"They don't even make an effort to create jobs and when people try to survive peacefully and patriotically, they go after them. It is cruel, heartless, irresponsible and incapable leadership. Central government is inflicting terror on the people while putting on the mask of the city council," Nelson Chamisa said.
He said the "brutality and barbarism" by the government was a call for people to converge.
MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. They failed to get even one reform implemented because Mugabe bribed them with the trapping of high office and, with their snout in the feeding trough, they forgot about reforms and the long suffering masses.
SADC leaders saw the sheer futility of going ahead with the 2013 elections when it was clear, with no reforms in place, Zanu PF would once again rig the elections. They tried to have the elections postponed until reforms are implemented.
“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza, Director of SAPES, told the Journalist Violet Gonda.
“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform at least electoral laws.
“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”
Morgan Tsvangirai and company paid no heed because they had their eyes on the few gravy train seats Mugabe was offering to those who would participate in the flawed elections. Mugabe knew the MDC leaders would find the bait irresistible, just as they had found the high office bribes irresistible.
By participating in the flawed elections in defiance of SADC leaders’ advice, MDC leaders were giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
What is so infuriating about MDC leaders is their hypocrisy because they have known all along about their selling-out on failing to implement reforms and, worst of all, that they continued participation in flawed and illegal elections was giving the flawed “process credibility” as David Coltart readily 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 Coltart.
“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.”
By participating in the flawed elections MDC gave the process credibility and, by extension, gave the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy in 2013 and 2018. With not even a token reform implemented since 2013, it is clear the 2023 elections will be history repeating itself.
The economic, political and social situation in Zimbabwe is desperate and both Zanu PF and MDC leaders’ corrupt and breath taking incompetence have landed the nation in this mess. Desperate people do desperate things and participating in the flawed elections is not only an act of desperation but, after 43 years of rigged elections, it is insane. The rational and obvious solution out of this mess is demand free, fair and credible elections.
SADC leaders were right in calling for the 2013 elections to be postponed until reforms are in place. It is for the ordinary Zimbabweans to now demand that 2023 elections must not go ahead until reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections are in place.
With no reforms in place, “the 2023 elections are done”; Chamisa knows that! The only reason he still wants Zimbabweans to participate in these elections is so his MDC A can win the few gravy train Zanu PF gives away as bait and thus claim the bragging rights as Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader.
"We can get angry and condemn this, but the issue is it is now time for people's convergence to end all this. It is no longer about political parties when our humanity and dignity is under attack. There is no better time to converge than now. People can't wait for any other signal. The oppressors are giving us a signal. This is a call for citizens to converge and a new consensus to save ourselves. You cannot finish poverty by finishing the poor,” argued Nelson Chamisa.
The number one priority for the people of Zimbabwe is to make sure the next elections are free, fair and credible; this is the nation’s guarantee to ending the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. It will be unforgivable for the nation to forfeit yet another chance to end the Zanu PF dictatorship by participating in another flawed elections for the purpose of settling Chamisa vs Mwonzora goat fight. “Kutungana kwembudzi!”
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OUTSPOKEN MDC Alliance Vice President Tendai Biti has accused government of pillaging a staggering US$13.2 billion between 2017 and 2019 through unauthorised expenditure.
Biti made the claims while commenting on the recent report released by Auditor-General Mildred Chiri for the financial year ended December 31, 2019, on Appropriation Accounts and Fund Accounts.
Describing the use of the government funds as “unprecedented and unacceptable”, the former Finance Minister added; “Used wisely, $13.2 billion can transform Zimbabwe into an upper middle tier economy in a short period of time.”
The AG’s report has damning details on how government departments, parastatals, local councils, and other state entities looted public funds running into billions of dollars through various channels
What every thinking Zimbabwean out there finds so frustrating about Tendai Biti and his fellow MDC friends is that they keep telling us how bad the Zanu PF regime is; something we already know!
Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders in power on the understanding the party will implement the democratic changes to end the curse of rigged elections the nation was dying for. After 21 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform. We are still stuck with the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF. And, worse still, by participating in flawed elections MDC leaders are giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF!
It is most infuriating for Biti and company to keep wittering about Zanu PF being corrupt and wasteful when they are the ones keeping Zanu PF in power. Biti and company are gearing to participate in the 2023 elections knowing fully well that doing so will give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. This madness must stop!
@ gynaacologist
“Who balances Mthuli Ncube's books and always tells him there are budget surpluses when the auditor general only picks over expenditures?”
Spot on!
@ Zuze
That and that only is the reason why they would like to remove Biti from Parliament.
Well Zimbabweans must also wake up to the political reality that as long as Zanu PF retains its carte blanche powers to rig elections the corruption and criminal waste of resources will continue. People like Tendai Biti are nothing but a Chihuahua barking at the elephant. Worse still, Biti and his MDC friends had the chance to implement the reform to restore the people's power to hold Zanu PF to account and they wasted it. MDC leaders are the ones keeping Zanu PF in power right now by participating in flawed elections and giving the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
We need a working political system and not one that has reduced the opposition to nothing more than Chihuahua barking at the elephant!
The condemnation of the Zanu PF regime by hypocrites like Tendai Biti must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves because it is MDC leaders who failed to implement the reforms and who are keeping Zanu PF in power by participating in flawed elections.
“The report does not provide a detailed analysis of its findings; it notes that “the world is rapidly connecting the dots between the decline of democracy and rise of authoritarianism, kleptocracy, and corrupt transnational networks. The international community is increasingly aware of how these links manifest in Zimbabwe to the detriment of its people.”
This is a key point that cannot be overemphasised! Zanu PF has been spending as much as US$2 to 4 billion during elections; bankrolled by all the individuals, cartels and nations who are benefiting from the looting and cannot afford to see regime change in Zimbabwe; compared to opposition’s US$ 1 million. It is nonsense to talk of free, fair and credible elections given such financial discrepancy.
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say the opposition is Zimbabwe is funded by Zanu PF.
Chamisa wants people to rescue themselves by participatin in flawed elections whose results are already predetermined - Zanu PF landslide vistory. After 41 years of rigged elections it is insane to keeping hoping to win rigged elections!
Zimbabweans must come to their senses and refuse to have anything to do with these flawed elections.
The economic, social and political situation Zimbabwe is getting really desperate and we are in this mess precisely because the nation trusted MDC leaders to implement the democratic reforms to end the curse of rigged elections once and once for all. We are still in this mess because MDC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform in 21 years, 5 of which they were in the GNU.
Chamisa and his MDC A friends are only using looking at the economic and social crisis as their ticket to staying in power. The economic and social crisis are making the population more desperate than ever and the more desperate the people are the less rational they are. They know a thinking population should have booted them out of power a long time ago.
Participating in flawed and illegal elections is not going to help the nation get out of the mess we are in, Chamisa and company know that and they don’t care.
@ Mavaza
"Afrobarometer is supposed to be a non-partisan, pan-African research institution conducting public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, the economy and society in 30+ countries repeated on a regular cycle. They claim to be the world’s leading source of high-quality data on what Africans are thinking. Afrobarometer is projected as the world’s leading research project on issues that affect ordinary African men and women. They are supposed to collect and publish high-quality, reliable statistical data on Africa which is freely available from and to the public.
Its secretariat headquarters are in Accra, Ghana, registered as a limited company by guarantee by the Registrar-General’s Department. This was Founded 1999.
The surveys are carried out by region through a partnership of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana),the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa, and the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi. The Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa at the University of Cape Town and the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University are technical partners. Afrobarometer surveys are conducted in more than 30 African countries and are repeated on a regular cycle.
Afrobarometer achieves this measurement through a series of face-to-face interviews with a random sample of 1,200, 1,600 or 2,400 people in each country.Because the instrument asks standard set of questions, countries can be systematically compared. Trends in public attitudes are tracked over time. Results are shared with decision makers, policy advocates, civic educators, journalists, researchers, donors and investors, as well as average Africans who wish to become more informed and active citizens."
Zanu PF has rigged elections ever since the country gained her independence in 1980 and as the country’s economic decline became more and more evident the party has had no choice but to step up its vote rigging to stay in power. The 2008 elections was the watershed elections in that Zanu PF showed the world there are no limits to what the regime will do to stay in power.
The SADC sponsored 2008 Global Political Agreement was about forcing Zanu PF to accept the need for the country to implement a raft of democratic reforms to take away the party’s carte blanche dictatorial powers behind the 2008 blatant cheating and wanton violence. Sadly, the MDC, the party entrusted the task to implement the reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, sold-out and failed to get even one reform implemented.
SADC leaders literally, begged, MDC leaders not to participate in the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms. “If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” they warned.
Sadly, MDC leaders ignored the SADC leaders’ warning back in 2013 and in all the many elections that have followed. Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections and all the other elections that followed.
Afrobarometer’s search are based on the assumption that elections in Zimbabwe are free, fair and credible, which we know they are not. The results of the research are therefore nonsense because the assumption is itself nonsensical.
There are three consequences of the rampant corruption in Zimbabwe:
1) corruption is everywhere in Zimbabwe and it is sucking all the oxygen and making it near impossible for honest business activities to survive let alone thrive.
2) The corrupt ruling elite and their surrogates have become so rich and powerful they are not going to allow Zimbabwe to change. Whilst Zanu PF has splash US$ 2 to 4 billion in the 2018 elections the opposition would have done very well indeed if they raised US$ 1 million!
3) Corruption has become so deeply entrenched in Zimbabwe uprooting it is now near impossible. The corrupt are so powerful and have so much to lose they simply will not let Zimbabwe change.
A suspected soldier and several armed robbers pounced on a Beitbridge bound Boundary bus last night.
The development was confirmed by local papers, MasvingoMirror and TellZim who revealed the victims are currently hospitalized at Masvingo General Hospital.
This is the tragedy of decades of a failed state, it forces millions of otherwise honest citizens to be criminals just to survive!
@ President Vladimir Putin
“On April 28, 1942, the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his address to the American nation: “These Russian forces have destroyed and are destroying more armed power of our enemies – troops, planes, tanks, and guns – than all the other United Nations put together.” Winston Churchill in his message to Joseph Stalin of September 27, 1944, wrote that “it is the Russian army that tore the guts out of the German military machine…”.
The years 1941-1945 turned into one of the most dramatic periods in our history. The lives of almost 27 million people were taken away. It was the bravery, sacrifice and resilience of the entire Soviet people and the glorious Red Army strengthened with the gallant and essential support by the Allied Forces that made it possible to defeat Nazism. The Victory over the Third Reich when the Nazi surrendered to the Soviet troops in Berlin in May 1945 was crucial for ending the Second World War. It provided the conditions for establishing the United Nations and contributed significantly to the process of decolonization and to shaping the modern relations between the nations.”
Almost 27 million Russians lost their lives fighting fir the fatherland only to be denied a meaningful say in the governance of the said fatherland! It is ironic that Vladimir Putin is singing the praises of all those who sacrificed their very lives for the country and does not have the common sense to think that their sacrifice was all for nothing since millions of Russians today are nothing but slaves in their own country.
Worse still, Russia is now over reaching itself and turning Zimbabwe into a slave nations after its own image!
Afrobarometer's research is based on the assumption that elections in Zimbabwe are free, fair and credible and therefore the political will of the people counts. Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections in the past and with no reforms in place, will do so again in 2023.
The party has already denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote a very significant number considering Mnangagwa won the 2018 elections with 2.4 m or 50.8% of the cast vote.
Zanu PF has already started dishing out the US$60 000 twin cab 4X4 Isuzu truck to the country’s 270 chiefs, a down payment for their work as the party’s political commissars. It is a well documented fact that Chiefs, war veterans and Zanu PF youth militia have reduced the rural voters into medieval serfs who are frog-marched to attend party rallies and then vote for party.
It no exaggeration to say Zanu PF has all but rigged the 2023 elections, long before the first ballot is cast. It is therefore nonsensical to still witter about how the people will vote when they vote does not count!
Afrobarometer is only helpful to Zanu PF in that by ignoring the elections are rigged it sending the message the elections are there to be won. By participating in the flawed and illegal elections, the people give the process credibility and, by extension, give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
Zanu PF and its apologists like Dr Mavaza will go town about the negative aspects in the Afrobarometer reports but the truth is they welcome the report and we even go so far as to bankroll its circulation to make sure as many people read it! The report assumes elections are free, fair and credible and that is sweet, sweet music in Mnangagwa and his acolytes’ ears!
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