Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess and there are many reasons why we are in this mess. One of the reasons why we are in this mess is our propensity to make mountains out of a mole-hill.
“Mnangagwa is in a fix!” screamed the headlines in Bulawayo 24 and The Standard. Eye catching until you read the article!
Corona virus, the the grim riper, has claimed the lives of thousands of Zimbabwean lives, many more than the regime is letting on. The virus has hit hard the poor for who social distance, washing hands regularly, staying put, etc. are impossible because they live in crowded accommodation, have no running water, have go out any earn a living or starve, etc.
The ruling elite, their cronies and their families have largely escaped from the corona virus; cocooned in the five star mansions with clean running water, the sanitisers and the PPE for the odd occasion they ever got out of their cocoon, food and everything. They greatest worry during the corner virus lockdown has been boredom and piling up the weight!
Still, a few of the ruling elite did catch the corona virus, they have received five star medical attention and a tiny fraction of them have died. Amongst the ruling elite corona virus dead are three Ministers. No doubt there will be many more Ministers, Deputy Ministers, etc. to follow, the grime riper’s work has only just began; the corona virus pandemic has the rest of 2021 to run in Zimbabwe, at the very least.
Mnangagwa must find the competent men and women from the elected MPs and Senators, he has already used up his allowed allocation of non-elected individuals, to appoint as Ministers and Deputy Ministers to replace those claimed by the corona virus. And there lays Mnangagwa’s “fix”!
”His (Mnangagwa) choices are extremely limited," argued Alex Magaisa, in the article.
"He has to appoint from the current pool of elected representatives. Alternatively, he will have to sack some of those non-MPs if he wants to appoint new outsiders.
Section 104 (3) of the 2013 Zimbabwe Constitution reads: "Ministers and deputy ministers are appointed from among Senators or Members of the National Assembly, but up to five, chosen for their professional skills and competence, may be appointed outside Parliament."
Mnangagwa already has already appointed the five non-constituency ministers namely: Higher Education minister Amon Murwira, Local Government minister July Moyo, Sports minister Kirsty Coventry, Lands minister Anxious Masuka and Finance minister Mthuli Ncube.
What Magaisa has missed here is that Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless thugs cheered along by their corrupt and egotistic acolytes.
There reason why there is no competent men and women in parliament and in the senate is because Zimbabwe’s de facto one party dictatorship has stifled debate and democratic competition in both the ruling party and the opposition. Zimbabwe’s political system is a swamp; you cannot expect to catch quality fish, only frogs, newts and eels!
Even those Ministers appointed for their “professional skills and competence” have accomplished nothing of substance because in a Banana Republic they are not allowed to do anything. They are appointed to give the regime a good name, they nothing but window dressing manikins.
Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, for example, has been taxing the street vendors to death and yet has done nothing to end the gross mismanagement and rampant corruptions, the cancers killing the nation’s economy. Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies are the Godfathers of mismanagement and corruption and they have ring-fenced their activities; Minister Ncube knows these are not to be touched, the untouchables.
So even if Mnangagwa was to disregard the constitution and appoint more than the five non-elected individuals as ministers this will not make any difference as to the quality of government in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe will still be a Banana Republic blundering from pillar to post, from one crisis to the next!
Indeed, if appointing non-elected technocrats ministers, etc. would get Zimbabwe out of the economic and political mess the country is stuck in for 40 years and counting; only a dogmatic academic like Alex Magaisa would complain!
In case some people have forgotten: Alex Magaisa was chief advisor to Morgan Tsvangirai, then MDC leaders and Prime Minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The primary task of MDC was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed the Global Political Agreement designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections.
MDC failed to implement even one token reform in five years. Not even one reform!
If MDC had implemented the reforms Zanu PF would have been stopped from rigging the elections and Zimbabwe would not be a Banana Republic.
It is not Mnangagwa who is in a fix it is Zimbabwe that is in a fix, stuck with a pariah state! Advising Mnangagwa he has already reached the limit of non-elected minister he can appoint is not going to end the Banana Republic. Magaisa should have advised MDC to implement the reforms wittering about the non-elected minister limit is as irrelevant as bolting the stable door after the horse is gone!
3 comments:
Camilla Nielsson and her crew followed Chamisa and his campaign team in the four weeks leading up to the election as they prepare to take on what they know will be an unfair and rigged election controlled by Zanu PF, despite assurances from Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that the election would be conducted fairly and with great transparency.
Chamisa et al did indeed KNOW that the July 2018 elections would be unfair and rigged; the most rational question that anyone, anyone at all with any brain, is why participate in an election you know will be rigged?
Chamisa and his followers participated in the July 2018 elections because they had sold-out of implementing reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They have since given up all hope of getting the reforms implemented and have been participating in flawed elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats they knew Zanu PF was giving away to entice the opposition to participate.
Zanu PF needs the opposition to participate in the flawed elections to give the process credibility. David Coltart a senior member in the MDC Alliance has admitted this in his book.
Chamisa et al are selling out in participating in flawed elections and to view them as anything else other that what they are - corrupt, incompetent and sell-outs - is foolish, today the least!
@ Zimvigil
Well since the clowns are pulling all the stops to make sure they are vaccinated first and povo will have to wait for the donated vaccines we can sure the povo will continue to die like flies for a year or two.
Send in the clown! Well they are here, after getting their vaccine jab they will be coming out of the Blue Roof mansions where they have been cocooned for a year now. They can't wait for international travel to open up again!
The clowns are here today, next year and, you can bet your bottom dollar, they will win the 2023 elections with another landslide! You can also be certain that the MDC clowns will participate in the 2023 elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF always gives away as bait. Yes it is fair to say the clowns are here to stay!
This just typical of Alex Magaisa and of corrupt and incompetent individuals like him: he failed to advise Morgan Tsvangirai to implement even one token reform and now he cannot keep his big trap shut giving away all manner of advise of no consequence to the nation. None!
As you correctly pointed out, Mnangagwa can appoint the Albert Einstein Minister but what good will that do if the Minister finds himself/ herself so hamstrung they can do nothing of substance.
The likes of Professor Mthuli Ncube, Kirsty Coventry, etc. all knew Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections, they knew the regime is corrupt and incompetent and still they agreed to join Mnangagwa's cabinet because being called cabinet minister tickled their fancy to no end. The real tragedy is there are millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have paid the pay the price for 40 years of the regime's corruption, mismanagement and tyrannical misrule.
Millions are living is abject poverty and many are dying in damn anguish so a few individual can call themselves Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister or Minister of this or that! How can that be just!
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