“President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s top ally, South African leader, Cyril Ramaphosa’s government is working to raise about US$2,2 billion, together with France and Japan as a financial lifeline for Mnangagwa’s broke administration,” reported Spotlight Zimbabwe.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic problems is bad governance, chronic bad governance at that; the people of Zimbabwe have ignored this problem for the last 38 years and have paid dearly for it. There has been a growing awareness amongst the people of Zimbabwe of the need to deal with this problem. The last thing the nation wants is some filthy rich outsiders with money to waste undermining the people’s drive for democratic change by bankrolling the illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship!
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs have rigged elections for the last 38 years and this is the elephant in the room in Zimbabwe. The regime must be told in no uncertain terms that it has no mandate to govern and therefore must step down. Period!
It is a great pity that SADC leaders, notably SA’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, have abandoned the regional grouping’s position until 2013 demanding that Zimbabwe must not hold elections without first implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. There were no reforms implemented before the 2018 elections. Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake! How someone like President Ramaphosa can ever endorse such a flawed and illegal electoral process beggars belief!
There is no chance of Zimbabwe ever registering any meaningful economic recovery whilst the country remains a pariah state governed by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. No investors want to do business with in pariah states; we know this already. The argument that the consortium will pressure the Mnangagwa regime to implement meaningful democratic reforms as a condition for the bailout is a nonsense.
The American went to great lengths to explain to Mnangagwa what he needed to do to ensure last year’s elections were free, fair and credible for them to lift the economic sanctions. Indeed, if last year’s elections had been free and fair the country would not need this bailout! Mnangagwa did not implement any of the reforms the Americans called for because he did not want to risk losing power in a free and fair election.
It is naïve, to say the least, for SA, France and Japan to think their $2.2 billion bailout will entice Mnangagwa to give up Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers including the carte blanche powers to rig elections.
The only “reforms” Zanu PF is certain to implement in the coming months are the reforms to make it even more difficult for the opposition leaders to boycott the elections regardless for flawed and illegal the process got.
“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” admitted David Coltart, a leading MDC member, in his book.
“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”
Coltart was explaining why the two MDC factions had participated in the 2013 elections even though they had been warned by SADC and others that the elections were be rigged.
Mugabe, Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF leaders knew that as long as the Zanu PF allowed the opposition members to win a few gravy train seats the opposition will never boycott the elections. Indeed, Chamisa acknowledged Tsvangirai’s “stupidity in contesting the 2013 elections without a verified voters’ roll”. Only for him to make the same stupid mistake in 2018!
Mnangagwa will be amending the constitution to create the post of official opposition leader and shadow ministers complete with ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, etc. Zimbabwe’s opposition members do not care that the elections are not free, fair and credible as long as they have a chance of winning the scraps Zanu PF is giving away!
Rewarding Zanu PF with absolute power for rigging elections was a big mistake because the party now believes it has the right to rig elections. 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule has destroyed Zimbabwe’s once promising economy leaving millions of our people living in abject poverty. Yes Zimbabwe needs financial help to kick start its comatose economy but no amount of money will change anything until the nation first deals with the problem of rigged elections and bad governance.
What Zimbabwe needs is a chance to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the oppressive de facto one-party dictatorship, end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.
Whilst the ordinary Zimbabweans are doing everything possible to force Zanu PF to step down, many have been beaten, raped and even shot dead for daring to protest Zanu PF’s continued misrule. It is most disheartening that their sacrifice is being undermined by nations who would never tolerate what Zanu PF has done in their own country. It is an insult that such nations should abuse their economic muscle and prop up an illegitimate regime only to extend Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule to 2023 and beyond.
If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 the regime will rig that year’s elections! The bailout is for Zanu PF and not the people of Zimbabwe.
Mnangagwa rigged last July’s elections, he is illegitimate and no amount of bailout can ever make him legitimate. Mnangagwa is not democratically accountable to the people of Zimbabwe for their tax, the looted national wealth, much less the $2.2 billion bailout. Is President Ramaphosa and his friends in the consortium will have to hold Mangagwa to account and take the hit if the money is wasted!
The long suffering people of Zimbabwe have been denied the democratic say in who governed the country; surely that must be a key consideration in deciding whether the country gets the $2.2 billion bailout or not. Why does SA, France and Japan respect their own nationals’ democratic freedoms and rights but are treating the aspirations of Zimbabweans for the same freedoms and rights with contemptuous indifference? This is so infuriating!
5 comments:
What I find shocking here is that SA but much more so France and Japan, have themselves a tradition of holding free, fair and credible elections. Are these countries telling us that Zimbabwe's rigged elections are acceptable because that is the best we can aspire to?
The idea that they can give Mnangagwa the bailout and then ask him to implement democratic reforms is foolish. Here is some one who has rigged elections, beaten, raped and even shot dead innocent people to impose his rule for the last 38 years and has got away with it. Why should he ever believe he cannot do the same and get away with it? Indeed, this bailout is proof he can get away with it!
We, the people of Zimbabwe, have paid dearly for our sin in letting Zanu PF get away with rigged elections these last 38 years. When we said we want free, fair and credible elections we should have stood firm and demanding that those who rig elections must be punished. We have failed to to this in the past but are ready to do so now!
This Zanu PF regime will waste the bailout money because it is corrupt and incompetent. On the political front, Zanu PF is not going to implement any meaningful democratic reforms because it is not in the DNA of tyrannical regimes to give up their dictatorial powers. In short, the bailout is a foolish idea pursued by idiots with their own selfish agenda and do not care about the long suffering ordinary Zimbabweans!
@ Simple
What are you wittering about? Are you saying bad governance in the form of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption are not a problem in Zimbabwe?
In 2016 Mugabe admitted that the country was being "swindled" out of $15 billion in diamond revenue in the period 2010 to 2014. When Mnangagwa seized power he said he would have "zero tolerance to corruption" but has failed to arrest even one swindler in all his one and half years in power. His excuse for failing to end corruption is that it is "deeply entrenched"! And so Zimbabwe continues to lose billions of dollars every year to corruption alone.
You keep wittering about sanctions but have never said anything about corruption. Why is this?
You and me have very little influence on America's foreign policy, they are free to trade with whoever they want. We should have a lot of influence with our own Zimbabwe government, if the country was a healthy and functioning democracy. So we should be spending more time trying to get our government to end corruption and stop wasting time getting the Americans to lift the sanctions. And yet you are doing the exact opposition; you are frothing over sanctions but silence as a grave over corruption. Why?
Sanctions are here to stay and you can froth out of the mouth, nose, ears, eyes and every other opening on your body!
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!
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs and anyone who things that Zimbabwe can retain its pariah state status and still prosper is naive. President Cyril Ramaphosa of SA is certainly politically naive, one has only to look at his political track record see this is so.
One does not expect the French and Japanese to be naive, they will be contributing to the bailout with their eyes wide open. They must be looking at getting a share of wholesale looting of Zimbabwe's resources that has been taking place these last two decades. The EU has already send out the signal that it was going to re-engage Zimbabwe regardless of the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer team's report confirming Mnangagwa rigged last July's elections.
The japanese have continued to trade with Zimbabwe regardless of the later's bad human rights record and now they must be thinking of increasing the trade. They must know the Mnangagwa will waste most of the bailout money and they must know they will recover their loses in other ways.
The real losers here are the ordinary Zimbabweans who will now find themselves stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship not only till 2023 but beyond! The consortium will make a big song and dance about forcing Zanu PF to implement democratic reforms but we all know they really do not give damn that Zanu PF will go on and rig 2023 elections!
All the credible election observer teams to the July 2018 elections have condemned the elections as flawed and illegal because ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. What is shocking here is that Chamisa and his MDC Alliance friends have since accepted ZEC's results of the parliamentary elections as credible but would not accept the result of the presidential race. The two races had the same flaws and illegalities.
The only logical and obvious explanation is that Chamisa does not care that the elections were rigged as long as he is declared the winner! This is a foolish position that no respectable and rational person can support.
Chamisa and his fellow opposition friends should have never taken part in an election in which the authorities could not produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. They did out of greed. They were after the few gravy train seats they know Zanu PF was going to give away as bait. They didnot care that Zanu PF was set to rig the elections as long as they got the scraps!
"I go to State House for my swearing in as president!" says Chamisa. He claims that he got 2.5 million votes and yet failed to produce the all the vote count summary sheets, the V11 forms, to support his claim in his Con-Court challenge affidavit! Zimbabwe cannot afford to waste time on such foolishness.
The people of Zimbabwe should be concentrating all their time and energy on getting Zanu PF to step down so the country can appoint an interim administration that will then be tasked to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. We should ignore Chamisa and his foolish blubbering.
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