USA CFR condemn SADC for "burying head in the sand" over Zanu PF rigged 2023. CCC is one perpetuating it! W Mukori

 “A United States think-tank, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), says the failure by regional leaders to intervene and address the Zimbabwe crisis was perpetuating impunity, especially on human rights violations, by State actors” reported Bulawayo 24.

“CFR said Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders missed an opportunity to intervene after election observer missions flagged the August elections as not credible.

“The think-tank said this has prolonged the crisis in Zimbabwe.”

CFR is spot on in denouncing Zanu PF for denying the people of Zimbabwe their fundamental freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. This is not just a right but the very essence of good governance. 

Zimbabwe is a failed state precisely because we have failed to hold free, fair and credible elections. And 43 years being stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has left the country in economic ruins and political paralysis. The stifling political system Zanu PF has imposed on the nation has failed to produce quality leaders on both sides of the political divide to get the nation out of the hell-hole we find ourselves.

The USA think-tank is also right in denouncing SADC leaders for failing to deny Zanu PF political legitimacy after the regional body’s own election observers condemned the 23 August Zimbabwe elections for failing to meet SADC’s own principles and guidelines on democratic elections. 

However I have to express my disappointment and frustration with CFR for the deafening silence over the role Zimbabwe’s opposition parties, notably MDC/CCC, have played in Zimbabwe’s seemingly never ending economic, political and social crisis.

It is very frustrating to see Nelson Chamisa et al coming out now after the August 2023 elections with guns blazing to denounce the election process as a “gigantic fraud” and until voting day they were the ones hell-bent on participating in these flawed and illegal elections. In particular, they dismissed all calls for implementing democratic reforms before elections.

Just a few months before the elections Advocate Fadzai Mahere, then CCC spokesperson, brushed aside Zanu PF’s failure to implement any democratic reforms, political shenanigans and contemptuous violation of human rights. “It is proof, that Zanu PF is panicking because they know CCC will going to win this elections!” she a UN forum.

Back home the CCC party leader and its presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, was boasting that the party was going to win big because he had “plugged all the Zanu PF vote rigging loop-holes. Shunga! Shunga! Shunga imwe, shunga dazeni!” And crown it all, “God is in it!” he proclaimed!

For anyone with any political common sense, they knew straight away this was Chamisa and company posturing and grandstanding. Chamisa and company were hell bent on participating in these flawed elections out of greed and the hot air was to hide the real reasons for participating - greed and breathtaking incompetence. 

What matters here is that the ignorant and gullible Zimbabwe public believed the lies and participated in the flawed elections. Both Zanu PF and the opposition are taking advantage of the people, it is true.

“Look, you can't keep on participating in flawed electoral processes that serve to give big benefits to dictators such as Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has perfected the art of winning elections. So it will be very foolish for the opposition to continue legitimising these sham elections which don't deliver,” said Tendai Biti in a 2015 interview with Isaac Mugabi.

“So you can't continue subjecting Zimbabweans to processes where their hopes just get crushed.”

David Coltart went one step further to shed light on why MDC/CCC leaders have continued to participate in the flawed elections.

“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 Coltart in his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe.

There it is, in black and white; the MDC/CCC leaders are participating in these flawed and illegal election out of greed. Pure and and simple! It is inconceivable that CFR, a think-tank for that matter, did not know this!

For the record, Tendai Biti and David Coltart were MDC ministers in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. They were senior leaders in the MDC team that failed to implement even one token reform in five year GNU. And credit were credit is due; SADC leaders, notably SA’s Minister Lindiwe Zulu, did their best to get MDC to implement the reforms during the GNU. SADC leaders’ nagging on implementing reforms fell on MDC deaf ears, they could not hear with their snout in the feeding trough! 

Today Biti and Coltart hold the positions of one of the three VP and the Treasurer General respectively in CCC. They were both as keen as mustard to participate in the August 2023 elections, hoping to win one of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF offers as bait to entice the opposition to participate no matter how flawed and illegal the process get. The party’s name has changed from MDC to CCC none of the leaders have changed. They are as corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent as ever! 

"At a time when African citizens are clearly signalling their frustration with manipulated elections and democratic window-dressing serving as cover for corrupt and authoritarian leadership, SADC leaders bury their heads in the sand," said CFR.

Yes but that is only half the picture, half the problem! The Zanu PF dictatorship would have ended in 2013, at the latest, if MDC/CCC leaders had not sold out by failing to implement even one token reform and thereafter by participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and perpetuate the dictatorship. 

The Zimbabwe crisis will never be solved by denouncing Zanu PF dictatorship and SADC’s inaptitude, important as these are, if we ignore CCC who are playing a pivotal role in perpetuating the dictatorship!

"Zimbabweans like to be RULED and not LED," and have paid dearly for it! W Mukori

 “Zimbabweans like to be RULED and not LED, ruling requires supporters to support their favourite leader even when he is being undemocratic,” observed Hopewell Chin’ono.

“Leading requires supporters to question their leader’s actions and to call them out when they are being undemocratic.

“That culture doesn’t exist in both ZANUPF and the opposition.”

He was stating a home truth many Zimbabweans do not want to hear but a home truth we must hear, at least if we are serious about digging ourselves out of the hell-on-earth we have landed ourselves in. Zimbabwe is a failed state and it is entirely our own fault!

“Zimbabwean rulers even have intellectuals and purported thought leaders who support their rulership on both sides, it is not just about the Povo’s lack of political sophistication,” continued Chin’ono.

“If you disagree with them, they insult you instead of engaging you, on both ends of our politics.

“Our politics is still very rudimentary, the common denominator is only the equal dislike of either ZANUPF or the opposition and not values or any ideology.”

Chin’ono, you have hit the nail on the head! The root cause why Zimbabwe is  a failed state; and, unless we do something about it, doomed to blundering from pillar to post to the end of time; is because we are an ignorant, gullible and naive people. It is no surprise that everything we do including, “our politics is still very rudimentary,” as you aptly put it.

Most of our people are nothing more than Boxer the horse, in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It took Boxer as long to learn the first four letters of the alphabet as it took other animals to learn all the 26 letters. It took him just as long again to learn the next four letters and by the time he had forgotten the first four letters. He gave up! 

Boxer could not come up with a single coherent idea of his own and soon found comfort in blindly supporting everything Napoleon said. “Napoleon is always right!” became his motto. 

Man is a creature of intellect and reason and it is most disconcerting when anyone let alone a significant proportion of the nation’s population not only stop thinking for themselves and treat mere mortals as infallible demigods who must not be questions. And, worst of all coerce others to do the same! 

These “Chamisa Chete Chete!” “Chamisa is our only hope!” people are brain-dead; in the 1980s they worship Robert Mugabe with the same blind and irrational devotion. They call Chamisa “Change Champion in Chief” and yet not even the so called intellectuals amongst them name even one democratic change MDC/CCC have brought in 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU. They have failed to implement even one token change. 

One of the reasons why so many Zimbabweans are dumb and slow is their pathological dislike of detail. And, typical of one who knows f**k all, they like to masquerade as Steve Wonder’s “Misstra know it all”. Call their bluff and they take it personally; in a flash, they will turn what should be a civil debate into a no-holds barred brawling match. They would rather muddy the waters than concede a point!

It was Albert Einstein who said insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. In Zimbabwe we have been participating in flawed elections, so flawed even something as basic as a verified voters’ roll was missing, and expect the opposition to win big; even after 43 years of the Zanu PF mafiosi ring the elections. Such is the soaring heights of our people’s ignorance and collective insanity. 

Like it or not, Zimbabwe is a failed state because we have failed to govern ourselves. Even now, 43 years after independence, in this day and age, we are still failing to hold free, fair and credible elections. Many Zimbabweans do not know what constitute free, fair and credible elections much less how to implement the democratic reforms to guarantee free elections. Like Boxer the horse, they have not been paying attentions to learn the A B C D of politics.

Zimbabwe is a failed state; 43 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF misrule have left the country is economic ruins and political paralysis as the autocratic political system has clearly failed to produce quality leaders in Zanu PF and the opposition camp. And unless Zimbabweans pull up their socks and learn what constitute free elections and implement the democratic reforms and thus end this curse of rigged elections and bad governance; Zimbabwe will remain a failed state. Period!

Biti, maybe you have nothing to do with Tshabangu's recalls, still you sold out big time on democratic reforms. W Mukori

 Tendai Biti has come out fighting to clear his name!

“Zimbabwe is at a crossroads. The weight of a stolen election, unprecedented corruption and the looting of public assets sits heavy on the shoulders of Zimbabweans who want and deserve better,” he wrote in a recent statement in the media.

“The environment in the world right now is toxic. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have pushed Zimbabwe to the bottom of the world's attention calendar. This has allowed the vampire state here to carry out brazen election fraud. Not satisfied, the regime is now engaged in a malicious push to weaken our struggle, the progressive movement, through the illegal recall of elected public representatives.

“It is therefore shocking to hear, and read, a daily stream of abusive, malicious and defamatory claims that Professor Welshman Ncube and I are colluding with the regime and its proxies to append a struggle that has occupied and consumed all our adult lives.

“I don't believe in recalls. I have never been part of recalls. I will never be part of recalls.”

Well in the absence of any other evidence to prove his connivence with Sengezo Tshabangu. I would give him the benefit of the doubt and say he is not involved. 

Tendai Biti should have stopped right there with, “I will never be part of recalls.” Alas! he got big headed in claiming he is a democrat who has never worked for Zanu PF. 

“I am a democrat who believes in constitutionalism, the rule of law, transparency, openness and collective leadership. I can never compromise on these core values. No dispute nor differences is ever sufficient to place one at the service of Zanu-PF,” continued Biti.

“Fellow Zimbabweans, all this chatter and actions by the illegitimate regime and its proxies are an engineered distraction from the main prize: to free ourselves from this rapacious dictatorship.

“It has been a long and tortuous road; and victory is closer than the distance

back to where we started.”

The truth is the fight to implement the democratic reforms to restore all the people’s freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections and the right to life has lost direction during the 2008 to 2013 GNU and thereafter.  

Lest Mr Biti and his MDC/CCC colleagues should forget; the people of Zimbabwe have risked all from the wrath of Zanu PF to elect them into power for one primary purpose: to bring about the democratic changes, reforms, the nation was dying for. After 23 years, including 5 in the GNU, Tendai Biti and company have failed to implement even one token reform. Not even one!

It is no secret that the late dictator, Robert Mugabe, bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office, the ministerial limos (Mr Biti was Minister of Finance in the GNU), the very generous salaries and allowances, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai, etc. To show their appreciation the MDC leaders kicked the reforms out of the window. 

Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life; they will never rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing any reforms during the GNU. 

Worse still, MDC/CCC have been participating in the flawed elections knowing fully well Zanu PF was rigging and that doing so would only help to give Zanu PF legitimacy. Mr Biti and a few other MDC leaders like David Coltart were aware of the sheer futility of participating in these flawed elections. 

“Look, you can't keep on participating in flawed electoral processes that serve to give big benefits to dictators such as Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has perfected the art of winning elections. So it will be very foolish for the opposition to continue legitimising these sham elections which don't deliver. 

“This country will go through a serious economic crisis in 2020 caused by Zanu PF. And yet, this is the only country where a government doesn't perform, it is encouraged by a super majority in parliament,” you, Tendai Biti, told Isaac Mugabi in an interview in 2015.

“So you can't continue subjecting Zimbabweans to processes where their hopes just get crushed.”

No doubt, you tried to talk your fellow MDC leaders into stop participating in flawed elections. When your arguments fell on deaf ears, you decided to join them for your share of the few gravy train seats Zanu PF was offering as bait. 

You knew participating crushed the nation’s hopes for democratic change, to end the curse of rigging elections, for good governance and, most notable of all, hope to end the tragic human suffering  brought on by the failed state. You knew all this and did not care as long as you secure for yourself one of the coveted gravy train seats.

How can you say you are a democrat when you have failed to implement even one token democratic reform to dismantle the dictatorship even when you have the golden opportunity to do so during the 2008 to 2013 GNU?

You say you have never working for Zanu PF. So whose interests do you think you served by selling out on reforms and by participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy. And what, if I may ask, do you think Zanu PF has been showering you and your MDC/CCC friends all these bribes for? 

Of course, you, Mr Tendai Biti, knew that CCC was not going to win big the 2023 elections. Chamisa’s claim of having plugged all the vote rigging loop-hole was just hot air to hide the real reasons why you lot were participating - greed and breath-taking incompetence.

“I am a democrat who has never sold out the struggle to Zanu-PF!” It is bad enough you are a sell out and has never owned up for your treasonous betrayals. Don’t dare insult our intelligence by masquerading a principled democrat, when you are clearly not! 

Mr Tendai Biti, you may have nothing to do with Sengezo Tshabangu and the string of CCC elected officials who have been recalled since the August 2023 elections. However, don’t deceive the nation; you are not a democrat and have sold out to Zanu PF by failing to implement the democratic change. 

I rest my case! 

If I tell truth of what Chamisa knows of rigged 2023, "there will be an earthquake", Chin'ono claimed. How naive! W Mukori

 “If I tell the truth about how the election was lost there would be an earthquake in Zimbabwe,” claimed Hopewell Chin’ono in one of his comments on X.

“Nelson Chamisa knows what happened, he knows how he was misled, he knows who misled him, he knows that he should never do it again.

“I will leave it there, one day you too will know.

“He was played by the system!”

You are making one basic and yet unfounded assumption, that the people will comprehend the truth! There will be no earthquake in Zimbabwe even if you told the whole truth of how Zanu PF rigged the 2023 elections with the active co-operation of the opposition because for there to be an earthquake the people must comprehend the truth. They don’t!

If there was ever going to be an earthquake in Zimbabwe, it would have happened in 2013 when it was clear MDC leaders had sold out big time by failing to to implement even one token reform during the five years of the GNU. When SADC leaders gave Tsvangirai and company a chance to redeem themselves by advising them not to take part in the 2013 elections without reforms; the MDC rejected the advice out of greed. 

There was no earthquake in 2013 when Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections and reimposed the dictatorship the GNU was supposed to end because most Zimbabweans had no clue what the reforms were much less that the primary purpose of the GNU was to implement the reforms and MDC leaders had sold out. 

MDC/CCC leaders have been participating in flawed elections ever since the failed GNU knowing fully well that Zanu PF was rigging the elections and that participating would only give the process legitimacy or “credibility” As David Coltart called it.

Both Tendai Biti and David Coltart have told the people of Zimbabwe the truth about how the opposition has been participating in these flawed elections out of greed.

“Look, you can't keep on participating in flawed electoral processes that serve to give big benefits to dictators such as Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has perfected the art of winning elections. So it will be very foolish for the opposition to continue legitimising these sham elections which don't deliver. This country will go through a serious economic crisis in 2020 caused by Zanu PF. And yet, this is the only country where a government doesn't perform, it is encouraged by a super majority in parliament,” said Tendai Biti in a 2015 interview with Isaac Mugabi.

“So you can't continue subjecting Zimbabweans to processes where their hopes just get crushed.”

Coltart went one step more and confessed that the opposition has been participating in the flawed 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.”

There is nothing new you, Hopewell Chin’ono, can tell Zimbabweans on what happened in these 2023 elections that the people did not already know. After all these flawed elections are just a repeat of the past rigged elections. Same s****t different year!

Zimbabweans did not revolt against MDC when Tendai Biti, David Coltart and many, many others told them of how MDC leaders had sold out big time by failing to implement reforms and by participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the nation’s suffering. They heard what was said but failed to comprehend what it meant much less that their suffering would have been avoided if MDC leaders had not sold out. 

There has been and there will be no earthquake in protest against MDC/CCC leaders selling out because the people are blissfully unaware of the treasonous betrayals. 

“In knowing nothing, life is most delightful" (In nil sapiendo vita iucundissima est), said Publilius Syrus, Latin writer. Of course, Syrus was write, given Zimbabweans are contend in their miserables lives and there would be an earthquake if only they knew the men and women they have risked life and limb to end the Zanu PF dictatorship and the ones keeping Zanu PF in power!

Corrupt and incompetent CCC are mile-stone round nation's neck. Alas! Povo are still ignorant of it! W Mukori

 You can count of MDC/CCC leaders to fight each other like wild cats. If it is not one thing it over half a dozen of the other - all trivial and irrelevant to the long suffering voters who elected them.

“Embattled Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has once again been thrown into a political tailspin as self-imposed secretary general Sengezo Tshabangu has recalled Harare Mayor Ian Makone and his deputy Kudzai Kadzombe.” reported Bulawayo 24.

“Barely three months after the general election, Tshabangu's power trip continues in CCC as he has recalled nine more councillors.

“Ian Makone, Kudzai Kadzombe, Denford Ngadziore, Lovejoy Chitegu, Samuel Gwenzi, Chido Hamauswa, Tiriboyi Sabina, Florence Cheza. Matimba Fadzai, are the latest to be axed by Tshabangu.”

Until Chamisa finally get off his backside and sort out CCC’s constitution, structure and have proper elections; there will be more recalls. 

It was the then USA ambassador to Zimbabwe 2004 to 2007, Chris Dell, reported back to Washington in a leaked cable that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed, indecisive character who would become an albatross round the nation’s neck if he was ever to get into power.” 

The ambassador could have said the same of all the MDC leaders, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, David Coltart, Nelson Chamisa, etc., etc. After 23 years on the political stage, 5 of which in the GNU, MDC/CCC leaders have failed to implement even one token democratic change. 

During the GNU, Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office and they forgot about the reforms. And ever since the GNU MDC/CCC have participated in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy for a share of the spoils of power. 

Whilst ambassador Dell dismissed Tsvangirai as a disaster if he was to be a national leader after meeting the guy a handful of times. Many Zimbabweans have yet to come to the same conclusion even after 23 years and a mountain of evidence of MDC/CCC corruption and breath-taking incompetence. 

In many ways, one can understand why SADC leaders did not want to take Zanu PF to task over the damning SADC election report. It is all very well denying Zanu PF political legitimacy; one has to also consider what next. The prospect of having to work with Nelson Chamisa and his banded mongoose must have frighten the hell out of all the SADC leaders!

Nelson Chamisa and his entourage of MDC/CCC of banded mongoose are indeed the mile-stone round the nation’s neck. Sadly, the people, in their ignorance and naivety are not even aware of it! Ignorance is indeed a curse worse than death!

"Why demand CCC alone to implement reforms and not Zanu PF?" Whom did povo risked all to vote and entrusted the task? W Mukori.

 “@Wilbert Mukori , my brother, help me understand you. This time I come in peace. Is it CCC  which is supposed to bring about electoral reforms? I don’t seem to be hearing about what you say about their parliamentary counterparts Zanu PF in your arguments. What would a minority do to downturn the voice of the majority where a voting process rules? More questions to follow, when you answer these ones,” whatsApp message from Welly

To answer you, I will quote the Bible, not in the spirit of those who claim to have divine inspiration but in the spirit of one who believes the Bible has many lessons for our time. 

 

“The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said.  And they sent their disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say, ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. 

“Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’  But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius, and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ 

‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. He then said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’

Matthew 22: 15 - 21.

If you believe Zanu PF is responsible for implementing the democratic reforms then hold them to account for failing to implement the reforms. As for me, I believe Zanu PF created the dictatorship and will never reform it and. per se, reform itself out of office. 

The people of Zimbabwe have risked the wrath of Zanu PF to elect MDC/CCC for the primary purpose of implementing the reforms. After 23 years, 5 of which in the GNU, Chamisa and company have failed to implement even one token reform. 

Worse still, MDC/CCC have given up on implementing the reforms and have been participating in flawed elections to give Zanu PF legitimacy and thus perpetuating the dictatorship for a share of the spoils of power. Opposition leaders like Tendai Biti readily admitted it.

“Look, you can't keep on participating in flawed electoral processes that serve to give big benefits to dictators such as Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has perfected the art of winning elections. So it will be very foolish for the opposition to continue legitimising these sham elections which don't deliver. This country will go through a serious economic crisis in 2020 caused by Zanu PF. And yet, this is the only country where a government doesn't perform, it is encouraged by a super majority in parliament,” said Tendai Biti in a 2015 interview with Isaac Mugabi.

“So you can't continue subjecting Zimbabweans to processes where their hopes just get crushed.”

David Coltart went one step further and confessed that the opposition is participating in the flawed elections out of greed, pure and simple. 

“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.

In a healthy and functioning democracy the government of the day is there to govern, run the day to day operations of public affairs. The opposition is there to hold the government to account. The public have a duty to ensure they are well informed on public matters and hold both the government and opposition to account for their performance in their respective sphere of influence. 

In the case of Zimbabwe, since the late 1990s the people have risked all to elect the opposition for the number one task of implementing the democratic changes to end the Zanu PF dictatorship. The opposition leaders themselves all campaign for the popular votes on the promise of delivering democratic change. 

Once in power they have failed to deliver not even a token reforms when they had the golden opportunity to do so. It is cynical, to say the least, for the opposition to complain of “gigantic election fraud” or being “voiceless minority” when you knowingly participated in a flawed elections, “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw,” but would not withdraw out of greed!

If the people of Zimbabwe are serious about ending the Zanu PF dictatorship and restoring the rule of law and good governance then they must focus on getting competent opposition that will implement the reforms because Nelson chamisa and his MDC/CCC friend will never do it. Chamisa et al have already proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent. 

When it comes to implementing the democratic reforms we must look to the opposition to do it not Zanu PF because that is the specific task the nation has risked all to elect the opposition to do. Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office so it is naive to expect them to! 

In short, I will answer your question with a question. "Why demand CCC alone to implement reforms and not Zanu PF?" Whom did povo risked all to vote and entrusted the task?