Two weeks ago the British government hosted a UK - Africa Investment conference. 21 African countries attended the conference and Zimbabwe was not invited, according to Chamisa.
“Zimbabwe was not invited. Why? Because we have become a pariah state. We have become a banana republic,” Chamisa told the world during his State of Nation Address last Tuesday.
“We are a ‘don’t touch’!
“People do not want to do business with us. We don’t commit to our commitments. We indicate left and turn right. We are so inconsistent. We promise reforms but then we give people hell.”
Zimbabwe is indeed a pariah state, a banana republic. Not only do we have a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical ruling party, Zanu PF; but worse still, we also have a corrupt and incompetent opposition. MDC, just like Zanu PF, has indicated left and tuned right again and again and thus undermining all efforts to bring about meaningful change.
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends into power on the understanding the party will bring about the democratic changes, as its name implied, the nation was dying for. After 20 years, five of which MDC was in the GNU, the party has failed to get even one reform implemented. Not one!
Worse still, MDC has continued to participate in flawed and illegal elections knowing fully well that doing so would give the illegitimate Zanu PF regime some modicum of credibility. They have participate in elections even when ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll; a legal and common sense requirement, for Pete’s sake.
“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,” confessed David Coltart, MDC Treasurer, in his book The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.
“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.”
The Americans, Canadians, the Commonwealth, the EU and every other country, organisation and individual with common sense, condemned Zimbabwe’s July 2018 elections as a farce.
“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Election Mission final report.
“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”
An election process that failed to meet international standards because it contained numerous errors, was not transparent, etc., etc. CANNOT produce a legitimate presidential and parliamentary result and, per se, a legitimate government and opposition.
Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies blatantly rigged the elections to hang on to power. After decades of misrule they knew the people would jump at the opportunity to finally remove them from office. And so holding free, fair and credible elections was simply a luxury Mnangagwa and company could ill afford.
As explained above, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends participated in the flawed and illegal elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats they knew Zanu PF was giving away as bait. Unlike the other opposition parties, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC have withheld endorsing Mnangagwa as the winner of the presidential race to pressure the latter to concede a few cabinet position to MDC.
So MDC does not care that Zanu PF has been rigging elections and turning Zimbabwe into a Banana Republic as long as Chamisa and friends get a share of the spoils of power!
The real losers in the Banana Republic of Zimbabwe are the ordinary people who have been stuck with the corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 40 years and counting. Four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have destroyed the country’s, once upon a time, promising economy. Unemployment has soared to nauseating heights of 90%, basic services such as health care and education have all but collapsed, etc.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and murderous thugs backed by equally corrupt and sell-out opposition there will be no meaningful economic recovery. None!
The people of Zimbabwe have known, to end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state, the the country must implement the democratic reforms designed to stop the vote rigging. For the last 20 years the nation has risked life and limb to elect MDC politicians into power on the understanding they will deliver the reforms. After 20 years it is now clear that Chamisa and company have sold-out on reforms and the people must accept this political reality as a matter of common cause.
Yes, Nelson Chamisa promised to fight for comprehensive democratic reforms. But the National Transition Authority (NTA), he is calling for, will have less political power than the SADC sponsored 2008 to 2013 GNU. For one thing, by signing the 2008 Global Political Agreement, Zanu PF committed itself to reforms. The NTA is not calling on Zanu PF to make any such commitment.
If the 2008 GNU failed to get even one reform implemented it is naive to believe the NTA will do any better.
“We have become a Banana Republic!” This is the beguiling and exasperating duplicity of MDC, the party publicly denounce the Zanu PF dictatorship and yet it is none other than Chamisa et al who are keeping Mnangagwa and company is power - for thirty pieces of silver, of course!
Whilst Zanu PF remains the major partner in Banana Republic of Zimbabwe, the party has since the 2008 GNU surreptitiously acquired a junior partner, MDC! MDC has long stopped fighting for free, fair and credible elections, this is the political reality Zimbabweans cannot afford to ignore for one more day longer!
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FINANCE minister Mthuli Ncube yesterday met International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva to discuss, among other pressing issues, the country’s crisis-hit economy, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, ahead of a crucial meeting on Zimbabwe next month.
At the meeting scheduled for Washington DC, the Bretton Woods institution will explore ways of rescuing the imploding economy.The deliberations will be pivotal in deciding the fate of the IMF Staff-Monitored Programme (SMP), following the government’s failure to meet the economic agreement’s set targets.
Ncube’s meeting with Georgieva comes at a time negotiations over the re-calibration of the SMP remain in limbo after government and the IMF team failed to reach consensus. The SMP is an informal arrangement between the government and the IMF to monitor the implementation of key economic programmes in the country.
The SMP was agreed during the GNU when Tendai Biti was Minister of Finance, IMF never paid Zimbabwe anything because the country never met the agreed demands. Ever since, the country has held meetings with IMF on the subject and told the say thing!
When Professor Mthuli Ncube was appointed Minister of Finance he was so cocksure he will have the IMF on board in no time! All hot air, of course, if the country missed the SMP targets by a mile now we are not even shooting in the right direction! Why the nation even bothered to send Minister Ncube to Davos, is a mystery!
The parents pledged to support teachers in their quest to take teacher issues to doorsteps of responsible authorities.
As a stop gap measure amidst the current crisis, ARTUZ pledged to hold free classes in Community Halls for exam sitting classes while a permanent solution from the government.
The Union also stressed out that once their issues are resolved, teachers are ready to make up for lost classes time.
ARTUZ is also going to help parents deal with teachers who capitalize on the current crisis by extorting parents through extra lessons and new curriculum learning materials.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery in Zimbabwe. Anyone therefore who expects the economy to recover whilst Zanu PF remains in power is naive!
After 40 years of rigged elections, one was hoping that the penny has finally dropped and every Zimbabwean will now be pushing for democratic reforms, the pre-requisite for ending the curse of rigged elections. It is sad to see that there are still many Zimbabweans who still expect economic recovery regardless of the curse of rigged elections and pariah state.
The majority of Zimbabweans are clearly not yet ready for democratic change, they deserve the dictatorship and, per se, the suffering and deaths that the system has brought.
“I had an encounter with a youth who recently joined us in the diaspora and his interpretation of Zimbabwe's problems was about it being a landlocked country.”
Well, you should have reminded your young friend that Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of the region and it was still landlocked!
Former minister and ex Zanu-PF commissar Savior Kasukuwere has found little sympathy following a move by the President Emerson Mnangagwa government to seize his Concorpia Farm in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central.
Lands minister Perrance Shiri withdrew an offer letter to the property "for planning purposes."
As long as Zanu PF remains in power the chaos will continue!
The real tragedy is the country is going to the dogs whilst the Zanu PF madness continues!
“How many times has MLF Israel Dube threatened me: Nomazulu Thata in his articles: with murder by dousing me with petrol and setting me on fire: the Winnie Madikizela Mandela style? Is that not criminality of the highest order? If I disagree with the views of the MLF why should I die, killed in that criminal style because I have views that are not in sic with MLF? Why are dissenting views not tolerated in this MLF movement that purports to free its people from marginalization by Zanu-PF?”
Gukurahundi was instigated by Zanu PF thugs with no respect of the law and freedoms and rights of others including the right to life. After 40 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship, the party is imploding; we have the golden opportunity to turn over a new page and build a free, just and prosperous nation. Sadly that chance is being threaten by MLF whose leaders are hell bend on dragging the nation back to the Gukurahundi nightmare years with their own brand of Zanu PF thuggery.
If MLF will “necklace” you, Nomazulu, whom they would be considered squeaky clean of Shona blood (Zanu PF and Shona are one and the same to MLF) for daring to hold a different view; what Gukurahundi atrocity will they commit on the Shona!
Israel Dube and company’s threatening posturing has not gone unnoticed, there are some people playing the war drums in reply. As much as many Zimbabweans would want peace and a chance to rebuild their lives after the decades of Zanu PF corruption and tyranny, the nation may find itself dragged into yet another nightmare.
I salute you, Nomazulu, for standing up to these mindless MLF thugs. It is a great pity that no one had the courage to stand up to Mugabe and his thugs, the nation would have been spared the madness of Gukurahundi!
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