“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!
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Zanu PF has used sanctions as a feeble excuse for Zimbabwe's economic mess. Anyone with half a brain could see that it was corruption and mismanagement were the two cancers killing the economy. When Mugabe himself admitted the country was losing as much as $15 billion in just a few years the cat was out of the bag. How someone like President Cyril Ramaphosa could still be naive and gullible to still believe the hen's teeth propaganda tales of sanctions beggars belief!
When SADC has needed quality leadership it has turned to SA because of that country's economic dominance but only to be disappointed again and again! I still cannot believe that President Ramaphosa is this incompetent!
Yes Mr Mmusi Maimane, you certainly have a duty to speak against injustice and yet you have never said a word to criticise Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends when they sold-out by failing to implement even one reform.
Zimbabwe has suffered because ANC would not criticise Zanu PF even when the regime is committing mass murders. DA's criticism of Zanu PF does not have the sting it should because every one knows you party has blind allegiance to MDC Alliance the same as ANC has to Zanu PF. We must move on from this "sahwira" (personality and home-boy) politics to principle and ideas driven politics!
Zimbabwe is gearing up to exploit two new diamond finds with Russian and Chinese companies in a country where the deposits of the mineral are almost depleted.
The government said Russia’s Alrosa and China’s Anjin would partner it in the new discoveries in Masvingo and Chihota. It said impact assessments were being carried out in Chihota
The discovery of diamonds in Marange and Chiadzwa have turned out to be a curse and not a blessing to the nation. Only the ruling elite have benefited from the diamonds and Zanu PF has creamed off some of the looted billions to bankroll the party's vote rigging and vote buying schemes.
These new sources of diamonds will only strengthen Zanu PF's resolve to hang on to power at all cost!
When President Thambo Mbeki adopted his "quiet diplomacy" policy with the corrupt, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF regime even after the wanton violent elections of 2008, he must have thought he was doing the people of Zimbabwe a great favour. How anyone would think that allowing Zimbabwe to sink deeper and deeper into the economic and political hell-on-earth would be good for the country and region beggars belief. By the time President Jacob Zuma took over many people thought that he had learned the lesson and would not repeat the same foolish mistake Mbeki made. Wrong, Zuma ploughed the same farrow! And so is Ramaphosa!
Every thinking South African and African from whatever corner of the world must have hang their head in shame when they heard President Cyril Ramaphosa wittering on and on in Davos about the sanctions on Zimbabwe being the cause of that country's economic meltdown. Meanwhile Mnangagwa and his entourage where in the headlines flying around on 10 day trip in a luxury Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Jet costing US$74 000 per hour. Mnangagwa and his plane load of hanger-on were paid US$10 000 per day each. No amount of wittering could sweep such extravagant waste under the carpet!
If Mmusi Maimane is the new generation of leaders and all he is offering is the same idiotic policies of supporting a fellow political leader regardless how stupid they happen to be and how costly their stupidity has been to the nation then he might just as well stay away. We do not want him in Zimbabwe.
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends sold-out and landed us into this mess; Maimane should know that and condemn it publicly. We want open and honest political system and no more of this "quiet diplomacy" bull!
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