"Comparing Trump to Mugabe is wrong" says Okereke - why, because Mugabe was a superior being! W Mukori

 Poor, poor Africa each time we take one step forward it is, more often than not, followed by two or three steps backwards. It is little wonder therefore that Africa, save for the golden age of the Pharaohs of Egypt and South Africa’s all too brief moments in the sun Nelson Mandela years, has remained the most backward continent in the world. 

Yes the rest of the world have taken it in turns to exploit and oppress the Africans, first the Arabs in their Dhow, followed by the European slave traders, no sooner was slave trade abolished the Europeans were back in the scrabble for Africa and, before the dust had settled marking the end of white colonial rule, we have new colonial masters in all but name - the Chinese! 

Africa is not the only continent that has been colonised, true; but it is the only continent to suffer wholesale colonial rule and, worst of all, to be milked without mercy. 

“The white colonialist used divide and rule tactics!” some African apologists have argued. What they will never admit to is it is easy to divide what is already divided and fragmented! 

Throughout human history nations and empires have thrived and prospered when the individuals within were united over a common value be it rule of law, religion, share destiny, etc. and everyone felt valued. 

It is near impossible to unite people who do not trust each other one bit! In Africa our relationship with each other has been underwritten by the desire to dominate the other or they will dominate you! 

 We should have learned from the history of others and our own past mistakes by now but we have not. To learn from the past one must be willing to look in the past, look in the mirror, and be brutal honest with what is there. We are not! 

Nigerian Journalist, Caleb Okereke, did not take kindly to people comparing President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the 3rd November US elections were rigged but without producing any evidence to Robert Mugabe’s ranting Zimbabwe elections were free and fair ignoring the mountain of evidence of the blatant cheating and wanton violence.

“Such comparisons may appear harmless on the surface, but they have problematic real world consequences,” argued Okereke in the article “Why it is wrong to draw parallels between Trump and Mugabe” in Al Jazeera and Bulawayo24.

“This is problematic for multiple reasons. First of all, it is an argument built on the false assumption that American democracy is not vulnerable to authoritarian interventions and power grabs like “lesser” democracies elsewhere in the world, and especially in Africa. It is an argument born out of America’s belief in its own moral superiority and its political class’s inherent racial biases.”

The Greeks, the nation that gave the world democracy as a system of government, were painfully aware that for democracy to work the people must be educated and hence the reason they laid so much emphasis on freedom of expression and individual freedoms. There it is 2 500 years ago and already the appreciated free of expression. 

The education of the people is an on going process that never stops and hence the reason all healthy and functioning democracy value freedom of expression and a free and independent media. 

It is therefore foolish for anyone, anyone at all, to assume American or any other democracy out there “is not vulnerable to authoritarian interventions and power grabs”. There is nothing to guarantee the people will always be well informed and will never ever elect a tyrant. Nothing. Caleb Okereke not only makes the foolish assumption but is trying to foster it on others.

Zimbabwe’s democracy, if one dare to call the de facto Zanu PF dictatorship that, is weak and feeble; poison and food compared to America’s democracy. I am a black Zimbabwean and I am proud to say this but say it because it is the truth. 

I just don’t get, what exactly is Okereke is wittering about! As far as I am concerned, Mugabe and Trump are two human beings who love of power knew no bounds. The former was able to stay in power for 37 years because the country’s democratic institutions are weak the latter lasted 4 years and the people booted him out of office. Why should comparing the two individuals be such a racially charged matter? 

Okereke, who is racially superior than the other here; Robert Mugabe or Donald Trump? And superior in what way?

In my view, Caleb Okereke has looked in the mirror and seen the full portrait of Robert Gabriel Mugabe, a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant. Mugabe is just one representative sample of many other African despots. 

People comparing Mugabe to Trump have reminded Caleb of Mugabe. But instead of confront and confounding Africa’s curse of despotic tyrant Okereke is seeking to silence all those critical of Africa’s failed leaders by playing the race card. 

“On the surface, these may seem like harmless comparisons between political leaders with similar dictatorial tendencies,” continue Okereke. 

“But why do so many choose to draw parallels between Donald Trump and African leaders when the recent history of the West itself is full of political leaders who have been as autocratic, as power hungry, and as willing to undermine democratic procedures as their African counterparts? Was it not Western colonialism that paved the way for many of Africa’s democratic failures in the first place, anyway?”

And are Africans so corrupt, incompetent and inept they cannot not pave their own way out of the mess? 

It is a crying shame many Zimbabweans now look at the white colonial days with nostalgia as the golden years compared to the hell-on-earth Mugabe years! 

The number one reason the country is in this mess is because for decades many Zimbabweans would not accept Mugabe was a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant. By the time the penny finally dropped, Mugabe and the dictatorship was well established and it has not been easy to dismantle it. 

Of course, there are many Zimbabweans who still refuse to condemn tyrants like Mugabe. Like Caleb Okereke, they see it as their patriotic duty as an Africa to defend a follow African, even a proven corrupt and murderous tyrant! Worse still, they expect the rest of Africa to unite in support of such nonsense! 

Mugabe was a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant; that is a historic fact. Why anyone should waste time defending the foolish notion that it was not his fault or that he is not as bad as Trump, beggars belief. Instead of addressing the problem of bad governance that has held us back as a people, we waste time fighting a contrived race war instead! 

MDC welcome Thomas-Greenfield USA ambassador to UN - must read Ambassador Dell's Tsvangirai report N Garikai

 MDC Alliance treasurer-general David Coltart has welcomed the appointment of United States human rights defender and career diplomat Linda Thomas Greenfield as US ambassador to the United Nations.

"I don't know what she is going to do. The main point is that she is sympathetic to human rights issues. Her appointment definitely puts Zimbabwe on her radar since she has an understanding of the ongoing persecution of journalists, opposition activists and human rights defenders," said Coltart.

President-elect Joe Biden and his incoming administration must read 2004 to 2007 USA Ambassador Chris Dell’s report describing the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as “a flawed and indecisive character who, if he got into power, would be an albatross round the nation’s neck!” Time has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that Ambassador Dell was right.

MDC did get into power in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and the party’s primary task was to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections. They failed to implement even one reform because Mugabe bribed them with the trapping of high office and, to demonstrate their appreciation, they throw away the reforms. 

Ever since the GNU, MDC leaders have participated in elections, knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the election; they did because Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition. They remembered the good-time of the GNU years and could not resist the bait.

Worst of all, the MDC leaders KNEW that by participating in flawed and illegal elections they will give the process credibility, as David Coltart himself admitted in his book. 

“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 (2013) elections,” wrote Senator Coltart 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.” 

Of course, by giving the flawed election process credibility the opposition also gave the vote rigging, ipso facto illegitimate, Zanu PF regime legitimacy!

It really is very frustrating that Zimbabwe should still groaning under the yoke of this corrupt, tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship when the country has had so many golden opportunities to end the dictatorship and wasted them. Worst of all that it should be the same corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders who have wasted the chance and are now the greatest impediment to meaningful democratic change who are pontificating about Zanu PF dictatorship. 

The Americans’ 2001 ZDERA sanctions on Zanu PF leaders have failed to bring about any meaningful political change in Zimbabwe because those tasked to deliver the change have sold-out and betrayed the nation and cause. Like it or not MDC leaders are now an albatross round Zimbabwe’s neck! 

MDC leaders have made a big song and dance about fighting for free, fair and credible elections for the last 20 years and yet they have failed to deliver even one meaningful democratic change even when they had the golden opportunity to do so. MDC leaders have been running with the hare whilst, nicodemously, hunting with the hounds. The renewed sanctions must not only target Zanu PF leaders but their clandestine partners in crime - the MDC sell-outs. It is time for some clever boxing! 

Zanu PF learned one lesson from the GNU and learnt it well - how to get away with rigged election N Garikai

 Zanu PF blatantly cheated in the March 2008 vote to overturn Morgan Tsvangirai’s &3% electoral victory to a 47%, just below the 50% plus 1 thrash hold to force a run-off. And then the party use wanton violence during the run-off. “Zanu PF has declared war on the people”, said Tsvangirai as he announced his withdrawal from the race. The international community condemned the election as a farce; including the see-nothing, hear-notringand say-nothing SADC and AU who had always rubber stamped Zanu PF’s rigged elections in the past.

As the way back to legitimacy, Mugabe, on behalf of his party, Zanu PF, signed the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) stipulating the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop a repeat of the blatant rigging of 2008 and ensure future elections are free, fair and credible. A GNU comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC factions  was tasked to implement the reforms and SADC was the guarantor of the GPA. 

Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC, the banded mongoose, friends with the trappings of high office; the tinted glass and air conditioned ministerial limos, very generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, the opportunity to travel the world at taxpayer’s expense, etc., etc. 

The gravy train good-life was meant to overwhelm the banded mongooses and it did. Tsvangirai and company throw the reforms out of the window. Not even the incessant reminders from SADC leaders to implement the reforms managed to get MDC leaders to do anything. MDC failed to implement even one token reform in five years. Not even one!

The single most important lesson Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies learned from the whole 2008 election debacle and the humiliating GNU that followed was to make sure the party rigs elections but in a very subtle way. As long as Zanu PF can get the opposition to participate in the elections, the more the merrier, regardless how flawed and illegal process happened to be; Zanu PF can point to the number of contestants as proof the election was hotly contested, free, fair and credible. And to guarantee the opposition’s participation, Zanu PF has been giving away a few of the gravy train seats; the banded mongooses found the bait simply irresistible! 

SADC leaders warned Tsvangirai and company not to take part in the 2013 elections, not until the reforms are implemented. Again the warning fell on deaf ears. 

It is not that MDC leaders did not comprehend the folly of participating in the elections without reforms; they did, at least some of them like David Coltart did. 

“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 (2013) elections,” wrote Senator Coltart 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.” 

So participating in the flawed gave electoral process “credibility” and, by extension, the vote rigging Zanu PF regime, legitimacy. Exactly what Zanu PF wanted!

A number of MDC factions including the one led by Welshman Ncube and that led by Tendai Biti rejoined the MDC-T led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai and then by Nelson Chamisa plus a handful of other opposition parties to form the MDC Alliance BEFORE the 2018 elections. As we know MDC A went on to contest the 2018 elections with no one ever suggesting boycotting the elections.

So, MDC A could NOT give the excuse of “failure to agree a coalition” for once again failing “to do the obvious - withdraw from the 2018 elections”. 

Right now the MDC A and all the usual opposition party suspect, all 130 of them at the last count, are all gearing to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place for the same reason they participate in the rigged 2013 and 2018 elections - greed.

My fellow Zimbabweans, ladies and gentlemen, the 90% unemployed and millions now living in abject poverty; ever since the 2008 GNU the country has made no progress in its quest for democratic change, an end to the curse of rigged elections and the holding of our first ever free, fair and credible elections. None! 

Zanu PF has not only blatantly rigged the 2013 and then 2018 elections but got away with it thanks to the MDC leaders and the rest of the opportunists opposition who, by participating in the flawed elections gave Zanu PF legitimacy. And unless we, the people do something to end this madness, Zanu PF will blatantly rig the 2023 and the conniving opposition sell-outs, for the sake of a few gravy train seats, will provide the legitimacy bolt-hole! 

Zimbabwe is in serious economic trouble, the country’s economy is in total meltdown, unemployment has soared to 90%, basic services such as education and health care have completely collapsed. Millions of our people now live in abject poverty denied all human dignity and hope. We own it to ourselves, our children and posterity to put an end to the madness of rigged elections and bad governance which is the root cause of all our economic and political crisis.

We all know what constitutes free and fair elections. All Zimbabweans eligible to vote must be afforded very opportunity to do so; ZEC must produce a verified voters’ roll and conduct the election in a transparent manner; Zanu PF operatives and traditional leaders must not be allowed to intimidate voters especial rural voters; etc.; etc. Zanu PF must not be allowed to get away with another rigged elections in 2023!

The MDC A and all those opposition opportunists who participate in the 2023 elections when it is clear with no reforms Zanu PF will rig the elections must be held to democratic account. The country will never have free, fair and credible elections if the opposition continue to disregard the rules to ensure free and fair elections for selfish gain. The opposition cannot sell-out and get away with it! 

Need "very hard-working" ethics to fix Zimbabwe's problems - no, need our thinking cap on N Garikai

 

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political rot is that Zimbabweans have lost their work ethics, Dr Simba Makoni, former Zanu PF Minister of Finance during Mugabe’s days, told Trevor Ncube. 

“We were very hard-working, we were very honest, we were very trustworthy, we were very caring and compassionate,” he said.

“We are not that anymore, not the majority of us anyway and certainly not those of us in leadership.

“We have changed because of our appetite for power and we have changed because of our love for material things.

“I think when we begin to associate a position of authority and responsibility with material wellbeing and acquisitions, that's when the rot settles.” 

Rubbish! 

The ordinary Zimbabwean out there is still a very hard-working, very honest, very trustworthy, very caring and compassionate human being. It is impossible to see these attributes in a country where unemployment has soared to 90%. What is the point of being hard working when there are no decent jobs to be had. 

Where Zimbabweans have been able to get work; in SA, Botswana, UK, etc. they are held in high regard as hard working and honest.

Zimbabweans’ greatest weakness of their inability to think for themselves. We prefer to let others do the thinking for us and we then just follow the leader blindly like sheep. This is a forte the white colonialists, then Zanu PF and now MDC leaders have all exploited to their selfish benefit at great expense to us, the ordinary people.  

Zanu PF leaders betrayed the people, for which many Zimbabweans had suffered and many lost their lives, by deny them their freedoms and rights including the right to a free vote, starting with the first vote in 1980, and even the right to life. Mugabe and now Mnangagwa and rest of the Zanu PF cronies have all turned out to be corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. And the very fact they have managed to remain in power for 40 years and counting speaks volume of just how naive, gullible and thoughtless ordinary Zimbabweans are! 

It took  20 years or so for most Zimbabweans to finally admit that Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were corrupt and murderous thugs and, to end the Zanu PF dictatorial strangle hold, the country needed to implement democratic changes. The people risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to deliver the democratic changes the nation was dying for. 

MDC has been on the national political stage for the last 20 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, and yet has failed to implement even one reform. Mugabe bribe the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and, as they say, the rest was history. 

One would have thought after the nightmare of Zanu PF betrayal the people of Zimbabwe had learned the lesson and would be very careful and meticulous in their selection of the men and women the nation would entrust the important task of implementing the democratic reforms. 

By electing Tsvangirai and company to champion the fight for free, fair and credible elections even after the MDC leaders had proven beyond all reasonable doubt during the 2008 GNU that they are breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent and sell-out; proved to the world that the people of Zimbabwe were not yet ready to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. 

“How do we fix this?” asked Trevor Ncube. 

“In this journey the first step is to acknowledge that we have a problem and unfortunately now in our country, certainly in our leadership, there is no acknowledgement that we have a problem or we have problems,” came the reply.

“In the few occasions we acknowledge that we have a problem, we pass the buck, it's not our fault, we didn't cause it, it was caused by somebody else. If it's in the country, it's our detractors from outside.

“So if you don't acknowledge, accept and recognise that you have a problem, you can't solve it.”

Gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the crass lawlessness, which have earned Zimbabwe the pariah state status, are the root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic mess and political paralysis. But after 40 years of Zanu PF refusing to acknowledge these problems much less do something solve the problems; it should be obvious that Zanu PF itself is the number one problem. 

Since Zanu PF has failed to solve the problems of mismanagement, etc. the nation should have found someone else who would. Indeed, the nation would have done so was it not for the fact that Zanu PF has rigged election to perpetuate its rule for the last 40 years. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were supposed to implement the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. 

Since MDC leaders have failed to get even one reform implemented in 20 years, the nation should be spending all its time, energy and treasure in getting the men and women who will get the reforms implemented. 

Whilst Zimbabwe’s worsening economic meltdown left 90% of our people unemployed, the country’s basic services such as education and health care have all but totally collapsed after decades of under funding and millions of our people now live in abject poverty. The country’s ruling elite, from both sides of the political divide, are some of the wealthiest individuals on earth! 

The poor are desperate to see an end to the economic meltdown, the ruling elite want the good times to continue! 

Zanu PF will never implement the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections and risk losing the elections and it the absolute power, the wholesale looting and, worst of all, risk being held to account for all their past looting and murders. 

No the solution to Zimbabwe’s economic mess and political paralysis not asking Zanu PF leaders to work hard much less to stop being corrupt. The solution is for the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves to put their thinking cap on and be masters of their own destiny. A thinking electorate will know what constitutes free, fair and credible elections and demand that the next elections are free and fair.

Mnangagwa living in constant fear of coup - as long as the economic meltdown remains so too will coup threat P Guramatunhu

 'Mnangagwa makes hast military appointment amid coup threats' - screamed the headlines in Bulawayo24. 

“President Emmerson Mnangagwa has made forced cross-cutting changes to his Presidential Guard (PG) Brigade several months after his wife Auxillia clashed with one of the most senior officers in the unit,” read the report.

“According to The News Hawks, The changes reflect Mnangagwa's continued coup-proofing strategy and search for stability in the military forces which brought him to power through a coup in November 2017.”

Robert Mugabe spent the last decade of his time in office in constant fear of street protest and/or a military coup. The nation was rest, they wanted to see something done to stop the growing tide of abject poverty fuelled by the country’s economic meltdown. 

Mugabe could not do anything to end the gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the crass lawlessness making Zimbabwe a pariah state; the root causes of the economic meltdown. That is to say, he could not do anything to end Zimbabwe’s pariah state without dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship which had kept him and his Zanu PF cronies in power ever since the country’s independence in 1980. 

So, unable to do anything to end the economic meltdown Mugabe was a sitting dock. The coup he feared, knew was coming but just did not know when, did come. Mugabe was woken up in the small hours of 15 November 2017 with an AK47 Rifle’s business end pointing up his backside! It was game over for him! 

When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup, he was smart enough to know that his hold on power was totally dependent on him ending the country’s worsening economic meltdown. He did hit the ground running with his clarion call “Zimbabwe is open for business!” 

It has been three years since the coup and Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is decidedly worse than ever. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water.

Frankly, “Zimbabwe is open for business!” was doomed to fail. Zimbabwe’s economy was in meltdown before the coup precisely because the country was a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. After the coup, Zimbabwe was still a pariah state or be it under a new dictator! Investors and lenders, whom Mnangagwa was targeting with his clarion call, are a shrewd and savvy lot; they were not going to fall for empty promises, rhetoric and cheap marketing gimmicks!

Indeed, the very fact that Mnangagwa went town to sell “Zimbabwe is open for business!” speaks volumes of the man. The world will remember Mnangagwa and his team in their trademark multi-coloured scarfs, a flock of Southern Hornbill with their red wattles distended; what a spectacle. He clearly believed his on cheap propaganda; a dead give away, this is a man of little intellect way out of his league.

Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before, cannot address the mismanagement, corruption and lawlessness without dismantling the Zanu PF dictatorship, his power base. It is naive to think one can revive the comatose economy and somehow still keep the dictatorship; the two are mutually exclusive. And so, again like Mugabe, Mnangagwa finds himself a seating duck; forever fearful of the street protests and/or military which he knows is coming. 

Mnangagwa’s fear of street protests is so intense as shown by the sheer brutality he has use to stamp it out. His fear of the coup is just as intense as seen by the number of times he has promoted, shuffled and/or fired security services personnel. But as long as the economy continues in its nose-dive the pressure for meaningful political change will only increase. 

Grace Mugabe talked of how her late husband was sleeping with one eye open because the fear of social unrest or a coup was relentless. Having one eye open was not enough to stop the 15th November 2017 coup. Now it is Mnangagwa’s turn to live in fear. He can double his security every month, sleep with both eyes open if he can, etc., etc.; this will not stop the social unrest and/or coup. 

As long as there nothing is done to end the economic meltdown, the pressure for real and meaningful political change will never go away.  

By rigging the elections and thus frustrate the opportunity for peaceful democratic change, Zanu PF has left the nation with no alternative but to resort to violent street protests and/or military coup as the only way to achieve meaningful political change. Rigging elections has postponed change and kept Zanu PF in power but this has a price tag - when change comes there will be violence. 

Robert Mugabe and none of his immediate family were shot in the November 2017 military coup. A few people lost their lives and a number of G40 leaders are in exile and fearing for the safety and lives. There could well be rivers of blood in the next coup!

"You are spying on me," the First Lady reportedly railed at Samson Murombo, then commanding officer of 1 Presidential Guard. Murombo has since been reshuffled.

"Get away! I'm just a mere woman, a grandmother. Go shoot Mnangagwa, I ask for pardon. Don't shoot me, I have children. Just shoot Mnangagwa, because I know this is all about him.”

You sowed the wind and now must reap the whirlwind!  

Mnangagwa discovers top dog straitjacket has no wriggle room especially now that coups are "legal"! W Mukori

 "Zanu-PF has a constitution and under that constitution, we sit as a congress to elect our president," said Zanu PF acting national spokes-person Patrick Chinamasa.

"In 1977, a lot of the leaders had fallen by the wayside. The most senior person in rank remaining was (the late) Cde Robert Mugabe and at the congress in Chimoio, he was elected president of Zanu then," Chinamasa said.

"In November (2017), exactly on the basis of the precedence of 1977, exactly that is what happened when it became very clear that our constitution was being trampled upon by the G40 cabal and that they were threatening the stability of the nation, the party moved in and we elected, at our December congress, President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa as leader of Zanu-PF.”

Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs with no regard to rule of law and the constitution much less the truth, not even historic facts. 

Zanu PF is a party of ruthless thugs whose greed for absolute power and wealth is insatiable. They have ridden roughshod over the ordinary people denying them their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful elections and even the right to life. 

Mugabe was able to hold the party together for the first 30 years after independence only because there was a lot of wealth, loot he then dolled out to the party leaders to feed their ever growing appetites. The power and loot was the glue that held Zanu PF together. 

The Zanu PF thugs’ are corrupt, incompetent and wasteful and with time their appetites for loot grew exponentially, by the late 1990s the Zimbabwe economy was in serious trouble.

Mugabe seized white-owned farms, the only other asset of value left, to give his very demanding and wasteful cronies. The farm seizures resulted in the collapse of the agricultural sector and with it the economy. 

To make matters worse, Zanu PF started printing money fuelling the hyperinflation which, by 2008, reached the nauseating heights of 500 billion percent! Zimbabwe’s economy completely collapsed, and has never ever recovered; trigging the dog-eat-dog for the scraps amongst the Zanu PF thugs. 

Chinamasa contradicted his early claim that Zanu PF an orderly party that respected the rule of law and the constitution. Mnangagwa’s 2017 succession was not a smooth transition but a messy and ruthless affair culminating in the bloody November 2017 military coup.

"Behind the scenes, a lot took place, but it is too early to say. The further from November 2017, the more likely we are going to tell you,” confessed Chinamasa.

"We are yet to heal. Those were the worst ever days in the chapter of the life of our President, Cde ED Mnangagwa, worse than the hanging sentence because then, it was the enemy he had chosen to fight against notwithstanding any consequences."

Mnangagwa’s clarion cry following the November 2017 coup was “Zimbabwe is open for business!” He was cocksure it would revive the economy generating the much need loot to doll out to his restless Zanu PF cronies. The expected flood of investors and lenders in answer to his call has never materialised. “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water and Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is even worse than before the coup. 

Chimanasa said the succession in Zanu-PF was a straitjacket and while it allowed everyone to manoeuvre "within the straitjacket, no one could manoeuvre outside it". 

Mnangagwa knows that his position as leader of Zanu PF and government is not secure. He is reportedly building a bunker complex, such is his fear of another military coup. In the November 2017 coup Mugabe lost the crown, that is as much wriggle room as he got!  Mnangagwa may got get even that much wriggle room in the straitjacket he is wearing; he may well lose his head and the crown upon it! 

Mnangagwa got Justice George Chiweshe to rule the November 2017 coup “was legal, justified and constitutional”. The judgement has comeback to haunt him. Everyone knows that Zanu PF party elections are rigged and that leaves a military coup as the short cut to power and glory, particularly now there is a legal precedence too. 

As for the ordinary people, there really is no wriggle room, full stop. Zanu PF thugs have become addicted to the absolute power and the loot it has brought them over the last four decades. It is bad enough they are not having their fill because of the economic meltdown; they are not going to risk losing the scraps too by risking losing power in a free, fair and credible elections. No way!

When Mnangagwa got into power following the November 2017 military coup, he promised, amongst many other things, to hold free, fair and credible elections. He did not implement even one token democratic reform. Not one! 

Whilst everyone who observed Zimbabwe’s July 2018 elections condemn the election 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 Observer Mission final report.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.” 

Indeed, it was impossible to trace and verify anything given ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll;  a legal and common sense requirement. Why all Zimbabwe’s opposition parties, all 130 of them, participated in the July 2018 elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections is only a mystery to those who do not know just know corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders are. 

During the 2008 to 2013 GNU Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which, implemented, would have ended the curse of rigged elections and bad governance once and once for all. The task of implementing the reforms fall to Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders. They failed to implement even one token reform because Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, the generous salaries, the US$ 4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. The MDC leaders had the snout in the feeding trough and forgot about the reforms for next five years! 

Ever since the failure to implement the reforms MDC and the rest of the opposition camp have participated in the elections knowing fully well with no reforms Zanu PF would rig the elections. They did so because they also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats, bait, to entice the opposition to participate regardless. It has worked! 

Nelson Chamisa has been making the usual noise, demanding the implementation of “comprehensive reforms to end the culture of disputed elections”! Zanu PF know when push comes to shove, Chamisa and his MDC A friends will be filing their nomination papers even with no verified voters’ roll! 

“As far as we are concerned 2023 election is a forgone conclusion. In fact it is over before the people have vote.” Chinamasa declared with the confidence of one who knows exactly what he talking about. Confidence born out of 40 years of rightly predicting a landslide Zanu PF election victory every time without failure. 

Mugabe survived as Zanu PF top dog and head of state for 37 years because he had loot to buy blind loyalty and could bend and even break the party rules to suit his selfish megalomania needs. The country’s economic meltdown changed all that; without the loot down payment blind loyalty evaporated like the morning mist under the African sun. 

Mnangagwa has no loot with which to buy blind loyalty and so his hold on power is tenuous the more so that military coup is now “legal, justified and constitutional!” 

Anyone outside of Zanu PF cannot aspire to govern Zimbabwe, as long as Zanu PF retains the carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections, thanks to MDC leaders who have all but sold-out on the fight for free, fair and credible election.

Zanu PF is a party of corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. Zimbabwe’s economy under Zanu PF stewardship was doomed to collapse because no economy can sustain for long the criminal waste of human and material resources; 40 years of Zanu PF misrule has left the Zimbabwe economy in ruins. 

Zanu PF itself was doomed to implode. With the economy in meltdown, Zanu PF thugs were going to fight each other to the death over the scraps; the centre will not hold and the party will implode.  

Zanu PF is sinking into the abyss under it own dead weight. But as long as Zanu PF remain in power, the governing party, the party will drag the whole nation into the abyss with it. It is for the people to end Zanu PF’s strangle hold on the nation or suffer and dead the consequence of continue Zanu PF tyrannical rule.

The people can end Zanu PF rule by demanding the implementation of the democratic reforms to ensure the next elections are free, fair and credible. Just because MDC leaders have sold-out on free and fair elections does not mean we too must throw in the towel!

2017 coup targeted "criminals around Mugabe" and now it is payback time - we are but mice to Zanu PF thugs N Garikai

 Three years ago at 04.00 hours local time on 15th November 2017 Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF) spokesman, Major General Sibusiso Moyo, addressed the nation and the world at large, live on Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Television.

"Fellow Zimbabweans, following the address we made on 13 November 2017 which we believe our main broadcaster, ZBC and The Herald, were directed not to publicise, the situation in our country has moved to another level," he announced.

"Firstly, we wish to assure the nation that His Excellency, The President, of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde R.G Mugabe and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed. We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice. As soon as we have accomplished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.

"To both our people and the world beyond our borders: We wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover of Government. What the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is doing is to pacify a degenerating political, social and economic situation in our country which if not addressed may result in violent conflict.” 

Fast forward to today, three years latter, it is common cause to say the “degenerating political, social and economic situation” has continued and the threat of social unrest or worse is as real now as it was in 2017. A situation that has not gone unnoticed by some of those like former ministers Professor Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere, etc. G40 leaders, the targeted “criminal around Mugabe who are committing crimes”. The G40 leaders are answering back with growing confidence.

“Either we organise or we agonise. If we continue looking at the situation as it is and expect that on its own, it will resolve itself, I think that won’t just happen like that,” argued Kasukuwere in a public discussion dubbed “Operation Restore Legacy, Unpacking the Democratic Transition in Zimbabwe”.

“The situation we find ourselves in as Zimbabwe is not the first time in the world over or in Africa.

“You recall we had such a situation in Nigeria. There was serious persecution of journalists, politicians and this all has to do with the role of the military at any given point when they take on the political platform and basically try to start directing the political affairs of any given country.

“In our situation, in Zimbabwe, we appear like we are in a political cul-de-sac. There is no defined pathway on how to proceed… Let’s take up the battle straight to the administration each and every day they must start to understand that the pain in our society is now unattainable.

“I believe the collective aspiration of the people of Zimbabwe will be much greater a force than any other thing that we have. Whether there are guns, whether they arrest us.

What is lacking in my view is a concerted push to change our situation.”

Three years ago the people of Zimbabwe came out in strong support of the military coup and poured in the streets in their thousands to demonstrate their support. After 37 years of Mugabe rule they wanted “to give Mnangagwa a chance”. 

Now, three years latter, the talk is “Mugabe was better than Mnangagwa”! Kasukuwere and company are growing confident of staging a political comeback in the coming elections in 2023.

The truth is the November 2017 military coup was nothing but a musical chairs, Mugabe and a few around him were eliminated but those who remained were just as corrupt, incompetent, tyrannical, etc. All talk of “Second Republic and New Dispensation” was just a marketing gimmick to give the impression Zimbabwe had changed when in reality nothing of substance had changed.

Kasukuwere et al have targeted the military as the root cause of the rot in Zimbabwe just as the November 2017 coup had targeted his and his colleagues, most of whom are now in exile. This is just nonsense because the military has always played a major role in Zimbabwe politics. We have all heard of the Joint Operation Command, a junta, comprising the top brass in the Police, CIO, Army and Prison Services plus a few select individuals from the party head by Mugabe with Mnangagwa as his deputy. 

The Police and CIO’s top brass belonged to the Mugabe and G40 faction whilst the Army belonged to the Mnangagwa and Lacoste faction. Former Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuru played no part in the coup and in being hounded because he was in “the wrong basket”, as Mugabe would put it. 

Mnangagwa offered musical chairs Zanu PF, Kasukuwere et al are offering revolved door Zanu PF. Those who are now supporting Kasukuwere are as naive and gullible as those who supported Mnangagwa three years go. There is no difference between Mnangagwa and Kasukuwere in so far as that both are corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and power hungry thugs. There is no difference between a viper and a cobra in being deadly snakes especially to a mouse; to these Zanu PF thugs we are mice!