“So dire is the situation and boiling tensions in the corridors of power, that Mnangagwa is said to have pleaded for a political grace period of until August 2020 to step down, as a faction aligned to Vice President Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, wanted him gone by December this year,” reported Spotloght Zimbabwe.
“The presidency insiders said indications are that Mnangagwa might actually be forced out early, and the military was likely to tap into the oppositions series of protests and stayaways, as a vehicle to show Mnangagwa the door.”
MDC leaders had a taste of gravy-train lifestyles during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, they completely forgot about implementing the democratic reforms, and ever since they have participated in flawed and illegal elections just to win the few gravy-train seats Zanu PF gave away as bait. They will do anything to get back on the gravy-train. Anything!
Of course, the November 2017 military coup was high treason, even if it was to remove a vote rigging tyrant. Two wrongs do not make a right! Besides, the coup was setting a dangerous precedence no nation should never ever allow.
Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders overlook all that as soon as Chris Mutsvangwa, Mnangagwa and the coup plotters’ envoy, assured the MDC leaders Mnangagwa was going to form a new GNU in which MDC would play a part. Tsvangirai left his SA Hospital bed in a huff, convinced he was going to be appointed in a senior position in the post Mugabe government.
As soon as Mnangagwa and his putsch had Mugabe and his G40 faction neutralized, they share the spoils amongst themselves; Chiwenga became VP, Perence Shiri and Sibusiso Moyo were appointed ministers, etc. Mnangagwa announced that there would be no GNU and the planed elections would go ahead. Tsvangirai felt betrayed and died a few weeks later “a very disappointed man!” according to Nelson Chamisa.
As expected, MDC participated in the 2018 elections knowing fully well Zanu PF would rig the elections; MDC participated even when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. Beggars are no choosers; the party was after the bait seats and did not care about the blatant vote rigging.
MDC has withheld the endorsement of Mnangagwa as the legitimate president to take advantage of the EU, Americans, Commonwealth and everybody else with any democratic credentials who have all dismiss the elections as a farce. MDC wants Mnangagwa to appoint Chamisa and a few other MDC leaders cabinet ministers in return for the legitimacy endorsement.
The MDC planned demos starting 16 August 2019 are geared at piling the pressure on Mnangagwa to share the spoils of the rigged elections.
MDC leaders are want power sharing arrangement, National Transition Authority (NTA), a watered down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU which failed to implement even one democratic reform and hence the reason Zanu PF has continued to blatantly rig the elections. The NTA will not do any better.
Indeed, the NTA is just an excuse to allow the vote rigging and therefore illegitimate Zanu PF regime to remain in office until 2023. If Zanu PF is still in office in 203, the party will rig that year’s elections; of that we can be 100% certain. MDC leaders do not care about that as long as they get seats on the gravy-train by hook or by crook.
So, Nelson Chamisa and his fellow MDC leaders are thrilled to read there is yet another military coup on the cards especially when the MDC is promised a share of the spoils.
“They’re advanced plans to turn these opposition protests and stayaway campaigns into a military managed and sponsored path to get rid of Mnangagwa, and the opposition will take shared credit for the process,” said the Spotlight Zimbabwe source.
Many Zimbabweans are aware of the sheer futility of the NTA and hence the reason many have been reluctant to support the MDC demos. The military backing of MDC demos will therefore be welcomed by Chamisa and company. Whether the new putsch will share power with MDC is academic what matters is the arrangement will never restore the people's freedoms and rights. Never!
The real story to tell here is that the Zanu PF hardliners still view themselves as the only people fit to govern Zimbabwe regardless of the mountain of evidence of the country’s economic mess under their rule. Whichever Zanu PF faction emerges the winner in the on-going war each is counting on MDC support in return for a share of the spoils of power.
If the people of Zimbabwe are serious about implementing the reforms and finally end the Zanu PF dictatorship, then we must demand that vote rigging and illegitimate Zanu PF regime steps down. We need Zanu PF to step down to create the political space for the appointment of an interim administration tasked to implement the reforms.
Allowing Zanu PF to remain in office until 2023, on its own or in a Mnangagwa or Chiwenga led NTA, then we can be certain no reforms will be implemented and the party will rig the 2023 election. This will be insane just as the consequences to the nation will be catastrophic!
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Professor Jonathan Moyo is publishing a book coming out soon entitled "EXCELGATE: How Zimbabwe's 2018 presidential election was stolen"
This ZTB unpacks whether it could have been possible to steal Zimbabwe's 2018 presidential election without the systemic capture of Zimbabwe's judicial system. The systemic capture of Zimbabwe's judiciary started manifesting itself in 2016 and came to the fore on 21st August 2019 when Justice Chitapi quashed charges against Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere . In a rare judgment, Justice Chitapi described how the magistrate in the Kasukuwere case, as a judicial officer, "openly confessed that he was conducting proceedings under pressure from certain persons. He was therefore not independent and impartial as his duties required him to be."
Mnangagwa's shenanigans to control the appointment of the Chief Justice were central to the capture of the judiciary. Around September 2016, the Mnangagwa led justice ministry stampeded Chief Justice Chidyausiku out of office into early retirement by in order to manipulate the selection process for the new Chief Justice. When President Mugabe discovered this, he requested Chief Justice Chidyausiku to come back to work and preside over the process of selecting his successor as required by the Constitution. However, Misheck Sibanda, through whom Mnangagwa was said to then have captured the Office of the President and Cabinet, attempted and failed to stop the Judicial Services Commission from conducting interviews for the Chief Justice.
When Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo and others in the Mai Mujuru faction wanted to challenge their "unlawful" booting out of Zanu PF in 2014. It was none other than Mugabe himself who boasted "in whose Courts!" And now Professor Moyo wants us to believe the judiciary was independent under Mugabe!
The credibility of whatever Professor Jonathan Moyo will have to say in his book will be seriously undermined by underlying lie that Mnangagwa capture the judiciary, rigged the elections, etc., etc. and Mugabe was innocent of all such evil. Only a village idiot would believe that lie!
Energy and Power Development Minister Advocate Fortune Chasi said the introduction of electric vehicles was part of the many efforts being explored by the Government as it seeks alternative energy sources.
"When I spoke about electric cars (some time ago) I was the laughing stock. The idea behind an electric car is different from an iron whereby one irons their clothes while it's connected to the socket. People are quick to say there is no electricity, how are we going to power the cars but we have to plan because electric cars are part and parcel of us dealing with energy issues and so use of solar. It's very convenient that at every fuel service station we have solar powered charging points whereby one drives in and recharge," he said.
New technology comes with a huge price tag. How many ordinary Zimbabweans can afford a second-hand car much less a new electric car? How many service stations would want to invest in recharging facilities if all they will get in customers is two or three per day in the next three years!
We should just concentrate in making what we have work before taking off at a tangent. This Chasi idiot is no different from Chamisa and his bullet trains!
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development reportedly paid about USD$ 3 Billion towards the controversially Command Agriculture without parliament approval uit has emerged.
The matter came to light on Monday when the Ministry of Finance officials appeared before the Tendai Biti led Parliament Public Accounts Committee.
The officials who included Chief Principal Director Zvinechimwe Ruvinga Churu agrred that in 2018 Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, was allocated 294 million US dollars on the budget but the finance ministry released USD$3.2billion to fund Command Agriculture without documentation
Well, well! Professor Mthuli Ncube has been pretending that he is squeaky clean and had no hand in the corrupt practices rampant in Zanu PF. Now it is clear that he know only KNEW of the corruption and looting but has bankrolling it too.
Professor Ncube was cocksure the IMF and WB were going to bankroll Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. The two institutions, like so many others, have refused to pay this Zanu PF regime even one dollar and right now the officials involved would have long been fired!
The 2019 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee says that $331.5 million in humanitarian aid will be needed before April 2020 to address the crisis.
How many donors would want to help Zimbabwe when they know Zimbabwe used to be the bread-basket of the region until Mugabe took away the farms to give them to his cronies who have not only failed to make use of the farms but worse still are using the farms to justify the looting of state resources. Last year the country pour in US$ 3 billion in Command Agriculture with most of the money being giving the cronies farm owners and there is nothing to show for it!
Zimbabwe’s teachers and doctors, who make up the bulk of the public service, on Monday rejected the government’s wage offer, with medical personnel threatening a strike if their demand to have their wages benchmarked in the U.S. dollar is not met.
The government on Friday proposed a 60% pay increase for doctors, while offering a 76% raise for the rest of the civil service, in a bid to avert crippling strikes by state workers.
But in separate statements, the main unions representing the doctors and the teachers said they rejected the government offers, which would see the lowest paid worker earning 1,023 Zimbabwe dollars ($98.75) a month.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube was warned that whatever policies he pursued they must not stoke up inflation; let the inflation gene out of the bottle and there will be no easy way of putting it back. He did not listen, inflation has soared from single digit in January to three digits, at least, today. It is nonsensical to offer teachers 76% wage increase when inflation is 760% plus!
When Zimbabweans came out in their hundreds of thousands in support of the military coup in November 2017 it was clear the people were naive. The coup was an internal Zanu PF affair to decide a factional war and nothing to do with dismantling the dictatorship itself. The people wished the coup was going to end the dictatorship and Mnangagwa and his coup plotters only tapped into that popular sentiment and promised them free and fair elections, etc without ever meaning to keep the promises.
When Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections it should have been the last straw, all the doubting Thomas should have had their eyes forced open. Sadly, that was not the case. We still had a number of Zimbabweans arguing that Mnangagwa should be “given a chance!” A chance to do what?
I agree those planning to stage a second military coup in as many years will be supported by Zimbabweans in their hundreds of thousands and leading from the front will be the MDC leaders. The second coup will be to consolidate Zanu PF’s hold on power nothing more nothing less.
A people who do not learn from their past mistakes are destined to repeat the same foolish mistakes over and over again! We have not learned!
It is easy to see why many ordinary Zimbabweans must be feeling confused, betrayed and, most significant of all, utterly helpless. They genuinely believed in the need to end white colonial oppression and exploitation and many of them played a part in the struggle. They aspired for freedom, justice and a life with human dignity and were euphoric with joy when the country attained her independence in 1980.
It did not take long for them to realize that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies had short changed them. Zanu PF took away their freedoms and human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life to impose the de facto one party dictatorship that has ruled the nation for the last 39 years!
It took many Zimbabweans nearly 20 years to accept the reality that Mugabe and his Zanu PF party were corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. Even with all the evidence of the Gukurahundi massacre many people still refused to accept Zanu PF leaders were thugs; how could they be thugs, these are one of their own, their liberators and the nation's heroes!
When the truth finally dawned on the nation that Mugabe and company were corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs; it is no surprise that the nation was shaken to its core! The nation has accepted the need for democratic changes to restore the people’s freedoms and rights usurped by the Zanu PF dictatorship. Zimbabweans have once again risked life and limb to bring about change.
The people elected MDC leaders into power on the ticket the party would bring about the democratic changes the nation was dying for. Many people have never understood the details of what these democratic changes are much less how they were coming about. However, they all know that Zanu PF is still ruling the roost and riding roughshod over their freedoms, rights, hopes and dreams.
Many of them still pin their hopes on MDC delivering the democratic changes little do they know that MDC leaders are now working with Zanu PF to keep the dictatorship. The truth is slowly sinking in that Zimbabwe is not going to have free, fair and credible elections, at least that MDC will never bring that about, and the sheer hopelessness and helplessness in the faces of the Zimbabwe povo says it all!
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