EU lifted sanction to join China, Russia, Israel, etc. in looting of Zimbabwe diamonds P Guramatunhu

When the EU Foreign Ministers decided NOT to impose new and tougher sanctions on the Mnangagwa regime for failing to hold free, fair and credible elections last July and for using excessive violence to cow the nation into submission; it was a very foolish decision and a betrayal of the long suffering Zimbabweans fighting for democratic change. However, the decision was manna from heaven for the Zanu PF regime and its apologists. 

“The alleged heavy handedness of the security services in response to the disturbances of 1 August 2018 and 14 January 2019 have been cited by those who maintain that there is no difference between the old and new dispensations,” pitched in Chipozho Saruchera, in Bulawayo 24. 

“Proponents of this narrative have, however, deliberately ignored that what came first were carefully planned acts of violence, by Western sponsored opposition MDC and pseudo civic society organisations meant to destabilize the country.  They know that adding this bit would somehow dilute the vilification of the country's security agents and apportion blame to the actual orchestrators of the violence.”

No Saruchera the blatant vote rigging of the 30 July 2018 elections happened first, the heavy handed security services respond on 1 st August 2018 was to silence those protesting yet another rigged elections. The violent reaction by the security services on 14 January 2019 was sparked by the nearly 200% increase in fuel prices and the shortages of fuel, foreign currency, etc. The country’s worsening economic situation is itself a byproduct of the rigged elections and the over reaction by the regime was to once again silence the protesters. 

Even you, Saruchera, with all your skills for twisting and distorting facts cannot change the sequence of events of 30 July 2018 elections so they happen after those of 1st August 2o18 and much less those of 14 January 2019.

Of course, the State Security services were “heavy handed” because there was no justification for the “Shoot to kill!” order on the two occasions. None! 

Zanu PF has used brute force to establish and retain the de facto one-party dictatorship in operation ever since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. The party’s modus operandi is to blow any lawlessness situation that is there way out of all proportion then use the exaggerated threat as cover for its own overt lawless operation to ruthlessly crash the regime’s opponents and critics. 

In the 1980s Zanu PF used the existence of a few hundred, at most, dissidents as cover to launch Gukurahundi in which over 20 000 defenceless civilians were murdered. The party wanted to crash PF Zapu, its main political opponent at the time. In the end the regime forced PF Zapu to sign the unity accord to form the de facto one-party state. 

Zanu PF has used the same dirty tactic, of blowing a minor security incident out of all proportion to justify it use of excessive force to silence its critics and impose its dictatorial rule, again and again in the last 38 years and is using it now. “Kurova imbwa wakavinga mupinhi!” (Art of punishing the dog/ opponent with a concealed weapon!) as one would say in Shona. 

Mnangagwa has gone to great lengths to sell the post November 2017 coup Zanu PF as a transformed and democratic party, “new dispensation”. To backup his claim, he has  promised to end corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections. Sadly he has failed keep any of his promises. He never ever intended to keep any of the promises and hence never implement even one token democratic reform, for example. 

Mnangagwa employed the same vote buying and vote rigging schemes he, as Mugabe’s principle enforcer, had employed to keep Zanu PF and Mugabe is power. And, except for Mugabe and one or two others booted out of the dictatorship in the coup, he kept the same thugs to implement the schemes. 

A hyena will roll in elephant dung to disguise its own scent for the purposes of hunting, there is no question that it is still a hyena. Zanu PF under Mnangagwa was still the same corrupt, incompetent and murderous dictatorship; calling itself a “new dispensation” is nothing more than a hyena rolling in elephant dung. 

“The recent decision by the European Union (EU) Council not to extend sanctions on members of the Zimbabwean Government as proposed by EU parliament and Britain speaks volumes with regards to President Mnangagwa's sincerity to better the lives of locals. The EU must have looked at President Mnangagwa's track record since assuming office  and gave him benefit of doubt against the opposition and pseudo CSOs' unverified claims,” concluded the inveterate apologist and liar, Saruchera. 

The EU Foreign Ministers did not have to go far to find Mnangagwa’s track record, the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission report said it all. 

“Major shortcomings in the pre-election environment impacted on the free expression of the will of electors, state resources were misused in favour of the incumbent and coverage by state media was heavily biased in favour of the ruling party,” said the EU Mission’s final report. 

“Further, the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

We can be pretty certain that the EU Foreign Ministers were never, not for one second, fooled by Mnangagwa’s elephant dung scent; they have known all a long time that he is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous thug. The thug who became the top dog after the November 2017 coup.

The real reason EU Foreign Ministers lifted the sanctions of some of the Zanu PF thugs when everyone else was calling for new, tougher and extended sanctions to be imposed is very simple - trade. Belgium has campaigned long and hard for the sanctions to be lifted so it can finally access Zimbabwe’s diamonds. China, Russia, Israel, India and a number of other country who have ignored Zanu PF’s checked human rights record for the sake of trade have profited greatly and Belgium wanted in on the act. Period!

Belgium has never cared about the freedoms and rights of black Africans and so it is no surprise that the EU Mission damning report meant nothing to Belgium and other similarly minded EU members. Absolutely nothing!

The EU Ministers lifted sanctions on the Zanu PF regime because they were impressed by Mnangagwa’s “sincerity and democratic track-record!” Every EU racist must have loved that. Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the elections and has been busy murdering innocent people and the blacks around him, not the white supremacists, are praising him to the high heavens! Proof blacks are indeed incapable of self-governing. 

Besides, the EU racists must have argued, it is now nearly 20 years since the EU imposed the sanctions against the Zanu PF thugs and yet nothing has changed. There have been many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and they have all been wasted. 

So why should the EU nationals continue to be denied the chance to join the Chinese, Russians, etc. in the exploitation and looting of Zimbabwe’s wealth and resources? 

Of course, the racists in Brussels won the day, Mnangagwa and his junta were rewarded for rigging last July’s elections and they know the EU will turn a blind-eye to the regime’s brutal repression as long as the EU has a share of the spoils of Zimbabwe’s looted wealth. Our fight for freedom, human rights and human dignity will continue or be it that much tougher now that the EU is fighting in Zanu PF’s corner! 

Apologists like Saruchera are paid, paid well, to make us believe tyrants like Mnangagwa care about us, to make us believe a hyena that smells of elephant dung is harmless. We should know better after 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule. 

Our fight, not the EU or anyone else’s fight, is to force Zanu PF to step down or we will never going to get out of this hell-on-earth of rigged elections and economic meltdown.