There are many reasons why Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess. Many of those reasons will have something to do with the nation’s inability to focus on the important matters; we have a fixation with trivial matters.
"WE'RE READY!” announced Nelson Chamisa on his Twitter account.
“In 1980, Mugabe was 56, Banana 44, Mnangagwa 37, Rex 31, Tongo would've been 42, Joyce 25, Zvinavashe 36, Oppah 22 and Sekuru Chiwenga 23. They were ready to serve and so are we.
“Why do some people think that OUR GENERATION is not ready? We're ready! And it's now our turn! Theirs was liberating. Ours is transforming and democratizing."
For the umpteenth time Chamisa; leadership is not about age, race, gender, who did what during the liberation war, etc., etc. None of these things matter not at all!
Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies were young, they had fought in the war of liberation, etc., etc.; ticking all the boxes according to your criterions, they were ready. And yet that did not stop the onset of the gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the murderous tyrannical oppression that have been the hallmark of the Zanu PF dictatorship.
The economic and political rot we see today started with the Zanu PF decision to deny the people of Zimbabwe a meaningful rig the 1980 elections by threatening the bush war will continue if the party lost the elections. Once in power they consolidated the iron grip on power by systematically undermining and corrupting every state institution and sector of society to impose the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship that has ruled the nation with an iron fist and ruined it.
The suggestion that Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends should be allowed to govern because they are young is plan foolish. Zimbabwe’s rot started way back in 1980 when the nation gained her independence and Mugabe and company were young. So if the youth Mugabe and company failed to deliver economic prosperity what is so different with Chamisa and company to guarantee they are not as corrupt and incompetent as Mugabe and company?
The nation must be reminded at this point that Chamisa and company have been on the national political stage for 22 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Chamisa and his MDC friends were elected into office for a very specific purpose - to implement the democratic reforms to dismantle the de facto one-party dictatorship.
Zanu PF is still in power today because MDC leaders have failed to implement even one token democratic change in 22 years.
Worse still, MDC leaders have now abandon the cause of implementing the reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
SADC leaders’ warned the MDC leaders not to participate in 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging. “If you go into the elections next month, you will lose. The elections are done!” SADC leaders told Tsvangirai and company to their faces.
MDC leaders ignored the warning and Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections. Tsvangirai and company should have learned the lesson and demand the reforms before elections; they did not because the repeated the same mistake in 2018.
Zanu PF has been in power for 41 years and counting because Zanu PF rigged the elections and not because some mythical individuals decided Chamisa and his generation were not ready.
One Twitter user quizzed Nelson Chamisa on this very important point, asking him if he has, "considered the "rigging" in 2023? Surely you or any other can't win as all elections in Zimbabwe (are) rigged.”
"Once cheated twice wiser!" replied Chamisa, with his usual dismissive arrogance.
The problem was not just one of Zanu PF rigging elections and getting back into power but, worst of all, by participating in the flawed and illegal elections, MDC was giving credibility to the flawed process and, by extension, legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.
The people of Zimbabwe are desperate for meaningful democratic change that will restore the people’s basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote and even the right to life itself. Stopping the curse of rigged elections and bad governance is the number one priority because other changes such as economic recovery will only follow if there is good governance.
So the people of Zimbabwe are looking for the leaders; it does not matter their age (after all the government is elected for a fixed five year term), gender, etc.; who will implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections.
“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people,” said the Greek Philosopher Socrates.
Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends are obsessed about trivial matters so obsessed they are incapable of thinking of anything else; even when it is brought to their attention repeatedly!
"Once cheated twice wiser!" How many times did Robert Mugabe “cheat”Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his two Deputy PM, 30 MDC ministers and deputy ministers,160 MDC MPs and Senators into forgetting to implement even one token reform in the five long GNU years? And this was the primary purpose of the GNU for Pete’s sake!
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In a tweet yesterday, Urpilainen said: “First meeting with FM Zimbabwe @ShavaHon. A comprehensive discussion covering bilateral relations, COVID-19 response, future co-operation and complex regional situations. I reiterated the need to fully implement political and economic reforms, including EOM recommendations.”
In a preliminary statement after the disputed 2018 polls, the EU observer mission noted electoral malpractices such as “bias in State media” in favour of Zanu-PF, adding this meant “that a truly level playing field was not achieved.”
Urpilainen, a former Finland Deputy Prime Minister and Finance minister respectively, oversees the EU Commission’s work on international c-operation and sustainable development.
Zanu PF has ignore demands to implement democratic reforms to ensure elections are free, fair and credible because the party fears that it may lose power in a free and fair elections.
The nearest Zimbabwe came to holding free and fair elections was the March 2008 vote in which Morgan Tsvangirai got 73% of the vote and Mnangagwa and his Joint Operation Command junta had to quickly step in and stop ZEC announcing the results. This was clearly a mistake Zanu PF was not going to repeat if it can help it.
Zanu PF was under the cosh during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when SADC leaders forced Mugabe to accept the need to implement democratic reforms and take away his dictatorial powers. It was none other than Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who save the Zanu PF dictatorship by failing to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU. Not even one!
Worse still, by ignoring call for implementing the reforms before elections MDC are giving credibility to the flawed and illegal election process and by extension giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.
“The authoritarian consolidation in Zimbabwe is extremely worrying, shrinking democratic space, weaponising the law against opponents and human rights defenders, attempts to destroy the opposition, and undemocratic amendments of the Constitution,” said MDC A secretary for international relations Gladys Hlatshwayo said.
She is just paying lip service to calls for reforms because MDC A is gearing to participate in the 2023 elections without even a token reform in place! Not a sausage!
Of course, Mnangagwa and Zanu PF are eternally grateful to the corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders; the regime would not still be in power today without MDC help.
Nelson Chamisa and Emmerson Mnangagwa have a lot more in common beyond the common denominator of being politicians - they are both buffoons who love high sounding empty rhetoric.
Who can ever forget Mnangagwa's "Zimbabwe is open for business!" It was his entry swan-song after he took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup. It was the assurance to the investors to comeback and do business in Zimbabwe after decades of investors and lenders shying away from Zimbabwe because the country was pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs.
The flood of investors never materialised because because Zimbabwe was still a pariah state, the coup was nothing more than musical chairs to replace a few thugs and shuffle others.
Nelson Chamisa keeps coming up with these pronouncements "I have a SOLID PLAN!" "We ARE READY!" All taken up by the MDC A faithful with passion of one who believes this is the panacea they had all been waiting for. All nonsense, of course because none of these proclamations are addressing the problem of Zanu PF is rigging the elections.
ZIMBABWE’S main opposition MDC Alliance says it has set its sights on mobilising six million votes ahead 2023, with the party refocusing to attract the elusive rural vote.
During the 2008 to 2013 GNU, MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging election. They failed to get even one token reform implemented because they are corrupt and incompetent. Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and for five years of the GNU they forgot the main reason why they were in the GNU was to implement the reforms.
Ever since their GNU debacle MDC leaders have ignore the problem of Zanu PF rigging the elections and have pushed the false narrative that Zimbabweans can still have meaningful democratic change without reforms. MDC have come up with all manner of “Winning In Rigged Election (WIRE) strategies” and none of them have worked. Mobilising six million votes is just a rehashed WIRE strategy that was been tried and failed.
The EU has just told Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fredrick Shava, that the 2023 elections will be a farce if Zanu PF does not implement the political reforms stated in the EU 2018 Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission report. What MDC are saying is the reforms are not necessary, they have their WIRE strategies.
The truth is MDC leaders know their WIRE strategies are totally useless. They are participating in these flawed and illegal elections because Zanu PF is offering a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate and give Zanu PF legitimacy.
Zimbabweans have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders on the promise the party would implemented the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. MDC leaders not only wasted the opportunity to implement the reforms but are now actively helping Zanu PF remain in power in return for a share of the spoils of power.
MDC leaders are no longer championing the fight for free, fair and credible elections, without which the country cannot get out of this hell Zanu PF landed us; they are content sharing power with Zanu PF and only pretend they are still fighting for the common people.
According to the ZPP report titled It’s Politricks All Over, the ruling party accounted for 37% of the human rights violations that occurred in the month of September and claimed the life of one person.
In the report, 195 human rights violations which include assault, displacement, sexual harassment and unlawful detention were recorded.
Ordinary citizens were the majority of the victims.
Zanu PF has the capacity to escalate the violence to nauseating heights because the party operatives have the backing of the state machinery as we have seen happen especially in the 2008 run-off. The nation did not see the same level of violence in 2013 and 2018 elections but only because Zanu PF was certain of landslide victories. If Zanu PF feels its hold on power is under threat, the party will step on the gas and escalate the violence.
The nation should not be going into these elections without first implementing the democratic reform to end the corrupting influence of Zanu PF on the Police and other state institutions, for example. We are going into these flawed elections because of MDC greed.
Zimbabwe has allowed the export of 200,000 tonnes of excess power coal because of limited intake at its biggest coal-fired power plant, which is beset by frequent breakdowns, the coal producers association said late last week.
The southern African nation’s six coal miners have a standing arrangement to supply 300,000 tonnes of coal to Hwange Power Station every month but constant breakdowns of ageing equipment mean the plant is taking in less coal.
The Hwange plant has a design capacity of 920MW but was producing 410MW on Friday. The power station is being expanded by China’s Sino Hydro to add another 600MW capacity.
The country has instituted frequent power cuts, known locally as load shedding, due to electricity shortages.
With average demand of 1,735MW, local power generation stood at 1,277MW, according to the state power company.
So we are selling the coal at US$x per MW and importing electricity and pay US$y per MW and we can be certain y is considerably higher than x. Indeed the price difference in one year alone would probably pay the cost of Hwange Stage 7 and 8 which should have been completed soon after independence in 1980, over 40 years ago!
No wonder the country is in a real mess, no nation on earth can ever hope to thrive with such criminal waste of resources and opportunities!
Government yesterday extended the level two lockdown by a further two weeks, but opened licensed bars for vaccinated patrons only.
New cases reported in schools fell to 815 last week compared to 1 267 in the previous week after the Health and Child Care ministry recently cordoned off boarding schools.
Zimbabwe is just blundering from pillar to post from one crisis to the next. Until the nation address the root cause of the nation’s economic meltdown and political chaos - the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections and thus produce a competent and accountable government - it is clear nothing will change. Indeed, the country will continue to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss.
Contrary to claims by Zanu PF that MDC Alliance leader President Nelson Chamisa has no plan, the vibrant leader’s vision is crystal clear…
His vision includes a strong education system, decent living wages for teachers, functional hospitals and jobs for young people.
MDC was tasked to implement democratic reforms and after 22 years, 5 in the GNU, failed to get even one token reform implemented. Until we deal with curse of rigged elections, nothing of substance can ever be achieved.
Chamisa and company are fooling themselves and, more significantly, the nation with all this nonsense they can win 2023 elections because they have devised "Winning In Rigged election (WIRE) strategies." Ask them what those strategies are they will not say because they are none.
The EU has just told Foreign Minister Shava there should be no elections in Zimbabwe without first implementing the reforms recommended in the EU 2018 Zimbabwe Election Observer Mission report. Why is MDC A hell bent on having the elections with no reforms? Why is MDC A always complaining of rigged elections after the elections but refuse to acknowledge the problem before the elections?
By participating in these flawed and illegal elections MDC A are giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF. This is insane and must and will be stop!
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