Zanu PF gang blamed for 2 Kwe Kwe murders - how many more must die before CCC finally prioritize reforms P Guramatunhu

The images of the brutal violence at the CCC rally in Kwe Kwe over the weekend is a reminder of the wanton violence of the 2008 elections. The nation had the golden opportunity to deal with this problem during the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU). Sadly, the problem was never dealt with, and hence the deja vu!

Two CCC supporters were killed and 17 others serious injured in the Kwe Kwe violence.

“The violence was allegedly instigated by a Zanu-PF gang wielding machetes. This behaviour is synonymous with a local Zanu-PF aligned terror gang monikered Al-Shabab, after the Somali-based terrorist group,” reported Bulawayo 24.


"And this is what Zanu-PF intruders did to us. They were so angry because of the huge turnout at our rally. They unleashed violence using stones machetes and iron bars," commented CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa on twitter.

The four most important questions that must be asked and answered are:

1)    Could the barbarism inflicted by Zanu PF thugs on CCC supporters have been avoided? The answer to that is yes, we could have ended this curse of political violence once and once for all if the 2008 to 2013 GNU had implemented the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).

 

2)    Why did the GNU fail to implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections and wanton violence? The MDC leaders who were tasked to implement the reforms turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent; Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office, and they forgot about implementing the reforms.

 

3)    Where do we go from here? The barbarism will continue, as long as Zanu PF retains the carte blanche powers to rig elections and resort to the wanton violence to guarantee the party’s 2/3 majority and presidency and continue to get political legitimacy from MDC/CCC continued participation in the flawed elections. Of course, MDC/CCC leaders have always known that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and will not hesitate to use violence to secure victory. They have also known that Zanu PF is offering the 1/3 or so parliamentary seats as bait; this they have found irresistible.

 

4)    Can this cycle of rigged elections and bad governance be broken? Yes, it can be broken. Deny Zanu PF legitimacy by either stopping MDC/CCC participating in the flawed elections or show MDC/CCC for the political sell-outs they are for insisting in participating in flawed elections. By condemning the 2023 elections as a farce you deny Zanu PF political legitimacy, which is exactly what happened in 2008 and forced the regime to sign the 2008 GPA in 1) above. This time measures will be taken to ensure competent leaders are tasked to implement all the reforms.

 

It is all very well for Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends to pontificate endlessly about Zanu PF barbarism; the truth is the regime would not still be riding roughshod over the people if MDC leaders had not sold out. The 2008 to 2013 GNU was Zimbabwe’s get out of jail card and why MDC/CCC leaders have not played this card all these years beggars belief. Chamisa et al must explain why they have not played get out of jail card and not waste time wittering about the jail’s thick walls, the razor-fence and all the other top-notch security measures. 

As much as it is Zanu PF thugs who are established, retained the de facto one-party dictatorship and are still in power today, it is nonetheless important to note that it is the corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent MDC/CCC who have been helping Zanu PF stay in power since the 2008 GNU. Without political legitimacy from MDC/CCC Zanu PF will be forced to sign another Global Political Agreement agreeing to the implementation of democratic reforms as happened in 2008!

The idea Zanu PF will give up its dictatorial powers to rig elections to allow peaceful democratic change is naïve to say the least. By failing to force the opportunistic opposition participating in these flawed elections and thus giving Zanu PF legitimacy Zimbabwe is closing the door to peaceful democratic change and be left with no other option other than violent street protests and/or another military coup. 

"It's settled, Chamisa, not Mwonzora, is nation's hope" - another Mnangagwa vs Mugabe false choice N Garikai

 

In 2017 outsiders not familiar with the Zimbabwean people’s warped thinking were rightly surprised that Zimbabweans came out in their hundreds of thousands to support the November 2017 military coup. The military coup was an internal power struggle within Zanu PF and nothing to do with the ordinary people.

After 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule the people were desperate for change but the military coup was clearly offering to remove Robert Mugabe and a number of the G40 leaders around him, and Mnangagwa and his Lacoste faction of Zanu PF were taking over. The people were desperate to see the end of the Zanu PF dictatorship; the emergence of one faction as the dominant one did not end the dictatorship and so was of value to the masses.

Coming out in support of Mnangagwa and Lacoste was as foolish as a goat celebrating the victory of one clan of hyenas over another especially when all the fighting had left the victors hunger and ready for a feast!

It did not take long for the Zimbabwe public to realise the so-called Second Republic and the old Mugabe dictatorship in all but name. Mnangagwa had promised “zero tolerance on corruption”; corruption has instead increased as he was forced to put away most of Mugabe loyalists out to pasture on very generous packages, to buy their loyalty to him. Meanwhile he has had to appoint his own team they really believe it is their turn to loot. And boy oh boy, their hunger for power and wealth is insatiable and so too is their wastefulness.

If there were any lingering doubts the Second Republic and its promise of democratic change was con, all the doubts disappeared like morning mist when Mnangagwa and company blatantly rigged the 2018 elections. When a few people gathered to protest, he ordered the army to shoot to kill.

Zimbabwe is in this man-made hell-on-earth because we have grabbed the solution that offered itself as the right solution and run with it. If anyone thought the with the memory of the November 2017 fiasco still fresh in our minds, Zimbabweans would be careful not to repeat the same foolishness again.

There is no bigger fool than he who never learn from the past, from experience. Trust Zimbabweans to dive head-log into another shallow pool!

“This last Sunday's CCC rally has clearly showed that Nelson Chamisa has an unmatched natural connection with the grassroots and represents the best of this generation giving a fresh start to Zimbabwe's political arena,” wrote Leonard Koni in an article titled “Citizen Coalition for Change the only hope”.

“The question of who is biggest opposition leader in Zimbabwe between Nelson Chamisa and Douglas Mwonzora has been put to rest.”

The choice before the nation was never that of Chamisa vs Mwonzora no more than was it Mnangagwa vs Mugabe in 2017. Chamisa and Mwonzora were both in the MDC from 1999 to 2018 when they fall out following the Chamisa’s seizure of the party’s leadership. More significantly, the two gentlemen were in the GNU that failed to implement even one token reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and they have all participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

Chamisa and Mwonzora are both hell-bent on participating in the 2023 elections knowing fully well Zanu PF is rigging these elections and that participating will give Zanu PF legitimacy. They are participating regardless because they are after the few gravy train seats Zanu PF is offering as bait; they don’t care that the nation is paying dearly for their greed.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders for the principal purpose of delivering the democratic changes, reforms, necessary to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. MDC leaders have not only failed to implement even one token reform in the 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, but by participating in flawed elections are perpetuating the Zanu PF dictatorship.

Both Chamisa and Mwonzora have proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent. How one who has already proven to be corrupt and incompetent can still represent the nation’s hope beggars belief.

Limit our choice between Mnangagwa or Mugabe, Chamisa or Mwonzora is symptomatic of one who have no clue what constitute a good and competent leader and so is forced to select whoever they are presented with. Chamisa or Mwonzora is as meaningless to povo as a mouse choosing a cobra or black mamba!

EU calls for free elections falling on deaf Zanu PF ears - forgetting CCC, it takes two to tango N Garikai

 

The EU calls on the Zimbabwe government to implement the EU 2018 election recommendation but to no avail because they are ignoring Zanu PF’s political partner – it takes two to tango!

“The EU follows closely the electoral agenda in Zimbabwe and stands ready to continue its support to electoral reforms – an important pillar to strengthen democracy – based on the recommendations of the 2018 EU Election Observation Mission. The EU is preparing for a follow-up mission,” reads the EU’s recent statement.

“Moreover, the EU welcomes the reassurances given by the authorities of Zimbabwe that they will be inviting international electoral observers for the 2023 elections including an EU Election Observation Mission.”

The recommendations of the 2018 EU Election Observer Mission are absolutely necessary if Zimbabwe is to hold free, fair and credible elections. Not even token reforms have been implemented.

On the other hand, it is no secret that Zanu PF will be risking losing the elections if the regime was to implement these recommendations. The EU pressure on Zanu PF to implement the recommendations is reduced if not totally neutralized by Zimbabwe’s opposition’s determination to participate in these elections knowing fully well not only that Zanu PF was rigging but more significantly that by participating they were giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

Zimbabwe’s opposition has been participating in these flawed elections for selfish reasons.

“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 elections,” confessed David Coltart in his book The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. Coltart is a former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the 2008 to 2013 GNU.

“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.”

EU’s call for election reforms and free and fair elections is falling on deaf Zanu PF and MDC/CCC ears; as long as Chamisa and company continue participating to give Zanu PF legitimacy there will never be free, fair and credible elections. It is high time that EU acknowledged for there to be meaningful political change in Zimbabwe pressure must be brought to bear on both Zanu PF and the MDC/CCC because there is a symbiotic relationship between the two.

Zimbabwe is standing on the edge of the precipitous abyss and another rigged election may well send the nation tumbling over the edge. Both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC must now be told in no uncertain terms that they each have a role to play in making sure 2023 elections are free, fair and credible.

"We will protest rigged elections" says Chamisa - but why keep participating, it's insane P Guramatunhu

 Insanity comes in all manner of degrees and disguises but have two things in common; one, it is mind bogglingly repetitive. Or as the great physicist Albert Einstein aptly put it, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!”

Two, the consequences of insanity can be dehumanising and catastrophic to those concerned! Man is a creature of reason, the insane have lost the capacity to think and reason; they have lost their humanity.

When I was a small boy, I visited my aunt whose husband worked as a nurse-aid at Ingutsheni Hospital in Bulawayo. This is hospital for the mentally challenged and the visit was an eye-opener into what it means to be insane.

I observed one patient trudging back and forth in the midday heat, watering a bed of flowers with a leaking bucket. The patient was soaked through and through from head to foot with water and mud without making much progress.

“Gumbo!” called out my uncle. “You have the problem with the leaking bucket!”

Gumbo took the bucket from his head and to examine it. He acknowledged the leak and posed for a while, thinking what to do. “I know!” he said with renewed hope and enthusiasm. “I will carry the bucket on my shoulder!” And with that set off!

We all laughed! My uncle explained that it is okay on a hot day, in the middle of winter it was no laughing matter!

Zimbabwe is stuck for 42 years and counting with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. Four decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the country in economic ruins; the country’s basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed and millions are now living in abject poverty.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic mess is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation is stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship these 42 years because the regime rigs elections and the country’s opposition is at sixes and sevens as what to do to stop Zanu PF rigging elections!

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect the now late Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) friends to bring about the democratic changes, as the party’s name implied, needed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. After 22 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, MDC has failed to implement even one reform.

Nelson Chamisa, who took over the leadership of MDC now renamed Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC), is as irrational as any Ingutsheni Hospital patient!

"We commissioned experts to analyse the voters roll. I had been tipped off by some senior government officials that the document was being tampered with.  We have infiltrators in government departments — we have infiltrated all government departments," Chamisa told his supporters on Sunday.

"We will not let ZEC get away with its manipulation. Starting with this by-election, if ZEC does not address these anomalies, it will not be well.  There will be instability in the country. On the issue of voter manipulation, do not panic. We have strategies.

"The first strategy is to ensure that ZEC policies are compatible with the Constitution. If they don't heed our demands, then we will take legal remedies. But we know that the courts may not be able to deliver justice fairly. We have our own solution. We will go to the streets. We will protest against ZEC."

Chamisa was commenting on the many irregularities and illegalities Team Pachedu has uncovered in the 2022 voters’ roll.

Zanu PF has many, many vote rigging tools using the voters’ roll is one of the tools but not the only one. Zanu PF has already decided to deny 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote, a very significant number considering Mnangagwa won the 2018 elections with 2.4 million votes. “As long as the sanctions imposed on the regime by the West remain,” acting party spokesperson, Patrick Chimanasa, explained.

It is a very documented fact that Zanu PF has used bribes and coercion to reduce the rural voters, 50% of the electorate, into medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF thugs and their proxies. Rural areas remain “no go” areas to the opposition and Zanu PF will frog march their victims to vote for the party. The party has other ways to help it rig these elections such as unlimited funding from the wholesale looting, monopoly over the public media, etc., etc.

But even if one gave Chamisa and company the benefit of the doubt and assumed that stopping ZEC messing around with the voters’ roll is the number one leak, game-changer leak, in the Zimbabwe elections. It should be noted that ZEC has never ever produced a verifies voters’ roll, for obvious reasons, and has already disowned the roll Team Pachedu is using and fired the ZEC staff who released it.

ZEC will maintain the voters’ roll Team Pachedu is using is not the official roll, it contained raw data from the field and was yet to be cleaned up. That is a reasonable argument, and no court will say otherwise.

No doubt the voters’ roll that will be used on election day will not be a verified roll and every precaution will be taken to make sure Team Pachedu or anyone else does not get a copy.

Zanu PF is rigging these elections Chamisa and company know this for a fact, they are participating knowing ZEC has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake. They also know that by participating in the flawed elections they are giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

Gumbo’s decision to carry the bucket on his shoulder was insane because it did not address the problem of leaking. Chamisa and company not only failed to implement the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging during the 2008 to 2013 but are participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Of course, it is insane to then try to take away the legitimacy using the courts and/or street protests especially when the strategies have already proved ineffective.

Poor, poor Zimbabwe, the country is sinking into this man-made hell-on-earth and instead of demanding reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections the nation is being dragged deeper and deeper into the abyss trying to win rigged elections!

No more mumbo-jumbo, Chamisa must announce credible plan to stop Zanu PF rigging or that CCC is boycotting elections W Mukori

 

The A1 problem in Zimbabwe is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections which is why the nation has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime for 42 years with the tragic economic and political consequences we can see. It has taken decades to understanding the link between rigged elections and bad governance but thank God, the penny has drop!  

Zanu PF is rigging these by-elections and, even more significantly, is rigging the upcoming 2023 harmonised elections. By participating in these flawed elections MDC/CCC are giving the process some modicum of credibility and thus giving the results legitimacy and thus help perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship.

The A1 question Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends must answer without any equivocation is “How are you stopping Zanu PF rigging the elections?”

The failure to answer the question will lead to one equally clear-cut course of action: do not participate in the flawed elections. Participating in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy is insane, especially after 42 years of rigged elections.

This is not the first time MDC/CCC leaders have been told it is insane to participate in flawed elections; SADC leaders told them to their faces in June 2013.

“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 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’.”

Of course, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends knew that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that boycotting the elections was the only rational thing to do. Tsvangirai and company ignored the SADC leaders’ advice and participated in the 2013 elections because of greed, as David Coltart, himself an MDC Minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and senior member of CCC, confessed.

“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.”

If the failure to form a coalition in 2013 was the excuse for participating then MDC should have boycotted the 2018 elections because four of the main MDC factions did form a coalition, MDC Alliance (MDC A). Greed got the better of them and they participated in the elections even when it was clear ZEC had failed to produce something as basic a verified voters’ roll!

“MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” boasted Nelson Chamisa, the MDC A Presidential candidate, dismissing call to boycott the 2018 elections. It was all just hot air, of course; the only way to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections was by implementing the reforms before holding the elections.

David Coltart’s half-hearted confession that greed was stopping MDC/CCC doing the obvious thing and stop participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy is the nearest to a mea culpa of MDC sold out by failing to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and are selling out by participating in flawed elections.

The overwhelming majority of ordinary Zimbabweans had no clue the 2008 to 2013 GNU was first and foremost about implementing the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections and hence the reason the nation failed to even register MDC leaders’ blatant betrayal in failing to implement even one reform.

Very few Zimbabweans even heard about the SADC leaders ‘If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!’ ultimatum to MDC leaders much less understand the consequences of disregarding it.

Time and the tragic suffering brought on by the country sinking deeper and deeper into economic and political despair has forced many Zimbabweans to sit up and listen. Time and suffering are the best cure for ignorance.

In the late 1990s, the people of Zimbabwe finally realised that as long as Zanu PF enjoyed the carte blanche powers to rig elections and remained in power the country’s relentless march into economic ruin and political paralysis was unstoppable. They have risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends of the understanding the party would deliver the democratic changes the nation was dying for.

After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC leaders have failed to bring about even one democratic change. What is clear is Tsvangirai and company had no clue what the changes were much less how they would be implemented. None!

And so, with the country sinking deeper and deeper into the economic and political abyss the ordinary Zimbabweans have been forced to put the meat on the bone. It is not just democratic change the nation wants but more specifically democratic change to stop Zanu PF rigging elections!

Tomorrow, Sunday 20th February 2022, Nelson Chamisa must either announce a credible plan to stop Zanu PF rigging elections or confirm that CCC will not be participating in any more of these flawed and illegal elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. After 42 years of rigged elections enough is enough of this greed and insanity!

Ramaphosa under pressure to end indifference to Zanu PF rigged 2023 elections P Guramatunhu

 

The worsening economic situation in SA is forcing ANC to revisit its indifference to Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance. SA cannot afford a new wave of economic and/or political refugees flooding across the Limpopo River if Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections are rigged!

“The unemployment rate in South Africa hit a new record high of nearly 35% in the third quarter of 2021 which some allege had an influence on the African National Congress (ANC) dismal performance in last year's local government elections,” wrote Tapiwa Gomo in Bulawayo 24.

“For the first time since 1994 - when South Africa attained independence - the ANC garnered less than 50% - in fact 46% - of the vote marking its worst result in 27 years.

“The ruling ANC has responded to this, partly by targeting foreigners who the ruling party and others accuse of many things including taking jobs and economic opportunities from locals, illegal migration, crime, drug dealing and all sorts of ills.

“Some special permits have been scrapped.”

Many Zimbabweans have sort refuge in SA to escaped political oppression and/or economic chaos back home starting at the turn of the century in 2000. The situation in Zimbabwe has got progressively worse not better over the years forcing even more Zimbabweans to leave the country.

If next year’s elections are rigged, signs are Zanu PF is rigging these elections, then we can be sure of a new wave of economic and/or political refugees leaving the country.

The economic situation in SA, the most popular destination for Zimbabwean refugees, means many will not be welcomed there anymore! The pressure for Zimbabwe to sort out its economic and political mess is that much greater. The pressure on the regional leaders, notably SA, to make sure Zimbabwe sort out its problems is that much greater too.

SADC leaders know the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. After decades of rigged elections SADC leaders pressured Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the implementation of a raft of political reforms to end the culture of rigged elections.

Sadly, MDC, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai turned out to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. They failed to implement even one meaningful reform in five years of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. SADC leaders made one last minute bid to have the 2013 Zimbabwe elections postponed until reforms were implemented and, once again, MDC leaders paid no heed.

Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections as SADC leaders had predicted. The region leaders ignored the rigging and endorsed Zanu PF’s electoral victory – Zanu PF was the only game in town and it was futile to pretend otherwise.

However, endorsing Zanu PF rigged elections and perpetuating the pariah state across the Limpopo River in 2013 and 2018 has not brought the desire economic recovery as we can see. President Cyril Ramaphosa will be damned if he will repeat the same folly of endorsing yet another rigged Zanu PF elections next year especially if the next thing is a flood of economic and political refugees pouring into SA.

There are Zimbabweans who know and understand SADC leaders’ disappointment with MDC leaders’ failure to implement the democratic reforms during the last GNU. They know and understand implementing the reforms is Zimbabwe’s ticket out of this hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed the nation into. They will implement the reforms and all they need is the opportunity to do so.

By refusing to endorse Zanu PF rigged 2023 elections, SADC will recreate the same political crisis of no legitimate government that led to the formation of 2008 to 2013 GNU in Zimbabwe. The subtle difference is that the new GNU will have competent men and women who will implement the reforms.

CCC duplicity: insists on participating in rigged elections and bank on "(violent) peaceful protect" to end Zanu PF dictatorship N Garikai

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections! No one in Zimbabwe should ever say they did not know this!

“Team Pachedu said a total of 170 867 addresses that were in the 2018 voters roll have been edited by Zec between 2018 and 2022, with Glen View South having the highest number of edited addresses (19 758), followed by Mangwe, Lupane East, Zaka East, Luveve, Kuwadzana and Chiredzi North,” reported Bulawayo 24.

"Zec has also moved many people from Glen View South constituency to Harare South constituency. The mass movement of voters across constituencies and wards when addresses have not changed implies that Zec is illegally changing electoral boundaries," Team Pachedu said on Twitter.

"One typical illegal movement involves hundreds of voters from Zvimba East to Glen View South (Chirangano Car Park Tent).”

Zanu PF is rigging these 2023 elections; the party has been rigging elections since the country’s first post-independence elections in 1980. In 1980 the party had no control over any part of the electoral process however its campaign message to the voters was clear as bell – if Zanu PF does not win the election, the bush war would continue. The people voted to end the war!

Once in power, the regime has captured the various state institutions such as ZEC, Police, Judiciary, Army, war veterans, traditional leaders, etc. so that they all worked to deliver a Zanu PF electoral victory. The vote rigging has grown in extend and sophistication over the years.

The vote rigging juggernaut has been funded by the party’s capture of every facet of human economic activity allowing mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread. Mismanagement and corruption are the cancers killing the nation and yet everyone is frightened of cutting them out because they are so widespread and deep rooted and go to the heart of everything the patient will be just an empty shell after the operation!

Besides, it is no secret that Zanu PF thugs have vowed to burn down the whole country than see some one else rule Zimbabwe! Of course, Zanu PF thugs are holding the nation to ransom and those who are burying their heads in the sand and pretend the opposition can win rigged elections are only helping Zanu PF achieve its no regime change objective!

There is no denying that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and by insisting on participating in the elections with no reforms, the opposition are giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.

Stopping the Zanu PF dictatorship was not ease from the start since the party was the one that spear headed the war to end white colonial rule; as the liberation war heroes, Mugabe and company viewed it as their divine right to rule. Still, if it was hard to stop the Zanu PF dictatorship in the 1980s, it is even harder doing so now. After 42 years of enjoying absolute power and all the influence and wealth it has brought. Zanu PF ruling elite and the cronies have become addicted to power and they are buried deep in their trenches; flushing them out will not be ease.

The only sure way to end the Zanu PF dictatorship peacefully is by insisting on the implementation of democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Those who think Zanu PF will ever lose elections in which it has carte blanche powers to rig are daydreaming; that will never ever happen.

Chamisa and his CCC friends are calling on people “to vote and then stay at the Polling Station to defend their vote!” This is a call to protest the rigged election results and we all know there is no such thing as “peaceful protest” in Zimbabwe.

Violent street protests and/or another military coup will end the Mnangagwa Zanu PF dictatorship but at the cost of wanton distraction of property, human suffering and many lives. And, worst of all, there is no guarantee the system of government to emerge out of the ashes will not be yet another dictatorship, even worse than the Zanu PF dictatorship.

It is tragic the nation, even now after 42 years of rigged elections, is spurning option of peaceful change by demanding reforms before elections. Holding the elections without reforms will result in Zanu PF rigging the elections and trigger violent protests, guaranteed! 

Suspending teachers is flogging a starved horse - teachers are victims not the culprits P Guramatunhu

 

In 2018 a Zimbabwe teacher was paid US$540 per month in US$. Since then, government paid them the equivalent in local currency but never bother to adjust the amount to keep pace with inflation.

The year-on-year inflation rate was as follows:

2018                10%

2019                255%

2020                557%

2021                92%

2022                30% (projected)

With all the wage increases over the same period the teachers now earn US$ 35 in local currency down from US$540 in 2018.

It is little wonder that the teachers have been asking for the wages to revert to the 2018 level and paid in US$ or paid in local currency but pegged to the US$ at the black-market exchange rate.   

Government has offered 20% wage increase on the current wage paid in local currency plus add on benefit such as allowing to teachers to import cars duty-free. A sick joke! How many teachers earning US$35 per month can afford to buy a car?

It is no surprise that teachers rejected the insulting government offer and voted with their feet – stayed home, missing opening day for the new academic year.

Government has responded and suspended without pay for three months all teachers and officials who did not turn up for work when schools opened on Monday.

There is no denying that this government has thrown the teachers, nurses and other civil servants without the same political muscle as soldiers and others overboard. The teachers’ wages have been allowed to slip further and further back compared to the soldiers and Police. Why? They are both human beings with the same basic needs of food, shelter, transport, health care, education for their children, etc. They are both employed by the same taskmaster and paid from the same pot!

Besides, the whole country knows that corruption remains a serious problem, the nation is losing US$1.2 billion per year through gold smuggling. Zimbabwe has the wealth to afford all its people a decent living if only something is done to end the criminal waste of resources through mismanagement and corruption. After the 2017 military coup, President Mnangagwa promised “zero tolerance to corruption”! It is now four years since he made the promise, he must deliver on his promise or ship out!

The idea that government can continue to cut wages of teachers, nurses, etc. – this is what inflation does, it cuts one’s wages – and still expect the worker to continue working regardless is absurd. If the fuel tank is empty, the engine will stop; this is exactly what the teachers mean by incapacitation.

Suspending incapacitated teachers will make no difference, it’s flogging a horse so weak and feeble it cannot stand much less carry the bloated rider!

Many teachers and nurses have been forced to leave the profession and/or country to seek a living because of the poor wages and working conditions in Zimbabwe. Many of those still working would have left too if there were other employment opportunities; with unemployment rate a nauseating 90% plus, there are no jobs.

Lest we forget, this teachers’ strike is disrupting the student’s education over and above the many disruptions cause by corona virus these last two years. All these students will be forced to the next grade even if they learned very little these last two years because education is a conveyer belt that does not stop. This is a whole generation that will be playing catch-up and many never will catch-up and realise their full human potential. Never!

Government has kicked the problem of slave wages for teachers, nurses, etc. down the street for donkey years it is crunch-time, address the problem. Government is to blame for this crisis and suspending the teachers is not going to solve anything. Enough is enough!

CCC is "improving system" by participating in rigged elections - so wasted GNU chance to end dictatorship for that W Mukori

 “Chamisa has accused the government of rigging elections and still insists he won the 2018 presidential elections,” reported Bulawayo24.

“He however, called on supporters to exercise their right to vote, warning that ballot box apathy due to rigging concerns would only benefit Zanu-PF.”

This is utter nonsense! There is no denying that Zanu PF has been rigging elections.

In the March 2008 elections; the nearest Zimbabwe has ever got to holding free, fair and credible elections because Zanu PF was forced to switch-off the party’s vote rigging machine; Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 73% of the votes, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip. The vote rigging machine was turned back on in time to stop the results being announced.

The regime then spent the next six weeks counting 5 million votes – read cooking up the votes because Tsvangirai’s 73% was whittled down to 47%, enough to force a presidential runoff.

During the runoff Zanu PF used wanton violence to punish the electorate for having rejected the party in the earlier vote. Millions of people were harassed, beaten, raped and/or had their property destroyed. Many were abducted and over 500 were murdered in cold blood! And in the June 2008 runoff Mugabe claimed an 84% landslide victory.

However, no one; not even the see-nothing, hear-nothing and say-nothing SADC and AU elections observers; would recognise Zanu PF’s electoral legitimacy given the party’s blatant cheating and wanton violence in election.

SADC forced Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), agreeing to the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections. A Government of National Unity (GNU) was formed and tasked to implement the reforms.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Nelson Chamisa and the other MDC leaders were in the GNU and everyone expected them, not the Zanu PF leaders, to implement the reforms. Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, they forgot about implementing reforms. Not even the regular nagging by SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the GPA, to implement the reforms got Tsvangirai and company to do anything.

SADC leaders made a last-minute desperate bid to have the 2013 elections postponed until reforms were 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 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’.

As we know, Tsvangirai and company participated in the 2013 elections and as feared, Zanu PF blatantly rigged. Indeed, MDC has been participating in these flawed and illegal elections, with not even token reforms in place only to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. SADC leaders’ advice to postpone elections until reforms are implemented has fallen on deaf ears.

Even now, 14 years since the 2008 GPA and benefit of hindsight, Chamisa and his MDC/CCC still continue to insist on participating in flawed and illegal elections. The truth is Chamisa and company are now a curse to the nation; they have proven to be corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent beyond the pale.

Chamisa is arguing people to participate in these elections knowing fully well without reform Zanu PF will rig the election. It is “you right to participate”, he maintains. People have the right to free, fair and credible elections. If elections are rigged then, per se, that right is being denied and to pretend one is still exercising their right then is stupid, to say the least; especially when doing so gives legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.

“The fact that the game is unfair does not mean you should not play! We continue to improve the game!” Oh! For Pete’s sake! What improvements could possibly come from participating in flawed elections to perpetuate the dictatorship, to outweigh dismantling it and end the corrupt and tyrannical rule so the important task of rebuilding from the ruins can finally start!

It was USA ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell for said in a leaked cable to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character who will be an albatross round the nation’s (Zimbabwe) neck if he ever got into power!” He should have said it about the entire MDC leadership.

MDC leaders has since been in power as the country’s main opposition party and in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and have been the milestone round the nation’s neck dragging us all down into the crashing abyss. Whilst it is true that Zanu PF has landed the nation into this economic and political mess. It is equally true that MDC leaders’ blundering incompetence have helped Zanu PF stay in power and us stuck in the mess!

CCC demands reforms but will participate in 2023 regardless - a little learning is a dangerous thing P Guramatunhu

 

It is not that Zimbabweans do not know that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections; they know it. Their biggest problem is knowing what to do about it!

“Moreover, as we gear up towards the historic elections in 2023, the citizens should be ready to demand comprehensive political and electoral reforms to jealously guard against perennial rigging by the stomach politicians in Zanu PF led by Mr Mnangagwa,” reads a statement from Citizen Coalition For Change (CCC) Namibia.

“We must stand ready to defend the people’s vote against any shenanigans from the desperate regime. Zimbabweans should demand the independence of state media, ZBC must stop operating as an extension of Zanu PF, we need to have real time announcement of results, Citizens Coalition For Change demands the independence of chiefs and headmen, they should not be used to intimidate citizens, frog marching them to Zanu PF rallies on empty stomachs.”

This is a statement from someone with no clue what they are talking about!

One, with just over a year to go to the 2023 elections, there is no time to implement any of the myriad of reforms required to stop Zanu PF rigging these elections. So take it as read; there will be no reforms implemented before the elections and therefore all this talk of “demanding comprehensive political and electoral reforms” is just hot air!

Two, with no reforms, Zanu PF will have carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig these elections. The party will frog marching citizens to attend party rallies and, come voting day, to vote for the party, for example. All the talk “defending the people’s vote against any shenanigans” is, once again, just hot air!

Three, by participating in these flawed and illegal elections against the common-sense position of demanding reforms before elections CCC, the party supporters and all the ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to do so freely are giving flawed process credibility and thus give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. After 42 years of rigged elections, one would think the penny has dropped, no one will still fall for the oxymoronic nonsense of “winning in rigged elections”. Sadly, there are clearly many who still do!

Four, there is nothing to justify CCC supporters’ confidence 2023 elections will deliver a government representing the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe. This is just blind faith in the CCC leaders who have already proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Zimbabweans had the same blind faith in Zanu PF soon after independence. We have learned nothing from the past!

There are many Zimbabweans who are hell bent on participating in these elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF is rigging these elections. They appreciate the importance of voting but, alas, they have never appreciated the importance of observing the rules governing elections. Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections have rendered Zimbabwean elections a meaningless farce.

Those insisting on holding elections without reforms have no clue of what constitutes free, fair and credible elections and that by participating they are giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. They have learned about elections but have never learned what it takes to ensure free, fair and credible elections. A little learning is, indeed, a dangerous thing!

“A little learning is a dangerous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again.” Alexander Pope, English poet and satirist

"Your vote matters!" Yes, but only when elections are free just as water only flows downhill Nomusa Garikai

 

“Zanu PF’s steals Elections via assisted voters and stuffing ballot papers in rural areas with no agents. We know it, Zanu PF can be beaten with a huge turnout, polling agents deployment and a clean voters roll.

Your vote matters, go register & refuse to play into their tactics

Remember this well; Zanu PF does not have the expertise to rig and never fall for that ever! Go register to vote and see how your vote will make the difference in our nation.

Let us know if you need assistance in locating the nearest registration centre,” Team Pachedu said in a statement.

This is the same dawn chorus the people have heard for the last 42 years coming from the mentally challenged aided and abetted by Zanu PF agents. Team Pachedu know MDC garnered 73% of the vote in the March 2008 vote but still failed to get into power. Their naïve and idiotic “Your vote matters!” slogan does not explain what happened then!

Clearly no one in Team Pachedu has ever heard about the 2008 to 2013 GNU was about implementing the democratic reforms to stop a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections. Even now over ten years since the GNU with the benefit of hindsight these idiots still think they can win rigged elections.  

Yes, “Your vote matters!” but only when the elections are free, fair and credible! Detail matters; water flows but only downhill!

Phase 1: 1980 to late 1990s Zimbabweans did not want to believe Mugabe and Zanu PF were corrupt incompetent and murderous thugs who were rigging elections to stay in power.

Phase 2: late 1990s to 2013 the people accepted the reality that Zanu PF was a party of thugs and to remove them from office, the country would need to implement democratic changes to stop the vote rigging. The people risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to implement the reforms. After 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU MDC has failed to implement even one token democratic reform.

Phase 3: 2013 to present MDC has participated in elections since 2013 knowing fully well that without reforms Zanu PF would rig the elections and that their participating will give legitimacy to Zanu PF. Zanu PF bribed the opposition to participate by offering a few gravy train seats and Mnangagwa has since increased to bribe by creating POLAD, a body created to reward losers in the presidential race. MDC leaders could not deny Zanu PF was rigging elections and yet could not admit to the voters they are participating in the flawed elections out of greed, naturally. And so they have come up with all manner of “winning in rigged elections strategies”; all hot air, of course. The ordinary people are desperate for meaningful political change and in their desperation have participated in the flawed elections and thus help perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship and their suffering!

Phase 4: (not too distant) future There are a few Zimbabweans who have accepted as a matter of historic fact that the 2008 to 2013 GNU was the country’s golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and blame MDC leaders for selling out, not SADC as MDC leaders do. They have rejected the insanity of participating in flawed elections and the oxymoronic notion of winning rigged elections. The fight is on to wake up the populous to the political reality and get the international community, especially SADC, to create another opportunity to implement the reforms and end the curse of rigged elections. The danger of the country sliding into the chaos of violent street protests and/or another military coup is real and hence the urgency of making sure phase 4 gains traction a.s.a.p.

Team Pachedu’s foolish “Your vote matters!” slogan is ill-advised good intention, at best. We know the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

Chamisa to "liberate Zimbabwe and Africa" - Misstra Know-It-All curse is on him too P Guramatunhu

 

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.”

A prayer from American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

God only knows how desperately we in Zimbabwe need these qualities, serenity, courage and wisdom; especially our arrogant and pompous leaders!

There is no denying that Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess. It is hard to believe the country was a middle-income nation with the prospects of becoming the South Korea of Africa in 1980. Today it is the textbook cases of a failed state; ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs who have become filthy rich at the expense of the overwhelming majority languishing in abject poverty and despair.

Zimbabwe’s economic decline and political paralysis; both the ruling party and the opposition have two things in common they are corrupt and incompetent, the political system has completely failed to produce quality leaders; has been a relentless march to disaster. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, independent Zimbabwe’s first president was the trail blazer down this disastrous path of self-destruction.

Mugabe had a soft head, don’t be fooled by outside appearance, and when he tasted power he became punch drunk! Absolute power transformed Mugabe into Stevie Wonder’s "Misstra Know-It-All"!

“He’s a man with a plan                                                                                                                                     Got a counterfeit dollar in his hand                                                                                                                       in his hand!                                                                                                                                                               He’s Misstra Know-It-All!”                                                                                                                                  sung Stevie Wonder.

 There is nothing under the sun Misstra Know-It-All cannot do! Mugabe promised the people of Zimbabwe mass economic prosperity. “Gutsa ruzhinji!” as he called it in Shona. He never doubted for a minute that he would fail to deliver. Even when there was overwhelming evidence his super plan had failed, he blamed the mass poverty on the drought, the sanctions imposed on the country by the West, etc.

In 2017 Mugabe was booted out of office by his fellow Zanu PF thugs after 37 years of corrupt and tyrannical rule. He has never admitted he was not Misstra Know-It-All but a fallible mortal like everyone else. Worse still, Mugabe has sired many copy-cat Misstra Know-It-All both in his own party Zanu PF and the opposition. Even the upstart Nelson Chamisa believes he knows it all and knows best.

‘The basket of bad apples has now been flushed out. We are left with purity. I must thank Mr. Mnangagwa for the splendid job to take away those who have been retarding progress, those who want money, those who want opportunities, those who want trinkets and trappings of office,” Chamisa told SABC.

Chamisa has just launched a new political party, Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC), breaking away from the MDC. He was just following the time-honoured Mugabe tradition of blaming everyone else for MDC’s failure to implement even one democratic reform in after 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. All nonsense of course, since those left in the MDC, the bad apples, are in the minority; the tail does not wag the dog.

Chamisa was not content to blame MDC’s “bad apples” for the party’s failure to deliver any meaningful change; he blamed SADC leaders too. He accused the regional leaders of having “ostrich mentality!”

"People are excited, people are electric, the mood is great, it's yellow everywhere. The nation has turned yellow. The yellow revolution is unstoppable, people are committed, people want change, they want to see victory, people are hopeful. The yellow revolution will not only lead to the emancipation of Zimbabwe, but the whole of Africa. People will realise their own sovereignty and sanctity." Chamisa boasted in an interview with Nigerian Green Savannah Diplomatic Cable magazine.

The whole world used to wait in great anticipation for Robert Mugabe’s anti-West vitriolic tirade, full of sound and fury signifying nothing, at such international forums as the UN General Assembly. Chamisa is clearly learned well at the foot of the late dictator!

With no meaningful democratic reforms implemented, Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections guaranteed. By participating in these flawed elections CCC, just like MDC before it, is giving Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the Zanu PF dictatorship.

Nelson Chamisa believes that he does not need the serenity to courage and/or wisdom because he too is Misstra Know-It-All, just like Robert Mugabe. “I am emancipation of Zimbabwe and the whole of Africa!” Yeah right! Thanks to your incompetence we are still stuck with the Zanu PF dictatorship when it should have been dismantled by 2013 at the latest!