UN blame corruption for Zimbabwe's starvation - Zimbabweans have yet to learn to speak truth to power N Garikai

“Zimbabwe is on the brink of man-made starvation and the number of people needing help is “shocking” for a country not in conflict, a United Nations special expert on the right to food said Thursday,” reported New Zimbabwe.

“I urgently call on the government, all political parties and the international community to come together to put an end to this spiralling crisis before it morphs into a full-blown conflict,” said Hilal Elver, the UN special expert.

She blamed widespread corruption, mismanagement, natural disasters, droughts and sanctions for the crisis. “It comes from (a) dysfunctional system,” she said.

This makes shocking reading, the more so because this is a nightmare we have seen coming these last 39 years and have done little to stop it.

Many Zimbabweans out there have known that corruption, for example, was rampant. In 2016 Mugabe admitted the nation was “swindled out of US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone”. The dictator never arrested even one swindler and/or never recovered even one swindled diamond dollar. 

When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe after the 2017 military coup; he promised “zero tolerance on corruption”. End words! Two years down the line, he too has yet to arrest one diamond swindler and/or recovery one swindled diamond dollar. 

We know the wholesale looting of diamonds and other resources is still going on to this day. In 2017, the then Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa, told parliament government was getting 1/6 of the expected diamond revenue. That has not changed!

The diamond mining has continued at its frantic pace. Mugabe booted out of the country a Chinese company, one of the many companies accused of the wholesale looting. The Chinese played a key role in bankrolling Mnangagwa’s blatantly vote rigging of the 2018 elections and, as a reward, the booted out Chinese company was allowed back in Zimbabwe.

Very few Zimbabweans have ever raised such issues as corruption, mismanagement, vote rigging and the myriad of other local problems with the Zanu PF government. Even now with the country now in serious economic, political and social trouble; Zimbabweans have not raised these burning issues with the country’s corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical leaders, much less putting an end to the madness.

Zimbabwe is a failed and dysfunctional nation and whist the international community can help up get out of this mess but it is for us, Zimbabweans, to take a lead in demanding meaningful change. So far, for the last 39 years, we have done very little.

Minister Ncube hit poorest hard again by scrapping grain subsidy after 2% transaction tax P Guramatunhu

One of the few things Professor Mthuli Ncube did as soon as he was appoint Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance was to introduce the 2% electronic transaction tax. The tax was to raise some revenue from the country’s 90% unemployed who were not paying any income tax. The majority of these were vendors earning as little as US$ 40 per month. 

These vendors should be on welfare and not to be helping government balance its books, especially when the same government was doing nothing to tax those earning millions if not billions for the wholesale looting much less do something to stop the looking. 

In his recent $63,6 billion budget, Minister Ncube once again targeted the poorest of the poor.

"The current subsidy policy, whereby government funds the procurement of grain at market price and sell this to registered grain millers at subsidised price, has been open to abuse and placed a huge burden on the fiscus. At times, the intended beneficiaries do not enjoy the benefits of the subsidy from government," Ncube said in his budget statement.

"To address these distortions, government, will, with effect from January 2020 remove the existing grain marketing subsidies for maize and wheat that were being provided to grain millers through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). The intervention will see GMB selling wheat and maize at market prices, with grain millers having an option to either import or purchase grain from GMB.”

The price of maize meal has already shot up to Z$100 (US$ 5) for 10 kg bag a fortune for  family on US$ 40 per month. Once again the Minister has done nothing to held the poor! There are millions of Zimbabweans out there who are facing heart breaking economic hardships and when all is said and done this government is wholly responsible for their suffering and deaths because Minister Ncube and his team are responsible to the economic meltdown, hyperinflation, etc. 

What makes the situation totally unacceptable is that all this tragic human sacrifice particularly by the poorest of the poor has all been for nothing as the desired economic recovery has never happened. Zimbabwe’s economic decline has been in steady decline for the last 39 years and that is not about to change. 

Ever since Zimbabwe was first forced to reduce its excessive spending with the introduction of the country’s first Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP); Zanu PF has reduced government spending on the poor whilst the ruling elite loosen their belts! Whatever was saved the former was all soaked up by the later and more; no wonder the expected economic recovery never materialised. 

As noted above, Minister Ncube economic policies have squeezed the last dollar from the poorest of the poor and yet he has done little to stop the jugular artery haemorrhage due to gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. And, worst of all, there was never a chance of any meaningful economic recovery whilst the country remained a pariah state ruled by corrupt and tyrannical vote rigging thugs. Of course, minister Ncube knew Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections and thus confirming the country’s status as  well established pariah state of long standing. 

Of course, Professor Mthuli Ncube knew Mnangagwa rigged last year’s election making Zimbabwe a pariah state. Of course, he knew that the country’s set course of stead economic decline was certain to continue as long as the country remained a pariah state. He also knew that Zimbabweans were among the poorest of the poor so poor that many were already paying the ultimate price - paying with their very lives. 

The minister knew the regime had head hunted him and other like him to give the corrupt, murderous and vote rigging regime a “human face!” 

Above all, the minister knew all the negative things above and more and yet he still accepted the appointed because he could not say no the rock-star status, the generous salary and allowances that came with the job!

Successive Zanu PF government have been some of the most corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regimes in human history and yet both Mugabe and Mnangagwa has never had any problems recruiting Zimbabweans professionals to spruce up the dictatorship’s tarnish image. 

Zimbabwe love boasting about having “one of the highest literacy rates in Africa”. What is the point of being literate when one cannot benefit from all the wealth of knowledge out there? What is the point of being a Professor of one of the most illustrious Universities in the world when you lack the common sense to know taxing the poorest of the poor will not revive the nation’s economy especially when you doing nothing to end the criminal waste of resources through corruption!

Catholic Bishops met doctors and talked about everything except the elephant in the room - bad governance N Garikai

"Meeting Between Doctors Representatives and the Catholic Bishops and The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe Representatives 29/11/2019," reported Zimeye.

"Today the ZHDA and SHDA representatives met the Catholic Bishops and Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe representatives at their request to discuss the challenges in the and map a way forward with the government with a view to resolve them."

We are just going round and round in circles here and all because no  one wants to talk of the elephant in the room although they all can see it. 

There is no point is asking doctors to go back to work when they are financially incapacitated, nurses are financially incapacitated and the hospitals themselves are financially incapacitated, there is no basic equipment and no medicines. 

There is no point is asking the government to pay the doctors, nurses and equip the hospitals because the government has no money. 39 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawlessness that have made it impossible to do business have left the country bankrupt. For 39 years the nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship that rigged elections to stay in power against the democratic wishes of the people. 

Mnangagwa and his Zanu pf cronies blatantly rigged last year’s election although he had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. The same doctors, nurses, teachers and all the other professionals out there, who are today complaining of financial incapacitation, said nothing to condemn the rigged elections. None of these church leaders who are now pontificating about the suffering masses, have ever condemned Zanu PF for riding rough shod over the people’s freedoms and rights!

Until Zimbabweans finally snap-out of the sloth-like slumber and demand an end to rigged elections and bad governance nothing will change. Nothing!

As a rule of thumb, nations get the government they deserve. We in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its support cast of equally corrupt, incompetent sell-outs opposition.

Yes, ZHDA and SHDA representatives met the Catholic Bishops and Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe representatives, they talked about everything else under the sun expect the only subject that really matters - bad governance. And so their meeting accomplished nothing, it was a total waste of time and opportunity!

ZCC still calling for Zanu PF and MDC dialogue - "Hupezi inyama yegakava!" (Insane are stubborn!) W Mukori

Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

It is very sad to note that Zimbabwe must have one of the largest number of insane people, per capita, in the world because clearly many of them are in positions of power and authority and have continued to set the national agenda. When it comes to our politics we are well and truly stuck in a rat race orchestrated by the certified insane! 

“Dialogue is imminent, but it is just a matter of time. President Mnangagwa is the Head of State and Government. He is our statesman,” said Zimbabwe Council of Churches Secretary General, Kenneth Mtata.

“He has the keys for dialogue, (the) MDC-A leader should swallow his pride and engage and consider President Mnangagwa as the President of Zimbabwe. Dialogue is coming, we need to prepare for it, but it might take time. We do not need foreign intervention.”

The economic recovery Mnangagwa had promised when he took over from Mugabe in the coup two years ago has failed to materialise. There has been no local and foreign investment and unemployment has remained 90% plus, stuck there for over decade now. Inflation, which was single digit a year ago, has started to surge upward and be 1 000% soon, if it is not there already. 

The economic chaos and human suffering caused by the economic meltdown and hyperinflation are heart breaking. The country’s public health care service, hopeless inadequate as a result of decades of being starved of funds, has all but closed. There are no doctors, no nurses, no equipment, no medicine, etc.; government does not have the money to pay doctors above the pittance US$ 40 per month, etc. 

The Church leaders, like everyone else out there, are rightly alarmed at the country’s worsening economic situation; this is socially, politically and morally unsustainable. We all accept that something must be done to end the economic meltdown. The billion dollar question is; what should be done?

“Dialogue between Zanu PF and MDC!” is the answer from ZCC!

Of course, this is a solution only the certified insane would give! It is a historic fact that Zimbabwe’s economic decline start 39 years ago and has continued to this day because the nation stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship. Even when the people were in no doubt that instead of bring mass prosperity, “Gutsa ruzhinji!” as Mugabe never tired of promising in the 1980s, Zanu PF was bringing mass poverty; still the nation could not remove Mugabe and company from office because they rigged elections to stay in power.

The greatest mistake we, as a nation, made was to reward Zanu PF for rigging the elections by pretending the elections were free, fair and credible. It is therefore not surprising that Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections, as usual, and he is surprised that we have not all come out and endorse him as the legitimate government. 

The consequence of our folly of rubber stamping Zanu PF rigged elections is the economic meltdown. After 39 years and with the nation now in serious economic trouble, it is no surprise that the penny has dropped that if the country is to end the economic meltdown we must cure ourselves of this cure of rigged elections. 

Zimbabwe was a middle income and economically prosperous nation in 1980, it is Zanu PF misrule that has dragged us into this mess. After 39 years of letting Zanu PF rig elections and letting the party stay in power regardless in the hope the party will get us out of the mess it was dragging us into only the insane would not see the sheer futility of letting this madness go on another day!

ZCC want the opposition to rubber stamp Zanu PF as the legitimate government and are expecting some form of government of national unity to emerge in which Zanu PF will be the ruling party in all but name. ZCC want to legitimise this illegitimate Zanu PF regime so it can remain in office till the next elections in 2023.

As long as Zanu PF remains in power, we can be certain the party will never ever implement and meaningful democratic reforms. The party will therefore rig the 2023 elections and will expect the nation to once again rubber stamp its legitimacy by hook or by crook. 

What Mtata and the rest of the mentally challenged out there are proposing to keep Zanu PF in power till 2023 and beyond! We have allowed the insane to set the nation’s agenda for the last 39 years with the tragic consequences we all see today. Enough is enough!

Mnangagwa and Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down. We need to appoint an interim administration that will implement the democratic reforms leading to the holding of free, fair and credible elections. End the curse of rigged elections and we will end the curse of pariah state and economic meltdown. 

“Hupezi inyama yegakava!” (There is no one more stubborn than the village idiot!) so goes the Shona adage.

Masiyiwa, condemning Zanu PF vote rigging would have costed nothing and yet saved the nation - think! N Garikai

“ECONET Wireless founder Strive Masiyiwa and his wife, Tsitsi, through their Higher Life Foundation, have set up a $100 million fund which will see up to 2 000 junior and senior doctors employed by government getting $5 000 each on top of what they are earning from their employer.” Screamed the headline!

Very generous offer but is this not just another excuse for kicking the can down the road when we should be dealing with it!

The Zimbabwe economic is in total meltdown because of 39 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule. The nation has failed to remove the party from office because it rigged elections. The economic meltdown is now so serious the nation cannot afford even the most basic health care service - there are no doctors, no nurses, no equipment, no medicine, no water, no power, etc.

Making sure the doctors are paid a living wage is all very well but what good will that do without nurses, without equipment, etc., etc.!

Zanu PF has been rigging elections ever since Zimbabwe gained her independence in 1980, this is the elephant in the room; we must deal with it!  

Masiyiwa, like so many other leading Zimbabweans out there have done little if anything at all to tackle the country's number one problem of bad governance. So of them notably Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Coventry and the troop of monkeys in the opposition have even propped up the Zanu PF dictatorship by taking up senior post in the regime and, for the troops, participating in flawed and illegal elections. 

In his Book, Senator David Coltart has admitted that the opposition has not only known that Zanu PF was rigging the elections but worse still that they continued to participation in flawed and illegal elections giving credibility and legitimacy to the illegitimate Zanu PF regime. 

“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,” admitted 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.” 

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess that has left millions of our fellow citizens into a life of abject poverty with no food, water, shelter, health care, etc. This is a man-made problem, a bad governance problem; we must all play out part in address this curse because it is not going away.

Yes, $100 million fund will go a long way to help the poorly paid doctors. But a statement condemning Zanu PF’s blatantly rigging of last year’s elections would have gone a long, long way in helping end Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance and thus securing a future for not just the doctors but the nurses and the millions of other Zimbabweans out there! Such a statement would have costed you profits in the short term but nothing in the long term as Econet will profit in a prosperous Zimbabwe. 

"MDC is seeking international pressure to political reforms implemented" - failed to do so last time, why now N Garikai

MDC’s refusal to address the party’s serious shortcoming has only frustrated many of those who would have wanted to work with the party, forced many to desert MDC in droves! 

“International solidarity is key to any struggle and ours is no different. The MDC has identified international relations as one of its cardinal zones of the struggle for a democratic and developmental Zimbabwe. In line with our Roadmap to Economic Recovery, Legitimacy, Openness and Democracy (Reload) that we launched following our fifth national congress, the party seeks to build international pressure for comprehensive political and economic reforms in Zimbabwe through a credible, legitimate and bankable political dialogue platform that is guaranteed by the international community,” MDC's secretary for international relations, Gladys Hlatshwayo, told Newsday.

MDC had the golden opportunity to implement democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The party failed to get even one reform implemented in five years because the leaders had their snouts in the gravy train feeding trough. The party has not only refused to acknowledge it sold-out but even had the chutzpah to blame others including SADC leaders for the GNU’s failures!

The international community knows that the the power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF, the National Transition Authority (NTA), MDC is demanding is nothing but a watered down version of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. In the NTA Zanu PF will have its 2/3 majority in parliament, for example. It is naive, to say the least, to expect that parliament to pass any “comprehensive political reforms”. It is therefore naive to expect anyone in SADC let alone in the international community to support such a hare-brain scheme as NTA!

The solution to Zimbabwe’s political paralysis and economic meltdown is for the country to implement the democratic reforms designed to end this curse of rigged elections and pariah state. This was the solution spelt out by SADC leaders at the on set of the 2008 GNU and it is still the solution today. MDC and Zanu PF leaders failed to implement even one reforms during the GNU and hence the reason the nation is still stuck. 

What Zimbabwe needs is to appoint a body that will implement the bloody reforms! To entrust the same Zanu PF and MDC leaders, in this NTA, to implement the reforms is damn since they failed to get even one reform implemented last time. 

The only reason why MDC leaders are keen as mustard on the formation of the NTA is obvious - they are desperate to get back on the gravy train. Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, David Coltart and possible a few others are hoping to be appointed ministers in the NTA. 

MDC has talked about “comprehensive political reforms” but have failed to give any details of even one such reform! This has become just another empty party slogan no different from the usual “Chinja! Change! Guqula!” Chamisa et all do not have a clue what reforms the country wants because they were never interested in implementing any reforms in the past and that has not changed to this day.  

MDC leaders have been running with the hare and hunting with the hounds ever since the 2008 GNU. Many in the international community realised this and deserted MDC in droves. Zimbabweans have been very slow to see it and the nation is paying dearly for this because MDC has given the illegitimate Zanu PF regimes legitimacy by participating in flawed elections. And in turn Zimbabweans have themselves give the discredited MDC legitimacy by attending the party’s rallies. 

Zanu PF and MDC are ones who have dragged the nation into this political and economic mess because the two parties’ leaders have proven to be breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent and, especially in Zanu PF’s case, murderous tyrants. Zanu PF and MDC leaders are the ones resisting meaningful political change for selfish reasons and even holding the nation to ransom. They are now the nation’s number one problem and therefore can never be the solution too!

"Expect steady economic recovery by December 2019" - nonsense, none as long as we remain a pariah state P Guramatunhu

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

So reads the USA Constitution, First Amendment.

Freedom of speech and free media have become such a key pillar of any healthy and functioning democracy that in America, it is now accepted as the fourth pillar, on par with the executive, legislature and judiciary, without which democracy cannot stand.

It was U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) who defined democracy as: 'Government of the people, by the people, for the people.'

If the people are going to elect the most competent and effective government and to hold the elected representative to democratic account at all times they must be well informed and this is where freedom of expression and free media come in.

The Greeks, the first to embrace democracy as a system of government, 2 500 years ago, understood the importance of freedom expression in the education of the people and named their ships Freedom of Expression.

Zimbabwe have never had freedom of expression and a free media and it is no surprise that the people have no clue what is going on. Our political leaders have taken full advantage of the populous's ignorance to propagate a completely false narrative of important nation events and it is surprise how often they have got away with it!

"We now know that the mess the Mugabe era left us in was much worse than any of us appreciated at the time," wrote former MDC MP Eddie Cross, the party's propaganda High Priest.

"When Morgan Tsvangirai was faced with the choice of going into the Government of National Unity (GNU) in 2009 or staying out, I said to him when we were reviewing the economic plight of the country 'do you really want to take responsibility for this mess?'

"Fortunately for all of us his decision was 'yes, for the sake of the people.' It opened up 4 years of relative stability and recovery. We need to remind everyone that over those 4 years the average annual recovery in State income and expenditure was 70 per cent, in hard currency."

If Zimbabwe had a vibrant free media and an informed no-nonsense electorate would have taken Eddie Cross and his MDC friends to task; shamed into silence and voted them out of office a lot time ago!

The principal purpose of the GNU was not to fix the economic mess but to dismantle Zimbabwe's de facto one-party dictatorship by implementing the raft of democratic reforms. Mugabe bribe Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends with the trappings of high office, ministerial limos, generous salaries and allowances, a US$ 4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. And with their snouts in the feeding trough MDC leaders forgot about implementing the reforms.

Yes of course, the GNU was expected to attend to economic matters during the GNU but it is a lie to even imply that MDC leaders were so engrossed in the economic challenges they had no time for the political reforms.

Indeed, the economic reforms were limited precisely because there was little or no progress on the political front. Without political reforms nothing was done to stamp out corruption, mismanagement, vote rigging and all the other obnoxious Zanu PF dictatorial excess.

So even during the GNU, Zimbabwe still remain a pariah state in all but name. This is why there was very little investment, revival of the country's commerce and industry, mining and agricultural sectors, etc. The shops filled with imported goods. There were no new jobs created other than to do with importing goods and selling them.

"Our problem was that the moment Mr Mugabe took over the reins of power in 2013, he immediately reverted to the policies and programmes that had brought Zimbabwe to its knees in 2008," admitted Mr Cross.

Exactly! Mugabe was able to blatantly rig the 2013 elections because no democratic reforms were implemented to stop him rigging the elections - the very thing the GNU was supposed to make sure will never ever happen ever again.

Mr Cross is one of the MDC leaders who has this idiotic fixation that Zimbabwe can still have a prosperous economy even if the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants. This is a foolish argument designed to down play the seriousness of MDC's failure to implement the reforms during the GNU and, worse still, justify MDC's continued participation in these flawed and illegal elections that have left the nation stuck for 39 years and counting with Zanu PF.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life (over 500 died during the 2008 wanton violence alone) and limb to elect Eddie Cross and his MDC friends in power on the understanding they will bring about democratic changes, as the party name implied. Sadly, they have failed to bring about even one meaningful democratic change in 20 years. Not one! Worse still, by participating in flawed and illegal elections MDC are giving Zanu PF regimes some modicum of credibility.

"I am hoping that by December 2019 Zimbabweans will be able to see the start of a slow, but steady recovery. Next year inflation will come back to low levels by the end of the year, exchange rates will strengthen and start restoring value to earnings and capital," concluded Mr Cross.

"2020 will not be easy, but after what we have been through it will be like the morning after the rain. To really succeed we have to work together and have faith in who we are as a nation. If we do those few simple things, the future will look after itself."

I despair! I blame the country's lack of freedom of expression and free media for the reason why people like Cross are still able to spread their falsehoods and never cross examined. Ours is a chicken and egg conundrum; we cannot have freedom of expression without democracy and cannot have democracy without freedom of expression, free media and informed electorate.

The truth is there will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who rig elections to stay in power. Zanu PF rigged last year's elections, the regime is illegitimate and pretending the country can still prosper regardless is insane.

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has reached alarming levels and so has the tragic the human suffering and deaths. We need to cure ourselves of this curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Zanu PF must step down so we can finally dismantle the dysfunctional autocracy and replace it with a healthy democratic system of government!

It is most infuriating that one has not only to fight Zanu PF thugs to end the de facto one-party dictatorship but must fight corrupt and incompetent opposition leaders like Eddie Cross as well - masquerading as democrats! No wonder the country is in a real mess.

The first reforms to be implemented in Zimbabwe will be to ensure freedom of expression and guarantee free and independent media.

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is cause by bad governance and rigged elections - we must deal with it or die W Mukori

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! 

This is a common sense observation noted in every human society and goes back to the very beginning of human civilisation. Indeed, the measure of how civilised a given society is, is but a measure of how well that society distributed and managed power and thus stop its abuse and promote peace, justice and order! 

Having attained power; by honest means or foul, it does not matter; the temptation to hang on to power by means honest and foul is as in us all - as primeval and forceful as Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest. Even those nations with robust laws and institutions designed to stop those in positions of power and authority abusing are not completely safe as every now and again a corrupt individual has sneaked through the net. 

The essence of the Watergate Scandal is that President Richard Milhous Nixon used dirty tricks to secure his election victory in the November 1972 US Presidential Elections. 

After months of denying that he and his team had done anything wrong, in April 1973 President Nixon announced the resignation of a number of his administration staff named in the Watergate Scandal. 

“Whatever may appear to have been the case before, whatever improper activities may yet be discovered in connection with this whole sordid affair, I want the American people, I want you to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that during my term as President, justice will be pursued fairly, fully, and impartially, no matter who is involved. This office is a sacred trust and I am determined to be worthy of that trust,” President Nixon announced. 

“There can be no whitewash at the White House!”

The whole speech, often dubbed “I am not a crook!”, was clearly a criminal attempt to whitewash the White House to hide his role in the sordid affair as the follow up investigations revealed. 

When Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa succeed Robert Gabriel Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe following the November 2017 military coup, Mnangagwa went to great lengths to assure the world his administration was poles apart from that of Mugabe. 

Whereas Mugabe’s Zimbabwe was a failed state, pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. Mnangagwa promised zero tolerance to corruption, promised to hold free and fair elections, etc. Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe was “a new democratic dispensation, a Second Republic, open for business!”

Where President Nixon sort to assure everyone that he was “not a crook”; Mnangagwa has sort to assure everyone he is “not a dictator, like Mugabe, but a democrat!”

It has been two years since the November 2017 military coup and Mnangagwa has failed to end the scourge of corruption. He has refused to implement even one democratic reform to ensure free, fair and credible elections; etc. 

Zimbabwe is still very much a pariah state and, not surprisingly, the country’s economic meltdown, inherited from Mugabe days, has failed to register any meaningful recovery. It is very difficult to do business in a pariah state and so investors have continued to shy away. 

Richard Nixon was forced to resigned on 8 August 1974, barely one and half years after his “I am not a crook!” speech. The mountain of evidence proving he was indeed a crook was overwhelming and it was untenable for him to continued as president. 

There is a mountain of evidence proving Mnangagwa is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous dictator, just like his mentor Robert Mugabe. Worse still, there is a mountain of evidence showing the Zimbabwe economic meltdown is in total decline with tragic consequences. The country’s public health care services, on which 3/4 of the population now living in abject poverty depend, has all but collapse; there are no doctors, nurses and no medicine. All this will have no effect in forcing Mnangagwa to resign.

Indeed, Mnangagwa knows the people are going to protest the country’s worsening economic hardships and he beefed up the Police, Army and CIO to ruthless crush all dissent. He has corral the cattle, goats and chicken and batten down the hatchets. 

Richard Nixon’s power was limited; he was lucky to successful rig the presidential elections but it very quickly ran out; he did not get away with it. 

Mnangagwa has absolute power not only to do as he please; to allow corruption to continue unchecked, to blatantly rig the elections, etc., etc.; but, most important of all, to have know with the certainty only a dictatorship can provide that he will get away with it! 

Absolute power corrupts absolutely! If we in Zimbabwe are serious about end the scourge of poverty, hopelessness and despair that now hangs over the whole country like a suffocating cloud chlorine; then we must grasp the nettle and deal with the curse of absolute power and rigged elections the root causes of bad governance.

Ramaphosa is irrelevant in Zimbabwe's crisis, he shot himself in head by endorsing rigged election W Mukori

Ten years ago, SADC leaders condemned the 2008 Zimbabwe elections because Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs had blatantly cheated in the March vote count and used wanton violence in the run-off. Mugabe was told in no uncertain terms that SADC will not recognise his government as a product of the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe and thus legitimate. 

In other words Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections were so flawed and illegal the process failed to produce a legitimate government. 

As a way forward, SADC leaders proposed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which the core requirement of a government elected by people was to be suspended. Zimbabwe would be ruled by a Government of National Unity (GNU) whose principle task was to implement a raft of democratic reforms and write a new democratic constitution so ensure the debacle of the 2008 elections will never ever be repeated. 

Sadly not even one reform was ever implemented in the five years of the GNU. Not one.

Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who were entrusted to implement the reforms, with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about the reforms. 

“MDC leaders were busy enjoying themselves during the GNU, they forgot what they were there for!” complained one SADC diplomat after Zanu PF, once again, blatantly rigged the 2013 elections.

Mnangagwa promised to hold free, fair and credible elections after the 2017 military coup. Sadly, he was conning the naive and gullible because he did not implement even one reform. Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections as the facts on the ground proved.

He denied 3 million Zimbabwean in the diaspora the vote; a very significant number since he was declared the winner with 2.4 million votes. The regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake!

It therefore beggared belief why SADC leaders endorse Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF as the legitimate government regardless of all the flaws and illegalities in last year’s election process. But worse still, having endorsed this Zanu PF regime as legitimate SADC cannot force Mnangagwa to agree to anything near the 2008 GPA. 

Unlike in 2008, SADC leaders have no political leverage to force Zanu PF to agree to the need for democratic reforms much less force the party to get the reforms implemented. SADC leaders shot themselves in the foot by endorse last year’s elections as legitimate. 

Those asking SADC to play a role in ending the Zimbabwe crisis have no clue what they are talking about; they are just dogs howling at the full moon!

What Zimbabwe needs to move forward, is to implement the democratic reforms; nothing, absolutely nothing of substance will ever be accomplished until we cure ourselves of this curse of rigged elections, the mother of bad governance. 

Zimbabwe Xenophobia victims walking 950 km to Namibia rather than return home - speaks volumes of Zimbabwe's mess P Guramatunhu

“SCORES of South Africa based Zimbabwean migrants are reported to be among more than 200 refugees who have started a long walk from the port city of Cape Town into neighbouring Namibia,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“The distance between Cape Town and Namibia's Ariamsvlei border is estimated at 950km.

“The refugees, according to media reports from the two SADC countries, are fleeing violent attacks that rocked South Africa August this year, leaving scores of people including two Zimbabweans, dead.”

This is a really sad and tragic story. So these Zimbabweans, tracked all the way from Zimbabwe to Cape Town as political and economic refugees. They have since found out that they are not welcome in SA, so unwelcome they have often been treated like stray and diseased dogs. The sight of the victims of xenophobia attacks running for their lives and some being burnt alive is the stuff of nightmares. 

So these economic and/or political refugees, now penniless, have decided to go to Namibia, a distance of 950 km, on foot! What an epic journey. 

How long is it going to take them to get to Namibia? Where will they sleep? What will they eat? 

At the end of their epic journey, they will still be economic and/or political refugees. Namibia, unlike SA, is not exactly an economic power house and so the prospects of landing a job are not good. The refugees’ greatest hope is that they will not be treated like stray dogs! 

This tragic tales raises two related points:

1. The very fact that these Zimbabweans have chosen to walk 950 km to Namibia where they will still be destitute refugees instead of going back home goes to show just how serious the economic and political mess in Zimbabwe has become.

1. There is something fundamentally wrong with someone who would rather risk all the hardships on a 950 km journey in a strange land with nothing but the shirt on one’s back than standup to the country’s corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling elite who are responsible for all of Zimbabwe’s criminal waste of resources and the tragic human sufferings and deaths.    

Zimbabwe is a great country with enormous economic potential as white colonial rule has shown. Zimbabwe produced enough food to not only feed its own people but had plenty left over to feed the region. Zimbabwe was the bread basket of the region; not any more. 

At the beginning of the century, Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF friends seized all the white own farms and gave them to party loyalists mostly leading to the collapse of the country’s agricultural sector. We are starving in a land that, for all practical purposes is the Biblical Garden of Eden - a damning indictment of the country’s failed leadership and of us, the people, to hold the leaders to account. 

When all is said and done, most nations gets the government they deserve. Zimbabweans deserve this corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition parties.

To the Zimbabweans on the epic 950 km journey and all the Zimbabweans scattered in all corners of the globe like dry leaves in the wind; I hope you will find peace, justice and prosperity in your new home. I hope you will contribute  it the defence and up keep of the peace, justice and prosperity in the new home and back in Zimbabwe. 

Zimbabwe is a failed state, that is a historic fact. Once upon a time, it was a great nation and, given the political will and resolve, it can still be restored to it’s former glory!

“Nyika vanhu!” (If the country is great, it is the people who are great and made the country great. The opposite is equally true; a failed country is a nation of failures!) So goes the Shona adage! 

EU lift sanctions and call for political reforms - stop patronising us, Zanu PF has knowingly rigged elections P Guramatunhu

It is bad enough to find oneself a victim of bullying what makes the situation unbearable is the realisation that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. One does not easily forget, the sinking feeling of reporting a school bully to the school authorities and all he/she ever get is a slap on the wrist because he/she is the Head Master’s relative or some such untouchable! 

The EU’s kid-glove treatment of Zanu PF for the region’s repeated blatant violation of ordinary Zimbabweans’ basic freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections and even the right to life has left me bitter and angry. I never ever expected the EU to behave like the discredited school authority scared stiff of the untouchable school bully!

It is an established historic fact that Zanu PF brazenly rigged last year’s elections; the EU and every other democratic nation and organisation that observed the elections agree. Whilst the Americans and others refused to lift the sanctions imposed on the Zanu PF regime for failing to honour its obligation to hold free and fair elections; the EU has “rewarded” Mnangagwa and company for rigging the elections by lifting the sanctions! 

The EU and Zanu PF have been meeting with the view of restoring normal relationships with Harare including giving the country financial assistance and increased investment the country needs desperately to revive its comatose economy. 

"The EU noted the economic and political reforms agenda, including fighting corruption. The two sides agreed on the importance of reforms and their benefit to Zimbabwean people," reads the Zanu PF and EU re-engagement joint statement.

Zanu PF did not brazenly rig last year’s elections because they did not know what the political reforms necessary for free and fair elections! Of course, they know what they were doing. Indeed, after 39 years of rigging elections, the regime has raised its art of vote rigging to something of a master piece!

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s political paralysis and economic meltdown is country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation has been stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical regime for 39 years and counting, precisely because Zanu PF rigged elections, with the devastating economic and political consequences we see all around.

Mnangagwa and company do not need EU officials to tell them that ending corruption will benefit the ordinary Zimbabweans; they know that. They are stupid to have allowed corrupt to destroy the nation’s economy but not that stupid not to see the consequences. Of course, Mnangagwa et al can see the tragic human suffering and deaths brought about by the economic meltdown, they have eyes to see. 

Zanu PF leaders have knowingly denied the people their basic rights and freedoms, they can see the tragic human suffering and deaths and have ploughed on without a care in the world because they have their own selfish agenda! 

"The Zimbabwean side underlined the call by His Excellency the President for all political parties to join the Political Actors' Dialogue as unity of purpose among Zimbabweans and political parties was central to developing a mutual vision for Zimbabwe's path into the future,” the joint statement continue, underlining the point the point that Zanu PF does not give a damn about reforms, etc.  

The EU has its own reasons for refusing to hold Zanu PF to account for blatantly denying the ordinary Zimbabweans their basic human human rights and freedoms. Belgium has campaigned long and hard for the EU economic sanctions to be lifted so that it can join China, India, Israel, Russia, etc. profiting from the wholesale looting of Zimbabwe’s diamond, for example. Zanu PF leaders know this and are exploiting these weaknesses to make themselves the untouchable bully!

What makes every thinking Zimbabwean out there, angry is the EU’s patronising hypocrisy - calling on Zanu PF to implement reforms, to end corruption, etc. as if the EU cares about the suffering and deaths of ordinary Zimbabweans when they don’t. 

There has been genuine out pouring of public sympathy for all the #metoo victims not only because of the seriousness of crimes but, worst still, because the perpetrators in most cases were, until now at least, untouchables! 

The consequences of Zanu PF’s 39 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule are there for all to see; the economic collapse that has forced unemployment to soar to nauseating height of 90%, public health care has all but completely collapsed, etc. In engaging with Zanu PF regardless of the regime’s corrupt and tyrannical track record, the EU is serving its own selfish interests and those of Zanu PF. The EU should spare us the insults and patronising hypocrisy of pretending to care about the long suffering and deaths of the ordinary Zimbabweans. 

Ramaphosa asked to push for Zanu PF and MDC dialogue - by endorsing rigged elections, soiled his hands N Garikai

There is no denying that President Mnangagwa’s trade-mark “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call is dead in the water. Instead of putting the Zimbabwe economy back on track, the economic meltdown has taken a decidedly turn for the worse. 

The country is facing shortages of cash, fuel, power supply, medicine, food, you name it! The country’s hyperinflation, marking the high mark of the country’s 2008 economic collapse, is back with a vengeance. Inflation has soar from single digit in January to 400% plus now. 

The regime has stubbornly refused to increase the wages of the doctors, nurses, teachers and other civil servants in desperate attempt to contain the runaway hyperinflation. In an act of absolute folly, the regime has fired doctors for demand a living wage; they are paid a misery US$ 40 per month; delivering the coup de grace to the health service! 

The hyperinflation is expected to continue to soar fuelled by gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, etc. The regime has just awarded the top brass in the security services as much as 600% wage increases and the wholesale looting in the diamond industry continues, for example. 

President Mnangagwa is clearly aware that he has failed to revive the economy; he, just like Mugabe, does not want to accept any blame and is blaming the failure on drought, cyclone Idai and, Zanu PF’s hot favourite, the sanctions. He knows that the people are not going to suffer and die quietly like sheep in a slaughter house and has reverted to his default position of using overwhelming brutal force to cow down the nation into silent submission. 

As long as Zimbabwe’s economic situation does not improve, people will continue to voice their suffering regardless of the brutal violence from the regime. People are not sheep, they will never be cowed into suffering and dying in silence forever.  The pressure for meaningful political change is mounting and is coming from all quarters.

“Zimbabwe Self-exiled G40 kingpin Professor Jonathan Moyo and MDC-ALLIANCE leader  Mr Nelson Chamisa have allegedly written a letter to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and selected SADC leaders requesting for them to push for exclusive dialogue between President Mnangagwa and Mr Chamisa, outside the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD),” reported The Herald.

“The letter dubbed "Open Letter to President Ramaphosa" was not sent through official channels, but has been distributed to five newspapers, among them the Sunday Times for publication on Sunday, Kenyan sources said.”

This is just a waste!  Any solution giving or likely to give Zanu PF any meaningful role in charting the way forward is doomed because the party is NOT going to implement any meaningful democratic reforms. As long as Zanu PF is allow to stay in office; be it in the National Transition Authority (NTA) which is what MDC is proposing; we can be 100% certain of one thing - the party will see to it that no meaningful democratic reforms are implemented. 

“Zanu PF is not going to reform itself out of office!” Professor Jonathan Moyo once boasted, during his Zanu PF days! He was booted out of the party in the November 2017 coup, still when it comes to embracing democratic change, the party has not yielded one inch. 

So the only sure way to make sure Zanu PF does not play any role in determining the way forward in Zimbabwe is to make sure the party is not even invited to the discussion. 

Indeed, the nation is in this political mess precisely because Zanu PF rigged last year’s elections and granting the party any meaningful role going forward is just another way of rewarding Mnangagwa and company for rigging the elections. They should be punished and not rewarded. 

SA’s President Ramaphosa and SADC cannot play any meaningful role in ending Zimbabwe’s current political crisis because, by endorsing the rigged elections as free and fair and Zanu PF as the winner, they have soiled their own hands. SADC leaders have their hands tied, they have to invite Zanu PF to the talks and expect the party to play a dominant role going forward.

So if Zanu PF cannot be part of the solution in Zimbabwe whoever is initiating the political dialogue must, necessarily, have the authority to reaffirm the political reality that last year’s elections were indeed flawed, illegal and therefore null and void. And that this Zanu PF regime is per se illegitimate and therefore the party has no legal basis for claiming, as a right, any role going forward. Both SADC and AU leaders lack that political authority since they soiled their hands by accepting last year’s rigged elections. Only the UN has the authority and gravitas to president over Zimbabwe’s political crisis and stand a chance of producing a real working solution that will get us out of this mess. 

EU re-engagement goes up a gear as ED brutality goes into overdrive - EU ambivalence is killing us all P Guramatunhu

Let us all be very clear here; Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections, the regime does not have the people of Zimbabwe’s mandate to govern the country and must therefore step down, especially since it is now clear that it has failed to revive the economy. The duplicity of such major international players like the EU, who condemned the rigged elections but continue to treat the Zanu PF regime as the legitimate government, has only emboldened the regime to continue to ride roughshod over the people’s hopes and dreams to end its reign of terror!

“The EU confirmed the talks on its official Twitter account, saying the talks, dubbed the second edition of the formal political dialogue, include issues on investment, human rights, rule of law and good governance,” reported Newsday.

The EU had a high powered Election Observer Mission team of 246 individuals and their report was through and detailed and the condemnation of the elections as a farce was unequivocal.  

“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. 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,” stated the EU Election Mission final report. 

Whilst the Americans had made it clear the sanctions on Zanu PF leaders will remain as punishment for the blatant rigging of the elections and the use of violence in the 1 st August 2018 “post-election period” in which 7 civilians protesting the rigged elections were shot dead. The EU took off their foot off the sanctions pedal regardless of their own scathing election report. 

Even when Mnangagwa followed the 1 st August “shoot to kill” order with yet another “shoot to kill” order in which 17 civilians protesting the soaring fuel prices were killed; the EU still turned a blind eye. 

It is this ambivalence by key international players like the EU that have encouraged corrupt and tyrannical regimes like this Mnangagwa government to believe it can blatantly rig elections, use brute force to silence its political opponents, etc. and get away with it. 

When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe two years ago, he, like Mugabe before him, was cocksure he was going to revive Zimbabwe’s economic fortunes. He expected his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” clarion call to be answered by a flood of investors. By failing to end corruption, to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections, etc. Mnangagwa confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Investors understood this message and have continued to shy away from the country.

It is no secret that Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water and the country’s economic meltdown, in a pitiful state he took over two years ago, has turned a decided turn for even worse. The country is facing a chronic shortage of fuel, cash, power, medicine, food, etc. Inflation, single digit a year ago, has surged to 400% plus. 

Decades of under funding had left the country’s health care and education services in a sorry state. The regime has just fired doctors because it could meet their demand a living wage, above their current US$ 40 per month. Without doctors and nurses the health care services is now all but dead! The same is happening in education; some teachers are now work two-day week because they not afford the transport costs. 

How long are the people of Zimbabwe going to accept to suffer and died quietly the consequences of the economic meltdown, the chronic shortages, no health care, etc.? How long is a piece of string! 

Mnangagwa and his regime know the country’s economic meltdown is socially, morally and politically unsustainable. Still the regime is clearly determined to hang on to power for as long as possible; not by reviving the economy and alleviating the people’s suffering and deaths, it has failed to to do so; by using brute force. 

I for one, was not surprise that Mnangagwa used excessive force to disperse MDC supporters who had gathered to hear their party leader, Nelson Chamisa, give his Hope of the Nation Address. Mnangagwa is very jumpy and as the economy sinks deeper and deeper we can be certain he will be resorted to more and more violence in a futile attempt to silence all those protesting the economic hardships. 

It is disheartening that whilst Mnangagwa was unleashed his riot Police to beat MDC supporters for no reason at all; he was having his re-engagement meetings with the EU officials, who continue to treat this illegitimate regime as if it won free, fair and credible elections. 

If any of the EU member state’s elections process “failed to meet international standards” the Union will suspend the same member’s membership and follow this up with very stringent economic and political sanctions to punish those involved. Why is Mnangagwa and his cronies being treated differently? 

Why is the EU turning a blind eye to the economic suffering and deaths Zanu PF misrule and barbarism is inflicting on innocent Zimbabweans whose only crime is to demand the same freedoms and rights EU nationals take for granted?