“Overzealous ZRP cops arrested MDC Alliance youths for conducting a peaceful voter registration campaign in Chitungwiza at the weekend,” reported Zimeye.
This story comes fast on the back of a number of stories of violent disruptions of Nelson Chamisa rallies by Zanu PF supporters. In some cases the Zimbabwe Republic Police are present and doing nothing to stop the violence. These are all too familiar stories!
One of the dirty tactics used by the Bolsheviks, Russian Communists, before and after the 1918 Russia Revolution, was to infiltrate all rivalry organisations and, once in, to be disruptive by being doggedly tenacious and assiduous over trivial matters, for example. This forced many of the members to resign in sheer frustration to the delight of the Bolsheviks.
George Orwell captured the essence of the Bolsheviks’ disruptive shenanigans in his fable Animal Farm; the sheep bleated “Four legs good! Two legs bad!” at a critical point in a debate. By the time the bleating finally stopped, the moment for the rebuttal was lost!
Zanu PF has used this Bolshevik disruptive tactic for its selfish political gains. Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the nation has been forced to discuss trivial matters. Every time the nation has tried to end the disruption so that there can some serious debate, Zanu PF has stepped in create chaos and confusion.
The root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown are the rampant corruption, the gross mismanagement and the rank lawlessness that have earned the country the pariah state label. Zanu PF and its pool of apologists have argued that the root cause of the economic meltdown is sanctions imposed by the West. The regime has stifled all meaningful debate on the matter and used the state’s vast resources to promote its narrative.
During the 2008 to 2013 GNU one of the important task to be performed was to produce a new democratic constitution. What a waste of time and resources that turned out to be! The outreach programmes, meant to consult the ordinary people on what they wanted in the new constitution, turned into a shouting contest as the supporters from each side offered contradictory proposals at the behest of their respective handlers.
In the end, Mugabe “dictated” the new constitution, which is exactly what he wanted. MDC accepted it out of desperation since they had failed to implement even one token reform during the five years of the GNU.
Indeed, MDC leaders even claimed the new constitution was an “MDC child”. So Mugabe had fostered, cuckoo style, his dictator’s creed on MDC!
It was the Greek Philosopher Socrates who said “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
It is fair to say there are a few “average” minded Zimbabweans out there who have finally figured out that it is corruption and mismanagement, not sanctions, which are the root causes of the country’s economic meltdown. Zimbabweans have also figured it out that the one sure way to end the corruption and mismanagement is to take away Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers especially over state institutions and to rig elections.
The nation has had many opportunities since 1980 to end the de facto one-party Zanu PF dictatorship and end its Bolshevik dictatorial shenanigans. The best of these opportunities were during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when Morgan Tsvangirai were given the task of implementing the raft of democratic reforms. Sadly the MDC leaders were not up to the noble task; they turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.
As long as Zanu PF retains its dictatorial powers and total control over state institutions like the Police we can expect the political violence skirmishes to continue, it is just one of the Bolshevik Zanu PF thugs’ dirty tactics to distract us from the important business of rampant corruption, rigged elections, etc., etc.
What we need is the men and women with “strong minds” to demand the implementation of the democratic reforms and will not take their eyes off the ball until the task is done and dusted!
Participating in flawed and illegal elections, especially after 41 years of rigged elections, to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy is insane; way beneath the category of Socrates’ “weak minds”.
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ZIMBABWE Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) executive chairperson Sydney Gata has strongly castigated Finance Ministry secretary George Guvamatanga for refusing to guarantee Independent Power Producers' (IPPs) deals and unlock their funding.
The deals have the potential to produce 300 megawatts of electricity, which would go a long way in easing the current power crisis that has seriously affected the operations of business and industry.
In his address during a tour of the Hwange Power Plant Monday, Gata said the IPPs were failing to take off because Guvamatanga, as the Finance Ministry secretary, was taking too long to guarantee the projects, which would unlock the much-needed funding.
The government last year licensed dozens of IPPs but they require the Finance Ministry to provide the necessary surety.
"The secretary for Finance is the main culprit. I can put it in writing so that you can go and tell him this is what I said," Gata said.
"It is the Ministry of Finance that is responsible for issuing those guarantees which can unlock a lot of capacity that can end load shedding," he added.
This is just a case of the pot calling the pan black! These IPP deals would not be demanding payment guarantees from government if ZESA itself was not notorious for failing to pay its bills! It is no secret that ZESA has gone to the dogs under Sydney Gata’s watch and yet he has been reappointed again and again for no other reason than cronyism!
From his performance at the Ministry of Finance, George Guvamatanga is there, not for what he knows but whom he knows.
Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic governed by a corrupt and incompetent ruling elite and their cronies - there I too have put it down in black and white so Mnangagwa and company know they are the ones who have destroyed Zimbabwe!
Zanu PF factionalism has apparently turned nasty in Mashonaland Central province following a clash between War veterans Association provincial chairperson Sam Parirenyatwa and war veterans league provincial commissar Dzingai Nevhunje.
The two are neighbours at their plots in Mazowe and Parirenyatwa on Sunday lost about 4 hectares of wheat due to an inferno allegedly caused by his rival Nevhunje.
The economic meltdown has not spared Zanu PF ruling elite and with the national cake shrinking the fight for a place at the top table has naturally become cut-throat. If the fighting amongst the Zanu PF members is this ruthless what more when they are fighting outsiders! The idea there can ever be free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe without reforms is absurd!
The people of Zimbabwe must wake up to the reality that MDC does not have any "stringent measures" or "SOLID PLAN" to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and worst of all wake up to the reality that by participating in these flawed elections the people are giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. After 41 years of rigged election, this should be obvious to all but clearly the penny has not dropped in many of the empty heads out there.
Those who will no learn from the past are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again until they learn. We are participating in the flawed elections to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. After 41 years we are not only failing to define what constitute free, fair and credible elections but worse still are foolish enough to be conned into believing MDC has "Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies.
It is true that by and large, nations get the government they deserve. We in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of equally corrupt and incompetent opposition parties! We have followed Zanu PF and then opposition blindly like sheep to the slaughter and it is little wonder we have landed ourselves in this hell-on-earth.
Posting on Twitter, Mugwadi famously known as Tuboy said Powell endorsed sanctions against Zimbabwe hence he was a “son of a devil”.
“Today, the endorser of illegal sanctions & @mdczimbabwe founding foreigner @PowellCollin is announced dead. Begone son of a devil!The UN SR cannot complete her task without meeting these patriotic anti-sanctions activists camped against the @usembassyharare for nearly 1000 days,” said Mugwadi.
The real tragedy in a country like Zimbabwe is that the megaphone is in the hands of the lunatics and it is their foolish narrative that is heard. The fight for democratic reforms is meant to readdress this unbalance by making sure there is freedom of expression and press freedom.
It is a great pity that the nation has had many opportunities to implement the democratic reforms, the best of which were during the GNU, it is a great pity they have all been wasted. We need to redouble our efforts and get the reforms implemented before the nation is pushed over the edge into the abyss - the social, economic and political chaos in Zimbabwe is unsustainable.
@ Chitova News Day
“I call upon the youth from different political parties to vote wisely in the 2023 elections so that we have representatives who work for the good of the people.
Let's unite and refuse to be used. The youth have been manipulated for far too long and dumped after elections.”
This is just nonsense. Are you suggesting that Zimbabweans have failed to bring about meaningful political change in the past because they did not “vote wisely”?
Zanu PF has been rigging elections and participating in these flawed and illegal has only served to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.
After 41 years of rigged elections, when are we going to open our eyes and finally admit that there will never ever be free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe as long as Zanu PF retains its dictatorial powers including powers to blatantly rig the elections?
When are we going to open our eyes to the reality MDC does not have “stringent measures” or “SOLID Plan” to stop Zanu PF rigging elections?
"Youth are the game changer!" So there were no youths in the past?
@ NewsDay
“Fear is the big issue, there is a lot of intimidation.
"There is also weaponisation of food aid and fertilizer. Those are the issues people are generally saying that life is now unbearable. Those are issues that are everywhere. I am telling them that we must put a full-stop to these challenges and then let us win Zimbabwe for change."
The opposition leader, who narrowly lost the presidential race to Zanu-PF's Emmerson Mnangagwa in the 2018 harmonised elections, said he was now focusing on rural areas, the ruling party's stronghold.
It is heartening to hear that Chamisa acknowledges that fear, intimidation and “weaponisation of food aid and fertiliser” are a serious problem, especially in the rural areas. It is most disheartening to note that he is doing nothing about it. Absolutely nothing!
MDC leaders had the golden chance during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms which would have stop the culture of fear and intimidation by Zanu PF operative, Police, etc. They failed to get even one reform implemented. Not even one!
SADC leaders, amongst many others, have argued that elections should not go ahead without first implementing the reforms and it is none other than MDC leaders themselves who have stubbornly insisted in participating in these flawed and illegal elections for the same reasons they failed to implement reforms - incompetence and greed!
Zanu PF has offered a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate; Chamisa and company has found these irresistible! He is just paying lip-service to fear, intimidation, etc.; these are not going to stop him participating in the 2023 elections!
Zanu-PF has blamed the economic crisis bedevilling the country on sanctions imposed by the West and has mobilised local, regional and international support to campaign for their removal.
Government has also invited the United Nations special rapporteur Alena Douhan into the country to assess the impact of sanctions on Zimbabweans.
Douhan is in the country for a 10-day visit.
Debating Mnangagwa's state of the nation address (Sona) and opening of the Fourth Session of the Ninth Parliament last week, Norton MP Temba Mliswa (Independent) yesterday said the President was non-committal in aggressively dealing with graft, which was the major reason for Zimbabwe's economic woes.
"Sanctions are external, but before sanctions, let us deal with corruption. We cannot be putting water in a pot that leaks and say let us cook," Mliswa said.
"So to me, corruption is the biggest leak. Sanctions will be removed and money will come
in, but if there is a leak, that money will not go anywhere."
Mliswa added: "The President was not clear in terms of our achievement in terms of corruption, his first target, and he was very clear in the third session about zero tolerance on corruption, but corruption has reached unprecedented levels where the nation has no confidence anymore."
He bemoaned the "catch and release" of bigwigs saying it exposed the systems mandated with dealing with corruption in the country while also saying there were cartels involved in smuggling of minerals at the expense of the country.
There is a mountain of evidence to prove that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is caused by corruption, mismanagement and other causes and not sanctions. Zanu PF has only used sanctions as a scapegoat. The very fact that SADC leaders have even gone to the extend on declaring 25 October Anti-Sanctions Day goes to show just how shallow and gullible the regional body is!
One cannot wait to hear what the UN Special rapporteur invited by Zanu PF has to say on sanctions as the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown. SADC leaders will put on a brave face but make no mistake about it, they will look very foolish in indeed after all the years of blabbering about sanctions.
It is all very well for Tendai Biti to call on SADC and the international community to pressure Zanu PF to accept dialogue and reforms. He is forgetting that SADC created the golden opportunity for MDC to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. MDC failed to implement even one token reform.
SADC, EU, etc. are all on record calling for reforms BEFORE elections and it is none other than Tendai Biti and company who have insisted on elections without reforms, not even something as basic a a verified voters’ roll.
Biti and his MDC friends are participating in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place for the same reasons they have failed to implement reforms - they are breathtakingly incompetent and greedy! Zanu PF is offering they a few gravy train seats to entice them to participate and they have found the inducement irresistible!
Zanu PF will never implement any reforms as long as the party knows the MDC and the rest in the opposition camp will participate no matter how flawed and illegal the election process got. MDC leaders have sold-out the nation’s hope for free, fair and credible elections for thirty pieces of silver!
This was said by the party’s vice president Hon Tendai Biti at a media briefing in Harare on Wednesday.
Hon Biti accused Mr Mnangagwa’s administration of attempting to assassinate President Nelson Chamisa in Manicaland on Tuesday.
According to Hon Biti, Zanu PF has a habit of blaming victims of its malice.
There is no denying that Zanu PF is a party of violence and without reforms this scourge will never go away. There are two questions MDC leaders must answer:
why did MDC fail to implement even one reform in the last 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU?
Why is the MDC insisting in participating in these flawed and illegal elections against the advice of SADC, EU and others?
“General elections are scheduled for 2023. There are supposed to be by-elections, but because of Covid, we don’t know if and when they will happen. Chamisa is really desperate for by-elections because he feels he might win some and regain some credibility,” Chitiyo said.
“Overall, the Chamisa opposition has lost quite a lot of ground. It’s possible they might claw it back when Covid ends, but he’s got a lot of work to do.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year banned the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) from holding by-elections as part of the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the deadly Covid-19 global pandemic.
The political consequence of the High Court ruling that Chamisa’s seizure of power following Morgan Tsvangirai’s death have knocked the wind out of Chamisa. Zanu PF has taken advantage of the hardship but it must be said these were self-inflicted wounds on Chamisa’s part.
Zanu PF has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, it has not implemented even one token reform, MDC A Harare Mayor has just admitted ZEC has not produced a verified voters’ roll, etc., etc. Zanu PF is set to rig the 2023 elections. What the party needs right now is to give the opposition the false hope that they will win the elections and that is the one thing many Zanu PF agents out there are working on.
Anyone who thinks that the violence will stop is naive. As long as Zanu PF feels its hold on power is under threat, the party will step up the violence.
"There are hundreds and hundreds of ex-Zesa engineers all over the world. This is not good because this capacity, we need it here, we are only 56% electrified.
"We need the capacity back home. We have to bring back all those who left the country for the diaspora in order to develop our country to the extent we deserve as Zimbabweans," Gata said, adding that he spent the better part of his early days in office investing in staff morale and halting the brain drain.
Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic in which one is appointed into a position not for what he/she knows but for WHOM he/she knows! Sydney Gata knows all that only too well because he has been a chief beneficiary of the system.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a Banana Republic, there will be no meaningful economic recovery!
"The party has no room for divisive elements who want positions at the expense of the party's discipline, unity, love and harmony and development," he said.
"It is alien for our party members to fight for posts; violence of any kind whether physical or verbal has no place in Zanu-PF or in our country."
Zanu-PF has been rocked by violent power struggles during its internal party elections over the past months. The fights, which erupted in Mutare and other districts, portends a deeply divided Zanu-PF limping towards the 2023 elections
What is he wittering about! Zanu PF has murdered over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans for selfish political gain in the regime’s 41 years reign of terror!
The in fighting in the party is over the shrinking national cake. The country’s economic meltdown has left millions of ordinary Zimbabweans living in abject poverty. Many of the ruling elite have not been spared; only the lucky few at the top table are doing well, the rest are in trouble. Keeping one’s place at the high table has never been as important as it is now and hence the reason the dog-eat-dog has become bloody.
As long as Zimbabwe remains a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery and the nation will sink deeper and deeper into the abyss.
There is a real danger of violent street protests and/or another military coup because this economic situation is not sustainable. By blocking peaceful change born out of free and fair elections, Zanu PF has left the country no other solution other than violent change.
Musarurwa barged into the press conference the Media Centre in Harare accompanied by bouncers who rained claps on the official before they hurled him out of the room and dragged him through several flights of stairs into the crowded street, where he started shouting: “They are beating me because I want to expose their corruption.”
As he shouted, a group of men charged towards him and jumped into a truck which drove off at speed.
This is the kind of story that will leave every Zimbabwean hanging their heads in shame!
Zanu PF in Mutare youths deny attacking Chamisa.
If MDC had implemented the democratic reforms and freed the Police from Zanu PF control, we would not be having any of this nonsense.
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