WHEREAS China has an open one-party State, Zimbabwe has a covert single party rule, with some opposition parties contesting in elections tightly controlled and monitored by the army, more often predetermined.
There can be no hope for change in Zimbabwe under the current skewed electoral setting. I have alluded to this many times before, elections continue to be held in Zimbabwe not to give the Zimbabweans a chance to choose desired leaders, but only to fool Zimbabweans and the international community at large that Zimbabwe is a democracy.
There is no possibility that any opposition can win the next election in 2023 as the hidden one-party State agenda of Zimbabwe is pushed along. Elections are just a formality.
An extremely scheming President Emmerson Mnangagwa (ED) has over the past few years made meticulous moves to consolidate power by appointing his loyalists to key positions of security, government ministries, local authorities and has made sure that his friends and family control the key hubs of wealth and resources of Zimbabwe.
ED now has full control of workings in Zimbabwe. I am not trying to discourage the opposition of Zimbabwe, but I am just pointing to the odds of winning the 2023 “election”. I am trying to make them see.
Look now how many stupid movements are coming up, Teachers for ED, Mahwindi for ED, Nurses for ED, Fools for ED, etc. The more latent one has long been crooks for ED. All because ED has managed to control all the centres of power and wealth in Zimbabwe.
Poor, needy and desperate people sell themselves to his wicked programmes. It boggles the mind to see some praise for Mnangagwa when all indicators of economic recovery are actually negative, very negative. Come 2023, we are all going to be left with no doubt as to the extent of Mnangagwa’s craftiness, ruthlessness and the real depth of his callousness.
Many people in Zimbabwe have already experienced his meanness particularly those who hail from the Midlands province, especially from his constituency where they rejected him as representative.
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But no people have borne the real brunt than the well-known, but much concealed victims of the genocide of Matabeleland — Gukurahundi — of the mid-1980s. That was at small scale then, but now that he controls all of Zimbabwe, we are going to witness much more.
So, people of Zimbabwe, we should be more careful as we tread towards 2023, as Mnangagwa is going to do literally anything and everything he can to remain in power.
Not that he wants to remain in power to improve the lives of Zimbabweans, but he is going to remain in power as a springboard to accumulating wealth for him and those very close to him.
Of course along the way, he can give the much-loved Toyota Land Cruisers to army commanders to marinate them, give some loans to the Members of Parliament to silence them, ignore corruption as an incentive to his corrupt officials and many other incentives he can dangle, including giving out simple T-shirts, but it is him who benefits the most ... immense wealth and power.
During his tenure in office, ED is going to continue amassing huge personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption. Mnangagwa is presiding over a period of the worst and widespread human rights violation in Zimbabwe.
The nation will continue to suffer from uncontrolled inflation, huge debt and untold suffering. Through manipulating and directing the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), Mnangagwa is home and dry.
But one funny thing about wealth, one cannot carry it with him to the grave. Mobutu Sese Seko did the same to his people amassing lots of wealth, billions of dollars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Eventually, he died leaving the billions of cash behind, and a lot of very poor Zairean people alongside that idle money.
While Sese Seko did die long back, the impact of his greedy and selfishness is far-reaching, and is still felt in terms of delayed economic development, resource plundering and underutilisation, many poor uneducated people, poor roads, dilapidated hospitals, it’s a lot. The money stolen by Sese Seko and stashed in offshore accounts should have been used for investment projects to benefit his people.
But Sese Seko saw his presidency as a perfect opportunity to make money for himself and his children. During his tenure, he and his family lived in opulence while many people lived below the poverty datum line. That’s a huge misallocation of resources.
We should also look at the real cost of ED’s wealth accumulation. The cost of the wealth accumulation translates to many people in Zimbabwe continuing to be marginalised, living and wallowing in abject poverty.
He is personalising all the wealth that belongs to Zimbabweans, a clear indication that other people don’t matter.
Well, many leaders choose the legacy they would want to leave behind and it looks like ED has already made his choice, fattening his own pocket.
Nation builders delight in seeing their people’s standard of life improving, national income grow and opportunities provided for the majority. But people filled with greed ignore all these.
With money in a few, greedy people’s hands, the economy will not function properly and will continue to deteriorate and eventually foment unrest.
Well since he has sole control of the army, he might even decide to shoot the whole nation like what happened on August 1, 2018. Well, he can use troops to thwart the need for change, but these antics cannot last long. Time will catch up with him.
That’s all the reason why the present government will never allow for a free fair election. It can’t forfeit the opportunity it has to freely loot the resources, while blaming sanctions for the economic malaise that results.
Immense effort has been made to destabilise the opposition ranging from infiltration, physical abuse, banning rallies and the ruling party has even shamefully tried and failed to change the leadership of the opposition by installing their accomplices. It’s the extent to which they go that is shocking, futile and pathetic.
Not that the opposition should stop fighting to bring the much-needed change. But if it is genuine in its efforts to lead the people, it should strive to ensure a level electoral field and demand that the electoral provisions in the Constitution be adhered to.
An opposition party should not contest in an election that it is sure it cannot win because of a skewed electoral process. That’s would be utter madness.
Participation in such sham election would only render the masquerades the legitimacy they do not deserve. As of now, I notice that the trajectory leading to the election of 2023 is pretty the same as that of 2018.
And Chief Justice Luke Malaba refused to go after his term expired just in case there may be contingencies. The voters roll continues to be tampered with and Zec continues its arrogance in resonance with the ruling party, with no independence nor transparency whatsoever and we still have restricted voter registration. I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
I am not sure the opposition think-tanks can also see from the same lens, notice these antics and counteract them.
If they do see and they are powerless to effect changes to how the electoral process is being handled, what makes the opposition hope it can win against all these odds carefully crafted into the election system.
Insanity is repeating the same sequence of events hoping they will yield different results. Since 2000, all the elections have been led and directed by the ruling party and not much has changed as to how the elections are run.
I foresee a repeat of 2018. The framework needs to be changed period. The opposition has the advantage to demand reforms as there is widespread disgruntlement in all echelons — business, general populace, junior army staff, police, secret service itself and the civil service.
Anger is already brewing and simmering. The only piece missing, that remains to bring to fruition is a skilled and determined leadership that can stand up and overcome the cunning machinations at play.
But as in the case with DRC, the cost and effects of letting the status quo are dire and catastrophic. But also, a single man, whatever his machinations and strength, should not be let to continue to rape the whole nation’s will.
David defeated Goliath despite the latter’s intimidating size. So if the election system continues to fail because it has built-in formulae to make it fail, the people of Zimbabwe should take it upon themselves to bring the desired change using any means necessary.
