USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian A Nichols
expressed his country’s disappointment with the lack of progress by President
Mnangagwa’s government failure to hold those responsible for shooting dead 7
civilians and injuring many other in the 1st August 2017 violent
crush of street protests.
“President Mnangagwa deserves much credit
for inviting former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe to lead a
Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate the events of that fateful day.
Ultimately, the COI produced a thorough report with many sound recommendations
that the President announced and unconditionally accepted on December 18, 2018.
On January 28, 2019, he formed a special Cabinet task force led by the Justice
and Foreign Affairs ministers, specifically tasked to implement these
recommendations,” wrote the Ambassador.
“Unfortunately, now over seven months
after the Motlanthe report's release, the government has very little to show in
terms of progress. I read as of mid-June that the Ministry of Justice was
processing 35 victims' claims for compensation. While laudable, this should not
take so long. I continue to hear about how the police are being
"re-equipped" to better deal with demonstrations, as if this was the
central lesson learned from the commission's report. I have yet to learn of a
single soldier or security forces member held to account for the deaths of
civilians as the report clearly mandated.
“Sadly, the ink was barely dry on the
report before the security forces again acted with impunity, killing more
civilians in January 2019. Likewise, the government has held no one to account
for these deaths either. Equally troubling, Defence deputy minister Victor
Matemadanda threatened to use soldiers "trained to kill" against
protesters only a few days ago.”
Mr Ambassador, President Mnangagwa and
his Zanu PF regime have perfected the art of saying what people want to hear whilst
the regime continues to do as it pleases. After the November 2017 military coup
he and his putsch knew the world was not amused about the coup and so he was quick
off the mark to promise free, fair and credible elections. He did not implement
even one token reform and went on to blatantly rig the elections.
You are 100% correct, Mr Ambassador, that
the regime has dragged its feet as regards implemented the Motlanthe Commission’s
recommendations to bring those responsible for the shooting to account.
The regime has also not implemented any
of the recommendation of the various election observer teams. After 39 years of
rigged elections this is the country’s number one challenge. The only sure way
to get the reforms implemented is for the nation to appoint an interim
administration tasked to implement the reforms. Zanu PF rigged last year’s
election, the party has no mandate to govern, it is illegitimate and should
step down to create the space for the interim administration.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in office,
either on its own or in the new GNU MDC is calling for, we can be 100% certain
that no meaningful reforms will be implemented and that Zanu PF will rig the
2023 elections. Besides, Zanu PF insists that last year’s elections were free,
fair and credible; proof the regime has no intention of implementing any
reforms.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah
state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs there
will never be any meaningful economic recovery and political stability. No
investor wants to do business with a thug and the worsening economic meltdown
is socially and politically unsustainable.
The prospect of present economic chaos
and suffering continuing for even one more month, much less Zanu PF rigging the
2023 elections to extend its corrupt and tyrannical rule, is simply
unthinkable!
16 comments:
Man is a creature of habit; once we have a well established routine we do not want to change it. But above all else, man is a creature of reason. It is an undeniable fact that Zimbabwe's de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship has served the filthy rich ruling elite very well but at the expense of the overwhelming majority who now live in abject poverty and many are dying of hunger, lack of basic healthcare and medicine, etc. Reason demands that there must be radical change.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have proven beyond all reasonable that they are corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. They are not fit to govern this great nation and they must step down without further undo.
The mandate to govern is derived from the people by winning the majority votes in free, fair and credible elections. This is an essential tenet of good and accountable government, a tenet we have not rigorously enforced in the past at our own peril. But a tenet we must now rigorous enforce and break a foolish and bad precedence.
It is not surprising that Zanu PF should be trying to impose the dictatorship by brute force not only as habit but even as a divine right. No regime change is not just a mantra for Mnangagwa and his cronies it is a dogma, It is the heart and soul of why they risked life and limb to wrestle power from Mugabe, why they rigged last year's elections just as they rigged elections in the past and will rig 2023 elections too.
It is tragic that the nation is being forced to face gun wielding thugs to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to vote this Zanu PF dictatorship out of office. But given the grime reality of the heart breaking economic suffering and the hundreds now dying every week of poverty and damn anguish - it is better to die seeking change than have this sub-human existence.
It is not the survival of the Zanu PF dictator and his cronies that is at issue but the survival of the nation, Zimbabwe. For the survival of Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa and his cronies must step down, that is not negotiable!
If the street vendors living on US$30 or less are forced to pay 2% electronic transaction tax surely Makepekepe can afford to pay duty on the donated bus!
“Sports and Recreation Commission will then write a covering letter to the Secretary for Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation who will also request for the same from the Treasury. If Treasury grants the exemption, then Zimra will proceed to process the same,” wrote Minister Dr Kirsty Coventry.
Zanu PF has been very clever in coopting many otherwise respectable Zimbabweans to spruce up its otherwise rotten image as a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous regime. Even when it was clear what Zanu PF was doing it is shocking how many Zimbabweans have sold-out their heart and soul to the devil for thirty pieces of silver, a fancy title and the generous ministerial limo, etc.
Minister Coventry, Minister Mthuli Ncube and many others are nothing more than political prostitutes and after a year in office they now think, say and do what one expect of Zanu PF thugs. If anyone was to ask them, they will no doubt insist last year's elections were free, fair and credible. that soldiers featured in the 1 st August shooting were pointing their guns at 45 degrees in the air, etc., etc.
It is little wonder Zimbabwe is in a hell of a mess; we have more than our fair share of sell-outs and political prostitutes!
People who compare Mnangagwa to Mugabe are just fools given to idiotic and futile arguments. Mnangagwa and Mugabe are like cobra and a black mamba you do not want to be ruled by either just as you would not want to be bitten by either snake. Mugabe inherited the seven fat cows and seven fat ears of corn from Ian Smith and that is the reason why it took time for him to destroy the economy. Mnangagwa inherited one skinny cow from Mugabe it is nonsensical to argue that he got no milk from it as if Mugabe would have dove any better!
The real issue is that those who thought Mnangagwa was going to revive economy bring about democratic change were very naive. Mnangagwa was Mugabe's most trusted henchman and dirty the dictators dirtiest laundry and for anyone to believe taking the top dog position was going to transform Mnangagwa only goes to show just how foolish some people can be.
When Mnangagwa stage the November 2017 coup to remove Mugabe people should have seen is for what it is - an in house Zanu PF factional war to decide who controlled the dictatorship and not a dismantling of the dictatorship. The people should have insisted on their own agenda of dismantling the dictatorship.
Mnangagwa rigged last year's elections and the people must now focus on getting the illegitimate regime to step down. The call by MDC to form a new Zanu PF and MDC GNU is just another distraction no different from the November 2017 coup which the people must ignore. The GNU will not implement any reform no more that Mnangagwa's regime ended the Zanu PF dictatorship.
Labour minister Sekai Nzenza finally tabled the report before Parliament in line with an ultimatum. The audit reveals that NSSA suffered actual prejudice of US$7,5m and potential prejudice of US$175m.
NSSA awarded tenders for the construction of 10 504 housing units, under off-take housing project, but not even a single unit was constructed despite releasing an advance deposit payment of US$27 355 000.
This is a very damaging report but like so many other damaging reports, nothing will come out of it!
This is such a damaging report that in a healthy and functioning democracy not only would the line Minister resign, the whole government will be compelled to resign! There is no hope of this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF regime getting this country out of the economic and political mess it landed us in. We should focus all our time, energy and resources on getting Zanu PF to step down so we can appoint an interim administration to implement the reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections.
"As Zimbabweans mark this somber anniversary, we are reminded of all that can go wrong when regime preservation comes ahead of real democratic change. Zimbabwe is facing a worse political and economic crisis today than in 2017 when long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was forced from power by the country's military. Today, citizens are suffering under staggering inflation, regular fuel and water shortages, rolling blackouts, a failing currency, and an increasingly repressive political environment," said US Senator Risch.
The senator is spot on, with Zanu PF the regime’s self-preservation has always been more important than the upholding the law, peace and justice. Zanu PF does not care that millions of our people now live in abject poverty with no clean running water, no functioning healthcare service, etc.; whilst the ruling elite live in palatial mansions in unparalleled luxury.
The biggest mistake the people of Zimbabwe have ever made was to allow Zanu PF to rig elections and, instead of punishing the thugs, reward them with absolute power. Now the regime routinely rigs elections and expects to be rewarded with absolute power as its divine right! It was a foolish and dangerous precedence to set and for the last 40 years we have paid dearly for it too. But now it is time to put an end to this madness. Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the party is illegitimate and must step down.
They are those who want the regime to remain in power on condition it implements the democratic reforms. This is just another excuse for appeasing the regime, a feeble excuse to continue the folly of rewarding Zanu PF for rigging elections.
What Zimbabwe needs to get out of the hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed the nation is people with resolve and focus and what better way to show this than having a clean break with the wishy-washy policies of appeasing Zanu PF at the expense of the common good!
This is day 6/7, there is one more day to go and we do not have the foggest idea what is it we are going to do on day 7! These quotations from the Bible are all very well but what do they mean?
In all MDC's nearly 20 years on the political stage, the party has never produced a workable plan or strategy on anything. This is just another example of MDC blundering from pillar to post.
Chamisa, the whole 2018 election process was a farce, 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied a vote, ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll, the rural voters were where reduced to medieval serfs beholden to Zanu PF, etc. Why you and MDC have elected to focus only on the presidential result and ignore the rest of the flawed and illegal process only goes to show you lot are not really interested ensuring there are free, fair and credible elections.
MDC won a number of the bait gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away during elections and that is why you have ignored the flaws and illegalities in the process. You have refused to accept Mnangagwa as the winner of the presidential race because you see this as an opportunity to increase the party's share of the gravy train seats.
"August 3 is the day all our problems were brewed!" said Chamisa. MDC, yes but if you are talking of the country; our problems were brewed in the five years GNU when MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform in five years. The rigged 2013 and 2018 elections are the consequences of MDC leaders selling out.
“We got in the inclusive government and just sat there, spent five years in there. We came out without doing anything," you admitted yourself Mr Chamisa last month after over a decades of deny it, of course.
Right now, you and your MDC friends are offering Mnangagwa "legitimacy" if he appoints you and a few other MDC leaders ministers in the proposed new GNU. We all know that the new GNU will accomplish nothing. You lot will once again sit, eat and do nothing!
The nation's greatest problem right now is none other than you and your corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders; you are selling legitimacy to Zanu PF to help it stay in power when the nation's focus is to pressure the illegitimate regime to step down.
Millions of Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC into power on the ticket the party will deliver democratic changes. And today, not only has MDC sold-out and failed to get even one reform implemented but worse still MDC is now fighting in Zanu PF's corner! It is infuriating!
Part 1 of 2
@ Mafume
What Zanu PF has decided to do is to invest more on various intimidatory tactics that have in effect engineered a lot of fear in the rural electorate.
lndeed, it is crucial to consider the outcome of the three by-elections, in the context of the following decisive factors among others:
Vote Buying
Over the years, Zanu PF has perfected the art of massive vote buying. Its electoral strategy is build on the distribution of some material benefits during its campaigns. The most obvious of these are the food parcels that are shared freely to the prospective voters. This is a very crucial factor when considers the deep level of poverty and higher exposure to hunger in the rural parts of Zimbabwe.Food is being used as a political weapon against citizens so vulnerable to hunger and poverty.
Systematic lntimidation
Zanu PF has also perfected the art of systematic intimidation of voters. The strategy of intimidation is mostly enforced by such crucial local institutions as the traditional leaders, who always ensure that all their subjects vote for Zanu PF as a community. At times, various forms of violence are also used to intimidate the voters. ln resettlement areas, local residents have very limited land ownership rights. This is used effectively to force them to vote for Zanu PF.A case in point is a ward where all the people were given notices (elaborate)
Abuse of State Resources
Zanu PF also usually abuses all the available State institutions or resources to consolidate its electoral campaign strategy. All the relevant parastatals like ZBC, Zimpapers, GMB, ZESA, ZUPCO, etc are always thrown into the fray. A recent court judgment confirmed that State media was systematically used to favour Zanu PF, while also undermining the MDC at the same time. Civil servants such as the local District Administrators and security personnel such as those from the CIO and ZRP, also play a crucial role in the roll out of the Zanu PF campaign strategy
A Compromised ZEC
The other crucial factor is the apparent lack of independence of the electoral commission, ZEC. This starts from the budget allocation process, appointment of both staff and commissioners. ln this regard, a lot of State security personnel have already been deployed to the ZEC Secretariat. Further, ZEC deliberately avoids being open or transparent in the way it conducts its operations. For example, the voter registration process always has problematic issues. Related to that, the voters roll is not readily available to the opposition. Worse still, during election day some voters are turned away after being told their names are no longer appearing or they are in another polling station. lt is time that ZEC underwent major reforms to make it more independent or professional just like its counterpart in South Africa, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
The on-going participation of the MDC in the by-elections should be used to actively highlight the urgent need for comprehensive reforms.
The MDC already has a plan in place. The plan is the recently launched RELOAD strategic document.
RELOAD is a roadmap that seeks to ensure that Zimbabwe finally evolves out of its perennial crisis mode into a truly freely, democratic and prosperous country
Jacob Mafume
MDC Secretary for Elections
Part 2 of 2
Jacob Mafume, you have not say anything new or different here. Ever since the bench mark 2008 elections with all the blazon cheating and wanton violence, that even SADC and AU, known for turning a blind eye to dodgy elections, had no choice but to condemn; everyone came to the conclusion that there would never be free, fair and credible elections without first implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF cheating, using violence, etc.
SADC leaders forced Robert Mugabe sign the Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need to implement the raft of democratic reforms. Not even one reform saw the light of day because MDC leaders “sat, ate and did nothing for five years”, as Chamisa himself admitted.
SADC leaders did their best to stop MDC leaders taking part in the 2013 elections with no reforms but their warning fell on deaf ears. Indeed MDC leaders themselves were aware that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and still they participated out of greed, as David Coltart confessed in his book.
In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the GNU, David Coltart, gave details of how Zanu PF flouted the electoral rules, it clear the upcoming 2013 elections would not be free and fair. Meanwhile talks of uniting the two MDC factions to fight the elections as one were going nowhere.
“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,” explained Senator Coltart.
“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.”
MDC went on to participate in the 2018 elections and all the by-elections since even though the party knew Zanu PF would use all the dirty tricks you have listed above for the same reason – greed. MDC will participate in the flawed and illegal elections as long as Zanu PF continue to give away a few gravy train seats as bait. So please spare us all these platitude and complains of Zanu PF rigging elections.
MDC has long abandoned the task of bringing democratic change, it is now giving the illegitimate Zanu PF regimes some modicum of legitimacy in return for scraps! MDC is hunting with the hound whilst pretending to be still running with the hare. The real tragedy is that many ordinary Zimbabweans are so naïve and gullible they have yet to wake up to the reality that MDC is selling-out and has been doing it for the last decade, at least.
Ever since Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies got into power in 1980, they have shown an iron resolve to secure absolute power at all cost.
“The ‘new’ regime can be viewed from different angles, but the nub of it is this: there’s a recognition that the economic fiasco of the last 20 years was suboptimal, but Emmerson Mnangagwa and his fellow travellers will burn the house down if they feel it necessary. Make no mistake, their will to power is every bit as intense as Mugabe’s—as is their belief that they own the country’s choicest fruits by right of conquest,” wrote Stuart Doran.
“There’s no comprehending Zimbabwe without an appreciation of that mentality. Yet many fail to get it because they don’t read the country’s history. In 1979, at the height of the struggle against white rule, a diplomat who mixed frequently with Mugabe and other leaders of his party observed that ‘ZANU does not seem to attach much importance to the destruction caused by prolonged war’. They said they were content to see Zimbabwe ‘totally’ demolished if that was the price to be paid for preventing others from ruling it. That attitude has not changed an iota, notwithstanding the passage of 40 years and Mugabe’s departure. After all, the men who now rule wielded his hatchets for most of that period.”
Indeed, these Zanu PF thugs have managed to retain their iron grip on absolute power for the last 40 years but at the price of burning down the country. Once upon a time the country prided itself as the breadbasket of the region and yet today millions of our people depend of food aid, the country is so poor it cannot even pay for the food. In the day and age when human ingenuity has turned deserts in blooming orchards we are starving in, for all intent and purposes, the Garden of Eden. Such is the damning testimonial of the Zanu PF leaders’ breath-taking incompetence.
The Zanu PF ruling elite are filthy rich, live in palatial mansions and have extravagant lifestyles; all paid for by robbing the filthy poor majority. Today ¾ of the population live on US$30 or less per month and still the Zanu PF ministers have been devising all manner of tax to get a cut of the pittance.
The chasm that has opened between the filthy rich few and filthy poor overwhelming majority is proof of the total failure of the Zanu PF dictatorship and its “will rather burn down the country than let anyone else rule it” mentality. But as fate would have it, the failure has hardened the thugs’ resolve to hang on to power at all cost – the prospect of joining the growing multitude living in abject poverty is simply unthinkable.
Zanu PF has never accepted the fundamental right of every citizen to a meaningful say in the governance of the country much less on in the right’s importance as the guarantor of good, competent and accountable government. 40 years ago our challenge, as the citizens of the country, was to stop Zanu PF denying us our fundamental freedoms and rights. Today our fight is a hell lot more complex and urgent – Zanu PF has burnt down
@ Mandla Tshuma
What they don't realise is that it's now a matter of life and death for most people - A struggle for survival. No one gets to choose the timing of sickness but for Zimbabweans, it better not be now because the end result would be the worst. The cost of health care is beyond what the ordinary person can afford. Health care costs more than twelve times it cost a year ago and it looks like we just got started, the worst is yet to come. Even food is hard to come by nowadays. Some pictures doing rounds on social media showed pupils at some boarding school having tea and boiled maize grains (read as maize seed) for a meal. Pupils are at least having porridge at this other one I know. The future is bleak for all and sundry. Fuel prices now go up not one time but several times per week. Electricity now comes like a thief and gas is…well, let's move on. No one cares, at least not these overfed and unconcerned politicians.
It now looks like the biggest opposition grouping in the land is composed of the same calibre of individuals. Cut from the same cloth; just different dyes. Two political parties holding us at ransom; one of them is yellow and green and the other one, RED! I'm at real pains to believe the opposition cannot do anything to solve this mess. Zimbabweans continue to suffer and every passing day seems to be making way for a more horrible one. Meanwhile, the opposition lawmakers are pushing and fighting for new cars. They recently grabbed some little attention with their ‘comprehensive agenda to end Zimbabwe's current economic crisis' also called the RELOAD. It's full name - Road to Economic Recovery, Legitimacy, Openness and Democracy. It's hard to say whether it's an election manifesto or whatever it is. It does not seem to be worth even the paper it is written on; no wonder why it didn't receive any meaningful attention. At this rate, if anything happens and solves this mess, it's more likely it would be from Zanu-PF itself and not the MDC. As remote as that sounds, it's the sad truth. They seem to forget they were elected into office, and are paid to make hard decisions, meaningful decisions that impact lives of Zimbabweans. They need to make huge sacrifices even. For example, if it means talks with Zanu-PF mean Nero slides into political oblivion then let it be so, as long as it means affordable medicines, real butter and bread (from a conventional, 21st century bakery and not from that rudimentary mud structure) to the average Zimbabwean. But well, like their contemporaries from the yellow and green side, they can never take risks; they will continue wining and dining. Overfed, unconcerned and arrogant individuals.
I am pleased to note that you have finally come to the right conclusion that our political struggle has moved up the gears from the fight for freedom, justice, liberty and a fair share of the nation’s wealth to the more urgent fight for survival. Forty years of this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF rule has destroyed the nation’s economy and denied us of our freedom and human dignity. Our lives before independence was the golden age compared to the stone age of today!
It is a great pity that most people showed more passion to fight colonial rule than they are showing to end the de facto one-party dictatorship when human lives under stake like never before. This is one fight we have to fight or die!
I am equally pleased to note that you have come to the right conclusion that MDC leaders have long stopped fighting in the ordinary people’s corner. If MDC leaders had not sold-out again and again, we would be out of this mess years ago. Many people are yet to see MDC leaders for the sell-outs they are because these people have a binary mentality, they have accepted Zanu Pf are the bad guys and are locked into accepting MDC as the good guys regardless of the facts on the ground!
Unless Zimbabweans snap out of their sloth-like slumber; it is hard to see how this country will ever get out of this mess. Time is running out fast!
"We are going to force Mnangagwa kicking, screaming and crying to the negotiating table.
"This time around we are going to put pressure on him so that the change is initiated and put in place and reforms are going to be negotiated and this time around no funny tricks," he said.
Morgan Komichi said Chamisa's leadership of the country is inevitable.
The trouble with MDC leaders is that they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent so incompetent that they are given to contradicting themselves on matters of historic fact.
On Thursday 11 July 2019, less the four weeks ago, at the launch of MDC’s blue-print RELOAD plan, it was none other than Nelson Chamisa himself who confess that MDC had failed to get even one democratic reform implemented during the last GNU because “we sat, ate and did nothing for five years!” Chamisa was only admitted a historic fact which everyone with half a brain had long acknowledged.
It is clear that not even Chamisa’s the public admission that MDC sold out during the last GNU has forced the penny to finally drop in the infantile Komichi head. The idiot is back to blaming others, “Zanu PF funny tricks” for MDC’s failure to get even one reform implemented.
Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and should step down. MDC are giving the regime legitimacy by pretending the election was free, fair and credible in return for a few gravy train seats. The new GNU will never deliver free, fair and credible elections because Zanu PF will never implement any reforms. MDC has no leverage on Zanu PF to implement the reforms, claims by the party to the contrary is just hot-air!
The cold reality is that MDC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and if the nation is ever to get the reform implemented then we must look to others not MDC to get this done. MDC has been hunting with the hounds whilst pretending to run with the hare!
@ Ndlovu
“Patrick Guramatunhu you are the worst Western Imperialist Government Puppy who invite more Illegitimate Sanctions on your people in Zimbabwe...YOU SELLOUTS...”
Did Zanu PF rig last year's elections or not?
Why are you obsessed with telling the American who the should do business with, they are perfectly competent to decide that for themselves. Blaming everyone who dares oppose Zanu PF of being "Western Imperialist Government's Puppy" is plain stupid, to say the least.
It is Patrick, you, me and every thinking Zimbabwean out there's responsibility to hold this Zanu PF regime to democratic account. Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, used brute force to silence dissent, etc. and you do not even have the common sense to see the seriousness of these issue. You even have the chutzpah to criticise those who demand Zanu PF accountability. Your really are one of the most shallow minded idiots to ever walk this earth! Sadly, Zimbabwe has more than its fair shallow minded idiots and hence the reason the country is in a real mess!
@ Bloomberg
“Zimbabwe is at a tipping point and if it falls over the edge it’s going to be quite a long way in coming back,” said Derek Matyszak, a Zimbabwe-based research consultant for South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies. “The wheels are falling off. There is no way out of a Ponzi scheme other than a massive infusion of cash to pay off your creditors.”
The country with the world’s highest inflation rate after Venezuela also suspended annual consumer-price data for the next six months. The authorities need to collect comparable data since the introduction of the new currency in February. That marked a return to 2009, when the country abandoned the Zimbabwe dollar in favor of the U.S. dollar and other currencies after inflation surged to an estimated 500 billion percent.
If the more commonly used black-market exchange rate is used, Zimbabwe’s annual inflation is currently 558%, about three times the official rate, while Venezuela’s is 35,004%, according to Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The only way out is for the corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous Zanu PF regime to step down so the country can appoint an interim administration that can be trusted to implement the democratic reforms. Zanu PF is illegitimate because the party rigged last year’s elections the only reason it has been able to hang on to power is because the country’s corrupt and incompetent opposition parties have given the regime some modicum of legitimacy by participating in the flawed and illegal elections.
MDC sold-out in failing to implement even one democratic reform when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU and now these idiots are the ones helping to prop up the Zanu PF dictatorship. You bet, it is extremely frustrating!
Mpofu whipped village heads into line when he said they have a role to play in making people vote for the right party which is Zanu-PF.
"We are not voting to win but we are voting so that our lives will be well catered for. It is so obvious that we will win because we had so many elections and all the votes went to Zanu-PF.
"Village heads should continue fishing for more people to vote for the winning party," he said.
If Zanu PF cared about the people then how come they worse off now than they were before independence.
All the respectable election observers dismissed the elections as a farce. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, this is a legal requirement and why the opposition decided to participate in such flawed and illegitimate elections beggars belief. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats and the party knows as long as it throws these scraps the opposition will participate regardless how flawed and illegal the process got.
We now have to fight not only the Zanu PF dictatorship to have our freedoms and rights restored but have to fight the MDC and the opposition who pretend to fight in our corner but are fighting in Zanu PF’s corner by pretending the elections are free, fair and credible just for the sake of the scraps!
@ Godwin Chitagu
When we are talking about elections do not even mention the corrupt and incompetent MDC because they are the sell-out behind the rigged elections. If Tsvangirai and company had implemented the reforms when they had the chance to do so we would not be in this mess. MDC participated in the 2013 and last year’s elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF would rig the elections. So, it is best to leave MDC out of any discussion on elections, they are sell-outs!
Of course, Zanu PF rigged the elections, the regime deliberately denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, has reduced rural voters to medieval serfs beholden to the regime, etc., etc. One does not need to be a Zimbabwean to condemn the systematic denial of all these people’s freedoms and rights but for a Zimbabwean to deny one of his/her own people their freedoms and humanity speaks volumes of what kind of animal some people are. It is little wonder the country is in such a mess; we have more than our fair share of morons and nincompoops whose indifference to the suffering of one of their own is no different from Komodo dragon that will happily eat one of its own!
“Wilbert Mukori elections were not rigged, mdc yakadyiwa chete!” Of course, Zanu PF rigged the elections, but I would not expect someone with no more sense than a lizard to know what constitute free, fair and credible elections! The real tragedy is Zimbabwe has more than its fair share of these braindead lizards and they come in all shapes and sizes!
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