“Zimbabwe needs political change and not currency change!” That's rich coming from one who sold-out on reforms! W Mukori

 “ZIMBABWE NEEDS POLITICAL CHANGE NOT A CURRENCY CHANGE.... A currency is a bundle of trust and confidence. A currency is not a currency without confidence and value,” wrote Nelson Chamisa in his latest “epistles”.

“Money represents a collective trust in the stability and reliability of the government. Its value is derived from the amalgamation of this confidence.

“Instead of introducing a structured currency, we need a conversation that produces a Citizens-backed structured political change and new government.”

What political change have you and your fellow MDC/CCC leaders brought?

Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2023 elections and got away with it scot-free thanks to MDC/CCC leaders’ failure to deliver and democratic reforms to stop the regime rigging elections. By the late 1990s, the people of Zimbabwe knew that Zanu PF leaders were corrupt, incompetent and the regime was dragging the whole nation into economic ruins. But as long as the party was able to rig elections and impose itself on the nation, there was nothing the nation could do to stop the rot.

The nation realised that they must elect opposition leaders whose number one task would be to implement democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. Nothing of any substance could ever be accomplished as long as Zanu PF retain the carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections. Nothing!

Zanu PF was not going to implement any reforms to end its dictatorial powers; that is self evident. 

Chamisa and his MDC/CCC friends have failed to implement even one token reform in 23 years including 5 years in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Worse still, they have been participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy out of greed. What is more, they knew all this!

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

So what is Chamisa wittering about, “Zimbabwe needs political change and not currency change”, when he and his friends are the ones who have not only stopped political change taking place but have given vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy and thus help it stay in power!!

The people’s failure to clearly define what it is exactly they wanted the opposition to do - implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and know how the said reforms are, how they are implemented, etc. - has allowed MDC/CCC leaders to sell out on reforms and get away with it. After 23 years and not even a token reform implemented the penny should have dropped by now that Chamisa and company are not up to the task!

"What reforms do we need to stop Zanu PF rigging elections?" How easily and readily some people forget! W Mukori

 In his book, Animal Farm, George Orwell, describes how Boxer, the horse, took as long to learn the first four letters of the alphabet as others took to learn all the 26 letters. Worse still, it took him as long as again to learn the next four letters and, worst of all, by then he had forgotten the first four letters!

A powerful metaphor for stagnation! 

Talk of stagnation; Zimbabwe is a failed state and all because we have failed to govern ourselves. We are stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime; the party has remained in power to do as it damn well pleased these last 43 years and counting because it has blatantly rigged and got away with it scot-free! 

The solution to Zimbabwe’s double curse of rigged elections and bad governance is obvious: implement the democratic reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging elections. I have called for reforms incessantly some people have started calling me “Mr Reforms.” Worst of all, they are adamant that nothing, including implementing the reforms, can be done to NOT stop Zanu PF rigging the elections. Nothing!  

“You have not addressed the how to implement the democratic reforms. Remember Zanu PF’s arrogance and intransigence. Mnangagwa is on record boating that Zanu PF owns the judiciary, the police ,the army, the law makers, the decision makers and everything you can think of and indeed they do. Tell us how to untie the Gordian knot,” said one critic.

“For starters, what do you suggest that we need to do in order to stop Zanu PF from rigging elections?” asked the second.

“Which reforms will stop all this madness?” commented the third. 

“We have asked several times to give us a list of reforms.

“It seems the people calling for reforms do not know what reforms will end the lawlessness - just like the villagers in Gutu.

“I think we should stop using the plain word REFORMS without substance!”

By the late 1990s it was clear Zimbabwe was is serious economic and political trouble because the party that had ruled the country since independence in 1980 was corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs. The people realised that as long as Zanu PF retained its carte blanche tyrannical powers including the dictatorial powers to rig elections there will be no end to our troubles. The nation reached a consensus; we needed democratic changes, reforms, to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.

Morgan Tsvangirai and his friends launched their party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999 in response to the nations political consensus. For decades the party supporters have chanted “Change! Chinja! Guqula!”

So after 23 years of chanting “Change!” “Reform!” to be asking what are changes/reforms is nothing short of metaphoric Boxer, the horse, forgetting the first four letters of the alphabet. It would be futile to address the question of what reforms and other related questions above just as it was futile to teach Boxer the alphabet in a never ending cycle! 

  

If I have answered the question what reforms and many like it once, I have answered the question a thousand times! I am not interested in answering these questions again, on the contrary I am as keen as mustard to find the answers to the parallel questions born out of the political stagnation.

Why is it that 43 years after independence, 2 500 years after the Greeks bequeathed mankind the gift of democracy, we still have Zanu PF blatantly rigging elections and getting away with it scot-free? 

Why is it that we have failed to understand what constitute free, fair and credible elections? 

We are not being asked to reinvent the wheel, democracy, but to adopt it for our own benefit. Why is it that we are failing to embrace the rule of law, justice and liberty? Why are we failing to govern ourselves for our own good?

Why is it that even now, 2 500 years after the ancient Greeks, we see but fail to perceive; we hear but never understand? 

Bless are these who see and perceive, who hear and understand. 

We have all the information we need to end this nightmare of rigged elections and bad governance, it is not rocket science. All we need to do is open our eyes and minds.

“What do you suggest that we need to do in order to stop Zanu PF from rigging elections?” Yeah right! No wonder Zimbabwe is a failed state, how can we ever make any progress on anything when the same thing must be repeated over and over again because we have such short memories we cannot remember what happened yesterday. 

We have learned nothing because we easily and readily forget.  “Kukanganwa chazuro nehope!” as one would say in Shona! 

Zimbabwe’s political system is a rat race and antagonists' trump cards are deception and betrayal! W Mukori

 Zimbabwe’s political system is not a caucus race but a rat race!

A caucus race according to Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,”!

“After swimming around in Alice's pool of tears, the animals need to dry off, and The Dodo recommends a caucus race. There are no rules; all of the participants run haphazardly around in no particular direction, and everyone wins.”

At least the caucus race had a beginning, an end and a purpose - an unusual one admittedly - to dry off.

Zimbabwe politics is best described as a rat race in which the main political leaders talk endlessly about their “vision”; Zimbabwe is locked in perpetual election mode! The primary purpose of these never ending Sermon on the Mount visions is to confuse the ignorant and gullible electorate by setting them in the vaguely defined future. The mirage serves the double purpose of getting the gullible public to focus on a brighter tomorrow to take the attention away from their present miseries . And so the leaders have never ever had to acknowledge much less held to account for the many broken promised and unfulfilled visions.

Last week it was Mnangagwa in Dakar Senegal who told the Zimbabweans and the world at large that from next year onward Zimbabwe will be producing enough wheat to meet the nation’s needs with surplus for export; come the severest El Nino come La Nina! The country will build dams, install irrigation plant and will have factories to produced all the fertiliser!

He did not want to be questioned on why Zimbabwe once upon a time the bread basket of the region had lost this laurel under Zanu PF rule? And no doubt, would have stormed out of the country in a huff is any journalist had questioned him on why both AU and SADC election observers had condemned Zimbabwe’s 2023 elections as flawed and illegal. 

Mnagagwa had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections when he took over from his mentor Robert Mugabe following the military coup of November 2017. Here was a promise - no, an obligation - he was duty bound to honour but failed to because he wanted to retain absolute power to himself and his fellow Zanu PF cronies for selfish reasons. 

Today it Nelson Chamisa’s turn to proclaim his mirage vision!

“My vision and mandate is to RADICALLY TRANSFORM Zimbabwe into a fully developed and advanced modern nation,” proclaimed Chamisa from the highest ant-hill he could find!

He envisioned “a Zimbabwean democracy that is robust, transparent, and accountable, where the voices of all citizens are heard and respected.”

Yeah right! And he would achieve by winning “big” rigged Zanu PF elections as he promised to do last year! “I have plugged all Zanu PF vote rigging loop holes.” he insisted. “God is in it!”

All nonsense, of corse! Chamisa and company were hell bent on participating in the 2023 elections knowing fully well Zanu PF was rigging, that participating would give Zanu PF legitimacy but still they persisted because they also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in numbers. And they found the bait irresistible. 

The plugging the vote rigging loop holes bulls**t was to hide the real reason for participating was greed. The tragedy is many Zimbabweans, nearly two million according to ZEC declared results, believed the bulls***t and participated in the flawed elections to give the election process some modicum of credibility and giving vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. 

The nearly two million who voted for Chamisa have not even had the chance to ask him why CCC had failed to win last year, as he had promised. They have never asked why MDC/CCC had failed to implement even one token democratic reform to stop Zanu PF rigging elections and yet this was the number task the opposition was elected to do these last 23 years including the 5 years in the GNU!

The rat race of Zimbabwe politics does not allow the voters time to ask any searching question much less hold the leaders to account. There is no time for that - the leaders see to it that there is no time for it as the voters are whipped up into one political stampede after another. 

“#AccleratedTransformation” Chamisa signed off! 

On the ground the only accelerated transformation in Zimbabwe is the economic meltdown and political chaos. Mnangagwa’s number one priority is not to feed the nation but to consolidate his own hold on power through political patronage and so corruption and mismanagement have gone into overdrive accelerating the economic meltdown. The price of one crystal sweet is Z$ 400, in keeping with Zimbabwe’ runaway hyperinflation which is now over 2 000%.

Zimbabwe’s present political system, this rat race, has produced corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless leaders; not the quality leaders the nation needs to prosper. We need a reality check; we must reject the failed system and end the 44 years of madness, of being dragging deeper and deeper into the abyss. Both Mnangagwa and Chamisa, Zanu PF and CCC have nothing of value to offer this nation. Nothing!

According to the Greeks there are three types of people on earth; the idiots, the tribesmen and the citizen.

 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Unless you understand your role in society, you can never make any meaningful contribution.

According to the Greeks there are three types of people on earth, 

- the idiots , 

- the tribesmen , and 

- the citizens . 

 

Studies show only 10% of Africans are citizens. 

The remaining 90% are either tribesmen or idiots . 

1. When the Greeks used the word "idiot", they did not use it as a curse word. 

 Idiots are people who just don’t care. 

If they write exams, they will cheat.

If they are in government they will steal.

 An idiot does not care at all, if he eats bananas he throws the peels anywhere instead of putting them in a  trash bin. 

 IDIOTS won't attend monthly neighborhood meetings. They won't pay security dues. They won't contribute to community development. Even when they see or know about something that will harm others in the community they won't report it . When they see/know/have something that will benefit their community they won't share. Infact, Idiots don't care to register for or vote in an election yet they complain the most. If they register to vote, IDIOTS will sell their votes for peanuts.

According to the Greeks, some societies have more idiots than tribesmen and citizens . 

2. The next set of people are tribesmen , these are people that look at everything from the point of view of their tribe.

These are people that believe in you only if you are part of their tribe. 

It can be terrible to have a tribesman as a leader, he will alienate the rest.

When the Greeks talk about tribes, it’s not just about ethnicity, they also consider religion, gang membership, group membership, party membership and even cult membership as a tribe.

A great percentage of Africans are tribesmen , because they view everything from the point of view of their tribes.

They trust only their tribesmen . 

3. The last group are citizens. 

These are people that like to do things the right way. 

They will respect traffic light rules even if no one is watching them.

They drive within speed limits.

They respect the laws, won’t cheat in exams.

In government they won’t steal.

They are compassionate and give to others to promote their wellbeing. 

 Citizens often promote projects that benefit everyone. 

The Greeks called this group the citizens . 

Some countries have more citizens than tribesmen and idiots . 

Others have so many idiots . 

A tribesman can become a citizen through orientation.

And an idiot can become a citizen by training and constant enforcement of the law. 

But things fall apart if you elect an idiot or tribesman to lead you if he has not been reformed. 

Where do you belong?

Are you an idiot , a tribesman or a citizen ?

Reflect about your life.

 REFLECT ABOUT YOUR IMMEDIATE COMMUNITY, CITY, STATE & NATION. 

So help us God !

The ancient Greeks were very clever! 

Those ancient Greeks, who bequeathed democracy to mankind those 2 500 years ago, were right in saying the system only works when the people are educated, knowledgeable and are diligent in holding those in public office to account. 

In Zimbabwe most of the voters are ignorant, naive and gullible and so both Zanu PF and MDC/CCC have taken full advantage of this to frighten and/or con the voters into doing the politician’s bidding even when it is not in the voters’ interest. It is no exaggeration to it is the politicians who hold the voters to account - the tail is wagging the dog! 

We 2 500 years later only have to adopt the wheel and use it and yet we are failing to do so! 43 years after independence, 2 500 after the Greeks, we are still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections! Fcuk me!

Zimbabwe is a failed state in dire need of democratic reform. What is there to "cement", for Pete's sake! W Mukori

 Dictators live in their own world and they, characteristically, see and hear only what THEY want to see and hear. It is no surprise therefore that Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe is now at complete variance with the reality, the Zimbabwe you and me know. 

”Zimbabwe is largely a Christian and God-fearing nation, with peace and unity being vital pillars of our nation building. Let us take the opportunity of the various activities lined ahead of both Government and the Party to preach and live in unity, peace, love and harmony," Mnangagwa told his fellow Zanu PF leaders.

"We must join communities as they congregate across our Wards, districts and provinces, towards cementing the prevailing peace, unity and social cohesion, which bind us as one people.

"In conclusion, our aim as the Party remains ensuring that we the descendants of Munhumutapa forever remain masters of our destiny. This is in itself one of the cornerstones of the People’s Revolution. We must as the Party, at every level, continue to work towards and facilitate the realisation of this overarching revolutionary mission."

The tyrant’s sheer arrogance, hypocrisy and blasè indifference to the tragic suffering and death of millions of Zimbabweans is insufferable!

Is he and his fellow Zanu PF cronies the only “descendants of Munhumutapa”? If every Zimbabwean is a descendant of Munhumutapa then we must all have a meaningful say in determining the nation’s destiny. Zanu PF has denied the ordinary Zimbabweans a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The regime is yet to hold free, fair and credible elections in 43 year of the country’s independence. 

Mnangagwa blatantly rigged the 2023 elections just as the party has rigged elections in the past. In a rare break with the norm, SADC, AU and Zimbabwe’s ZHRC election observers have all condemned the August 2023 elections as flawed and illegal.

This Zanu PF government did not get the people’s mandate to govern the country in a free, fair and credible election. This Zanu PF regime is therefore illegitimate. 

Zimbabwe is a failed state and the root cause is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country is not a privilege to be willy-nilly denied at the whim of some buffoon. It is the essence of good governance. 

In Zimbabwe the Zanu PF buffoons have denied the people the meaningful vote allowing the regime to impose its corrupt and tyrannical rule for 44 years with the tragic consequences we can see all around us. The country’s economy is in ruins, there is wholesale looting of the nation’s resources, there is rot and decay everywhere, basic services such as health care and education have all but collapsed after decades of being starved of funds, etc., etc. 

More than 49% of our people now live in abject poverty. THEY CAN’T BREATHE! 

Zimbabwe is a failed state. And as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state governed by illegitimate corrupt and murderous thugs the nation will continue on its relentless slide into the abyss. Our system of government has failed our people and is in desperate and urgent need of a complete overhaul - not cementing. What is there worth cementing, for Pete’s sake!

The Zanu PF regime’s intention is to cement its iron grip on power and will ruthless silence all dissent under the pretext of maintaining peace and unity. Whilst the regime was annoyed by the damning SADC and AU August 2023 election observers’ reports it was relieved neither the regional nor the continental body denied the regime political legitimacy. 

It must be said that MDC/CCC leaders have helped Zanu PF stay in power by failing to implement even one reform in 23 years, especially during the 2008 to 2013 when they had the golden opportunity to do so. And ever since the GNU debacle, Chamisa and company have participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy for the same reasons they failed to implement the reforms - greed and incompetence.

We are stuck with this Zanu PF dictatorship for the next five years and possibly beyond. There is no chance of Zanu PF implementing any meaningful reforms to ensure 2028 elections are free, fair and credible. And there is no sign to suggest the corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC leaders will not once again mobilise their ignorant and gullible supporters to participate in the flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy.

It is often said that nations get the government they deserve. We in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt, tyrannical and vote rigging Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its corrupt and incompetent MDC/CCC side-kick. For it what excuses do we have for participating in last year’s flawed elections only to give Zanu PF legitimacy, for example! We were warned that it was insane to participate but, as usual, ignored the warning!   

This Mnangagwa government is illegitimate and it is within our power as the people demand that SADC and AU must deny the regime political legitimacy; it is for us to demand that and not SADC and AU. The regime would not last to 2028, if we did! If we don’t, it is certain to last to 2028 elections and beyond!

"Are there any quality leaders, not paying lip-service to freedom?" Yes, but only a discerning and lip-reading voter find them! W Mukori

 “In our midst, can we not find today leaders who do not pay lip services to freedom, justice and liberty to gain the people's trust?” asked one whatsApp group member.

This is not a simple question and therefore there is no simple answer.

The problem rises from having an electorate that is so ignorant they are fooled again and again and again because they do not have a discerning mind to distinguish substance from foam. MDC/CCC leaders, for example, have not only failed to implement even one reform to stop Zanu PF rigging elections they are the ones conning the people into participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. The people have failed to realise what is going on because they can only deal with one good and one bad at a time. 

The people have accepted Zanu PF as the bad guys and MDC/CCC as the good guys. They understand the simple reality of tossing a coin, it will land head or tail, good or bad. 

These people cannot comprehend the political reality that MDC/CCC leaders have failed to perform the task of implementing the reforms and therefore we have bad opposition. They cannot judge CCC leaders except in the light of Zanu PF which is nonsensical in this context since we have never entrusted Zanu PF with the task of implementing the reform. 

Of course, the MDC/CCC leaders can be corrupt and incompetent regardless of what Zanu PF is doing just as one can toss a second coin and its outcome is independent of the outcome of the first coin. Zanu PF and MDC/CCC have exploited this weakness in the populous so the latter has participated in flawed elections to give the former legitimacy for a share of the gravy train seats. 

Chamisa and company’s lip-service to reforms have become so bold and daring they have been making some really foolish claims such as plugging all vote rigging loop holes to stop rigging knowing fully well the voters will never pick it up. And, guess what, the voters are none the wiser even after 23 years of being conned!

So to answer your question, of course we can get competent leaders but they are not likely to be elected into office as long as we have an electorate so ignorant, naive and gullible they are certain to be swept off their feet by cheap promises and remain untouched by substance. After all the corrupt and incompetent leaders do not have to worry about delivering on their promises and so can afford to be prom the moon on a silver platter. The spicy the promises the more they appeal to the empty heads. 

The ancient Greeks were right, a healthy and functioning democracy demands an educated, knowledgeable and diligent electorate. The Zimbabwe electorate have been brainwashed by Zanu PF and MDC/CCC making them one of the most ignorant and stupid voters on earth.

 With such a brain-dead electorate it is no surprise Zimbabwe is a fail state. And, unless and until, something is done to educate the electorate, the country is certain to remain a failed state.

"2018 elections were free and fair and Mnangagwa won." claimed Cross. A lie dismissed with contempt it deserves. W Mukori

 I have heard Eddie Cross say a lot of rubbish over the years but his latest claim that the 2018 elections were free, fair and credible, Mnangagwa won and the Americans knew it; takes the biscuit. He made the outrageous claims in “Inside ED Mnangagwa’s presidency #Freetalk” with journalist Dhara Blessing Mhlanga. 

Mr Eddie Cross was one of the late Morgan Tsvangirai’s most trusted advisers in MDC and only crossed the floor, as it were, soon after his death to become Mnangagwa’s ally. He has even has the singular honour of writing the Zanu PF dictator’s biography. (I have not read the book but from the snippets I have read; it is a flattering tale of no historic merit.)

If the interview with Dhara Blessed Mhlanga he talked about events in 2008 and then jumped to 2018 without so much as a passing comment on the GNU years. So it is to what he did not say that I wish to focus.

In all Eddie Cross’s blubbering over the years I have never ever heard him acknowledge that the primary purpose of the 2008 to 2013 GNU was to implement the democratic reforms. He is clearly not stupid because he has covered many of the other minor events details.

The 2008 to 2013 GNU was not a fair and agreeable arrangement but one thing is beyond dispute - it was the best get out of jail ticket the nation has ever had since independence. The Zanu PF dictatorship could and would have been totally dismantle IF Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had not sold out!

Robert Mugabe bribed Tsvangirai and company with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos, the very generous salaries and allowance, the US$4 million mansion for Save himself, etc., etc. And to return the favour, the MDC forgot about the reforms.

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidzi kudya anyerere!” boasted the Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing any reforms. Of course, they cronies were right, after all they were victims of the same honey-pot trap themselves. 

“Mose murivakadzi vaMugabe!” Margaret Dongo had described her fellow Zanu PF MPs, Ministers and other party leaders in sheer exasperation at how they all grovelled before Mugabe. Mugabe had introduced the political patronage system, bribing leaders with the same ministerial limos, etc. and in return for the leaders’ dogged loyalty to him!

Of course, Eddie Cross was well aware that he and his MDC friends have sold out big time by not only failing to implement the reforms but by participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Even if one was to accept that Mr Cross is not as clever as he looks, he is just a modern man with the intellect of homo neanderthalensis. Still he would have read what others like his MDC colleague David Coltart have said on the subject. 

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

The bottom line is the 2008 to 2013 GNU  was the get out of jail card for Zimbabwe. We are still in jail because ever since the GNU MDC/CCC leaders had their snouts in the gravy train feeding troughs they have all but given up on implementing reforms. Eddie Cross’s claim that we can have free, fair and credible elections without first implementing reforms, we can be free whilst we still remain in jail, must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserve. 

To deny the central importance go 2008 to 2013 GNU in the fight to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance is as meaningless as a solar system without the sun. The sun is not just the centre of the solar system and round which everything else revolve but, more significantly, the earth and all the other planets and we and all the other living things would not be here without the sun!!