"ED has created 800 000 jobs in the last year" said Mangwana - figment of a delusional apologist P Guramatunhu

“President Emmerson Mnangagwa's first year in office has been very successful to the extent that his main thrust has been to deal with fundamental issues like, firstly, the fundamentals that improve our democracy, as well as economic fundamentals that will ensure there is an economic turnaround with regard to national aspirations as per vision 2030, whose aim is to turn Zimbabwe into an upper middle income country,” said Nick Mangwana. 

Everyone who is anyone has dismissed the recent elections as “bias, unfair, uneven playing field” and one of two have even called them for what they are “rigged elections”. Even the Zanu PF’s own Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission has confirmed that the regime rural voters were abused by the party leaders, traditional leaders and other operative who distributed state supplied food aid and agricultural inputs in a partisan manner reducing the rural people to nothing but serfs beholden to the landlord, Zanu PF. The regime blatantly rigs the elections and its apologist claims that the Mnangagwa has improved the democratic fundamentals! 

As for the regime improving the economic fundamentals that is just a foolish notion. On Wednesday Minister of Finance, Professor Ncube, was talking of finally removing the green bombers, Zanu PF Youths who have been some of ghost civil servants. Mnangagwa promised to do this last year, why has it taken a whole year? He is laying off one lot of blood suckers only to take another lot on the civil service payroll in the form of laid off cabinet members, permanent secretaries, etc. who have been “redeployed” on full pay and benefits. 

The real tough corruption cases such as the wholesale looting of diamonds in Marange and Chiadzwa is going on untouched. Mugabe said the country lost $15 billion in diamond revenue. Not one individual has ever been arrested and not one dollar recovered because many of those involved in this grant state sponsored robbery are senior member of Mnangagwa’s government! 

“Investment is happening, but it is not happening overnight.  Right now, 800 000 people have got jobs in a short period and it shows that this is not a joke,” said Nick.

He did not say who are the employers of these 800 000 workers because both the employers and employees are all a figment of his imagination. 

You can get away with serving mutton and claim it is lamb but not so with the hot chilli. Zimbabweans know the country's economic meltdown is getting worse and not better!

Since the 30 th July 2018 disputed elections, the Zimbabwe economy has been in turmoil with serious shortage of foreign currency, food, fuel, medicine, etc. The regime has had to borrow money to fill the foreign currency shortage but this is only a temporary solution. The long term solution is for serious cash injection from investors and lenders. Sadly there is no hope of any meaningful direct investment in Zimbabwe, not whilst the country remain a pariah state.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs the country will never know political stability or register any meaningful economic recovery. Every one knows that Zimbabwe is a pariah state and all that happened in last November’s coup was an internal quarrel within the party resulting in some individuals being booted out of the party without changing the nature of the party. 

Zanu PF remains a party of corrupt and ruthless thugs who number one priority is to retain absolute power at all cost! Zimbabwe under Zanu PF will remain a pariah state, period.

Ncube's budget will tax the poor to death - pain, plenty of it, and no gain N Garikai

On Wednesday 21 November 2018, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s minister of Finance, presented his maiden national budget. There are many things one can say about the budget, I will just say five things:

1) ”The spike in prices of goods and services appears to have receded, confirming that the main price hikes were a spontaneous response to uncertainty and confidence issues,” he said.  

What he should have gone on to say he had created most if not all the uncertainty with his ill-advised and downright foolish statements. He said Zimbabwe was going to phase out the Bond Notes only to contradict that a few days later. 

He then said “market forces” will determine the value of the Bond Notes relative to the US$ and other foreign currencies only to say the opposite a day or so afterwards. This caused serious panic in the economic and financial markets with the Bond Notes : US$ exchange jumping from the official 1:1 to as much as 10:1! 

If Zimbabwe had been a healthy and functional democracy Minister Ncube would have been forced to resign; Zimbabwe is Banana Republic and so he stayed. If anyone thought the above admission showed the Minister had learned his lesson the next statement shows he had not!

2) "The 2 917 Youth Officers who still remain on the payroll, are being retired and the posts removed from the establishment, by end of December 2018,” he said.

"At its 38th Meeting of 5 December 2017, Cabinet re-affirmed its decision to terminate employment contracts of 3 188 Youth Officers as previously resolved.”

President Mnangagwa had made a big song and dance about ending corruption, mismanagement, etc. that had become endemic under Mugabe’s reign. Now the nation learns that it was all hot-air the few Zanu PF youths laid off were those belonging to the rivalry G40 faction. 

Even if the regime finally act and laid off these Zanu PF youths, commonly known as the green bomber in reference to their traditional green uniforms and are nothing more than green flies laying life nuggets on the wounds of the sick nation; nothing much will change. 

The nation is painfully aware that President Mnangagwa has “redeployed” most of his former cabinet members, permanent secretaries, etc. on their last salary, perks everything. Only those considered to be G40 members have been laid off. In other words the nation is shedding off one set of blood sucking ticks only to inherit another! This is just a revolving door!

On the other big corruption issues such as the wholesale looting of diamond in Marange and Chiadzwa costing a staggering $15 billion, according to Robert Mugabe’s own admission; the regime has done nothing and the Minister said nothing. 

Talk of restoring certainty and confidence this Zanu PF regime has done precious little to win back the trust and confidence of investors and lenders, they saw the Minister’s blundering, the regime’s refusal to deal with the big issues of corruptions but worst of all the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections.

Every report that has come out on Zimbabwe’s 30 July 2018 elections have all condemned them as flawed and illegal. President Mnangagwa and his junta rigged the election and thus confirmed Zimbabwe is a pariah state; no one wants to do business in a pariah state. 

3) ”In order to redirect scarce foreign currency to the productive sectors of the economy, the budget proposes that customs duty and all other taxes on imported motor vehicles be levied in foreign currency acceptable as legal tender, with effect from 23 November 2018," said Professor Ncube.

Is government going to pay all its workers in foreign currency then?

Does this mean the Chemist, Shop owner, etc. have the green light to insist in being paid in foreign currency? After all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander! 

What is happening here is that those with the political and economic clout will be paid in US$ whilst the downtrodden are forced to accept Bond Notes. The economic burden of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is not being shared by all, the poorest of the poor are carrying it all and they are paying dearly for it - with their very lives! 

4) “Initially, the economy had been projected to grow by 6,3 percent in 2018 spurred by anticipated good performance in key sectors helping drive the country to an upper middle income economy by 2030,” said the Minister.

“There was, however, a slowdown in economic growth in the last half of the year on foreign currency supply and allocation challenges, exchange rate misalignments and inflationary pressures that affected mining, manufacturing and services. 

“As a result, Government reviewed downwards the growth projections to 4 percent for 2018. Notwithstanding, the economy currently remains resilient, with performance exceeding expectations.”

Zimbabwe’s spectacular fall from the middle income nation in 1980 to the poorest nation in Africa was accomplished in 25 years. In 1980 the country had a very robust strong industrial infrastructure, second to only to SA in subSahara Africa; they have all long shut down and Zimbabwe now imports 70% of nation’s needs. 

Our agricultural sector made the country the breadbasket of the region; that is all a very distant memory. For the last decade the nation has relied on imported food aid. We are starving in what is, for all intent and purposes, the Garden of Eden. A damning testimonial to the sheer incompetence of the men and women who have governed the country since 1980! 

"Government policy initiatives will see solid growth of 4 percent in 2018, that way sustaining revenue and exports performance above targets," said Minister Ncube. 

How is that possible when you have done nothing to stop the criminal waste of human and material resources through gross mismanagement, rampant corruptions and whilst the country remains a lawless pariah state?

5) There is no doubt that Minister Ncube’s budget is a catalog of one economic hardship after another, especially for the 75% of the country’s population now living on US$1.00 or less a day. Many Zimbabweans will suffer and many will die of poverty related hunger, diseases, etc. 

What makes the situation totally intolerable is that none of the economic recovery the regime is promising will ever materialise because none of the basic requirement for such recovery are there. There will never be any meaningful economic recovery whilst corruption, vote rigging and all the other hallmarks of a pariah state remain firmly in place.

This is a austerity budget guaranteed to bring wailing, gnashing of teeth and death especially to the country’s poorest of the poor, the 75% already living on US$1.00 or less a day.  The suffering and deaths will all be in vain, there will be no meaningful economic recovery because nothing has been done to address the root cause of the economic meltdown - misrule. 

It is shocking that for one who profess to be knowledgable in economics you should be presiding over the country’s continued decline. This budget is not founded on basic economics but rather the same voodoo-economics of the last 38 years. 

This is a budget to tax the poor to death. It is not just the “spike in the prices of goods and services” you will be getting with your budget, Minister Ncube, but a “spike” in the numbers of avoidable suffering and deaths due to hunger, disease, lack of medicine, etc. - many will die with worthless Bond Notes in their pockets and accounts! Have you no shame!

Full marks to Motlanthe commission for diverting our attention away from rigged elections - ED is overjoyed!

If the truth be told, I have not paid much attention to the antics 1st August Commission of inquiry chaired by former President Kgalema Motlanthe of SA. I had expected the commission to be a farce, a complete waste of time and resources, I was wrong. 

It has turned to be a complete waste of time and resources, yes, but worst of all it is political decoy delivered with flare and gusto. The primary task of the commission was to draw public attention away from the rigged elections and they have certainly done that; President Mnangagwa must be very pleased with the results!

It is all very well to hear former Zanu PF Chipangano thug, Jim Kunaka, confirm that last November’s military coup was indeed a coup detat and why it was necessary.

“A coup was held in November last year because the old guard had been outwitted by the G-40 team. They had to use guns because they had been completely outwitted,” said Kunaka.

“I know everything about the Zanu PF culture of violence. Remember I was a senior member of the ruling party.” 

It was comical to hear Kunaka being denounced in turn by his former comrade, Lewis Matutu. 

“Jim Kunaka has conceded perpetrating violence against the opposition and killing people for political gains live on TV before the commission of inquiry. All this was done under the oath. It is the duty of the law enforcement institutions to apprehend him and be charged under the laws of the land. He should not be allowed to get away with this!” said Matutu.

“If he was given instructions as he alleges, he must name those who gave him such orders if they do exist. Let him name those that were working with him. He just complicated his life because mhosva hairovi (crime does not rot like meat) he must be held accountable.” 

But that is just it, Kunaka can name those who gave him the instructions to kill; just as the individuals responsible for the shooting of the seven civilians behind this commission on may be named; what difference will that make! In the 38 years of Zanu PF tyrannical rule, over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans have been murdered in cold blood to establish and retain the de facto one party dictatorship we are groaning under. 

In 99% of the cases the murders were never arrested even when many people had named. In the odd case where the criminals were arrested, tried and convicted; they were granted the ubiquitous presidential pardon, for Zanu PF thugs only of course, without ever spending a single night behind bars! 

Indeed, one can go so far as to say this Commission of Inquiry’s primary purpose is to divert the nation’s attention from President Mnangagwa and his junta’s treasonous act of rigging the 30 July 2018 elections and the disastrous consequences of the worsen economic meltdown that followed. And full marks to all the commissioners, they have played their assigned roles with flying colours. 

Zanu PF thugs have carte blanche powers to do whatever they considers necessary to secure their own and the party’s strangle hold on power. Last November’s coup was high treason the regime got Justice George Chiweshe to rule is “legal, constitutional and justified”. 

The junta has just successful blatantly rigged the elections with the assistance of the corrupted ZEC. The whole election process was flawed and illegal, the regime even failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. 

The election results were challenged in the Con-Court. The Judges ignored all the evidence put before the court, proving beyond doubt that the elections were rigged, because the evidence “was not collaborated by primary evidence in the sealed ballot boxes”, they argued. 

The plaintiff’s request to have the ballot boxes opened was denied and the Judges themselves never asked to the boxes be opened. So, the Judge’s decision to endorse Mnangagwa as the winner were based on the assumption that the primary evidence in the sealed ballot boxes would have proven the elections were NOT rigged. 

Of course, it was a nonsensical judgement. What was the point of asking the parties to this case to submit sworn affidavit if the judges are going to ignore that evidence and then conveniently ignore the opportunity to examine the primary source evidence they are insisting on! 

The primary purpose of the Con-Court in the above case was to help the Zanu PF junta gloss over the glaring irregularities and  illegalities and judge rigged elections free, fair and credible. 

Of course, the regime knew that it had rigged the elections and many people would be furious about it. The regime, whose murderous thugs had clearly strained at the leash to keep the peace throughout the campaign period, unleashed the thugs at the protestors. The shooting dead of the seven civilians was meant to reminder all that the party would not tolerate any protests against the rigged elections. 

The Motlanthe Commission; just like ZEC, the Con-Court, etc.; is a toothless dog with neither the bark nor bite. It is not the The commission will not name the individuals who pulled the trigger much less those who deployed them and gave the order of “Shoot to kill!” It is not in the commission’s remit. 

Even if the commission named everyone of those involved here we can be certain of one thing this will do nothing to help restore the individual freedoms and human rights much less put right the immediate problem of rigged 30 July 2018 elections!

Indeed, it is now clear that the commission of inquiry was a cynical decoy to take attention away from the serious issue of the rigged elections and the economic meltdown that followed.

Last year the regime organised the 18 November 2017 street protest, carefully stage-manage theatrical to allow the public to let out some steam and it worked like a charm. This Motlanthe commission is yet another carefully stage-managed performance that has too worked like a charm.

The seven shot dead must be turning in their graves, joining the over 30 000 murdered by the regime who are spinning by now, angry the opportunity the shooting presented to demand meaningful democratic change has clearly been wasted, once again! 

Zanu PF's own ZHRC confirm abused aid and povo to rig elections N Garikai

There is a mountain of evidence already proving that Zanu PF rigged the recent elections and still more damning reports and evidence continue to come in. Last week the Commonwealth Election Observer team released their report, it said the elections were “biased and unfair”.  Today it is the country’s commissioners, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), to condemn the elections.

“They (ZHRC reports) uncover a systematic use of food aid and agricultural inputs from the State as a tool to persuade the recipients to support Zanu PF, the ruling party; and/or to punish persons, otherwise entitled to aid and inputs, for being or perceived to be, or to be related to, supporters of opposition parties,” reported The Zimbabwean.  

“Methods varied, but a common one was for a ZANU PF party official to take over the distribution of aid and inputs from (State) officials, resulting in ZANU PF supporters getting preferential treatment and others either no aid at all or less than ZANU PF supporters.

“The reports unearth a structure involving District Committees, Ward Councillors, local ZANU PF chairpersons and traditional leaders [mainly headmen] who together were involved in the distribution of food aid and often demanded or expected loyalty to the incumbent party.  The reports reveal a neglect of duty on the part of these community leaders.”

EU Observer Team too has said a lot on abuse of rural voters by Zanu PF operatives during the elections. “While political rights were largely respected, there were concerns regarding the environment for the polls and the failure to achieve a level playing field,” EU said in its report, released three weeks ago. 

“Observers widely reported on efforts to undermine the free expression of the will of electors, through inducements, intimidation and coercion against prospective voters to try to ensure a vote in favour of the ruling party. Such practices also included direct threats of violence, pressure on people to attend rallies, partisan actions by traditional leaders, collection of voter registration slips and other measures to undermine confidence in the secrecy of the vote, manipulation of food aid and agricultural programmes and other misuses of state resources.”

The ZHRC reports have “a long list of recommendations, addressed to the following:  complainants and concerned members of the public; to ZANU PF and other political parties; ministry of this and ministry if that; etc., etc.” And for each one of these addressees the reports gives recommendations “regarding the need for better administration, control and monitoring, etc., etc.” 

This is very disappointing!  After 38 years of rigged elections each followed by countless pious reports by busy-bodies like ZHRC repeating the same pious recommendations which the regime ignores; it is all tediously familiar.

The rural voters, at the coal face of this political abuse, have been denied their freedoms and basic human rights all their lives; first by the white colonial regime and now by Zanu PF. They have lost faith in all such empty niceties as ZHRC recommendations! Many of them have long accepted the abuse by Zanu PF officials and thugs as a matter of course just as they have accepted their position as the down trodden serfs.

The only to end this whole macabre circus is to reject that those guilty of blatantly rigging elections should ever again be allowed to get away with a slap on the wrist! We must dismiss the ZHRC and their pious recommendations with the contempt they rightly deserves! 

Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess because the country has been stuck, for 38 years and counting, with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. The regime routinely rigged elections hence the reason the nation could not remove it from power regardless of it tyrannical and ruinous reign. 

Whilst we have routinely, especially in the last two decades, demanded free, fair and credible elections; it was all lip service we did not mean it. Because Zanu PF has, again and again, contemptuously disregarded our demands and blatantly rigged the elections; we have done nothing about it time and time again. This time, we must do something to end this curse of rigged elections.

President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged the recent elections, they have no mandate to govern and they step down. 

We need to appoint an interim administration to implement the democratic reforms to take away Zanu PF’s dictatorial powers to abuse the rural voters, amongst other things.

The only acceptable democratic mandate to govern Zimbabwe is from majority vote of free voters and not from povo reduced into mere serfs by intimidation and coercion. To allow the recent election result to stand will be to reward Zanu PF for its continued treasonous abuse of rural voters. The abuse must end and end now! 

Video: Confronting Zanu PF dictatorship head on

Zimbabwe, like many other countries before us must deal with its demons of tyrannical dictators decisively if the country is to escape from the hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed the nation.

 15:41

Zimbabweans must confront the Zanu PF dictatorship head-on HD

Streamed: 21 November 2018 at 14:28

VIDEO Sanction against Zanu PF must stay until free elections are held in Zimbabwe.

Sanctions are necessary measure to pressure the Zanu PF dictatorship to holding free, fair and credible; until that happens sanctions must stay.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?ar=1&o=U&video_id=IXNkdShCRmc

 8:26

Never tire of asking because everything will improve with fine tuning.

Streamed: 21 November 2018 at 17:21 | Processing...

Ramaphosa demands lifting of sanctions - disappointed, he is so ill-advised and hopeless wrong P Guramatunhu

Zimbabwe is in serious economic and political mess and there are many who have taken to shouting “Don’t panic! Don’t panic!” only to help spread the panic!

“Ideally, the key thing is to establish ways of making positive contributions rather than criticising without proffering solutions,” argued News Day stoically, only to muddy the water its proffered “solution”.

“However, Mnangagwa must not wish Chamisa away. He’s a potent opposition political leader, who was voted by nearly half of the voting population and space must be created for him if the country is to achieve its economic goals or Mnangagwa’s 2030 vision.

“It does not make sense for that matter — be it Mnangagwa, Zanu PF, Chamisa or the MDC — to deny the legitimacy question or insist that sanctions on Zimbabwe should remain when other leaders, like South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, are arguing Zimbabwe’s case at meetings with other key Western economic block demanding that they should lift the embargo against the country.”

It is disappointing that some many people are still confused about the sanctions particularly those whose principal task is to inform and educate the populous. If the Rabbi of Rob is at sea then so too are his followers!

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown was not caused by the sanctions but rather by the criminal waste of human and material resources through gross mismanagement and rampant corruption. How can any nation sustain, much less prosper, a $15 billion revenue haemorrhage from diamond industry alone especially a nation like Zimbabwe whose GDP is a mere $10 billion.   

The corollary is equally true; it is naïve to expect the country to register any meaningful economic recovery until the nation is cured of the cancerous tumours of mismanagement and corruptions. And the medicine to cure the cancer is to implement the democratic reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections.  

It was President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta who corrupted the country’s democratic institutions; hence the need to now implement the reforms; to imposed the de fact one-party dictatorship and consolidate the party’s iron grip on absolute power. Implementing the reforms will dismantle the party’s patronage system which is central to its retaining a tight grip on power but also the root cause of the mismanagement and corruption; hence the reason the party has resisted implementing reforms and holding free and fair elections. 

The Americans have gone to town explaining the linkage between holding free, fair and credible elections and the lifting of sanctions. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, there was no free public media, the regime failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll for Pete’s sake, etc. The conclusion is self-evident, Zanu PF failed to hold free and fair elections and therefore why should the sanctions be lifted? 

It is bad enough that reporters in News Day are still, after all these years of the issue being discussed at length, failing to get their heads round the sanctions debate; it is a great national tragedy that someone as esteemed and political powerful as Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, is himself lost at sea too.

In 1986 a number of nation imposed economic sanctions on Apartheid ruled SA, just as sanctions on white ruled Rhodesia. The majority of blacks in SA and Rhodesia supported the imposition of the sanctions as a necessary measure to force meaningful political change. So President Ramaphosa believed sanctions were necessary to end white tyrannical rule but not necessary to end black tyrannical rule?

It is no secret that SA is not exactly a model nation with a booming economy and everything running smoothly; the country has blundered from pillar to post from one corruption scandal to another. Yes, SA is nowhere near the political and economic mess one sees in Zimbabwe; still there is plenty for South Africans to start worrying about. 

On the issue of lifting sanctions on the Zanu PF vote rigging thugs, President Ramaphosa is hopelessly out of touch with reality.