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!
10 comments:
I do not think anyone is surprise with Chamisa major climbdown, he is a sell-out and this is not the first time he has sold-out. What matters here is that Mnangagwa is illegitimate by virtue of last year's elections were pregnant with flaws and illegalities. Chamisa can proclaim Mnangagwa legal from the rooftop, that will not change the reality that the Zanu PF regime is illegal and Zimbabwe is a pariah state.
Zimbabwe's economic recovery is dependent on the nation first curing itself of the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.
Last year's elections should have never taken place because it was clear with no reforms in place Zanu PF will once again rig the elections just as it did in 2013. Chamisa and his fellow opposition friends participated in the flawed and illegal elections out of greed and it is the same greed that is making then recognise Mnangagwa as legal although they know the elections were rigged.
Zimbabwe is not going getting out of the hell-on-earth it is stuck in until we cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and pariah state. By pretending an illegitimate regime is legitimate we are only deluding ourselves and no one else and extending Zanu PF's reign and our state in this hell!
President Mnangagwa had the golden opportunity to have the sanctions lifted and take the country out of the darkness of pariah state by ending corruption and holding free, fair and credible elections. He failed to deliver on both fronts and one of the immediate consequences of that was the worsening economic meltdown. There is no doubt that the Zimbabwe economic is getting worse and worse and that this cannot continue for much longer.
President Mnangagwa and his regime rigged last year's elections, this is a historic fact. Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past and got away with it but clearly not this time. The only way out is for the regime to resign. There will not be another GNU, the last one was a total failure. This time, Zanu PF must resign and go!
Pretoria knows that giving bilateral aid wouldn’t necessarily stabilise the Zimbabwean economy
“Without addressing the enduring currency crisis, any bailout would be sucked into an economic black hole just to have Zimbabwe requiring more. The shortage of hard currency only begets more shortages,” explained Chikohomero.
Furthermore, a bailout would exacerbate South Africa’s own economic stagnation and high unemployment rate.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs no one would ever want to do business in the country. Any bailout would be wasted on consumables to starve off the chronic shortages which is not sustainable.
The biggest mistake SA has made was to lie about last year’s elections. President Ramaphosa knows that the elections were rigged and yet he is the one who said “the elections went well” and was calling for sanctions to be lifted. At least he had the good sense not to bankroll the bailout!
China’s Tsingshan Holding Group has expanded its plans for a steel plant in Zimbabwe to include a power plant and a lithium concession, Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister Winston Chitando said on Tuesday.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is trying to woo foreign investors, especially in mining, as part of efforts to revive an economy that suffered in the later years of Robert Mugabe’s rule.
Tsingshan signed a $1 billion outline agreement to build a 2 million tonne-per-annum steel plant in Zimbabwe in June last year.
Its original agreement included chrome, nickel, iron and coal concessions, but the new deal allows it to build a 600-megawatt power plant in two phases as well as to mine lithium.
singshan’s subsidiary, Afrochine, already has a ferrochrome operation at Selous, 85 kilometres west of Harare.
As much as Zimbabwe would like to see increased investor interest in Zimbabwe still the nation dreads to see the Chinese playing a leading role. China has played a major role in turning Zimbabwe into de facto one party dictatorship and hence the reason the nation loathes the Chinese!
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said he had set aside 53 million Zimbabwean RTGs dollars ($18 million) to compensate the farmers, but the full compensation package of $30 billion is yet to be mobilized.
An estimated 4,000 farmers were evicted during a much-criticized Land Reform Program which was implemented in 2000 under president Robert Mugabe, who was removed from office in November 2017 after nearly 40 years in power.
If President Mnangagwa had done something to end corruption and kept his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections then Zimbabwe would not be a pariah state shunned by investors and lenders alike. The country would be enjoying meaningful economic recovery right now. He did not do these things and so the economic meltdown has continued to get worse.
He is offering to pay the white farmers whose cattle, crops and property Mnangagwa and the other Zanu PF leaders looted to win some brownie points in the hope that will fool people into believing Zimbabwe is no longer a pariah state. How naïve!
Why is Zanu PF forcing the taxpayers’ to pay the compensation when those who benefited from the looted assets are the one who should pay?
VP Chiwenga said most countries have less forex than Zimbabwe but they don't face the myriad of problems the country was facing due to purported foreign currency shortages.
"We will have to take stern measures because we can't carry on like this as a country. I'm issuing a stern warning to those engaged in activities that undermine the economic growth of the country," he said.
This is typical of this regime! Instead of doing something to address the corruption, lawlessness, the vote rigging, etc.; root causes of the economic meltdown; the regime is blaming others. The regime rigged the July 2018 elections confident that it will rig economic recovery but that has proven a bridge too far. And now the regime is looking for scapegoats for its own failures and incompetence.
The only right thing for Zanu PF to do is to step down, after all the regime rigged the elections and has no mandate to govern. In the end, Zanu PF will be forced to step down!
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa told the journalists on Wednesday that his party will continue calling for genuine dialogue organised by a credible and Independent Convenor but if it fails, they will resort to demonstrations.
"We have always called for dialogue and if it fails, we will resort to constitutional means which gives us the constitutional right to demonstrate and petition."
Chamisa' statement comes at a time when pressure group Tajamuka has promised to mobilise another wave of protests that will rock the Mnangagwa the Mnangagwa government.
Zanu PF has failed to end corruption and went on to rig last year’s elections and thus confirmed Zimbabwe as a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. No one would want to do business in a pariah state, we all know this after the 37 years of Mugabe rule. Zanu PF is illegitimate and the only way out is for the regime to step down.
So why is Chamisa calling for a dialogue with an illegitimate regime, other than to ask for a seat on the gravy train! If Chamisa had listened to all the advice and refused to participate in the flawed and illegal elections last year the nation would have been spare all this mess!
Indeed if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms when the party had the opportunity to do so during the last GNU, we would be a totally different country by now.
MDC leaders have already proven to be corrupt and incompetent and the sooner the nation wakes up to this reality the sooner the nation will get out of the current mess.
” We are the ruling party and if you want to talk to the opposition then please go to Mr Mnangagwa.
If ED refuses to sit down with us we will use the constitutional means at our disposal,” said Chamisa.
The elections were so flawed and illegal, ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. So can such an illegitimate process produce a legitimate winner? It is clear that MDC A does not care that the elections were rigged as long as they get a few seats on the gravy train!
Zimbabwe should have implemented the democratic reforms by now and would not be talking of rigged elections and pariah state. We are doing so because MDC leader failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so. MDC are running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, they do not care about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship as long as they get gravy train seats!
“The usual prophets of doom are declaring that Zimbabwe’s economy will collapse by June, 2019.
Well, well, well, this, of course, is not gonna happen. Economic challenges are there but then, only a person from outer space can declare that Zimbabwe’s economy will collapse by June,” said Gutu
Given the sorry state of the economy right now with unemployment at 90%, basic services such as supply of clean water and health care all but totally collapse, etc.; I would say the economy has collapsed already!
President Emmerson Mnangagwa seems to be warming up to having MDC Leader Nelson Chamisa in his government in a capacity that is yet to be agreed on.
Sources within ZANU PF who spoke to this publication reported that Mnangagwa is afraid of a forced exit from the General Constantino Chiwenga led faction and has resorted to accommodating Chamisa so that it may be difficult to effect the plan of the military.
ZANU PF propaganda machinery has been on overdrive in the past days to send signals that Mnangagwa is warming up towards some arrangement with Chamisa and willing to meet him.
On Tuesday Deputy Government Spokesperson Energy Mutodi told journalists that Mnangagwa must meet up with Chamisa and they agree on an inclusive arrangement.
The only thing Mnangagwa can ever hope to achieve in including Chamisa in his government is to effectively shut up Chamisa. The economic meltdown will continue and thus prove that Chamisa’s claim “to have the key to economic recovery” was all hot air. With that point settled, Mnangagwa will be back to where he is today – the country in a serious economic mess. No doubt, the Chiwenga faction will be emboldened and demand change but so too will the ordinary people.
Chiwenga and his friends will not offer an solution to the economic meltdown because they have none to offer even now. The nation will be demanding real change and will not settle for yet another Zanu PF fudge!
Post a Comment