"Darkest hour is before dawn" - after 39 years of sinking into darkest abyss, what dawn P Guramatunhu

Obert Gutu is just an empty drum making a lot of noise! He is just one of the MDC leaders who, having tasted the good life of the political gravy train during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, has fought tooth and nail to get back on the gravy train. And when you are an empty drum, fighting tooth and nail means making lots, and lots of noise!

Last week Gutu wrote a long piece arguing for the lifting of all sanctions against Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies. Gutu did not acknowledge the sanctions would have been lifted if Zanu PF had kept its promise to hold free, fair and credible elections, the single most important issue on the matter.

Everyone knows that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections; the regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, a common sense and legal requirement. Gutu and his former MDC Alliance colleagues Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, David Coltart and all the other opposition candidates and parties participated in the election regardless of all the evidence the process was flawed and illegal.

Gutu and others in the opposition camp all knew Zanu PF would blatantly rig the elections to secure the presidency and 2/3 majority in parliament. They also knew that Zanu PF will also give away a few gravy train seats, to entice the opposition to take part in the elections. This has worked like a charm, there were 23 presidential candidates in last year’s elections!

Obert Gutu and his fellow MDC-T members led by Thokosani Khupe and he is her deputy, have already endorse the election process, with all its glaring flaws and illegalities, free, fair and credible and Mnangagwa duly elected and legitimate. MDC-T earned themselves a few brownies points with Mnangagwa for that. The call to have sanctions against Zanu PF lifted is yet another brownie point.

There is talk of another GNU in response to the worsening economic situation; Obert Gutu is to cash-in the brownies points in retain for a seat on the gravy train. Meanwhile Gutu is coming up with all manner of nonsensical suggestions to earn himself and MDC-T a few more brownie points!

"Zimbabweans should think about creating jobs and desist from merely seeking employment!" twittered Gutu.

“Remember every dark cloud has a silver lining!

“Remember, the darkest hour is before dawn!”

In other words, the 90% unemployed Zimbabweans out there have only themselves to blame for their plight; they should have desisted looking for employment years ago and would have been very successful entrepreneurs with thriving business by now.

By destroying the Zimbabwe economy; Zanu PF has done the nation a great favour, it created the dark cloud and the challenge is for us to find the silver lining.

For the last 39 years Zimbabwe has seen nothing but stead economic decline, the country and blundered from pillar to post. The few ruling elite has grown filthy rich but at the expense of the overwhelming majority who now live in heart-breaking abject poverty.

For all his rhetorical claims of “Zimbabwe is open for business!”, promise to end corruption, promise to hold free, fair and credible elections, etc.; President Mnangagwa has done nothing address these underlying economic problems. Zimbabwe was a detested pariah state under Mugabe, that has not changed.

For the last 39 years the people have been told “this is the darkest hour before dawn”, things have got progressively worse and not better. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the country’s economic decline will continue.

After 39 years the nation must now wake-up to the reality that the new dawn will only come from us doing something to end the scourge of corruption and the curse of rigged elections. Mnangagwa, his cronies and the sell-out opposition leaders like Gutu would like us to believe we can have our cake and eat it too. Wake-up Zimbabwe!

Zimbabwe's economic environment is so caustic that many, many companies have been forced out of business including well established and well resources companies like Meikles, Kariba Batteries, etc. Only a first class idiot like Obert Gutu would expect the impoverish Zimbabweans, many of whom are earning as little as US$30 per month or less to start their own company and thrive! 

What the country needs and has been dying for these last 39 years is an economic environment is which existing and well establish companies can thrive alongside new companies. The caustic economic environment was created by the decades of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, a man-made problem.

We have had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship with the best chances falling to Obert Gutu and his fellow MDC friends during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. All MDC leaders had to do was implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. They failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!

Ever since MDC leaders’ failure to end the Zanu PF dictatorship they have abandoned all pretence of implementing the reforms and ensuring free, fair and credible elections in favour of the present status quo in which Zanu PF is allowed to blatant rig the elections as long as the opposition get a few gravy train seats. Opposition leaders like Obert Gutu, Nelson Chamisa, etc. have been hunting with the Zanu PF hounds and running with the economically impoverish and politically powerless majority.

For 39 years and counting it has been getting darker and darker because we have sinking deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state then the country will continue to sink. Only an idiot would believe Zanu PF would ever get us out of this mess after 39 years of dragging us into the mess.

“The darkest hour comes before dawn!” Yeah right! Some night, lasting 39 years! We have a simple choice, either we end the Zanu PF dictatorship or we retain it and continue to sink into the abyss!

"If ED rigged elections, leave him why sanction?" argue Museveni - leave him to rig again and again, how stupid W Mukori

There are many reasons why Africa is a continent dogged by poverty, war, corruption, disease, bad governance, etc., etc. One of the many reasons this is so is our inability to pay attention to detail. We have debated the issue of economic sanctions, for example, thousands of times and will, no doubt, be spending many, many more man-years of time, space, sweat and blood without ever being any wiser.  How can we ever be any wiser when none of what is said make sense!

“Why do you put sanctions, if someone is wrong leave him and he will fail by his own mistakes? Why do you put sanctions if you know you are right and somebody is wrong?” argued President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

“That’s means we are not sure if the man is wrong. Otherwise if he is wrong let him fail by his own his mistakes.

“If you put sanctions you are just aiding someone to use them as scapegoat for his own failures. I appeal to those who are imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe to lift those sanctions.”

The Americans went to great length to explain that they will lift the sanctions imposed on the Zanu PF leaders and entities with strong links to the party if the 2018 elections were free, fair and credible. The Americans even went on to spell out some of the things they would want to see happen; allow Zimbabweans in the diaspora the right to vote, free public media, a transparent and legal electoral process, etc. None of these things happened. Zanu PF failed to produce something as basic and fundamental for free, fair and credible elections as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake.

If President Museveni is “not sure” the July 2018 elections were NOT free, fair and credible, it is so because he is refusing to see what is before his own eyes.

Of course, Zanu PF is using sanctions as scapegoat for the regime’s own failures. It is no secret that Zimbabwe adopted the two five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) in 1990 to 95 and 1995 to 2000 because the country’s economy was in a real mess already. The regime could not blame the sanctions then because they were imposed in 2001! 

“Why do you put sanctions if you know you are right and somebody is wrong?” The sheer stupidity of that question beggars belief! Surely, surely there is nothing wrong with an outsider telling us denying our own people their basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of our country and even the right to life! As an ordinary Zimbabwean citizen whose has felt the heavy boot of the Zanu PF dictatorship on one’s neck these last 39 years, of course I am grateful to the outsider for his concern for my welfare. I am equally outraged by the breath taking stupidity and indifference of mine fellow African brothers and sisters to what Zanu PF has been doing in Zimbabwe. 

Of course, the western nations will ignore President Museveni’s call to have the sanctions lifted with the contempt it rightly deserve. Of course the western nation have every right to decide who they will trade with and under what terms.

“I don’t agree with those who say Africa is weak. In 1960s, we were weaker than we are today but we were able to work together and support the struggle for freedom in southern Africa and succeeded,” continued President Museveni. said the Ugandan leader who took power after a protracted rebellion in 1986.

“We worked for the liberation of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Angola Namibia supported by socialist countries but our great effort was ours.”

What he did not say is that all independent African countries then, with the exception of those under tyrannical black rule, supported the imposing of UN sanctions on the colonial regimes in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, etc. The sanctions were considered necessary in ending white colonial oppression but they are now considered unnecessary in ending BLACK oppression! 

President Museveni seized power in Uganda in 1986 and he since ruled that country with an iron fist. He has never held free, fair and credible elections and it is little wonder he saw nothing wrong with Mnangagwa doing the same in Zimbabwe. Indeed, he is in Zimbabwe supporting a fellow corrupt and vote rigging tyrant. 

Whilst African leaders did unite in the fight to end white colonial oppression, they have not done the same when a fellow African leader has become an oppressor. Suddenly they all had problems defining what an oppressor is! 

Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe’s last year elections were free, fair and credible. President Cyril Ramaphosa of S A has said the elections “went well!” It is not that these leaders do not know what constitutes free, fair and credible elections. They know. They are being vague, deliberately, so anything goes. 

An elephant is an animal with four legs; so a rat, a lizard any animal with four  legs will pass for an elephant. Little wonder the AU, SADC and all the other African organisations have all become popular exclusive clubs of dictators, tyrants and despots!  

President Yoweri Museveni, we in Zimbabwe know that Mnangagwa rigged the elections, he is a corrupt and murderous thug, we know that the country’s economic meltdown will only get worse as long as the country remains a pariah state. 

We know Mnangagwa is using sanctions as a scapegoat for the regime’s failures. We also know that sanctions are just another way of piling the pressure of Zanu PF to step down so we can implement the democratic reforms to stop the vote rigging. Of course, we, the ordinary Zimbabweans, want the sanctions to stay and are very pleased the sanctions are staying! 

"Next year we enter prosperity period" - what if we don't, what then N Garikai

"Next year we will be starting entering the prosperity period because my understanding is that it can only be austerity for a year and you cannot have austerity for three years that's not fair. The beginning of next year will be less and less austerity," said Professor Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance.

This is just the usual nonsense the nation has come to expect from our Minister-Know-It-All! He promised to attract foreign and local investors and to have IMF and WB back on board funding the country’s economic recovery. 8 months later there are still no investors and lenders and he has quietly shelved the idea.

When Zimbabwe introduced the Bond Note currency in 2016 the nation was assured their US$ bank balances will be protected and it was Minister Ncube who instructed the banks to convert all existing bank balances to Bond Notes at the official exchange rate of 1:1 to the US$ although the black market exchange rate was 3:1 or worse.

The Minister has promised to bring stability to the local currency but has clearly failed. The new local currency, the RTGS$ introduced end of February 2019, has already lost half its value as exchange rate has soared from 2.5:1 US$ to 5:1. The prices of goods and services have soared too. The price of bread has nearly double with the price of internet data soaring 1300%!

"Money supply is not growing on the market and my question is where the pressure for foreign currency is coming from. That has mainly been driven by speculation in the market and I urge private sector to utilise the interbank market," said Ncube.

If the money supply WAS growing, would you admit it? Of course, not! It is almost certain that the money supply has been growing. The failure to revive the country’s economy means the country continues to import far more than it earns from exports and hence the local currency is valued less than the foreign currency.

It is government’s responsibility to come up with policies that stimulate economic growth and stability. This government has clearly failing to do this and instead of owning up to its failures it is blaming everyone else or worse.

""I want to give a stern warning to those practicing financial terrorism in the country. We will react accordingly as Government and nobody should claim that they were not warned. We'll take very strict measures," said VP Constantino Chiwenga.

Yes, VP Chiwenga the whole world knows the unfathomed depths of barbarism Zanu PF will sink to in the regime’s resolve to hang-on to absolute power. The regime’s hands are red with the fresh blood of nearly 30 innocent civilians murder in August 2018 and January this year. They crime was to dare protest against another rigged elections and the soaring cost of living.

The Zimbabwe economy is in total meltdown because of 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness and thuggery that has destroyed the promising economy the nation inherited in 1980 and forced all would-be investors and lenders to stay away. President Mnangagwa has since admitted his failure to end corruption because it is “deep-rooted”, he said. He could not and will never up-rooted corruption because he and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite are the godfathers of corruption.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will never be any meaningful economic recovery much less prosperity.

“Next year we will be starting entering the prosperity period!” This is a mirage the people of Zimbabwe have been promised for the last 39 years, there only thing certain is that the economy will be worse off and the regime will once again push back the start date of prosperity.

After 39 years of living on empty promises the people of Zimbabwe should not concern themselves with whether or not Zanu PF will deliver prosperity next year but with what the nation will do if they do not. For the last 39 years Zanu PF has failed to deliver economic prosperity and delivered instead economic poverty. We have done nothing about it because the regime has usurped our democratic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s worsening economic meltdown is bad governance it is our duty and responsibility to end the Zanu PF dictatorship a.s.a.p. We must implement the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. It is clear Zanu PF cannot be trusted to reform itself out of office and hence the reason the regime must be pressured to step down.

If Zanu PF is still in office in 2023 then we can be 100% certain of two things:

1)   Zimbabwe’s economy will still be in the doldrums and Minister Ncube will have moved the start date of economic prosperity in the future.  

2)   Zanu PF will rig that year’s elections, just as the party has done these last 39 years, to extend the regime corrupt and tyrannical reign by another five years.

3) The nation will be powerless to hold the regime to democratic account for all the decades of heart-breaking economic austerity with nothing to show for it. Minister Mthuli Ncube’s austerity have left so many people destitute, many people are dying for want of food, medicine, etc. “Next year we will be starting entering the prosperity period!” Many, many people are dying already, victims of his draconian austerity measures, and we are being asked to accept 8 more months of this! Worse still, with Zanu PF still in power we can be certain the nightmare will continue!

"No elections for 10 years, focus on reconstruction" argue Chinono - if leaders focus on corruption, what then P Guramatunhu

“Elections have become a problem that has sunk us into vicious violence, unreformed state institutions, political and economic strife.

Let us do away with them for 10 years and focus on reconstruction,” argued Hopewell Chin’ono.

The country is in this economic and political mess precisely because Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the elections so the regime is no longer democratically accountable to the people. For the last 39 years Zanu PF has rigged elections and stayed in power to do as the regime pleased. Our biggest mistake was to allow the regime to get away with this. The greatest challenge before us all today, tomorrow and everyday until victory is to demand the restoration of the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life. 

It is therefore shocking that anyone with a working brain would suggest we give up the fight and grant the political thugs a bonus of 10 years for having rigged elections and denied the people the vote for the last 39 years. 

If the nation has sunk “into vicious violence, unreformed state institutions, etc., etc.” when these politicians feared that the nation may hold them to democratic account what hope is there that they will do anything of value when they know they have the licence to do as they please. Indeed, who will stop them extending the 10 years with no elections to 20 years or do away with elections altogether. 

The one thing from the Lancaster House Constitution that Zanu PF has failed to take away from the ordinary Zimbabwean is the regime’s obligation to hold regular elections. The elections should be regular free, fair and credible. The people have never had free, fair and credible elections and that is what we should be fighting for. The argument that because we have been denied free, fair and credible elections we should just give up the right to regular elections too is foolish, to say the least.

"ED in fix as prices soar and workers demand more money" - deja vu, now nation is in fix N Garikai

“ED in fix …. as government workers want more money” screamed the Daily News Live headlines! 

"With only less than a month gone after their pay cheques were reviewed upwards, government workers are pushing for another cost of living adjustment to cushion them from inflation, which is edging close to 70 percent," the paper reported.

The regime is fearful that the worsening economic meltdown, if not addressed as a matter of urgency will lead to serious social unrest.  Deja vu! 

"Firstly, we wish to assure the nation that His Excellency, The President, of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G Mugabe and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed. We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice. As soon as we have accomplished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy,” said Major General Sibusiso Moyo, his TV address in the small hours of 15 November 2017.

So the November 2017 military coup was to end the country's economic meltdown and the the suffering it had brought. No doubt President Mnangagwa had meant to hit the ground running with his promise to end corruption and appeal to new investors with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” campaign. All those around him joined in the campaign, all wearing in the trademark brightly coloured scarf even in the Africa mid-day heat. 

A year and half since the coup, it is now clear the flood of investors and lenders the regime was confident would follow in answer to its “Zimbabwe is open for business!” invitation has not materialised. And we know why. What is the point of crowing from the rooftop “Zimbabwe is open for business!” when the impediments that had had made it impossible to do business in the country all along have not been removed.  Mnangagwa promised to end corruption, hold free and fair elections, etc. but never kept any of these promises.  

The military coup was first and foremost about making sure that the coup plotters as members of the Joint Operation Command (JOC), the shadowy Junta that has ruled the country all along, retained absolute power. Mugabe was threatening to take away the power from JOC and give it to his wife and the G40 Zanu PF faction. The coup was to restore the Zanu PF dictatorial power back JOC hence the reason the coup was called "Operation restore legacy".

Mnangagwa and his coup plotters had risked their lives and limbs in wrestling power from Mugabe, they were not going to risk losing the power in a democratic elections, especially when it was in their power to rig the said elections! And so they rigged the July 2018 elections! 

There is no doubt that Mnangagwa and his cronies fully appreciated the need to end corruption, to end Zimbabwe's pariah state status, etc., etc. as the pre-requisite to ending Zimbabwe's worsening economic situation. They also fully appreciate that doing nothing about the worsening economic situation is no longer an option as the threat of social unrest is real. 

However, they are also painfully aware that they cannot end corruption, hold free and fair elections, etc. and still hang on to power. And so what they have done since the November 2017 military coup is bluff. President Mnangagwa has been forced to admit that he has failed to end corruption.

"I now realise corrupt is deep-rooted!"  he admitted. So deep-rooted he cannot uproot it because he and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite are the godfathers of corruption but, of course, he would never admit that.

He admitted there was little progress in arresting the corrupt because those tasked to do so; Police, anti-corruption unit, the prosecuting authority, the judiciary, etc.; are all corrupt. But quickly added that not everyone in the Police, etc. was corrupt and it is these few the country was to rely on to stamp out corruption. 

In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was being swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone. We know the wholesale looting of diamonds has been going on for decades and is going on to this day. So why have these squeaky clean Police Officers failed to arrest even one swindler in all these years? Of course, Mnangagwa is bluffing that corruption will ever be stamp out as long as the Zanu PF godfathers of corruption remain in power. 

Similarly Zanu PF has bluffed about holding free and fair elections and thus ending the country's cursed pariah state. Zimbabwe will never hold free, fair and credible elections as long as Zanu PF remains in power. Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office, period.

Whilst Zanu PF has bluffed about ending corruption, about holding free and fair elections and about addressing all the other underlying problems causing the country's economic meltdown; what the regime has clearly failed to do is bluff about the worsening economic situation itself.The “degenerating political, social and economic situation in our country which if not addressed may result in violent conflict”, as now Minister Moyo admitted in November 2017, is still present today!

The solution to Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis has been staring us in the face all along; we must stop bluffing and address corruption, bad governance, etc. And since Zanu PF is not going to address these problems we must find others who will. We must restore the people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country including the right to effect regime change. 

We must demand that Zanu PF step down to create the political space for an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms designed to end Zanu PF’s carte blanche powers to rig elections. 

The country’s basic services such as supply of clean water and health care have all but collapsed. People are dying because they cannot afford US$5.00 per month of medicine, assuming they can get the drugs given the chronic shortages of cash, food, fuel, medicine, etc. It is not so much Mnangagwa who is in a fix, the whole of Zimbabwe is in a fix, the threat of serious social unrest, if we do not end the worsening economic meltdown, is now more urgent than ever. We must pressure Zanu PF to step down now; not in 2023, not next year, NOW!

"Compensating white farmers is a constitutional obligation" argued Mnangagwa - his last throw of the dice W Mukori

“Zimbabwe was proceeding with the compensation of former commercial farmers who were displaced during the country's agrarian reform despite growing criticism against the policy, President Emerson Mnangagwa said last week, highlighting that compensation for land improvements was a constitutional obligation,” reported Bulawayo 24.

Mnangagwa said "the land reform is irreversible", adding: "We fought for the land and we will never regret.”

Rubbish! The Zanu PF inspired land reform, like so many other things in post independent Zimbabwe, was NOT what the nation had fought and many had died for. The chaotic and violent seizure of white owned farms that started in earnest in 2000 were for two reasons:

1. Mugabe needed something to give away to his ever demanding but wasteful Zanu PF loyalists and their families and friends; with the country’s economy already in ruinous there was nothing else left for him to give away other than land. Zanu PF has maintained that the land would be given to the landless peasants but in practice it was the ruling elite who benefited and the millions of peasants are still stuck in the overcrowded and unproductive rural areas. Mugabe and his family got no less than 13 commercial farms. 

The Zanu PF cronies got the farms but failed to put it into productive use resulting in the country losing its cherish position as the breadbasket of the region. For the last decade, Zimbabwe has failed to produce enough to feed its own people, for Pete’s sake! 

Worse still, the total collapse of the country’s agricultural sector was one of the contributory factor to the country’s record breaking economic meltdown of the last 20 years. The collapse of the farming sector, commerce and industry has send unemployment rocketing into 80% plus and has yet to come down. Basic services such as supply of water and health care have all but collapsed. Millions of our people now live in abject poverty.  

To crown it all, Zanu PF is using taxpayers’ money to compensate the white farmers. Why should those who suffered from the chaotic land reform pay the compensation when those who inherited the looted farms and benefited from it all are once again allowed to go Scott free! 

Of course, the ordinary people deeply regret Zanu PF’s chaotic and violent land reform because it is NOT what the nation fought and many died for! The land issue is one of the many botched issues in Zimbabwe that will have to be revisited once the nation rid itself of the Zanu PF dictatorship. The country needs to put land into productive hands to have any hope of reviving the country’s comatose economic; it will therefore nonsensical to allow the looters to keep the land. 

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2. The chaotic and violence farm seizures were used by Zanu PF as a smoke screen behind which to hide the party’s sinister political scheme of using violence to deny the people of Zimbabwe their right to free, fair and credible elections. The party accused all its political critics and opponents including the ordinary Zimbabweans in the urban and rural areas of being against the party’s land reforms and so the violence that always flared up in the farms during elections would soon sweep the whole nation. 

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck for 39 years with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. It is ironic that the regime has used the botched land reform to justify rigging elections and extending its oppressive and ruinous reign. Fortunately for the nation, this is becoming increasing difficult to sustain.

When Mnangagwa seized power from his former boss and mentor, Robert Mugabe, in the November 2017 military coup; he promised to end corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections. He knew the old worn-out excuses of blaming white farmers, western sanctions, etc. would never get the nation out of the economic mess the regime had landed us in. 

Alas, he failed to end the corruption and blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections. He is hoping that by compensating the white farmers everyone will forget about Zimbabwe still being a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs and re-engage. Poor Mnangagwa, it is his last throw of the dice and it will achieve nothing!

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. And the country’s worsening economic situation will, in the end, force Zanu PF to step down and thus allow the nation to finally exorcise the demons of rigged elections and pariah state! 

"Remain resolute in faith, we will triumph" said Mnangagwa - faith in prosperity from voodoo economic N Garikai

“In Zimbabwe, we are currently undergoing our own struggle of light over darkness. As we walk the road of transformation and reform, we are guided by our Lord Jesus Christ’s teachings of forgiveness, peace, love and take comfort from his victory,” said Mnangagwa in his East Message

This is just wishful thinking! Here is a regime that promised to hold free, fair and credible elections only to blatantly rig the elections. 

Mnangagwa promised “zero tolerance on corruption” and one year and half later has failed to arrest even one of the big fish. He has since admitted that “corruption is deep-rooted”. Of course, it is deep-rooted; he and his fellow ruling elite leaders are the godfathers of corruption! 

“For a while the challenges we face are significant, we are resolute in our faith that with hard work, sacrifice and unity we too will triumph. May the Almighty protect and bless our land,” he continued.

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-hole because of 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and tyrannical Zanu PF rule. The regime has managed to stay in power regardless of the people’s democratic wish for meaningful regime change because it rigged elections. 

Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is a man-made problem; mismanagement, corruption, etc. are problems of bad governance. It is, per se, within our mortal power to end this mess by replacing the bad government with a good, competent and accountable government. 

It is ironic that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are the ones who have created the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship, ruthlessly imposed it on the nation and ruthless resisted its dismantling. His solution is that we must have faith and work hard. Have faith in what? In Zanu PF's voodoo economic policies delivering economic recovery regardless of the corruption, mismanagement, etc.! 

After 39 years of Zanu PF misrule with disastrous consequences it will be insane to expect the regime to delivery economic recover. 

If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in office until 2023 the regime will rig that year's elections too and retain Zimbabwe's pariah state status complete with the economic meltdown we see today. No doubt Zanu PF will be arguing the nation to work even harder, suffer even more heart-breaking hardship as part of the "austerity for prosperity" and never to lose faith in the regime delivering economic prosperity, its Vision 2030 Middle Income status. 

Vision 2030 is nothing but a mirage and after 39 years of chasing mirages; it is madness to continue. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs economic recover much less prosperity will remain a mirage.  

"Our own struggle of light over darkness!" Our struggle is for democracy over dictatorship. The only sure way to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship is for Mnangagwa et al to step down so allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be entrusted to implement the democratic reforms the nation has been dying for all these years.

"We cannot separate democracy and discipline" says Moyo - Zanu PF is deficient in both P Guramatunhu

Zanu PF leaders are once again up in arms blaming business operators for the country’s worsening economic situations as shown by the increasing prices of goods and services - if they can be found given the shortages.

"This is a very temporary phenomenon, what we are going through and sometimes also they say in a democracy there must be discipline," Foreign Minister, Sibusiso Moyo said.

"We cannot separate democracy and discipline. If you lack discipline, then what it means is that people would want to maximise on profits, but in reality profits are basically 10-15%. That is not exactly what is happening on the market.”

Common sense of the one thing that is clearly lacking in those who lead us.

"With effect from midnight tonight, a fuel pump price of $3.11 per litre for diesel and $3.31 per litre for petrol will come into effect. These prices are predicated on the ruling official exchange rate of 1:1 between the bond note and the US dollar and also on the need to keep fuel retailers viable," Mnangagwa on 12 January 2019.

Before the increase, diesel cost $1.38 a litre, and petrol $1.43 a litre.

Where was Mnangagwa’s discipline when he increased the price of diesel and petrol by 125% and 131% respectively?

The exchange rate of the country’s local currency to the US$ was 1:1 in January and today it is 4:1 which means the prices should go up 400%! So what is the regime complaining about, especially when it is the one responsible for the local currency losing its value! 

“As government we are going to enforce discipline (price control)!” said Minister Moyo.

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and thus dashing the nation’s hope of emerging from the shadow of a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. The regime was confident it will rig economic recover and that is now proving a bridge to far!

“We cannot separate democracy and discipline!” You are right Minister Moyo and you and your fellow Zanu PF thugs are and not only deficient in two virtues but worse still have no common sense. You have dug yourself and the nation into a hell-hole and lack the common sense to stop digging!

Mnangagwa is illegitimate because elections were NOT free - Chamisa compromise will never change that W Mukori

As far as Mnangagwa is concerned last year’s elections were free, fair and credible. He has invited opposition parties, civic society and all other interested parties to a national dialogue to discuss the country’s worsening economic situation, etc. on condition that the participants recognise him as the legitimately elected president of the Republic. 

So far Nelson Chamisa and one or two other opposition leaders have refused to attend the national dialogue because he refused to accept Mnangagwa’s legitimacy. He has now softened his stance. 

“MDC-Alliance president Mr Nelson Chamisa has made a major climb-down on his hardline stance against inter-party dialogue and called for an engagement between him and President Mnangagwa to tackle national challenges affecting the country,” reported Bulawayo 24. 

“In a clear about turn, Mr Chamisa said he was willing for a direct engagement with President Mnangagwa to discuss political, economic and social issues affecting the country, while the party's spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume said they were willing to compromise on their previous demands.” 

Some of the demands by the MDC-Alliance described by some political analysts as bizarre included the establishment of a Transitional Authority to run Government.

Other demands included opening up debate on President Mnangagwa's legitimacy which has long been concluded by the Constitutional Court which upheld his election victory after Mr Chamisa approached the superior court challenging the July 30, 2018 election results. 

Mr Chamisa posted a conciliatory message on his twitter account at the weekend where he called for people to rise above party politics.

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance, like all the other opposition parties and candidates who participated in last year’s elections, knew that Zanu PF was going to rig the elections. They knew what since the 2013 rigged elections not even one meaningful reform was implemented and with no reforms it was clear Zanu PF will rig the 2018 elections. And they did.

Compromise! What is there to compromise about? Whether or not Mnangagwa and his regime are legitimate is not a matter of what Mnangagwa, the sell-out opposition or anyone else says but what the historic facts say.

Last year’s elections were a repeat of the 2013 elections complete with the same glaring flaws and illegalities. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote only for Mnangagwa to promise after the vote they will get the vote next time. The public media remained the exclusive monopoly of the Zanu PF. Zanu PF operative and local leaders used state aid and resources to coerce the voters, especially in the rural areas, to attend party rallies and then to vote for the party’s candidate. 

ZEC failed to release a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. The regime increased the number of polling stations from 2 000 in 2008 to 9 000 in 2013 to over 11 000 last year. ZEC failed to make public some of the polling station results although this was another legal requirement.  ZEC was also required by law to keep a record of all voters who refuse to vote in both the parliamentary and presidential race; again there was no such record. There were over 70 000 more ballots cast in the presidential race than in the parliamentary one. Ever the blind could see the elections was being rigged!

“The electoral commission (ZEC) 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,” stated the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission’s final report. 

“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.”

In short Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party are illegitimate because last year’s election process was pregnant with flaws and illegalities, errors and irregularities, etc. It simply beggars belief how anyone could ever judge such a flawed and illegal process free, fair and credible. And if the process failed to meet international standards of free, fair and credible; how could the result be anything else other than illegitimate. 

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is a result of 39 years of criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resources by the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. As much as Mnangagwa would like to give the impression that he has transformed Zimbabwe since tasing over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup. The truth is Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. 

By blatantly rigging last year’s elections Mnangagwa has confirmed Zimbabwe is still very much a pariah state governed by an illegitimate regime. Even if Chamisa join all the other opposition parties and candidates and proclaim Mnangagwa the legitimate president, that will not change the reality that he is illegitimate.  

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery because no local and foreign investor or lender will ever want to do business with a pariah state. No one!

Mnangagwa is illegitimate because last year’s elections were not free, fair and credible. It was clear from the start that the elections would be rigged. No one in the opposition camp should participated, they did out of greed. It is the same greed that have the opposition taking part in these Zanu PF led national dialogue. 

Chamisa, you are now ready to recognise Mnangagwa as the legitimate president in return for a seat on the gravy train. This is not the first time MDC have sold out and Mnangagwa knew you would sell-out. Still both Mnangagwa and yourself can delude yourself that Mnangagwa is now legitimate, he is not, and that the compromise will deliver any meaningful economic recovery, it will not! 

"We need to put an end to these economic problems for the sake of ourselves and our children,” maintains Chamisa.

Zimbabwe’s economic problems will remain, indeed will get worse, as long as the country remains a pariah state. We need to cures ourselves of the curse of corruption, vote rigging and illegitimate regimes by acknowledging the problem of vote rigging and dealing with it and not selling-out by pretending the illegitimate is legitimate!

Freedom and independence espoused by 2nd Republic - 2nd is flip side of 1st, a pariah state P Guramatunhu.

"Our freedom, independence and the proud heritage left for us by our departed heroes and heroines who paid the supreme sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy today. We have within our blood, the traits of bravery, valour and resilience passed on to us by generation upon generation of our departed," said Mnangagwa in his Independence Day address.

"As we reflect on the path we have walked and the road ahead, we must draw lessons from the actions of our freedom fighters and the principles that guided them. Over the years, through sweat, struggle and tribulations we have survived and never surrendered or lost our hope.

"Today as we celebrate the birth of our nation, let us honour the values that underpin it. These values must drive us forward. We can no longer afford to be concerned with mere survival. Let us instead seek to blossom, thrive and prosper as a nation, as a people, towards a brighter future in the Zimbabwe we all want."

We are being told Zimbabwe is free and this is the Zimbabwe we wanted. How long are we going to tolerate these insults? The true heroes and heroines of this nation are turning in the graves to see what has become of this nation. 

Zimbabwe has become a highly polarised nation of the have everything and have absolutely nothing! The few Zanu PF ruling elite and their cronies and families and friends live in palatial mansion, have farms and other business empires, go outside the country for their education and health needs and, most important of all they enjoy absolute power.

In all the 39 years since Zimbabwe gained her independence the country is yet to hold free, fair and credible elections. “One man, one vote!” was the clarion call before independence but was trash soon after and forgotten. 

How can last year’s elections ever be judged free, fair and credible when 3 million, compared to the 5 million we are told voted, Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote? The regime failed even to release something as basic for elections as a verified voters’ roll. 

The have absolutely nothing are the 90% who are unemployed, the 3/4 of the population now living on US$30 per month or less, the povo forced to make do with the local heath care services that has all but completely collapsed. Their suffering and misery is heart breaking and many are now dying of hunger, lack of medicine and other poverty related illnesses.

On the political front, the overwhelming majority who have been denied their freedoms and rights including their rights to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and the right to life itself! 

When the people have protested again the rigged elections, the corruption, the worsening economic hardships, etc. they have been subjected to savage brutality to cow them into silent submission. 

“The introduction of a market-based exchange rate system is expected to stabilise the economy, in the long run. However, Government is alarmed by the recent wanton and indiscriminate increases of prices which has brought about untold suffering to the people. This conduct by stakeholders in business, industry and commerce is inhumane, unethical, unpatriotic and goes against the grain of economic dialogue which the 2nd Republic has espoused,” Mnangagwa argues.

What 2nd Republic are you wittering about? Mr Mnangagwa, we all know that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and used brute force to ram the results down the nation’s throat. 

You have admitted that you have failed to end the scourge of corruption because it is “deep rooted”, you said. You claim that Zimbabwe under your leadership is different from the pariah state of Robert Mugabe, the truth is nothing has change. The 1st Republic and the 2nd Republic is just the flip side of the same coin!

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no hope of any meaningful economic recovery. None! 

After 39 years of the nation sinking deeper and deeper into this economic and political hell-on-earth the least we must do is acknowledge that we are lost. The Zimbabwe in which the overwhelming majority have been denied their freedoms, human rights and humanity is not what the nation wanted. Zanu PF has dragged us into this hell-hole but worse still the regime is keeping us here but rigging elections and imposing itself on the nation. We must demand that Zanu PF steps down because the party has no mandate to govern since it rigged the elections. 

The ultimate expression of our national freedom and independence is that everyone must have a meaningful say in the governance of the country including the right to life. And when these basic freedoms and rights are denied, as has clearly happened in Zimbabwe, then they must be demanded. 

After 39 years of letting Zanu PF ride roughshod over our freedoms, rights and dreams; we must now demand free, fair and credible elections and mean it. What better way of prove our resolve and determination in our demand than punishing those who rig elections instead of the usual response of appeasing and rewarding the treasonous thugs! Enough is enough!

If America "stand with Zimbabwe" then lift sanction - only dimwit want sanctions lifted P Guramatunhu

The United States of America Embassy in Harare has come under fire for posting a status on Twitter saying America stands with Zimbabwe as the country celebrate its 39th Independence.

"We congratulate Zimbabwe on 39 years of independence today." The Embassy said. "The United States remains a committed partner to the people of Zimbabwe and shares your hopes for growth, prosperity and a brighter future.  #WeStandWithZim."

In response one PT Chimusoro said, "You don't stand with Zimbabwe. You stand against Zimbabwe. If you stand with Zimbabwe, why put it under cruel sanctions? We are not as dumb as you think we are that you come and lie straight in our faces.”

Chimusoro, you are dumb. The issue of sanctions have been explained to you a thousand times and a thousand times again and yet you still fail to grasp even the most simple elements. 

Before last year’s elections the Americans explained to Mnangagwa that if he kept his promise and held free, fair and credible elections the sanctions will be lifted. He went on to blatantly rig the elections. ZEC failed to release a verified voters’ roll, something as basic as that, for Pete’s sake. 

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the 39 years of incompetent and corrupt Zanu PF misrule and not the sanctions. Zanu PF has managed to stay in power these last 39 years against the democratic wishes of the people because the party rigged the elections. 

If we are ever to get out of the economic hell-hole Zanu PF landed us into then we must stop Zanu PF rigging elections. We must focus all our time and energy on getting Zanu PF to step down so we have free, fair and credible elections. The sanctions are part and parcel of the effort to force Zanu PF to step down - dimwit! 

The Americans are 100% correct in refusing to lift the sanctions and idiots like you Chimusoro are either benefiting from the Zanu PF dictatorship or are so thoroughly brainwashed you do not know what is in your own interest! The bottomline is that sanctions will stay! And middle finger salute to you!

"Price control is the way to go" - not again, voodoo-economic imposed by an illegitimate regime P Guramatunhu

"For a country that has no currency of its own, no competitive industry and no jobs, price control is the way to go in order to protect the poor." said Deputy Minister of Information, Energy Mutodi. "It's very unfortunate that cabinet has not foreseen this but it's time we take necessary steps.”

Not again!

‘It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest,’ said the great Philosopher and Economist Adam Smith nearly 300 years ago. 

We have learnt about of this economic theory at school and first hand in our own dealings. This Zanu PF regime had price controls soon after independence and was forced to phase them out because they resulted in shortages and/or soaring black market prices. 

The regime resorted to price controls again in the early 2000s with the same result of shortages and soaring black market prices. It is really disheartening that we are going down this path once again! 

What is desperately annoying here is that Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies rigged last year’s elections, they do not have the democratic mandate of the people of Zimbabwe to govern the nation. So they imposed themselves on the nation only to impose their failed voodoo-economic policies that we know already that they do not work. 

Zimbabwe is standing at the very edge of the precipice, with unemployment a nauseating 90%, 3/4 of the population now living on US$30 or less per month, basic services such as supply of water and health care totally collapse, nation is facing chronic shortages and/or soaring prices, etc. The situation is socially, politically and morally unsustainable and it will not take much to send the nation down over the edge into social unrest or worse. 

OK, we have looked over the edge into the abyss and have seen that it is ugly. We must now step back! We must now demand that Zanu PF step down, the regime has no mandate to govern and it clearly has no clue how to revive the country’s economic meltdown. 

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies do not have the divine right to govern the country against our collective will. They do not have the divine right to send the nation tumbling down into the abyss. It is our duty and responsibility to save ourselves and the nation. 

Zimbabwe’s serious economic meltdown is a result of 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule. This is a man-made problem and per se within the powers of mortals to solve. 

"Drop sanctions" says US experts - they are burning tyres bellowing obnoxious smoke shedding no light N Garikai

“Experts in Washington, discussing whether or not Zimbabwe is a source of shame or opportunity for Africa, were unanimous in their position that targeted sanctions were hurtful to the country, and must be removed, but equally held the government and the ruling Zanu-PF party accountable for the poor state of the economy and overall decline,” reported VOA.

But going through what these so called experts said, one will be disappointed to find very little evidence to support their claims and that they had nothing to say on many of the burning issues. We are no wiser from their expertise. The panellists were like burning tyres, they produced lots and lots of foul smelling smoke but very little heat and no light!

"Certainly ZIDERA which is still in the books and has been extended by President Trump - do they hurt the poor more than the ruling elite? There is a strong case that the sanctions do hurt the poor more than they hurt the ruling elite, which through corruption gets around the sanctions," said panellist Barry Wood RTHK Washington correspondent.

The Zanu PF government and its apologists have often blamed ZIDERA for IMF, WB and other international financial institutions’ refusal to grant Harare the much needed credit lines. But Barry Wood should know that this is just a feeble excuse because the credit lines dried up in 2000 because Zanu PF was not servicing its debt, long before ZIDERA which was imposed a year later. The Chinese have too stopped to grant Harare any loans for the same reason.

It is pleasing to note that Mr Wood acknowledges that corruption is a serious problem in Zimbabwe. In 2016 President Robert Mugabe admitted that Zimbabwe was being “swindled” out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue. It should be noted here that Zimbabwe’s GDP is US$10 billion. To date, not even one diamond swindler has been arrested and one dollar recovered.

Indeed we know the wholesale looting has continued because the mining has continued 24/7 and parliament was told that government was receiving 1/6 of the expected revenue.

Would Mr Wood, advance any credit lines to a regime that he knows is corrupt and wasteful? Of course, not! Yet he expects the IMF, WB, etc. to do so regards of country’s mounting debt and Zanu PF’s failure to repay!

"So how did Zimbabwe plunge to these tremendously low levels?" queried Professor Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University.

"We have property rights, number one. Two, money. Three, there's no hard budget constraints in Zimbabwe, a situation where you have no discipline, very weak institutions, no one is in control of fiscal affairs. When you have a soft budget and no hard budget constraint, and anything goes basically in the fiscal sphere. In the fourth item … the dominant political party, Zanu-PF is a party which operates much like an organized criminal syndicate or crime syndicate.

"So step one, unilaterally the US and the international community, to the extent the international communities involved should drop sanctions, and encourage, of course, the adoption of the 'Singapore Strategy' and stop talking about foreign aid. Foreign aid is not going to rescue Zimbabwe."

To start with the targeted sanctions have not worked because they were not followed up. Last week the Standard Bank was fined US$18 million for doing business with individuals on the sanctions list. There is no doubt that it was not the only institution that had ignored the sanctions and that this has been going on for years. The imposed sanctions will force everyone to clean-up their act and make sanctions work.

Second, until Professor Hanke presents us with more details on his “Singapore Strategy”, it will be foolish to abandon the only plan, sanctions, we have to fight the “crime syndicate”.

The West, especially the Americans, went to great lengths to explain to President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime that if they honoured their promise to hold free, fair and credible elections the sanctions will be lifted. Not even one of the so called expert panellists could deny the elections were rigged. The regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake!

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political hell-on-earth because the nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime for 39 years. As long as Zanu PF retains its carte blanche powers to rig elections and use brute force to beat the people into submission the will be no escape out of this hell-hole!

Zimbabwe needs to end this curse of rigged elections and the sanctions are helping to highlight the people’s demand for democratic reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections.

There will certainly be cases of ordinary people suffering as a consequence of the sanction. Indeed, there are very few things in things world that will have positive effects and no negatives. Even with the very rigorous safety procedures there are still flying accidents, for example. Are we then to banish all flying because of the odd air craft crash! We must carefully weigh the benefit the sanctions bring on the one side against the all the suffering and hardship on the other.

If the imposing of the sanctions can help deliver free, fair and credible elections and end the Zanu PF dictatorship and all the suffering and deaths it has caused then bring on the sanctions!

It is interesting to note that Mnangagwa and his apologists, to the man and woman, supported the UN sanctions imposed against Ian Smith’s white racist government before independence. They all dismissed Smith’s counter argument that the sanctions caused untold economic hardship on the black majority. They are now saying Smith was right just because they are now on the business end of the whip. What a bunch of hypocrites!

Sudan's revolution has melted the core - pray the new cast is not yet another dictatorship P Guramatunhu

“In his first televised address, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdelrahman said he was also cancelling a night curfew ordered by his predecessor and ordered the release of all prisoners jailed under emergency laws put in place by ousted President Omar al-Bashir,” reported New Zimbabwe.

“A coalition of groups leading the protests said it had accepted an invitation by the armed forces to meet on Saturday to discuss a new civilian government.”

In a rare but welcome show of visionary leadership the AU has reportedly give the military council two weeks to hand over power to civilian rule.

The days, weeks and months before and after revolution are the most important time in a nation’s history because, in that short window of opportunity, the nation’s core is melted and cast anew. If the new cast is deformed and hideous it can be improved upon whilst it is still hot and malleable but with each passing day it will be cooling and hardening.

Once the core is set the character and temperament of nation, whether democratic or tyrannical, will cast in stone. If the nation gets it wrong, it may take another generation or more for another revolution and another opportunity to melt the core and make a new cast. All this is a familiar tale in Zimbabwe.

In 1980 Zimbabwe had its golden opportunity to replace the racist and oppressive white colonial government with a just and democratic government in which the freedoms, rights and dignity of all were sacrosanct. Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs hijack the revolution and instead imposed a corrupt and tyrannical de facto one-party dictatorship on the nation. For the last 39 years the nation has been stuck with the dictatorship with tragic economic and social consequences!   

Sudan gained independence from Britain on January 1, 1956, after a military coup in Egypt forced the British government to grant Sudan independence. The country has blundered from one crisis to another because of bad governance; the last 30 years under the dictator Omar Al Bashir have been particularly bloody and chaotic.

The removal from power of Al Bashir has melted the core and the people of Sudan have golden chance making a new cast of Sudan. May God and Allah grant the people them the serenity and wisdom to cast a new Sudan the nation and posterity and we, their friends and well-wishers, can all be proud of!