"Chamisa still has the potential to be a successful leader." Yeah right! Kutsvaka huta mugati! W Mukori

 Zimbabwe is a failed state. After 44 years of gross mismanagement rampant corruption and tyrannical rule and millions now living in abject poverty it is not surprising the nation up is desperate for change. Desperate people do desperate things. “Kutsvaka huta mugati!” (Search for your bow in a pot!) as one would say in Shona.

Looking up to Nelson Chamisa to get Zimbabwe out of the political paralysis and economic mess we are in is searching for the bow and arrows in a pot!

“Failure is always a good thing if we learn from it. Has Chamisa and his indisciplined supporters learnt a thing from defeat?” asked Trevor Ncube is his recent article in Bulawayo 24.

“Only time will tell.

“Granted, Zanu-PF and the State security system played a big role in destroying the opposition, but Chamisa and those around him must take some responsibility.

“That is the first and arguably most important lesson.

“Studying political adversaries is well and good, but introspection is perhaps much more valuable. As things stand, Zimbabwe has no opposition to speak of.

“Chamisa still has potential to be the leader of the first successful opposition, only if he has learnt from the hard knocks of his two failures.

“Understanding the assignment at hand is important for success.”

I am surprised that Mr Trevor Ncube, of all people, would even be bothering to ask the rhetorical question: Is Chamisa capable of learning from the past? If he was, then how come he and his MDC/CCC friends have blundered from pillar to post these last 24 years? 

The number one reason the people of Zimbabwe have risked livelihoods, limbs and over 500 lives were lost in the wanton violence of the 2008 elections alone to elect MDC/CCC leaders was, so they will bring about the democratic changes to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. As the party name implied, Movement for Democratic Change! 

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and got away with it precisely because MDC/CCC leaders have not only failed to implement even one token reform in 24 years including the 2008 to 2013 GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so. And, worst of all, they have participated in flawed elections know fully well Zanu PF was rigging and that doing so would give the regime legitimacy. They have soldiered on regardless for the same reasons they failed to implement reforms during the GNU - greed and breathtaking incompetence.

The very fact that Chamisa has continued to enjoy the support of millions of Zimbabweans regardless of his well documented track record as corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent speaks volumes of his supporters’ own intellectual inaptitude. 

Chamisa’s supporters are no different from Boxer, the horse in Animal Farm. Boxer took just as long to learn the first four letters of the alphabet as other animals took to learn all the alphabet. He took just as long again to learn the next four letters and by then he had forgotten the first four. Boxer struggled to follow any argument and could not string together more than two sentences to express his own view. 

Boxer accepted that he was dumb and, not uncommon with dumb people, accepted everything that Napoleon said without question. He adopted “Comrade Napoleon is always right!” as his motto. Blind loyalty is the very antithesis of what is demanded for a healthy and functioning democracy. 

Telling these Chamisa supporters that he sold out by failing to implement even one reform during the GNU, for example, is a waste of time. These men and women have no clue what the reforms are much less that the primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement reforms. They have spend the last 24 years chanting “Chinja! Change!” they still have no clue what these changes are.

The hundreds of man-years spend explaining why we need the democratic changes, reforms, and how this was to be accomplished have all been a waste of time, water off a duck’s back. Chamisa’s supporters, as with the Zanu PF hard core supporters, will never comprehend Chamisa and company will ever deliver democratic change in Zimbabwe no more than Boxer would learn the alphabet!

“Chamisa still has potential to be the leader of the first successful opposition!” Yeah right, after 24 years and not even one token reform implement. It is this intrinsic desperate naivety that not only explains why we are a failed state but, more penitently, why we are seemingly incapable of extracting ourselves out of this hell!

Epworth residences were promised title deed, a year later, they get a worthless offer letter. Zanu PF is cat toying with mouse! W Mukori

 The Presidential title deeds programme has intensified, with 18,000 title deeds issued in Epworth this month. The programme, launched by President Mnangagwa, aims to secure property rights for homeowners in previously informal settlements. The government plans to issue over 1.5 million title deeds this year, with initial phases already underway in areas like Chitungwiza, Gimboki in Mutare, and Cowdray Park in Bulawayo.

Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary, Nick Mangwana, announced that 1,000 deeds have been issued so far, with 18,000 offer letters ready for issuance in June. The government has also completed designs for essential infrastructure in Epworth, including a water treatment plant and sewage systems.

In Chitungwiza, 55,000 title deeds will be issued to longstanding municipal tenants, and 9,000 will be issued in Southlea Park once necessary services are constructed. Additionally, 21,000 deeds will be issued under the nationwide Government-enabled housing programme. The programme targets the regularisation of informal settlements, long-standing municipal tenants, and beneficiaries of government housing initiatives.

Mangwana noted that processes such as surveying, infrastructure design, and bond management registrations are ongoing in Chitungwiza, Gimboki, and Cowdray Park to prepare for deed issuance. Offer letters are being distributed, which precede the actual deed issuance. The Kwangu Trust Command Centre is equipped to issue at least 1,000 deeds daily using state-of-the-art technology.

Before independence the only place a blacks could have title deed on a piece of land was the urban centres in the so called high density suburbs with their matchbox house. After independence the only improvement was that blacks could now buy houses in the formerly whites only low density suburbs. 

John Robertson, a white economist and banker, gave Ian Smith a paper arguing the economic advantages of granting title deeds to rural blacks. Smith rejected the recommendations.

Beyond the urban centres the white regime stubbornly refused to let blacks have title deeds to even a few square metres on which their mud hovel stood. The white did not want the blacks other than the few in the urban centres to have ownership of land especially the rural folk because they did not want blacks to have any political power and what better way of political subjugation than through economic subjugation. 

After independence John Robertson gave Robert Mugabe the same paper arguing that rural blacks must the given title deed to the land. Mugabe rejected the recommendations for the same selfish political reasons.

After independence Zanu PF stopped giving blacks title deeds to the urban dwellers, especially in the new high density suburbs like Epworth. It is only now, 44 years after independence that the regime is grudgingly conceding to grant title deeds, and is making a biog song and dance about it. First you get a letter offer and then the title deed. It has taken over a year to get the letter offer for the residence of Epworth!

At this rate it will probably take another 44 years before the rural folk get their offer letter and then title deed to the postage stamp size land on which their mud hovel stand! Meanwhile millions of our people continue to sink deeper and deeper into economic despair whilst the oppressive ruling elite, the sadistic swines, continue to grind the masses into the gutter!

Zimbabweans must stop blaming SADC for rigged 2023 elections and, at long last, own up to our own folly. W Mukori

 “Zimbabwe is one of those countries that has benefited immensely from this "see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil" policy maintained by SADC,” argued Tendai Mbofana in his recent article in Bulawayo 24.

“That is why, in spite of a damning election observer mission report by SADC itself on the August 2023 harmonised elections, the regional body did not take any stern action or even strongly condemn Zimbabwe.

“The heads of State preferred to pretend as if all was well in Zimbabwe. As it turns out, the country is even taking over the SADC chair in August this year.”

There was much more to why SADC let Mnangagwa off the hook after the rigged 2023 elections than the “see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil” policy.

After Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2008 Zimbabwe elections, SADC did deny Zanu PF political legitimacy and forced the regime to agree to the 2008 Global Political Agreement and the 2008 to 2013 GNU. 

There are four reasons why SADC did not repeat the 2008 punishment and deny Zanu PF legitimacy regardless of the damning 2023 election reports from both AU and SADC;

1. 1) millions of Zimbabweans participated in the flawed elections knowing fully well the process was flawed and participating would give Zanu PF legitimacy; they soldiered on regardless because they believed Chamisa’s lies of plugging all the vote rigging loop holes.

1. 2) The winning CCC leaders took up their gravy seats even after SADC and AU had condemned the election process. They insisted the won seats were in liberated zones where elections were free and fair and not the gravy train seats given out by Zanu PF as bait. All nonsense. 

ZEC’s failure to produce a verified voters’ roll, for example, affected all constituencies. Chamisa and company participated in the flawed elections out of greed and the claim of liberated zones is just a smoke screen to hide the real reason they were hell bent on participating - greed.

1. 3) As soon as the election results were out, before SADC leaders had had any chance to digest the results much less what to do about Zanu PF rigging the elections, CCC leaders started fighting amongst themselves over few gravy train seats the party had won. Self designated CCC Secretary General, Sengezo Tshabangu, started recalling elected officials.  CCC imploded!

1. 4) There are some SADC leaders, notably SA’s ANC, who would back a vote rigging Zanu PF rather than see regime change in Zimbabwe. The three reasons above provided the excuse for the do-nothing camp in the regional body to prevail.

There are reports that some people are planning to hold protest demonstrations during the forthcoming SADC Summit in Harare in August 2024. What is it exactly these people be protesting against?

Some people say they will be protesting against SADC leaders for failing to deny Zanu PF legitimacy after SADC election observers condemned the 2023 elections. And for rewarding the vote rigging Mnangagwa with the chairmanship of the regional grouping. True, but - it is a big but!

But these protestors are forgetting that it was SADC leaders who created the golden opportunity for Zimbabweans to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. MDC/CCC leaders sold out big time not only by failed to implement even one token reform but have been participating in flawed elections out of greed. 

And we, the Zimbabwean public have played our part in this tragic political and economic crisis that has befallen our country by doing very little to hold both vote rigging Zanu PF and sell out MDC/CCC to account. 

Zimbabwe is a failed state, stuck in a rut. 44 years after independence, we are still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections! One of the reasons why we are stuck is our repeated failure to define and understand our problems and hence the reason why we are always blundering from pillar to post. We have no clue where we are going. 

Zimbabweans are protesting against SADC for doing nothing to punish Zanu PF for the rigged 2023 elections and yet they have said nothing about Chamisa and company who participated out of greed and about their folly in being easily conned to participate. We really have no clue what is going on, SADC are NOT responsible for our failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. We are! By blaming SADC for our own folly, new are showing the world that we are not yet ready to be masters of our own destiny.

What is the character of a defeated race. Stephen Bantu Biko.

 STEPHEN BANTU BIKO in his book " I write what I like" says the following  amongst others.

What is a character of a defeated race?

- A race that brags about expensive clothes that they wear, that are produced by another race.

- A race that brags about cars that they drive, that are manufactured by companies owned by another race.

- A race that brags about their houses that are financed by financial institutions owned by another race.

-A race that takes their kids to school to be taught by another race.

- A race that will celebrate their wedding in the style of another race.

- A race that has fully adopted language and religion of another race. 

- A race that will hate each other defending another race.

- A race that will get excited to work for another race.

- A race that the only freedom it has is the freedom to vote and not economic freedom.

- A race that will kill each other just to have a political position and be in office and not be in power. 

- A defeated race is that race that is in majority but it's survival relies on the minority race. 

Are you part of the defeated race? Sadly  I am.

"The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity, to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth." 

~ Steve Biko.

It is a great pity that he did not live long enough to see the end of apartheid and to help chart out the path independent SA was to follow. One can see that Biko and Nelson Mandela would have complimented each other because both were great intellectuals with a vision. 

It is ease to see why Zimbabwe is in such a mess, the country has yet to have one leader, on either side of the political divide, with common sense much less a vision! Zimbabwe has been ruled by buffoons for 44 years and counting and it shows!

Zimbabweans devoid of common sense and no wonder the nation is doomed!

 By Hopewell Chin’ono on Twitter

China is a nation of 1.5 billion people with a GDP of US$20 trillion, it has 21 ministries, and it is the second biggest economy in the world.

Zimbabwe is a nation of 15 million people with a GDP of only US$20 billion, yet it has more than 26 ministries and is one of the worst economies in the world with the highest global inflation .

Do you now understand why we are a joke and laughing stock?

Whilst Mnangagwa has appointed a cabinet of family, friends and actresses, four out of the seven members of China’s Politburo Standing Committee hold degrees in Social Science and Humanities. 

The majority of the Central Committee members are trained in Law, Economics, and Social Science.

Within the Central Committee, 45 members have a PhD degree. 

Out of these 45, three members of Politburo and two members of Politburo Standing Committee have a doctoral degree. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping is one of the Politburo Standing Committee members who holds a PhD, the other being premier Li Keqiang. 

China’s top two leaders have doctoral degrees.

Then Africans wonder why the continent is a joke to the outside world and why we don’t progress?

Imagine the people who were appointed today are essentially the best foot forward for the president🤣🤣🤣

I had dinner with 2 Chinese diplomats in 2012 after Dr Ibbo Mandaza asked me to drive him to the dinner meeting at Great Wall Chinese restaurant in Belgravia.

The diplomats asked why we send useless people for trade negotiations.

They asked if we can’t see that there is a difference between national interest and personal interest.

I felt so humiliated when they started talking about the number of poor citizens that China lifted out of poverty every year.

We can only talk of the number of citizens that we impoverish annually.

We don’t even have a working radiotherapy cancer treatment machine.

We have a cabinet that can’t think beyond its nose, and that has no gravitas, and you still wonder why Zimbabwe is a sick man of the region?

I belong to the Tutu Fellowship/African Leadership Institute, and in our group we have ministers and ambassadors from various African countries.

These are very sharp people!

One of them who was recently appointed as ICT minister in Nigeria spent his time as an entrepreneur before the appointment hanging out with people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, yet Mnangagwa appointed an actress from Studio 263 as Zimbabwe’s ICT🤣🤣🤣

What will she discuss with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg?

We really should stop this nonsense of talking up how educated we are, it is a myth.

No educated nation will have someone like Kirsty Coventry who has run down sport reappointed as sports minister🤣🤣🤣

We should say we have educated individuals, that is where it ends because that education doesn’t translate into an educated country.

It is uncoordinated brilliance because we are led by people with no vision for the country beyond looting, repression, abuse of State institutions and plunder of the country’s natural resources.

For now we are doomed”

Thank you! We live in a country where even admitting that the system is not working is a great achievement. 

We all can see that Zimbabwe is a failed state and yet very few are aware of it because they want to see the positives, the cloud’s silver lining they ignore the danger the gather storm represent. 44 years of Zanu PF rigging the elections is all water off a duck’s back and yet this is the number one reason why we are a failed state.

The nation has risked all to elect MDC/CCC leader for the express purpose they will implement the necessary democratic changes to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. After 24 years including 5 in the GNU, and not even one token reform implemented; no one can dare ask why because there are many who consider Chamisa their infallible demigod who must not be held to account. 

I totally agree, we really are a doomed nation. A nation with so many devoid of common sense is doomed. 

"Zanu PF is our ally and ANC must support them no matter what!" squealed Mbalula, in Animal Farm Squealer style. W Mukori

 Zanu PF has denied the people of Zimbabwe a meaningful say in the governance of the country out of greed. They wanted absolute power and would burn down the whole country rather see any one else rule it.

“The ‘new’ regime can be viewed from different angles, but the nub of it is this: there’s a recognition that the economic fiasco of the last 20 years was suboptimal, but Emmerson Mnangagwa and his fellow travellers will burn the house down if they feel it necessary. Make no mistake, their will to power is every bit as intense as Mugabe’s—as is their belief that they own the country’s choicest fruits by right of conquest,” wrote Stuart Doran.

“There’s no comprehending Zimbabwe without an appreciation of that mentality. Yet many fail to get it because they don’t read the country’s history. In 1979, at the height of the struggle against white rule, a diplomat who mixed frequently with Mugabe and other leaders of his party observed that ‘ZANU does not seem to attach much importance to the destruction caused by prolonged war’. They said they were content to see Zimbabwe ‘totally’ demolished if that was the price to be paid for preventing others from ruling it. That attitude has not changed an iota, notwithstanding the passage of 40 years and Mugabe’s departure. After all, the men who now rule wielded his hatchets for most of that period. 

“That’s a tough ask for the same group of individuals who have shredded the country since 1980—a fraternity that will continue to loot, will continue to be tetchy about the merest hint of dissent, and will continue to patently despise the notion that it requires the consent of the people to govern.

“It’s not a question of whether Mnangagwa and company will continue to view Zimbabwe’s resources as a God-given right, but whether they can walk the line between controlled greed and madness,” continued Doran.

Of course, Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have never ever admitted that they have the divine right to the choicest fruit and will burn the country down first than let anyone else rule it. They have more tact than that! They have justified the insatiable greed and denial of the people’s basic freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country even the right to life on the grounds that Zanu PF was the only party that could be trusted to stop the return of the “colonial empiricists”. 

Whilst Zanu PF has made a big song and dance about the opposition being puppets of West pushing a regime change agenda. Zanu PF has itself allowed the Chinese and Russians to waltz into the country and have been the mastermind behind the wholesale looting of the country’s resources. And needless to say, both China and Russia have been behind Zanu PF’s vote rigging juggernaut and have supply all the regime’s needs for its political propaganda and tyrannical oppression. 

This is nothing new. Zanu PF borrowed this straight from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The turning point of the Animal Farm revolution was when the pigs kept the milk and apples for themselves. 

“You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. Milk and apples (this has been proven by science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well being of a pig. We pigs are brain workers,” cried Squealer. 

“Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back.”

The annoying thing was to hear ANC’s Fikile Mbalula wittering nonsense in support of Zanu PF. Thank God Nelson Mandela came before Fikile Mbalula because make no mistake about it SA would not be a democratic nation today. South Africans have booted ANC out of office, the very thing Mbalula feared would happen has happened. 

"In Zimbabwe,Zanu PF is our ally. Nelson Chamisa and his allies are not our allies " Fikile Mbalula. Yeah right!

Now that the SA voters have clipped ANC’s political ambition of keeping political parties with liberation war history in power at all cost, we can finally fight for democratic change knowing one of Zanu PF’s backers has been silenced. We still have the Chinese and Russians to fight besides Zanu PF itself. 

Neither Zanu PF nor its backers can afford to cancel the need to hold regular elections and rigging them is becoming a serious challenge particularly now that the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are itching for regime change! Both SADC and AU want to see free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. This is a fight Zanu PF knows it is set to lose. Watch this space!

Timba labeled 2023 elections a farce and yet refuse to admit CCC participated regardless out of greed. Wilbert Mukori

 The CCC faction aligned with former leader Nelson Chamisa maintains that last year's elections were manipulated in favor of the ruling Zanu-PF party, a sentiment echoed by both local and international observer missions.

Speaking to journalists after the conclusion of a CCC National Assembly meeting in Harare last week, Timba labeled the election outcome a "farce" and "illegitimate," urging SADC to address the matter during the upcoming summit.

"The election outcome, condemned by the global community and our region alike, did not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people. It was a sham, and its legitimacy is in question.

"The assembly also unanimously agreed, considering the upcoming SADC summit in August, that SADC should take a clear stance on the outcome of the August 2023 elections," Timba asserted.

Yes the elections was a farce and illegitimate but that did not stop you participating and taking up the few gravy train seats won even after SADC and AU had condemned the election process. Worse still, you conned your braindead followers to participate lying that CCC would win big because you had plugged all the vote rigging loop holes. 

Now you want SADC to clear your mess!

The day when ordinary Zimbabweans will finally accept that MDC/CCC leaders have been running with the povo hare and hunting with the Zanu PF hounds will be the day the nation will accept the need to elect competent opposition and have hope of finally ending the Zanu PF dictatorship.