Chamisa's Pre-Elections Pact on Reforms is but a pseudo pre-marital agreement to secure power, it will change nothing W Mukori

 

If I was in a position to do so, I would make reading George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm compulsory reading for all Zimbabwe for two reasons:

1)    1)  The book is an allegorised allusion to the betrayal of the Russian Revolution by Joseph Stalin and his acolytes. The are many parallel with the betrayal of the Zimbabwe Revolution by Mugabe et al or be it the later is a hell lot more chaotic.

 

2)     2) By making it compulsory reading one hopes the nation will finally learn why we are in this seemingly intractable mess of our own making.

I would go one step further and pay commission to sequel to the book in which the Boxer, the horse, supported by the sheep try to take over the farm from the pigs; which is where we are in our political history in Zimbabwe.

To those who have not read Animal Farm, Boxer took as much time to learn the five letters of the alphabet as the average animal took to learn the whole alphabet. It took him just as long to learn the next five letters and by that time he had forgotten the first five letters. The sheep are even worse than Boxer; they only thing they mastered was slogans which they would repeat without knowing what they meant!

Chamisa and his MDC cum CCC friends are Boxer and the wildebeest CCC herd are the sheep.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC into power for the express purpose the party would implement the democratic changes necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. After 22 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, MDC has failed to implement even one token reform. Not even one!

There is evidence to suggest MDC leaders failed to implement the reforms because they are corrupt. Yes, Mugabe did bribe them with the trappings of high office and with their snouts in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms.

Still, it would be rich to believe every one of 110 MDC MPs, 40 Senators, 30 Ministers and deputy Ministers, 2 Deputy PM and the PM Tsvangirai himself were duped for five years of the GNU. The truth is the MDC leaders were and are to this day not just greedy but worst of all they are breathtakingly incompetent. Like it or not MDC leaders have failed to implement even one reform because they have never understood what the reforms are much less how they were to be implemented.

The MDC supporters, the sheep, have repeated the “Change! Chinja!” slogans and the party has returner change its name even after rebranding but they too have no clue what the changes are. And so when MDC sold out during the GNU by failing to implement even one reform the followers were none the wiser and so never took the leaders to task.

Many people have advised MDC leaders on the folly of participating in the elections without first implementing the democratic reforms they did not listen just as they did not listen when advised to implement reforms. And so the nation has been dragged into one meaningless elections after another only to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

Right now Chamisa et al are hell bent on participating in the 2023 elections knowing fully well Zanu PF is set to rig them and that, by participating, CCC will, once again, give Zanu PF legitimacy. It really is a political nightmare!

"The CCC BY-ELECTIONS LANDSLIDE VICTORY has put the world on notice that CCC is the next government in ZIMBABWE. On this, Zanu PF is panicking and cowardly disrupting our Citizens dialogue Assemblies,” Chamisa posted on twitter.

"The road to 2023 must be signposted by Pre-Election Pact on Reforms (PREPARE)."

"It's about 60 weeks to the 2023 general election. Any dialogue must be about reforms & the road to 2023 not a GNU. As Zimbabweans, we must find each other to avoid a yet another disputed election and all it's undesired consequences. We need a Pre-Elections Pact on Reforms (PREPARE).

"Whoever Wins an undisputed mandate in 2023 must then unite the nation, a credible inclusive Team ZIMBABWE and deliver prosperity and happiness. The next 5 years must be about nation building-transforming and developing our economy not just politics and unseemly politicking."

There will be no meaningful reforms implemented before the 2023 election even if Zanu PF was arm-twisted to do it; with 60 weeks to go, there is no time. Chamisa knows that. And so Zanu PF will blatantly rig the 2023 elections just as it has done in the other elections in past. Chamisa and company know that too!

Still CCC will participate in these flawed elections flawed elections because they also know that Zanu PF will be giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. Zanu PF needs the opposition to participate to give the flawed process some modicum of credibility and legitimacy. Chamisa et al are participating out of greed, pure and simple; they are after the few gravy train seats on offer.

As the main opposition party in the 2018 elections, Chamisa felt he and his MDC A friends were entitled for more than just the few gravy train seats they had won. Mnangagwa rebuffed his demands. Once beaten twice shy! This pre-election pact is Chamisa asking Mnangagwa to agree to appoint some CCC leaders into cabinet or agree to paying them as shadow ministers.

Mnangagwa would happily agree to this pseudo pre-marital agreement was if Chamisa dropped all this talk of reforms. Mnangagwa created the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) for the sole purpose of rewarding all the opposition presidential candidates in the 2018 and would have no problem paying a bit more to rewarding Chamisa and company.

However, to get the POLAD benefits the members had to publicly endorse the elections were free and fair and Mnangagwa was the legitimate winner. Chamisa must endorse the elections are free and fair and thus rule out the need for reforms.

The claim that this “Team Zimbabwe” will transform and develop the country is just wishful thinking. Everyone will know that Zanu PF will be calling the shots and, worst of all, the country will revert to its present status of a pariah state with the Zanu PF dictatorship back in power at the end of the day.

 

SADC proposed the 2008 Global Political Agreement forcing Zanu PF to agree to the implementation of the democratic reforms. And so, the 2008 to 2013 GNU had chance of transforming the country if the reforms were implemented. The inclusive government Chamisa is calling for is nothing but a variation of the existing POLAD, no meaningful reforms will be implemented because Zanu PF, the principal player, insists the elections are free, fair and credible.

A revolution once betrayed develops its own inbuilt mechanism of self-perpetuating. Russia is stuck with the Stalin style corrupt and tyrannical totalitarian dictatorship. Likewise, Zimbabwe is stuck with the Zanu PF corrupt, chaotic and tyrannical dictatorship. Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends are so corrupt and incompetent, they will never change anything, they are just Zanu PF acolytes in all but name.    

"No opposition puppets shall rule Zimbabwe!" CCC folly giving Zanu PF dictatorial licence and legitimacy P Guramatunhu

 Zimbabwe is a failed state. 42 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and crass lawlessness has earned the country the pariah state label and with it economic ruin. The country’s basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed after decades of being starved of funds. Unemployment has soared to dizzying heights of 90% and millions of people now live in abject poverty.

The poor’s economic situation is both unjustified and unsustainable and, it is not surprising that the impoverished masses are becoming increasingly restless and desperate for change. And yet, as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful change. None!  

Zimbabwe’s corrupt and tyrannical ruling elite and their cronies have grown filth rich. The gap between the rich ruling elite and the impoverished masses has grown into a chasm! Ironically, the ruling elite are now so frightened of this chasm giving up power, the prerequisite for ending the pariah state, is now simply unthinkable.

The need masses’ need for meaningful change to end their suffering is the unstoppable force. The ruling elite’s resolute determination to resist change to save themselves falling down the chasm and join the impoverish masses is the immovable object.

“We fought for our land, we fought for our sovereignty. No Imperialist-backed puppet opposition party shall ever take away what we fought for. Never.” Stated Minister of Defence Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.

Zanu PF has always resorted to all manner of antics, threats and even cold blooded murder to deny the people of Zimbabwe their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and impose the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship. The party is well aware of the country’s worsening economic meltdown and the growing demand for meaningful change. And since Zanu PF cannot win free, fair and credible elections the party is labelling the opposition “imperialist-backed puppets” to justify rigging the elections. Anything Zanu PF does to stop puppets getting into power and to preserve the nation’s sovereignty is wholly justified.    

“Chidembo kana choda kuramba mukadzi, chinoshereketa!” (When the honey badger wants to divorce the wife, it will perform all manner of antics!) so goes the Shona adage!

The truth is Zimbabweans have been pushed into a tight a corner, they are not just sick and tired of these Zanu PF antics; the nation’s survival is now at stake. Pass rate in the rural school have dropped to 3% or less, 50% of the population now lives in abject poverty, etc. no nation can sustain these social and economic conditions and survive much less thrive.

Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life. Sadly, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were tasked to implement the reforms sold out and failed to implement even one reform.

Worse still, MDC/CCC leaders have stubbornly insisted on participating in flawed elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF has been giving away as bait only to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

The party used violence, failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, etc. in the recent 26 March 2022 by elections – a precursor of worse to come. Zanu PF is set to rig the 2023 elections. It really is insane to keep participating in flawed elections only to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

“All smart Zimbabweans should rally behind Zanu PF and our visionary leader President Mnangagwa. Our country is achieving rapid socio-economic transformation underpinned by sound and people-oriented policies. We are very lucky to have a listening and peace-loving President,” said the defence minister.

Rubbish! Zanu PF’s electoral success has been thanks to the regime’s carte blanche powers to rig elections and to the opposition who have participated in the flawed process giving the party cover and legitimacy.

If Zimbabweans were smart, then they should know by now that MDC/CCC have long given up the fight for democratic changes, reforms, and free and fair elections. They should know by now that the immovable object to meaning pollical change in Zimbabwe is not just Zanu PF but MDC/CCC too.

“No puppet opposition will rule Zimbabwe!” How ironic that this Zanu PF dictatorial antic is still significant today only because of the opposition MDC/CCC antiquated foolishness and greed! Sadly, it is the impoverished millions on the coal face of the failed state who are paying dearly for it all. 

"CCC has no intention to hold congress!" - then it is NOT a democratic party W Mukori

 

Should Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) hold its party congress?

This question has preoccupied the nation for the last two weeks.

Professor Jonathan Moyo has argued the party congress is necessary. He is the former Zanu PF minister and chief strategist and propagandist until he was forced to leave the country in a huff because he was in the losing G40 faction in the November 2017 military coup. He was offered Chamisa advice from his exile fox-hole in Kenya and even offered to train and pay for the training of the party’s elections agents.

Professor has his own axe to grind, nothing would please him more than to see Mnangagwa and his Lactose Zanu PF factions booted out of office. If that was to happen, he will finally return home and may even be rewarded by the Chamisa government. So, on that score alone, one assures his advice is worth considering.

Hopewell Chinono has dismissed the call for CCC congress as a nuisance.

“They are trying to distract you from this with their congress nuisance!” commented Chinono on twitter,

 “Inflation is rising, prices are out of control and ordinary people are groaning …”

CCC’s position, as of now at least, is the party will not hold any congress.

"We have no intention to hold Congresses. Our roadmap and path to power has no Congress in it. Congresses belongs to MDC, ZANU and other political formations. What if we are going to hold an Assembly, What if we going to a People's Convention?" argued CCC deputy spokesperson, Ostallos Siziba.

The party has a “temporary mandate” and is fearful of infiltration from the Zanu PF regime; Siziba explained.

Temporary mandate from whom?  When?

The bulk of the CCC leadership are a carryover from the MDC A that contested the 2018 elections with Nelson Chamisa as its presidential candidate. Yes, some of the leaders have remained with Douglas Mwonzora in MDC-T.  Judging from the performance of CCC and MDC-T in last month’s by-elections, many of the MDC A members and leaders have joined CCC.

CCC, as a political party, was launched in January 2022 but it is naïve, to say the least, to pretend the party leaders are new faces. Indeed, most of the CCC candidates in the 26 March 2022 by elections were the same individuals who had contested under the MDC A ticket in 2018 and had lost the seat because of the recall.

To resist the call to hold congress in fear of infiltration is just a feeble excuse. Who is to say CCC is not infiltrated to saturation point already from its MDC A days?

The number one reason for holding the party congress is this is the only time the ordinary members have to exercise their right to a meaningful and democratic say in selecting the leaders, in party policies and setting the direction of the party. The ordinary people’s democratic right to a meaningful say in the party trumps all the feeble excuses to deny them that right.

CCC was launched as a citizens’, citizens with an s, party. So far, it is no exaggeration to call it a citizen Chamisa’s personal property because he alone seems to make all the key decisions. He alone has addressed most of the rallies with everyone else playing the supporting role of being seen but not heard!

If CCC is a democratic party that subscribe to the Abraham Lincoln notion of “government of the people, by the people and for the people” then it must also subscribe to giving povo a meaningful say in the governance of the party and, ultimately, of the country.

Political parties that deny their own party members a meaningful say, vote, in the party invariably deny ordinary the people a meaningful vote in national elections too. Parties that rig their own internal elections will blatantly rig national elections too! Democracy, like charity, begins at home!  

In Zimbabwe every political party that garners 5% or more of the popular votes during a national election is entitled to aa corresponding cut of the Political Party Finance Act annual budgetary allocation. The Act should (one of these fine days will) be amended to ensure that only those parties with a proven track record of upholding the democratic values and practices, in house and at the national level, get public financial assistance.

It is an outrage that the Zimbabwe taxpayers should be bankrolling the thugs who are rigging elections and terrorizing them.  

"By elections were not free, implement reforms" US tell Zanu PF - barking up the wrong tree N Garikai.

 Zimbabwe is a failed state because it is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, and murderous thugs who have rigged elections to stay in power. 42 years and counting of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and mind-numbing lawlessness and stupidity have left the country in economic ruins, impoverished, and in political paralysis.

The solution is obvious; we need to implement the democratic reforms, dismantle the autocratic de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship and restore the rule of law and the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections.

The challenge is how do we break the mould? After 42 years of the Zanu PF dictatorship it is not surprising the rotten political system is now deeply entrenched.

"We appreciated the opportunity to observe (26 March 2022) by-elections, but remain very concerned about harsh rhetoric, intimidation, and violent assaults in the lead-up to election day. Voters have the right to participate in political processes free from fear and violence. ZIDERA requires Zimbabwe to hold an election ‘widely accepted as free and fair by independent international monitors,' and to sufficiently improve the pre-election environment to be consistent with international standards,” twittered US Embassy.

"We urge ZEC to publicly release an auditable electronic voters roll far in advance of 2023 elections so that citizens can help to strengthen the credibility of the voters roll and reduce the numbers of potential voters turned away from polling stations.”

The Americans are right, the 26 March 2022 by elections confirmed what we already know – that, unless reforms are implemented, Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections.

Still, reminding Zanu PF and ZEC what they must do will accomplish nothing because they know about the need for reforms. ZIDERA sanctions were impose 20 years ago on the select few Zanu PF leaders and institutions to coerce the regime to implement the reforms; nothing has changed.

The only time Zanu PF has ever been pressured to implement democratic reforms was during the 2008 to 2013 Government of National Unity (GNU) and it was AU and SADC’s refusal to recognise Zanu PF’s legitimacy following the 2008 elections. The continental body and the regional body were renowned for turning a blind eye to rigged elections not just in Zimbabwe but in the rest of Africa. The blatant cheating and wanton violence in the 2008 Zimbabwe elections were over the top, both AU and SADC had no choice but to condemn the process.

Zanu PF was forced to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), agreeing to the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to restore rule of law and end Zimbabwe’s culture of rigged elections. The GNU, comprising of Zanu PF and the two MDC factions with SADC as the guarantor of the GPA, was tasked to implement the reforms.

It is a great pity that the Americans and the rest of the western nations took their eyes off the ball completely because they did not pressure the GNU to implement the reforms. The chief culprit in failing to implement reforms was Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, it was incumbent on them and not Zanu PF to implement the reforms. Not even one token reform was implemented in five years of the GNU.

Credit where credit is due, SADC leaders nagged MDC leaders to implement the democratic reforms throughout the GNU but were ignored. The regional leaders tried to get the 2013 elections postponed until reforms are implemented. “If you go into the elections next month, you will lose. The elections are done!” SADC leaders told Morgan Tsvangirai and company to their faces at the SADC Summit meeting in Maputo in June 2013.

As we already know, MDC leaders ignored the warning from SADC leaders. Zanu PF went on to rig the 2013 elections as SADC leaders had predicted. SADC leaders gave up and accepted Zanu PF as the legitimate government and has done so ever since.

As long as MDC/CCC continue to ignore SADC advice to postpone elections until reforms are implemented it is clear that SADC will feel obliged to endorse Zanu PF as the legitimate government. What is more, MDC/CCC leaders themselves have all known that by participating in these flawed elections they are giving Zanu PF legitimacy and have continued regardless out of greed, as David Coltart 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 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.”

The two main MDC factions were in the GNU together and still they failed to get even one reform implemented because the leaders are corrupt and incompetent – nothing to do with coalition. The four main MDC factions plus three other opposition parties formed the MDC Alliance just before the 2018 elections and yet they still participated in the elections – further proof the opposition’s continued participation in flawed elections is born of greed.

Nelson Chamisa and his CCC friends constitute the main opposition in Zimbabwe as the 26 March 2022 by election has shown. SADC and AU would certainly sit up and take note if CCC were to boycott the 2023 elections until democratic reforms were implemented.

However, Chamisa and company are not going to boycott the 2023 elections even though it is the “obvious” thing to do, as Coltart readily admitted, for the same reason they participated in the 2013 and 2018 elections and failed to implement even one token reforms during the GNU – greed.

Zanu PF will never ever implement any reforms, the Americans can call for reforms all the want, as long as the party is assured of the CCC continued participation giving it legitimacy. Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win a few gravy train seats to entice them to participate, to greed their greed.

Indeed, why should Zanu PF implement even one token reforms and risk losing power when the party knows that it will get legitimacy guaranteed from the MDC/CCC participating regardless how flawed and illegal the process got!

Zimbabwe had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and thud dismantle the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship once and for all during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. It is a great pity that the chance was wasted. There are many lessons that must now be learned by us all.

There is very little hope of Zanu PF implementing any meaningful reforms this late, less than two years, before the 2023 elections, especially when the party knows CCC will participate and give the regime legitimacy. The way forward is make sure Zanu PF, CCC, SADC, Zimbabwean voters, everyone is aware of the flaws and illegalities in the elections process and is forced to accept the elections were rigged and the result cannot be legal and legitimate.

We cannot stop the 2023 elections going ahead but what we can do is make sure the outcome is NOT legitimate. An illegitimate 2023 elections will allow for the formation of a new GNU just as the illegitimate 2008 led to the formation of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. No stone will be left upturned to ensure all the democratic reforms are fully implemented during the new GNU. 

What's to celebrate, all independence has done is replaced white oppressors with black ones P Guramatunhu

 

On 18 April 2022 Zimbabweans should have been celebrating the country’s 42 years of independence. For the overwhelming majority, there was really no cause to celebrate, and many did not bother. The penny has finally dropped that they were short changed.

The fight for independence was a fight for freedom, liberty and human dignity; fight to be masters of ones’ own destiny. The white colonial ethos was about denying the indigenous population their freedom liberty and human dignity for the sole purposed to subjugation and exploitation.

During the white colonial rule of Prime Minister Ian Smith, the late John Robertson, a renowned Zimbabwe Economist, reportedly gave Ian Smith a detailed plan to give blacks property rights including title deed for the rural peasant. The plan, if adopted, would be increased economic growth, and reduced the problem of land degradation by motivated the rural peasants to take better care of the land.

Ian Smith rejected the plan to economically empower the blacks for two reasons.

a)      An economically impoverished black population was easily subjugated and exploited for the purposed of white economic prosperity than an economically empowered population.

 

b)     It would just be a matter of time before the economically empowered black population demand political empowerment, a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

Interestingly, John Robertson gave the same economic plan to Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister of Independent Zimbabwe. Mugabe also rejected the plan for the same reasons.  

Whilst the whites had the common sense to follow some sound economic policies that allowed the national economy to thrive or be it the primary benefit of the white; Mugabe and company had no such common sense. Thus, before independence the country produced enough food to feed its own people with plenty leftover to be the breadbasket of the region, for example. Twenty years after independence, Mugabe seized the white owned farms and gave them to his cronies; destroying the agricultural sector and with it the economy.

42 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the country’s robust pre-independence economy in ruins. Basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed. 50% of the population now live in abject poverty. Life expectancy has plummeted from 68 years in 1980 to 34 years today!

On the political front, the whites denied the blacks a vote, period.

If Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies had been allowed to have their wish, they would have imposed a de jure one-party state. They too had subscribed to the “One man, one vote!” as the rallying call for blacks before independence but would have discarded it without a second thought.

Zanu PF was forced to accept a multiparty democratic Lancaster House constitution. The party had a plan B to ensure electoral victory.

Contrary to the Lancaster House agreement, not only did Zanu PF fail to send many its freedom fighters to assembly points they remained active throughout the election campaigning period. The party’s campaign message was simple enough; if the party does not win, the bush war would continue.

Of course, the people voted to end the bush war!

Zanu PF used the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre coerce it main political rivalry, PF Zapu, led by the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, to disband, sign the 1987 Unity Accord and join Zanu PF to create the de facto one-party state.

Whilst it is true that Zimbabwe has held regular elections, unlike other one-party states like China or North Korea which have completely dispensed with such niceties as elections. However, Zimbabwe has never ever held free, fair, and credible elections. The party has reduced the electorate into powerless medieval serfs beholden to overbearing Zanu PF landlords, especially the hapless rural povo.

Lest we forget, povo have played their part in the fight to end white colonial rule. And 42 years after independence all they ever got was the removal of the white oppressors only to be replaced by the black oppressors. What is there for them to celebrate?

The primary objective of the fight for independence was to deliver freedom, justice, and human dignity for all. Zanu PF narrative has the removal of the white colonialists from power as the sole purpose to hide the party’s failure to deliver the set objectives. And to justify its own tyrannical rule, Zanu PF has the former colonialists using the opposition to threaten the country’s independence and sovereignty.

It is unforgivable that 42 years after independence, in this day and age, millions of our people are still having to fight for such basic rights as property rights and the right to a meaningful vote. The very fact that some people are still celebrating the removal of the white colonialists as the great achievement of the fight for independence shows the lack of ambition and imagination.  

Mnangagwa and Chamisa is secret talks to form 7 year GNU without even the token rigged election vote for povo! N Garikai

 Nelson Chamisa and Emmerson Mnangagwa are holding secretive negotiation to postpone the 2023 harmonised elections and form a seven-year Government of National Unity (GNU). The 2008 to 2013 GNU was imposed by SADC after the regional body had refused to recognise Zanu PF as the legitimate government given the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred these elections.

It is no secret that Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies did not want the 2008 GNU. Indeed, the party had sworn in Robert Mugabe as president and head of a new Zanu PF government and was only forced to accept the GNU because SADC and the AU, for once, refused to accept the 2008 election process as democratic and legitimate.

One more thing, SADC spearheaded the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) spelling out the need to implement a raft of democratic reforms to ensure the blatant cheating and wanton violence that had marred the 2008 elections will never be repeated ever again. Zanu PF and the two MDC factions, the three parties in the GNU, were tasked to implement the democratic reforms. SADC was the guarantor of the GPA.

So, the 2008 to 2013 GNU was established by SADC because the 2008 elections had failed to produce a legitimate government. Two, the GNU was an interim government whose primary purpose was to fix, by implementing the raft of democratic reforms, the country’s failed political system so that future elections are free, fair and credible and more significant produce legitimate and competent government.

The 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reform and Zanu PF emerged with its carte blanche dictatorial powers untouched and hence the reason the 2013 elections and subsequent elections have been a repeat of the 2008. Zimbabwe is still aa pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent thugs who rig elections to perpetuate their rule.

The notable difference between the Zimbabwe government before the 2008 GNU was that it was a de facto one-party, Zanu PF dictatorship and after the GNU, Zanu PF has accepted MDC/CCC as a junior partner. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had stoically refused to implement any meaningful reforms during the GNU, even in the face of constant nagging by SADC, and Zanu PF rewarded them with a few gravy train seats. A small price to pay given Zanu PF gets legitimacy from MDC’s participation in these flawed elections.

The new GNU is being proposed by Zanu PF and their junior political partner CCC, the rebranded MDC for the two’s selfish political gains.

“According to the sources, both Mnangagwa and Chamisa are keen to avoid next year's general elections, albeit for different reasons,” reported New Zimbabwe.

“Mnangagwa, whose presidency has suffered a serious legitimacy crisis from the time he took over after the November 2017 military coup and the highly contentious 2018 elections which saw his presidency being decided by a court order, wants to use the GNU to help to prevent similar circumstances.

“Further to that, situation reports from the intelligence services do not give him a good chance of winning the elections, especially with the economy in bad shape.

“On the other hand, sources in the CCC said, Chamisa has virtually conceded that while he may be popular enough to win the 2023 presidential election, his chances of taking over power are very slim given how the security system is deeply entrenched in the Zanu-PF scheme of things.”

Yes, Mnangagwa’s political legitimacy is dodgy given the party blatantly rigged the 2018 elections and is doing the same now with the 2023 elections. Still the regime was managed to claim some modicum of legitimacy from MDC’s participation in the flawed process.

The two, Mnangagwa and Chamisa, can connive to drag the nation through yet another meaningless election process in which the people are once again denied their right to free and fair elections and the two share the spoils of power as they see fit. The participation of the opposition will give the flawed elections some modicum of legitimacy.

What Mnangagwa and Chamisa cannot do is short circuit the elections process and go straight into forming a new GNU. The GNU will not even have one iota of legitimacy. None!

No doubt, Mnangagwa and Chamisa will promise to use the new GNU to implement economic and political reforms to benefit the whole country. This is nonsense since both parties were in the 2008 to 2013 GNU that failed to implement even one meaningful democratic reform hence the reason the country is still a pariah state.

Zanu PF and MDC/CCC failed to implement even one reform during the last GNU regardless of constant nagging from SADC. What hope is there they will implement the reforms now with no one looking over their shoulders!

Chamisa claims to be a democrat and is leading a Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) political party. He sold out during his MDC days by failing to implement even one reform during the party’s 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU, and has been giving Zanu PF legitimacy by participating in flawed elections. Now he is negotiating to deny the citizens even the token vote in rigged elections!  

Mnangagwa and Chamisa are connivance to cancel 2023 elections and form a new GNU without even the token rigged elections. This will set a new and very dangerous precedence in which the incumbent future regimes will willy-nilly cancel elections to extend their stay in power.

Government has a constitutional duty to hold regular, free, fair and credible elections and failure to do so is crossing the double redline and no one should ever be allowed to get away with it. No one!

CCC will win rigged 2023 "by sheer force of will and faith" says Chamisa - this is stuff nightmares are made of W Mukori

 

“This time I assure you, there will be no rigging. I now have eyes in ZEC. I am being briefed about their every move and even if they want to rig, we will know in advance and act to avert it!" Nelson Chamisa told 40 000 CCC supporters in Mkoba, Gweru on 6 March 2022.

This was put to the test in 26 March 2022 by elections, three week after Chamisa’s Mkoba rally.

There was overwhelming evidence of blatant vote rigging be it the systematic denial of the right to vote by tampering with the voters’ roll, vote buying, intimidation and wanton violence. The vote rigging was more pronounced in the rural areas where Zanu PF has reduced the populous into nothing short of medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF landlords.

It is as clear as day that Zanu PF will once again win the usual 2/3 majority plus the presidency in the 2023 harmonised elections if the blatant vote rigging of 26 March is repeated nationwide. By participating in these flawed Nelson Chamisa and company will, once again, give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF.

The consequences of another rigged elections in Zimbabwe will confirm that the country is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs; nothing has changed. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery as the criminal waste of human and material resources by the ruling elite will continue and would be investors will continue to shy away.

One immediate consequence of the rigged elections and economic meltdown will be a new wave of economic refugees flooded out of the country. There are a number of horrific videos of a number of Zimbabweans who were attacked and killed in SA, South Africans don’t want Zimbabweans in their country. The new economic refugees will only serve to increase the anti-Zimbabwe tension.

Forget the rhetoric and political posturing; Nelson Chamisa knows that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and, most significantly, that by participating in these flawed elections CCC is giving Zanu PF legitimacy.

There is no point in asking Zanu PF to implement the democratic reforms to end the vote rigging because the party will never reform itself out of office. And why would it do it when it can rig the election to secure victory and still have political legitimacy thanks to the opposition’s participation in the flawed elections.

Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win 1/3 or so gravy train seats, the bait, to be certain they participate regardless how flawed and illegal the process got! President Mnangagwa has since “spiced up” the political bait by creating the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) to reward all those who participate in the presidential rat race.

This has clearly worked, there were a staggering 23 presidential candidates and over a thousand parliamentary candidates for the 210 parliamentary seats. “Everyone in Zimbabwe participated in the elections. Why would they, if the elections were rigged?” Mnangagwa has asked his critics, mockingly! And rightly so too!

Of course, we already know why Chamisa and his CCC friends are hell bent on participating in these elections knowing fully well Zanu PF is rigging and that by participating they will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Greed!

Nelson Chamisa and company will never admit they are participating in these 2023 elections out of greed, natural. They are offering instead four feeble excuses to cover for their greed:

1)    1)  CCC will keep up the pretence they are calling for democratic reforms and expect these reforms to be implemented before the 2023 elections. They do not know what reforms they want implemented, know that Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office, etc. and most important of all know CCC will participated in flawed elections even without a token reform in place.

 

2)    2)  CCC will argue that if they do not participate then Mwonzora and others will give Zanu PF legitimacy. The 26 March 2022 by elections has shown that Mwonzora and others do not have any support. Ian Smith failed to get legitimacy after the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia settlement with Abel Muzorewa because the later did not command much support. Mnangagwa will suffer the same fate as Smith if CCC does not participate in these elections. Even if Mnangagwa was to contrive something to earn the regime the legitimacy, it is no excuse for Chamisa and company to give Zanu PF legitimacy in a silver platter.

 

3)  3)   Some people have argued that there is nothing to be gained from boycotting the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happened to be. This is a fallacious argument as elections are a process whose legitimacy dependents of the process being conducted in accordance to the set rules. Zanu PF blatant cheating and wanton violence in the 2008 elections violated all the rules and norms; even SADC and AU, known for turning a blind eye to rigged elections, had no choice but to condemn these elections as a farce. MDC leaders were tasked to implement a raft of democratic reforms to take away Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers. They sold out and failed to implement even one reform. The idea that Zimbabwe can still have meaning elections without reforms is an MDC/CCC idea and it is nonsense. We don’t need to keep participate in flawed and illegal elections to know they are flawed and illegal.   

 

4)     4) The number one excuse for CCC participating is that the party will win the 2023 elections against all the odds, regardless of all the flaws and illegalities. This is not just a reckless gamble with the people fundamental right to free and fair elections but with their hopes and dreams to end the Zanu PF dictatorship given the MDC, now rebranded as CCC, is the one giving Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuating the dictatorship.

 

“The fog has clear!” proclaimed Nelson Chamisa in a recent article, commenting on the launch of the CCC and the party’s by election victory.

“We won 19 out of the 28 seats that were on offer. That's 67,9% or more than two-thirds majority of the available seats.” What he did not say is all these except for three were won by his MDC A in 2018 and in the by election the rebranded CCC fielded the same individuals who had been recalled.

“No serious observer of Zimbabwean politics can legitimately say today that the opposition is divided. Such a claim would be insincere,” continued Chamisa. The opposition participated in the 2013 elections because each of the two MDC factions did not trust the other to boycott the elections if they did.

“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 David 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.”

Coltart was MDC-Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. He is Treasurer General in CCC, rebranded MDC A cum MDC- Tsvangirai.

The opposition has never been more united as it is today, a point raised in 2) above as Chamisa himself readily admitted. So, this time there really is no excuse for CCC’s failure to do the “obvious” – boycott the 2023 elections. But, as we know, Chamisa and company are hell bent on participating in these flawed elections, giving vote rigged Zanu PF legitimacy and dragging the nation deeper and deeper into this man-made hell-on-earth. And all this for selfish gain.  

Chamisa and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms and dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship once and for all. They sold out by failing to implement even one reforms in 22 years, 5 of which in the GNU. Worse still they are the ones now helping to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship by participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

The millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to support Chamisa and company either don’t know MDC leaders have sold out and/or are so desperate for political change they support anyone as long as he/she claim they will remove Zanu PF. Of course, one does not remove Zanu PF by perpetuating the regime’s rule!

“We learned a lot from the by-elections, not least the fact that we continue to operate in an authoritarian environment. We won the by-elections not because the election was free and fair, but by sheer force of will and faith, we overcame repressive and unfair conditions!” concluded Chamisa.

After 42 years of rigged elections we are still hoping against hope to win rigged elections! This is the stuff nightmare are made of!

Zimbabwe voted NO to expel Russia from UN Human Rights Council - Mnangagwa and Putin have lots in common P Guramatunhu

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The world has witnessed yet another horror story of death and destruction, the barbarism and inhumanity man.

Last week the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted on resolution expressing "grave concern at the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine". The resolution to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council and it passed with 93 YES, 24 NO and 58 abstentions. This was the first time ever in the UN’s history that a member nation has been expelled from one of the UN organs.

Some people would have wanted Russia expelled from UN body altogether. This would have required a unanimous YES vote by the Security Council; impossible in this case since Russia is one of the five permanent members who wield a veto.

Zimbabwe was one of the 24 nations that voted NO.

“In his first public comments over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said it (invasion) was a "robust" response by President Vladmir Putin to "provocation" by NATO, a military alliance of 30 countries including the United States and Britain,” commented Zimlive in Bulawayo 24.

"Our activities in the past two months, and going forward, should be understood from that broad, regional, continental and global perspective," quoting President Mnangagwa.

"Zimbabwe, itself already a victim of western unilateralism, is in the full glare of all these global headwinds. Against NATO's provocative eastward expansion in Europe, and the Russian Federation's robust response to that threat of encirclement by NATO, a new situation has arisen which requires that we re-map the world with a view to finding our own place and securing our interests.

"Like in the case of Zimbabwe which has endured more than two decades of illegal sanctions, the conflict raging in Eastern Europe has made many nations realise how powerful nations and global interests still function on old and archaic notions of ‘spheres of influence', and that they will not hesitate to use unilateral economic coercion to bully independent-minded states unwilling to kowtow to their whims and interests."

What is Mnangagwa wittering about? It is Russia, not NATO and the West, which is “still functioning on old and archaic notions of spheres of influence”!

The economic and political of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in 1989 marked the end Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw Pact) as all the countries is Eastern Europe left in droves and abandoned the socialist system of government in favour of the Western Europe democratic system. USSR itself broke up as many groupings/regions demanded independence from Moscow.  

Ukraine is one former USSR republics that broke away and has since abandoned socialism in favour of democracy and capitalism. It is the people of Ukraine who have been sorting closer ties with the West, they have already expressed interest in joining the European (economic and political) Union (EU) and then to join NATO (military alliance).

President Putin has objected to Ukraine, an independence and sovereign nation, joining NATO and is the one using brute force, bombing whole cities in Ukraine killing defenceless civilians, women and children.

President Mnangagwa did not condemn the murderous barbarism Russia in inflicting on the people of Ukraine because he got the wrong end of the story. He is supporting President Putin’s contemptuous disregard of rule of law and the freedoms and rights of Ukrainians to decide their own future and even the right to life because Mnangagwa too has no respect for rule of law and the freedoms and rights of others.

Ever since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have waged a war of attrition on the people in their resolve to retain absolute political power at all costs. The regime has murdered over 30 000 Zimbabweans for political gain in its 42 years reign of terror.

"Like in the case of Zimbabwe which has endured more than two decades of illegal sanctions!” The sanctions were imposed on a select few Zanu PF leaders for the regime’s repeated failure to hold free and fair elections and many other human rights violations.

The country is gearing for the 2023 national elections and there is already evidence of blatant vote rigging, of voters being frog marched to attend Zanu PF rallies and of wanton violence including beating and cold-blooded murder of political opponents.

Zanu PF is set to blatantly rig the 2023 elections. And, sadly for the country, the corrupt and incompetent opposition will participate in the flawed and illegal elections to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

The Western countries have imposed wide ranging economic sanctions of Russia and President Putin. It is time the West upgraded the sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leaders and add the sell-out opposition leaders to the list. The economic and political situation in Zimbabwe has reached crisis point, the nation is desperate for meaningful political change, for free and fair elections.

It is no surprise that Zimbabwe was one of the 24 nation who voted NO to the resolution to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. President Mnangagwa and President Putin have many things in common including their contempt for rule of law, freedom and human rights including the right to life! 

"CCC can't work with Mwonzora and Khupe, snakes" - whosoever did not sell-out during the GNU must cast the first stone N Garikai

 

“We have a situation where a snake sneaked into the house, swallowed all the kids and when we attempted to kill it, we did not finish it off … And now we want it to be part of the family. No. You can’t bandage a snake because when it heals it will bite you,” said Tabitha Khumalo.

“It’s frightening to hear some people suggesting that we should form a coalition with Mwonzora before the next elections. We are where we are today because of Mwonzora and Thokozani Khupe. We can’t work with such people. People rejected them long back, they rejected them in the recent by-elections and continue rejecting them right now,” she said

Since the March 2020 High Court ruling declaring Chamisa’s seizure of power in 2018 unconstitutional, MDC A has faced many trials and tribulations, and, worst of all, has failed to hold the rampaging Zanu PF regime to account on such matters as looting covid 19 aid, at least. Still, it is rich to blame Khupe and Mwonzora for this, calling them snakes, when it is clear Chamisa was the culprit.

Indeed, it MDC/CCC leaders’ corrupt and breath-taking incompetence that has always got the better of them making them fail to be objective and decisive even when the situation demanded it.

The greatest individual and collective failure of the MDC/CCC leaders was failing to implement even one meaningful democratic reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. All the parties’ big guns Morgan Tsvangirai, Thokozani Khupe, Nelson Chamisa, Tendai Biti, Douglas Mwonzora, David Coltart, Welshman Ncube, Tabitha Khumalo, etc., etc. where all in the GNU. For five years of the GNU not even one of them had the common sense to propose one reform!

It was USA ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell, who said in a leaked cable back to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character who would become an albatross round the nation’s neck if he ever got into power!” He could have said the same about the wildebeest empty heads around Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai and company did get into power, the GNU, and, as noted above, they proved utterly useless. MDC/CCC has remained the country’s main opposition party and has blundered from pillar to post.

“My brother Mnangagwa has done me a great favour by taking away the bad apples!” boasted Nelson Chamisa when he launched CCC in January 2022. If wishes were horses, the poor would win every horse-race!

Even if CCC does not take back Khupe and Mwonzora, the snakes, or Savour Kasukuwere, Professor Jonathan Moyo and the other G40 leaders (Chamisa is so desperate to win, he will take anyone even Zanu PF thugs); CCC will still blunder from pillar to post because there is plenty of deadwood in the party from the GNU days including Chamisa himself.

Yes, the 26 March 2023 by elections results shows the people of Zimbabwe support CCC and have rejected Douglas Mwonzora and his MDC-T lot. Chamisa and company want the world to believe the elections result is proof he and his team are competent.

The truth is most of the people who voted for CCC have no clue what the 2008 GNU was about much less that Chamisa and company sold out big time. And the few who know MDC leaders sold out for them out of desperation; they are hoping against reason that CCC will deliver, finally, the democratic change the nation has been dying for decades now. Hardly a resounding endorsement of CCC’s competence!

What we can be certain of is that CCC will blunder from pillar to post, Chamisa and company are participating in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place. And Zanu PF will rig the elections and win and by participating CCC will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Even if CCC was to win the 2023 elections, they will NOT implement any meaningful democratic reforms; they are incompetent to implement the reforms but smart enough to know the excessive dictatorial powers will work in their favour.

The people of Zimbabwe have risked live and limb to elect MDC/CCC into office on the understanding they will implement the democratic reform and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. They have not only failed to implement even one reform but worse still they are now participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship.  

Ambassador Dell was right, MDC/CCC leaders are now an “albatross round the nation’s neck”!

“CCC is in a mess because of Mwonzora and Khupe, snakes!” Whatever they did in nothing compared to the selling out on reforms during the GNU and whoever did not sell out during the GNU should cast the first stone to kill the snakes!  

"152% inflation gives CCC has a shot in 2023" predicted Prof Hanke - "It's rigged elections stupid!" W Mukori

 “In Zimbabwe, a new opposition party (CCC) has made significant gains in byelections. With inflation roaring at 152%/yr by my measure, the CCC has a shot at challenging what is little more than a corrupt criminal organization (ZANU-PF) in next year’s elections.” Twittered Steve Hanke, @steve_hanke.

Steve H. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He is well read and his views on the economy and other matters are held in high regard in America and the world over.

CCC accepted Professor Hanke’s assessment; swallowing the hook, line and sinker!

“People within & outside Zim are taking notice of the fact that there is a changed atmosphere in the country. With 152% inflation, 49% extreme poverty & US$2bn being looted each year by Zanu PF, the 2023 election will see the citizens voting in their millions for change.” Advocate Fadzayi Mahere, CCC spokesperson, twittered back!

There is no denying that the Zimbabwe economy is in serious trouble, has been ever since the country gained her independence in 1980 to the precise. And with 49% of the population now living in extreme poverty, as Advocate Mahere rightly pointed out, it no surprise Zimbabweans are desperate for regime change after 42 years of Zanu PF tyrannical and kleptocratic rule.

“For people for change! Putting People First! It's the economy stupid!” was then President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign slogan.

42 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left Zimbabwe’s economy in ruins and, except for the ruling elite and their cronies, Zimbabweans do not need any slogan to remind them that Zanu PF must go. Indeed, they have known that many, many moons ago.

What Steve Hanke, Advocate Mahere and her follow CCC colleagues are forgetting is that Zimbabwe is not United States of America. America has free, fair and credible elections; Zimbabwe has never ever held free, fair and credible elections. Never ever, in its 42 years of independence and, before that, decades of white colonial rule.  

The 26 March 2022 by election reality showed that many Zimbabweans were denied the vote because their names were missing from the voters’ roll or some such voters’ roll tampering. There were videos of rural voters frog marched and escorted into the voting booth by Zanu PF operatives under the pretext they could not read and write. Zanu PF wanted to be absolutely certain they voted for the party.

“The 2023 election will see the citizens voting in their millions for change!” claim Advocate Mahere! Change, what change? Those rural voters voted for Zanu PF as the by election results showed!

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 election as we speak! The party has denied 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote although President Mnangagwa had promised in September 2018 that they will vote. The 3 million voters are very significant given Mnangagwa won the 2018 presidential vote with 2.4 million votes, total.

“The diaspora vote will be denied as long as the sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leaders by the West remain,” explained Acting Zanu PF spokesperson, Patrick Chinamasa, last year. Why Zimbabweans should be denied one of their fundamental human rights over a matter they had no say in, beggars belief.

The other key vote rigging taking place right now is ZEC’s blatant refusal to produce a baseline voters’ roll and so there will be no verified voters’ roll for the 2023 elections. The regime has never ever produced a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement.

CCC and other opposition leaders have all connived with Zanu PF in denying the people of Zimbabwe their fundamental to free, fair and credible elections by participating in the elections knowing fully well the regime had failed to produce even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.

Advocate Mahere and her CCC colleagues all know that Zanu PF is rigging these elections and until that issue is dealt with, by implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop the rigging, Zanu PF will win the elections regardless of the economic situation and the democratic wish of the people.

Indeed, CCC leaders know that the winners of the 2023 elections will have nothing to do with the free and democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe because, alas, they have never exercised that right. Never ever!

The nation has had the golden opportunity during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to implement the democratic reforms and end Zanu PF’s carte blanche power to frog march people to vote for the party. It was none other than the CCC leaders who wasted the opportunity and failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.

Zanu PF has ignored all calls to implement reforms because the party knows that CCC, before it MDC, will participate in the elections regardless how flawed the process got as long as they are assured of winning a few gravy train seats. Zanu PF has offered the few seats to entice the opposition to participate and Mahere and co have found the bribe irresistible!

As much as the people of Zimbabwe would love to vote Zanu PF out of office because of the worsening economic situation, Zanu PF is in fact certain to rig and secure yet another landslide victory. Zimbabwe is not America and Zanu PF will win the elections regardless of its failure to revive the economy.

In Zimbabwe it is all about who has vote rigging powers, the voters’ democratic wishes, one’s economic performance, etc. are all irrelevant. “It's the right to rig elections stupid!” to paraphrase former President Bill Clinton. 

"There is still room to improve conduct of elections" said ZCC - will never admit they were rigged, what a waste P Guramatunhu

 In 2018 the EU Election Observer Mission stated in its final report that “the electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards,” conclude the report.

We did not get a clear and crisp report from SADC or AU much less from our own local election observers. If they enumerate the shortcomings the elections process, that is about the best you can expect. Any judgement on the process is always wishy-washy, they will call for future improvements without ever condemning the present!

“The Church noted that the political playing field remained unequal for political parties. Frequent suppression of some opposition parties was observed during the pre-election period. The Church is concerned about this selective application of the law as it undermines confidence in Law Enforcement Institutions,” stated the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) report on conduct of 26 March by-elections.

“Some opposition political parties faced challenges in holding their campaign rallies across the country, as the police would either deny their applications or accept them with stiff restrictions or conditions, which would not apply to other political parties.”

ZCC report even went so far as to give examples of the flaws and illegalities; ZEC’s failure to address voters’ roll errors and changes; the assault of CCC party agent in Kwekwe; the 21 youths who assisted voters in Chipinge; etc.

“Despite acknowledging positive strides made by ZEC in areas such as voter registration and gender sensitivity, ZCC said there is still room for improvement in the areas of voters’ roll management, polling station accessibility by PWDs and elderly voters,” concluded Voice Of America (VOA)!

So, the ZCC report does not say anything on the key issue – was the by-election free, fair and credible!

Everyone else who observed the by elections and is serious about end Zimbabwe’s number one curse of rigged elections and bad governance, rightly condemned the by elections for the blatant cheating and wanton violence. The by elections was a dress rehearsal of the 2023 nationwide harmonised elections and the certainty of yet another rigged election is most disheartening. And rightly so too, because as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state governed by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the economic meltdown and the tragic human misery it has caused will only get worse.

So, what is the point, one must ask, of having election observers like ZCC if they will never say whether the elections are free, fair, and credible? Is it because they don’t know what constitute free, fair, and credible elections or they are scared stiff to make the judgement call?

After a life-time of being denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country; first by the white colonialists and for the last 42 years by their on black leaders (the Zanu PF thugs, supposedly the liberation heroes, now working in cahoots with the corrupt opposition, elected to implement the reforms to stop the vote rigging); it is disheartening to know the wait for Zimbabwe’s first free and fair elections is far from over! Whilst the masses wait for their first free vote, they continue to languish is abject poverty, despair, and hopelessness.

Every thinking Zimbabwean must hang his/her head in shame that after 42 years of independence; Zimbabwe is still failing to hold free, fair, and credible elections. With all the benefit of human history; we are, nonetheless, still failing to get our foot on the first rung of the democratic ladder. 

IMF repeat call for Zanu PF to urgently implement reforms - call we too have ignored at our own peril N Garikai

 

There will be no meaningful economic recovery as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and incompetent thugs who rig elections to stay in power. Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reminded us all (for the umpteenth time) of this political and economic reality at the conclusion of the Board’s Article IV Consultation with Zimbabwe on 21 March 2022.

“IMF reports have repeated calls on the need for inclusive growth and sincerity in reengaging the international community,” commented Victor Bhoroma in an article in Bulawayo 24.

“Other areas of concern include the need for coordination between fiscal, foreign-exchange and monetary policies to guarantee market stability. Structural reforms aimed at improving the business climate (streamlining taxation, exchange control and trade policies) and curbing corruption through prosecuting high-profile cases remain key to Zimbabwe's path to stability.

“In February 2020, IMF warned that Zimbabwe's reform agenda was off track and the government needed to urgently address governance and corruption challenges, entrenched vested interests, and improve enforcement of the rule of law to improve the business climate and support private sector led inclusive growth.”

President Mnangagwa’s political power base, like that of Robert Mugabe before him, is founded on political patronage, in which he, as the top dog dishes out wealth and power to those below him in return for their continued blind political support. Any meaningful political and economic reforms cannot be carried out without dismantling the patronage system. Dismantle the patronage system and Mnangagwa and Zanu PF will lose, overnight, their iron grip on power.

Zanu PF’s political patronage system dates back to 1980.  

In a recent interview with Trevor Ncube, in Conversation With Trevor, Dr Simba Makoni revealed how within just a few months after independence in 1980 then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe surprised his ministers and deputy ministers by replacing their Ian Smith issued Peugeot 504 ministerial cars with Mercedes Benz limousines. The limousines had not been budgeted for none was the purchase ever discussed much less approved by cabinet. Of course, everyone was chuffed to bits with their limo!

The limo gift was followed by generous salaries and allowance for the chefs. Before long ministers and deputy ministers had three or four up market vehicles parked in the forecourt for their exclusive use.

Members of Parliament, senior officials in the civil service, Army, Police, Judiciary, parastatals, etc., etc. all received similar privileges. It was very common to hear of how parastatals like NRZ or ZESA was failing to pay its debts or the lowly paid workers’ wages and yet was spending millions of imported cars or other trappings of power for top managers.

What Mugabe did back in 1980 by buying the fleet of limos for his ministers and deputy ministers was to kick start Zimbabwe’s political patronage system; he bribed the cabinet with very expensive gifts and privileges and in return they gave him their blind loyalty. It is no exaggeration that Robert Mugabe enjoyed the status of a demigod whose word was the law, no one dared to question.

“Mose murivakadzi vaMugabe!” (You are all Mugabe’s subservient concubines!) scolded Margaret Dongo in sheer exasperation. She was talking about her fellow Zanu PF MPs and ministers’ repeated failure to challenge Robert Mugabe over anything, even on such serious matters as the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre when the tyrant was clearly wrong.

Joice Mujuru was in Mugabe’s cabinet from 1980 and rose through the ranks to become VP in 2004 to 2014 when was she and a coterie of her supporters were booted out of the party. It was only she was no longer in the party that she dared to criticize Mugabe. “A puppy does not open its eyes the day it is born!” was her feeble explanation.

Of course, it was nonsense! Dotito (that is where Joice Mujuru comes from) dogs would have lifespans of hundreds of years if their puppies took 34 years just to open their eyes!

The Zanu PF political patronage system with its extravagant spending and waste was Zimbabwe’s economic undoing just as the blind loyalty to those in positions of power and authority marked the descend into totalitarianism and autocracy. By the end of the first decade of Zimbabwe’s independence the country’s economic decline was clear and undeniable.

So, in 1990 President Mugabe went, cap in hand, to IMF, WB and other financial institution begging for financial assistance. Zimbabwe signed the first of two five-year Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) with IMF and WB in which the regime was given the financial assistance on condition it carried out economic and political reforms and dismantle its political patronage system.

“Everyone must tighten their belt!” argued Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance throughout the ESAP years, Dr Bernard Chidzero.

Government reduced funding of public education, health care and many other areas affecting the ordinary people, forcing them to tighten their belts. The ruling elite continued to enjoy their expensive and wasteful lifestyles. They loosened their belts to accommodate the ever-growing potbellies!

President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies’ appetite for absolute power and the good-life it brought has been insatiable. Even now with the national economic in total meltdown forcing millions of ordinary Zimbabweans to live in abject poverty; still Mnangagwa will not dare implement any reforms that would impinge in any way on the potbelly brigade’s political power and/or extravagant lifestyles.

IMF has called on Zimbabwe to implement meaningful economic and political reforms to arrest the country’s worsening economic meltdown and end the tragic human misery it has caused. Sadly, Mnangagwa has not listened fearful of losing power if implemented any reforms. It is high time every thinking Zimbabwean out there join in demanding meaningful economic and political reforms because the economic meltdown has pushed this nation of the edge of the precipitous abyss.

“It is evident that the government knows what needs to be done and what is lacking is the appetite and political will to reform,” concluded Victor Bhoroma.

Of course, Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies knows they must dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship, they lack the appetite and political will to reform because they don’t care about the tragic human suffering the dictatorship has cause. We, the Zimbabweans, have done nothing to stop Zanu PF destroy the nation’s economy and with it our hopes, dreams and our future. It is incumbent on all Zimbabweans to make sure all meaningful economic and political reforms are implemented before it is too late, before Zanu PF drags the nation over the edge into the abyss!