The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic mess and political paralysis is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and murderous dictatorship for the last 40 years which has remained in office all these years by rigged elections.
Zanu PF has stifled all meaningful debate by creating a monolithic system in which only the voice of the leader, his cronies, flatters, apologists and propagandist are heard. All other voices are considered a threat to the regime and are ruthlessly silenced. It is therefore no surprise that the nation has again and again found itself wasting time and resources chasing the mythical five-legged hare.
The sanctions imposed by the West are not the root cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown; there is a mountain of evidence to show that corruption, mismanagement and lawlessness are the real problems. The Zanu PF dictatorship did not want to deal with corruption, mismanagement and lawlessness because the only way to end these problem is by dismantling the dictatorship itself. This is something the regime did not want to do and so it has imposed sanctions as the cause of all the nation's problems.
It typical Zanu PF style, the regime has loaded sanctions as the root cause of the country's problems on one hand and then made a big song and dance about the measures the regime had lined up to mitigate the ill-effects of the sanction. Starting with Mugabe's "Look East!" policy launched 20 years ago to Mnangagwa's recent claim that the country has devised local solutions to spur development regardless of the sanctions.
Mugabe's look east policy have not worked, as the economic meltdown has only got worse. Mnangagwa's solutions will accomplish nothing too because the economic meltdown is not caused by sanctions.
Zimbabwe is in a serious economic mess and it is not going to get out of it by wasting time and resources addressing imaginary sanctions problems whilst the real problems, corruptions, etc. "Kupedzera miseve pamakunguvo haga dziripo!" (We just wasting arrows shooting at crows instead of the guinea fowls!) as one would say in Shona.
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What is happening in Zimbabwe is not something new but a struggle between order and chaos, rule of law and rule by the whims and decrees of a dictators. This is a struggle as old as human history. 2 500 years ago the Greeks bequeathed to mankind a system of government that has delivered order out of chaos and rule of law; a democracy in which the people have a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
Zimbabwe is not a democracy. Mnangagwa insist that it is and the July 2018 elections were free, fair and credible. He is lying. How can the elections be judged free and fair when 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote; he claimed victory with 2.6 million votes? The election process lacked transparency and could not be traced and verified. ZEC failed to produce something as basic and fundamental to free and fair elections as a verified voters' roll, for Pete sake!
Like it or not Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous dictators whose whims and decrees are the only supreme laws of the land.
There is a mountain of evidence on the ground to prove that corruption and mismanagement and the real big causes of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. And yet both corruption and mismanagement have been completely ignored as the nation focused its attention on sanctions. There is no rational why sanctions have trumped corruption in the nation's psycho; reason and law does not rule supreme in Zimbabwe, irrational decrees do!
After 40 years of tyrannical rule and with the country on the edge of the abyss the people of Zimbabwe must wake up to the need for rule of law or else the nation will tumble over the edge into the abyss. Zanu PF ruling elite are robbing the nation blind and are hiding behind their little finger by blaming sanctions for all the country's ills. Zimbabweans who continue to believe the sanctions nonsense do so because they refuse to open their own eyes.
There is no one more blind that the naive and gullible who are susceptible to decrees, mysticism and fear choose to close their own eyes and minds to reality and reason!
@ Ibbo Mandaza
“The following are some of the elements to be considered in the context of the political economy of corruption in Zimbabwe; and around which ideas and strategies could be put in place as part of the anti-corruption drive. First, the vulnerability to corruption on the part of that class of leaders who inherited power at independence.
“This is the petit bourgeoisie (or middle classes) for whom the state became the agency for primitive accumulation; and whom such multinationals as Anglo America and Lonrho would have patronised many of the nationalist leaders (even before independence), resourced them corruptly and converted them into the comprador bourgeois class for whom power and wealth are conflated.
“This class now constitutes a major constraint to change and transition.
“Third, most pertinent in the Zimbabwe situation is the relationship between corruption, wealth and politics; the extent to which corruption per se pervades the polity, influences political and policy decisions. How has corruption in the diamond sector especially the issue of the Chinese and their companies, Anjin and Jinan been a factor in the November 2017 coup? It is worth remembering that the new dispensation itself accused Jinan in 2018 of illegally externalising US$332 085 310, 72% of the total amount the government claimed was externalised.
This explains and justifies why Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have become corrupt and filthy it does not explain why the Johnny come-lately like the MDC opposition leaders have too become corrupt and utterly useless.
“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” boasted one Zanu PF crony during the GNU when he was asked why MDC leaders were not implementing the democratic reforms. He was right, MDC leaders failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU.
Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and company with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, very generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. With their snout in the feeding trough the MDC leaders all but forgot about their promise to the nation to deliver democratic changes.
So, it is not just the “class of leaders who inherited power at independence, the petit bourgeoisie (or middle classes)” who are corrupt those seeking power, the pretentious democrats, are just as corrupt and incompetent. If we are going to stamp out corruption we must dig deeper than the politics of personality!
James Duddridge, the UK minister for Africa, said London's targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe were meant to rein in officials behind human rights violations.
"The UK stands up for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
"Our sanctions only target those, who disregard these values in Zimbabwe and across the world," Duddridge said on Twitter.
"The UK is committed to tackling corruption and ensuring a better future for Zimbabweans.”
If Zimbabwe had been a healthy and functioning democratic nation and not this dysfunction pariah state the nation would have dismissed this hen’s teeth tale of sanctions being the root cause of the country’s ills. There is a mountain of evidence to show that corruption and mismanagement are the chief culprits.
Sanctions, the hen’s teeth tale, has remained of the national political agenda these last 20 years only because Zimbabwe is an autocracy and Zanu PF’s whims and decrees are the law of the land.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, the country will continued to blunder from pillar to post and sink deeper and deeper into economic chaos and despair.
The country’s worsening economic situation is forcing Zanu PF to step-up its campaign of deceit and lies. Our response must be to step up the pressure, the sanctions are an integral part of this, on regime to hold free, fair and credible elections. Sanctions must be remain and, indeed, be expanded to include such individuals as Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Minister Kirsty Coventry and MDC leaders; the Johnny come-lately propping up the corrupt regime.
Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections and was left off the hook. The party must be left in no doubt that if the next elections are rigged it will be declared illegitimate and punished for it!
It also comes as Sadc nations commemorate the Anti-Sanctions Day today. Ahead of the commemorations, the chairperson of the Sadc Council of Ministers, Nataniel Macamo Dhlovo - who is also Mozambique's Foreign Affairs minister - argued yesterday that Harare had done almost everything to show its sincerity in addressing the country's political and economic challenges.
Only someone who has no clue what he/she is talking about will blame sanctions for Zimbabwe’s economic ills, especially given all the mountain of evidence on the rampant corruption and gross mismanagement in Zimbabwe. Minister Dhlovo has no clue what he is talking about and all his utterances must be dismissed with the contempt they rightly deserve.
Zanu PF does not want to address the corruption and mismanagement because they are at the very heart of the dictatorship and so it is blaming sanctions for the country’s ills to draw attention away from the real causes.
Zimbabwe is facing a serious economic and political crisis, the stability of the country is at stake, we need to deal with the country’s underlying problems of corruption and bad governance as a matter of urgency. We cannot afford to waste time on decoys like sanctions or listen to the gullible idiots who cannot tell the difference between their left and right hand!
UK ambassador to Harare Melanie Robinson argued that sanctions cannot be blamed for the situation Zimbabwe finds itself in.
"It's not sanctions, it's corruption that drives away investors and leaves teachers, doctors, nurses and services struggling. Zimbabweans must be free to expose corruption, rights abuses and see perpetrators face justice," she said.
Zanu PF’s insistence in blaming sanctions for all the country’s ill is an insult to all the thinking Zimbabweans out there who know the regime is using sanctions to avoid addressing the real big causes bedevilling the nation. After 40 years of rampant corruption and gross mismanagement that have left the country in economic ruins and forced millions into abject poverty; Zimbabwe is under great pressure to address the nation’s burning issues and to stop wasting even one more day on a side show like sanctions.
It is true that Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because for the last 40 years the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical regime that rigged elections to remain in office. Instead of addressing the issues affecting the country such as corruption and mismanagement Zanu PF has stifled debate on these matters in favour of such matters as sanctions, one wild-goose chase.
The country is in deep, deep economic and political trouble and the need for the nation to bite the bullet and address the burning issues has never been more urgent that it is now. Zimbabwe cannot to waste time, energy and arrows shooting at the crows, sanctions; we need to implement the democratic reforms, the pre-requisite for good governance.
Before independence, we thought we were fighting to end oppression and exploitation only to discover after independence that all we ever accomplished was end white colonial oppression but only tp replace it with black tyrannical oppression.
We thought we were fighting for "ONE MAN! ONE VOTE!" With the very first vote, in 1980, Zanu PF made it clear that if the party did not win the civil war would continue. By voting for Zanu PF, the populous thought they were voting to end the war not knowing Mugabe and his cronies would consolidate they hold on power by denying the people their basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to freedom of expression.
Ever since our independence in 1980, Zanu PF has always had a Minister of Information whose sole purpose was to misinform and brainwash the people, denying them freedom of expression and free speech. It is therefore no surprise that we have a Minister of WhatsApp listening to everything and, no doubt, dishing out a lot of propaganda bull!
Zimbabwe is not a free and democratic society; it was not before independence and it is not after independence. It is a great pity that we should find ourselves fighting for such basics as the right to a meaningful vote and voice when we should be fighting to catch up in other areas such as technology, art, etc.
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