Work on the upgrading of the National Stadium in Harare and Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo has started in earnest. The Chronicle is full of coloured pictures of the work been done at the latter stadium.
Am I surprised that the regime has moved swiftly to upgrade the stadia and yet has done nothing about the rot and decay of the country’s clinics and hospitals including Parerenyatwa and Mpilo Hospitals an stone-throw away from National and Barbourfield Stadium respective? No I am not!
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has again and again made decisions that simply defy logic. In Zimbabwe it is the tail that wags the dog! Bizarre!
In Zimbabwe unemployment has soared to the dizzying heights of 90%, basic services like education and health care have all but completely collapsed and 34% of the population now living in abject poverty. I will bet my bottom dollar that at least 90% of the people of Zimbabwe would have never voted for upgrade the country stadia given all the other pressing issues.
As we can see, the country’s ruling elite did vote for the upgrading of the stadia. The total collapse of the country’s health care services, for example, does not bother them one bit. They go to SA, India, China, Singapore, etc. for all their medical needs and have done so decades!
The economic and social situation in Zimbabwe has reached new alarming heights and yet the ruling elite continue to be oblivious of it all.
Bulawayo has just increased its health care charges by 700% and so even more people in the city will be forced choose death over life. Aware of the increase in number of deaths, no doubt, the City has also increased its burial charges. The deceased’s relatives are being punished for dead relative, for the economic meltdown, for the foolishness of putting stadium over hospitals, etc., etc.
Of course, the ordinary Zimbabwean has never had any meaningful say in the governance of the country, they have been denied their freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. It is the ruling elite who have the veto over all matters in Zimbabwe, they are the ones to blame for the country’s corruption and mismanagement behind the economic meltdown. And yet it is the ordinary Zimbabweans who are being punished by the ruling elite for the latter’s misrule - that is what makes the whole story so tragic and bizarre!
The only way to end the madness in Zimbabwe is for the ordinary people to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms design to end Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers and to restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs, there will be no meaningful economic recovery and such foolishness as upgrading stadia at the expense of hospitals will continue. The need to implement the democratic reforms and end this political madness has never been more urgent than it is now with human lives at stake!
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“I am pleased to say that the Ministry of Local Government has confirmed the release of a $13 million grant which we had requested for short to remedial works at Barbourfields. The ministry has identified a contractor who will work at Barbourfields and the National Sports Stadium.
The contractor will start as soon as possible in preparation for the next Caf inspection and the next international match. I am advised that the contractor should be in Bulawayo this afternoon,” Bulawayo Mayor Solomon Mguni said.
He said the budget for the renovations was $58 million and the council was working on capacitating its architects to align with the architecture of modern-day stadia to meet the required standards.
This is really shocking, Bulawayo City Council has just announce a whopping 700% increase in its basic health care rates and burial charges and yet is spending millions on this upgrading exercise. If it increases the gate charges to all activities in the stadium by anywhere near 700%, the games will be played to half-empty stadium or worse!
Unemployment in Zimbabwe is a whopping 90% and 34% of our people are now living in abject poverty, according to a WB report late last year. 1 in 3 of our people cannot afford one decent meal a day and education, health care much less sport and entertainment are now a luxury they cannot afford. Why then is the country’s ruling elite forcing the poor to choose entertainment over basic needs as health care! This is what happens in a country where the ruling elite are not accountable to the people.
These actions and policies by certain members of the Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwe’s democratic processes or institutions continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States. Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288 with respect to Zimbabwe.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 4, 2020.
Well done USA!
Gweru Mayor Josiah Makombe says there is no typhoid in Gweru and the two deaths attributed to the deadly disease in the city were actually cases of food poisoning.
Makombe's statement comes after panic gripped the Midlands provincial capital after two boys from Mkoba 12 died recently in what was feared to be a case of typhoid.
Gweru, like so many other cities in Zimbabwe, has failed to supply clean running water. The fear os such diseases as typhoid spreading is not completely unfounded or far fetched.
Gweru city council officials were forced to call off a meeting with EU diplomatic staff last week were one of the issue on the table was safe water supply. Zanu PF government officials demanded that the meeting be called off because they had not cleared the meeting. The real reason was that the council is controlled by MDC and Zanu PF does not want anyone else to be seen as having done anything of note.
The late Zanu Ndonga leader, Rev Ndavaningi Sithole, was given a hard time for allowing homeless people settle on his Chiru Farm. NGOs, local and foreign, too have been given the run around if they ever tried to assist the populous without Zanu PF playing the key role.
Zanu PF has cause untold human suffering in Zimbabwe and the party is cashing in on the suffering by making it clear that the party will making the suffering even worse to the victims if anyone should even try to alleviate the suffering!
We should not forget that Zimbabwe's ruling elite live in palatial mansions, with fleet of post cars, have multi-million dollar business empires and live an extravagant lifestyles that even the prodigal son never dreamt possible. As much as the country is in a real economic and political mess with 90% out of work and millions living in abject poverty, the ruling elite are doing their best to have these economic realities swept under the carpet.
The regime has moved very quickly to upgrade the stadia because this is a prestige project. They are ashamed that a word has got out that Zimbabwe does not have stadia suitable for hosting international football games.
Mnangagwa and his cronies are not bothered that country’s health care, education, etc. service have all but completely collapsed. If referral hospitals like Parerenyatwa and Mpilo run out of something as basic as painkillers one can only image the sorry state clinics and hospitals in the rural backwater are in. The regime is not bothered about these because the chefs have long stopped using them and, more significantly, it has swept them out of outsider public scrutiny.
I totally agree, as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no end to the madness funding prestige project at the expense of life and death projects like equipping our public hospitals.
The 90% of Zimbabweans out of work did not vote for Zanu PF in the July 2018 elections, fictitious voters did and hence the reason the party was careful there was no verified voters’ roll. None!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF party have shifted focus to the 2023 election, less than two years into a five-year term, while admitting that the administration was struggling to fulfil key electoral promises of the previous poll.
Rising inflation is also eating into the workers' spending power, stifling industrial growth and last week the International Monetary Fund cut the economy's growth forecast to 0,8% from an earlier projection of 3,3%.
"The 2023 harmonised elections are just around the corner and we should now begin to intensify our preparation," said Mnangagwa to his politburo members.
"As you are aware, we are fast approaching the halfway mark since we held our last elections. Each department of the party must revisit the manifesto to measure our progress in the implementation of the programmes laid therein.
"In the same vein, we are observing continued worrisome trends to advance the regime change agenda, not only in Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF in particular, but also within all former liberation movements in our region.”
Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections and, with no reforms in place, will rig the 2023 elections too. Zanu PF’s number one priority is to retain power at all cost.
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, vote rigging and murderous thugs. The economic consequences of 40 years of Zanu PF dictatorship is the economic meltdown and the poverty it has caused. There will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state.
IMF, WB, AfDB and all the other major international lenders are not going to bankroll a corrupt and wasteful pariah state.
Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because of 40 years of bad governance. By blatantly rigging the elections Zanu PF has cemented Zimbabwe’s image as a pariah state. Zanu PF is hold the nation hostage to its selfish agenda that only Zanu PF must rule the country and the only sure way to achieve that is by rigging the elections and making the country a pariah state.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power until 2023, the party will see to it that no meaningful reforms are implemented and will then go on to rig the 2023 elections - that must not be allowed to happen!
Mnangagwa is expected in Gutu-Mpandawana tomorrow for the opening of a mortuary at Gutu Rural Hospital.
He will also lead a clean-up exercise.
Mnangagwa is also expected to hold a rally at Matizha Business Centre, about 40km out of town.
Residents said they were surprised to have uninterrupted power and water supply.
"We do not know the last time we had power and water all day round. Some roads, like the one passing through the late Vice-President Simon Muzenda's home were serviced, while potholes are being filled. We were surprised and thought our council and the roads authority had suddenly become hardworking, only to be told the President will be here," a resident said on condition of anonymity.
How long has the hospital been running with no mortuary? And how long, after the visit will the hospital have electricity and water supply?
Mnangagwa is now behaving like Mugabe, he is so desperate to project an aura of success there is now great deal of cynicism in what he is doing. He is not interested in solving anything, all he cares about is to appear to be successful solving everything, at least the here and now.
When the late Nathan Shamuyarira died in 2014, Mugabe arranged to have the potholes to Shamuyarira’s Borrowdale house repaired, the front of the house was painted. Shamuyarira had died a pauper and this was Mugabe’s cynical attempt to hide the party’s grandee’s poverty and the rot and decay around him! I will bet my bottom dollar, only the front of the house was painted!
@ Bigboy Sibanda
"Zimbabweans are more oppressed and we are in a full-fledged police and military state. ED Mnangagwa has not implemented any tangible reforms to align the laws with the constitution, instead he wants to make amendments to grant himself unquestioned executive powers, where he can act without parliamentary oversight."
Well one of the benefit of rigging the July 2018 elections is that he can now go on to change the constitution as he pleases soince he has 2/3 Zanu PF parliamentary majority. The mistake we made was to allow Mnangagwa to rig the July 2018 elections and then to get away with it.
If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power till 2023 then we can be 100% certain the party will rig that year's elections too!
"An implosion is looming. SADC must encourage dialogue and afford Zimbabwean a soft landing and also give Zimbabweans a break from the unpalatable suffering they have endured for decades. We feel the SADC secretariat is not doing the region any prudent service if it is failing to realise the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe is a serious threat to regional peace and security,” said MDC.
Zimbabwe is imploding but it is MDC, not SADC, that is to blame. The regional body forced the late Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. It was MDC’s responsibility to implement the reforms during the GNU.
MDC failed to get even one reform implemented in five years. MDC has participated in flawed and illegal elections since the GNU sell-out knowing fully well that doing so would give credibility to the process and the result.
MDC is calling for a power sharing arrangement with Zanu PF, a second GNU, for the sake of getting back on the gravy train. This GNU is weaker than the 2008 and therefore will not implement any reforms. Why should SADC support such a foolish proposal?
The people of Zimbabwe deserve a solution out of this mess and not yet another gimmick!
“We therefore call upon those nations who wish our country and people well to partner us and be patient with us as we continue to undertake these reforms towards meeting the aspirations of our people,” Mangwana said.
Zanu PF must think every Zimbabwean out there is an idiot who does not know what the regime is doing. Zanu PF leaders have been building palatial mansions like the Blue Roof whilst key national institutions like Parerenyatwa Hospitals are allowed to rot and decay. They have blatantly rigged elections and insist the elections were free and fair. Well, we are not all stupid!
We want the sanctions to stay! Thank you America!
IMF, WB, AfDB and all the other lenders have just confirmed they will not give Zimbabwe a single dollar in financial assistance because Zanu PF's political and economic reforms are "off-track"!
Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote-rigging thugs. The pressure is on Zanu PF to step down to allow the country to implement the reforms and hold free and fair elections.
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