“PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is in a catch-22 situation over whether to implement recommendations of the Motlanthe commission of inquiry into the August 1 post-election violence, which urged him to engage opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to move the country forward,” reported Newsday.
Zimbabwe is in this economic mess of serious economic meltdown because it is in a political paralysis. Zanu PF has ruthlessly imposed itself on the nation as the only party to govern the country regardless of the party’s performance.
Yes Mnangagwa is caught in a catch-22 situation but one a lot more subtle than having a dialogue with Chamisa. He rigged the elections to return his strangle hold on power for absolute power’s sake but also to make sure he and his fellow Zanu PF thugs are never held to account for all their past misdeed of looting, rigging elections, staging coups and mass murders.
By rigging the elections Zanu PF was assured of the party’s iron grip on power but it also forfeited the people’s democratic mandate, making it an illegitimate regime.
And, more significantly, by rigging the elections Mnangagwa has also confirmed that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. As we already know from Mugabe’s years, no investor, foreign or local, likes to do business in a pariah state; it is too risky. The failure to attract investment is the root cause of the country’s worsening economic meltdown.
Inviting Chamisa and his MDC Alliance into the present government will not change the fundamental character of the regime; it will still be an illegitimate regime in power on the back of rigged elections.
Investors are a shrewd lot, they will not be easily fooled by such a cosmetic change of adding Chamisa and a few other MDC Alliance members to the cabinet; they will continue to shy away from investing in Zimbabwe. Chamisa has promised economic recovery if Mnangagwa agrees to a GNU; this is one promise he will never keep.
So Mnangagwa was damned if he did not rig the elections and so he did rig the elections. And having rigged the elections, now he is damned for it, by virtue of the worsening economic meltdown.
As for us, the ordinary Zimbabweans, we have a tough but clear cut choice. Either we reward Mnangagwa for rigging the recent elections by allowing to rule and paid the heavy price of the worsening economic meltdown and the near certainty of political instability.
Or we finally stand up to the regime and demand that it steps down. This will allow the nation to finally implement the democratic reforms necessary to fully restore our freedoms and human rights including the right to free and fair elections and the right to life itself. Zanu PF will resist this change.
We must remember that after 38 years of rigging elections and getting away with it Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta now believe their have the right to rig elections and rule Zimbabwe with or without the people’s democratic mandate. It is not in the nature of tyrannical regimes to give up their dictatorial powers.
If we want our right to a meaningful say in the governance of Zimbabwe we must be prepared to fight for it. Anything in this life worth having is worth fighting for. It is not just our economic right to employment, to health care, etc. that is at stake here but our right to life itself and the very survival of the nation too!
1 comment:
If Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies had managed to get the economy back on the recovery path they would have easily got away with having blatantly rigged the 30 th July 2018 elections. Sadly for them, the economic meltdown is getting worse and worse by the day. Whilst I do agree with you that inviting Chamisa and his MDC Alliance to form the GNU was not going to bring about any meaningful economic improvement still most people would want to believe that it was the only solution.
The worse the economic situation gets the louder Chamisa and his MDC Alliance would claim they had the solution and the more people will believe them.
Still, I totally agree with you that Motlanthe Commissioners know in their hearts of hearts that Zanu PF rigged the recent elections. They also know that Zimbabwe is in serious economic trouble whose root cause can be traced back to the decades of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule. But instead of hitting the nail on the head and acknowledging the truth that Zanu PF rigged the elections and proposing a solution designed to end the curse of rigged elections, the Commissioners want Zanu PF and MDC to form a Government of Nation Unity without saying Zanu PF is illegitimate and the recent elections were a flawed and a waste of time.
It is a common African culture never to call a spade a spade especially when talking to one's elders or those in positions of power and authority. "Kukwira gumo hupoterera!" as one would say in Shona.
After 38 years of Zanu PF rigging elections and with the nation's very survival on the line the situation demanded that one spoke to both Zanu PF, MDC leaders and Zimbabweans are large in plain and simple language so there is no room for being misunderstood. Any solution in which Zanu PF and MDC leaders are going to be allowed to stay in power after all these two parties have done to land the nation into this mess is not even a painkiller but a placebo at best.
Zimbabwe is like some one like a broken limb, the limb could have been saved if something was done promptly instead of going for the easy solution of treating it as a flesh wound. Now the limb must be amputated without further delay because gangrene has set it. It is unforgivable for the patient to continue to suffer and even die because those in a position to finally do the right thing chose to administer placebo.
I hate false medicine but hate with a passion false doctors! The people of Zimbabwe have paid Motlanthe and his follow commissioner well but only to repaid with false medicine!
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