Should Africa mourn Elizabeth II? Of course, America and others have moved on and so must we! W Mukori

 

The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has triggered an outpouring of public sympathy from all corners of the world. The public sympathy from Africa has not gone down well with some people.

“You will never understand Africans!” wrote Tracy Zille in one widely circulated WhatsApp message. “They are busy mourning an old woman who caused their nations great pain. Is this not a Queen of a country that colonized Africa and caused poverty in your land?”

How patronising! Who are you to presume to instruct a whole continent of 54 countries and over 1.2 billion people on whom they should love and whom they should hate!

Not so many moons ago, was America not a British colony. History tells us the two fought a bitter war of independence, a story repeated countless times throughout human history. Did the British and the Americans not bury the proverbial hatchet are the best of friends to the mutual benefit of the two nations?

Countries like Zimbabwe had the great misfortune of having tyrants like the late Robert Mugabe. It is no exaggeration to, after our independence, Mugabe tried to be more British than the British in everything he said and did. He had an inferiority complex and was overcompensating for it. The now late Queen Elizabeth invited him to stay in Buckingham Palace and even knighted the tyrant. Needless to say, he was chaffed to bits.

The friendly relationship between Zimbabwe and UK and the rest of the Western nation turned sour the latter refused to bankroll Zanu PF’s reckless spending and dared to criticize the regime for its failure to uphold human rights including failure to hold free, fair and credible elections.

Mugabe hit back and accused the British of sponsoring the country’s opposition for the purpose of regime change and recolonizing Zimbabwe. As Zimbabwe’s economy sunk deeper and deeper into the abyss as a result of Zanu PF gross mismanagement and rampant corruption has resorted more and more dictatorial measures to deny the people the free vote in order to retain power. And to hide his tyrannical activities, his anti-west rhetoric has gone into overdrive.

“Zimbabwe will never again be a British colony!” ranted Mugabe with the dramatic gestures of the boxer who has just delivered the knock punch! All shadow boxing because the British have never shown any intention of recolonizing Zimbabwe or any of her former colonies!

The iron is whilst Mugabe has made a big song and dance of stopping the British recolonising Zimbabwe, he has all but sold Zimbabwe to the Chinese for a song.

Last month Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, revealed that Zimbabwe sold platinum ore with US$52 billion to China to secure a loan worth US$ 200 million. The loan was used to buy farming equipment and it is the ruling elite who got the seized former white owned farms who benefited from the loan and, as usual, never paid back the loan.

It is not a secret that the Chinese are heavily involved in the looting of diamonds in Marange and Chiadzwa and in many other areas. Zimbabwe got rid of one colonial master only to have another and in replacing the British with the Chinese we jumped from the frying pan into the fire!

China does not care that Zanu PF leaders are corrupt and are responsible for the country’s economic ruins. Indeed, the Chinese are one of the foreign nations benefiting from the corruption and the Chinese are doing everything in their power to help Zanu rig the elections and stay in power.

The Mnangagwa regime has toned down the anti-west rhetoric in the hope the west will bankroll Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. The west has continued to demand democratic reforms as the condition for re-engagement.

Many Zimbabweans are joining the British people, the Commonwealth and many others across the world in celebrating Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life, mourning the death and in wishing her eternal peace. And long live King Charles III.

It would be very foolish for Zimbabweans to let the ranting a corrupt, tyrannical and vote rigging Zanu PF regime define who we are, especially when the “all weather” Chinese friends the regime has fostered on us are busy robbing the nation blind as we speak.

Restoring the right to free election is the holy grail because it is our only ticket out of this hell N Garikai

 After 42 years of blundering from pillar to post, there is no deny Zimbabwe is a textbook failed nation.

Zimbabwe is desperate to do something right.

Well, here is something we CAN and, indeed, MUST do – implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

Why are the reforms and free elections important and urgent? You might well ask.

Zimbabwe is in this, seemingly intractable political and economic mess because we have been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime for the last four decades. We are stuck with the regime because we could not remove it from office because it rigged the elections denying us a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

Of all the human rights and freedoms listed in the UN Universal Declaration of Human rights, the right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country is the king of them all because without the power to hold democratic account those in positions of power and authority then nothing is sacred not even the sanctity of life.

“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you!” said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana. He was spot on.

To be frank, the ordinary Zimbabwean has never had any say in the governance of the country from the start. The 1980 elections, ushering the country’s independence, were not free, fair and credible. Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies made it clear that if the party did not win, the bush war would continue. Of course, the people voted to end the war. One does not argue looking up the business end of a AK47 rifle.

Once in power, Zanu PF has moved swiftly to consolidate it’s strangle-hold on power. “What was won by the bullet cannot be undone with a ballot!” boasted Robert Mugabe when he unleashed his party militia, war veterans and serving Police, Army and CIO personal to punish the voters for daring to reject him and Zanu PF in the March 2008 vote.

The blatant cheating and wanton violence were so bad that Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s main challenger in the presidential race was forced to withdraw from the run-off. Mugabe won the one-horse run off with 84%, overturning Tsvangirai’s 73% which was whittled down to 47% to justify the runoff.

Both SADC and the AU refused to endorse Zanu PF’s 2008 election victory denying the regime legitimacy because of the blatant cheating and wanton violence. A first, given they, until then, they had always endorsed Zanu PF rigged elections. Mugabe was forced to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA), agreeing to the need to implement the necessary reforms to restore the people’s democratic freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections. A government of National Unity (GNU) was tasked to implement the reforms.

Sadly, the GNU failed to implement even one token reform in five years. Mugabe bribed Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC, Zanu PF’s GNU partners expected to implement the reforms, with the trappings of high office and with their snouts in the feeding trough they forgot about the reforms.

SADC leaders did their best to remind MDC to implement the reforms but were ignored. They advised MDC not to participate in the 2013 elections with first implementing the reforms but, once again MDC leaders would not listen.

Without doubt, the 2008 to 2013 GNU was Zimbabwe’s best opportunity so far to implement the reforms and restore political power back to the people. These coming 2023 elections presents a new opportunity if we play our cards right.

Zanu PF is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections; the party denied 3 million in the diaspora the vote, or 37% of the potential electorate, for no other reason than fear most will not vote for the party. The party has stubbornly refused to produce a verified voters’ roll. Already there have been many cases of wanton violence and the situation will only get worse.

SADC leaders are under increase pressure, Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess is spilling over into the other countries, to stop rubber stamping Zanu PF rigged elections. Given all the evidence of vote rigging, it is almost certain SADC leaders will refuse to give Zanu PF legitimacy. The country will be forced to have yet another GNU; this time no stone will be left unturned to make sure all the reforms are implemented and above all else, the people’s right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is restored and secured for ourselves and posterity.

I am pleased to say many more Zimbabweans are waking up to the political reality that the right to free, fair and credible elections is a lot more than just a right – it is the essence of good governance. Let’s hope the nation will rally and finally get the reforms implemented and the nation’s first free and fair elections held – our ticket out of this hell-on-earth Zanu PF dragged us into. 

UK has new PM, 8th in 42 years; Truss too will not last if fail - Zim has 2nd in same period, both way past "use-by date" P Guramatuhnu

 

The British people have a new Prime Minister, the 8^th one since 1980!

Liz Truss                              2022 – present   Conservative

Boris Johnson                    2019 – 2022       Conservative

Theresa May                     2016 – 2019       Conservative

David Cameron                 2010 – 2016       Conservative

Gordon Brown                  2007 – 2010       Labour

Tony Blair                           1997 – 2007       Labour

John Major                        1990 – 1997       Conservative

Margaret Thatcher          1979 – 1990       Conservative

 

In the same 42 years period, Zimbabwe had just two Presidents.

Emmerson Mnangagwa 2017 (coup) – present    Zanu PF

Robert Mugabe                1980 – 2017 (coup)          Zanu PF

 

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF apologists will attribute the stack reality of 2 leaders vs 8 to Zanu PF’s enduring “popularity with the Zimbabwean electorate” and the fear of change, metathesiophobia. A phobia, extreme fear, of the unknown that makes one avoid change at all costs!

The more rational and, indeed, obvious explanation is that Zanu PF has blatantly rigged elections to deny the people of Zimbabwe their fundamental right to a meaningful say in who ruled the country. Mugabe was not removed from office because he had lost his “popularity” with the electorate; he was booted out of office by the same Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut that had rigged elections and kept him in power.

It was no surprise at all that Mnangagwa and his fellow November 2017 military coup plotters named the coup “Operation restore legacy!” The coup was the climax of a factional struggle pitting Robert Mugabe and his G40 against then VP Mnangagwa and his Lactose including the top brass in Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services constituting Joint Operation Command (JOC), the junta behind the vote rigging and looting. When Robert Mugabe fired Mnangagwa from his post as VP it was clear his supporters in JOC were next. The putsch was to restore power back in the hands of the junta.

The only time Zimbabwe has ever come close to holding free, fair and credible elections was in March 2008. SADC leaders had forced Zanu PF to accept many electoral reforms rendering the party’s vote rigging machine ineffective.

It so happened that the elections took place at the time when the Zimbabwe economy was in total meltdown; inflation had soared to the dizzying height of 500 billion percent, the economy had shrunk by over 50% in the last decade alone, many companies had closed, shops were empty, etc. Metathesiophobia! What metathesiophobia! The people knew what they had in Zanu PF and they were desperate for regime change.

Zimbabweans were so desperate for regime change someone remarked that “if the choice was between Mugabe (Zanu PF presidential candidate) and the donkey, people will vote for the donkey!”

Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC presidential candidate) got 73% of the vote, according to Mugabe’s Freudian slip. But before the result was announced the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut was switched back on and it took six weeks to recount five million votes. Or rather, to whittle down 73% to 47%, enough to force a runoff.

During the runoff Zanu PF used the junta to punish the voters for having reject the party in the March 2008 vote. The nation was subjected to some of the worst politically motivated violence the country has even seen, millions were beaten and/or raped and over 500 were murdered.

“What was accomplished by the bullet, cannot be changed by the ballot!” thundered Mugabe as the wanton violence spread like a forest fire.

“Zanu PF has declared war on the people!” complained Tsvangirai as he dropped out of the race.

Mugabe “won” the one-horse race by 84%.

Ever since the party has reminded the people of 2008 wanton violence each time the party’s grip on power has been threatened. However, the threat to use violence has not been enough to subdue the populous particularly in the face of the country’s worsening economic situation. There have been many violent clashes, instigated by Zanu PF supporters mainly, already. Signs are, things are going to get worse as the nation gears for the 2023 elections.

 

Things are not any better in the opposition camp. MDC rebranded as CCC, had only two leaders in the last 22 years.

Nelson Chamisa               2018 (palace coup) to present

Morgan Tsvangirai           1999 to 2018 (death)

When the MDC was launched it had a constitution stating the party president could serve a maximum of two five-year terms. Tsvangirai had the constitution amended to allow him to stay in power beyond the ten years. Chamisa has resisted calls for CCC to have a constitution and party structures. He insists the party belongs to the people for the people and all decisions are by the people. All nonsense of course, CCC is no more a democratic party than the Democratic Republic of North Korea is a democratic country!

If the 2023 elections were free, fair and credible, Nelson Chamisa would defeat the Zanu PF candidate hands down for no other reason than that the nation is desperate for change. By failing to implement even one meaningful reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU to guarantee free elections Chamisa and company shot themselves in the foot because they will never win blatantly rigged elections.

In a healthy and fully functioning democracy with a well informed and diligent electorate, such as the UK, all those who hold public office compete amongst themselves and are accountable to the people who wield the vote to decide who governs. In a dysfunctional autocratic Zimbabwe all political power is in the hands of the few ruling elite and the powerless masses do as they are told, the tail wags the dog.  

The new UK Prime Minister will have to hit the ground running because her in-tray is full and overflowing. The price of fuel has just doubled in the last six months; caused, largely, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and the price of everything else is going up. Inflation is now at 13% and the UK economy is predicted to go into recession by the end of the year. The whole nation is look up to her to provide the leadership, vision and solutions to all the nation’s teething problems.

“I will deliver!” promised Prime Minister Liz Truss, then entered the famous 10 Downing Street. She knows that if she fails to deliver her own Conservative party will boot her out before the next general elections in two years’ time or else the British people will boot her and many of her fellow party leaders out.

If you fail to deliver as a leader then you must go, no messing around; that is what has given democratic nations the competitive edge. Keeping leaders way past their used-by dates is has made countries like Zimbabwe textbook case failed states. Zanu PF has ruled Zimbabwe for 42 years and counting. Hell!!!!

"We've to battle without reforms" said Ncube - only because failed "implement reforms like man" W Mukori

 

“We’ve to battle without reforms!” screamed the Daily News headline with a picture of Professor Welshman Ncube.

“We have to be ready, prepared to win elections under the most adverse of conditions, to be able to overwhelm, overpower, overrun Zanu PF even without electoral reforms,” Professor Ncube explained.  Adding that even if there were to be a last-minute appetite for reforms it would probably be too late.

Political parties, civil society and diplomatic missions have been urging the government to amend electoral laws so that all parties have a fair chance of winning but Ncube, interim CCC Vice President, said he’d been told privately by Zanu PF people that those reforms deemed necessary had already been done.

In short, Zimbabwe is being dragged into yet another meaningless election whose outcome will be disputed because the process itself is not free, fair and credible. It is already clear that ZEC will not produce even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll.

After 42 years of rigged, why, oh why, are we being dragged into yet another flawed and illegal election?

Answer: because the opposition will not “go home and work like a man!” as the great Chinua Achebe would put it!

“Many years ago when Okonkwo was still a boy his father Unoka, had gone to consult Agbala. The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. She was full of power of her god, and she was greatly feared. Unoka stood before her and began his story,” wrote Achebe, in his book Things Fall Apart.

“’Every year,’ he said sadly, ‘before I put any crop in the earth, I sacrifice a cock to Ani, the owner of all land. It is the law of our fathers. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. I sow the yams when the first rains has fallen, and stake them when the young tendrils appear. I weed –‘

‘Hold your peace!’ screamed the priestess, her voice terrible as it echoed through the dark void. ‘You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm. 

‘You Unoka, are known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe. When your neighbours go out with their axe to cut down virgin forests, you sow your yams on exhausted farms that take no labour to clear. They cross seven rivers to make their farms, you stay home and offer sacrifice to a reluctant soil.

‘Go home and work like a man!’”

Anyone familiar with the Zimbabwe politics will tell you they are sick and tired of Professor Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, David Coltart and the other CCC leaders pontificating about Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis and the suffering masses as if they cared. Of course, they don’t care and never did. All they care about is power and all the ashen faces and political posturing is all an act to gain public confidence and, most important of all, political support and votes.

It is nonsensical for Professor Ncube to complain that Zanu PF was refusing to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections when he and his MDC/CCC colleagues were all in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and yet failed to implement even one token reform! Worse still, MDC/CCC leaders have participated in these flawed elections knowing fully well that doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship. Still, they have carried on participating out of greed as Coltart confessed.

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

“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.”

Four of the main MDC factions did unite to form the MDC Alliance just before the 2018 elections and still they participated in those elections knowing fully well Zanu PF was rigging. CCC is hell bent on participating in these 2023 elections for the same reasons the leaders failed to implement reforms during the GNU – incompetence and greed.

Zimbabwe is being dragged into yet another utterly meaningless election, after 42 years of rigged elections, because Chamisa and company will not “go home and implement the reforms”, to paraphrase Achebe.

Zambia' s HH A+ performance is casting shadow ED's mirage "vision 2030" and, worst of all, 2023 legitimacy N Garikai

 

It has been hard enough for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to talk about Zimbabwe being on track to become an upper middle-income nation by 2030, “Vision 2030” as he calls it; when, four years since the November 2017 coup, there is nothing support the optimism. The glowing reports on Zambia’s economic recovery have knocked the stuffing out of Mnangagwa!

“Since Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema came assumed power last year, he has achieved key performance indicators, especially on the exchange rate an indication of strong leadership and that people have faith in his leadership,” reported Bulawayo 24.                                                                        

“This is in stuck contrast to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has presided over the rapid loss of value of the local currency since he grabbed power in a military coup in 2017. The Kwacha has rallied against the United States dollar; it was US$1: K22.59 in July 2021, but it's now US$1:K16.11.

"As the saying goes, when in doubt, observe the exchange rate. The lesson from history is that you cannot manage an economy with propaganda. In fact, you can engage in all the propaganda you want, but if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you," Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President of Ghana, who is also an economist said.

“When Mnangagwa took over through a coup in Novenber 2017, the local quasi-currency bond note (now Zimdollar) was pegged 1:1 with the US dollar until February 2022. Now the exchange rate is officially US$1:ZW$546.8 although on the parallel at US$1:ZW$700.”

Mnangagwa thought he was hitting the ground running when announced that “Zimbabwe is open for business!” His rallying call following the military coup. It was an obvious call to make given the sorry state of the Zimbabwe economy.

Decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and lawless and tyrannical oppression had left the country is economic ruins and earned it cursed pariah state label. The seizure of the white owned farms triggering the collapse of the country’s agricultural sector, the main engine of the country’s economy, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The Zimbabwe economy shrunk by as much as 50% in the period 2000 to 2008.

By November 2017, when the military coup took place, Zimbabwe’s economy was already in total meltdown as more and more companies closed and no new companies opened. The economic and political environment made it near impossible to do business. Zimbabwe was indeed closed for business!  

Present Mnangagwa made two key promises to back up his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” proclamation. He promised to stamp out corruption and to hold free and fair elections. No one held their breath, especially the shrewd investors, he was hoping to attract.

Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the 2018 elections and corruption is as rampant as during Mugabe days, if not worse.

“Zimbabwe is open for business!” was just a lead balloon that never took off!

Mnangagwa has tried to rebrand his administration different from that of the former dictator Robert Mugabe; calling it a “Second Republic”. The reality is Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. And as long as the country remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery!   

President Emmerson Mnangagwa knows that all these glowing reports of Zambia economic recovery will only increase the yawning for meaningful change amongst Zimbabweans. The nation will not accept yet another rigged election by Zanu PF. And yet that is exactly what the party is doing; thanks to the MDC/CCC who have failed to implement even one token reform in 22 years and are insisting on participating in these flawed and illegal elections for the sake of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.

In the past, SADC countries have used the MDC’s participation as an excuse to turn a blind eye to the rigging and grant Zanu PF political legitimacy. The regional leaders, especially South Africa and Zambia who have successfully held free elections themselves and are feeling to ill effects of Zimbabwe’s economic chaos brought about by the growing tide of economic and/or political Zimbabwean refugees, know they will be shooting themselves in the foot is they rubber stamped Zanu PF rigged 2023 elections and gave the regime legitimacy.

"If blacks ruled, people will walk on sewage!" said Smith - greatest shame is denying it and continue wallowing in s***t W Mukori

 

It is said that Mathematics is an exact science in that 1 + 1 = 2 not 2 or anything else. Compared to say History, for example, whose parameters are vaguely defined. One can argue that the primary causes of the Second World War were A, B, C and D; second person may say that and a third say something else which is neither this nor that and all three may well be marked correct.

Politics is a totally different ball game! Whereas with History there is a concerted effort to be factual and respect of the truth; in Politics opinions are traded as facts and, if one is not well informed diligent, half truths and even downright lies are sold as the whole truth.

 Even if one accepted the reality that Politics is not an exact science with one undisputed answer to a question, still only those with an invested interest in denying the facts can dispute that Zimbabwe is a textbook case of a failed state in which the overwhelming majority of the citizens are now living in abject poverty as a result of decades of misrule.

“If blacks are to rule themselves people in towns will walk on sewage until they believe its’s normal,” said Ian Douglas Smith in 1975.

“All the gains from colonization will varnish, infrastructure will collapse, roads will be impassable, trains will kill people until they’re abandoned as an unsafe mode of transport. Hospitals will be closed; farms will be grabbed and nothing to feed the nation.”

After just four decades of self-rule, Zimbabwe has already gone a long way to fulfil Ian Smith’s prophecy!

Even President Emmerson Mnangagwa, succeeded Mugabe after the 2017 military coup as the new Zanu PF dictator, and his Zanu PF cronies have grudgingly admitted the country is in a mess. They blame everyone and everything, especially the west imposed sanctions, for the mess but never themselves.

Zanu PF has also produced its own propaganda portraying a prosperous future to counter the gloomy reality of the present. And thus this Mnangagwa regime, “the Second Republic” as he calls it, claims the nation is set to attain upper middle-income status by 2030, vision 2030.

Zimbabwe is a pariah state and there is nothing Mnangagwa has done since the 2017 coup to suggest that is about to change. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Vision 2030 will remain a mirage in the darkest of nights!

Ian Smith’s prophecy has come to pass in record time, I don’t think even Ian Smith would have predicted Zimbabwe would be a failed state in just four decades, because he predicted three things:

1)     That the Zanu PF leaders were corrupt and incompetent

 

2)     That they would be oppressive and shun democratic accountability

 

3)     Third, most important of all, they are so obsessed about their inferiority complex they will never admit failure  

Ian Smith was spot-on on all three counts, and it was a recipe for disaster as we can see.

The point is Zimbabwe’s economic and political failure was not inevitable. The country had human and material resources and economic potential to be “the South Korea of Africa”, as Ken Yamamoto a Japanese scholar put it, given competent and visionary leaders like Nelson Mandela in South Africa. We turned left instead of right and became “the failed North Korea of Africa” under the leadership of the corrupt and tyrannical Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies.

The country still has the same resourceful and hard-working people, the natural resources, etc. are still there and therefore can still pull itself by the boot strings to become democratic and prosperous nation. It will be more difficult to do so now than back in 1980. The nation will have to wrestle political power from the Zanu PF thugs, for a start. That is easier said than done because the rot of the dictatorship has permeated deep into society.

Still, it is possible to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Indeed, given the tragic human suffering in the country, it is imperative to dismantle the dictatorship before the regime drags the whole nation into the economic and political chaos that has engulfed other nations like Libya or Syria.

Zanu PF has tried to impose a de jure one-party dictatorship but failed. The party is still obliged to hold regular elections for political legitimacy, and this is its Achilles heel. Given the party’s track record of economic ruins and it is not surprising the regime has resorted to rigging the elections to remain in power. Rigging elections is one thing getting away with it is another, as Zanu PF learned in 2008 when SADC and AU refused to rubber stamp the result and denied it legitimacy!

Zanu PF is once again blatantly rigging the 2023 elections, the regime is using wanton violence, has failed to produce a verified voters’ roll, etc., etc. Pressure must be brought to bear on SADC and AU not to rubber stamp the flawed elections and thus deny the regime legitimacy. This will force the country to have a new Government of National Unity (GNU), like the 2008 to 2013 GNU, only this time competent people must be appointed to ensure all the democratic reforms are implemented.

The only effective way to proving white racist like Ian Smith was wrong; that black Zimbabweans are capable of self-rule is by cleaning the sewage off our streets, install modern sewage system throughout the land and restore all the human freedoms, rights and dignities the Zanu PF dictatorship has denied our people. We don’t shame the white supremacists by denying our failures and shortcomings but by admitting and dealing with the problems and by successfully carrying out the latest open-heart surgery and more!

As a people we, black Africans, have wasted time and energy arguing with our detractors our worth as equals when we should have focused on earning our place at the high table by our deeds!  

"Zanu PF is mortgaging Zimbabwe for a song" mourned Biti - true but who is facilitating it all? W Mukori

When Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF got into power in 1980, he proclaimed mass prosperity, “Gutsa ruzhinji!”, in Shona. He was convinced he would achieve that by spending, spending and spending.

He built schools and hospitals for the ordinary people, the civil service and security sector became bloated to accommodate his comrades in arms and their cronies and he initiated the political patronage system of the ruling elite whom he pampered silly from the word go.

“In conversation with Trevor Simba Makoni”, google search it, Dr Makoni revealed how Prime Minister Mugabe replaced the Peugeot 406 used by Smith’s ministers with Mercedes Benz limos within weeks of the new government taking power. The limos were not budgeted for nor approved by the new cabinet.

Dr Makoni commented how this nothing is too good for the chefs culture had quickly spread and permeated every segment of Zimbabwe. It was “normal” for ZESA, NRZ or some such parastatal to pay CEO and his/her coterie of fellow political appointees hundreds of thousands of dollars in pay, cars, mansions and other allowances even when the company was failing to deliver basic services and failing to pay the workers the meagre wages!

1990 to 1999 IMF and WB sponsored Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP) failed to revive Zimbabwe’s flagging economy mainly because Zanu PF reduced its spending of social welfare for the ordinary people but not on the real big spenders – the ruling elite whose extravagance was only matched by their wastefulness. By the end of that decade Zimbabwe was up to her eyes in debt and IMF and WB stopped all financial assistance the country. Other western financial institutions followed the IMF and WB and cut all financial assistance to the country.

Robert Mugabe gave IMF and the WB his two-finger salute and announced his “look East” policy. Zimbabwe was going to get its financial assistance from China and other eastern nations like Russia.

China was aware that Zimbabwe was a bad debtor, and that the country could not borrow from no one else. And so, naturally, China took full advantage of this to drive a hard bargain and rip up Zimbabwe!

“The Minister of Finance disclosed in Parliament today that Zimbabwe has borrowed $2.7 b from China since independence of which only US$150m has been repaid,” commented former Finance Minister Tendai Biti in parliament.

“The biggest debt pertains to the billion dollars borrowed for the Hwange7 and 8 power station. There is no verification of these figures.

“In 2006 Zimbabwe borrowed US$200 m from China which loan was secured by 26 million ounces of platinum reserves in Selous.

“Assuming a price of US$2000 an ounce for platinum Zimbabwe mortgaged a $52 b asset for mere US$200 m. This is ridiculous.

“They have been mortgaging Zimbabwe for years #Shame.”

This is more than ridiculous and shame! This is a national tragedy and high treason!