WALPE launch 2023 election campaign - sweet music in vote rigging beach masters' ears N Garikai

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime for the last 40 years and counting. Whilst the people have long discovered that Mnangagwa and before him Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs were dragging the nation into economic poverty, they have not been able to do anything about it because the party rigged the elections. 

It is generally agreed that the nation came to a consensus on the need to democratic changes to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections and extending its stay in power in the late 1990s. In 1999, Morgan Tsvangirai and his friends launched their political party and called it a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC); riding on the popular demand for democratic change. 

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect MDC leaders into positions of power and authority on the understanding that once in power the party will deliver the all democratic changes and restore the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote. 

Sadly, MDC has failed to implement even one democratic reforms in 20 years, including 5 years in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Not even one reform!

Zanu PF still enjoys the carte blanche dictatorial powers to rig elections and extend its corrupt and tyrannical rule and thus drag the nation deeper and deeper into the economic and political mess. 

The one clear message that has emerge from participating in the 2013 and 2018 elections is not just the futility of participating in rigged elections, Zanu PF always emerged as the victor guaranteed. Elections should give the voters real choices including the ultimate choice to remove the seating government. But most significantly, Zanu PF has been very careful to make sure the opposition participated in numbers and in doing so giving the flawed election process credibility and the result legitimacy. 

It will be insane to once again participate in the 2023 elections with no reforms in place! 

“On the 11th of December 2020, Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) launched a campaign dubbed 2.2 Million Votes for Women from Women. The campaign aims to engage and mobilise 2.2 million women across the country to vote for women candidates in the 2023 elections,” reported New Zimbabwe.

“The campaign comes under a backdrop of perpetual dwindling of the number of women elected and appointed into leadership and decision making positions such as councillors, Members of Parliament (MPs), cabinet ministers or other high level government positions,” reads the WALPE statement.

“Currently, women are severely underrepresented in all leadership positions as evidenced by the fact that they occupy only an estimated 15 percent of leadership positions nationwide which is far below the requirements of sections 17, 56, and 80 of the Zimbabwean Constitution that mandate gender equality in all branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary). 

This is all sweet, sweet music in Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies’ ears. They have no intention of implementing even one token democratic reform before the 2023 elections and, of course, all news of people participating in the elections without calling for reforms only serve to reassure the party they will once again get away with yet another rigged elections. 

Mnangagwa pointed to the 23 candidates contesting the presidential race in the July 2018 elections and the 130 political parties and thousands independent candidates contesting for the 210 parliamentary seats as proof Zimbabwean elections were free, fair and credible. 

Of course, Mnangagwa had a point particularly when the opposition candidate participated knowing fully well that ZEC had failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, a legal and common sense requirement! 

One of the WALPE’s campaign objective is “to increase the number of women who register and vote in the 2023 elections.”

In the July 2018 elections Zanu PF denied the 3 million or so Zimbabweans in the diaspora an opportunity to register. Whilst in America for the annual September UN GA meeting, just two months after the elections, Mnangagwa said Zimbabweans in the diaspora will vote next time - proof they were denied the vote because the party lacked the political will. 

It is now two and half years since Mnangagwa promised the diaspora vote and yet the regime has not even started the discussion as to how this will be done. This is just one more promise, like the promise to hold free, fair and credible elections, he made to silence his critics but with no intention of keeping it. 

How will WALPE ensure women in the diaspora register and vote in the 2023 elections?

It is no secrete that Zanu PF have made it very difficult for Zimbabweans in the country to register and then to vote. It is near impossible to trace and verify who voted well there is no verified voters’ roll. 

How will WALPE force ZEC to produce a verified voters’ roll? 

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner. The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability,” stated the EU Mission final report.

“As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

We know why Nelson Chamisa and his MDC A and the rest of the opposition candidates have been participating in the elections knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that doing so gave the process credibility - greed. Zanu PF has been offering the participating opposition a few gravy train seats; an offer they simple could not resist. 

Without even one democratic reform in place, Zanu PF will blatantly rig the 2023 elections and all the opposition will do is give the regime legitimacy.  

A 2019 WB report said 34% of Zimbabweans were living in extreme poverty, i.e. they could not afford one decent meal a day much less other basic necessities such as education for the children and health care. The corona virus pandemic has pushed the number living in extreme poverty to way above 50%! 

The need for the country to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance is more urgent now than it was in the 1990s! 

If no reforms are implemented before the 2023 elections, then the elections must be declared null and void. Period! It is totally unacceptable that Zanu PF should be given a chance to once again claim legitimacy by pointing to the number of opposition candidates who participated in the flawed elections. 

We must make sure all opposition candidates who participate in the 2023 elections knowing millions of Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied a vote, there is no verified voters’ roll, etc. have no political credibility. We must not allow WALPE, MDC and the rest of the brain-dead walruses in the opposition camp make monkeys out of us ever again!

"1987 Unity Accord is bedrock of our unity and economic prosperity" - nonsense, it's bedrock of pariah state and poverty P Guramatunhu

 “To this day, the Unity Accord which delivered and cemented lasting peace and unity, remains the bedrock of our nation's stability," said Mnangagwa in his Unity Day, 22 December, message.

“Decades have passed since that historic event of our Unity Accord. However, its conceptualisation must now go beyond a narrow interpretation. Therefore, today as we remember and celebrate Unity Day, let us recommit ourselves to the important virtues that bind us as a people and equally incorporate the importance of our unity within the transformative national economic agenda.”

Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state; ruled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who have stayed in power for 40 years now because they rig elections. 40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have left the country’s economy in ruins the so called “transformative national economic agenda” turning the country into an upper middle income nation, vision 2030, is but a midnight mirage!

The December 1987 Unity Accord laid the foundation for the one-party dictatorship that has ruled the country with an iron fist, denying the people their basic freedoms and human rights and dignity. With millions of our people now living in abject poverty and the economy in ruins there is an urgent need to dismantle the dictatorship and stop Zanu PF dragging us all into the abyss!

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck with a corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship. We need to move with the times, the age of absolute rulers enjoying absolute power is long gone we must accept the reality that no mortal is infallible and therefore every citizen must have a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 

Free, fair and credible elections are not a privilege, they are a right and the foundation of good governance, peace and economic prosperity. 

No stone will be left unturned to ensure democratic reforms are implemented and the 2023 elections are free, fair and credible. We must put an end to the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

True, Zanu PF will never implement any reforms before the 2023 elections; it is naive to expect the regime to reform itself out of office. Mnangagwa is encouraged to ignore all calls for reforms by the very fact that the MDC and the rest in the opposition camp will participate in the 2023 elections even with not even one token reform in place. 

Zanu PF has been offering a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate in the elections, regardless how flawed and illegal the process happened to be. The MDC and company have found the bribe irresistible in the past and, no doubt, will participate again in 2023.

By participating in the flawed elections the opposition have given the process credibility and the vote rigging Zanu PF regime legitimacy. 

The challenge is to show the world that MDC and company no longer represent the majority of ordinary Zimbabweans. What the people want is free, fair and credible elections and the MDC et al are selling out by participating in rigged elections. 

A discredited opposition cannot give legitimacy to the illegitimate Zanu PF!

If the 2023 elections go ahead with no reforms; Zanu PF will blatantly rig the elections; and, this time, the process will be declared null and void. 

"How long does MDC going to play dead?" - not playing, they're dead. Detail is absolutely everything N Garikai

  It was 2004 to 2007 USA ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell, who said in a leaked cable back to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai “was a flawed and indecisive character who, if he ever got into power would be an albatross round the nation’s neck!” He came to this conclusion after meeting Tsvangirai on a few occasions. 

The observation spoke volumes about those around Tsvangirai who had elected him their leader ever since the MDC’s launch in 1999. It also spoke volumes of the people of Zimbabwe themselves who were risking life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and company to carry out the important task of bringing about the democratic changes the nation was dying for.

Tsvangirai and his MDC banded mongooses did get into power, in the 2008 to 2013 GNU, and had the golden opportunity to implement the raft of democratic reforms which SADC leaders had managed to get Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies to agree to. The banded mongooses failed to get even one reform implemented in five years; proving beyond all reason able doubt that MDC leaders were breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless. 

Events have proven that Ambassador Dell was right, Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC banded mongooses have become an albatross round the nation’s neck but only because the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves have failed to see the banded mongooses for the corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless individuals they all are even with all the benefit of hind sight?

“Schools are without water and sanitation facilities that meet the needs of the students and teachers,” commented Karsten Noko in The Standard/Bulawayo 24.

“How is it that a party (MDC) that was formed as the vanguard of the working class today fails to turn all these grievances into political action and put pressure on the ruling party?

“How is it acceptable, for the over two million people who voted for Nelson Chamisa and the MDC, that they seem to accept that the ruling party and its handlers will loot the country dry?

“How long do they plan to roll over and play dead for?

“Should we be waiting until the next election and then start campaigning a few months ahead of the elections - only to cry foul when the ruling party yet again rigs the elections?”

All these are all very pertinent and urgent questions one would ask any other opposition but not the MDC! There is a mountain of evidence to show MDC leaders are beyond the pale. 

MDC has failed to implement even one democratic reform in 20 years, even when they had the chance to do so during the GNU. And ever since the GNU the party has participated in flawed and illegal elections knowing that doing so would give the vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy. 

They have also known that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats to entice the opposition to participate. And this they could not resist. 

“How long do they plan to roll over and play dead for?” Is a foolish question to ask; MDC leaders are not playing dead, they are dead!

By hanging on to MDC, Zimbabweans are not doing themselves any favour; they are holding back the search for the competent women and men to implement the reforms. For the nation to search for quality leaders the people must first accept the reality that MDC leaders are not up to the task! 

It is the ability to pay attention to detail that enabled Ambassador Dell to see Tsvangirai for who he was, even after meeting him a few times, - a flawed and indecisive character who will be a milestone dragging the nation into the abyss. 

It is the inability to pay attention to detail that is stopping many Zimbabweans from seeing MDC leaders for the corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless leaders they are. MDC will never implement any democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. They failed to do so when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU; it is naive to believe they can do so now when Zanu PF has all the trump cards. 

Detail matter! Detail is absolutely everything! 

"Attainment of upper middle economy by 2030 is achievable" - not whilst Zimbabwe remains a pariah state W Mukori

 “The attainment of an upper middle economy as enshrined in the national Vision 2030 is achievable if the private sector remains committed as has been the case this year, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said last night,” reported The Herald.

Zanu PF has claimed the same thing for the last 40 years and meanwhile the country has sunk deeper and deeper into the abyss because the ordinary Zimbabweans were denied a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Zanu PF has always rigged the elections, forging the people’s mandate to govern. 

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and murderous regime for 40 years and counting. 

Zimbabwe was middle income nation in 1980 and 40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption has dragged the nation into the gutter. Zimbabwe is one of the poorest nation on earth. Unemployment has soared to 90%, basic services such as education and health care have all but totally collapsed. 

A 2019 WB report said 34% of our people were living in “extreme poverty” i.e. they could not afford one decent meal a day let alone other basic necessities of life such as education for the children and health care. No doubt the corona virus pandemic has made turned a tragic situation into a catastrophe; the number of Zimbabweans living in extreme poverty is going to soar way above 34%!

Zimbabwe has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic because the country’s economy and health service were already in a mess before the corona virus outbreak. Zimbabwe was caught with its pants down! 

"With millions of Zimbabweans devastated by a year of drought, rising hyperinflation and COVID-19, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for an additional US$204 million to support over four million of the most food insecure over the next six months," said Francesca Erdelmann, WFP Zimbabwe's representative, in the statement this week.

"More than half of Zimbabweans in the rural areas are left with no alternative but to skip meals, reduce portion size or sell off precious belongings in order to cope.

"We are deeply concerned that if WFP does not receive enough funding to reach the four million people it intends to, families will be further pushed to the limit.”

Zimbabweans are starving in a country that, before Zanu PF seized the farms and gave them mainly to the ruling elite and their cronies, prided itself in producing enough to feed her own people with plenty leftover to be the breadbasket of the region. Since the farm seizures the country has become a basket case of a failed state, a Banana Republic, a pariah state! 

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs the country’s relentless economic decline will continue.

What Zimbabwe needs desperately is to implement the democratic reforms to ensure 2023 elections are free, fair and credible and finally end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance.

"SA can nudge Zimbabwe towards stability" - not, until Zimbabweans are finally ready to deal with gadflies N Garikai

 “For years, South Africa trusted in behind-the-scenes contacts to alleviate Zimbabwe’s political and economic problems. But those troubles have continued to mount. By stepping up pressure, and by working with Washington on reform guidelines, Pretoria can help Harare find a way out of its crisis,” argued International Crisis Group in the article How South Africa Can Nudge Zimbabwe toward Stability.

Whilst Pretoria and the rest of the world can do a lot to help end Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis it must be said that all their efforts will come to nothing if we, the Zimbabwean people, are seen to be doing nothing to help ourselves, at best. Or, at worst, keep shooting ourselves in the foot! 

The 2008 to 2013 GNU was a golden opportunity to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and we wasted that opportunity. And, as if that was not bad enough, many Zimbabwe have failed to appreciate what the GNU was about even to this day. Indeed, some even have the chutzpah to blade SADC leaders for our own failures.

The West, especially the Americans, went the extra mile in trying to get Mnangagwa to honour his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections following the November 2017 military coup. The Americans gave him a checklist of the reforms needed to ensure free, fair and credible elections. 

As we know Zanu PF ignored the reforms and went on to blatantly rig the July 2018 elections. 

What is more, it was not only Zanu PF that ignored the reforms! The MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa and the rest of the opposition camp ignored the call for reforms too. ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll, a legal as well as a common sense requirement, and still the opposition participated in the elections regardless. 

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections, the MDC A et al gave the process credibility and, by extension, the result legitimacy. The opposition knew this and still they proceeded out of greed, as David Coltart readily 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 elections,” wrote Senator 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.”

As a way forward the International Crisis Group is call for a Zanu PF and MDC A coalition government.

“Given the entrenched corruption at the top of the ZANU-PF government that risks sinking the country, it is clear that only a broader-based ruling coalition can create the kind of foundation for good governance that the country needs. South Africa and the ANC should thus maintain pressure on the government to enter talks with the opposition and civil society to review possible economic reforms that keep front and centre the interests of Zimbabwe’s people and not just its ruling party.” 

Only someone who have failed to grasp or does not want to grasp the political reality in Zimbabwe would suggest a Zanu PF and MDC A coalition as a way forward. We have been here before, the 2008 to 2013 GNU was even better than a coalition in that the GNU partners were obliged by the 2008 Global Political Agreement to implement the raft of democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections. As we know, the 2008 GNU failed to implement even one reform in five years. It is naive to suggest a coalition would do any better.

After 40 years of rigging elections and getting away with it, Zanu PF must be told in no uncertain terms that the people’s right to free, fair and credible elections is not a privilege. And therefore the democratic reforms to ensure free and fair elections must be implemented in full; it is not an à la carte menu but table d’hôte. 

If Zanu PF goes ahead and hold the 2023 elections with no reforms in place, as the party has done repeatedly in the past, then Mnangagwa and company must know that this time the election will be declared null and void. Zanu PF will not be allowed to get away with another rigged elections. 

The MDC leaders sold-out big time by failing to implement the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. By participating in these flawed and illegal elections the opposition is giving legitimacy to a vote rigging regime. This is totally unacceptable and must stop forthwith. 

No stone will be left unturned to make sure all those opposition politicians who participated in these flawed and illegal elections are exposed for what they are - sell-outs! A discredited opposition will not give legitimacy to a vote rigging Zanu PF government. 

Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis has dragged on for 40 years and counting because we, the people of Zimbabwe, have shied away from dealing with the curse of rigged elections, the elephant in the room. Today the country is standing on the very edge of the abyss; millions of our people are living in abject poverty and basic services like education and health care have all but collapsed; this is a do or die situation. 

We must implemented the democratic reforms, restore the right of all Zimbabweans to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and thus finally end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. 2023 elections must be free, fair and credible or will be declared null and void!

“How South Africa can nudge Zimbabwe toward stability!” SA, SADC and the West have done their best to nudge Zimbabwe in the right directions without much success because we, the ordinary Zimbabweans, out of ignorance, etc., were not ready to move. Pray, we are finally ready to deal with the vote rigging gadflies!

"A record successes towards attainment of vision 2030" said Mnangagaw - a midnight mirage

 "As we end today's Cabinet session, which is the last for the year 2020, it is imperative that we take stock of some of the achievements in our journey towards the attainment of Vision 2030," Mnangagwa said in his closing remarks at the final Cabinet meeting of the year.

"The year has recorded a number of successes, which would not have been possible without your commitment to duty and excellent performance."

For the last 40 years, without exception, Zanu PF has claimed the country was moving in the right direction to achieve its main objective of mass prosperity, “Gutsva ruzhinji!”, as Mugabe never tired of saying it. Many times the nation has been told whatever hardship the nation was going through, it was all part of the plain, these were necessary short term hardships to secure long term gains. 

The truth is the short term hardships have all stayed. Instead of building on what we inherited from the whites in 1980 we have been busy destroying it. 

Decades of poor investment in the electricity industry has left the country with less power generating capacity than it had in 1980. More often than not, one or more, out of the six, Hwange Thermal Power Station generators are off for one reason or other. The three Thermal Power Stations, one each in Harare, Bulawayo and Munyati, have long been decommissioned. 

The white government had plans for two more generating unit at Hwange and had completed the feasibility studies for Batoka Gorge Hydro, a second Kariba Dam. If it had not been for the civil war, these two projects would have been completed by the late 1980s. 

This Zanu PF government is hoping to finally have the two new generators commissioned at Hwange Power Station by 2023, 30 years later, and the regime is over the moon about its achievement. 

 "As a result, of the power generation projects being implemented, the country should be self-sufficient and become a net exporter of power by 2023," said Mnangagwa.

Well Zimbabwe has lost many of its heavy industrial companies, ZISCO, ZIMASCO, Sable Chemicals, ZIM ALLOYS, etc., still the addition of the two generator at Hwange will not be enough to meet country’s power demands. As for becoming a net exporter of electricity, that is just wishful thinking. 

According to Mnangagwa the country will finally attain the mass prosperity, attain upper middle income status, in 10 years time, Vision 2030. This is just  mirage and Mnangagwa himself knows it! 

Corruption remains the number one impediment to economic recovery in Zimbabwe; Mnangagwa acknowledge this when he declare “zero tolerance of corruption!” It has been three years since he took over from Mugabe and he has failed to stamp out corruption. 

In 2016 Robert Mugabe admitted the nation was being “swindled out of US$ 15 billion in diamonds revenue alone”! A staggering fortune for any country but much more for Zimbabwe whose GPD is US$10 billion.

Mugabe has never arrested one diamond swindler nor recover one swindled dollar. Mnangagwa has not done any better and we know why. 

It was none other than Mugabe and his cabinet who granted the diamond mining concessions in which the holder had no legal obligation to keep records of the quantity and quality of diamonds, to whom the diamonds were sold and for how much, how the spoils were shared out, etc. With no records the holder and his partners had no legal cooperate or individual tax obligations. None!

Of course, the diamond mining concession were a licence to loot! 

Naturally, it was not every Tom, Dick and Harry who got the diamond mining concessions. The concessions were granted to the top brass in the Army, Police, CIO and Prison Services, a select few from Zanu PF. 

The top brass in the security services also belonged to the Joint Operations Command, a Junta headed by Mugabe with Mnangagwa as his assistant. Mugabe has corrupted the country’s security services turning them into departments of Zanu PF in all but name. 

The Police, Army, etc. have all played a major role in establishing and retaining the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship. The diamond looting licences were a thank you to Junta members from Zanu PF for a job well done. 

When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe, he did so with the active assistance of the top brass in the Army. He rewarded the the key individuals in plotting and executing the coup by granting them senior positions in his government. The Junta is still his power base and so he has not cancelled any of the diamond looting licences.

Indeed, Mnangagwa has used the diamond looting licence as a template to grant the Army, CIO, etc. new licences in other areas. 

Mnangagwa also promised to hold free, fair and credible elections but, as we all know, he went on to rig the July 2018 elections. 

Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” is dead in the water. All the harp about the flood of investors never materialised. Investors are a shrewd and savvy lot, they knew it was going to take a lot more than some clever marketing to turn a dictatorship into a healthy democracy. 

By blatantly rigging the July 2018 elections, doing nothing to end corruption, etc. Mnangagwa left no one in any doubt that Zimbabwe was still a dictatorship or be it under a new dictator. 

Zimbabwe is a pariah state, ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. And as long as the country remains a pariah state, there will never be any meaningful economic recovery. 

“Achievements in our journey towards the attainment of Vision 2030!” It is one thing talking about a mirage in broad day but only a first class village idiot will believe a mirage by star-light!

ZNA general join Chiwenga in defying decree to end "health export " - have wherewithal to pay, they're loaded N Garikai

 “Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander Lieutenant General Edzai Absolom Chanyuka Chimonyo is in India for medical treatment, The NewsHawks reported,” reported Pindula/Bulawayo 24.

“Lt. Gen. Chimonyo is said to be suffering from lung complications and was airlifted to the Asian country recently.”

The report reminded the reader of VP Chiwenga’s now infamous decree banning Zimbabweans from seeking health care service outside the country.

"We will not export our patients. We will not make referrals (to foreign medical facilities) for our patients. It's everybody,” said Chiwenga in September after taking on the Minister of Health Portfolio.

"Ministers are only about 20 but those who have been going out it's you, you, me, altogether.

"That export bill was too high and that's what we want to curtail. We want to do away with that, and it requires us to carry out restructuring from the village health worker right up to the quaternary hospital.”

VP Chiwenga is in China right now, his second health care trip this year alone. VP Chiwenga’s promise to stop “exporting our patients” was just hot air. 

Just as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s repeated “zero tolerance on corruption”! is another blast of hot air. 

VP Chiwenga lives in the C&M mansion (before that it was C&J before he divorce his first wife and the mansion will have a new name because he is divorcing Marry, the second wife) and in the garage is a fleet of 6 posh cars. 

He has 45 golden watches. Whilst Grace Mugabe was obsessed about designer goods especially Gucci shoes - beside all the other luxuries like the sprawling Blue Roof mansion. For Chiwenga it is the very, very expensive watches that turns him on. 

Chiwenga has nearly US$ 250 000, all in USD, in just one bank account in Zimbabwe, according to the Court records in the ongoing divorce case with Marry. It is almost certain, he has other bank accounts in Zimbabwe and outside with cash, gold watches and other treasures.

No doubt Lt. Gen. Chimonyo, as a senior ZNA commander, has too amassed a respectable fortune, from the same source as VP Chiwenga and other ZNA top brass have amassed their fortunes. Chimonyo’s fortune may not be as large as that VP Chiwenga; he is playing catch-up!

It is one thing issuing a decree that no one should seek health care services outside Zimbabwe but quite another to enforce it; especially when the country cannot provide even the most basic health case services let alone the specialist services. And, most significant of all, when the individual seeking the services has the wherewithal to pay for it! 

VP Chiwenga defied his own decree not to seek health care services outside Zimbabwe precisely because he has the wherewithal to pay for it! The man is loaded and his obsession with very expensive watches; of course it down right stupid to buy 45 gold watches; is just a manifestation of one who has so much money and has run out of ideas of what to do with it!

If anyone is serious about stopping the VP Chiwenga, the Lt. Gen. Chimonyo, etc.; Zimbabwe’s filthy rich who are squandering billions of dollars on sprawling mansions, posh cars, luxury goods galore, health care services outside the country even for minor ailments, etc. etc.; we must first find the sources of their fabulous wealth. 

If the source of one wealth is legal and there are all the supporting documents including the tax returns to prove it; then, why not, let the individual spend their earned wealth as they please. 

However, if the lifestyle audit showed that the fabulous riches were not earned legally; then every dollar of the ill-got wealth must be taken away. And all those guilty of the illegal activities must be hunted down, tried in a court of law and duly punished. 

It is an open secret that VP Chiwenga, Lt. Gen. Chimonyo and all the other top brass in the Army have amassed their wealth from the ZNA’s diamond mining concession in Marange and Chiadzwa. Similar concession were granted to the other security services sectors like the Police and CIO and to a select Zanu PF leaders. The first concession were granted back in 2006 and there are still valid to this day.

Indeed, the diamond mining concessions have been ruled a great success, as far as this Zanu PF government is concerned, the idea has since been replicated in other areas.

It was the late Zanu PF MP, Edward Chindori-Chininga who, in a parliamentary report in 2012, shed some light on the very nature of these diamond mining concessions. The report showed the miners kept no record of the quantity and quality of the diamonds mined, where the diamonds are sold and for how much, who the beneficiaries were and how the spoils were shared, etc. With no records, there are no cooperate or individual tax obligations. 

The 2012 GNU parliament read and all other parliaments since have known of Chindori-Chininga’s report and have all done nothing about it. Silence, in this case, is consent. 

The wholesale looting of diamonds and other resources in Zimbabwe has all been approved by both the Zimbabwe cabinet and parliament. Corruption is institutionalised! 

People like VP Chiwenga know they will never get away with naming the ZNA mining concession as the source of they wealth when there are no records to prove he receive a single dollar from the activity. He knows the reason for keeping no records was to hide the truth, to hide the institutionalised corruption. 

Of course, every one knows that what is going on in Marange and Chiadzwa is illegal, no democratic and competent government in the world would ever grant a blank cheque to anyone to loot and plunder. And it is for this reason that the top brass in ZNA and all the other beneficiaries of the institutionalised corrupt in Zimbabwe will never allow any democratic reforms and regime change in Zimbabwe. They fear a lifestyle audit will reveal the corruption and rot in the country. 

If VP Chiwenga was serious about ending health care travellers and Mnangagwa was serious about stamping out corruption then they must demand a lifestyle audit for all citizens. 

Both President Mnangagwa and VP Chiwenga will never lift a finger to end institutionalised corruption because they are the Godfathers of corruption. 

As long as Zanu PF remains in power, Zimbabwe will never ever stamp out corruption. Never!