US Sanctions

”Ever since the West first imposed the sanctions of the Zanu PF regime in 2002 for its human rights record, particularly its failure to hold free and fair elections; the regime has carried out regardless and claimed the sanctions were imposed as punishment for its land reform programme. The regime has even gone one step further, it has blamed the country’s economic decline of the sanctions. This has become increasingly difficult for the regime to sell these lies much more so in 2018.

For the 2018 Mnangagwa himself promised to hold free, fair and credible elections as proof that Zimbabwe had broken away from the Mugabe day of corruption and rigged elections. The Americans went out of their way to explain that if Mnangagwa kept his promise on holding free and fair elections, they would lift the sanctions. They explained what exactly they would be looking for in judging the elections free and fair, just to make sure Zanu PF was left in no doubt what was expected of the regime.

The excuse that the sanctions were imposed as punishment for seizing land from the white farms was not going to have any takers since by then almost all the farms had already been seized.

Holding free and fair elections and risk losing power was the one thing Mnangagwa and his junta friends were not going to do. They had risked life and limb in wrestling power from Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup; they were not going to risk losing power in a free and fair election. So it was no surprise therefore that Mnangagwa and the junta failed to deliver even one of the Americans’ election requirements as the regime went on to blatantly rigged the 2018 elections.

Just to underline the fact that the rigged July 2018 elections was no accident the regime was gone on to use unwarranted and brutal force to drive home the message the regime will not tolerate any protest against the rigged elections and the country’s worsening economic situation. The regime has shot dead 7 and then 17 protestors in the 1^st August 2018 and January 2019 protests.

The Americans have responded by renewing the imposed sanctions.

Zanu PF has step up its propaganda to demand the lifting of the sanctions on the grounds they are hurting the ordinary Zimbabweans.

“Through ZIDERA, the US has directed its Executive Directors to each international financial institution (IFIs) to oppose and vote against -any extension of any loan, credit, or guarantee to Zimbabwe; or -any cancellation of debt owed by Zimbabwe to the US or any IFIs,” explained the Ministry of Information in a statement.

“US sanctions are targeted at Zimbabwe and all its citizens. The sanctions are so comprehensive that any lines of credit to the country are blocked by OFAC. Citizens who are not on the sanctions list cannot access US-linked financial services such as PayPal

“To show that the US sanctions are indiscriminate, South African Banks have blocked Zimbabwean banks from importing US dollars for fear of reprisals from US authorities. Also, CBZ Bank, which is not on the sanctions list, was fined a staggering US$385 million by OFAC.”

What the statement does not say is that both the IMF and WB had already stopped extending loans to Zimbabwe in 2000, long before the American government imposed ZIDER, because the Zanu PF government was failing to service its existing debt. Other countries like China and Russia have also long stop giving Zimbabwe loans and financial assistance for exactly the same reason – failure to repay its debts.

Ordinary Zimbabweans know the frustration of having to queue hours on end for 50 RGTS$ maximum a day, they cannot get even one US$ from the bank even if the deposited US$. It is rich that there will be any Zimbabwean out there who will lose sleep because they cannot use PayPal or some such service!

As for the Americans stopping Zimbabwe importing the US$; last time I looked at the American dollar it was the image of Gorge Washington or some such American staring back at me. Surely the Americans are free to decide what to do with their own currency!  

What every thinking Zimbabwean out there should be demanding from this Zanu PF dictatorship is why are ordinary Zimbabweans being denying their basic freedoms and human rights including their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life? This has gone on for the last 38 years now!

There is something disingenuous that Zanu PF is fighting to end the suffering brought about by the imposition of sanction, although it is powerless to remove the sanctions because they were imposed by the West, and yet it has done absolutely nothing to end the mismanagement, corruption and the political oppression it is imposing on the people.

The Ministry of Information has carefully avoided commenting of the USA’s reason for retaining the sanction – Zanu PF’s failure to hold free and fair elections and the recent killing of unarmed civilians. Why? Is it because the regime knows the people of Zimbabwe do not believe the lie the elections were free and fair.

The Ministry of Information has also been very careful not to comment on how much of the economic meltdown the country is facing is due to gross mismanagement and rampant corruption notably the wholesale looting taking place in Marange and Chiadzwa. The nation was swindled of US$15 billion in diamond revenue alone in 2010 to 2014 according to Robert Mugabe. Not even one swindler has ever been arrested and we know the looting is continuing to this day. Whatever contribution sanctions have made to Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown they are insignificant compared to the damage done by corruption, gross mismanagement and all the other teething problems.

It is said the beating wings of a butterfly in Japan may well be the humble origin of the hurricane storm in North America, the source of the great Zambezi is a stream. To blame Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and brutal political repression on the West’s imposed sanctions it as foolish as blaming the hurricane of the butterfly, the storm gathered its 100 km per hour winds from tropical waters and not the beating of the butterfly wings. Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown is the product of decades of rampant corruption and gross mismanagement and not the Americans denying my aunt in Zimbabwe’s rural back water PayPal facilities!

Zanu PF blatantly rigged last year’s elections and the primary purpose of the targeted sanctions is to pile the pressure on Zanu PF to step down because it does not have the people of Zimbabwe’s democratic mandate to govern the country. The sanctions must and will stay! 

By JEFF KURAI CHAKANYUKA

The US explains, Sanctions are not for the people of Zimbabwe

“The U.S. does not maintain comprehensive sanctions against Zimbabwe. Suggestions that the U.S. intends to harm the Zimbabwean people with sanctions are false and misleading,” explained the US Embassy in twitter.

“2/3 #Truth: U.S. targeted sanctions list: 84 individuals and 56 entities.  People of Zimbabwe: 16 million +.  Sanctions do not target the people of Zimbabwe. #FACTS"

The Americans have given detailed explanation, the truth and the facts on countless occasions and yet there is still the need them to do so again now, tomorrow, next month, etc. Why?

Well, because Zimbabwe is one of those countries where there is no freedom of expression and no free media. The Zanu PF dictatorship has stifled all meaningful public discourse and the regime’s controlled public media has overwhelmed the nation with half-truths, lies and damned lies. The majority of our people have been thoroughly brainwashed, most are now incapable of soaking up any ideas much less think for themselves. 

38 years of Zanu PF brainwashing has deprived most of our people of any intellectual depth it is hard to have any meaningful discussion with them. You can give them all the detailed explanations, the facts and the figures but most of it does not sink in because there is depth. Where there is a thin crust of soil, even a light shower is enough to soak the soil and have a run-off. And yet a few hour latter the plants on the same patch will be wilting. 

The need to understand the linkage between the western imposed sanctions and holding of free, fair and credible elections is vital; especially after the Americans’ detailed explanation of what Mnangagwa needed to do for the sanctions to be lifted. Anyone who understand the linkage will have no problem understanding that the sanctions are for the greater good in the push for free, fair and credible elections and good governance. Those who do not understand the linkage are like one trying to understand the genius of William Shakespeare by listening to a audio of his works in a language they do not understand. 

The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic mess and political paralysis is the country's failure to remove Zanu PF from office even when it was clear as day the party was corrupt and incompetent. Ever since the day Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party got into power in 1980 the regime has worked tirelessly to undermine the country’s multi-party democratic constitution and institutions to create the de facto one-party dictatorship we have to this day. With its dictatorial power the regime has become arrogant, confident the people were powerless to remove the party from office regardless how incompetent, corrupt and oppressive the party happened to be. 

38 years of absolute power has allowed Zanu PF mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread to become the cancerous killer they are today. Zimbabwe’s once promising economy has long been destroyed a country once upon a time the breadbasket of the region now is totally dependent on food aid, it commerce and industries have closed sending unemployment soaring into 90%, country’s basic services such as supply of clean running water and health care have all but collapse, etc.

As long as Zanu PF continues to enjoy its dictatorial powers including carte blanche powers to rig elections the country will remain a pariah state ruled by corrupt thugs with no hope of ending the misrule and thus no hope of any meaningful economic recovery. By the late 1990s it was clear to many Zimbabweans that the only way to stop the country’s economic decline was by stopping Zanu PF rigging elections hence the call for democratic change.    

The Americans went to a great deal of trouble to explain to Mnangagwa that if he kept his promise to hold free, fair and credible elections in 2018 they would lift the sanctions. They even explained to him what they would want him to do; make sure every Zimbabwean entitled to a vote was given a chance to register and to vote, make sure there was a free public media, the election process was transparent, etc. 

The link between sanctions and free, fair and credible elections and good governance is as clear as the tree trunk is the link between the roots and the leaves! Those who have struggle to see the linkage, there are many who have, is because they have been throughly brainwashed by Zanu PF propaganda, they do not know their left hand from right and hence are given to promoting Zanu PF’s selfish interest at the expense of their own! 

Mnangagwa and his cronies calling for the lifting of the sanctions will go to great lengths not to acknowledge the link between sanctions and the holding of free and fair elections. When put on the spot, they have maintained last year’s elections were indeed free, fair and credible. Of course, they are lying and our task is to remind then that last year’s elections were NOT free, fair and credible and hence the reason the sanctions must remain - to force the regime to hold free, fair and credible elections. 

Zimbabwe’s worsen economic meltdown is a product of the two cancers of gross mismanagement and rampant corruptions on the one hand and the country’s failure to attract the much need investment on the other hand. Investors have shied away from investing in Zimbabwe for the last two decades, ever since it was clear Zimbabwe was a pariah state ruled by corrupt and lawless thugs. By blatantly rigging last year’s elections Mnangagwa has confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state contrary to his claim otherwise. 

The targeted sanctions and the worsening economic situation are the two forces acting in a pincer movement that will force Mnangagwa and his regime to accept meaningful democratic change and the holding of free, fair and credible elections. 

No freedom loving Zimbabwean would ever want the 
targeted sanction against Zanu PF leaders lifted until there is democratic change. It is a great pity that some many Zimbabweans have been brainwashed by Zanu PF, one has to explain to them the true purpose of the sanctions a thousand times!

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

Efforts to remove sanctions failed

“Efforts by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Southern African Development Community executive secretary Dr. Stergomena Tax to have sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe lifted have failed to bear fruit after US President Donald Trump extended sanctions imposed on the southern African country by another year,” reported Fin24. 

“Earlier this year, Ramaphosa spoke on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying Zimbabwe faces "serious, serious, economic challenges, and they can be assisted by the world if those sanctions are lifted”.

There is a mountain of evidence on the public domain proving that the two most important causes of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown in the past and present are:

1. Corruption: in 2016 the then Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe, admitted Zimbabwe was “swindled out of $15 billion of diamond revenue”, after decades of denying corruption was a problem. No nation could sustain this level of economic hemorrhage much less prosper; especially a nation like Zimbabwe with a mere $10 billion GPD. 

2. Pariah state: Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs. When Mnangagwa and his fellow November 2017 coup plotters seized power from Mugabe they went the extra mile to underline the regime was different from Mugabe’s regime using such terms as “new dispensation” and “second republic”. They even promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. Sadly, it was all empty rhetoric. Last July’s elections were flawed and illegal; 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement, Mnangagwa claims to have won 2.4 million votes which no one could trace and verify, etc. The result was therefore meaningless and void. Mnangagwa did not get the mandate to govern and the regime is per se illegitimate. By blatantly rigging last year’s elections, Zanu PF confirmed that Zimbabwe was still a pariah state. Mnangagwa undermined his own “Zimbabwe is open for business!” drive to attract investors because no investor or lender wants to do business in a pariah state.

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown has reached crisis point; unemployment has reached a nauseating 90% compared to SA’s 27% and 3/4 of the Zimbabwe population now live on US$30 per month which is less than 5% of the US$650 per month poverty datum line, basic service such as supply of clean water and health care, etc. The people of Zimbabwe need to find a solution to end the country’s economic crisis and political paralysis, they cannot afford to waste time on gimmicks and tomfoolery! 

The key to ending Zimbabwe’s political paralysis and economic meltdown is holding free, fair and credible elections and thus end the country’s curse of rigged elections and pariah state. The sanctions imposed by the western is putting the pressure on Zanu PF thugs to accept the need for meaningful democratic reforms, the pre-requisite for free and fair elections, and hence the reason the sanctions must remain.

Those who continue to argue that Zimbabwe can remain a pariah state ruled by incompetent, corrupt and vote riggings thugs and still enjoy economic recovery if the sanctions are lifted live in cloud-cuckoo-land. What every thinking Zimbabwean find insulting is those pretending the Zimbabwe elections were free, fair and credible when the country failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. They want the western sanctions lifted so they can confirm Zimbabwe’s position as a pariah state, a banana republic!

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

Mandaza propose NTA with new executive

“We now have a dysfunctional state, made worse by a crisis of illegitimacy, and in desperate need for re-engagement with the international community. This re-engagement grows more remote by the day with reports of gross human rights proliferating, prompting some to term these crimes against humanity,” argued Ibbo Mandaza and Tony Reeler. 

It should be stated here that Zimbabwe is a dysfunctional state because it is a de facto one-party dictatorship in which the ruling party Zanu PF has carte blanche powers to blatantly rig elections and to use state institutions to impose its rule on a cowed nation.

38 years of misrule by the incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship has landed the nation into this economic mess. Unemployment has soared to 90%, 3/4 of the population are so poor many are dying of want of clean drinking water, food, medicine, etc. The economic situation in Zimbabwe is dire and in need of urgent resolution. 

It is obvious the present dysfunctional state will never provide the way out of the economic mess and it is equally obvious that economic situation cannot be allowed to continue. The dysfunctional state must go and this cannot be done quickly enough given the country’s worsening economic situation.

Mandaza and Reeler are suggesting the dysfunctional state should be replaced by a National Transition Authority (NTA). Whether or not the NTA will be any better than the dysfunctional state we have will depend on what kind of animal this authority is going to be. The devil is in the detail!  

“It seems obvious in all the discussion about a national dialogue that there must be an end goal. In the current crisis, a national dialogue cannot be merely a talk shop. All who are talking about the national dialogue clearly are thinking about a process that resolves the legitimacy crisis, initiates a substantial process of reforms, and takes the country through to an undisputed election,” continued Mandaza. 

“The Zimbabwean NTA does not have to produce a constitution as part of its work. Zimbabwe has a highly operable constitution, a sitting parliament, and a functioning judicial system. Since all these are in place, there will be no need for complex negotiations about a constitution and the nature of the state. 

“The legal basis for the NTA will require the suspension of Chapter 5 (Parts 1 & 2) and its replacement by a schedule outlining the powers of a Transitional Executive Council (TEC). This TEC would be time-limited, but, given the depth of the problems facing Zimbabwe, would probably need at least two years in order to implement the reforms, and a "rescue package" to take effect.”

There are many glaring flaws in this argument are here are just some of the flaws.

 1    The legitimacy crisis arises out the election process was not free, fair and credible. 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote. There is overwhelming evidence that many rural voters were coerced to vote for the ruling party, as Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission stated in its report. ZEC failed to produce a verified voters’ roll although this is a legal requirement. ZEC’s vote tallies could not be traced or verified because some on the V11 forms, the summary of vote count at the polling station, was never released although this too was a legal requirement; etc. Given all these flaws and illegalities it is therefore nonsensical to claim such an illegal and meaningless process can ever produce a legal result! 

 2    It is not only Mnangagwa, the executive leg of this regime, but that is also illegitimate, the MPs and Senators too are illegitimate. Chamisa is cherry picking, he is dismissing ZEC’s result of the presidential race but accepts the parliamentary result although both were affected by the same flaws and illegalities noted in 1) above.

 3     The legal justification for the NTA is that the present government is illegitimate as Zanu PF has no democratic mandate to govern. The constitution never envisaged a flawed and illegal election process resulting in an illegitimate government. We can either pretend the elections were free, fair and credible and continued to have rigged elections and dysfunctional government or bite the bullet and accept we have an illegitimate government and appoint an NTA tasked to implement the reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections. After 38 years of rigged elections, the choice is obviously to bite the bullet and finally end this elections charade and madness. 

 4    The on-going inter-party dialogue is clearly a waste of time as it is premised on Mnangagwa’s demand that all the participants accept him as the legitimately elected president with the legal mandate to govern. So not even Mandaza’s proposed TEC cannot be discussed in the context of the present inter-party dialogue. 

 5     Even if Mnangagwa was to be pressure to step down and the TEC was formed, it is naive to expect a Zanu-PF dominated parliament, senate, judiciary, etc. with a sprinkling of corrupt and incompetent MDC Alliance leaders to accomplish anything of substance. 

 6    Zimbabwe’s current constitution is weak and feeble and the reason it has failed to deliver the individual democratic freedoms and rights. Paul Mangwana, the Zanu PF co-chairperson of the parliamentary committee tasked to draft the new constitution boasted that Mugabe “dictated” the new documented and it shows. The task of dismantling the de facto one-party dictatorship is much more than “realigning existing laws to the new constitution” as MDC leaders claim. 

 7     Zanu PF and MDC GNU of 2008 to 2013 failed to accomplish anything of substance, we must have the courage to come up with a new solution that will deliver the changes we are looking for. Zanu PF rigged last July’s elections we must admit that and say so. Zanu PF has no mandate to govern and must step down, that is not negotiable. We need Zanu PF to clear the democratic space for a fully-fledged NTA with executive and legislative powers to change the constitution and restructure the judiciary, ZEC, etc. that too is not negotiable. After 38 years of letting Zanu PF rig elections and get away with it to appease the party thugs we owe it to the long-suffering ordinary Zimbabweans to finally do the right thing; restore the rule of law and end the curse of rigged elections.

  By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

Mugabe speaks on Mnangagwas' Brutal Army

You are at the top, you want to glorify yourself,” said Mugabe speaking of his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa, according to Jealousy Mawarire, National Patriotic Front (NPF) spokesperson. 

“You are not God. Today you are at the top, tomorrow you will be at the bottom, know that. God has His own way of punishing rogues and cruel people.

“I am telling you in your face. I don’t care what will happen to me. People should love their army, they should not fear the army.”

Mugabe reportedly said this at his 95th birthday party. Mugabe’s birthdays used to be a grand occasion, costing millions of dollars. No expense was spared even basic services such as the supply of clean water, health care, and education had all but collapse, starved of funds. Ever since November 2017 when he was booted out of power following the military coup, his birthday parties have been a family and friends affair and not a national one. 

Still, this year’s birthday party must have been a very happy occasion happening just a few days after some of the worst street protest and violence that the country had seen in the last decades. The protests were triggered by the shortage of foreign currency, fuel, cash, bread, etc. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was the nearly 200% increase in the price of fuel!

Mugabe stayed in power for 37 years by rigging his own Zanu PF party elections and then let none other than Mnangagwa rig the national elections to keep him and the party in power. He has insisted that he has never handed power to someone else because there was no one competent to lead. 

So reports of Zanu PF being accused of rigging the July 2018 elections (Mugabe had avoided such embarrassment by making sure no observers from the democratic nations were accredited) made good reading for Mugabe. But better still, the news of the Zimbabwe economy sinking even deeper into the abyss. 

If Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” had been a resounding success and Zimbabwe’s economy was on a firm footing and well on its way to economic recovery; Mugabe would be died spiritually, at the least. It was bad enough for him to be booted out of office but to have Mnangagwa validated as more competent than himself would have been more than he could bear! 

Nothing would have brought Mugabe more pleasure than to see the Zimbabwe economic meltdown get even worse than when he was in power and Zimbabweans rioting and demanding the removal of Mnangagwa. Absolutely Nothing! 

“You are not God! God has His own way of punishing rogues and cruel people!” If Mugabe said this once he must have said it a thousand times. No doubt Mugabe will never consider himself a rogue let alone that the military coup was God’s punishment.

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

No Forex for education institutions in Zimbabwe

“Foreign currency from the inter-bank market shall be utilised for current bonafide foreign payment invoices except for education fees,” said Reserve Bank Governor, Dr John Mangudya.

There are hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean students outside the country partly or partly dependent on cash payments from Zimbabwe. How are they going to manage now? 

This is an outrage! It must be said here and loud as church bells that these students were forced to study outside Zimbabwe because decades of poor funding has left most education institutions in Zimbabwe without lecturers, no books, poor facilities, etc. etc. The quality of education they are providing is so poor most people had no choice but to send their child or relative outside Zimbabwe. 

Whilst one accepts the economic reality of a crippling shortage of foreign currency but even this is a Zanu PF man-made problem too. It is the 38 years of rampant corruption and gross mismanagement that have destroyed the country’s once booming economy. 

Zanu PF seized most of the former white-owned farms to give them to party officials and their proxies. Zimbabwe used to grow enough food to feed its own people with plenty leftover for export. We used to be the breadbasket of the region. Since the farm seizures, the country has struggled to produce enough to feed its own people. We now have to rely on import food and good to be paid for in foreign currency which we do not have since we now produce very little.

The government should never have to tell the citizen how they should spend their money. If someone decides to spend their hard earned money in providing as good an education as they possibly can; it is their choice and it is none of government’s business to interfere, especially when it is the same government’s corrupt and incompetence that has forced the parent to make very expensive choices.

Governor Mangudya’s policy announcement was reckless and foolish. There are a number of common sense options he should have explored:

    1. The government should have started by announcing that no foreign currency will be available for new students. 

      2. Forcing anyone to abandon his/her studies is a waste of all the resources to get the student this far and should never ever be taken lightly. The government should have explored other ways to save foreign currency. A recent report showed the government was failing to pay $600 000 for student living allowance in Russia and yet Mnangagwa was paying US$ 25 million for a hired Jet for a 10-day jaunt.

3. If the foreign currency outflows in student fees are still unaffordable then Government should have negotiated alternative payment arrangements the relevant institutions/nations. Most institutions would rather take a hair-cut of the fees than lose it all, they cannot fill a second or third-year vacant position.

“No foreign currency allocation for education fees!” This must have been a hammer blow to the parent, relatives and all the students studying outside Zimbabwe who relied on money from Zimbabwe. My heart bleeds for you all, the more so when it is not your fault but this Zanu PF regime’s fault that you are in this mess!

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

Monetary policy to bring sanity

The primary objective of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ) long-awaited Monetary Policy Statement was to bring sanity to Zimbabwe’s chaotic economic world, especially the madness in the financial and currency market. As RBZ Governor, Dr. John Mangudya, readily admitted when he launched the policy statement. “This is essential in order to bring sanity in the foreign currency market whilst at the same time promoting exports, diaspora remittances and investments for the good of our national economy,” he said.

Sadly, instead of bringing sanity and stability he has only succeeded in mudding the muddy waters. After going through the statement it is clear that no one in RBZ and Ministry of Finance; headed by the flamboyant and blundering Professor Mthuli Ncube, who approved the statement; know what they are doing. 

The statement confirms that insanity still rules supreme in Zimbabwe because nothing in the statement makes any sense. Nothing!

“Denominating the existing RTGS balances, bond notes, and coins in circulation as RTGS dollars in order to establish an exchange rate between the current monetary balances and foreign currency. The RTGS dollars thus become part of the multi-currency system in Zimbabwe. The legal instrument to give effect to this has been prepared,” said the statement. 

It should be noted here that RTGS balances were, until now, denominated Bond Notes, the electronic equivalent of Bond Notes and coins. The value of the RTGS was less than the Bond Notes and Coins for various reasons including convenience and electronic transactions were subject to the new 2% tax introduced last October by Minister Ncube. Whilst the exchange rate to Bond Notes and coins was 3:1 to the USD the equivalent RTGS exchange rate was 4:1 or worse. 

So in denominating all Bond Notes balances and cash to RTGS$ means people have just lost out, instead of having Bond Note worth US$0.33 they now have RTGS$ worth US$0.25!  

“The RTGS dollars shall be used by all entities (including government) and individuals in Zimbabwe for the purposes of pricing of goods and services, record debts, accounting and settlement of domestic transactions,” we are now told.

When Governor Mangudya was asked what is the exchange rate for the RTGS$ against the USD; his reply was that the RBZ will not set a rate but would let the market decide. 

It should be remembered here that until this statement the government had recognised only the official exchange rate of 1:1 of Bond Note to USD. 

So by acknowledging the unofficial exchange rate of 4:1 those with the economic muscle will impose the exchange rate that suits them. Employers, including government, will never adjust the workers’ wages, agreed at on the basis of 1:1 exchange rate. Meanwhile, all the goods and services will be charging in RTGS$ using the highest exchange rate possible!

Last time, October last year, when Finance Minister suggested the government would let the Bond Note float this had caused serious financial turmoil as people rushed to sell their Bond Notes for the more stable USD; the exchange rate soared to as much as 10:1 and only started to come down when the Minister withdraw his foolish statement! 

It is hardly six months since Minister Ncube’s ill-advised exchange rate comment and yet the government has once again put its foot into it! The government has just fired the starting gun of the rat race to buy USD with RTGS$. The value of the latter will fall. 

If the government tries to impose price control by insisting on a stable RTGS$ price whilst allowing the market to determine the later’s value this will only result in shortages. Zimbabweans have been queuing for cash, fuel, bread, etc. the queues are only going to get longer and the list of commodities in short supply will increase. 

“The Bank has arranged sufficient lines of credit to enable it to maintain adequate foreign currency to underpin the exchange market. This is essential to restore the purchasing power of RTGS balances through safeguarding price stability emanating from the pass-through effects of exchange rate movements,” said Governor Mangudya. 

Zimbabwe’s chronic shortage of foreign currency is a child of the country’s skewed balance of payment. We are importing far more than we can pay for through our export earnings. We need to revive the country production to reduce the volume of imports, we are now net importers of food a far cry from our breadbasket of the region days. Creating lines of credit, dictating what people should spend their hard-earned incomes on, etc. are not going to end the country’s foreign currency shortages and all the other economic problems. 

It is laughable that Dr. Mangudya should be admitting to the need to “bring sanity to the foreign currency market” when he knows that it was the RBZ and Ministry of Finance’s ill-advised policies that brought the insanity in the first place. By the same token, he and Minister Ncube know the recent statement will do nothing to end the chaos and insanity in the Zimbabwe economy. 

The two gentlemen know the madness in Zimbabwe, 

the economy will not end until something is done to end the 

rampant corruption and to restore investor confidence in 

Zimbabwe as a stable country and not a pariah state ruled 

by vote rigging thugs. There can be no economic recovery, much less prosperity, whilst the country remains a corrupt and lawless nation. There can never be sanity whilst the insane continue to rule!

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

"Zanu-PF legitimacy is NOT on dialogue agenda"

"It is an obligation upon every political player in the country to recognise the pronouncement by the Constitutional Court. So the issue of the election of the President is not on the table and will not be on the table because a decision has been made by the highest courts on that particular issue. We are not entertaining any discussion on that," said Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs.

"We are saying we have a Government in place led by President Mnangagwa, but there are areas which require improvement from a social, political and economic perspective, let us discuss those issues with full recognition that there is a President who was elected by the people of Zimbabwe that is the context under which we are discussing. We are not discussing the legitimacy or otherwise of the election of the President. It is not an item on the agenda."

Mangwana and Zanu Pf can say whatever they like, the reality is that no one with a working brain including the many election observers and, most important of all, the investors and lenders condemned last July’s elections as a farce. Zimbabwe is therefore, being ruled by a regime that has no democratic mandate to govern the country, making the country a pariah state no one would want to do business with.

The root cause of the countrys' worsen economic meltdown is the failure of Mnangagwa’s clarion call, “Zimbabwe is open for business!”, to attract investors.

Zanu PF has always rigged the elections and presented the nation and the world with a fait accompli of a Zanu PF government. The party has got away with it in the past. For 38 years Zimbabwe has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent regime with the disastrous consequences of economic meltdown and political paralysis. The all-powerful and tyrannical Zanu PF party is surrounded by an enfeebled opposition parties, making Zanu PF the only game in town.

Still the country’s economic situation, with 75% of the people now living of US$30 per month in a country with poverty datum line is US$650, with basic services such as supply of clean water and health care all but collapsed, etc.; it is clear something must be done a.s.a.p. to revive the economy.

On the political front, it is clear that if Zanu PF remains in power until 2023, the party will rig those elections too to extend its rule.

As long as Zanu PF remains in power there is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery because under Zanu PF rule the country is and will remain a pariah state. Zanu PF must be forced to step down, the sooner the better to create the political space for the appointment of an interim administration to implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections.

The basis for demanding that Zanu PF step down is that the party does not have the mandate to govern the country since it rigged last July’s elections. Zanu PF cannot pre-empty the demand for it to step down by taking the rigged election off the agenda; it is the only issue on the agenda worth the candle.

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka

EU to look into Zimbabwe sanctions

All those who love peace and justice and understand the need to end the long suffering of the people of Zimbabwe after 38 years and counting of this Zanu PF dictatorship will hearty welcomes EU Parliament recent resolutions designed to the Zanu PF dictatorship. 

After 38 years of blatant human rights violations and tyrannical rule; it is now clear that the modus operandi of this Zanu PF regime is to do whatever it deems necessary, regardless of the law and even the sanctity of human life, to secure power. Present the nation and the world at large with a fait accompli of a Zanu PF government and only then make whatever promises and concession as long as they do not compromise the party’s hold on power. 

When President Mnangagwa seized power from Robert Mugabe in the November 2017 military coup he and his fellow coup plotters were aware the national community would not welcome this blatant act of banditry, ever against a despised tyrant and a dictator. Those in the know dismissed the coup plotter’s claim that this was a democratic transformation since the plotters were themselves Mugabe’s henchmen who had used brute force to establish and retain the de facto one-party, Zanu PF, dictatorship all the last 37 years. 

Mnangagwa had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections in the wake of the military coup to take the sting out of the condemnation of his regime as illegitimate. It should be noted that never implemented not even one meaningful democratic reform necessary for free and fair elections. 

“Whereas the final report of the EU EOM states that the figures presented by the ZEC contained many anomalies and inaccuracies and raised enough questions to lead to doubts
as to the accuracy and reliability of the numbers presented,” EU Parliament rightfully stated in its resolution. 

The vote rigging was so blatant the regime has failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters roll. There can be no doubt that Zanu PF rigged last July’s elections and real danger here is to fall into the party’s trap of accepting it as the de facto government regardless of it having no democratic mandate. 

Mnangagwa and his regime are illegitimate and no one, inside Zimbabwe or outside, should make the mistake of recognising the regime as legitimate. No one!

This Zanu PF regime must be pressure to step down for four reasons:

• Zimbabwe is facing serious economic meltdown that has resulted in tragic human suffering and deaths and there is no hope of any meaningful economic recovery as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. Another year of this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF rule is unthinkable much less four years to 2023, when the next elections are due. 
• If this Zanu PF regime remains in power till 2023, be it as the ruling party or partner in a new GNU, the party will see to it that no meaningful reforms are implemented regardless of all the promises the party makes. We can be certain of one thing then, Zanu PF will rig the 2023 elections and once again present the nation with a fait accompli Zanu PF government. We have seen Zanu PF do this, again and again, these last 38 years; for the country to move forward we need to break this vicious cycle of Zanu PF rigging elections, use brute violence to cow the nation into subservient submission, promise reform to gain legitimacy and remain in office only to rig the next elections.
• Zanu PF must be pressure to step down because it rig the elections and is therefore illegitimate. The party has rigged so many elections in the past and got away with it the party leaders now assume they have a right to rig elections. We should not call for free, fair and credible elections and then fail to punish those who rig elections!
• Zanu PF must step down to create the political space and time for the appointing of an interim administration tasked to implemented the democratic reforms necessary to dismantle the Zanu PF autocracy and replace it with a healthy and functional democratic system of government.

The call to bring back the sanctions against Zanu PF leaders is a welcome move. “Calls on the European Council to review its restrictive measures against individuals and entities in Zimbabwe, including those measures currently suspended, in the light of accountability for recent state violence,” said the EU parliament.” 

It is important that the sanctions are imposed as soon as possible, the political situation is Zimbabwe is dire and time is costing tragic human suffering and lives! 

The sanctions should be hard-hitting. Zanu PF leaders family, friends and supporters continued to enjoy their extravagant lifestyles under the last sanctions, this must stop. 

There are opposition politicians too who have continue to participate in Zimbabwe’s flawed and illegal elections in total disregard of the warning that doing so only gave the process some modicum of credibility. In the past some of these opposition politicians have called for sanctions but only to help Zanu PF rig the elections by contesting the flawed elections. All those playing any part in perpetuating the curse of rigged elections must be included in the new sanctions regime.

By Jeff Kurai Chakanyuka