Zimbabwe and the EU have started re-engagement talks which the Zimbabwe government hopes will culminate in the EU, IMF, WB and other international lenders bankrolling Zimbabwe’s economic programme, followed by a flood of investors.
“At the start of the open-ended talks between diplomats and officials in Harare, EU Zimbabwe delegation head Timo Olkkonen said they would discuss issues including economic development, trade, investment, rights, rule of law and good governance,” reported Spotlight Zimbabwe.
“The government has already signed up to an IMF monitoring programme where it has committed to political and economic reforms in a bid to set a track record of fiscal discipline that could earn it debt forgiveness and future financing.”
These talks are only taking place now, 18 months since Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF coup junta, seized power and promised to end corruption and hold free, fair and credible elections. Good governance is still on the agenda because Mnangagwa and the junta did not honour their promises of ending corruption, holding free and fair elections, etc.
The EU had a 142-person strong Election Observer Mission in Zimbabwe and team did not mince its words as to its findings. "The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability," stated the 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."
So which part of “Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards” does Ambassador Timo Olkkonen and his delegates failing to understand? Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta blatantly rigged last year’s elections, the regime has no mandate to govern the country, it is illegitimate and ipso facto must step down.
Why is the EU granting an illegitimate Zanu PF regime legitimacy as long as it promises to implement democratic reforms? We know the regime had the golden opportunities to implement the reforms during the GNU, since the November 2017 coup, etc. but has wasted these opportunities.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power till 2023, the party will rig that year’s elections regardless of any promises made to implement reforms. After 39 years of rigged elections and broken promises it is insane to expect anything else from the regime.
It is no secret that there are some nations in the EU, notably Belgium, who have been itching to lay their hands on Zimbabwe's diamonds and do not care about Zimbabwe’s bad governance and the suffering and deaths it has caused. There are many Zimbabweans and none-Zimbabweans who have sacrificed careers, life and limbs in the fight for meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe.
This EU re-engagement will gratify the greed of the Belgians but at the expense of undermining all the sacrifice and hard work of those seeking democratic change in Zimbabwe. It will be criminal negligence to allow such blatant betray of the long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe to go unopposed!
4 comments:
@ Mahlahla
“The national clean up campaigns being conducted country-wide have portrayed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as a people-person who wants to connect with the masses from all walks of life. Never in many years have we witnessed a President who mingles with the ordinary citizens, performing one of life's 'lowly' tasks of cleaning dirt and rubbish in the country's streets.”
This is just a gimmick! Mnangagwa has failed to clean-up corruption and now wants to be seen cleaning the street, mopping hospital floors, etc.; jobs many of the 90% unemployed would happily do if they were paid a living wage!
In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was being swindled out of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone. When he seized power from Mugabe, Mnangagwa promised to end corruptions. He has failed to arrest even one diamond swindler or recover one dollar in his 18 months in office.
He rigged last year’s elections to impose himself and his Zanu PF junta on a nation desperate for good, competent and accountable government. So did he rig elections so he can sweep the streets and hold the nation to ransom whilst the country sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss!
Many of the EU countries have had their application to join delayed for years whilst they cleaned up their democratic institutions. Turkey has been waiting to join the EU for donkey years. If any EU member country was to blatantly rig elections as Zanu PF has done, the country would be booted out of the EU before sunset. And yet here we are, the EU knows that Zanu PF is a party of corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs but wants to sweep all that under the carpet and pretend the regime is legitimate. The sheer hypocrisy of it all is breath-taking!
The people of Zimbabwe salute the Americans, Canadians, the British and a few other western nation for standing with the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe in calling a spade a bloody spade! Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year's elections, the regime is illegitimate and pretending that it is anything else is an insult to those of us suffering the consequences of the regime's corrupt and tyrannical rule.
SUSPECTED security agents allegedly abducted and tortured Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) leader Obert Masaraure for leading a teachers' strike, dealing a blow to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's bid to re-engage with the European Union (EU).
ARTUZ yesterday alleged that Masaraure was on Wednesday abducted and tortured by security agents, who told him to stop leading a strike by disaffected teachers
The basis of the EU -Zimbabwe re-engagement has always been dubious, to say the least, given that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and is, ipso facto, illegitimate. The EU’s own Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission dismissed the elections and flawed and illegal.
“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability," stated the EU Mission final report.
"As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards."
This Zanu PFD regime is illegitimate and by re-engaging the regime, the EU is making the regime legitimate by the back door. And if the regime remains in power by 2023 we can be certain of one thing – it will rig those elections, guaranteed. The people of Zimbabwe are desperate to end the Zanu PF dictatorship; many have sacrificed their careers, life and limb and over the years hundreds of thousands have lost their lives.
Of course, it is infuriating that anyone should be undermining these people’s efforts to get meaningful change particularly when those doing so are themselves enjoying the fruits of democracy and good governance! The EU are re-engaging the illegitimate Zanu PF for selfish gain at the expense of the long-suffering masses in Zimbabwe. We must denounce this at every turn!
"The belief that Zim is in a new dispensation is foolish and tragic!" I have to read the statement three times before I could believe it was Hopewell Chinono, the Mnangagwa apologist, saying this. When apologists like him openly admit the regime is being led by fools, you can be certain the economic meltdown is biting hard.
Post a Comment