'SA has no role to play, it is controlled by white men,' says Chinamasa - fighting dirty, as usual

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies know the pressure on them to end the Zimbabwe crisis is mounting and will not go away until there is change. They know their iron grip on power is under serious threat and they are coming out with all guns blazing. Be warned, they fight dirty!

"Mbeki did not impose himself on us, we requested him in order to defend the gains of our liberation which were being threatened by the British who were threatening military invasion of Zimbabwe. The British and Western governments will never agree or forgive for taking the land and giving it to our people," said Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF acting spokesperson.

"We are the first country to do what we are doing, which is what we pointed to the ANC delegation, we have taken our land, you need us if you have to empower your people, we need each other. They have to empower their people; in the same way we have empowered our people. It's a revolutionary obligation for the revolutionary parties to fulfil the gains of our liberation struggle, whether it is here, in South Africa, Namibia or Mozambique."

The land issue is unfinished business in Zimbabwe. The land was supposed to be given to the landless peasants and not the Zanu PF ruling elite and their cronies. Worse still, the ruling elite have failed to put it into productive use.

Before the chaotic and often violent farm seizures, which started in 2000, Zimbabwe produced enough food to feed her own people with plenty left over to sell. Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of the region. By 2008 most white farmers had been forced off the land and the country's agricultural sector had completely collapsed and with it the national economy.

For the last 15 years, Zimbabwe has relied on imported food aid; the country was so poor, we could not even pay for it!

Zimbabwe is, for all intent and purpose, the Biblical Garden of Eden and we are starving in it. A damning indictment of Zimbabwe's failure to govern herself under this Zanu PF regime.

What is Chinamasa wittering about; Zanu PF has "empowered our people"? Unemployment has soared to 90% and 34% of our people were living in abject poverty according to 2019 WB report. The corona virus outbreak has made the situation a lot worse.

If Zanu PF had done such a sterling job of economically empowering the nation then why are 3 million Zimbabweans doing in SA alone!

"We are an independent sovereign country. We agreed in our meeting that we are equal sovereign States. South Africa has no mediatory role to play in Zimbabwe. We know that the South African government is controlled by white men."

This is Zanu PF playing the race card to draw attention away the country's worsening economic and political crisis just as the party did on the land issue.

Of course, ordinary Zimbabweans have never had any meaningful say on the land issue like all the other burning national issues and hence the economic meltdown because Zanu PF denied them a democratic vote. Zimbabwe has never ever held free, fair and credible elections. Never ever!

The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis is the country's failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The solution is self-evident - implement the democratic reforms designed to stop rigged elections.

The 2008 to 2013 GNU was supposed to implement the democratic reforms but failed to do so because Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, who were tasked to do this, sold out.

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies are fearful that this time they will be put under increasing pressure to get the reforms finally implemented. Offence is the only defence Zanu PF knows and accusing President Ramaphosa of being "controlled by white men" is provocative, racist and dirty!