MDC ask British "insist on ED abide by free elections norms" - hypocrites, has MDC ever done so N Garikai

“Professor Welshman Ncube, the spokesperson for the coalition MDC Alliance spoke out against the British and the Chinese for seemingly backing President Mnangagwa,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Said Ncube, "We think it is inappropriate for the British and the Chinese to pick a horse in this election. They should, instead, insist on Zimbabwe abiding by international norms and standards for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.

“Responding to the allegations, Simon Thomas, the Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy Harare said that his country did not care about who wins the polls. He insisted that his country's only interest in the election was that it should be conducted under free and fair conductions. Writing on microblogging site Twitter, Thomas said.”

This article raises two points of interest:

1)    It is heartening to hear that the British are keen to see clean free, fair and credible elections. But, if the truth be told, they have certainly taken their eyes off the ball because whilst everyone is concerned that President Mnangagwa and his Junta regime has done nothing to ensure free and fair election. The regime has made a big song and dance about holding free and fair elections and yet has gone out of its way to resist implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

Indeed, the regime has continued with its vote rigging programmes set in motion before the deposing of Mugabe last November. President Mnangagwa has bought the Chief the twin cab trucks Mugabe had promised, a bribe to ensure the Chiefs carry out their usual task of intimidate and frog march rural voters to vote for Zanu PF.

The British have become preoccupied with normalising Zimbabwe’s relationship and trade with the West, EU and the UK itself forgetting that all these will come to naught if Zanu PF fails to hold free and fair elections.

If the elections are rigged, President Mnangagwa may just as well advertise on bill-board “Zimbabwe is NOT open for business!” Because by rigging the elections the regime will have confirmed the country is still a pariah state ruled by thugs. No one, foreign or local, wants to do business with lawless thugs!

2)     It is rich that Professor Welshman Ncube should be calling on the British to keep their eyes on the political ball, demands to implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. Was it not the Professor and his MDC friends who sold-out and failed to implement even one reform in five years of the GNU?

SADC leaders, literally begged, Professor Ncube and his MDC friends not to take part in the 2013 elections without implementing the reforms first. The MDC leaders paid no heed because they did not care that the elections would be rigged as long as they won the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gave away as bait.

“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,” explained Senator Coltart. 

“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.”

President Mnangagwa and his Junta have refused to implement even one reform and it is clear the elections are being rigged right before our own eyes. These elections should have never been allowed to go ahead without first implementing the reforms; Professor Ncube and his friends in the opposition camp should have pointedly refused to have anything to do with the flawed elections.

All the international community, include SADC, must do now is make sure the elections are declared null and void and finally put an end to this charade!

“They (British) should, instead, insist on Zimbabwe abiding by international norms and standards for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections,” say Professor Ncube. What a hypocrite! When have you or any MDC leader ever abided by any norm or even common sense yourself?

Doctors strike end, thanks ED "swift action" - swift action, where was ED these last 38 years N Garikai

The doctors strike is over, hurrah!

In their statement announcing the end of the strike, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) National Executive raised some interesting points and I have just picked a few to comment on.

1.   Procurement of essential medicines and drugs is in motion and we expect an improvement soon, so as to offer quality health care to ALL patients.

I wish I could share the doctors’ optimism, I do not. The Zimbabwe economy has been in the doldrums for decades now and there is nothing that has happened to make me believe things are about to change.

President Mnangagwa and his Junta regime have made a big song and dance about “Zimbabwe is open for business!” to attract the much-needed foreign investors. Sadly, there has been no takers because investors continue to shy away from Zimbabwe because the still see it as a lawless nation ruled by thugs.

The regime’s failure to implement the democratic reforms and thus deliver free, fair and credible elections it has been promising since the November 2017 coup has only confirmed to all that the Zanu PF dictatorship is very much alive or be it under different management.

Zanu PF is rigging this year’s elections. Indeed, one can even say “the elections are done” as SADC leaders said a month before the 2013 rigged elections. No investors are going to do business in a country in which the next regime change is yet another coup or “military assisted transition”, as the coup plotters would put it.

With no meaningful prospects of meaningful economic recovery, it is naïve to expect hospitals to have drugs, basic equipment, etc. anytime soon. These things cost money and this is another regime promise, just like free and fair elections, that will never be honoured.  

2.   We have received an upward review of on call allowances, noting that members work round the clock for up to 360 continuous hours. This is a health specific allowance.
Understanding the current limitations in the economy, we hope to continually review until we attain regional and international standards.

Well doctors will be lucky if their reviewed allowance will ever be paid, especially once the regime has rigged the elections when the usual political arrogance returns with vengeance. As for doctors earning becoming comparable to those in the region – dream on.

Zimbabwe’s economy will never improve until we deal with this cancer of bad governance, so graphically rubbed in by Zanu PF’s periodic blatant rigging of elections in the name of the party’s no-regime-change mantra.  

3.   With effect from today, until latest 02 April 2018, ZHDA members will report for duty.
Normal work has resumed.
Should the HSB fail to honour the agreement, we will have no choice but to express our grievances again.
We would like to thank His Excellency, Cde. E. D Mnangagwa for his intervention and swift action.

His Excellency was a senior member of the Zanu PF regimes that has ruled this nation with an iron-fist these last 38 years. He has played his part in the total destruction of the Zimbabwe economy. Of all Mugabe’s cronies, President Mnangagwa was the tyrant’s right-hand man and played a leading role in all the looting, vote rigging and political murders that took place. Over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans were murdered by the regime to establish and retain the one-party dictatorship that still dominate and rule supreme to this day.

Like Pontius Pilate, President Mnangagwa, will never wash the innocent blood he has shed. Shine the light of justice on ED and he will glow like a scorpion under ultraviolet light!

This latest Doctor’s strike has lasted a whole month; he had time for the usual globe-trotting and plenty of cash to buy the Chiefs new twin cab trucks but did not have time and cash to pay doctors and or buy incubators for new born-babies!

“Swift action!” What swift action are you talking about?

"ED thinks Wi-Fi means wife," says Chamisa - ED KNOWS no reforms means rig elections P Guramatunhu

“We have the keys to unlock the economy, we are the young generation, we can work with the international community, we can call (France president Emmanuel) Macron and say can you please help us to grow our economy,” said MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa.

“Do you think Mnangagwa can do that if Macron asked him about Wi-Fi he will think that Macron is asking him about his wife. This is an old generation, we are going to give them a rest in the next election, we are going to say our elders you did a great job go and rest.” 

Chamisa, you harping on and on about how young you compared ED is putting people off! The people of France will be insulted with your innuendoes that they elected President Emmanuel Macron because he is young. The French people are a lot more mature to know what they want in a good and competent leader and they saw those qualities in President Macron. They would have voted for him if he had been 75 years old, they have elected older leaders than that in the past and will do so in future, because they know age alone does not make a good or bad leader.

The way Chamisa is harping on and on about anyone 75 years of age being too old to do anything; does this mean President Chamisa will seek help from the French and any other nation with a leader his age? Zimbabwe will not seek any help from Germany, British and the USA, for example, until these nations replace their 60 plus leaders with the Wi-FI 40s generation!

Ironically, Zimbabwe’s elections will not be decided on which of the contestants know what a Wi-Fi is but on whether the election process itself is free, fair and credible – something President Mnangagwa is expert in and Chamisa has completely failed to understand. Zanu PF has been rigging elections to stay in power these last 38 years and the three men who have masterminded the vote rigging are former President Mugabe, Professor Jonathan Moyo and the now President Emmerson Mnanagwa.

Even if Zimbabweans had failed to figure how to stop Zanu PF rigging elections, SADC leaders spelt it all out in the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) following the rigged 2008 elections. SADC forced Zanu PF to sign the GPA agreeing to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. The important task of implementing the reforms fell to Morgan Tsvangirai, then MDC leader, and his MDC colleagues of whom Nelson Chamisa was one of the MDC cabinet ministers.

MDC failed to implement even one reform in the five years of the GNU. Not even one reform!

SADC leaders fought a lost battle to get the MDC leaders to implement the reforms. Robert Mugabe, aged 84 years at the start of the GNU, bribed the MDC leaders to make sure they forgot about the reforms. Nelson Chamisa, aged 30 years and, no doubt, knew more about Wi-Fi than Vic Hayes many considers “father of Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)”, was one of the MDC leaders outwitted by an 84 year old! 

Zanu PF went on to rig the 2013 elections and stay in power because MDC had not implemented any of the reforms to stop the regime rigging elections. What good was it then to the nation that we had young MDC leaders who knew everything there is to know about Wi-Fi but nothing about the most important task on hand – implementing the reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections?

When MDC failed to implement even one reform during the GNU, SADC leaders advised MDC not to take part in the elections without first implementing the reforms. 

“‘If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!” SADC leaders had warned Tsvangirai and company in 2013, according to Dr Ibbo Mandaza who was at the Maputo Summit that year. 

SADC leaders’ warning is still valid for this year’s elections and the advice should be ringing in MDC leaders’ ears like church bells. 

The American and Canadians have also joined in the call for reforms to be implemented before the elections but MDC leaders like Chamisa still ignore the warning. 

President Mnangagwa may not know much about Wi-Fi but he certainly knows plenty about vote rigging, after all he has been Zanu PF’s pointer man on such matters as vote rigging and use of violence. Ever since taking over from Mugabe, Mnangagwa has carried on with the Zanu PF vote rigging activities as if the November coup that deposed the dictator never happened. 

It is no exaggeration to say “Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections are done”, to repeat SADC leaders’ 2013 prediction!

Zimbabwe is in this political and economic hell-hole because the country was stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime that rigged elections to stay in power. MDC has had many golden opportunities to implement the democratic reforms and stop Zanu PF rigging elections. Sadly, the party has wasted them all because the leaders took their eyes off the reforms to concentrate of gravy train ministerial limousines, generous salaries and allowances, $4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc., etc. and Wi-Fi for Chamisa!

Zimbabwe is not going to dig herself out of this hell by having leaders corrupt and incompetent leaders; so, so incompetent, even with the whole world telling them to focus, they still think Wi-Fi is more important than implementing the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. 

Yes Chamisa, President Mnangagwa may well think that Wi-Fi refers to wife but he will win these elections because he knows that with no reforms in place, he can rig the elections! What good is it to the nation that MDC knows all about Wi-Fi when that is not going to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections again after 38 years of rigged elections!