."Illegal sanctions are albatross to Zimbabwe" said Mnangagwa - no, you are the albatross

Poor, poor Mnangagwa! His speech, to an all but empty national stadium to mark the climax of the anti-sanctions, was full of the same old lies. 

The sanctions are not UN sanctions nor are the nations who imposed the sanctions forcing other nations to join in. These are sanctions imposed by individual nations and it is therefore nonsensical to call the “illegal”. Surely individual nations have a right to decide which individual or nation they will do business with. 

He went to town to explain why sanctions were the root cause of the country’s economic meltdown. Again all lies!

“The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) was passed in 2001, which saw our country being denied access to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank (WB) development finance and credit facilities. ZIDERA works in conjunction with the US Executive Orders which are renewed yearly and prohibit Zimbabwean entities and individuals from doing any business with the United States of America,” said Mnangagwa.

He is conveniently ignoring the fact that IMF and WB had stopped giving Zimbabwe any financial and credit facilities in 2000 because the country had failed to service its debts, long before ZIDERA was enacted. Indeed, other than clear its debt with IMF, Zimbabwe has still to clear its debts with WB, Africa Development Bank and many other financial institutions. 

There was nothing to stop Zimbabwe seeking financial assistance from other nations like China, Japan, etc. and, indeed, Mugabe did so with his “Look East” policy. China did give Zimbabwe a lot of financial assistance but this too soon stopped! Why? 

“Nǐ bùyòng huánzhài!” (You don’t pay your debt!)

The Chinese told Mugabe to his face on one occasion, according to Patrick Chinamasa then Minister of Finance. 

“Under the Second Republic, we the people of Zimbabwe, on our own volition and for our own benefit, have taken conscious and deliberate decision to reform our political and economic systems,” said Mnangagwa.

“We are opening up both or political and economic space. Under my leadership, constitutionalism, democracy, rule of law, transparency, accountability and the inalienable human rights of all citizens, shall continue to be the hallmark of our great country.”

So this was a tacit admission that under the Mugabe “First Republic” Zanu PF had closed political and economic space. It should be noted that Mnangagwa and the same gang in power today were Mugabe’s henchmen per excellence! 

In 2008 the Join Operation Command; a junta comprising the top brass in Police, Army, CIO and Prison Services and a select few Zanu PF leaders led by Mnangagwa himself; forced ZEC to cook up the March 2008 election results to deny MDC electoral victory. And in the run-off the junta orchestrated a campaign of wanton violence to force the Zimbabweans to vote for Mugabe. 

It was the same junta minus a few top brass in the Police and CIO who were Mugabe supporters that stage the November 2017 coup. They went on to blatantly rig last year’s elections. Anyone with any brain said this was going to happen; these thugs were not going to risk life and limb to wrestle power from Mugabe only to risk losing it again in free, fair and credible elections. 

There is no democratic space under this Second Republic just as there was no such space during the Mugabe era. Other than the replacement of Mugabe with Mnangagwa nothing else has change; Zanu PF is still the same party of corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. 

Zimbabwe is still a pariah state and the economic meltdown of Mugabe days is still there because, as before, it is near impossible to do business in a pariah state. 

When Mnangagwa rigged last year’s election he was cocksure he would deliver economic recovery too. His “Zimbabwe is open for business!” has had no takers. His newly appointed Minister of Finance. Professor Mthuli Ncube, promised to get IMF, WB and other institutions to bankroll Zimbabwe’s economic recover; that too has not happened for reasons stated above. 

The country’s worsening economic situation is putting this Zanu PF regime under great pressure to end the country’s pariah state and bad governance culture. The sanctions adding the pressure on the regime to embrace meaningful democratic change and hence the reason most Zimbabweans want the sanction to stay. 

Indeed, the sanctions should be extended to include sell-outs like Finance Minister Ncube and Minister Coventry who have joined the regime knowing fully well it is illegitimate. 

“Today, we arise and collectively say: Enough is Enough! The illegal sanctions are an albatross to the development, well-being and prosperity of the people of Zimbabwe. SANCTIONS MUST GO — REMOVE THEM NOW.” Thundered Mnangagwa to an empty stadium. Zimbabweans voted with their feet - they do not agree that sanctions should go.

The albatross round the nation’s neck in none other than this corrupt, incompetent and murderous Zanu PF dictatorship that has remain in power for 39 years but only because it rigs elections!

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

"Common sense will prevail, form GNU" argue Mzembi

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest physicist and innovative thinker to ever walk the earth, explained that psychologically, our beliefs and axioms rest upon our experiences. There exists, however, no logical path from experience to an axiom, but only an intuitive connection based on our interpretation of the experience, which is always subject to revocation. 

These interpretations shape our beliefs and perceptions which determine our theories about the world. Finally, our theories determine what we observe in the world and, paradoxically, we only observe what confirms our theories which further hardens our beliefs and axioms.

Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, had the antidote against one following a course of action based long held and hardened beliefs and axioms which are, nonetheless, erroneous. He argued that beliefs, axioms, everything must be subjected to rigorous examination. 

Socrates was a great proponent of freedom expression, democracy and  the importance of and educated citizen for a healthy, functioning and prosperous society. 

Four decades of Zanu PF dictatorship; in which all debate and democratic competition were stifle, no freedom of expression and free media so the only voice to be heard was that on the dictator and his minions, etc.; has produced highly opinionated individuals. Their opinions have never been subjected to any serious cross-examination and hence are, more often than not erroneous! 

In fact, Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because for the last four decades the nation has plough the same erroneous fallow set by dumb and stupid Zanu PF leaders. They are so dumb they have repeated the same mistakes again and again whilst considering it beneath them to listen to advice.

Zanu PF leaders’ “Misstra know it all” arrogance, as the great Steve Wonder so aptly put it, is insufferable! 

"Rome can't continue to burn while we watch," and something is evidently going very wrong in our country and I apologise upfront if I offend as I attempt to share national experiences that helped similar challenges in the recent past,” wrote Walter Mzembi, Zimbabwe's former minister of tourism now living in exile in SA.

“Proverbs 1:9 will acquit me: "What has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun."

“Great 15th century historian Thucydides rhymes the same: "It is the very nature of humans to act in the future as they did in the past."

“History repeats itself, and humanity learns from past mistakes and re-calibrates its decisions and actions based on these past experiences.

“Contrary to what is happening now, we soon learnt, and this is absolute reality and advice to the Harare administration, that legitimacy is conferred by your political opponents, not by self, your choir, or opportunity and job hunters. It was Tsvangirai's legitimacy lobby and endorsement that became the lifeblood of the inclusive government as Nelson Chamisa can do for Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government, God-willing and common-sense prevailing,” argued Mzembi.

Poor Mzembi he had the presence of mind to quote Proverbs and Thucydides but clearly lacked the intellect to digest and understand the wisdom behind the quotations. Having accomplished the initial challenge of correctly identifying past mistakes no one would knowing repeat the same mistake. What Mzembi had failed to grasp is that the “recalibration” based on the same erroneous data will lead to the same wrong destination or be it by another circuitous route. 

In this case Mzembi saw the both the 1987 Unity Accord and the 2009 GNU as great success when they were in fact failures. It is no secret that from the time they took power in 1980, Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies had worked feverish to create a de-facto one-party state. Whilst they felt the legal and political constrains slowing them from achieving their objective the signing of the Unity Accord removed most of these constrains!  

Zimbabwe is in this economic and political mess because the country has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical one-party dictatorship for the last four decades. It was the 1987 Unity Accord that made it possible for Zanu PF to impose the dictatorship.

The primary objective of the 2009 GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 Global Political Agreement so that the blatant vote rigging and wanton violence of the 2008 elections will not be repeated ever again. The GNU failed to get even one reform implemented and so Zanu PF rigged the 2013 elections and last year’s elections. 

Mzembi acknowledges Mnangagwa’s regime has the same legitimacy problems because he rigged last year’s elections just as Mugabe had the same legitimacy problems after he rigged 2008 elections. However he is once again woefully wrong in believing “legitimacy is conferred by your political opponents”. Legitimacy is conferred by winning the majority vote of the people of Zimbabwe in a free, fair and credible elections. 

The 2009 GNU was an interim administration appointed to implement the reforms and hold fresh elections. Whilst we need to appoint a similar body again this time, it would be foolish, to say the least, to entrust the same individuals, Zanu PF and MDC leaders, to implement the reforms when they failed to get even one token reform implemented last time.

Mzembi knows that implementing reforms will end Zanu PF’s carte blanche dictatorial power to rig elections and to use wanton violence. Need to implement the reforms to end the culture of rigged elections, the root cause of bad governance. Mzembi’s primary concerned is to make sure Zanu PF remains in power at all cost; even if that means the economic and political mess and the tragic human suffering and deaths get even worse; hence the reason he does not want any reforms mentioned. 

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

Mnangagwa is desperate to emulate Kagame's success, hires same PR

There is one thing we can say with absolute certainty; President Mnangagwa and his fellow Joint Operation Command (JOC) junta members, comprising the top brass in the country’s security services and a select Zanu PF party leaders, have no intention of giving up absolute power. They risked their looted wealth, life and limb, everything in the all-or-nothing November 2017 military coup to wrestle power from their erstwhile JOC colleagues and leader Robert Mugabe. They clearly have no intention of losing all that now.

Zimbabwe’s worsening economic situation is putting Mnangagwa and his regime under ever increasing pressure; their continued hold on power is now dependent on the regime reviving the “dead economy”, as Mnangagwa  himself admitted the other day. 

It is no surprise then that President Mnangagwa has taken concrete steps to try replicate what President Paul Kagame has done in Rwanda; revive the economic fortune and still keep an iron grip on power! 

“PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is trying to emulate his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame's economic development model, which blends authoritarian practices and homegrown solutions with international best practices, as he hired yet another public relations (PR) firm in a desperate bid to spruce up the country's battered international image,” reported the Independent.

This model is, at best, a short term solution in that it will deliver economic success but for a short period. We can be 100% certain that authoritarian monster will awaken and reassert itself with disastrous consequence. The awakening may happen during Paul Kagame’s time, no one can be certain when exactly; the point is the monster is there already.

If anyone still doubts that Rwanda’s economic success is doomed to fail, they need only look at China. The country descended into new depths of depravity, poverty and despair under Chair Mao. His successors had the wisdom to open up China and, for the last four decades, China has enjoyed unparalleled economic and social transformation. But other than introduce the fixed ten year term for the presidency, they have retained the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) authoritarian system.  

China’s authoritarian dragon was reared it ugly head once again. President Xi Jinping, China’s current president, has since scrapped the fixed ten year presidential term; has carolled millions of China’s Muslim minority into detention camps, euphemistically calling them “education camp”; he is clawing back the democratic rights of the people in Hong Kong, they are putting up a fight to stop him; etc. 

If China’s economic boom was to falter, for whatever reasons, the CCP will revert back to its default setting of using brute force to retain its iron grip on power. 

A country’s economic success under an authoritarian system will not last; it is a house built on clay, it will stand as long as the ground remains dry. The foundation will sink in the wet and soft clay causing in innumerable and irreparable structural problems. 

As much as Mnangagwa would wish to emulate Paul Kagame’s success, he will never do so. First and foremost, Mnangagwa is a seasoned corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous tyrant forsaking these dirty habits has already proven mission impossible. After the November 2017 military coup, he promised to end corruption, hold free elections, etc. but has failed to deliver or blatantly broke his promises. 

“BTP, the PR company hired by Mnangagwa successfully led a campaign to exonerate Kagame from the 1994 genocide. A 2009 report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative acknowledged that the BTP's "excellent public relations machinery" had succeeded in hiding "the exclusionary and repressive nature of the regime" in Kigali,” said the Independent. 

BTP had its work cut-out trying to hide Mnangagwa’s role in the corruption, vote-rigging and murderous tyranny during Mugabe’s days given he was the dictator’s chief enforcer throughout the 37 years. Even if the company did succeed; how is it going to hide the reality of the continuing corruption, vote rigging, killings, economic collapse, etc. of the last two years and going on as we speak! 

How can BTP sell Mnangagwa as a changed man when everything confirms that Zimbabwe is still a pariah state and he has not change one bit!

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state, there will be no meaningful economic recovery. It is impossible to do business is a pariah state given all the economic chaos and lawlessness.

BTP will never make a Paul Kagame out of Emmerson, it will be making a silk purse out of a sower’s ear.  Mnangagwa is just wasting the nation’s money and time. 

Mnangagwa and his illegitimate Zanu PF regime; they rigged the elections, they have never had the legal mandate to govern; must step down. Zimbabwe needs the political space to implement the democratic reforms and lay the foundation, on sold rock, for a democratic system of government. 

ZCHOD 7 year GNU to save Mnangagwa from rotting illegitimate albatross but at what price

The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis is 39 years of corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF dictatorship. When Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup, he promised to end corruption and to hold free and fair elections but failed to keep his promises. 

Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs and as long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there is no hope of meaningful economic recovery because it is near impossible to do business in a pariah state. 

The solution to Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is to finally deal decisively with this curse of pariah state. As things stand Zimbabwe is ruled by a regime that does not have the mandate to govern since it rigged last year’s elections. So the immediate first step to dealing with our pariah state problem is to get the illegitimate Zanu PF regime to step down. 

Zanu PF must step down for three good reasons:

1. the party rigged last year’s elections and, per se, has no mandate to govern. For the last 39 years we have allowed Zanu PF to rig elections and rewarded the party with absolute power; this set a very dangerous precedence and one we must now end. 

2. by step down Zanu PF will create the political space for the appointment of a independent body the nation can entrust the key task of implementing the reforms. We need the reforms implemented if we are ever to break the vicious cycle of Zanu PF rigging elections. It is naive to trust a Zanu PF regime or GNU in which Zanu PF is playing a leading role to implement any reforms because Zanu PF will never reform itself out of office. The 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to get even one reform implemented. 

3. If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in office, for whatever reason, until the next elections, whenever that happens to be; we can be 100% certain that the party go on to rig those elections. After 40 decades of rigged elections the greatest gift this generation can give to ourselves, our children and posterity is delivery free, fair and credible elections. This is why getting Zanu PF to step down and implementing the democratic reforms is the holy grail of this generation. 

Zimbabwe Christian Heads of Denominations’ (ZCHOD) call for Zimbabwe to suspend the holding of elections for seven years is but a clumsy attempt to grant the illegitimate Zanu PF legitimacy by the back door. All the political turmoil the church leaders are concerned about and from which they now seek seven years of peace were caused by Zanu PF’s failure to hold free, fail and credible elections. Whereas the nation had made the tragic folly of reward Zanu PF with political power for five years after each rigged elections the church leaders want to reward the regime with seven years with no elections. 

In other words the ZCHOD’s proposal is nothing but an appeasement to Zanu PF, even more generous than the appeasements the regime has received so far. When we should be striving to end the folly of rewarding Zanu PF for rigging elections, reason a) above, we are being pulled in the opposite directions. 

Deputy Government Spokesperson Energy Mutodi called the ZCHOD’s proposal “foolish and irrational” and even denounce them as “false prophets, Baal prophets”. Some well known Zanu PF apologists have gone one step further and suggested that it is MDC leaders who are behind the proposal, implying only MDC will stand to benefit and not Zanu PF.

This would not be the first time Zanu PF has denounced something which the party was actively promoting, just to mislead the naive and gullible. 

It was all smoke and mirrors Zanu PF trick, the party wanted the new constitution approved. It was none other than Mugabe himself who had “dictated it”, as Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF co-chair on the parliamentary committee that drafted it, boasted after the March 2013 referendum. The new constitution was approved by a staggering 95%.

For Mnangagwa, the illegitimate label has been hanging round his neck like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's albatross round the mariner’s neck. The albatross round Mnangagwa’s neck is rotting and, needless to say, he is desperate for a way out. The church leaders are offering Mnangagwa a chance to legitimise his rule now and not having to face another risky election process for seven years. 

Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis has dragged the nation to the very edge of the economic collapse and social and political instability. The nation is facing stack choice either we demand than Zanu PF steps down so we can finally end the curse of rigged elections and pariah state. 

Or we foolish continue with the policy of appeasing Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF thugs, whose insatiable greed for power and wealth landed us into this mess in the first place,  whilst they drag the nation beyond the point of no return! Of course, it is insane to go down this path, especially with the mountain of evidence of the disastrous consequence of 39 years of travelling the same.

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

You don't need time Mnangagwa, you have made the economy worse

"I'm aware of the pain being experienced by the poor and the marginalised,” said Mnangagwa in his speech, to mark the official opening of parliament.

"Getting the economy working again from being dead will require time, patience, unity of purpose and perseverance.”

Well it is pleasing to note that President Mnangagwa is aware that the Zimbabwe economy is “dead”; it is indeed, all but “dead”. He has pointed his finger of blame for killing the economy at his predecessor, Robert Mugabe and by a long mile at the “illegal sanctions imposed by the west”.

The tragedy for the country is that Mnangagwa does not know what or who “killed” the Zimbabwe economy nor does he know how to revive it. Consider the following:  

1. It is four decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruptions and lawlessness that killed the Zimbabwe economy. When Mnangagwa seized power in the November 2017 military coup, he promised to end corruption and to hold free, fair and credible elections, for example. He has failed to keep his promise on both fronts. 

Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs, just as it was when Mugabe was top dog. As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state there will be no meaningful economic recovery. So with the country remaining a pariah state it is no surprise that there has been no meaningful economic recovery in the last two years. If anything, the economic meltdown is getting worse!

2. Even if we gave Mnangagwa the benefit of the doubt and agreed with him that the sanctions were the principle reason for Zimbabwe’s economic collapse. He has failed to get the sanctions lifted.

Mugabe came up with his “look East” policy to mitigate the ill-effects of the sanctions, which he too blamed for the country’s economic collapse. The policy clearly failed as the economy did “die”, as Mnangagwa readily acknowledged. 

It seems Mnangagwa too hoped that a “look East” policy would save him from the ill-effects of the sanctions. He too, just like Mugabe before him, signed a number of “mega deals” especially with China. Sadly, the “mega deals” have all fizzled to nothing.

So why should we expect any economic recovery if the sanctions, he blames for the economic meltdown, are in still in place and he has failed to come up with anything to cushion they ill-effect. Nothing, other than mourn about sanctions at every local and international opportunity!

3. The last but the most important reason why it will be naive to expect this Mnangagwa government revive Zimbabwe’s “dead” economy is common sense. Whilst Mnangagwa only now admitting the Zimbabwe economy is “dead”; he did not do so until recently because he is a corrupt, incompetent and murderous thug. 

Without doubt, the worst nightmare to befall anyone is to be confounded with an ignorance fool who fancies himself wiser than King Solomon. Greed comes a close second to ignorance. The worst curse ever is for a greedy and ignorant fool to be in a position of power and authority - he will abuse the power with disastrous consequences! 

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess with a totally dysfunctional political system because, for the last 39 years and counting, the nation has been stuck with a corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. 

Mnangagwa is not going to revive the country’s dead economy because he is an ignorant thug who does not even know he played a major role creating the economic mess and the dysfunctional one-party dictatorship. Worse still, the Zimbabwe economy is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, and Mnangagwa, in his reckless arrogance, will never admit it. 

By allowing Zanu PF to rig elections and get away with it, we, the people, allowed the thugs to enjoy not just power but absolute power. Mnangagwa and company blatantly rigged last year’s elections and yet they still expect the nation to accepted them as the legitimate government as a matter of course! 

39 years and counting of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule has left the country’s economy all but “dead” and the nation standing on the edge of the precipitous abyss. We can either let Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies remain in office and take us all over the edge. Or finally put and end to the madness of bad governance by demanding that Zanu PF step down to allow the nation to implement the democratic reforms taking away the regime’s carte blanche dictatorial powers. 

Of course, Mnangagwa and company will fight to retain their dictatorial powers but our right to good governance and to life is surely more important. For once, we must be resolute, focused and uncompromising in our demand for a government that is democratic accountable to us, the people. 

This Zanu PF regime rigged last year’s elections, it is illegitimate and must step down! Period! 

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka