“We feel that we are almost two decades behind in terms of development as a result of economic sanctions that have been imposed on us,” Emmerson Mnangagwa told The National in an interview in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
“We are saying yes, we wish that these sanctions would be removed yesterday by those who have imposed sanctions on us, but beyond that we should not put our heads in the sand and cry,” he said. “We should, with the resources that we have, do our best to attract global finance into our economy.”
But asked if the administration of US President Donald Trump had detailed the required reform it wants to see in order to lift sanctions, Mr Mnangagwa said the measures had “no basis at all” and that he would not take action to please another country simply to see them removed.
I salute those at The National Abu Dhabi for asking that question because the Americans had indeed given a detailed list of what Zanu PF had to do for the sanctions to lifted. The list included:
· Making sure the 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora were given the opportunity to register and to vote
· The country’s public media must give fair coverage to all the contestants in the elections
· The election process is transparent, free, fair and credible, etc.
President Mnangagwa had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections and there was nothing on the US list that anyone interested in delivering on that promise would object to. Nothing! And yet he went on to blatantly disregard even the most basic requirements for free and fair elections such as producing a verified voters’ roll.
“We cannot say that there is something which we must do to satisfy America,” explained Mnangagwa. “Our concern is to do those things which satisfy the needs of our people.”
How does denying 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora a vote “satisfy” their needs?
With no verified voters’ roll it is impossible to verify who voted in last year’s elections, how they voted, etc. By failing to hold free, fair and credible elections Zanu PF only confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by lawless thugs. It is naïve to think investors would want to do business in a pariah state. Who does rigging elections and sending away would be investors help meet the people’s need for meaningful economic recovery?
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta are beyond the pale, the regime should not be allowed to remain in office one more day even as a partner in a GNU. The regime rigged last year’s elections, it has no democratic mandate to rule and must be forced to step down, certainly before the 2023 elections.
If Zanu PF is in power in 2023, the party will rig the elections and extend its illegitimate and tyrannical rule. That would be unforgivable!
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“In May, Mnangagwa created an anti-corruption body within the Office of the President to carry out investigations, by-passing the constitutionally-mandated Zimbabwe Anti-corruption Commission. The administration has since recorded one conviction related to corruption while most of those arrested were released on relaxed bail conditions,” said the US report on Zimbabwe.
It is disheartening that one should read a story confirming that this Mnangagwa regime is just as corrupt and oppressive as the Mugabe regime. The next story is about President Cyril Ramaphosa of SA roping in the Japanese and French to form a consortium to raise a $2.2 billion bailout fund for the same corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Is it because President Ramaphosa cannot read or is he too stupid to understand anything!
Mnangagwa hired a plane to fly Grace Mugabe from the far east when her mother passed away at the cost of US$1.3 million and now he is failing to provide the bear necessities of life to millions of ordinary Zimbabweans affected by the Cyclone Idai!
This Herald report is quoting the interview Mnangagwa gave in Abu Dhabi and yet it left out the most telling part in that interview.
He was asked if the Americans had asked his regime to implement and elections reforms before they would lift sanctions. Mnangagwa said the measures had “no basis at all” and that he would not take action to please another country simply to see them removed.
“We cannot say that there is something which we must do to satisfy America,” he explained. “Our concern is to do those things which satisfy the needs of our people.”
In other words Mnangagwa rigged the elections to “satisfy” our needs. Of course, only a first class idiot would ever argue that we the people are satisfied being stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging regime!
There is no doubt that everyone who read or listened to the interview in Abu Dhabi was left in any doubt that Mnangagwa rigged last July’s elections and the sanctions are justified. The Herald is trying to ignore the connection between sanctions and the rigged elections but will never succeed - the gene is out of the bottle and will never be put back ever again.
Every time Mnangagwa has been called upon to comment on whether last year's elections where free, fair and credible; he has choked. He has often focused on the elections being "free of violence and being the most peaceful in Zimbabwe's history" as if he that was all he dared to talk about.
At other times he has focused on the Zanu PF electoral victory "was confirmed by the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land!" As if he knows there were many things the Con-Court should have taken into consideration but did not and he is accepting the result only because the court did.
On the odd occasion Mnangagwa has said the elections were free, fair and credible. It is a great pity that The National journalist was not there on these odd occasion. It would have been interesting to hear what Mnangagwa would have answer if he had been asked; How can an election in which there is no verified voters' roll, no way of tracing were the votes came form because the V11 forms were never released, etc. be judge free, fair and credible.
It is right and proper that the people of Zimbabwe have put down their mark this time that they are not going to accept rigged elections ever again. Their demand for Zanu PF to step down is the right decision and they must stand firm and uncompromising.
It was bad enough that Mnangagwa rigged the elections but even he must know that to claimed rigged elections "satisfy the people's needs!" is an insult. People are not going to take insults from him or anyone! Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs must be forced to step down. If the regime stay on till 2023 then we the people of Zimbabwe would have failed ourselves and posterity!
What I have failed to understand is why SA, France and Japan refusing to accept the political reality that Mnangagwa and Zanu PF blatantly rigged last July's elections. SA's President Ramaphosa is on record saying "there was nothing wrong with Zimbabwe's election". The other two nations have not come out right to say the elections were free and fair but they must know that by prop up the regime they are giving the elections a thumbs up. How anyone could do such a foolish thing when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll beggars belief.
The consortium is reportedly asking Zanu PF to agree to implement democratic reforms as the condition for receiving the bailout . For the $2.2 b bailout, Mnangagwa will promise them anything but whether he will keep the promise is another matter. He promised to hold free and fair elections last year and did the exact opposite, as we know.
Money, money, money; it is a rich nation's world! SA is abusing its economic muscle to prop up Mnangagwa at the long suffering people of Zimbabwe's expense. Zimbabwe will never achieve any meaningful economic recovery as long as the country remains a pariah state.
The worst thing that can ever happen to SA, France and Japan is that they will not get their money back. For the people of Zimbabwe Mnangagwa's continued rule is costing the nation billions of dollars in wasted economic opportunities, untold economic hardship and hundreds if not thousands are now dying unnecessarily because of Zanu PF misrule! But what does Ramaphosa care!
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