Herbert Ushewokunze In The Early 1980s, In His blBook, An Agenda for Zimbabwe, Ushewokunze (1984: 3–4) writes:
Today, we must guard against a trend where the few take over power from the white minority and exercise it for the black minority. And they cover our eyes so that we do not realise that they are buying land, houses and business premises for themselves and for their families. To do all this, they use tribalism and regionalism. These people will tell you that the struggle over our national resources is between the Shona and the Ndebele, between Zezuru and Karanga, or between white and black. That is a big lie. You will find the rich Ndebeles, Shonas, Karangas, Zezurus and whites drinking and eating together, and living in the same suburbs. And quite happily you will also find the poor living together without recourse to tribe, race, region or such other divisive tactics used by the rich to oppress the poor. Neo-colonialism is when the few rich blacks and whites team up to run the old colonial economic structure for their own benefit and for international capital, forgetting that our political independence was brought about through sacrifices of the peasants and workers who still remain poor under neo-colonialism.
Edison Zvobgo in 1979 in an interview with BBC-
“We do not want to create a socio-legal order in the country, in which people are petrified, in which people go to bed having barricaded their doors and their windows, because someone belonging to the special branch of the police will break into their houses. This is what we’ve been fighting against. Every one of us has been in jail 10 years, 14 years, I myself 9 years without trial.
Every one of us has lived, has had to live scared of the police. How on earth do we create a society which is exactly like that? We don’t want it, we’re fed up of it, and this is why we’re in this revolution for as long as is necessary, to abolish the system.”
Who can prove these men wrong today⁉️”
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is these leaders saw the neo-colonialism of the “black minority” lording of the black majority coming and yet were powerless to stop it. Both Herbert Ushewokunze and Edson Zvobgo accepted the E-Class Mercedes Benz ministerial limos and all the other trappings of high office and they quickly learned to enjoy the trappings of high office and keep their mouths shut.
Robert Mugabe had one of the most useless cabinet in human history, they were so obliging they said nothing even during the Gukurahundi massacre of 1983 to 1987.
“Mose muni vakadzi vaMugabe!” said Margaret Dongo in sheer frustration at how Zanu PF leaders, MPs and even ministers all grovelled and acquiesced to all Mugabe’s wishes regardless how capricious and treasonous.
Mugabe and his cronies imposed this de facto one party state on the nation and after 44 years the system is well established and its roots run deep. There are many Zimbabweans today who are fighting to retain the Zanu PF dictatorship, some out of ignorance and others because they have benefited from it and/or are fearful of losing their loot or the dark past being uncovered if there is change.
It pays in the end to get the best in the beginning; in Zimbabwe we had the great misfortune of having corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs as the nation’s founding fathers and mothers. They created this failed state and unpicking the rot is a challenge!
18 comments:
Yeah! And who is going to tie the bell round the cat’s next? As long as Zanu PF remains in power it will do as it damn well please. People participated in the flawed elections to give the regime legitimacy because they believed an idiotic lie of plugging vote rigging loop holes.
@ Mehluli
Do not believe in me, believe in the reality. 2 million believed Chamisa’s idiotic lie that he had plugged all the vote rigging loop holes and participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. True or false?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38moEvRc1ao
Dr Nkomo mourned about Zimbabwe's culture of politically motivated violence in 1980, it is still with us to this day 44 years after independence. Worst of all, it is the root cause Zimbabwe is a failed state.
Curing ourselves of the double curse of rigged elections and bad governance was the nation's number one post independence challenge. 44 years on and we have still done nothing about and are paying dearly for our failure. The curse is not going away!
@ Ibbo Mandaza
It would have ended by now if MDC/CCC leaders had implemented the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. People like you know that MDC/CCC leaders have been selling out for the last 24 years and yet have swept it under the carpet. You know Chamisa lied about plugging vote rigging loop holes to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.
You are a journalist who number one responsibility to the nation is to educate them. You have talked about Zanu PF wrong doing but not Chamisa. Is Chamisa the special one, the demigod, who is untouchable!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Ocj9tg4nE
"Change is coming!" said Chamisa. If I a one cent from him every time he said it, I would be rich - not as rich as Mnangagwa of Grace Mugabe but rich nonetheless.
Chamisa has even named the change that was coming and when; CCC would "win big the 2023 elections. #Godisinit!", he said. "I have plugged all the vote rigging loop holes!" he assured all the doubting-Thomas. He did not win and one wonders why he keeps evoking the Lord God in his hare-brain schemes and lies.
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is that millions believed him, participated in the flawed elections again and again only to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the nation's suffering and deaths. We cannot stop Chamisa participating in the flawed 2028 elections what we must do is stop his braindead followers doing the same and thus give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the people's suffering yet again!
@ Eccentric Picture
Ok, I, Wilbert Mukori, am clueless and you Eccentric Pictures are wiser than King Solomon. I cannot offer any solution to any problems and have spend the last five years repeating the same thing. But help is on hand, for in walks the man wiser than King Solomon. (Mhururu nemuridzo!)
So please ask my simple question to you: “Does anyone who dares to criticise Chamisa do so because he/she considers Sengezo to be a saint?”
Whilst you are here, oh wise one; can you give us your way forward for Zimbabwe? I, for one, as you can see have no clue!
(There is no one more foolish than a village idea pretended to be wiser than King Solomon. He will write enough material to fill volumes as thick as the Bible without ever answering the simple question asked of him. He is just a stupid village idiot masquerading as a genius!)
@ Taona
“You are a qualified & recognised journalist and you know how politicians talk. They always want to win most citizenry & say what they want to hear in their rallies. Elections have come and gone. Keeping talking about participating in Elections & not managing any reforms during GNU doesn't help. Help suggesting all reforms needed and let's talk about those before the next Elections. We have learnt about what happened and its time to think about the future.”
You clearly have not digested what you have said here because if you did you would realise just how stupid it is!
You are telling me that “talking about participating in Elections & not managing any reforms during GNU doesn't help.” We know that MDC/CCC have NOT implemented even one reform in 24 years, including the 5 years in the GNU and they have participated in flawed election knowing fully well that doing so will give Zanu PF legitimacy. Chamisa has even lied that he had plugged all the vote rigging loop holes to entice his brain dead followers to participate. I have never heard you criticise Chamisa on this. Are you saying participating in the flawed elections is therefore helpful?
How has failing to implement reform and participating in flawed elections helped these last 24 years?
This is not just an academic exercise talking about MDC/CCC selling out by failing to implement reforms and participating in flawed elections; Chamisa is gearing up to do the same again in 2028! Are you saying that will be HELPFUL?
We have not learnt what happened in the past hence the reason why we have been participating in flawed election time and time again - that is the point! You just do not want it to be said that MDC/CCC leaders are corrupt and incompetent and hence the reason you desperately want nothing said about their pathetic track record.
Given Chamisa & Co. track record the nation must not believe his empty promises and participate in 2028 elections - that message must be hammered into the brain dead 2 million who were so easily conned to participate last year!
After 44 years of rigged elections the fight is to stop the nation being dragged into yet another flawed elections to make it 48 years of rigged elections!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nswkDMVYk2E
Zanu PF leaders like Eddison Zvobgo know what a tyrannical regime is and they had risked all to end white tyrannical oppressions and had no intention of becoming the next oppressors. If wishes were horses beggars would ride! Mugabe bribed the Zanu PF leaders with the trappings of high office all aspirations of building a just, peace and accountable political system evaporated like morning mist under the African sun!
Mugabe to similarly bribed the MDC leaders during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and they kicked the democratic reforms they were tasked to implement into the devil-thorn cactus thicket!
After 44 years of rigged elections the best hope to end this rot is making sure Chamisa Chete Chete followers DO NOT participate in the flawed 2028 elections in their millions as in 2023 to give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. This is easier said than done given their personality cult mentality rendering their minds impermeable to reason.
@ Rtd General Chiweshe
“I have always asked you @Wilbert Mukori ndiudzewo 1 election reform zvayo inodiwa according to our constitution.”
The constitution gives the state president to hire and fire ZEC, judiciary, Police, etc. and it is little wonder these bodies are captured. The constitution and the institutions themselves need reforming. The very fact that ZEC, Police, etc. have all failed to deliver free, fair and credible elections means there is something wrong with the institutions and the law itself.
MDC leaders failed to produce a sound constitution and carry out any meaningful institutional reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU because Mugabe bribed them with trappings of high office and, in return, they forgot about the reforms. Some people just do not want to accept that MDC/CCC leaders are corrupt and incompetent regardless of the evidence.
It is futile arguing with some one who does not want to accept facts and reality. Some people choose to close their eyes and minds. Of course, it is foolish because man is a creature of reason and only a fool would freely choose to close their eyes and run blind.
@ Keynes
Do get carried away, Mnangagwa rigged the 2023 elections with the help of Chamisa and company who participated to give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. No Zimbabwean with half a working brain would see anything good from rigged elections and the country being a failed state!
@ Mbofana
There is no leadership in Zimbabwe.
The tragedy for Zimbabwe is that buffoons like Mnangagwa have managed to impose themselves as leaders on the nation for 44 years and counting. The last 24 years they have done it with the tacit help of MDC/CCC leaders who have failed to implement even one token reform and have been participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed.
Whilst one can forgive the rural voters who cannot breath because the tyrannical regime has its heavy boot on their face crushing them into the gutter. The same cannot be said of the urban voters and the millions in the diaspora, they are the ones who continue to follow MDC/CCC blindly.
Chamisa conned them to participate in the flawed 2023 election on the back of an idiotic lie that that he had plugged all Zanu PF vote rigging loop holes. And they believed him; 2 million voted for him whilst 3 to 4 million in the diaspora cheered and bankrolled the election. How stupid is that!
Worse still, Chamisa is already gearing to participate in flawed 2028 elections and the herd cannot wait. He will have another idiotic lie of how he will win big RIGGED elections and the brain dead will believe him for the umpteenth time!
44 years after independence and we still cannot hold free, fair and credible elections! Many do even have a clue what constitutes free, fair and credible elections, in this day and age. Incredible!
No wonder we have buffoons and sell outs for leaders; leaders come from the people and so if there is no quality from the base source there can be no quality leaders. Cream rises from quality milk, if you have sewage it is called scum!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqWelCwBQr0
True, Zimbabwe is a failed state because we have buffoons and sell outs for leaders. Calling a buffoon "His Excellence" does not changed his behaviour and continence; he is still a buffoon and behaves accordingly.
We the people have had many opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship these last 44 years and have wasted them. We deserve these buffoons as leaders complete with the entourage of their MDC/CCC sell out side-kicks!
Dr Daneul
We have all known that ZEC, Police, judiciary, etc. cannot be trusted to deliver free and fair elections. Chamisa knew there was no verified voters’ roll, for example, and yet he still claimed that he had plugged all vote rigging loop holes #Godisinit! He lied and knew that he was lying! Are you denying that he lied?
@ Adn
As long as there are 2 million out there who believe Chamisa is the nation’s best foot forward and will continue to participate in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy the country is going nowhere. The challenge is to convince the herd to open their eyes and minds - you have not even scratched the surface.
@ Charles Mavhunga
“While it's true that Zimbabwe has faced significant challenges, labeling it a failed state is an oversimplification. The country has made notable progress in infrastructure development despite facing numerous obstacles, including the legacy of colonialism and ongoing external pressures.
The notion that Zimbabwe's leaders are solely responsible for the country's challenges ignores the complex historical and geopolitical context. The colonizers' abrupt departure and continued interference have contributed to the country's struggles.”
One of the consequences of four decades of tyrannical oppression is that millions have been so thoroughly brainwashed their brain tissue has ossified and turn into fat. It took nearly 20 years for most Zimbabweans to accept Mugabe was a corrupt and murderous tyrant, they would not accept it even in the face of all the economic nosedive, Gukurahundi massacres, etc.
They finally rejected Mugabe but only to embrace Tsvangirai and now Chamisa with the same blind loyalty of one incapable of thinking for themselves.
A heathy and functioning democracy, in Abraham Lincoln sense of government of the people, by the people and for the people, demands that the people must be educated, knowledgeable and diligent so that they always hold those in power to account.
Only some one whose brain has ossified would justify Zanu PF’s deliberate policy of denying the rural the title deed so that they can climb out of poverty, on the idiotic grounds that the west is interfering in Zimbabwe’s political affairs.
An electorate that is so ignorant, naive and gullible an upstart like Chamisa could con millions of them to participate in an election so flawed the logical step was to withdraw only to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate their own suffering is truly beyond the pale. Only some one whose brain has ossified can be that stupid!
Zimbabwe would not be a failed state if we had quality leaders and not buffoons and sell outs. With quality leaders, the ignorant and naive voters would have been given every opportunity to learn and improve themselves. With the buffoons as leaders the ignorant and naive voters were never given a chance to learn but were exploited for the purposes of keeping the buffoons in power.
If you are given lemons, make lemonade. There is no excuse why the electorate with the brain have allowed themselves to be taken advantage of by an up start like Chamisa. Unlike Mnangagwa with the coercive power of state machinery Chamisa had none so all those chose to believe his idiotic lies did so out of sheer stupidity!
@ Nelson Mandela
“Fools multiply when wise men remain silent!”
It’s a proverb on human behaviour. It suggests that when those who possess knowledge or experience remain quiet, ignorant individuals tend to become more prominent and influential.
There is a lot of truth in that! In a country like Zimbabwe were fools are encourage to run wild to create the state of lawlessness, chaos and confusion; tyrants are like crocodiles, they muddy the water to make the hunting easier.
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs trained the sheep to break into “Four legs good! Two legs bad!” chant at strategic moments to interrupt the debate and create confusion. A variation on Eddison Zvobgo’s Mozambique syndrome!
"Whenever they lost an argument when we
were in Mozambique, they would accuse you of
being CIA to avoid the substantive issues.”
@ Godfrey
“The intelligentsia cream is sat quietly under the feasting buffoons’ table arguing among themselves and dead scared to raise their voices and heads in case they tip over the buffoons table and face the consequences of disrespectful behaviour.”
I am sure there are some intelligentsia cream who, indeed dead scare to raise their voices against the buffoons’ reign of terror.
I am even more concerned about those who have soled their souls to the devil and are working for the corrupt and murderous buffoons to keep the regime in power for thirty pieces of silver. Both Mugabe and Mnangagwa has never had any problems recruiting intelligentsia to spruce up the regime’s image and to even do its dirty bidding.
I am equally concerned about the millions of seemingly intelligent men and women who have been conned by Chamisa. How can anyone with half a brain believe such idiotic nonsense as “I have plugged all Zanu PF vote rigging loop holes. #Godisinit!” And yet millions of Zimbabweans believed him and millions of them have high school education or better - proof having university qualification or holding a very well paid job as nothing to do with stupidity.
It is the Chamisa Chete Chete brigade who have helped Zanu PF stay in power these last 24 years. If one can stop these idiots participating in 2028 elections we can be certain SADC will deny vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. This is why I am focusing all my attention on the Chamisa Chete Chete idiots and not the others.
Of course, you are free to focus your time and energy on whoever you please, real or imaginary! Go ahead.
@ Baba Sama
“Why iwe wacho usingauye pa ground kunoita example.”
Was that why MDC/CCC have failed to implement any reforms because I am not on the ground or are you saying I cannot hold them to account because I am NOT on the ground?
The issue of holding those in power to democratic account is at the heart of why Zimbabwe is a failed state - we have failed to hold both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC leaders to account. One of the reasons why we have failed is because there are battalions of supporters, on each side of the political divide, who have taken it upon themselves to silence all who dare hold their respective leaders to account.
Zanu PF supporters will label the critic a puppet of the West and switch-off. MDC/CCC supporters will label the critic a Zanu PF project and switch-off too. They are all doing it to avoid addressing the substantive issues of the respective leaders’ incompetence, corruption and, in the case of Zanu PF, vote rigging and murder.
We are stuck because these brain dead supporters have their heads buried in the leaders’ backside and hope the nation’s economic, social and political problems will disappear. The problems have not disappears but only got worse. The solution is to kick these idiots’ backsides and force them to pull-out their heads and address the substantive issues at stake.
Only a village idiot who does not want Mnangagwa or Chamisa to be held to account would suggest these leaders are only accountable to those “on the ground”. The outrageous suggestion must be thrown out with the contempt it rightly deserve.
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