45 years after independence we are still failing the simple test of holding free and fair elections. W Mukori

 “And we are failing to cross the street!” remarked President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania was told about the Americans landing on the Moon in 1969.

I have always admired President Nyerere for that quotation. It represents an honest admission of Africa’s shortcomings and, more significantly, a concerted effort to answer why Africa has lagged behind.

Zimbabwe is a failed state. The evidence we are a failed state is there for all to see. I will go straight to the why we are a failed state, and not what time restating the evidence or rebutting the denials.

One of the reasons why Zimbabwe is a failed state is our failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship for 45 years and counting. The party has rigged elections to stay in power and, up to now at least, the nation has all but failed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

It is no secret that Zanu PF has an inbuilt electoral majority from the rural vote. Zanu PF withdraw many of its freedom fighters to Assembly Points as agreed in the Lancaster House Agreement during the 1980 elections. The operatives remained in the field and their election campaign message was that if Zanu PF did not win the elections, the bush war would continue. Many of the rural areas with these Zanu PF operatives were “no go areas” for other contesting parties.

The rural voters, at least, voted to end the bush. One does not argue looking up the business end of an AK47 rifle!

Rural areas have remained, to this day, Zanu PF strongholds and no go areas for all the other parties. Zanu PF kept the rural folk poor by deliberately denying title deeds to even a few square metres of land on which their mud huts stand. This is the one right that would mean everything to these people and would set them for meaningful economic and political empowerment. 

It is no surprise that Ian Smith’s white colonial regime realised this and it too denied rural blacks title deeds for the same selfish political reasons. 

Indeed, when blacks was the war of independence was fought over the land issue, that is exactly what they are talking about. Why were the whites allowed to own vast tracks of land and yet the blacks were denied the right to own even a postage stamp size yard!

The seizure of white owned farms, often accompanied by the gratuitous violence, was supposedly to give the land back to the landless peasants. In practice, the seized farms were given to the Zanu PF ruling elite and their cronies. 

Mnangagwa has announced the recipients of the former white owned farms will now get title deeds to the farms and with it the full legal ownership rights. The Regime continues to demolish houses in Ruwa and other rural areas where Land Barons had given away land underlining the regime’s policy that rural folk must not be given title deeds to any land. 

The bottomline is Zimbabwe’s rural folk, constituting 60% of the electorate, are nothing more than medieval serfs beholden to the Zanu PF ruling elite and the proxies, the village heads, chiefs, war veterans, Zanu PF militia, etc. It is no secret that party operatives have repeatedly frog-marched rural folk to attend party rallies and to vote for the party. How could Zanu PF lose an election with such a built-in majority? 

The one occasion in the March 2008 election when Zanu PF, under pressure from SADC, was forced to loosen its electoral control, the nearest the country ever got to holding free and fair elections; the party lost the vote. The party intervened to stop the results being announced. The party ordered a recount of 5 million votes which was to last six weeks. The presidential vote count was last to be announced; Tsvangirai’s 73%, according to Mugabe’s own Freudian slip, had been whittled down to 47%. Enough to force a run-off.

During the run-off Zanu PF launched Operation Mavhotera Papi (Whom did you vote for) desired to punish the voters for having dared to reject the party in the early vote. If anyone had thought Zanu PF’s threat to use violence to win elections was a bluff, Operation Mavhotera Papi left no one in any doubt this is not an empty threat.

Both SADC and AU refused to accept Zanu PF’s political legitimacy and forced the party to agree to the formation of GNU. The primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the democratic reforms to end Zanu PF’s political struggle hold especially on the rural voters to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

Alas! Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who were entrusted the task of implementing the democratic reforms during the GNU, failed to implement even one token reform in 5 years. Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office, the E-Class Mercedes Benz, the generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Save himself, etc., etc. And in return MDC leaders kick the reforms into the Cactus thicket!

Zanu PF emerged out of the GNU with all its carte blanche dictatorial powers including its heavy boot on the throat of the rural voters. 

Even now, with the benefit of hindsight, many Zimbabweans have no clue the primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the democratic reforms much less that MDC leaders sold out.

Last month, Zimbabweans observed the country’s 45th year of independence, 45 years of rigged elections and there is nothing to suggest the penny has finally dropped. The nation will be going into its next elections with the same skewed electoral system in which Zanu PF thugs retain their heavy boot on the throat of the rural voters to guarantee the party’s in-built majority. 

45 years after independence and we are still failing to cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. We are failing to cross the street when others are landing on the Moon.

“And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.” Genesis 4: 9 - 11.

Forget being our brother’s keep; by turning a blind eye to Zanu PF thugs keeping their heavy boots on the neck of the rural people we denied ourselves the blessing of good governance. 45 years after independence in this day and age and we still failing to cross the street of free and fair elections.Of course we deserve to suffer the curse of rigged elections.

Machakaire ask Mnangagwa to visit hospital to see people's suffering. Mnangagwa must go. No one elected him! W Mukori

 “I visited one of the public health institutions this morning to see a relative and left deeply concerned about the conditions I witnessed.” posted Hon Minister Tina Machakaire. He pleaded for Mnangagwa to go out and see the tragic situation in Zimbabwe for himself.

“I respectfully plead with you; please find time from your busy schedule to visit these institutions yourself. There is no substitute for seeing, listening and understanding firsthand what our citizens are going through.”

How naive! So you think Mnangagwa does not know that Zimbabwe’s health care service has all but collapsed. This did not happen in the last few months or years, the steady decline dates back to soon after independence in 1980! And it is not only healthcare but all other services and sectors have collapsed and/or in advanced stages of rot and decay.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and murderous thugs who rig elections to stay in power; there will be no meaningful economic recovery. 

Both SADC and AU election observers condemned Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections as flawed and illegal. They did not go the extra mile and deny Zanu PF legitimacy as they did in 2008 for three basic reasons:

1. 1) CCC leaders, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, participated in flawed elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging that participating will give Zanu PF legitimacy and still they went ahead regardless and conned millions of the supporters to participate.

1. 2) Even after both SADC and AU had publicly condemned Zimbabwe’s election process CCC leaders still went ahead and took up their gravy train seats arguing they had won in “liberated zones”. Liberated zones, my foot! Zanu PF has allowed the opposition to win some gravy train seats to entice them to participate in the elections no matter how flawed the process got. Indeed, in 2018 Mnangagwa created POLAD, a super numeral political body for purpose of rewarding the losing presidential candidates with cars and other perks and entice them to participate in future elections.

1. 3) It would have been foolhardy of SADC and AU to deny Zanu PF legitimacy in 2023 to form a new GNU as happened in 2008 since it was clear that the main players in the new GNU are the same Zanu PF and MDC leaders who were in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They failed to implement even one token reform in five years, there was no reason to believe they will do any better! Form a new GNU for what end and purpose if the Zimbabweans themselves are contend with the dysfunctional status quo!

Mnangagwa knows that he rigged the 2023 elections and that SADC and AU were right in condemning the process. He dismissed both with his usual arrogance’s calling them “vavengi” (detractors). So even our regional and continental neighbours are now Zimbabwe’s enemies because they dare to point out that Zanu PF is denying the people their fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

The right to free, fair and credible elections is more that just a right; it is the essence of good governance. Zimbabwe desperately needs good governance if the country is going to revive its collapsed healthcare and education services, rebuild rotten and decayed infrastructure, etc. 

After 45 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule, why beat about the bush; Mnangagwa must be told in no uncertain terms “In the name of God, go!”

“You have sat too 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.” Oliver Cromwell told the Rump British parliament in 1653.

Zimbabwe is a failed state and here is Anton Chekhov's read of "the nature of a failed society". W Mukori

 THE NATURE OF A FAILED SOCIETY

When asked the Russian writer Anton Chekhov about the nature of failed societies, he replied: 

"In failed societies, there are a thousand fools for each successful brain and a thousand clumsy words to counter each good advice. 

"The majority are always dumb, ill-informed, egoistic and constantly dominating the rational and intelligent ones.

"They love trivializing important issues to distract them from facing their reality.

"They love holding meeting upon meetings but ensuring that each meeting is turned to throwing banters and cracking jokes to prevent diligent scrutiny of issues.

"They are led by cliques, cabals and a few unserious individuals, while the majority are disenchanted, disgruntled and uninterested.

"They're like a cult group where the gangsters are the majority.

"They thrive on extorting from a few among them who have overbloated egos and always seeking for public attention, without knowing they're being used. It's called a society of pacifiers and nonentities.

"Trivial matters are always at centre stage, and any attempt to make them face their real challenges are opposed and vehemently resisted. They're constantly living in denial. 

"An example of a failed society is where, millions of people crowd themselves together every time, dancing and repeating meaningless songs and words to themselves, and turning that to a societal culture.

"In failed societies, everyone have their own opinions, which are never articulated. It's a society where constructive, sound, and workable ideas are constantly being suppressed for the mischievous cabal to keep being the dominant force.

"In failed societies, it's favoritism and rewards for patronage that's popular, while merit is sabotaged. Also, it's characterized by injustices and praise singing.

"Such societies thrive on information hoarding and secret keeping as leadership accountability is regarded as a privilege and not a right. Open conversations are frowned at and regarded as an attack against leadership. Demanding for leadership accountability is forbidden.

"Gang leaders love to quote laws in the society that's actually lawless and governed through caucus decisions. The minority are always pretending to be the majority. 

"Divide and rule, rumour mongering, emotional blackmail, are the readily tools for governance. Those with honest intentions for promoting the culture of common good are quickly labelled as saboteurs and isolated, so they don't corrupt the dormant majority.

"Genuine contributors and solution providers are not known and no one gives them credit for their efforts. Failed societies lack the attitude of gratitude.

"Since the crowd love pettiness and mundane things, they love those telling them it's okay not to use their own brains to think for themselves, and prefer comedian that make them laugh with meaningless jokes, than the poet who is waking them up to reality and telling them the truth that temporarily hurts. 

"Therefore, the caucus leadership called ’democracy' is not an ideal leadership model for ignorant people and unenlightened societies, because the corrupt minority will keep deciding their fate. The people must seek their own salvation and redemption from within themselves before yielding to leadership. In constructive leadership, one is not above the others, one is a member from within the body."

How true!

There is nothing wrong with universal suffrage, every one must have the right to a meaningful say in the governance of their country. The operative phrase here is "meaningful say". How can you have a meaningful say on matters you do not understand? 

The ancient Greeks, who gave mankind democracy - government of the people, for the people and by the people - all these 2 500 years ago; were right, democracy only works if the people are educated, knowledgeable, objective and diligent in their sacred duty of holding leaders to account. 

In Zimbabwe the populous are ignorant, naive and gullible and, no wonder, they have failed in their duty to hold leaders to account. The ruling elite have deliberately kept the masses ignorant and naive for the selfish purpose of conning the masses and avoid accountability.

Like it or not, in a country whose founding fathers only cared about absolute power and personal glory and did not care about democracy and good governance, universal suffrage has been a curse and not a blessing! And once established a failed state is hard to uproot; after 45 years, Zimbabwe's autocracy is deep rooted.

The evil that men do lives after them and not interred with the bones. The evil of 2008 electoral coup must be remembered forever!

 By Political Reporter- The Zanu PF government has declared Brigadier General (Retired) Victor Rungani a national hero, sparking outrage over the state’s continued glorification of men with blood-soaked legacies.

Rungani, who led a reign of terror in Mashonaland East during the infamous 2008 presidential run-off, died Tuesday in Harare after a short illness.

His hero status was announced by State Security Minister Lovemore Matuke at the Rungani family farm in Goromonzi, where relatives and community members had gathered.

Rungani was not just a soldier—he was one of the late President Robert Mugabe’s most feared enforcers. 

In 2008, after Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential election to Morgan Tsvangirai, Rungani was deployed as part of a brutal military operation designed to reverse the outcome through sheer terror.

At the time, he was Director of the Zimbabwe National Army’s Engineering and Military Equipment Directorate. But instead of building bridges, Rungani was tasked with breaking spirits. 

In Mashonaland East, he orchestrated mass beatings, abductions, and killings of MDC supporters—personally directing torture sessions and re-education camps known as pungwes.

His actions were part of a nationwide scorched-earth campaign coordinated by the Joint Operations Command (JOC), the shadowy military cabal that hijacked Zimbabwe’s electoral process under the guise of defending national sovereignty.

State media, however, glossed over this dark history—reporting only that Rungani died at Mbuya Dorcas Hospital and praising his role in military engineering.

No mention was made of the blood on his hands.

Born in Bikita, Masvingo province, Rungani was one of several senior commanders who turned villages into killing fields. 

He operated alongside a terrifying cast of military men: Major General Engelbert Rugeje (Masvingo), Brigadier General David Sigauke (Mashonaland West), Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba (Manicaland), Air Vice Marshal Abu Basutu (Matabeleland South), Air Vice Marshal Henry Muchena (Harare), Brigadier General Sibusiso Moyo (Midlands), Brigadier General Sibangumuzi Khumalo (Matabeleland North), Brigadier General Etherton Shungu (Mashonaland Central), Colonel Chris Sibanda (Bulawayo), and Air Commodore Mike Tichafa Karakadzai (Harare).

Together, backed by the Central Intelligence Organisation and more than 80,000 youth militia, they launched a nationwide campaign of violence that ultimately forced Tsvangirai to withdraw from the run-off.

This campaign was not only political—it was deeply personal, systematic, and savage.

It left hundreds dead, thousands injured or raped, and entire communities traumatised.

While Rungani’s death closes one chapter, it reopens another a chapter of unanswered questions and unhealed wounds. 

It reminds Zimbabweans that the men who destroyed democracy and violated the people have never been brought to justice.

Rungani’s name, like those of his fellow commanders, may now appear in the National Heroes Acre—but in the hearts of many Zimbabweans, it is etched in infamy."

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones

“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones” is a quote spoken by Mark Antony. It appears to be about Caesar but is actually about Brutus.

Surprised at US$ 20m bribe Chamisa reportedly received but not surprised he sold out - it's common knowledge. W Mukori

 I am not surprised to hear from Jealousy Mawarire that Nelson Chamisa sold out to Zanu PF; the evidence of MDC/CCC betrayal has been there for all to see! The surprise is the payout Chamisa received!

"In the audio, Nero (Chamisa) admits he has 'no table manners' thus he needed ED (Mnangagwa) to restrain him from over looting if he won the elections," Mawarire wrote on X. "Since he lost the 2023 elections, the obligation lies with ED to look after Chamisa."

"When we talk of $20m that Mukomana was given, we aren't delusional. We know there is that arrangement between the two to look after each other.” 

Jealousy Mawarire has made many shocking revelations in the past and many have turned out to be true. The surprise here is payout Chamisa received for his Judas Iscariot kiss!

The people of Zimbabwe do not need rumours from Mawarire to KNOW the MDC/CCC leaders are sellouts. Morgan Tsvangirai and his banded mongoose friends have failed to implement even one token reform in 25 years 5 of which in the GNU when they had the golden opportunity to do so. 

Chamisa lied that “MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the 2018 elections” to con his supporters to participate in the flawed election. He knew that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that participating would give the regime legitimacy. He and his mangoes friends also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. They found the bait irresistible!

Chamisa repeated the same idiotic lie for the same selfish reason in 2023. “I have plugged all the Zanu PF vote rigging loop holes. #Godisinit!” he even evoke the name of God!

It is no secret that the MDC/CCC has been Zanu PF team B is all but name - participating in flawed elections to make sure team A win and has political legitimacy. David Coltart admitted all these things in his book. 

“The (2013) 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,” confessed David Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. 

Whilst the few MDC/CCC leaders who did win the gravy train seats got the US$60 000 car generous salary and allowance, etc. Tsvangirai/Chamisa/Mwonzora/Khupe, as leader of the MDC/CCC, would got the 20% of the Political Party Finance Act payout. If Mawarire’s claims are factual, then Chamisa got a lot more for selling out the nation! 

Any one with half a brain would not be surprised MDC/CCC leaders sold out, the only surprise here is payout each of the banded mongooses received! And the heavy price the nation has paid for this blatant betrayal! 

But worst of all, is the tragic reality that millions of Zimbabweans out there remain ignorant of the blatant MDC/CCC leaders’ betrayal and hence the reason why the nation has continued to sink into the abyss. Nation get the government they deserve and we certainly deserve this Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its entourage of corrupt and utterly useless MDC/CCC side kicks. 

A healthy and functioning democracy demands that the people be educated, knowledgeable, objective and they must be diligent in carrying out their sacred duty of holding leaders to democratic account. Zimbabweans are ignorant, naive and gullible and hence the reason why they are so easily conned into believing idiotic lies time and time again.

If MDC/CCC leaders had implemented the democratic reforms timeously Zimbabwe would have put an end to the curse of rigged elections and bad governance by 2013, at the latest. Alas! That was not to be. MDC/CCC leaders sold out and the nation is paying dearly for it! Millions are living in abject poverty and many have suffered and died, millions more will suffer and die for generations to come. 

Is the blatant betray of millions of innocent Zimbabweans, condemned to suffer and die under the Zanu PF dictatorship, worth the gravy train seats, US$ 60 000 car and US$20 million bribe? I ask!

Mnangagwa step up the sporadic issuing of title deeds in urban centres. Rural peasants must wait - perhaps never. W Mukori

 The Government has intensified efforts to issue title deeds in residential areas across Zimbabwe, a move President Mnangagwa says will guarantee security of tenure and legal property ownership for thousands of citizens. The initiative, spearheaded through the Kwangu/Ngakwami Presidential Title Deeds Programme, will see over 7,000 title deeds issued this month alone in suburbs such as Epworth, Chitungwiza, Southlea Park, and Glenwood.

Speaking during the 45th Independence Day celebrations at Mutora Open Grounds in Gokwe last Friday, President Mnangagwa said the rollout complements Zimbabwe's Land Reform Programme and aims to empower both urban homeowners and farmers.

"It is worth noting that this year's Independence celebration is occurring after the consolidation of our land reform through the issuance of title deeds to both A1 and A2 farmers, including veterans of the liberation struggle," said President Mnangagwa. "My Government is also stepping up efforts to regularise both old and new settlements in cities and towns throughout the country. These programmes are set to assure citizens security of tenure and ownership of their properties through title deeds.”

The real tragedy here is that the buffoon thinks he is doing the Zimbabweans a great favour “giving” them what the regime has denied the people all these years - their right to own property! He even makes a big song and dance about it; “presidential Title Deeds Programme”! 

Everything has become presidential! Presidential Youth Fund, Presidential war veterans housing fund, Teachers4ED, Varakashi4ED, etc., etc.The glory of Mnangagwa is all that matters and so the nation is having to suffer so that when Mnangagwa does anything to alleviate the suffering, even when he is the one who inflicted it in the first place, he is given credit for it. 

It is no secrete that Zanu PF is denying title deeds to the rural peasants for the same selfish political reasons the white colonial regimes denied the same. The whites granted title deeds to urban dwellers, Zanu PF has extended the right sporadically with political steel-ropes attached, as 7 000 recipients of the Title Deeds will learn soon enough.

Only God knows when the rural peasants will ever be granted the right to own even 20 square metres of land on which their mud hut stand. The right to own land is the one freedom and right that would mean everything to these people and yet this is the one thing Zanu PF continues to be deny them! This is the price the nation is paying for being ruled by buffoons.

NTA's task is to restore the people's right to free elections and hold leaders to account and stop the tail wagging the dog! W Mukori

 

Belling The Cat

by Aesop

---

The Mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question: Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.

This tale is so simple and yet speaks volumes of the dilemma the nation is facing - how will the nation wrestle power from this Zanu PF regime that is now so powerful and the people so helpless the equivalence of cat and mice is not at all off the mark. 

The first correction one must make here is to explain the masses must not be fooled by the thugs’ posturing and bravado; the thugs are no more human beings than anyone of the masses. Mnangagwa has the Army, Police, ZEC, Judiciary and even the opposition members in his deep pockets. Yes he has used the nation’s looted wealth to bribe the various players to do his dirty bidding of looting the nation blind, rigging elections and terrorising the people  thugs to give himself and Zanu PF this aura of invincibility. 

Still, he is human and NOT the all power cat before us powerless mice.

In a healthy and functioning democracy the leaders are accountable to the people and yet here we have a situation in which the ruling elite are calling all the shots and we, the people, tremble in fear before them. The tail is wagging the dog!

Zanu PF thugs have usurped the people’s democratic right to free, fair and credible elections, the only sure way the people can fulfil their sacred duty as citizen of holding leaders to account. 

The only sure way to end the Zanu PF dictatorship by wrestling back the right to free, fair and credible elections that Zanu PF has systematically denied the people all these last 45 years. There have been many opportunities to wrestle this right back, notably during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. 

The way forward for Zimbabwe entails understand why the 2008 to 2013 GNU offered the best chance ever to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and why nothing was accomplish. If people who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat the same foolish mistakes over and over again.

The NTA being proposed by Dr Ibbo Mandaza is but a variation of the 2008 to 2013 GNU and its primary task will be to implement the democratic reforms Morgan Tsvangirai & Co. failed to implement. Indeed one of the demands for the NTA to work is that all those involved in the 2008 GNU cannot play any major part in the new arrangement; if they failed to implement even one token reform in 5 years it will be naive to expect them to do any better now.

Mandaza calls for National Transition Authority - without educated voters, its doomed to fail

 “Let me be clear: Zimbabwe's crisis will not be solved by another election. What we face is not merely a political problem but a comprehensive national emergency requiring a fundamental reset.

Through a series of SAPES Trust Policy Dialogues and consultations with diverse stakeholders, we have crystallised a proposal that has gained remarkable momentum across political and social divides: The convening of an All-Stakeholders Conference to seek a durable solution to Zimbabwe's decades old crisis.

Central to this proposal is the establishment of a National Transitional Authority (NTA) to prepare the ground for a durable peace and national prosperity.

This is not a coup by other means, nor is it an attempt to subvert democracy.

Rather, it is a recognition that democracy itself requires institutional foundations that have been systematically eroded in Zimbabwe.

We propose a time-limited intervention to rebuild these foundations before returning to electoral politics.

The NTA would replace both executive and legislature for three to five years with a singular mandate: undertaking the comprehensive reforms necessary to restore Zimbabwe to stability and set the stage for genuine democracy.

 Its composition would be strictly non-partisan — respected Zimbabweans from home and abroad with demonstrated integrity and competence, who would be barred from seeking political office for five years following their service.

Critics will ask: Why not simply push for free and fair elections? The answer is painfully evident. Our electoral system has been so compromised that even technically "free" elections cannot yield legitimate outcomes.

The judiciary has been politicised, security services weaponized, media captured, and electoral bodies compromised.

Elections under these conditions merely recycle our problems rather than addressing them.

We propose that the NTA's mandate focus on four critical areas:

First, restoring constitutional governance and rebuilding respect for our constitution across all institutions.

Second, reforming key institutions - particularly the judiciary, security sector, and electoral commission - to guarantee their independence and professionalism.

Third, transforming our electoral framework to ensure future elections are not just free but legitimate and uncontested.

Finally, stabilising our economy through comprehensive reforms addressing debt, monetary policy, land rights, and productive capacity.

This is not a partisan agenda. It is an agenda that puts Zimbabwe first. The proposed reforms would benefit citizens across political divides by creating a functional state that delivers for all rather than enriching a few.

Some will question whether such a transition is possible without the consent of the current power-holders.

This is a legitimate concern, but not an insurmountable obstacle. International experience shows that when citizen pressure combines with regional and international support, even entrenched regimes can accede to transitional arrangements — particularly when their own long-term interests are better served by orderly transition than chaotic collapse.

Our proposal begins with a convening of an All-Stakeholders National Conference bringing together citizens committed to national renewal, followed by a structured national dialogue to define the transition framework, culminating in a political settlement that scaffolds the NTA.

The church and Zimbabwe's diaspora will play a crucial role. Our scattered children carry not just remittances but skills, connections, and perspectives vital to national regeneration.

The NTA would create channels for their meaningful participation in rebuilding the country many were forced to leave.

Let me address potential skeptics directly: Is this proposal idealistic? Perhaps. But "realistic" approaches have delivered us to our current catastrophe.

Is it ambitious? Certainly. But Zimbabwe's challenges demand nothing less than ambitious solutions.

The alternative to bold action is not stability but continued decline. Our economy cannot sustain further deterioration.

Our youth cannot endure more years of joblessness and hopelessness. Our institutions cannot withstand further erosion of legitimacy and capacity.

Zimbabwe's potential remains extraordinary — abundant resources, strategic location, and most importantly, talented and resilient people.

What we lack is not capacity but leadership, national vision and a governance framework that harnesses rather than squanders this potential.

The moment for half-measures has passed. Zimbabwe requires fundamental transformation.

The All-Stakeholders Conference we propose and the resultant National Transitional Authority offers a pathway — not to utopia, but to a functional state where citizens' basic needs are met, rights respected, and future secured.

The choice before us is stark: bold renewal or continued decline. For the sake of generations past who sacrificed for this nation, and generations yet unborn who deserve to inherit its promise, let us choose renewal.

Will this be easy? Of course, not because of entrenched interests in the ruling party, business and the opposition. If it was easy, it would have been done long ago.

*Ibbo Mandaza is the convenor of the National Steering Committee for a New Zimbabwe and director of the Southern African Political Economy Series Trust.”

I totally agree that Zimbabwe's crisis will not be solved by another “contested”election. The question that you must ask yourself is; Who are these people who have “contested” the elections time and time again?

Answer: MDC/CCC leaders and their brain dead followers! The former failed to implement even one token reform in 25 years including the 5 GNU years and have been participating in flawed elections out of greed. They have conned their followers top participate telling them they have devised strategies to win RIGGED elections. The brain dead mob have believed the idiotic lies even after 45 years of Zanu PF rigging elections?

Alas! Chamisa chete chete brigade are brain dead and they number in their millions.

Even if your proposed NTA was to implement all the democratic reforms. With an electorate with an overwhelming number of brain-dead voters; how long will that democratic system last before we revert back to the present failed totalitarian autocracy? 

We need to educate the voters, an ignorant, naive and gullible electorate is a curse to democracy. We are not ready for a healthy and functioning democracy.