One of the most obnoxious things appoint white racism is the how the whites denied the blacks a voice. “Our blacks are very happy it is the Russian and Chinese communists how are agitating for black majority rule because they want to colonise the country,” the whites would say.
The blacks were never given the opportunity to speak for themselves. Of course, they were not happy! Who can ever be happy when they are being treated as third class citizens, oppressed, exploited and denied the freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
In Rhodesia, blacks did not have a vote. Period!
Sadly, things did not change much in independence Zimbabwe. We remove the white oppressors only to get black oppressors. The ordinary Zimbabwean had the freedoms and rights in theory but not in practice. Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies made it clear that if the party lost the 1980 elections, the bush war would continue. Of course, the people voted to end the war.
Some people have argued the threat was just campaigning stratagem born out of the mistrust of the British and the whites holding a free, fair and credible elections. The doubters were silence the victorious Zanu PF regime launched the 1983 to 1987 Gukurahundi massacre whose sole purpose was to force PF Zapu to sign the Unity Accord and join Zanu PF. This cleared the way for the imposition of the de facto one party state.
Zanu PF has rigged elections ever since the country’s independence all in the name of unity, development and peace. All lies! The nation has never enjoyed peace, especially during elections when the regime has blatantly rigged the elections and used wanton violence to retain its iron grip on power. 43 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the country’s once upon a time robust economy in ruins.
Zanu PF has completely ignored the demands of the ordinary Zimbabweans for free, fair and credible elections not only as birth right but as the prerequisite for good governance, peace, justice and economic prosperity. The regime, just like the Smith white regime before it, has only heard the Americans and the British’s call for free elections. It has dismissed the calls as “regime change agenda”.
How it has never occurred to Zanu PF leaders that the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans want free, fair and credible elections and regime change, especially given the country’s economic ruins; beggars belief. Of course, Zanu PF leaders have elected to ignore the suffering and lamentation of the ordinary Zimbabweans.
Alas! It is not only the Zanu PF regime that has turned a deaf ear to the cries of ordinary Zimbabweans for free and fair elections; the ANC regime in SA is now fighting in Zanu PF’s corner, fighting to end the West’s "regime change agenda”.
“The US and UK, Mbalula charged, have been changing goal posts every time an opportunity presents itself for the two global powerhouses to drop sanctions against Zimbabwe,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“Such an opportunity, he added, came to being when incumbent President Emerson Mnangagwa toppled Robert Mugabe through a bloodless coup.”
"President Mugabe was characterised as the main problem and was removed through a coup d'etat in Zimbabwe," Mbalula said.
"Mnangagwa came in and still the British and the Americans are looking the other way and not coming to the party.
"What the Americans and British want in Zimbabwe is regime change. We are now faced with Zimbabweans crossing to South Africa because in Zimbabwe there is no bread.”
This is utter nonsense:
- the removal of Mugabe through a military coup underlined just how desperate the political system in Zimbabwe had become, Mugabe could not be remove through free, fair and credible elections, only a military coup.
- following the coup, Mnangagwa and his coup plotters promised to stamp out corruption and to hold free and fair elections. They corruption is rampant and they went on to blatantly rig the 2018 elections; confirming Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. The November 2017 military coup facilitated a musical chairs changes in Zanu PF otherwise nothing of substance changed.
- everyone know Zanu PF has repeatedly failed to hold free, fair and credible elections and that is the reason why Zimbabwe withdraw from the Commonwealth before it was booted out in 2003. The country’s application to be readmitted was refused because it failed to hold free elections in 2018.
- SADC refused to endorse Zanu PF’s 2008 election victory because of the blatant cheating and wanton violence, it was so bad even they could not ignore it. It was none other than the regional body itself that forced Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), agreeing to the need for Zimbabwe to implement the raft of democratic reforms. SADC was the guarantor of the agreement and President Thabo Mbeki of SA signed on behalf of the regional body.
- SADC leaders know that not even one meaningful reform was implemented during the five years of the GNU nor since. Zanu PF emerged from the GNU with all its carte blanche powers to rig elections. Zanu PF rigged the 2013 and 2018 elections and is rigging the 2023 elections.
- the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic mess and political turmoil is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The ANC government knows this and why it is choosing to pretending to be blind, deaf and stupid and indifferent to the cries for free elections in Zimbabwe beggars belief.
The ANC government has held free, fair and credible elections since the end of apartheid in 1994 and so they know that Zanu PF has been rigging elections. They also know that Zanu PF would have never lasted these last 43 years if the party held free and fair elections.
So ANC know it would be the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe to have regime change in Zimbabwe. And by granting the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy, ANC is frustrating the people of Zimbabwe’s democratic wish.
Why? What has ANC to gain from propping up a corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging Zanu PF regime?
It is only by looking at the mess SA is in today, nearing 30 years of corrupt and mediocre ANC rule have reduced that country into a real mess. As we speak many South Africans are sitting in the dark, the sweeping power cuts have crippled the country, for example. The chaos in ESKOM is repeated in all the other sectors across the board. And, worst of all, the ANC government, which is responsible the economic mess, has no clue what to do to end this mess.
History will show that the ANC government is hell bent on stopping regime change in Zimbabwe because it prefers the dunderhead Zanu PF government because its own failures in SA will be nothing compared to the mess in Zimbabwe.
The tragic irony is that the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe has accelerated SA’s economic collapse and as long as Zimbabwe remains a failed state, SA’s economic recovery will be that much harder. It is not in SA’s interest to keep dunderheads in power in Zimbabwe!
14 comments:
SA to ban ZANU PF members in 2024, says @HermanMashaba - @BizNewsCOM SA
Well this is refreshing, a South African leader who has heard the cries of the voiceless Zimbabweans for free, fair and credible elections.
Zanu PF has denied the people of Zimbabwe their freedoms and basic human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. These are the same freedoms and rights the struggle against white colonial oppression were about. It is shocking how quickly the black nationalists leaders put these on the back burners in pursuit of absolute power for themselves.
Black Zimbabweans cries for freedom and human rights were ignored by the whites before independence only to be ignored by Zanu PF leaders, fellow travelers in the fight to end colonial oppression, after independence.
There is nothing more barbaric than to oppress one of your own, its like raping one's own child! And if the child thought she would get help from the uncle or grand father, ANC under performers, it got a slap in the face. ANC is hell bent on granting vote rigging Zanu PF political legitimacy. Of course, President Cyril Ramaphosa knows that Zanu PF is rigging 2023 elections and does not give a damn
"Three key factors make up the political infrastructure set-up that perpetuates the impregnability of the rural constituency to democratic forces. These are a pervasive infrastructure for coercion of rivals, a pervasive infrastructure for perpetuating rural dependency on the ruling party and the poor investment in institutional sophistication by the opposition in particular and in general the democratic forces in the rural area," the study read.
"Together these three have buttressed Zanu-PF's grip in the rural constituency and the military/Zanu-PF conflation has dominated the three. The study concludes that the impregnability problem in the rural constituency of Zimbabwe exists.
"Due to historical ties traceable to the liberation war, traditional leadership comprising chiefs, headman and village heads in order of hierarchy, has been captured by the Zanu-PF military elite to campaign for Zanu-PF and facilitate the closure of their communities from opposition penetration."
The study also revealed rural impregnability was increased by fissures within Zanu-PF structures and a general economic meltdown.
ZDI director Pedzisai Ruhanya said the Zanu-PF fissures and the economic meltdown were not an automatic advantage for the opposition to gain victory in the upcoming election, but tactical approaches were required to challenge the Zanu-PF hegemony.
Rural constituencies have largely been viewed as Zanu-PF strongholds, where it has won with wide margins against the opposition in the past. But in its central committee report released in October last year, Zanu-PF sounded alarmed by inroads made by the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change in the rural areas. Zanu-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa could not be reached for comment on ZDI's findings.
Any one who has lived in the rural areas will tell you Zanu PF’s control over the rural voters is total hence the reason why the party is able to frog match the voters on voting day. The increase in the number of polling stations and having polling station specific voters’ roll has made it much easier for Zanu PF operatives to know every voter, especially in the rural area. And so when Zanu PF boasts that they will know who voted for the opposition, they are not bluffing.
The opposition leaders know rural areas are Zanu PF strongholds and hence the reason they prefer to contest the urban seats rather than rural ones.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and the CCC are only participating to get the few gravy train seats offered as bait.
The rural voters are nothing but medieval surfs whose lives are hell on earth under the ever-demanding Zanu PF operatives and traditional leaders who are the paid local political commissars. It the rural folk were given the choice to give up the right to vote, they will because it is curse and not a blessing.
Video of Harare voter registration in Harare showing frustrated people. No one was registered in first day, 6 registered in 3 hours on second and it is supposed to be voter registration blitz!
This is an all to familiar tale! How many times have we heard stories of how difficult it is to register in opposition strongholds.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections and CCC participating to give Zanu legitimacy for the sake of a few gravy train seats. There is never be free elections without first implementing reforms; this is a fact! We are being conned by CCC to participate because we are naive to believe the oxymoronic nonsense of winning in rigged elections even after 43 years of Zanu PF Mafiosi rigged elections!
@ Liberty
“Wilbert, you have never proposed a clear plan of ending vote stealing. Surely, boycotting is not a solution because it will not remove Zanu pf from power. Explain, in clear terms, what shld be done, by who, when and the ultimate solution of your plan please.”
I have explained a 100 000 times, the sheer futility of participating in flawed elections, so flawed winning 73% of the votes was still not good enough for Tsvangirai to get into State House, only to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Zanu PF is giving away the few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate and ordinary Zimbabweans are too naïve not to see it even after 43 years of Zanu PF Mafiosi rigging elections.
Zanu PF will never ever implement reforms to ensure free elections when the party knows it assured of opposition participation no matter how flawed the process gets giving it legitimacy. Indeed, even a village idiot would do the same if he was in Mnangagwa’s shoes.
Here are two CCC leaders saying the same thing, let’s see if you believe them!
“Look, you can't keep on participating in flawed electoral processes that serve to give big benefits to dictators such as Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has perfected the art of winning elections. So it will be very foolish for the opposition to continue legitimizing these sham elections which don't deliver. This country will go through a serious economic crisis in 2020 caused by Zanu PF. And yet, this is the only country where a government doesn't perform, it is encouraged by a super majority in parliament,” said Tendai Biti in a 2015 interview with Isaac Mugabi.
“So you can't continue subjecting Zimbabweans to processes where their hopes just get crushed.”
“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,” confessed 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.”
Of course, it is insane to participate in these flawed elections especially after 43 years of the Zanu PF Mafiosi rigging the elections. I am not going to be bullied and bamboozled into participating but, better still, I will denounce the madness here and now and not wait for the elections results!
@ Liberty
“Zim has many political parties. If CCC were to boycott, others will participate and obviously lose to Zanu pf and this will perpetuate its grip on power.”
In 1978 Ian Smith created the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Internal Settlement which gave blacks a second class status, at best. Muzorewa and Sithole participated in the flawed elections for the sake of the gravy train seats on offer. Fortunately for the nation, Zanu and Zapu refused to participate and this denied Smith legitimacy. Zanu and Zapu could have participated “to stop Muzorewa and Sithole” winning the gravy train seats.
MDC leaders sold out during the 2008 to 2013 GNU by failing to implement even one democratic reform. Zanu PF learned one important lesson during the GNU, that the party could retain and exercise its carte blanche powers denying the people their freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and get away with it as long as it bribes the MDC leaders with a few gravy train seats.
Chamisa, Mwonzora, Madhuku are all the same, they are the modern-day Muzorewa and Sithole participating in the flawed elections process; so flawed there is no verified voters’ roll, 3m in the diaspora are denied the vote or 37% of the electorate, etc.; out of greed. Zanu PF has been luckier than Ian Smith and his Zimbabwe-Rhodesia!
@ Wakurawarerwa
“We have exposed the unconstitutional tendencies of Zanu PF.”
The watershed 2008 elections exposed Zanu PF's dictatorial powers and even since the party has hidden the iron fist in a velvet glove by bribing MDC/CCC to participate in flawed elections no matter how flawed to maintain the facade Zimbabwe is a multi-party democracy.
Zanu PF is rigging these elections to secure 2/3 majority plus the presidency and, by participating, CCC will give Zanu PF legitimacy. What unconstitutional tendencies will CCC expose and to what end and purpose?
The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb electing MDC/CCC into power to bring about democratic changes necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, as the original party name implied. The people did not risk life and limb to elect MDC/CCC leaders so they can sell out on reforms and, worse still, help perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship under the foolish guise of “exposing unconstitutional Zanu PF tendencies!”
@ Wakurawarerwa
“The people will benefit YES when making decisions in August 2023 Harmonised Elections.”
What did the people of Zimbabwe benefit from MDC T and MDC N participating in the 2013 elections and giving Zanu PF legitimacy? The idiots did the same again in 2018!
We know what Chamisa and company will get from winning the few gravy train seats on offer: MPs get the US$60k car allowance, the very generous salary and allowances and the US$40k housing allowance – a bonus added last year. Chamisa, as party leader will get a lion’s share of the party’s share of the Political Party Finance Act annual pay-out, worth US$ 1 million in the current year. Mnangagwa has even devised the POLAD scheme to reward presidential candidate losers!
What will the people benefit from participating in these 2023 elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy?
You cannot even name one unconstitutional Zanu PF tendencies MDC/CCC will expose and how it will benefit the long suffering masses!
The nation needs to put an end to this curse of rigged elections and bad governance and to forfeit that opportunity because MDC/CCC leaders are selling out for 30 pieces of silver is insane!
@ Wakurawarerwa
“What is the way forward?”
Stop betraying the people, lying to them that you are bringing democratic changes when you have given up on reforms and free elections and are participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy for the sake of a few gravy train seats!
But to be frank, CCC will participate in these flawed elections no matter what, greed has the better of them just as it has the better of the Zanu PF thugs. The suffering of the masses count for nothing when one is under the grip of greed. I do not expect Zanu PF to stop rigging elections nor CCC participating for the sake of the share of the spoils of power.
The way forward is to denounce the election process for the mockery it is and to expose CCC for the discredited sell outs they are. These two political realities must then be presented to all and make is impossible for them to ignore and grant Zanu PF political legitimacy, especially the undependable SADC.
@ Wakurawarerwa
“We are the Citizens we will determine our future we learn from the past and respond to the future. The years behind were part of the years of the journey.”
MDC/CCC had the golden opportunity to implement the reforms and they wasted is it and now all they are doing is participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and get a share of the spoils of power. It is a great pity that there are many Zimbabweans who are so foolish and naïve to believe in CCC winning big these Zanu PF Mafiosi rigged elections. The nation is stuck!
@ Liberty
“In elections, it does not matter who pulls out for as long as there are other contesting parties. If a party chickens out and others participate, it will be legitimate.”
I have just given you the example of how Ian Smith’s Zimbabwe – Rhodesia failed to get legitimacy because Zanu and Zapu refused to participate and gave good reasons why – the election process was so flawed it reduced the blacks’ vote to a meaningless second class vote! Chamisa will never boycott the elections because he is after the bribe on offer and does not care how flawed and illegal the process gets! I gave you a quotation from Coltart and Bit admitting the same thing.
The case of the participation being futile is clear but I do realise that it is not all who see and perceive, who hear and understand. There are some who are fated to repeat the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Who are fated to participate in these flawed elections and expect the opposition to win big even after 43years of Zanu PF Mafiosi rigged elections.
@ Wakurawarerwa
“Matakadya kare haanyaradzi mwana!”
It is me would should be saying this Zanu PF, at least they had the courage to fight the white regime to end white colonial rule and the foresight to refuse to participate in the compromised Zimbabwe – Rhodesia.
MDC/CCC has failed to implement even one token reform in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU. You are sell outs masquerading as democrats who will implement the reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship. You not only sold out by failing to implement even one reform but are now the ones keeping Zanu PF in power by participating in flawed elections for 30 pieces of silver.
“You have been sat to long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!.”
Cromwell addressing the rump Parliament. April 1653.
Botswana considering doing away with passport requirements with Zimbabwe.
I would not do this if I was in Botswana's position especially with he certainty of yet another rigged Zimbabwe election and a new wave of economic and political refugees on the cards.
Zanu PF is rigging 2023 elections and CCC are participating to give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a few gravy train seats. It is time we tell both Zanu PF and CCC "We have sat too long for any good you have done. In the name of God, go!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCZ74GSaB4g
@ Mbofana
“How do you measure a cabinet minister's performance over a particular period?
How does one judge whether a local government CEO (chief executive officer) has done a good or terrible job?
How can anyone tell if the head of a state-owned enterprise is meeting expected targets?
These are questions that have vexed me since the introduction of so-called 'Performance Contracts ' by President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa in 2021.”
We have buffoons who have no clue what they are doing setting performance targets and so it is common for them to say ZESA must meet the nation’s power needs by the end of the year, for example, and yet fail to give you the resources to maintain the existing power infrastructure much less to build the addition ones required. The buffoon themselves refused to be held to democratic account for their failures by denying the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country.
We are well and truly stuck with a corrupt, incompetent, murderous and vote rigging ruling party, Zanu PF. It is aided and abetted by a corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless coterie of opposition parties who have failed to implement even one democratic reform and are now helping Zanu PF stay in power by participating in flawed elections for 30 pieces of silver.
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