Mwonzora gleefully awaits $2.72m PPFA payout - it is for this MDC will sell out again come 2023 P Guramatunhu

 “Only Zanu-PF and MDC-T will share the $100 million allocated in the 2021 National Budget under the Political Parties Finance Act as all other parties failed to get at least five percent of the constituency votes in the 2018 election,” reported Herald.

“The $25 million budget of last year was quadrupled to $100 million in this year's budget to help compensate for inflation. The constituent parties that made up the MDC-Alliance are treated separately for the purposes of sharing the money, which is why only the largest, the MDC-T, exceeded the five percent threshold.”

In 2019 MDC-T got $3.4 millions and as the party’s leader then, Nelson Chamisa, reportedly got 20% or $680 000! Douglas Mwonzora is the new leader and, no doubt, he is rubbing his hands in gleeful anticipation of the $2.72 million! 

Some people have often asked why the various MDC factions and the rest in the opposition camp participated in the 2013 elections even when it was clear Zanu PF was rigging the elections. Here is half the answer, they had their beady eyes on the annual Political Party Finance Act (PPFA) payout. And for the lucky few who go on to win the few parliamentary and senatorial seats there is the generous salary and allowances. 

Ever since the 2008 to 2013 GNU Zanu PF has learned that the party can retain its dictatorial powers and rig the elections just as it did in 2008 but this time get away without any censor as long as the party enticed the opposition to participate in the elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process happened to be. 

Zanu PF had just the honey pot to entice the opposition - the few gravy train seats plus the annual payout from the PPFA. A small price to pay for political legitimacy for the vote rigging Zanu PF!

Morgan Tsvangirai complained that Zanu PF “stole the 2013 elections” and his party made a congress resolution not to participate in future elections until the reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging are implemented. “No reform! No Elections!” 

Tsvangirai and company soon forgot about the party resolution on reforms as they all geared up to contest the 2018 elections; the Zanu PF honey pot was just too enticing to resist!

Zanu PF leaders, for their part, are so cocksure of the opposition participating and giving them legitimacy they have dismissed those calling for reforms with contempt! 

“Zanu PF ichatonga! Igotonga! Imi muchingohukura! Nokuhukura!” (Zanu PF will rule! And rule! Whilst you (calling for reforms) bark! And bark!)  Mnangagwa has often boasted, publicly. 

Zanu PF failed to produce something as basic and fundamental to free, fair and credible elections as a verified voters’ roll; a legal and common sense requirement. And still the opposition participated and in droves. 

There were 23 candidates in the presidential race and 130 political parties and numerous independent candidates contested for the 210 parliamentary seats. Mnangagwa presented these figures as proof the July 2018 elections were free, fair and credible!

“It is our hope that Treasury disburses the (PPFA) money early so that the political parties concerned will be able to carry out their duties. We will obviously engage Treasury with regard to that issue," said Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi. 

No need to worry Minister! 

Treasury has rarely, paid more than 20% or so of the budget allocation for such ministries as education and health and hence the reason why education and health care have all but collapsed. But when it comes to paying politicians their salaries, allowance, PPFA payout, etc. Treasury has always paid every penny and quick smart. 

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown; which has left over 50% of our people living in abject poverty; is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The country has been stuck for 40 years now with a corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime and the criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resources has left the country in economic ruins. We have failed to remove Zanu PF from power because the party rigged the elections. 

The nation had its best opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship during the 2008 to 2013 GNU when all Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends were tasked to do was implement the democratic reforms. MDC leaders have not only failed to implement even one reform but they are now giving the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy by participating in flawed and illegal elections. 

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A, Douglas Mwonzora and his MDC-T and all the other 23 candidates in July 2018 presidential race, the 130 political parties and numerous independent candidates in the 210 parliamentary races are all gearing for the 2023 elections. They all know with not even one token reform implemented, Zanu PF will rig the elections; they don’t care. All they care about is the honey pot of the few gravy train seats plus the PPFA payout! 

After 40 years of rigged elections, it is for the ordinary Zimbabweans to end this madness by demand that the country’s opposition politicians place implementing the democratic reforms and delivering free, fair and credible above the selfish personal gains. Zimbabweans must withhold their support to all parties and individuals unless they give a cast-iron guarantee they will not participate in future elections until reforms are implemented. 

Zanu PF has the coercive means to force people to attend its rallies but not so with the opposition. A discredited opposition cannot give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy!

Trump's 6 January Capitol Hill hooliganism was to usurp people's vote, not only failed, it backfired N Garikai

 President Donald Trump is a conman and like all conman he promised one thing and delivered something else. 

In the 2016 elections, the then Donald Trump promised the American votes two things:

• To drain the Washington swamp (Many people felt as soon as the elections were over, the Washington ruling elite forgot about the voters) 

• To put America first. (True or not, it is nice to blame some one else for ones’ problems.)

Enough Americans believed him and voted him into office. 

It did not take before the real reason why Trump had wanted to be President began to emerge; he was a megalomania. Forget about putting America first, that would be a bonus, his number one priority was putting Donald Trump first. 

Trump promised to drain the Washington political swamp only to shamelessly muddy its waters even more for selfish again. When Richard Milhous Nixon cheated in the Watergate Scandal to further his political ambition he claimed, tongue in the check, “I am not a crook!” 

When the truth emerged that President Trump had tried to arm twist Ukrainian leaders and many others to dig some dirty on his political challenger, Joe Biden; President Trump’s cheeky response was, “I am a crook! So what!”

President Trump should have been impeached or forced to resign. He was never impeached although the House of Representatives voted for him to be impeached but only because the Senate was controlled by Republicans, his party. A very partisan stance that has made the Washington swamp notoriously dysfunctional and which many Republicans would come to regret.

Nothing will ever encapsulate Trump’s “Trump first!” ethos more than his stubborn refusal to accept he had lost the November 2020 elections. He ordered the counting to stop for no good reason other than that he was losing. 

Trump has maintained the elections were fraudulent and lounged 60 court challenges but they have all been thrown out for lack of evidence. 

Even in a Republican controlled State like Georgia Trump claimed the election was rigged. Republicans cheating to benefit the Democrats, their opponents! 

On 6 th January 2021 a group of President Trump die-hard supporters stormed, military style, Capitol Hill, the citadel of American Federal power, housing the Representatives and Senators, the highest ranking elected public officials in the land after the President. The mob had one purpose in mind - to stop the joint houses of Representatives and Senators from carrying out their constitutional duty of formally endorsing the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the winners of the November 2020 Presidential and Vice Presidential race. 

The violent mob attacking Capitol Hill were a blatant attached on the people’s right to a free vote, the people’s free vote as the only mandate to govern and on the long established tradition of a peaceful and orderly transfer of power. 

As a Zimbabwean, the 6 January 2021 events in Washington was a reminder of the events in Zimbabwe in March 2008. Zanu PF was losing the vote and the party ordered the vote counting to stop and the counting stopped.

It took the next six weeks for the party to cook up new results. MDC’s parliamentary majority was reduced and Tsvangirai’s 73% vote count, by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip, was reduced to 47% - enough to force a presidential run-off. 

In the three months run-off election campaign, Zanu PF unleashed the worst election related wanton violence the country had ever seen. The party was punishing the voters for daring to reject the party’s presidential candidate, Robert Mugabe, in the earlier vote. 

“Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” said Tsvangirai as he announced his forced withdrawal from the run-off. The wanton violence had been so intense it was impossible for him to campaign. 

Mnangagwa, before him Mugabe, and his fellow Zanu PF thugs conned the people of Zimbabwe’s promises of freedom, liberty, “One man! One vote!” etc., etc. before independence. All the black nationalists wanted and cared about is absolute power for themselves and their greed for power and the spoils it brings have been insatiable. 

Mnangagwa has succeed in gratifying his hunger for power because Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic in tyrants like him hold captive the state institutions and ride roughshod over the people freedoms and rights. President Donald Trump tried to do the same and has failed because America has a healthy and functioning democracy. 

6th January 2021 will go down in history as the first occasion ever in 226 years America has failed to have peaceful and orderly transfer of power. But most important of all, the event will go down in history as an attempt to usurp the people’s power and right to free, fair and credible elections that completely failed.

Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs usurped the people’s freedoms and rights when the party denied the people a free vote in 1980. The 2008 elections are a watershed elections in that the party showed the sickening depths the regime would sink to retain power. 

There is no denying that President Trump caused a lot of damage to America’s democracy after 4 years in White House. Imagine how much more damage he would have caused if he had enjoyed absolute power for 40 years, which is what Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies have enjoyed! 

Mnangagwa and company are corrupt, ruthless thugs whose hunger for power and looted wealth is insatiable. After 40 years of enjoying absolute power, removing from office is not going to be easy. However, they are breathtakingly incompetent, their Achilles heel! 

President Trump’s “Trump first!” ethos was doomed to fail because he was foolish enough to think himself, even as President of America, was above the law. In the Banana Republic of Zimbabwe, the thugs are the law unto themselves the challenge is to dismantle the lawless dictatorship!

"Ordinary Zimbabweans benefited from 2008 GNU" says Mwonzora - they didn't, that's nub P Guramatunhu

  “To what extent it benefited the ordinary men and women because some arrangements are simple window dressing, we are not interested in window dressing arrangements but having said that, Zimbabweans did benefit tangibly from the GNU of 2009 to 2013,” said Douglas Mwonzora in a recent interview.

The people of Zimbabwe din NOT benefit from the 2008 to 20013 GNU in that MDC leaders sold-out on the most important issue - implementing the reforms. The very fact that Mwonzora still fails to see this key point only underlines why to would be folly to expect any manful change from MDC-T going forward. 

“In May 2014, we had a congress of the MDC and where we made a resolution regarding sanctions and this resolution says that the MDC will work towards Zimbabwe's international re-engagement,” explained Mwonzora.

“It also went on to say any positive move on the part of the international community must be made by an equally positive move on the part of Zimbabwe in instituting key social, political and economic reforms.”

The single most important task the people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into power to carry out is to implement democratic reforms designed to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. After 20 years, 5 of which in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, MDC leaders have failed to deliver even one meaningful reform. 

It is a historic fact that MDC leaders have sold-out on reforms during the GNU period; a fact the party has down played, at best, and therefore have done nothing to put right. 

The most important 2014 MDC-T congress resolution was that the party would never take part in any future elections until democratic reforms were implemented. “No reform! No elections!” 

It was none other than Douglas Mwonzora, as the then Secretary General of the party, who announced the following year, 2015, that the party would participate in the 2018 elections insisting the party will get Zanu PF “kicking and screaming” to implement the reforms before the elections. 

The party was disregarding its own “No reform! No elections!” Resolution for the same reason it had disregarded the SADC leaders’ advice not to participating in the 2013 elections with no reforms - greed. 

MDC leaders knew, with no reforms, Zanu PF would rig the elections but they were determined to participate regardless because they also knew that Zanu PF will give away a few gravy train seats, as bait to entice the opposition to participate. This was the honey pot trap MDC-T leaders have found irresistible. 

Mwonzora and his MDC-T outfit are gearing to participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in places for the same reason - greed. 

Zimbabwe is up to her eye balls in this economic and political mess precisely because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for the last 40 years and counting. The nation elected MDC leaders to implement the reforms and thus end the Zanu PF dictatorship. What is now clear is that MDC leaders have abandoned that task and settled for letting the Zanu PF dictatorship remain in power for a share of the spoils of power. 

So if Zimbabweans are serious about ending the economic meltdown and end the suffering of the millions now living in abject poverty they must see MDC leaders for what they are corrupt, incompetent and, above all, sell-outs who are given up the fight for free, fair and credible elections. 

Zimbabwe desperately needs competent and focused men and women who will implement the democratic reforms and end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Mwonzora, Chamisa and the rest of the MDC leaders will never implement the reforms; they do not have what it takes.

"I drubbed ED in 2018, he got relief from ConCourt!" boasted Chamisa - why did you fail to drub ConCourt too? P Guramatunhu

 There is no denying that Zimbabwe’s in serious economic and political trouble. The economy is in total meltdown after 40 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that has earned the country the burdensome title of pariah state. 

The political trouble is because the country has not only a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling party, Zanu PF, but an equally corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition. And to crown it all, we have an electorate that has no clue what is going on and hence are given to follow the corrupt and useless leaders blindly like sheep to the slaughter. A recipe for political paralysis; and that is exactly what we have. 

“A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership,” said Chinua Achebe, one of Africa’s great intellectuals.

For Nelson Chamisa, the leader of MDC A, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party; forget about being educated and moral grounding: he lacks common sense. He really has no clue what is going and and hence keeps repeating the same foolish mistakes over and over again - proof he has no common sense.

 

“ED (Mnangagwa), you have been working so hard, 24/7, to try and bury Nelson Chamisa. Note this: when you try to bury him, you are only planting him and he will only germinate even more viciously," boasted Chamisa, in an interview with The Standard.

"ED will never forgive us for drubbing him in 2018. The people's crime is that they showed him a red card in 2018 only to get relief and extra time through the ConCourt.”

If there is one thing that the July 2018 elections proved beyond all reasonable doubt, for the umpteenth time, it was that Zanu PF would never lose an election in which the regime has the carte blanche powers to rig. 

The 2008 Zimbabwe elections were a watershed because that year Zanu PF showed the noun-sphere of its vote rigging capabilities. The party order the recount of the March vote and held up announcing the result for six week whilst it cooked up the figures. Tsvangirai’s 73% vote count, by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip, was whittled down to 47%; enough to force a presidential run-off. 

In the run-off, Zanu PF unleashed it party thugs, war veterans backed by the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Service officials to punish the electorate for having rejected Robert Mugabe, the party’s presidential candidate in the early March vote. Millions of Zimbabweans were harassed and forced to go into hiding; hundreds of thousands were severely beaten and/or raped and over 500 were murdered. 

“Zanu PF has declared war on the nation!” said Tsvangirai, as he announced his withdrawal from the run-off. 

Mugabe went on to win the one-horse race with 84% of the vote. 

For the first time ever, SADC and AU, renowned for giving a thumbs up to Zanu PF rigged elections in the past, refused to accept the 2008 elections as free and fair and Zanu PF as the legitimate government. 

SADC leaders forced Mugabe and Zanu PF to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) in which Zimbabwe was to implement a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop the blatant election cheating and wanton violence and ensure future elections were free, fair and credible. 

A Government of National Unity (GNU) comprising Zanu PF and the two MDC factions led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara was tasked to implement the reforms. SA’s President Thabo Mbeki signed the GPA on behalf of SADC which was the guarantor of the agreement. 

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and, with their snouts in the feeding trough, the forgot about implementing the reforms. Even the constant nagging by the SADC leaders failed to get MDC leaders to implement even one token reform in five years! 

SADC leaders made a desperate last minute attempt to get Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections postponed until democratic reforms are implemented.  

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza latter told Journalist Violet Gonda.

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; ‘If you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done!’.”

As we know, Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections, as SADC leaders had predicted. 

Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A went participate in the 2018 elections too, knowing fully well that with no reforms in place Zanu PF will rig those elections too. ZEC failed to produce something as basic for free and fair elections as a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake. And still Chamisa et al participated in the elections regardless. Why?

The same reason MDC leaders had failed to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU - greed. 

The one lesson Mugabe learnt from the GNU was that Zanu PF can continue rigging the elections without risking plebiscite being declared null and void as happened in 2008 as long as the opposition participated in the flawed and illegal elections in numbers. Zanu PF would give away a few gravy train seats; a honey trap the opposition found irresistible. 

Chamisa et al participated in the 2018 election out of greed and gave all manner of excuses for doing so knowing the elections will be rigged. “MDC A has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!” he boasted.

When the stringent measures failed he has another feeble excuse why; Mnangagwa “only to get relief and extra time through the ConCourt!” 

Of course, if we had implemented the democratic reforms fully before the 2018 elections then Mnangagwa would not have got the relief from the ConCourt or from anywhere else. The reforms are designed to end Zanu PF’s  corrupting hold over all the state institutions including ZEC, Police, ConCourt, etc.! 

"Through the hurdles, attacks and downs of 2020, we remain standing and marching towards a free and new great Zimbabwe. Fighting for freedom is a national duty and a patriotic act. 2021 will be incredible and full of surprises,” Chamisa told The Standard. 

Chamisa and his MDC A friends are gearing to participate in the coming 2023 elections with not even one token democratic reform in place. Mnangagwa knows that as long as the opposition participate Zanu PF has every chance of rigging the elections and get away with it as before. 

The biggest mistake the people of Zimbabwe made was to risk life and limb electing Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into power in the hope the party will bring about the democratic changes necessary to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

The people themselves had no clue what the changes were much less how they were to be implemented and so when MDC leaders sold-out during the GNU; the people failed to comprehend the blatant betrayal. 

As long as the Zimbabwe electorate remain a naive and gullible lot given to believe such feeble excuses as “MDC has stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging” and be dragging by MDC A into flawed and illegal elections; the opposition will claim to command a national following and thus have credibility. And a credible opposition participating in flawed and illegal elections will give Zanu PF some modicum of legitimacy! 

Educate the Zimbabwe electorate so they understand what the democratic reforms are and how Chamisa et al not only sold-out on implementing reforms but, worst of all, how participating in these flawed elections is only helping to perpetuate the curse of rigged elections. An enlightened electorate will desert the corrupt, incompetent and sell-out opposition opportunists in droves! 

A discredited opposition can participate in flawed elections but it will never give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy!

So, the most important task before us is to educate the Zimbabwe electorate so that as many as possible understand what the democratic reforms are needed to ensure free, fair and credible elections. It is for the people to then demand that the reforms are implemented before the next elections and to reject the elections as null and void if no reforms are in place. This is a mammoth task but not an impossible. 

"Zimbabwe hospitals are overwhelmed with covid-19" - overwhelmed by 225 patients or official figures are lies! W Mukori

 Let me say this for the umpteenth time: Zimbabwe’s official corona virus cases and deaths is but a fraction of the real and true figures. 

Officially Zimbabwe has 13 867 cumulated cases of which 2 254 are active cases and 363 deaths. There have been 719 new cases and 9 deaths in the last three days showing the number of cases are on the increase.

"We hear UK beds are overwhelmed by Covid-19. Well, that's them.They say in SA, hospital admission thresholds are now quite high- that's them. But, let me tell you about our own situation, don't catch the virus if you can avoid it. We are being overwhelmed and overrun by this virus.” commented Nick Mangwana on twitter. 

Mangwana is the government spokesman and also the source of the official data on corona virus cases and deaths.

”We really are in it!”

“Those who doubt should call any hospital including private ones and hear what they will be told. Our capacity to admit other patients is extremely diminished.”

There is very strange coming from some one authorised to give the definitive corona virus cases and deaths across the land. So he is himself doubting the official figures he has been dishing out!

Indeed, any one with half a brain has cause to doubt the official figures. If there are only 2 254 active cases and 10% of them, at most, would require hospitalisation. Why would a country of 16 million be running out of hospital beds after admitting only 225 corona virus patients, particularly when the country has had over a year to prepare to treat tens of thousands and, so far, had not happened?

One way Zimbabwe has failed to keep track of the true corona virus figures is because the country has not been testing, tracing and tracking as per World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation and as common sense would dictate. 

Last month there were many reported cases of corona virus cases at a number of school including Dadaya High School, in Zvishavane. The ration thing to do was to test all 1 000 or so students and staff. There was only enough test kits for 47 tests per day! 

Even now with the number of corona virus surging up, Zimbabwe’s test regime continues to remain wilfully inadequate. Yesterday the nation carried out 1 677 PCR test in total country wide! 

No doubt many students went back home without ever being tests and all those who had the virus but not the symptoms continue spreading it to the rest of the community. 

So by failing to carryout a US$2 test the nation could end put after one month with 100 corona virus cases traceable to just one individual and 10 of whom will require hospital treatment costing US$ 100 each, at least and 1 out of the 100 will die! 

How many people in Zimbabwe today have corona virus and would be in isolation if the country was carrying out a more rigorous testing, tracking and tracing regime? And we are not going this to save US$2! What a criminal waste of human lives!

The official Zimbabwe covid 19 cases and deaths would suggest the country has done exceptionally in containing the pandemic but this will be overshadowed if was so because we falsified the figures. The matter will be much worse if in falsifying the figures we ending up putting more Zimbabweans at risk of getting the virus and many dying.

Thank God there are now a number of corona virus vaccines available. Still, as a third world country that will rely on the generosity of others to get the vaccine, it will not be for another year before a significant number of Zimbabweans get the jab. 

Meanwhile, we must do something to end the blundering incompetence shown by this Zanu PF regime in the handling of the pandemic. There is no excuse why Zimbabwe has not increased the number of tests consider it is our only line of defence since our health care has all but collapsed.

I hope some day the country will carryout a thorough inquiry to uncover the truth on how Zimbabwe handled the corona virus pandemic. The true figure of how many people had the virus and how many died will never be known for certain still it will be useful to have more realistic figures than the official figures that even those complying them are dismissing with contempt!

"If you want house and a car; join NGO! Blue Roof mansion, fleet of cars, etc., etc.; join Zanu PF" - or doomed to extreme poverty N Garikai

 Give a fool rope enough, and he will hang himself; so goes the old adage. Zimbabwe’s political fools are swinging in the breeze!

“The activities of NGOs in our country, in the majority of cases, have not been developmental. The US and other Western countries have been splashing money to elements of the opposition with a view to effect regime change. That has nothing to do with promotion of democracy,’ fired (or rather misfired) Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF’s acting spokes person. 

“In Zimbabwe, if one wants to buy a house or a car without working for it, he or she just needs to join an NGO and give out to that NGO that he was opposed to the ruling party and money will be provided.” 

Chinamasa was commending on US Senator Rand Paul’s criticism of USAID for spending US$10 million trying to democratise Zimbabwe. 

There is no denying that millions if not billions of USD in donor funds have been poured into Zimbabwe to promote democracy and good governance and there is precious little to show for it. Still, that does not mean there is no need for democracy and good governance in the country. 

Indeed, with 50% of the country’s population now living in extreme poverty, with the country’s education and health care all but completely collapsed after decades of being starved of funds, etc. the need for good governance is greater now than ever before.

Yes the Zimbabwe’s NGOs and opposition leaders are corrupt and incompetent but nothing compared to the Zanu PF ruling elite and Comrade Chinamasa knows it! .

“In Zimbabwe, if one wants to buy not a house but a sprawling Blue Roof house mansion worth US$2 billion, not just have a car but a fleet of posh cars, have five star overseas education and health care services, have multiple farms, a multimillion dollar business empire, have an extravagant lifestyle, etc., etc. without working for it, he or she just needs to join Zanu PF. And to top it all, will be minister for donkey years!” Chinamasa should have added, after all he was minister for 38 years! 

And there lays the nub of it all! Of course, the ordinary Zimbabweans would have never voted for the building of the US$2 billions Blue Roof whilst the country’s hospitals and schools rotted and decayed from neglect. 

When the nation was fighting to end white colonial oppression “One man! One vote!” was the clarion call and everyone believed in the freedom and dignity of all the citizens. Sadly, by the time the country gained her independence, Zanu PF had forgotten all that in pursuit of absolute power. 

Zanu PF’s campaign message in 1980 was that the civil war would continue is the party failed to win the elections and so the people voted to end the war and kissed “one man! One vote!” good bye. Zanu PF has rigged all the elections ever since. 

Zanu PF has made “regime change” a dirty phase when in reality it is the very essence of free, fair and credible elections. Free and fair elections are a right and not a privilege to be given to some and denied to other as those in power see fit. The ultimate expression of the free vote is for the voters to remove anyone from office if they so wished!

"On paper, the reason being advanced for this colossal funding is because America wants to help in developing Zimbabwe's democratic institutions. In reality, however, the real reason for this funding is to enable America to create, fund and control a pliant and puppet government in Zimbabwe, a government that will play to the whims and fantasies of America's neo- imperialist agenda," chipped in Obert Gutu. 

Gutu was the MDC-T a deputy minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The people of Zimbabwe risked life and limb to elect Gutu and his fellow MDC leaders into power on the understanding they would bring about the democratic changes the nation was dying for. 

However when MDC leaders got into power, Mugabe bribed them with the trappings of high office and they forgot about implementing the reforms to fighting to maintain the de facto one party dictatorship. 

Power, wealth and privilege stopped MDC leaders seeing the evil of the dictatorship and the human suffering and deaths it had brought to the nation just as the same trio had blinded Chinamasa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies.   

It was US ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell, who said Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, “was a flawed and indecisive character who would be an albatross round Zimbabwe’s neck if he ever got into power”. MDC did get into power in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The party failed to implement even one the democratic reforms in five years, proving ambassador Dell was right!

USAID had no business working with the MDC’s corrupt and incompetent leaders, especially after the GNU debacle. And so USA Senators Rand Paul was right in his scathing criticism of USAID for working with MDC leaders even to this day! 

In Zimbabwe, Zanu PF ruling elite have Blue Roof mansion, fleet of cars, …. The rest, povo, are doomed to live and die in extreme poverty, hopelessness and dumb anguish. This is the reality in Zimbabwe; it does have to be this way and, unless people demand meaningful democratic change, this it will remain.