Mnangagwa's illegitimacy must be resolved - no economic recovery until we do

Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past and got away with it. This time things are different the issue of rigged elections is not going away and the party is at a loss what to do.

"Everybody who is in Zimbabwe has an obligation to recognise the President who was duly-elected in terms of the Constitution and the Constitutional Court made a pronouncement that President Mnangagwa was duly-elected," said Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF secretary for Legal Affairs.

"It is an obligation upon every political player in the country to recognise that pronouncement by the Constitutional Court. The issue of the election of the President is not on the table and will not be on the table because the decision has been made by the highest court on that issue. We are not entertaining any discussion on that."

There two main reasons why seven months since the elections the issue of Mnangagwa's legitimacy is still a big issue:

1.    The November 2017 coup that ousted Robert Mugabe and Mnangagwa's own promise to hold free, fair and credible elections raised the nation and the outside world's expectation that the elections would be free, fair and credible. Mnangagwa had the audacity to invite EU, the Americans, the Commonwealth and many other nations and organisations with credible democratic credentials to observe the Zimbabwe elections. These observers have all condemned the election process as flawed, illegal and not to accepted international standards. The country failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll, a legal requirement, for Pete's sake.

The Constitutional Court's failure to pick all the glaring flaws and illegalities in the election process only served to confirm the court is corrupt and incompetent, just as the contact of the elections has shown that ZEC is corrupt and incompetent. The world remembered that same judiciary had ruled that the November 2017 military coup was "legal, justified and constitutional" to clear the way for Mnangagwa's take over.

So the world was disappointed that Zanu PF had once again failed to hold free and fair elections confirming that Mugabe may have gone but the corrupt and ruthless dictatorship was still here or be it under new management.

2.    It should be remember that when Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe in 2017 the Zimbabwe economy was already in serious trouble with unemployment already 90%, basic services such as supply of clean water and health can all but collapsed, etc. Mnangagwa was praised for being pragmatic and identifying the need for the country to end its international isolation with his trademark "Zimbabwe is open for business!" clarion call.

The international isolation was born out of Zimbabwe being a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs. So by failing to hold free, fair and credible elections, ending corruption, etc., as stated above, Mnangagwa failed to lift the pariah state curse and thus attract the much needed investment to revive the economy.

Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has got a lot worse than it was under Mugabe. The country is experiencing shortages of foreign currency because of its failure to revive its agricultural and industrial production and over dependence on imports. The shortage of foreign currency has spilt over into shortage of fuel, wheat, medicine, etc.

There is no doubt that it is the worsening economic situation that has Mnangagwa and his regime's competence constant under the spot light. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance are exploiting Zanu PF's economic discomfort by claiming to be the ones behind the worsening economic situation and to have the key to unlock economic recovery. All nonsense, of course.

The key to unlock Zimbabwe's economic recovery is ending the curse of rigged elections and pariah state! There will never be any meaningful economic recovery in Zimbabwe as long as the country remains a pariah state.

"We are saying, we have a Government in place, led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa there are areas which require improvement from a socio-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," argued the Mangwana.

Which part of "There will never be an meaningful economic recovery in Zimbabwe as long as the country remains a pariah state!" are you failing to understand. Well, you will understand because until you do, the economic situation is set to get worse.

Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by a corrupt and vote rigging Zanu Pf regime. Mnangagwa is illegitimate, he cannot even produce a verified voters' roll of those who voted for him because there is no such roll! We cannot sweep this political reality that Zimbabwe is a pariah state under the carpet.

Of course, Mnangagwa and the rest of the Zanu PF leaders know they rigged last July's elections and they are using brute force to subjugate and force the nation to accept the party as the government. The worsening economic situation demands meaningful regime change for meaningful economic recovery.

The only way out of this economic mess is for Zanu PF to step down to allow for the appointment of an interim administration that will implement the democratic reforms and holding of free and fair elections.