After 42 years of economic mess and political paralysis , 2023 is foremost about securing political kingdom W Mukori

“Kukanganwa chezuro nehope!” so goes a Shona adage. Meaning, literally, one must never forget yesterday’s troubles with a night sleep.

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess and political paralysis, for neither the ruling party nor the many political opposition parties are offering any viable solutions out of the mess, because of 42 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and contemptuous disregard of the law and rule of law that has rightly earned the nation the pariah and failed state label. Ours has not been a day’s troubles but a 42 year (and counting) odyssey deeper and deeper into this man-made hell-on-earth. An odyssey we must not forget just because President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa or Nelson Chamisa says we must turn over a new page!

According to a ZBC News report 33 CCC members in Gwanda have defected to join the ruling party, Zanu PF, “enticed by the Second Republic (as Mnangagwa now call Zanu PF since taking over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup) development drive.”

It is important to note that Mnangagwa and his fellow November 2017 military could were quick off the mark in calling their post-coup a Second Republic in a desperate effort to distance themselves from the chaos and madness of the Mugabe era. The truth is Emmerson Mnangagwa and the rest of his coup plotters, indeed the whole new administration except for a few new faces, were not just senior members of Mugabe’s 37-year Zanu PF dictatorship but, worst of all, they are the ones who had created and imposed the dictatorship on the nation.

 The November 2017 military coup has just the conclusion of the G40 vs Lactose Zanu PF factional wars, there have been many such factional wars in the past and new factions has since emerge. Mugabe and his G40 faction lost in 2017 and Mnangagwa replaced him. The Zanu PF dictatorship had a new dictator but otherwise the dictatorship itself remained untouched and so the chaos and madness continued.

Mnangagwa and his Lactose gang called themselves Second Republic because they were aware of the chaos and madness of Mugabe era and did not want to be associated with what had happened. They wanted everyone to forget the 37 years as if they had never happened. “Let bygones be bygones!” Mnangagwa has said repeatedly since the November 2017 military coup.

This is where the Shona adage, above, comes in. It will be insane for the nation to forget the gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, etc., the 37-year odyssey of Mugabe dictatorship, that landed us in this economic mess and political paralysis, just because Mnangagwa has declared a Second Republic. It is all very well to turn over a new page, but if one has not learned the lessons from the past, then one is certain to repeat the same foolish mistakes.

The November 2017 military coup replace the dictator, Robert Mugabe, and a few of his very close associates; only to replace him with Emmerson Mnangagwa, a new dictator and former henchman. This was just musical chairs, the Zanu PF dictatorship with all its dictatorial powers and excesses, the mismanagement, lawlessness, etc. remained untouched.

Some people, the Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, Media giant Trevor Ncube and Catriona Laing, UK Ambassador to Zimbabwe 2014 to 2018, among them; have argued that the nation should give Mnangagwa “a chance”! A chance to do what?

Since the November 2017 military coup Mnangagwa’s Second Republic has trumpeted two things, economic development with his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra. This was a lead balloon that never took off when it was clear Zimbabwe was still a pariah state or being it under a new dictator. The regime insists its development plans are working and Zimbabwe will become an upper middle-income nation by 2030, vision 2030.

When Mugabe took over from Ian Smith in 1980, he talked nonstop about mass prosperity, “gutsa ruzhinji”, for the first decade. By the 1990s it was clear the economy was in a mess, it was suffering the ill effects of the mismanage and corruption which were a result of the regime’s political patronage system and only grew worse with time. Mass prosperity quickly turned into mass poverty and in like manner Mnangagwa’s vision 2030 is just a mirage.

The Zanu PF dictatorship has turned into a 42 year odyssey into this hell-on-earth, of mass prosperity turning into mass poverty under Mugabe and now chasing a middle-income mirage under Mnangagwa, has happened precisely because the people had lost their fundamental right to remove the Zanu PF dictatorship.  

The second thing Mnangagwa promised after the November 2017 coup was to hold free, fair and credible elections. No doubt, he was aware of the regime’s blatant failure and betrayals on this front.

Giving Mnangagwa “a chance”, certainly did not include giving him a chance to rig elections but that is exactly what happened in 2018!

The 2008 Zimbabwe elections have become the benchmark, illustrating the seriousness of Zanu PF’s vote rigging. In the March vote Morgan Tsvangirai garnered 73% of the votes but before the results were announce the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernauted was switched back on and Tsvangirai’s votes were whittled down to 47%, enough to force a runoff. During the runoff Zanu PF used wanton violence to punish the people for rejecting the party in the March vote. Mugabe won the runoff by a staggering 84%!

The primary purpose of the SADC sponsored 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms designed to restore the people’s freedoms and rights including ending Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial powers to blatant cheat and use wanton violence to rig elections. Sadly, the MDC leaders, who were tasked to implement the reforms, failed to implement even one reform in five years.

Therefore, the acid test for Mnangagwa’s Second Republic to see whether it had broken away from its Zanu PF dictatorial bend was to implement the democratic reforms and deliver on the promise to hold free, fair and credible 2018 elections. The regime did not implement even one token reform!

Since the rigged 2018 elections, Zanu PF has, yet again, failed to implement even one meaning reform and the regime is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections.

“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you!” said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of independent Ghana.

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess and political paralysis because we, the people, have never had any meaningly political power after the country’s independence, the ruling elite had all the power. We were coerced to trust Mugabe and now Mnangagwa and company to deliver mass prosperity without any power to remove them from office if they failed. They not only failed but did so repeatedly dragging the whole nation deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth.

“What we need is development in our area which is what the ruling party is offering, and this really told us that we should come back home!” Mr Precious Nhliziyo, the CCC defector, said.

The right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country is more than just a fundamental right, it is the very essence of good governance. Even if Mnangagwa was delivering on all his vision 2030 promises, which he is not, still one must ask why to deny the people the right to vote for you in a free, fair and credible elections?

After 42 years of economic ruin, rigged elections and tyrannical rule the number one priority for Zimbabwe is to implement democratic reforms and finally cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Those of us who thought economic development could be achieved without good governance were wrong and must learn from the past.