Mnangagwa's "prosperity is not coming quick enough," says Nduku - it is NOT coming P Guramatunhu

“The coup excitement is dying as Mugabe backed party arises. The much heralded economic prosperity expected to have come with the coup is not coming quick enough. All we hear about it is ’give ED a chance’ Zimbabweans are used to giving their lying leaders a chance only to be disillusioned whilst the leaders and their families, and closest and nosiest allies get wealthy. Many politicians, especially young ones cannot account for their sudden wealth in the midst of our suffering. This therefore makes us frown when asked to give ED a chance,” wrote Ndaba Nduku in Zimeye opinion.

You are 100% right there! It is not a matter of the much-heralded economic recovery not “coming quick enough”, it is not coming.

Whilst the world readily turned a blind eye to the November 2017 coup because they all wanted to see the back of the Zimbabwe dictator Mugabe. What the world was aware of however was to distinct possibility of removing one dictator only to replace him with another and that is why they have been quick off the mark in reminding President Mnangagwa of the urgent need to restore Zimbabwe to rule of law a.s.a.p. One sure way to assure the world, especially the savvy foreign investors, Zimbabwe is now a law-abiding nation is by holding free, fair and credible elections.

President Mnangagwa has promised free and fair elections by day and continued scheming to rig the vote at night. It is clear that the elections will not be free and fair. Zimbabwe will not be getting any of the much-needed foreign investment and assistance; no one wants to do business in a lawless nation ruled by thugs!

The British have been pushing hard to restore normal relations with Zimbabwe, the EU is telling them to wait.

By the time Zimbabwe hold the elections, in another four or five months, the country should have laid the foundation stones of a handful of projects with many more in the pipeline; if the world heeded President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business” call. Mark my word; there will be no foundation stones and no new projects in the pipe line.

“The Opposition can win by uniting and forcefully reminding the electorate that Mnangagwa is Zanu and that there is nothing bad about Mugabe that cannot be tied to Mnangagwa. …The Opposition must point at the Mnanagagwa cabinet is effectively from Mugabe people, with a few more violent men like military mafia Rugeje, and also point out that it is a military Command cabinet,” Nduku concluded.

I beg to differ; as long as Zanu PF retains all the carte blanche powers to rig the vote, the party will win. We need to implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections.

What you must remember here is that if the opposition contest the flawed elections then they must not complain about the vote rigging, violence, etc. afterwards because they knew and had been warned about these things and they would not listen. Are you sure reminding the rural voters of “violent men like military mafia Rugeje” will have them voting for the opposition and not Zanu PF?

Opposition leaders like Nelson Chamisa have been wittering about “stringent measures” to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote. They have all been coy when asked what these measures are because they know they are lying. People must ask themselves why MDC failed to use any of these measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the July 2013 elections.

The only measures that are guaranteed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections are implementing the raft of democratic reforms agreed at the start of the 2008 to 2013 GNU. MDC leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, etc. do not want to talk about the reforms because they have never admitted to selling-out and failing to implement even one reform in five years.

What the people of Zimbabwe must know and understand is that ever since MDC leaders failed to implement the reforms during the GNU, they have effectively abandoned the national agenda of bringing about the democratic changes necessary for free, fair and credible elections. MDC leaders accept Zanu PF’s undemocratic powers to rig elections as fait accompli, what they care about now is winning as many gravy train seats they know Zanu PF gives away as bait to the opposition.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” admitted Senator David Coltart, MDC Minister of Education in the GNU, in his recent book. 

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

The Senator was commenting on the 2013 elections. What is interesting to note here is that the three main MDC factions have since come together to form the MDC Alliance and yet they are all as keen as mustard to contest this year’s elections regardless of the fact that not even one reform has been implemented. They are all after the bait seats and they do not care that the elections are flawed, illegal and will be marred by violence.

“I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a violent election,” Tendai Biti told a panel discussion audience last week.

"There is nothing that will stop the tanks from moving again no matter who has been elected in July 2018. So, it is critical that we find an answer to making sure that the barracks remain sealed off from interfering with the process because that's the elephant in the living room."

For the 1001 th time, this month alone, the only sure way to stop the military interfering in the elections; making sure the public media gives equal coverage of all contesting parties, so the voters have an informed choice; ZEC deliver free and fair elections; etc., etc. is by implementing the democratic reforms. SADC leaders instructed Biti and his MDC friends not to contest the 2013 elections without first implementing the reforms.

There is not one Zimbabwe opposition politician out there who does not know that contesting the country’s flawed and illegal elections is insane. They only reason they will continue to contest is greed, they are after the bait seats Zanu PF gives away to entice the opposition to take part. Of course, people like Biti will never admit they have sold-out of free and fair elections much less admit they are blinded to reason by greed.

What people like you, Ndaba Nduku, assuming you are genuinely interested in seeing the country hold free elections, must stop giving the opposition lie wings that we do not need to implement the reforms; it is possible to win rigged elections! After 38 years of rigged elections, we must do the only sane thing – stop messing around and implement all the reforms BEFORE election.

"Political polarisation fans violence," argue ZEC chair - paid to enforce rules and promote competition N Garikai

Some people have said that no one with half a brain and committed to delivering free, fair and credible elections would ever accept being appointed in any capacity in Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC); not until the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) are implemented. Without the reforms the commission is just a toothless and voiceless Chihuahua guarding a field from marauding herd of elephants.

President Mnangagwa appointed Justice Priscilla Chigumba ZEC chairperson to replace Rita Makarau. If our new ZEC Chihuahua thought she was going impressed anyone with her shrew squeak she could not have been more disappointing.

“Past elections in Zimbabwe have been conducted under a politically polarised environment. This was clear even in the biased media reports in previous elections. The issue of polarisation is one which I see as a major challenge to the electoral environment as it potentially fans politically motivated violence and lack of tolerance by opposing parties,” wrote Chigumba in Zimeye opinion.

“I, therefore, intend to continue engagement with all the stakeholders, especially the political parties, to encourage them to adhere to their code of conduct for the avoidance of potentially dangerous confrontation.”

Zimbabwe’s a multi-party democracy, at least it should be, and per se will be politically polarised. As an experience lawyer and judge, one would have thought she would be familiar with the adversarial contest in the court room; the rigorous testing of the other side’s case and surgical cross-examination of every detail has never resulted in a free for all brawl but the opposite – delivered the whole truth and nothing but the truth and thus justice.

Similarly, the multi-party system can help deliver a good government by making sure every policy is closely scrutinised and those in positions of power and authority are held to account at all times. The reason why there has been violence and mayhem in our politics is because those in power have deliberately corrupted the system to stifle debate and democratic competition to create a de facto one-party state for the selfish purpose of enjoying absolute power and the influence and wealth that it brings.

ZEC’s primary purpose is to make sure the elections are conducted in such a manner as to deliver free, fair and verifiable elections in keeping with the country’s multi-party democratic values and NOT the de facto one-party system Zanu PF has imposed on the nation.

The reason why everyone has been calling to the implementation of the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the GPA is because it is not only up to ZEC alone to stop the political violence, for example. ZEC will need the Police to investigate and arrest all those responsible for political violence. Justice Chigumba should know that the ZRP have very rarely arrested Zanu PF thugs accused of violence, Indeed, ZRP officers have even arrested the opposition members even when they are clearly the victims!

The July 2013 elections were relatively peaceful because Zanu PF was able to blatantly rig the vote. ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll before the elections, this is a legal requirement, and Zanu PF was able to deny many people the vote because their details were not in the constituency voters’ roll they expected. Meanwhile, the regime was able bus its supporters from one polling station to the next casting multiple votes. Zanu PF would have not got away with this if ZEC had produced a verifiable voters’ roll.

The new BVR registration exercise should have started no later than January 2015, only started September 2017 and will stop end of this week. Millions will be denied the vote because there was no time to register them. Worse still there is no way ZEC will be able to produce a verified voters’ roll.

There is no way the elections can ever be free, fair and credible when there is no verified voters’ roll. It would be easier for a Chihuahua to wrap its jaw round an elephant’s foot that to hold credible elections with no way of verifying who is eligible to vote, who voted, etc.

“The other challenge, as I am advised, may be the issue of resources. I understand that the Commission submitted to Treasury a budget of US$148 million for conducting elections, and Treasury has committed to funding approximately US$98 million of the said budget,” continued Justice Chigumba.

“I will continue to engage the State to ensure that adequate resources are availed so that the Commission is able to deliver on its constitutional mandate and to maintain its dignity and independence.”

Many people believe Zanu PF will spend as much as $10 billion in bankrolling all its vote rigging schemes. The party splashed $12 million on new twin cab trucks for Chiefs, for example. Making sure ZEC is starved of funds is a deliberate act to designed to undermine the commission, its effectiveness and independence.

ZEC, Police and all the other compromised public officials are paid and paid well to cooperate with Zanu PF’s no-regime-change agenda. They go through the motions of fulfilling their set public duties of delivering free and fair elections or whatever. People like ZEC chairperson, Chigumba, should not insult our intelligence by pretending there is dignity in selling out the nation.

To start with, the country cannot afford this criminal waste of money on an election process everyone knows in flawed and illegal.

“Zimbabwe needs an estimated US$65 million weekly for drugs but treasury can only disburse US$3 million weekly,” according to James Thompson, in Spotlight Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess which has seen unemployment rate soaring to 90%, basic service like health and education collapse, 72.3% of our live on US$1.00 or less a day, etc. all because the nation has been stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 38 years. Zimbabwe cannot afford yet another rigged election and yet, thanks to our breathtakingly incompetent and corrupt public officials like Justice Chigumba, that is exactly where we are going.

SA businessman praise Mnangagwa appeal - North Korea mentality will not end poverty

There are reports of investors, both Zimbabweans in the diaspora and foreign nationals, “flooding” into Zimbabwe to open shop following the “Zimbabwe is open for business call by President Mnangagwa.

“South Africa-based company, Big Time Strategic Group will launch nine companies in the country as part of efforts to heed calls by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for Zimbabweans in the diaspora to invest back home,” reported Bulawayo 24.

Group chief executive and proprietor Mr Justice Maphosa, a Zimbabwean, said the nine companies have already been registered in Zimbabwe.

"We may say nice things, but on the ground you find that there are issues that need clarification. We will direct them to correct authorities. If you find that a door is closed, a situation which was common in the past dispensation, come to my office and I will open that door," President Mnangagwa told would-be foreign investors in Zurich, Switzerland, last month.

Mnangagwa was right, it was Zimbabwe’s culture of corruption, bureaucratic meddling and lawlessness that had resulted in closing doors to would-be investors. The President was honest enough, whether he did not want to do so or not is now irrelevant, to admit the closed-door culture is still very much alive in Zimbabwe in the new dispensation.

Many of the would-be foreign investors will not going to President Mnangagwa’s office so he can open these doors for them; they will continue to shy away from Zimbabwe until there are no closed door. They know to see Mnangagwa they will have to wait their turn, that could take months, or have to “grease” a few connected people; business people hate this with a passion.

Mr Justice Maphosa was not phased by the prospect of having to deal with the many closed-doors. He will see President Mnangagwa and have the doors opened for him! It is not just crocodiles that thrive in muddy water, catfish too successfully hunt in these waters using their long whiskers! However, if we are serious about making Zimbabwe attractive to investors, especially the foreign investors who dread the challenge of having to wait and/or grease corrupt hands to do business then we must do more to open the closed doors.

For the last 38 years Zimbabwe has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship; the sacred cow which was not be criticized let alone removed from office. This was and still is the root cause of the country’s, seemingly, intractable political and economic mess.

Much as President Mnangagwa and his coup regime would want the world to believe that Zimbabwe has changed since the November 2017 coup, the sad reality is that it is still under the monolithic dictatorial grip. The coup removed Mugabe and the “criminal elements around him”, as the new regime claimed. What the new regime has failed to say is that many of the criminals are still in power and, most important of all, that Zanu PF is still a sacred cow.

President Mnangagwa has promised free, fair and credible elections and yet has done nothing to implement the raft of democratic reforms necessary to make that possible.

“Another South African tycoon, Mr Robert Matana Gumede, was in the country last month to cement a $1,2 billion investment deal in key sectors of the economy which include infrastructure development, energy, health services, tourism and financial services,” continued the Bulawayo 24 report.

“Mr Maphosa said the call for business people to invest in the country was long overdue and thanked the President for inviting business people to invest in the country.

"It's long overdue, we very appreciate a man, a comrade, a father, grandfather, a Zimbabwean like the President that we have right now. It's something that we have been crying for especially us in the diaspora, this is why we are in the diaspora. We have been crying for a President like him, a President who can appeal to us the youth," quoting Mr Maphosa.

“Kukanganwa chezuro nehope!” (Some people forget yesterday’s troubles with a night’s sleep!) as one would say in Shona. Those of us who care to remember, know that for decades many people have lauded praise on former President Robert Mugabe’s leadership but would never mention the elephant in the room – the corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship.

Millions of Zimbabweans are in the diaspora today NOT because successive Zanu PF regimes had failed “to call for business people to invest in the country”. As long as nothing is done to end the corrupt, lawlessness and tyrannical rule in Zimbabwe which has made doing business impossible the call to invest will remain a forlorn one.

What has and still remains long overdue is the implementing the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship, sacred cow. The failure to hold free, fair and credible elections in this year’s elections; which is now a certainty, given that President Mnangagwa has stubbornly refused to implement the democratic reforms; will confirm what we already know – that Zimbabwe is still a lawless nation ruled by thugs.

No investor in his/her right mind would ever want to do business in a lawless nation ruled by thugs!

Zimbabweans have a simple choice; pile on the pressure on this coup Mnangagwa government to implement the democratic reforms and make sure the coming elections are free fair and verifiable. This will end the country’s pariah status and restore the public confidence in the country as a stable and law-abiding nation. All this globe-trotting telling everyone Zimbabwe is ready to do business will not be necessary – the world will know!

Or we can all bury our heads in the sand and pretend the world will be fooled into believing the removal of Robert Mugabe as the figure head of the Zanu PF dictatorship was enough to make the country a healthy and functional democracy. The failure to hold free and fair elections will confirm the Zanu PF dictatorship is alive and kicking. The business people will take note, if any had been fooled, and take flight!

What has been lacking in Zimbabwe and is therefore long overdue is outstanding Zimbabweans with the good sense to help the country finally make the right political choice. What the country needs desperately, more desperately than misguided business people like Mr Maphosa, is men and women who will stand up to these Zanu PF thugs, look them straight in the eyes, and tell them some home truths.

“Zimbabwe must implement the democratic reforms and end the Zanu PF dictatorship and the economic meltdown it brought! That is not negotiable!”  

Enough of all this North Korea style “Crying for comrade, father, grandfather, President who appeal to us!” nonsense!