"Will CCC partake in shoddy 2023 without verified voters' roll?" Chamisa was finally cornered and nailed! Wilbert Mukori

 

Nelson Chamisa was finally cornered and nailed down on why CCC is participating in these elections without even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll!

Quizzed on the course of action the opposition intends to take should ZEC continue to hold on to the voter’s roll as has been witnessed lately, Chamisa said: “ZEC is a servant institution of the citizens. It is a citizens’ institution. It is a national and a citizens’ institution. Citizens are the ultimate authority and authors of the Republic. They are the owners of the Republic,” reported New Zimbabwe.

“Power resides in the citizens. Legislative, judicial, and even executive. All power is vested in the citizens. So legitimately citizens are demanding that all national processes be done in a particular way. There is no debate about that. That is non-negotiable”.

Further challenged to divulge details on whether CCC will partake in “shoddy elections” conducted without a voter’s roll, the CCC leader said there is no room for ZEC to lower the standard.

“ZEC has no option but to adhere to acceptable national and global standards for free and fair elections. These elections are national so there is no room for any variation or lowering of the standard. It’s not up for debate. It is the citizens who ultimately determine the quality, calibre, standard and nature of the election,” he added.

There is room for CCC to lower the standards by participating in the elections knowing fully well they are flawed and that participating will give vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. MDC/CCC has been participating in these shoddy elections out of greed.

“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,” confessed 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.”

Indeed, the participating in these flawed elections, “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw” should not come as a surprise to anyone who had been following Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends’ political performance. The MDC leaders had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms which would have freed ZEC and other state institutions to carry out their democratic duties of delivering free, fair and credible elections. They failed to implement even one meaningful reform in five years. Not one!

SADC, the regional body that had forced Robert Mugabe to sign the 2008 Global Political Agreement, agreeing to the need to implement the raft of democratic reforms, wanted the 2013 elections postponed to allow reforms to be implemented, a point Coltart was referred to in the above quotation.

“If you go into the elections next month, you will lose. The elections are done!” SADC leaders had warned Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to their faces.

It was a chance for the MDC leaders to redeem themselves for the having failed to implement the reforms during the GNU. They did not heed the warning for the same reason they had failed to implement the reforms during the GNU – greed.

Ever since the GNU debacle, Zanu PF has ignored demands to implement reforms to ensure elections are free and fair elections confident MDC/CCC will participate in the elections to give the process credibility and legitimacy, just as Coltart stated above. Why indeed, would Zanu PF risk losing power by implementing even a token reform when the party is assured of the opposition’s participation NO MATTER HOW FLAWED THE PROCESS GOT!  

Chamisa and company are participating in these 2023 elections WITHOUT a verified voters' roll; they have participated in the past with no verified voters' roll out of greed, they are still as greed as ever and therefore they will participate this year guaranteed!

Zimbabwe is in deep, deep trouble; we are failed state. Betrayed by the Mafiosi Zanu PF thugs who are rigging these 2023 elections, betrayed by the sell-outs CCC who are participating in these flawed elections out of greed and betrayed by SADC leaders who are endorsing the rigged elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of callous indifference!   

"I may disapprove of what Chin'ono say, but will defend his right to say it," to paraphrase Voltaire; for freedom of expression's sake!l W Mukori

 A healthy and functioning democracy demands an informed and diligent electorate. How else can you have a government of the people, for the people and by the people if the said people cannot hold those in public office to democratic account because they have no clue what in going on.

It is a crying tragedy that many Zimbabweans out there have no clue the primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms designed establish the basic human freedoms and rights including the right to free and fair elections, so ruthlessly denied by the Zanu PF dictatorship, for example. Even now, with the benefit of hindsight, many people still have no clue the primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the democratic reforms.

The dire consequences of this is the people’s failure to hold Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends who sold-out and failed to implement even one reform in five years to democratic account. Worse still, in their ignorance and naivety the people have continue to trust and follow the MDC blindly a situation that has allowed the opposition leaders to continue with the blatant betrayal by participating in flawed elections knowing fully well doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy.

“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,” confessed David Coltart, CCC Treasurer General, 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.”

CCC leaders are hell bent on participating in the 2023 elections for the same reasons they did not implement any reforms and participated in flawed elections during their MDC days – greed and their breath-taking incompetence. And to hide their greed and incompetence CCC have declared war on their critics, especially the media!

“You said I have a dirty agenda for reporting the truth.” Responded Hopewell Chin’ono to the barrage of attacks from Fadzayi Mahere, CCC party spokesperson, on twitter.

“I have provided evidence from your internal communications that the wards I mentioned don’t have candidates.

“So, what is the dirty agenda there?

“I have reported on Zanu PF primaries, why should it be different with CCC?”

Mahere was did not address the specific issues raised i.e. where is the dirty agenda if the information was indeed the truth sourced from the party’s own communications.

“Journalism, constructive criticism and freedom of expression are good. Having a dirty agenda is not!” Fadzayi Mahere fired back.

Typical! They pay lip service to freedom of expression and constructive criticism and in the next breath they dismiss all criticism as gutter journalism without even providing the supporting evidence. If you cannot deal with the message attack the messenger!

“It has become difficult for me to report on anything to do with CCC without insults,” responded Chin’ono.

“I have therefore taken the decision to STOP reporting on anything to do with CCC from today throughout the election campaign in order to have peace of mind.”

For all MDC/CCC’s claim to being a democratic party and the antithesis of the autocratic and tyrannical Zanu PF; the two parties have a deep-rooted dislike of all the democratic values when they are asked to walk the talk. It will be no surprise at all if a CCC government will keep the same control on the public media and harass the private media just as Zanu PF is doing. There will still be no freedom of expression and free media.

Like it or not one of the major, if not the number one, contributing Zimbabwe being the failed, pariah, state we are today is that Zimbabweans are a naïve and gullible people, a far cry from the informed and diligent electorate required for a healthy and functioning democracy. We desperately need freedom of expression and free media and those in the public eye who cannot stand the scrutiny must get out of the kitchen!

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," Beatrice Evelyn Hall on Voltaire. 

SADC will not let Zanu PF rigging elections to "continue"! Shame allowed it to for 43 years! Wilbert Mukori

 

"Zimbabwe has always been violating those (election) principles and guidelines as far as elections are concerned," acknowledged SADC Electoral Advisor, Likhwa Dlamini said after meeting Nelson Chamisa and his CCC team. CCC have the usual catalogue of issues to complain about.

"SADC is there to assess the likelihood of such incidents recurring, but our report does not address such issues and if they keep on recurring, there are other senior structures that deal with such issues.

"But SADC will not sit down and watch this continuing.

"We are not going to use force or push through the throat everything that we think of.

"We are going to do it in a way that would make us remain brothers and sisters."

"Our presence here is to do an assessment and detect issues, which I think are of concern and then assist."

It must be noted that SADC facilitated the implementation of the democratic reforms, the only sure way to end Zimbabwe’s culture of political violence and vote rigging, during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends wasted that golden opportunity by failing to implement even one reform in five years.

Worse still, SADC leaders wanted the 2013 elections postponed until reforms were implemented, in a last-minute attempt to get the reform implemented. “If you go into the election next month,” SADC leaders told Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to their faces. “You will lose. The elections are done!”

Alas! MDC leaders paid no heed and participated in the 2013 elections, which Zanu PF blatantly rigged, as SADC leaders had predicted. Zimbabwe’s opposition has insisted in participating in these flawed and illegal elections disregarding the repeated calls for reforms before elections from other quarters such as the EU and Americans.

There are five key points that must be said here:

1)     SADC election observer teams endorsed the Zanu PF rigged 2013 and 2018 elections as being “substantially free and fair”. Of course, it is disappointing that this was ever allowed to happen. One hopes the commitment “SADC will not sit down and watch this continuing” will be honoured from now on!

 

2)     Not even one meaningful reform has been implemented since the June 2013 SADC meeting when the leaders called for the elections to be postponed. The 2023 elections are four months away, no meaningful reforms can be implemented now. SADC must reiterate its 2013 demand for elections to be postponed until reforms are implemented!

 

3)     The MDC leaders did not implement any reforms during the GNU and squandered the chance to boycott the 2013 and 2018 elections and redeem themselves because of greed. CCC are hell bent on participating in these 2023 elections regardless how flawed and illegal the process get, Chamisa and company are just paying lip service to reforms.

4)     Indeed, it is this assurance that MDC/CCC will not implement reforms nor boycott elections no matter how flawed the process gets that have given Zanu PF the confidence to ignore demands for meaningful reforms and holding free elections. If we are serious about ending Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance then we must apply pressure on both Zanu PF and CCC to accept democratic changes.  

 

5)     If SADC will not condemn the 2023 elections in advance, then SADC election observers must judge the process on the evidence gathered on the ground. Whether or not the country should have another GNU if the election fail to produce a legitimate government as happened in 2008; is not for SADC to say. The regional body must allow the people of Zimbabwe and the rest of the international community deal with that. This is not too much to ask!

"I'm working for investor-friendly business environment!" insisted Mnangagwa. Watch Al Jazeera's Gold Mafia QED!

 

The spirit is willing, but the intellect is weak!

“Zimbabwe is open for business!” is the most enduring thing President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ever said since taking over from the late Robert Mugabe following the 2017 military coup. The mantra was motivated by his burning desire to revive the comatose Zimbabwe economy. Sadly, for him and the nation, he has no clue how to revive the economy. None!

"My government is continually working towards improving the sustainable investor-friendly business environment. This in turn should attract more foreign direct investment into our economy and generate employment in all sectors of the economy," said Mnangagwa at the official opening of the Varun Beverages water and closures project in Harare.

"Such investment projects as the one we are witnessing today, as well as those by other investors, are quite crucial as they significantly contribute to economic growth and create employment for our citizens."

When Mnangagwa took over from the late dictator Robert Mugabe in 2017, he had rightly identified the two areas he needed to improve to create the investor-friendly business environment: end corruption and bad governance. He promised zero tolerance on corruption and promised to hold free, fair and credible elections.

The floodgate of local and foreign investment expected to follow the official launch of his “Zimbabwe is open for business!” campaign in January 2018 in Davos Switzerland did not materialise. Investors are savvy and shrewd lot, they held back to see if he was going to keep all his promises.

The blitzkrieg to arrest the those responsible for the rampant corruption and gross mismanagement, the two cancers that had all but destroyed Zimbabwe’s once upon a time robust and promising economy, did not take place. Indeed, the corruption and mismanagement under Mugabe’s rule is nothing compared to what is today.

The four-part “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary on Al Jazeera has uncovered details of how Zimbabwe is losing US$1.6 billion per year to gold smugglers or 80% of traded gold and 5.7% of the country’s US$ 28 billion GPD. The documentary focused on gold smuggling and money laundering only but the looting is just as rampant in other areas such as diamond, lithium and platinum mining and the purchase of fuel and medicine by the various cartels.

 looting ood said Varun Beverages' investment will help in the production of more affordable goods and reduce the country's imports bill.

"By the time the Second Republic came into being, we occupied between 35 and 37% of retail shelves, but now I am informed that we are around 81% in terms of production locally," he added.

The Minister of Industry and Commerce Sekai Nzenza, speaking at the same Varun Beverages official opening, said at least US$101 million was invested into the country's manufacturing sector last year. This is less than the US$133 million per month the country lost to gold smugglers alone! No nation can afford this level of economic haemorrhage and criminal waste of resources.

The Al Jazeera documentary showed that corruption in Zimbabwe is not because of the usual one or two rotten apples in the Police, Bank and other key institutions; the top brass in these institutions are either themselves corrupt and/or are under strict orders to do nothing. Most of the gold smuggling kingpins in the documentary underlined their very close links with President Mnangagwa himself or a very close member of his family.

Ambassador-at-large Uebert Angel, alias Diplomat Mafia, offered to use his diplomatic bag to carry dirty money to Zimbabwe. The alternative was to use Mnangagwa’s presidential jet to transport the money. It was none other than President Mnangagwa himself who appointed Uebert Angel ambassador-at-large.

No wonder President Mnangagwa has failed to uproot corruption in Zimbabwe. How can he end corruption when he and his fellow Zanu PF ruling elite are the principal beneficiaries and the godfathers of corruption.

President Mnangagwa failed to keep his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections in 2018. No one in their right mind expected him to do anything else than rig the elections. He and his fellow coup plotters were not going to risk all in staging the coup only to risk losing power in a free election. Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” was a lead balloon that never took off and it is no surprise the economy is now in total meltdown. Still, Zanu PF’s hunger to retain power is as keen as ever and so the regime is blatantly rigging the 2023 elections.

Indeed, the looting of the country’s resources has gone into overdrive because Mnangagwa inherited a bankrupt nation from Mugabe and has had to dig deep, he is now selling the nation’s crown jewels, to raise the funds to bribe all and sundry to help him win these elections from the US$5 bag of maize meal for povo right up to the US$ 230 000 bonus paid to CIO directors and ZEC. The regime is also spending a fortune bribing the opposition to participate in these flawed elections.

Kamlesh Pattni, alias Brother Paul in the Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary, boasted how the wealth generated from his gold smuggling activities help Kenya’s dictator, Arap Moi “survive” by buying off the off the opposition. Pattni moved to Zimbabwe and continued with the gold smuggling to help Mugabe and then Mnangagwa “survive”. The failure by MDC/CCC leaders to implement even one reform during the GNU and they stubborn insistence on participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy all point to one thing – a corrupted and captured opposition.

Zimbabwe is a failed state, a pariah state that is failing to provide even the most basic needs such as clean water, education and health care to its people. Mnangagwa is selling the nation’s crown jewels in a desperate bid to stay in power only to drag the nation even deeper into the hell-on-earth Zanu PF landed us all into.

Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies are just buffoons whose hunger for absolute power is insatiable, they would rather see the whole nation in economic ruins than see anyone else rule the country. Our curse has just been compounded by having a corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless opposition that has repeatedly betrayed the nation’s fight for reforms, free elections and good governance for a share of the spoils of power from Zanu PF.

Mnangagwa is rigging the 2023 elections so he can continue to preside over the wholesale looting of the nation’s gold, diamonds, etc. and the nation’s future, hopes and dreams. We must stop this insanity!  Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF do not have the divine right to ride roughshod over us denying us our meaningful say in the governance of the country. It is us who have let them ride over us roughshod and after 43 years it is insane to let this continue. They are not just mortals but buffoons, for Pete’s sake!

Professor Moyo dismiss Al Jazeera "Gold Mafia" as "disjointed thesis" - he's too is feeling the heat W Mukori

 When the story first broke that Al Jazeera was going to air a documentary of the gold smuggling and money laundering in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF regime and its apologists dismissed the whole thing s inconsequential. Christopher Mutsvangwa heralded the story as a sanctions-busting success story.

After the first part of the documentary was aired, individuals like Uebert Angel, alias Diplomatic Mafia in the documentary, was stripped of his Ambassador-at-large title and privileges. Monica Mutsvangwa, Minister of Information and Publicity announced there would be a criminal investigation and all those found guilty would face the full wrath of the law.

Well, there is yet another change of direction, this time coming from Professor Jonathan Moyo, a seasoned political turncoat. He is dismissing the documentary as “a disjointed and incoherent thesis”.

“Now that three of its four episodes have been – and notwithstanding the fact that the fourth episode might have bombshells in the form of controversial or shocking utterances by its main interlocutors – there is nothing that the last episode will do to save the documentary's disjointed and incoherent thesis, which would have long gone up in smoke but for the gripping and often self-incriminating verbatim claims of its greedy interlocutors,” wrote Professor Moyo in a Bulawayo24 article.

The primary purpose of the public media the world over, is to educate, inform and/or entertain the public. The Al Jazeera “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary has certainly lived to its billing of educating and informing the world about Zimbabwe’s gold smuggling and money laundering criminal activities.  

The Al Jazeera documentary gave details of the quantity of gold smuggled, 80% 0f the US$ 2 billion per year and how the country’s gold is then paid with dirty money. The proceeds of all these criminal activities are shared amongst the Zanu PF ruling elite and their appointed enablers with the Gold Mafia criminal masterminds, get the lion’s share of the loot. The gold-panners, doing the donkey work, get the small change.

The nation has “very little to show for all its gold”, as Tendai Biti readily admits in the documentary because none of the beneficiary pay cooperate or income tax the Mafiosi invest their loot in Dubai and some such safe heavens. But most worrying of all is that the looted wealth is being used to keep the corrupt and tyrannical ruling elite in power at the expense of the long-suffering ordinary people.   

In the documentary, Kamlesh Pattni, alias Gold Mafia, a Kenyan gold smuggler whose activities “nearly bankrupted Kenya” during President Arap Moi’s days, has since immigrated to Zimbabwe to ply his trade. He boasted of helping many of Africa’s tyrants “survive” by using some of gold smuggling loot to buy-off the tyrants’ political opponents. Zimbabwe is awash with political intrigue and mysteries.

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had the golden opportunity to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, which would have ended the Zanu PF dictatorship. They failed to implement even one token reforms. And to add insult to injury, ever since the GNU debacle, MDC/CCC leaders have insisted on participating in flawed elections knowing fully well that doing so would only give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.  

CCC are hell bent in participating in these 2023 elections no matter how flawed the election process got. The only rational explanation to MDC/CCC’s irrational behaviour is that the opposition has been bribed to sell out on reforms and free elections!  

Of course, Al Jazeera’s “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary has been an eye opener, the nation would never ever get this from the Zanu PF controlled public media. As a former Minister of Information and Publicity, Professor Moyo, knows only too well how The Herald, ZBC and the rest of the public media had brainwashed the Zimbabwe populous. God only knows what Al Jazeera “thesis” he was wittering about!

“It is unfortunate that there has been a concerted but ill-conceived and desperate campaign to drag @ReserveBankZim into the documentary's mud in pursuit of a hidden agenda,” continued Professor Moyo.

“Factually, and legally in terms of the Gold Trade Act, the #RBZ does not issue gold export or dealership licences, that is a responsibility of Government through Treasury. Fidelity's licence to refine and export gold was therefore issued by Government, not by #RBZ.”

 It is nonsensical that US$2 billion worth in smuggled gold would leave the country and as much in dirty money would flow in and out of the country with no one at RBZ knowing. In this case two of the Bank’s senior managed were not only named but paid for their role in the gold smuggling/ money laundering activities and the Nutty Professors still wants us to believe the RBZ is squeaky clean!

The torrid of criticism of Al Jazeera’s Gold Mafia documentary by Professor Jonathan Moyo is not exactly a lightning bolt out of the clear sky! Professor Jonathan Moyo has criticized his erstwhile Zanu PF colleagues for haunting him out of the country following the November 2017 military coup but has always been careful never to cross certain lines.

He has never criticized MDC’s failure to implement even one reform during the GNU, on the one hand. He became one of Chamisa’s confidants before the 2018 elections and, no doubt, would be holding a senior government position if MDC A had won that election!

On the other hand, Professor Jonathan Moyo has been careful not to blubber too much about Zanu PF corruption and tyranny. He did not want to self-incriminate but also to keep the door open for re-joining Zanu PF.

The Al Jazeera documentary has uncovered so much, he must be feeling the heart even with him hiding in his fox-hole in Kenya. Could it be that one of the individuals named in the documentary helped him smuggle gold and some such valuable; after all that is something Kamlesh Pattni, alias Brother Paul, would do every day before breakfast!  

CCC is participating in flawed 2023 to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed and povo doing same out of ignorance W Mukori

 Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections. There will be no verified voters’ roll, no free public media, 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora will be denied the vote, thousands of rural voters will be frogmarched to vote for Zanu PF, etc., etc. 

Why is Zanu PF rigging the 2023 elections?

Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF friends have alway believed they had the right to rule Zimbabwe, right of conquest, as the party that defeated the white colonial regime in the war of independence. And what better way to secure that right than by rigging the elections. 

The longer Zanu PF has stayed in power the more it has become obvious to the people that the party leaders were corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs and therefore not fit to rule. And so to retain power the party has resorted to more and more ruthless vote rigging measures including the capture of state institutions; bribing officials, critics and opposition; and use of wanton violence. There is already a mountain of evidence to prove that Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections. 

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC/CCC leaders on the understanding they would implemented the necessary democratic change to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

Alas! After 23 year, 5 of which in the GNU MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one democratic reform. Worse still, since the GNU debacle, MDC/CCC have participated in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship.

What is really infuriating about MDC/CCC leader is that they know the sheer futility of participating in these flawed elections and yet continue doing it out of greed, as David Coltart admitted.

“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,” confessed 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.” 

Coltart was an MDC-N Minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU and is the Treasurer General in the CCC. 

So Zanu PF are rigging these elections and denying the millions of Zimbabweans the fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country because the party cannot risk losing its iron grip on power by holding free, fair and credible elections. MDC/CCC sold out on reforms and are selling out now by participating in flawed elections to perpetuate the Zanu PF dictatorship because Chamisa and et al are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent.

Why are the ordinary Zimbabwean participating in these flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy? 

The Zimbabwe populous can be divided into two groups; 

1. those who are politically powerless to stop the Zanu PF dictatorship, whether or not they understand what is going on is irrelevant. Zanu PF leaders have retained the coercive power from the liberation war days and abusing the state security services. The rural folk are as helpless as medieval serfs under their Zanu PF operative landlords. When you are looking up the business end of an AK47 rifle, it is unwise to argue.

1. the urban voters are not, as a rule, under the Zanu PF yoke, they should be better informed but, alas, they are not. It is disheartening that many urban voters have no clue the primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement reforms much less that MDC sold out, for example. Chamisa and company have conned them into believing in the oxymoronic nonsense of “winning rigged elections” even after 43 years of Zanu PF rigging and winning these elections. 

Zimbabwe is a failed state because we have a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical ruling party whose leaders believe they have the right to rule regardless of their disastrous 43 years in power track record. Our political situation has been made worse by the MDC/CCC who have wasted the many golden opportunities implement the democratic reforms and end the dictatorship. The sell-out are now participating in the flawed election to keep Zanu PF in power for a share of the spoils of power. And to crown it all we have politically and/or intellectually powerless electorate to demand their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country.

Zanu PF is rigging the 2023 elections and both CCC and the populous are once again, for the umpteenth time in 43 year, foolishly participating to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed and ignorance respectively. Of course, this is inane the more so we have the cure for both greed and ignorance! 

UAE refuse SA request to extradite Gupta brothers. No doubt Pattni and other Gold Mafia are equally pleased. W Mukori

 

Remember the many stories of State Capture involving former SA President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta brothers? Well whatever peanut butter bait the South African government was using in its Agatha Christie mousetrap, it snared Zuma and the Gupta brothers got away!

The South African authorities have been trying to get the Gupta brothers extradited from United Arabs Emirates (UAE) to South Africa to face charges of money laundering and fraud. The extradition request was turned down.

“We learnt with shock and dismay that the extradition have been concluded in the Dubai courts … on the 13th of February 2023, and our extradition request was unsuccessful,” Minister Ronald Lamola of Department of Justice and Correctional Services revealed.

“The court found that on the charge of money laundering, the crime in question is alleged to have been committed in the United Arab Emirates and in South Africa.”

Many of the big fish named in the ongoing Al Jazeera four part “Zimbabwe: Gold Mafia” documentary such as Kamlesh Pattni have settled in Zimbabwe but have set up shop in UEA and other countries. In the documentary Pattni is seen flaunting his amassed wealth from smuggling gold and money laundering.

Of course, every thinking Zimbabwean will be equally shocked and dismayed by the UAE court refusal to have extradited the Gupta brothers; the same court will no doubt refuse to have Pattni extradited to Zimbabwe to answer similar charges!

The real crying shame for both South Africa and Zimbabwe is that corruption has been rampant for decades and it was at the very heart of government. Worst of all, corrupt is still rampant in the two countries as the Al Jazeera documentary clearly shows and we really have no clue how to uproot it!

“He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon!” so goes the old adage.

The rot has spread to every segment of society right up to the core. How does one uproot the cancer when those in positions of power and authority are the godfathers and principal beneficiaries of the corruption!

The Zimbabwe mousetrap will catch the small-time gold smugglers operators such as the Airport and Bank staff, they will serve jail time. The likes Uebert Angel and Henrietta Rushwaya have powerful political connections and/or know too much to risk them incriminating the Zanu PF godfathers; it will be catch and release.

Mnangagwa and the rest of the Zanu PF godfathers will use their looted wealth to rig elections and stop regime change at all costs! The Al Jazeera documentary has only served to harden their resolve to rig the elections and stop regime change.

The Mafia masterminds like Kamlesh Pattni know they are safe in UEA, they will live to a ripe old age in unparallel luxury and comfort. Pattni never invested any of his looted wealth in Zimbabwe because he knew the country was corrupt and unstable – he should know, after all he has played his role in creating the rot and chaos.