There is no one more blind than he who freely choose to close their eyes to the truth and when the truth is unpalatable one physical and mental eyes are superglued shut!
“For the record, we (MPs) are employees of the people and we will continue to utilise every available space to express the feelings of ordinary Zimbabweans from Chirundu to Beitbridge and from Plumtree to Kanyemba,” argued Honourable Prosper Chapfiwa Mutseyami, MDC MP for Chikanga-Dangamvura constituency and party Chief Whip.
“This is exactly what we went to do in Victoria Falls. We are the people’s representatives. We do not shy away from any platform to articulate their concerns. We will never abdicate our key national mandate of playing the oversight role on the executive.”
Such naked conceit is unbecoming from one habitually called “honourable”!
The MPs approved the squandering of US$ 16 million on new cars for ministers and many similar wasteful expenses at a time the nation’s health care services has all but collapsed. The suggestion that this is what the people of Zimbabwe wanted is to add insult to injury!
If any of the MPs had objected to ministers getting new cars the Minister of Finance had only to added that MPs would also get new cars and the budget would have been approved without any further undo!
Even if MDC MPs had made a big song and dance over an issue Zanu PF would still have managed to get it approved given the ruling party’s 2/3 majority.
Everyone agrees that Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections to secure the 2/3 majority. Everyone also knows that Zanu PF will allow the opposition to win a few council and parliamentary seats, notably in the urban areas where the ruling party has less political leverage over the electorate.
It is these bait seats the opposition politicians are after and would participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the electoral process happen to be. Honourable Prosper Chapfiwa Mutseyami, is MDC MP for Chikanga-Dangamvura constituency, an urban constituency, one of the bait seat! But, of course, he will never ever admit his elections was anything other than a free, fair and credible election!
“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission final report.
“Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
Of course, last year’s elections were flawed and illegal and MP Mutseyami knows that. Knowing something is one thing admitting it and accepting the consequences is another matter!
The MPs had yet another no-expense spared jaunt in Vic Falls, total cost US$ 5 million, at tax payers’ expense. And there is nothing to show for it.
“You lack one thing: go sell everything that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me,” Jesus told the rich young ruler! Luke 18:22.
MDC leaders have had many golden opportunities to implement the democratic reforms to end the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship. They have failed to implement even one reform in the party’s 20 year history because Zanu PF bribed the leaders.
It is as hard for Prosper Chapfiwa Mutseyami and all the other opposition politicians to denounce last year’s elections as rigged and loose their MP privilege for the sake of free and fair election and good governance as it was for the rich young ruler would sell his wealth for the kingdom of God!
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MDC MPs like Mutseyami who won the few seats Zanu PF gives away as bait will never admit the elections are rigged and so we now have a serious problem with people who will participate in these flawed and illegal elections regardless how flawed the process gets. Why would Zanu PF ever accept the need to implement reforms when the party knows MDC leaders will participate no matter what!
These MDC sell-out will never accomplish anything of substance other than prop up this Zanu PF dictatorship!
One of the reasons Zimbabwe is stuck is we have rarely had a meaningful debate on any subject because there are people who have no respect for the truth, reality, facts, rules and substance.
After four decades of a totally dysfunctional government precisely because the country's democratic institutions like the Police, Judiciary, Media and even more so parliament have all been corrupted to the point of being nothing more that a Zanu PF department in all but name. So it is nonsensical for anyone to then still talk of parliament exercising its "mandate of playing the oversight role on the executive"! It would be bad enough to hear such nonsense from the Zanu PF faithful not someone in the opposition camp!
Zanu PF MPs are under no such illusions that they represent the ordinary Zimbabweans because they know they would not be in power if the elections were free, fair and credible. They owe their electoral victory to the party's vote rigging machinery and they will never do anything contrary to the party's wishes regardless of the damage and suffering it inflicts on the common people.
Zanu PF MPs have their eyes on two things: one, make the most of their position by demanding as much as they can of the spoils of power and hence their preoccupation with generous salaries and allowance for MPs including such jaunts as this annual Victoria Falls excursion. Two, do everything they can to please the party ruling elite as the only way to make progress up the greasy pole of power!
Zanu PF and opposition politicians have disagreed and even fought each other with the intensity of wild cats over many things but when it came to fighting for MP salaries, allowances, etc. they might just as well be siamese twins. MP Mutseyami may be an MDC MP but he, like his Zanu PF counterpart, knows these jaunts are a golden chance for MPs to feather their own nests.
MP Mutseyami know’s that parliament is a compromised and thus totally useless institution but will defend it now just to justify his own continued presence there. He is not alone on this, Tendai Biti, David Coltart, Nelson Chamisa, etc. are all participating in these flawed and illegal elections for no other reasons than a chance to feather their own nest. Zanu PF is aware of this and has taken full advantage of it; the party will never agree to holding free, fair and credible elections as long as the party is certain the opposition will participate in flawed elections!
Zimbabweans have been calling for democratic changes in country these last 20 years precisely because they realised the country's state institutions like ZEC, Judiciary and Parliament have all been corrupted by Zanu PF turning them into party departments in all but name. The country would not be in this mess if parliament was accountable to the people and had the power to hold the executive to account.
"Our MPs who chair the various portfolio committees have done sterling work in playing Parliament’s oversight role. At the pre-budget consultation forum, we not only articulated the ordinary people’s concerns but our MPs who chair the various Parliamentary Portfolio Committees were brilliant in expressing the expectations of the ordinary Zimbabweans in this year’s national budget," MP Mutseyami claims.
There is no justification in this government spending US$16 million buying new cars for ministers when the country is failing to pay for a basic health care service. No amount of "sterling work" by the MPs have ever stopped this Zanu PF's extravagant waste in the past and it will not do so now!
MPs, be they Zanu PF or from the opposition, number one priority has always been to feather their own nest by claiming as much as they dare of the spoils of power. They cannot admit parliament is useless and so they lie and pretend we have a healthy and functional parliamentary democracy!
"Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!" (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the trapping of power in silence and not rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They were commenting on why MDC leaders were not implemented any reforms.
Well some MDC leaders just cannot keep their mouth shut! MP Mutseyami is now praising Zimbabwe's dysfunctional parliamentary democracy!
"Mutseyami, chidya unyerere!" (Mutseyami, enjoy the trapping of power and stop blubbering nonsense!)
How does anyone expect the worker to come to work when he or she is not paid enough to cover their transport cost let alone food, accommodation, etc.? What we have here is a totally irrational situation.
Zanu PF has no clue what to do to revive the country's economy, the party will never admit it, and so the nation is stuck.
Zanu PF ruling elite will hang on to power come-what-may as we can already see. The question is how much of this hell-on-earth; what else can we call this situation in which over 90% are unemployed, 3/4 live on US$30 or less per month, basic services such as health have completely collapsed, etc.; are the ordinary Zimbabweans going to tolerate it? It is a crying shame that the people of Zimbabwe have allowed themselves to be dragged into this mess this deep - but there it is!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has turned to last year’s losing presidential election candidates to assist with ways to have sanctions imposed by Western powers lifted.
Mnangagwa blames Zimbabwe’s economic woes on the 18-year-old embargo ostensibly targeted at individuals accused of human rights abuses and electoral fraud, among other alleged offences.
Late last month, Mnangagwa called for protest marches supported by Sadc to demand the removal of the sanctions but the event was largely ignored by ordinary citizens.
Speaking to journalists after a clean-up campaign at Fife Avenue Shopping Centre in Harare Friday, Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) made up of mainly fringe parties and Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF chairperson, Justice Selo Nare, said the platform members will have a retreat in Nyanga to find ways to approach and engage the West so sanctions could be lifted.
By participating in the flawed and illegal elections these opposition parties have given this illegitimate Mnangagwa Zanu PF regime some modicum of legitimacy, they know it and so too does Mnangagwa. POLAD is Mnangagwa’s way of saying thank you to Zimbabwe’s corrupt and incompetent opposition politicians.
As long as Zanu PF knows that the opposition will contest elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happened to be, the party will never implement any meaningful democratic reforms. The Americans and the rest of the world can call for reforms until we are all blue in the face, the party will promise to implement the reforms but when push comes to shove, do nothing.
“Why are the West calling for reforms when MDC and the rest of Zimbabwe’s opposition are happy participating in elections with not even one reform in place?” is the obvious but unspoken question Mnangagwa has often asked. There is no denying that the corrupt and incompetent opposition is undermining the efforts of all of those pushing for reforms and free, fair and credible elections.
Read the full cable below:
Perence Shiri, Commander of the Air Force, had long been critical of Mugabe's leadership and his unwillingness to permit change within ZANU-PF. He had repented of his role in Gukurahundi, the Matabeleland massacres instigated by Mugabe in the early 1980s. Defense Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga, on the other hand, was so corrupt that "he would rather sink with the ship than oppose the captain."
(NOTE: Chiwenga recently told The Standard newspaper that "elections are coming and the army will not support or salute sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the presidential elections
How is it possible that we have kept the same murderous tyrants in power for four decades. As a nation, we have let ourselves down horribly!
When ZACC was formed everyone was happy with a hope that corruption will be flashed out soon. Its like there is no change at all, or the purpose is to expose the corrupt elements of people.
I thought the purpose was to recover the stolen money or property and arrest the person. Instead of the government to benefit from the commission is loosing more money on it. If no one is made to pay back the money or arrested, the commission is meaningless.
This really shows that Zimbabwe belongs to individuals who are corrupt.
For the people to have faith to ZACC can we have people locked behind the bars. Their property taken by the state. The country does not have money while people are moving out freely, with millions stolen from public funds.
One of the many shortcomings of Zimbabweans is that we are naive and gullible and, to crown it all, we never learn from the past. One had only to look at the set up of ZACC to see it was a waste of time! It was none other than Emmerson Mnangagwa who appointed the individuals in ZACC. Who does not know that Mnangagwa is the Godfather of corruption?
Mnangagwa appointed Foreign Affairs Minister, Sibusiso Moyo’s wife to be the chairperson of ZACC. Again, who does not know that all the top brass in the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services are all corrupt and the ones behind the wholesale looting in Marange. Sibusiso Moyo was the spokesperson of the November 2017 military coup and one of the top Army Officers who the Marange racket! And anyone who thinks that Mrs Moyo will ever arrest her husband is naive!
Mnangagwa has admitted the corruption “is deep rooted” and it expect those who are the beneficiaries of corruption to end it is to expect them to uproot themselves - they are not that foolish!
In Zimbabwe Parliament, just like all the other democratic institutions, has been corrupt by Zanu PF, it is just another Zanu PF department in all but name! Mnangagwa rigged last year’s elections to secure a 2/3 Zanu PF majority and those MPs know they owe their positions to him and the Zanu PF vote rigging machinery and not the people. Of course, those MP are there to do Mnangagwa’s bidding and not the people’s.
"We raised the issues of fuel shortages, the low morale among teachers and other civil servants, the soaring cost of electricity on the few occasions that it is available as well as the proscription of the people's democratic rights," said MP Mutseyami.
MDC MPs can raise these issues as often as they regime will allow them but we all know in the end Zanu PF will completely ignore them and do as the party pleases.
MDC leaders betrayed the nation by failing to implement even one democratic reform even when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Ever since they have given this illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of credibility by participating in flawed and illegal elections. And now these MDC sell-out want to pretend Zimbabwe has a healthy and functional parliamentary system!
THE Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) has resolved to engage the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the international community over the need to urgently remove illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe nearly two decades ago.
POLAD is a waste of time and space, these opposition politicians should have never participated in last year’s elections knowing Zanu PF would rig the elections. By so doing they gave the flawed and illegal elections and thus the outcome some semblance of legitimacy.
Mnangagwa has rewarded these sell-out politicians by inviting them into this group, POLAD, which has no constitutional power or basis.
Everyone with half a brain already knows that the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is corruption and mismanagement. The country has never addressed these two evils because the country is stuck with Zanu PF, the party responsible for the corruption and mismanagement. There is no doubt that the regime is now feeling the heat of the economic meltdown and is scrapping the bottom of the barrel in search of a scapegoat.
China has just cancelled three loans to Zimbabwe worth US$1.4 billion because the Zimbabwe government used US$10 million without its permission. Is POLAD going to accuse the Chinese of imposing “illegitimate sanctions” on Zimbabwe too!
The number one question the UN must ask these Zanu PF time-wasters is why Zanu PF failed to hold free, fair and credible elections last year? It is Zanu PF that is illegal and it is high time the regime is forced to step down!
Zanu PF rigged last year's elections to secure the 2/3 majority in parliament. MDC MPs can voice their concerns over the regime's failure to end corruption and all the other serious matters affecting us all they will change nothing. Zimbabwe does not have a functioning parliament and no amount of denying that change that reality. MDC leaders are only giving this illegitimate and dysfunctional system legitimacy by participating in the flawed elections.
MDC MPs do not care that elections were rigged and we have a dysfunctional political system as long as they continue to get a share of the spoils of power!
Zimbabwe’s army and police are poised to get the biggest chunks of the 2020 national budget, which finance minister Mthuli Ncube has revised to far exceed the initial ceiling of ZWL$28bn (about US$1.77bn or R26.1bn).
This has been revealed in a document produced this week by the minister, titled “2020 Pre-Budget Parliamentary Consultation Meetings; October 30 to November 4 2019”.
According to the document, the defence forces require ZWL$25bn, while home affairs requires ZWL$32bn.
Since Zimbabwe’s disputed July 2018 polls, the army and police have been central in suppressing protests from the opposition as well as workers’ unions. The opposition has vowed to keep putting pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s establishment, while workers continue to give it headaches. As a result, allocating more funds to the security forces is strategic, say analysts.
Almost half of Zimbabwe’s 16-million people are faced with starvation, both in urban and rural areas. For survival, food aid and cash packages have been supplied to the most vulnerable by the donor community.
Agriculture is set to be allocated ZWL$14bn. Industry, which is meant to be the cornerstone of economic revival, gets an underwhelming ZWL$6bn.
Health workers’ ongoing disappointment is set to continue. According to the document they will get ZWL$18bn, the third highest allocation. Doctors have been on strike for at least three months while nurses are on a go-slow.
This is a regime that is stuck in its failed ways and cannot change. Ever since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, Zanu PF has failed to understand importance of investing in wealth generation such as agriculture, mining, industry and commerce as contrast to spending on welfare such as health care and education and, worse still, civil service and security.
So the opportunity to grow the economy was lost and the regime turned to increasing the size of the civil service, Police, CIO and Army. Laying off these civil servants and security services personal have become increasingly difficult since there were few employment opportunity in other sectors which have been shrinking under the burden of the bloated public sector.
It is no surprise that the army and police are now guzzling so much, there is really very little left for anything else. Without spending on the wealth generating sectors it is nonsense to talk of economic recovery much less Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s much talked about vision 2030 middle income status he has been wittering about!
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