, instead. 

The need for democratic change in Zimbabwe is greater now than in 1999 when MDC was formed. The party has failed to implement even one democratic reform in the last 19 years. Not one. 

So both Zanu PF and MDC have their work cut out; so far, both have made things worse not better. The country’s civic society has grown and thrived to meet the demand born out of the politicians doing such a through job destroying the national economy and resorting to more and more barbaric measures to remain in power! 

Blaming incompetent Zanu PF for failing to end crisis is foolishness personified N Garikai

It is one thing to blame Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party for Zimbabwe’s worsening economic and political crisis but to blame them for failing to end the criss is another matter.  

Yes, Mnangagwa et al are incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs and they are the ones who certainly dragged the nation into this mess and should rightly be blamed for landing us into the mess. Before Zanu PF took over, the nation produced enough food to feed its own people with plenty left over to feed others in the region, for example. We were the breadbasket of the region and proud of it. Zanu PF disrupted all that, farms were seized and given to party cronies mostly, and ever since the nation has relied on imported food aid. 

We are starving in a land which for all intents and practical purposes is the Garden of Eden. Such is the damning testimonial to Zanu PF incompetence!

After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule during which the nation has sunk deeper and deeper into the economic ruin and political paralysis for not only is the ruling party full of corrupt and incompetent members there is no quality leaders in the opposition either. 

It is therefore fair to not only say that Zanu PF leaders are corrupt and incompetent but more significantly that they are beyond the pale. It is incumbent on society to look for solution out of this mess and not to be looking to Zanu PF. 

“ZIMBABWE’S political chaos is a function of its economic crisis – and the economy is only getting worse. To all intents and purposes, Zimbabwe is broke,” wrote Simon Allison in Bulawayo 24.

“The government has so little income that it is struggling to keep the lights on in ministry buildings and pay civil servants. It certainly does not have anything to put toward servicing its existing US$16 billion debt obligations.”

Simon is right, this Zanu PF government is broke; 38 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have forced the country’s once dooming economy to collapse and 90% of the workers are unemployed depriving government of its tradition tax revenue. And yet we have seen doctors, teachers and many other civil servants going on strike to demand wage increase. True enough their present wages are slave wages. Junior doctors are being paid 385 Bond Notes per month or US$ 129 at the current exchange rate of 3:1. The country’s poverty datum line is US$650 per month. 

Still, why are these doctors and teachers demanding wage increases from a government that is broke? You do not get blood from a stone and so why bother trying! 

“Poor climate conditions are predicted to lead to a reduced cereals crop, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, leaving 2.4 million people – 28% of the population – needing food aid. This is more than double last year's figure of just over 1 million,” concluded Simon.

“Zimbabwe's political crises have always been exacerbated by its economic situation. With the economy already in the doldrums, and a poor harvest still to come, we can expect more popular unrest – and, if this past week is anything to go by – lots of violence still to come.”

Again Simon is right, Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis will get worse and drag the nation into new depths of suffering, despair and many, many more will die unnecessarily of poverty induced hunger and diseases. But after decades of blaming Zanu PF thugs for the nation’s ill, the blame must now be laid on us, ordinary Zimbabweans’ doors. We all know Zanu PF thugs are corrupt and incompetent why do we keep expecting the thugs to rescue us from the mess, ignoring all the evidence of 38 years of the thugs doing the exact opposite. 

If the doctors, teachers, etc. had their thinking caps on then they would have realised by now that Zimbabwe’s economic recovery will depend on the nation having a competent and accountable government. They would have been demanding an end to Zanu PF culture of rigging elections and would have been up in arms when it was clear the party had blatantly rigged last year’s elections. 

Zimbabwe is not a healthy and functioning democracy and therefore the solutions to the country’s troubles are not the traditional one of worker demanding wage increase from the employer. We need to think beyond the traditional solutions, we need to think outside the box. 

It does not matter how bad the economic situation gets, President Mnangagwa and his regime will never accept that they have failed much less that there are any economic challenges out there which they cannot solve. Indeed, the party is so cocksure it has all the right answers it rigs elections to impose itself on the nation. 

By confining themselves to demanding wage increases and never questioning how Zanu PF got into office, the civil servants are unwittingly encouraging Zanu PF to rig elections and get away with it.

If we are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis then we must tackle the country’s underlaying problem of rigged elections and bad governance with the seriousness the matter demands. In truth, we are our own oppressors and our own liberators!

VIDEO: Blaming Zanu PF for failing to end crisis is foolishness personified

 

Right to blame Zanu PF for landing us into the mess but not for getting us out

 Starts 26 January 2019 at 19:32 (GMT)

VIDEO: Mugabe hollowed out Zanu PF leaving punkah-wallahs

 

Mugabe hollowed out Zanu PF leaving punkah-wallahs - sadly they rule

 Starts 25 January 2019 at 18:33 (GMT)

"Mugabe hollowed out Zanu PF to leave punkah-wallahs" said Godwin - sadly, they now rule P Guramatunhu

“Mnangagwa’s rule may not last very long,” wrote Peter Godwin in the Spectator and Bulawayo 24. Well if it was left to you, my brother, and me, I would agree with you 100%. Sadly, there many others out there who are, wittingly or otherwise, helping to keep Mnangagwa and Zanu PF in power.

“During his years in power, Mugabe had hollowed out Zanu-PF, reducing it to a personality cult by getting rid of anyone who challenged his authority, until he was attended only by fawning party punkah-wallahs, fanning his ego, prancing around in ludicrous regalia bearing his image, as though he were a religion,” Peter argued.

Again, I agree with you 100%. After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule by Zanu PF with the disastrous consequences there for all to see; national economy in total ruins, all basic service such as supply of clean water and health care all but collapsed, 3/4 of the population living on US$1.00 or less a day, etc., etc. One would think there will not be even one Zimbabwean out there who would want any Zanu PF thug in power for even one more day. 

Zimbabweans would be extra vigilant to ensure the July 2018 elections were free, fair and credible and Zanu PF was booted out of office. So when Mnangagwa and his junta rigged the elections, one had expected the people to go up in arms. Nothing happened!

Whilst the American election observers, the EU, the Commonwealth  and all the other observers with enough democratic credential to fill a postage stamp had condemned the July 2018 Zimbabwe elections as “unfair, no level playing field and not to international standards”. Most Zimbabweans have bend over backwards describing the results as “disputed” at worst, just to avoid acknowledging the elections were rigged and the tough decision of demanding that Zanu PF step down.

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last July’s elections just as the regime has done in the past. And as expected the nation’s economy has got progressively worse. The much needed foreign investment has not materialised because no one likes to invest in a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. 

But once again, instead of demanding that the vote rigging and therefore illegitimate Zanu PF “punkah-wallahs”, as you call them, must resign many Zimbabweans led by church and civic organisation leaders and even some regional leaders are tripping over each other in calling for the formation of a Zanu PF/ MDC GNU.  

“One was tried, with modest success, in Zimbabwe after the blood-doused elections of 2008,” Peter pointed out.

“The opposition partner in that GNU, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was ditched after one term and it may not fall for that trick again. In the meantime, Zimbabwe's economy will spiral downwards, fuelled by gathering hyperinflation. But don't waste your time waiting for Zanu-PF to be booted out at the ballot box. As Stalin was wont to say, it's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes. And previous electoral rigging by Zanu-PF has shown just that.” 

Actually Peter, MDC leaders are the ones fighting the hardest for the new GNU and a chance to get back on the gravy train. 

The 2008 GNU was a total failure; not even one of the raft of democratic reforms agreed at the onset was implemented in five years hence the reason Zanu PF was able to blatant rig the 2013 and then last year’s elections. 

It is a historic fact that Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends including Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti sold-out during the last GNU. Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office; ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a $4 million Highlands Mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc.; and they in returned kicked all reforms out of the window. They knew Mugabe did not want to lose his dictatorial powers and so they obliged. 

It is naive to expect that a new GNU would do any better. 

Indeed, all those calling for the GNU know Zanu PF thugs are corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate but will never dare even suggest it. They most daring act is to ask Zanu PF to take on Chamisa and company, as junior partners and on Zanu PF terms! After 38 years of appeasing Zanu PF with disastrous consequence that has left the nation in real and immediate danger of tumbling over into the abyss and yet there are some fools still pursuing the policy of appeasement!  

Whilst Mnangagwa’s, the individual like Mugabe, days in power may be numbered the same cannot be said of rest of the Zanu “punkah-wallahs”. If these idiotic MDC and church leaders are allowed to have the final say the punkah-wallahs will be ruling Zimbabwe for many, many more moons to come. It is the idiots’ death wish!

Mnangagwa cannot preside over "national dialogue" he is an illegitimate usurper, "mubvandiripo" W Mukori

Mnangagwa’s tweet calling for national dialogue was disappointing in that he came across as arrogant, dictating to everyone and yet still with no clue what is at issue here.  

The people of Zimbabwe have suffered a great deal in the last 38 years and the last thing the nation want is to be sold yet another fudge. It must be said here and now that any talks leading to a GNU in which either Zanu PF and/or MDC will play a role will be a betrayal of the nation and a waste of the nation’s time and resources. The two parties were involved in the 2008 GNU and they failed to get even one democratic reform implemented, it is foolish to expect them to do any better this time. 

"I invite leaders of all political parties as well as religious and civil leaders to set aside our differences and come together," twittered  Mnangagwa.

"What unites us is stronger than what could ever divide us. Let's begin a national dialogue. Let's put the economy first. Let's put the people.”

Let us just focus on two issue in the statement:

1. Who is this Mnangagwa “inviting” others to a national dialogue! The man rigged the last elections, has no mandate to govern and for the last six months has been masquerading as the legitimate government only because he controls the compromised security services and all the other equally compromised state institutions. He is holding the nation to ransom and the more reason he will never be entrusted with any power and authority. He cannot be trusted to do anything right! 
2. “Let’s put the economy first!” Even now, with his hands bright red with the blood of more innocent Zimbabwean lives he and his regime have killed, he still has the arrogance to dictate the agenda to the nation. The only issue on the national agenda now is how to deal with the curse of rigged elections and pariah state; decisively once and once for all. 

“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you,” said Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah. He was right; for the last 38 years we have pretended not to notice that Zanu PF eroded the individual freedoms and rights, denying people their right to a meaningful say in who governed the country and even the right to life. The nation has paid dearly for this folly. We must now end the Zanu PF dictatorship and restore all the individual freedoms and rights. 

Zanu PF rigged the last elections and the party has no democratic mandate to govern. It is illegitimate and therefore must step down.

It is nonsense that an illegitimate regime should be granted an role in the nation’s affairs much less preside over us. “Mubva ndiripo haagove nhaka!” (The illegitimate usurper has no say in the sharing of family inheritance!) as one would say in Shona.

 Just to underline why the nation would be foolish to take this Zanu PF dictatorship seriously; it now emerges Mnangagwa has changed his mind about holding a national dialogue.

"Just when we were in there the President was drawing me to an attempt as it were putting words in his mouth using his twitter account. So do not always believe that which is coming through that account,” said George Charamba, Mnangagwa’s spokesperson.  

So Mnangagwa is now saying he never called for a national dialogue. Even if he had done so only the green-horns of political had placed much value to the foolish statement anywhere for the reasons given above. Perhaps it is dawning on him that, other than the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders desperate for a seat on the gravy train and a few naive and gullible civic society groups, no one of substance was going to accept his “economy first” agenda. His legitimacy is now top of the agenda and the fresh blood on his hands has only served to highlight why this is so. 

Even if he is to come out now and call for dialogue only fools would trust him to behave honourably because he is a season thug who has never kept his promise on anything! He promised to hold free, fair and credible elections only to blatant rig the elections.

What Mnangagwa must understand here and now is that the game is up, after 38 years of rigging elections and being rewarded with absolute power, this is a political folly the nation should have never allowed and must now stamp out. Zanu PF has used brute force to hold the nation to ransom this is a situation that cannot be tolerated for one day longer, no nation worth its salt can allow itself to be blackmailed!

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged the last elections, they have no mandate to govern and therefore they must step down. That is not negotiable! 

VIDEO: Mnangagwa cannot preside over "national dialogue", he is illegitimate

 

Mnangagwa has shed fresh innocent blood, the only dialogue is for him to step down

 Starts 24 January 2019 at 15:19 (GMT)

Recent stay-away will fail to produce the desired Zimbabwe we want - no due diligence N Garikai

“Demonstrations are planned and must be planned, how do you demonstrate without prior due diligence!” argued Nomazulu Thata in her recent article in Bulawayo 24.

Many, many things went wrong in the recent street protests that swept Zimbabwe and most notably the large numbers of people beaten and many killed by the repressive regime’s agents. These could and should have been avoided if those who called the stay-away and the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves had taken time off to think through what the stay away was about. Where the country is going and how we intend to get there. 

Zanu PF has no clue how to fix the economy and so it is pointless demanding jobs from the regime and that it must pays civil servant a living wage. How will it accomplish any of these things if it cannot even do the obvious like rein in the rampant corruption! ZCTU leaders and the ordinary Zimbabweans should, instead, be demanding the full restoration of the freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful vote. To revive the economy we must first have meaningful political change to enable us to elect a competent and accountable government.

President Mnangagwa rigged last July’s elections and thus confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. The economic recovery we are all hoping for will never ever happen because the foreign investors and lenders do not do business with thugs! Every Zimbabwean should know that by now!

“Surely it cannot go on like this, the workers cannot be told to sacrifice and yet the top servant in the land: President Mnangagwa is not in a position to do the same sacrifice. They are travelling with expensive private jets begging for money in countries whose presidents cannot afford such a luxury of a private jet they fly around with. We need to think and imagine how that money; about 25 million US dollars, could have been used in the civil service if the President did not make those unreasonable journeys to Eurasia,” commented Nomazulu.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet is luxury personified alright and with a hiring price tag to match at US$74 000 per hour. Of the many foolish things Mnangagwa has done hiring the jet to go begging takes the biscuit. Imagine a beggar turning up at your door wearing the most exquisite and expensive designer brands from head to toe. You will not get a penny from me, that’s for sure!

Crooks like President Putin of Russia and the Chinese are not interested in helping Zimbabwe but in helping themselves. Both the Russians and Chinese have in the thick of the wholesale looting of Zimbabwe diamonds in Marange and Chiadzwa and on the lookout for new looting opportunities. 

One expected Professor Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, the man who will pay the bill for the hired luxury jet, to stop Mnangagwa hiring the jet. On contrary, the minister approved and is one of the select few travelling in style and, no doubt, enjoying every minute of it.  

“What is worrying most is the lack of empathy on the part of the ruling elite towards the citizenry, Minister Mthuli Ncube included. Beating, shooting maiming, raping the people electorate the way they did is barbaric but last,” lamented Nomazulu.

“This should actually scare the likes of our overly educated Mthuli Ncube. That CNN interview at Davos with Quest is regrettable. It is inconceivable to understand the thought processes of a smart and  educated bootlicker.”

The Zanu PF dictatorship would have never taken root in Zimbabwe much less survive all these last 38 years and cause so havoc was it not for Zimbabwe brigade of “smart and very well educated bootlickers”! Professor Mthuli Ncube, Kirsty Coventry, Professor Jonathan Moyo, the late Bernard Chidzero, David Coltart, Tendai Biti, etc., etc.; all turned a blind eye to Zanu PF corruption and treasonous betrayal of the nation to prop up the regime. They have each received the usual Judas Iscariot’s thirty pieces of silver payment.

38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule have taken a heavy toll on the nation and the country is standing on the edge of a precipice. And yet even now there is a real danger that the recent stay-away cum street protests will bring about no meaningful change. The nation is certain to remove one corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime only to replace it with yet another equally corrupt and incompetent one as has happened so many times in the past. And all because we, people, have failed plan for change with due diligence!

VIDEO: Mnangagwa calls for "national dialogue" - you are illegitimate, step down

 

Mnangagwa calls for "national dialogue" - you illegitimate, step down

 Starts 23 January 2019 at 20:57 (GMT)

Mnangagwa call for "national dialogue" - it is for you to listen, step down P Guramatunhu

”I invite leaders of all political parties as well as religious and civil leaders to set aside our differences and come together," said President Mnangagwa via his Twitter account.

"What unites us is stronger than what could ever divide us. Let's begin a national dialogue. Let's put the economy first. Let's put the people.”

The country’s economic and political crisis stem from the refusal by Zanu PF to accept that it has failed and allow the ordinary people to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

If we are going to be united then let us be united by truth, justice and common sense. We should be one in pledging our commitment to the freedoms and rights of all our citizen as stated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights notably the right to life and the right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country.

Article 21 of the UN Declaration states.
 

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Zimbabwe is divided today and brother is harassing, beating and even killing fellow brothers and sisters for no other reason other than that the Zanu PF ruling elite will not accept the fundament reality that every Zimbabwean has a right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

Zanu PF has routinely rigged elections for the last 38 years with the political and economic consequences we see all round the country today, the total economic ruins and a nation cowing under a brutal dictatorship. The cup is full to overflow. 

Mr Mnangagwa you and your Zanu PF junta have no mandate to govern Zimbabwe because you rigged last July’s elections. You are illegitimate!

It is not for you to call for national dialogue, it is for you to listen to the nation’s demand that you step down. “What unites us is stronger than what could ever divide us!” Your insatiable greed for power and wealth is what has divided this nation for the last 38 years. You have held this nation to ransom and this must now end!

Zanu PF must step down now before the regime drags the nation any deeper into this hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed us into! 

What has divided this nation is Zanu PF’s insatiable greed for power and wealth and it cannot be allowed to continue to divide us hence the demand for the regime to step down without further ado. 

The only genuine solution to Zimbabwe's crisis is for Zanu PF to step down P Guramatunhu

“Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe has condemned acts of violence, while calling for dialogue to end the political and economic dilemma in the country,” reported Bulawayo 24.

"We strongly urge our governing authorities to urgently convene a round-table dialogue platform with all concerned players, actors and citizen representative groups to discuss the root causes of the unrest and the way forward that is inclusive and sustainable in the immediate to mid-term," read the statement.

Every thinking Zimbabwean out there will heartily welcome all genuine attempts to find a solution to Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis. The emphasis is on GENUINE solution.

The crisis has been long in coming the nation’s unemployment rate did not soar to 90% over night, it has been 70% plus for the last 20 years. Our health care service has all but collapse and that too did not happen the last year or two; the rot started in the 1990s with savage budget cuts in the health sector. 

"We strongly reiterate that violent expression and or violent repression will not help the situation and anyone affected, including both the governing authorities and citizens,” continued the Evangelical statement.

True, the use violence, be it on the part of the public or the authority, must be condemned. Still it is useful to understand the Genesis of violent protests in Zimbabwe. 

Each time the people have tried to voice their concerns about their worsening economic situation, notably the students, the government has always swiftly moved in to violently disrupt the demonstration and silence all dissent. 

What some people have failed to understand is that using brute force to silence all dissent, peaceful or otherwise, was the only option for the Zanu PF government that knew it would never address the citizen’s concerns and, worst of all, was not democratically accountable to the people through the holding of free, fair and credible elections. 

In Zimbabwe the only demonstration that are permit are pro-Zanu PF and organised by the party. A few years ago war veterans, who have been as faithful as dogs to the Zanu PF dictatorship all along, found themselves at the business end of the whip when they tried to organise a demonstration against the regime. They were tear gassed, hosed with water cannon and savagely beaten up by riot Police just like everyone else. 

Violence begets violence! It is not surprising that most of those taking part in demonstrations in Zimbabwe know they will face violence from the authorities and are themselves prepared to fire back. 

In a determined effort to stay on top on the situation and beat all dissenters into submission the Zanu PF government has escalated its brutal response to public demonstrations by issuing “shoot to kill orders’! The very fact that there are still people on the street risking arrest and being shot underlines who desperate these people are for meaningful change. 

The real tragedy here is Zanu PF is creating a pool of hardened citizens just like Ian Smith’s regime created the Zanu PF thugs. The dangers is if these street protest hardened citizens should ever get into power they too will be as intolerant and autocratic as the Zanu PF thugs the nation is fighting to  remove! 

We are seeing this autocratic tendency amongst some MDC leaders already, they deeply resent being held to account over their past performance. “I have been in the trench!” they would argue. The point exactly, after 19 years on the political stage, the party has failed to bring about even one democratic change!  

President Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections, in keeping the Zanu PF tradition of holding on to power at all cost regardless of the people’s democratic wishes. The party have no clue what to do to ease the country’s worsening economic meltdown. The people, for their part, are desperate for a solution to ease their economic suffering; they are so desperate they are going out in the street knowing they risking being beaten and even being shot dead. 

The only genuine attempt to find a way forward in Zimbabwe must be premised on talking truth to power. Zanu PF must be told in no uncertain terms that the party landed the nation in this mess because of 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule. And, of immediate importance, that the regime has no clue what to do to get the nation out of the mess and has no mandate to stay in power. 

After 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule Zanu PF must step down. It is not for Mnangagwa or anyone else in Zanu PF to decide what should happen next; the nation will decide that. 

The only genuine solution to Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is to be blunt, honest and speak truth to power: Zanu PF must go! After 38 years of appeasing the regime with the disastrous consequences we can all see, appeasement is now a luxury the nation can ill afford.

VIDEO: After 38 years of appeasing Zanu PF, the only solution of for the regime to go

 

The only genuine solution to the crisis is for Zanu PF to go

 Starts 21 January 2019 at 16:57 (GMT)

"I am staying to rebuild our nation" says Coventry - how, with an illegitimate regime NGarikai

"I would like to make it clear that I have not resigned as minister. Whatever the problems, sport can and should be part of the solution and I will pour my energies in uplifting our sports, the youth and culture until I can no longer be effective and make the impact we need in our country," she tweeted.

The rumour mill was awash in Harare that she was under pressure to quit after soldiers and police used live ammunition against citizens during the job stayaway called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, which brought the country to a halt.

Coventry expressed sadness over the violence, which left several people dead and scores in injured.

"What has happened in Zimbabwe saddened me immensely. I am sorry to everyone that has been affected by the recent events. Violence is never the answer and needs to be investigated and actions taken. We need peace so no one else suffers and we can rebuild our nation together," she said.

Kirsty, you are not the first Zimbabwean to sell-out and work with the corrupt and murderous Zanu PF regime. The regime is certainly renowned for its gravy train offers to the ruling elite and very, very few people have been able to resist. 

“Whatever the problems, sport can and should be part of the solution and I will pour my energies in uplifting our sports, the youth and culture until I can no longer be effective and make the impact we need in our country!” How naive! Mnangagwa blatantly rigged last July’s elections and now he is using brute force to remain in power. The thugs is holding the nation to ransom, for Pete’s sake. How is sport an answer to vote rigging and holding the nation to ransom. 

People like you Kirsty and Professor Mthuli Ncube accepted your appointments in the Zanu PF cabinet knowing fully well that the party had just blatantly rigged the recent elections (just it has always done in past elections) and therefore was illegitimate. By accepting the appointment you were giving the regime some modicum of credibility and acceptance.

Many Zimbabweans find your feigned sympathy and commitment to nation rebuilding patronising, to say the least. How can we rebuild the nation with illegitimate government led by corrupt and vote rigging thugs!

Povo must be clear what they want out of protest - draining of sewage political swamp W Mukori

“This is a foolish idea!” I wrote on 17 November 2017, to discourage the ordinary Zimbabweans planning to march in support of the military coup the following day.

“The ZDF coup is about the factional war that has been going on in Zanu PF for the last four years. When President Mugabe fired VP Mnangagwa last week it was a huge victory for the G40 faction. The Lacoste faction knew they had to come up with their counter move or they were toast! They did, they staged the coup,” I explained.

“There are many Zimbabweans out there who, desperate for change, want to see the coup as a fight for democratic change. It is not. Those in the Lacoste faction will only be too glad to see the ordinary Zimbabweans join in the planned march to drive their factional victory home.

“The Army and the war veterans have their own agenda - to remove Mugabe and replace him with Mnangagwa, period.”

The planned march did take place, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans came out in support of the coup. Some went so far as calling 18 November Zimbabwe’s “real independence day” and the soldiers were treated as heroes  and heroines. 

The Mnangagwa factions wrestled power from Mugabe and the corruption, mismanagement, vote rigging, etc. have continued much the same as during Mugabe’s days. The economic meltdown has got progressive worse and when the people have complained they have met with the same brutal repression as before. Today, a year two months latter, the army is tear gassing and shooting with live ammunition the same euphoric public of yesteryear! 

“We are being butchered in the townships by soldiers,” complained MDC Alliance MP Chalton Hwende. “Internet has been shutdown to prevent the world from helping us. This is an appeal for help to the international community.”

Mnangagwa and his Lacoste faction got what their wanted out of the November coup, the ordinary people did not; this is why it was a “foolish idea” for povo to support coup.

The ordinary people had supported the November coup without a full appreciation of what they wanted out of the coup beyond the vague notion of democratic change. Indeed, democratic change was so vaguely defined that Mnangagwa had no problem selling the removal of Mugabe as the totality of the democratic change they wanted. 

We have all seen the violent street protests coming, the people were not going to remain silent forever in the face of the worsening economic situation. Unemployment has soared to 90%, 3/4 of the people now live on US$1.00 or less a day, etc. The real surprise is that they have not protested sooner! 

The country is going through yet another spell of very painful birth process, millions of dollars of property have been destroyed, millions of people have been tear gassed, hundreds arrested and hundreds of thousands have suffered serious injuries. Some reports put the death tally of those shot by the security services at 25 and the death tally will go up a hundred fold if count those who died because they could not get medical help because the communication services were shut down or some such indirect cause.  

So what must happen to make sure the ordinary people are NOT once again short changed after the sacrifice the nation is making in these on going street protests? One thing! Whatever happens next, it must delivery the democratic changes leading to the restoration of all the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. 

In other words the ongoing street protest must lead to the appointment of body; being it a GNU, an interim administration call it what you wish; that will implement all the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and replace it with a healthy and functional democratic system of government. 

Zanu PF created the dictatorship and the system has worked well in helping the party keep its iron grip on power, the party will fight hard to preserve as much dictatorial powers as it can. Beside the party rigged last July’s elections, just as it has rigged past elections too; the party is illegitimate. So the only logical explanation for including Zanu PF in the GNU is to appease the party leaders. 

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because for the last 38 years the nation has been stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF. No one had the guts to tell the party thugs they lost the elections and they must step down. With the nation now standing right on the edge of precipice, it will be unforgivable to push the nation over the edge for the sake of appeasement, especially now with all the benefit of hindsight of just how disastrous this policy has been. 

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance will fight hard to be involved in the post-protest political matrix. MDC has been on the political stage for the last 19 years and they have failed to bring about even one democratic change. The party had its golden opportunity to implement the reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, the party leaders sold-out and failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one! 

Zimbabwe would have escaped out of this mess years ago if MDC leaders had not proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs. Including MDC in the administration tasked to implement the reforms will be risking the country emerging with many of the reforms badly implemented, if at all. 

Many have argued that Zanu PF and MDC leaders must the entrusted with the implementing the reforms because there are no other candidates to do it. This is true but it is important to understand why. There are no alternative candidates because the country’s political system is so corrupt and oppressive that quality leaders have shied away from all public life. Zimbabwe’s political pond is a sewage pond in which only slugs, frogs and crocodiles can survive and thrive.  

The more reason the interim administration must be staffed exclusively by outsiders with clean hand, clean past and clean and democratic minds. 

The ordinary Zimbabweans must be clear what they want at the end of the violent street protests which have brought so much suffering and deaths already - implement the democratic reforms and drain the sewage swamp born out of 38 years of Zanu PF de facto one party state. Nothing short of that will do!