Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! Zanu
PF has rigged elections since the country’s independence in 1980 and now President
Emmerson Mnangagwa thinks the party has the divine right to rig elections!
"Going forward, and as a country and Nation which is
proudly African and sovereign, we shall be insisting on the principle of
reciprocity when it comes to the practice of international election
observation. The time will soon come when we will not accept that condescending
and even racist view of a pecking order when it comes to measuring electoral
democracy unfolding in our sovereign countries, and which, in any event, is
meant for our people,” argued President Mnangagwa in the Sunday Mail column.
When you know, you are going to rig the elections; you have
failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, will frogmarch
voters to vote for you, etc.; of course, you will not want anyone to scrutinise
the process.
Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut is now unstoppable and the
party has bribed the opposition to guarantee their participation no matter flawed
and illegal the process get. The party has woken up to the political reality
that party will not get political legitimacy if the process is judged to be
flawed and the opposition is dismissed as lacking political credibility.
The recent Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary has portrayed
Mnangagwa himself and his administration as dunderheads controlled by the
white, Indian, Chinese and Russian Mafia Gurus operating in the country. Before
the documentary the Zanu PF regime’s reputation was bad and now it is mud. Some
of the African leaders who would have turned a blind eye to Zanu PF rigging the
2023 elections will now be forced to think twice about granting legitimacy to a
regime of dunderheads!
"A pecking order with white super-dogs who must observe
elections of lesser beings, on the one side; and black underdogs whose polls
must be observed, passed or failed, on the other,” continued Mnangagwa.
"Nothing about our chequered colonial history justifies that false
hierarchy; nothing in present international rules legitimises that presumptuous
supremacy. The theory and practice of election observation must be on the basis
of equality and reciprocity among nations. Anything less and one-sided
diminishes and creates a deep sense of bruise and injury to our sovereignty.”
This is just nonsense! In a healthy and functioning
democracy every stage of the election process is transparent and open for
verification by all the election contestants, the media, the public and observers.
Zimbabwe has never requested to observe any Western nation’s elections and had
the request denied. What “reciprocity” is he wittering about!
In democratic nations, any election irregularities are dealt
with by an independent judiciary. In Zimbabwe it is laughable that the
Constitutional Court handled the 2018 election challenge when 8 months earlier
the same judiciary had ruled the November 2017 military coup was “justified,
legal and constitutional”!
The right to free, fair and credible elections is not just universal
right; it is the very foundation of good governance. Zimbabwe is a failed state
precisely because the nation has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and
murderous Zanu PF dictatorship for 43 years and counting.
"Much worse, we reject as utterly racist and condescending this practice
of making our proud and sovereign Nation an equal if not a junior of some
Western non-governmental centre, institute or foundation. We are no one's
subaltern, least of all of some non-governmental organisation. Never again will
we subject ourselves to such false, humiliating equivalences.
"We go to elections as sovereign nations, indeed as State Parties of the
United Nations; its hallowed Charter makes all Nations equal, regardless of
size and age, however these are reckoned or claimed. State Parties relate to
each and to one another on equal terms, with respect, and strictly on the basis
and principle of reciprocity. Going forward, only those Nations who invite us
to observe their own elections in future will also be invited to do the same
here.”
“One man, one vote!” was the rallying cry before
independence. It was valued then as more than just a human right but as one of
the key pillar on which good governance stand. Zimbabwe is failed state and in
economic ruins precisely because the nation has failed to hold free, fair and
credible elections since independence in 1980. The country has been stuck with
a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 43 years!
Only a dunderhead, drunk after decades of enjoying absolute
power, would now think he has a right to rig elections and justify his foolishness
on the grounds free, fair and credible elections are a threat the nation’s sovereignty!
It was foolish of us to have allowed the Zanu PF dunderheads
to rule for even a day much less for 43 years. We have paid dearly for our folly
and must now put an end to this madness. Zanu PF is rigging these 2023
elections and CCC are hell bent on participating in these flawed elections for
selfish reasons. Our task is to denounce the flawed elections, show the
opposition have lost political credibility and thus stop Zanu PF getting
political legitimacy.
How can a flawed election process, so flawed it does not
even have a verified voters’ roll, in which a discredited opposition
participate for 30 pieces of silver produce a legitimate government?
18 comments:
Hopewell Chinono: CCC members aren't exposing corruption & it's not a crime to tell them that they're not doing anything. "You will have to be organised.. the main opposition party is CCC, it needs to lead us to where we need to go... there's a reason why we have political parties..."
The real surprise here is how millions of Zimbabweans out there have failed to note how MDC/CCC have sold out on the primary task of delivering democratic changes even now with the benefit of hindsight. Chris Dell, US ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, said Tsvangirai was a flawed and indecisive character. Main Zimbabwe call him an iconic leader although they cannot name even one reform he implemented because there in not even one.
Our binary mentality is our curse. Before independence the whites were the bad guys and Zanu PF were the good guys. And for 20 years after independence some people refused to accept that Zanu PF leaders were corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical. Even when Zanu PF was committing the Gukurahundi massacre, they still refused to see Zanu PF as bad guys. When the people finally accepted Zanu PF were bad they embraced MDC/CCC as the good guys.
So, even with not even one reform implemented in 23 years, many people still see MDC/CCC as the good guys who can do no wrong.
Mankind has the intellect to see all the colours of the rainbow and we choose to limit ourselves to to black or white, right or wrong.
MDC/CCC have sold oud of reforms and are participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and keep the regime in power for a share of the spoils of power. This is why CCC will never criticise Zanu PF on the big issues such as producing the verified voters’ roll, securing diaspora vote, etc. NEVER!
PRESIDENTIAL Envoy and Ambassador-at-Large Uebert Angel's business partner Rikki Doolan sys it is possible to bring in millions of dollars in dirty money into Zimbabwe as long as officials are bribed and President Emmerson Mnangagwa is informed it is for investment.
Doolan, who is married to Angel's niece Nicola, told undercover Al Jazeera investigative reporters posing as gangsters who wanted to launder dirty money that they may even be granted a VIP police escort once they come to Zimbabwe.
He told them dirty money could be brought into the country and laundered without questions asked, especially if Mnangagwa is roped in.
Speaking in the documentary's second edition released on Thursday, Doolan, who said he preferred to refer to Mnangagwa as Number One, insisted that once he is made aware of their arrival, they would get easy passage into the country with loads of cash and get away with gold.
The question that any reasonable man and woman who watched the documentary has asked themselves again and again is: How did a dunderhead like Mnangagwa got to be State President? How can the nation entrust the destiny of the whole nation into the hands of such a buffoon?
There reason why the country is in such a serious mess becomes immediately obvious; when you have dunderheads in charge what else did you expect other than a mess. The documentary has helped to bring into sharp focus the urgent need for Zimbabwe to sort out its failed political system. But then this is a nation in which the majority are NOT reasonable people and hence the reason why the country has been stuck with buffoon in charge for 43 years and counting.
Is that why you failed to implement even one reform even when you had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU????? CCC is participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy in return for a few gravy train seats and you know it.
“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.”
Tendai Biti did not listen to his own more rational mind because greed got the better of him and what chance has a dimwit like you Chitando!
So you think you can hide your greed behind verses from the Bible? How idiotic!
The madness of participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy must be confronted head-on and stopped. It will be stopped! We now have to fight Zanu PF thugs and CCC sell outs to implement the reforms and restore the right to a meaningful vote! So be it!
@ Mbofana
It was most strange, if not entirely queer and incomprehensible, reading President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa latest diatribe against Western countries' insistence on observing our elections.
He really went all out attempting to sound all brave and no-nonsense - ranting in his weekly Sunday Mail Op-ed with high-sounding bluster about sovereignty, and accusing Western powers of being condescending towards Zimbabwe.
He proceeded in declaring Zimbabwe as not being subaltern, and refused to be treated like an NGO (non-governmental organization).
Mnangagwa questioned why countries that never invited Zimbabwe to observe their elections would expect to be, likewise, invited to observe our own electoral processes.
The criteria for judging whether elections are free, fair and credible are the same the world over because the right to a meaningful vote is the same the world over be it in the East, West, North or South, for white or blacks, men or women, etc.
Mnangagwa is rigging the 2023 elections, he has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll and is now looking for an excuse to justify why only those nations who have no track record of holding free elections will be invited to observe Zimbabwe’s elections. He will expect these nations to give him a clean bill of health and he would do the same for them – that is the “reciprocity” he is after.
Zimbabwe is a failed state and it is failing to provide even the most basic needs such as clean water, education and health care and 49% of our people live in abject poverty because the country has failed to hold free and fair elections. Holding free elections is much more that the people exercising their basic right, it is the nation’s ticket out of the hell-hole we are stuck in. We are desperate for free elections and will not accept Zanu PF rigging the elections and using its cronies to rubber stamp the flawed process and grant it legitimacy.
Mnangagwa can invite who ever he pleases to observe these 2023 elections but he cannot bar others either. He is cherry picking the electorate by denying 3 million in the diaspora the vote he cannot cherry pick the election observers too!
Mnangagwa is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections, the whole process is so flawed he cannot even produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. He knows that anyone with any common sense would not want to participate - so he has bribed CCC to do so. Since he cannot bribe the election observers, he is inviting only those from nation with no track record of holding free elections. He is not inviting any EU, USA, Commonwealth, etc. observers because he knows they will condemn these elections as a farce!
Mnangagwa can invite who ever he pleases to observe these 2023 elections but he cannot bar others either. He is cherry picking the electorate by denying 3 million in the diaspora the vote he cannot cherry pick the election observers too!
We must reject these flawed elections and deny Zanu PF legitimacy now and not wait for the results when it will be too late!
https://www.zimeye.net/2023/04/03/no-to-white-super-dog-will-observe-pass-or-fail-our-elections-argue-mnangagwa-rigging-so-marking-own-homework-to-avoid-failure/
@ Mukhokheli
“Mukori can you confirm that constitution Amendment Act 20 of 2013 is a reform in itself ?
The idea of international observers is also another reform.
Biometric voter registration is also another reform.”
The trouble with people like you is you have no clue what you are talking about. None! Even now with the benefit of hindsight, you still have no clue what the primary purpose of 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms to stop a repeat of the blatant cheating and wanton violence of the 2008 elections.
Did any of the three reforms you are wittering about above stop Zanu PF rigging the 2013 and 2018 elections? The answer is NO! And so why bother listing reforms that had no effect on delivering the objective – stopping Zanu PF rigging the elections!
The real big surprise here is that after 43 years of rigged elections we still have so many people who still have no clue what constitute free and fair elections. Who are participating in these flawed elections only to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. Who are so naïve and gullible they believe the oxymoronic nonsense of winning in rigged elections – so flawed that getting 73% of the vote is not good enough to win!
Zimbabwe has more than her fair share of morons and hence the reason why the country is a mess! And, as long as we continue in our sloth-like slumber, we will never get out of this mess. NEVER!
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says election observers from countries that have in the past invited Zimbabwe to their own plebiscites will be the only ones allowed to witness the country's 2023 polls.
Mnangagwa knows that he is rigging these elections, the whole process is so flawed the regime has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll. One of the things any self respecting election observer would want to do is verified the election process. How otherwise can he/she judge the process was free, fair and credible when they cannot verify anything!
What Mnangagwa is doing is cherry pick the election observers from countries with no rack record of holding free elections and are therefore likely to turn a blind eye to Zanu PF’s blatant cheating and wanton violence. Zanu PF would return the favour if it was asked to observe the country’s elections; the “principle of reciprocity”, as he called it.
Mnangagwa has bribed Chamisa and company to make sure they participate no matter how flawed the process. He cherry picked the electorate by denying 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote. And now he is cherry picking the election observers! Mnangagwa is rigging these 2023 elections and we must condemn the process and deny him political legitimacy now without having to wait for the election results!
THE opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) believes the Electoral Amendment Bill which is in the second reading stage in Parliament needs serious amendments that include improving the design of ballot papers and ensuring that transfer of power and declaration of Presidential results is done in a smooth manner. Currently, the Electoral Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13], and proposes the removal of the driver's licence as proof of identity for electoral purposes; and seeks to disqualify previously convicted persons from contesting in elections. It also provides a timeframe within which a candidate may withdraw from contesting in National Assembly or local authority elections.
This is just a time wasting gimmick! This parliament is going to be dissolved in the next few weeks in preparation for fresh elections in July or August. What meaningful changes can be approved, implemented and have a meaningful change in delivering free and fair elections in these remaining few weeks?
CCC have been warned there is a cut-off period, six months before the elections at the most, beyond which it is nonsense to still pretend there can be meaningful reforms approved and implemented. Beyond the cut off date the opposition should have decided they will not participate in the flawed and illegal elections. Chamisa and company are hell bent on participating in these elections and have paid lip service to reforms and hence the reason they have no cut-off date.
CCC is participating in these flawed elections whether or not parliament pass anything in this election amendment bill. This is just an academic exercise, Zanu PF knows that and hence the reason why the party has never taken MDC/CCC reform demands seriously. NEVER!
"We are going into the election when the electoral reforms which we have been clamouring for as civic society have not happened. We are going into elections with the same electoral systems that were there in 2013, which resulted in disputed elections, followed by a global political agreement. The electoral system does not create inclusivity," PEACE activist, pastor and businessman Anglistone Sibanda said.
Sibanda said he had hoped that after Operation Restore Legacy in 2017, there would be a transition period to begin to redefine the nation of Zimbabwe and to re-build it.
"However, what has happened is that some colleagues have grabbed the whole pot and ran away with it to the mountains. We need to de-polarise the country. The country is now going into elections without solving the August 1, 2018 killings of civilians, which resulted in the formation of the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission, which made recommendations that are yet to be implemented. Even the ruling party is also faced with intra-party violence as witnessed in their just ended elections," he said
You are right, we are going into the next elections without even one token reform we have “clamouring for” for decades now implemented. Not even one!
Do you, Pastor Sibanda, know that MDC/CCC failed to implement even one token reform when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU? Are you aware that it is none other than MDC/CCC who have been hell bent on participating in these flawed elections knowing fully well that doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy. You should know all these things by now, for Pete’s sake!
Still, now that some home truths have been hammered into your empty head! Ask yourself If you were vote rigging Zanu PF, why would you risk losing the elections by implementing even one token reform when you know MDC/CCC will participate in the election giving you legitimacy NO MATTER HOW FLAWED the process got?
We can have the 2023 elections postpone, for five or ten years but to what end and purpose? Zanu PF would agree as long as they retain absolute power. And at the end of the Sabbatical the party will still want to enjoy absolute power and so will see to it that not even one meaningful reform is implemented. Chamisa and company will only be too glad to enjoy the ministerial benefits again as happened during the last GNU and they will, once again, not rock the boat by calling for reforms.
After 43 years of rigged elections we must deal with this curse by implementing the reforms and stop kicking the can down the street. The spirit is willing but the intellect is weak!
Zimbabwe is being led by corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical thugs and sell outs and it shows. What can we do to end the madness?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsQC4e9Sflc
@ Mukhokheli
“Do you seriously think that a GNU that gave life like to a dying regime was going to yield anything more than what I mentioned?”
Let’s start at the beginning, a good place to start.
What was the primary task of the 2008 to 2013 GNU?
If the task was not accomplished, why was it not accomplished?
I said you have no clue what you are talking about, well here is your chance to prove me wrong! Go for it.
@ Mkhokheli
You are telling about the events of 2008 elections, the negotiations leading to the GNU, etc. You are answering questions you wanted to be asked and NOT what I asked! And so I will ask you again:
1) What was the PRIMARY purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU?
2) If the primary purpose was not accomplished, WHO failed?
I will give you another chance to answer the question asked and prove me wrong, that you KNOW what you are talking about!
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Alexander Pope.
This is true in everything we do and no less so in our political decisions and yet how many times have we seen thousands blunder again and again with tragic consequences. In November 2017 Zimbabweans poured on to the streets of our towns and cities in support of the military coup when a more measured response would have been to see the coup for what it was - the flip side of the same tyrannical dictatorship. People should have demanded the dismantling of the dictatorship and not just the removal of Mugabe only to replace him with another dictator.
The Second Republic was the Mugabe dictatorship in all but name!
The euphoria some people have shown over the launch of CCC is equally shocking, Chamisa, Biti and many of the key leaders have retained their positions and there chaos of yesteryears have continued as before. Why anyone believes MDC and CCC are two different entities beggars belief!
I totally agree, it was not the change of name from Saul to Paul that made him a Saint but his deeds. Whilst some people have grudging accepted that MDC leaders sold out during the GNU, they will not accept leaders like Chamisa should ever be accused of MDC’s failures as if the Chamisa of MDC days is a totally different individual from the Chamisa of CCC - ever when the later is participating in flawed elections just as MDC has been doing.
A cobra that has just shed off its old skin is still a cobra! Alexander Pope was a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing indeed!
In participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy for 30 pieces of silver CCC leaders are continuing with their policy of selling out carried over from their MDC days. Why some people are insisting the two “are different entities” only goes to show how shallow, thick and slow they are. The cobra that has just shed off its old skin in no more a different snake than MDC is different from CCC or Second Republic from Mugabe’s Zanu PF dictatorship!
Focus on the substantive issues and on the trivial ones!
https://www.zimeye.net/2023/04/03/ccc-and-mdc-are-two-different-entities-how-naive-different-in-name-and-regalia-yes-but-not-in-deeds/
@ Godfrey
“I feel we should unpeel and deal with layers of misgovernment one by one. The current burning issue is much easier to push both internally and externally than the demand for reforms. The Reforms issue should therefore take a back seat but not off the table in the face of the recent developments. Although the recent was brought about due to loopholes purposefully created in the system.”
Reforms and corruption are two sides of the same coin; you cannot deal with corruption with implementing the reforms and MDC/CCC failed to implement even one reform because they are corrupt.
Elections, reform and corruption are the three sides of the same triangle; you cannot talk of one without talking about the other two. The 2023 elections will not deliver an hope of ending corruption whether Zanu PF or CCC win because both leaders are corrupt and have failed to stamp it out even when they had the chance to do so. If we had implemented the democratic reforms then the elections would be free, fair and credible, the prerequisite for electing competent leaders who are not corrupt!
@ Kenneth Mufuka
“Money laundering is not a legitimate industry and since it is undercover, it avoids taxes and job creation except for the shady characters who operate under the shadows.
It creates heavy revenue losses for Zimbabwe. But there is more. Since by Kamleash Pattni's own voice, money laundering needs political protectors, it corrupts the financial and political health of any country.
Pattni invented the Kenyan model of electoral fraud by helping president Arap Moi buy off opposition leaders. Charging 35 percent for gold deals in Kenya (an extortionate price) Pattni and Arap Moi were left with US600 million with which to bribe opposition leaders.
Opposition parties were sponsored, some leaders found large deposits in their banks on condition they withdrew from elections, just at the right time determined by Arap Moi.
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe toyed with that idea. The multiple fractions that happened in the MDC were attributed and engineered from the ruling party.
To suspect that something is wrong is different from knowing that something is wrong. That is why Al Jazeera's exposé is devastating. We have suspected that the Reserve Bank is at the heart of money exchange and money laundering since Gideon Gono presided over the Reserve Bank
In the documentary, the amounts of money involved are stupendous.
In a discussion between Prophet Uebert Engel and Sister Henrietta, suggestions are made that she can move U$10million a week.
The prophet says that he has powers granted to him by earthly authority, Ambassador Plenipotentiary (all power). His diplomatic bag, filled with gold or US dollars can pass through the airport unchecked.
I do not know that the Zimbabwe government can do anything about it at this moment. The players are all well-known heavy hitters in government circles.
Whether government denies connections or not, the issue arises that such a deeply flawed regime cannot be dismissed by the ballot box. That is the real danger posed by this expose. If the ballot box is useless and the opposition is compromised, what then?
If by the time all the four documentaries show that there is indeed something rotten in the state of Denmark, the question is what then?
Kenneth Mufuka highlights four key points that are worth repeating for emphasis:
1) To suspect that something is wrong is different from knowing that something is wrong. That is why Al Jazeera's exposé is devastating. The documentary gave us the names of real people involved in the looting, how they have been looting and most important of all the staggering amounts of money involved. 80% of the US$2 billion in gold smuggled out of the country per year to say nothing of diamonds, lithium and other resources.
2) Kamlesh Pattni invented the Kenyan model of electoral fraud by helping president Arap Moi buy off opposition leaders. Pattni immigrated to Zimbabwe and used the same model to help Mugabe and now Mnangagwa stay in power. President Mnangagwa did not grant a crook like Uebert Angel the grandiose plenipotentiary power for the good of Rome but rather for the glory of Caesar!
3) If there was any doubt that Zanu PF is rigging these elections there cannot be any such doubts now both Zanu PF and the Mafia have become too powerful politically and financially risk losing the elections by allowing the process to be free, fair and credible. Zanu PF and their Mafia friends are rigging these elections, period!
4) Zanu PF is rigging these elections and at the same time the party is doing everything it can to encourage as many people to participate to give the process same modicum of credibility. People must refuse to participate and denounce the process here and now and not wait for the results to be announced.
To suspect something wrong is nothing compared to knowing something is wrong - that is what makes Al Jazeera documentary so devastating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgCNPCTwDdo
@Tawanda Majoni
“But the most direct effect of the documentary is likely to be on the international stage. The documentary has dealt a long-term harm on Mnangagwa. This will possibly weaken his engagement with foreign powers, including the Sadc bloc. Mnangagwa, his party and Sadc, for instance, have been hollering about how sanctions are affecting the national economy, instead of corruption.
It highly likely that there will be a perception that also says corruption is too endemic in Zimbabwe as it also involves the highest office, so we can't always be whimpering about sanctions.
Sadc has been supporting Zimbabwe's bid to have the sanctions removed but the revelations by Al Jazeera can easily weaken that howl. There is bound to be a call from both within Sadc and other circles to also acknowledge the role that corruption is playing in undercutting the Zimbabwean economy.”
SA’s ANC resolved at its party congress late last year that they would not allow regime change in Zimbabwe on the assumption such change was caused by the sanctions imposed by the West. I think ANC leaders have quietly shelved that idea particularly since the documentary has also shown that corruption in Zimbabwe has fuelled corruption in a number of organisations in SA including the ANC government itself!
IF ANC was to back the vote rigging Zanu PF party and grant it legitimacy this year many South Africans will see it as ANC backing a fellow corrupt and incompetent regime. SA is holding its own elections next year and ANC’s popularity is bad enough as it is and the corruption label will only make things worse!
The Al Jazeera documentary has put a lot of meat on the corruption skeleton, It will be very foolish for any SADC country, particularly SA to pretend sanctions are still the root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown. Very foolish indeed!
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