Just declare Zimbabwe a one party state to save Zimbabweans from Zanu-PF violence

ZANU PF is a party which cannot countenance competition for political office. It is the belief of the party leadership that Zimbabwe is a private property that the party wrested from the whites through war, so nobody but ZANU PF has a right to rule Zimbabwe.

That is why ZANU PF always relies on the tried and tested strategy of unleashing violence on the electorate to retain power. To ZANU PF elections are nuisance that the party has to put up with to satisfy the demands of the international community.  ZANU PF has always thrived on violence and the use of violence has over the years never failed them. The party has also perfected the art of saying something and doing the very opposite in an attempt to fool the world.

This is the same party that way back in the seventies massacred ZIPRA forces at Mgagao camp in Tanzania, buried them and then proceeded to play soccer on the ground under which were buried the bodies of the ZIPRA cadres in order to conceal the crime from the Tanzanians. ZANU PF is also a master of propaganda. Having blatantly stolen farm produce and moveable property like cattle, vehicles and other farming implements during the land reform programme, ZANU PF has successfully dignified this otherwise contemptible theft by brilliantly deploying propaganda to convince the world that the blatant theft is justified as it is part of righting a colonial injustice. In fact a large part of the well-meaning progressive world,(including South Africa's ANC, which should know better), has been taken in by the ZANU PF propaganda that the party is an African knight in shining armour battling imperialists who are bent on recolonising Zimbabwe. But how can a genuine liberation party, which claims to care for its people massacre the selfsame people it claims to protect for simply holding opinions different from the party leadership's?

In the early 80s ZANU PF created phoney dissidents to add to the number of dissidents in Matabeleland and used that as an excuse to  massacre 20 000 Ndebele civilians for supporting  Nkomo, while hoodwinking the world into believing that the party was in fact only killing dissidents. So effective was the ZANU PF propaganda that in the 80s to be Ndebele was to be ZAPU and therefore a dissident and to be a Shona was to be a dissident hater (read Ndebele hater). ZANU PF today claims that it brought democracy to Zimbabwe, yet Zimbabweans have never known true democracy as any attempts to vote against ZANU PF have been violently suppressed by the party. Patrick Kombayi was maimed for merely trying to exercise his democratic right to offer himself for election against ZANU PF's Simon Muzenda, 20 000 Ndebeles were killed for daring to vote ZAPU and many Zimbabweans have been killed for daring to vote MDC.

So ZANU PF brought a strange species of democracy to Zimbabwe where Zimbabweans effectively only have two choices on the ballot paper: ZANU PF and Death (which is what voting for any opposition party entails for Zimbabweans). This is pseudo-democracy not real democracy! What kind of a liberation party is this that kills its own people?  ZANU PF leaders including the president have declared that the country can't be wrested from ZANU PF by a mere stroke of the pen in the ballot box when it supposedly took force of arms to wrest the country from the whites. For good measure the Police Commissioner General Chihuri also reiterated that the country cannot be taken away from its" owners" ZANU PF through a pen which costs a mere five cents. The First Lady weighed in declaring that even if Baba loses an election he won't give up power to anybody who is not ZANU PF. So ZANU PF's democracy is one where while everybody is going to the polling station to vote, they (ZANU PF), are bringing arms of war to the voting booths, to kill anybody who wants to be so irresponsible and treacherous as to vote for anybody who is not ZXANU PF. And this is no idle talk, 20 000 Ndebeles lost their lives for voting the wrong way and over the years, people who dare to vote against ZANU PF have been exposed to mortal danger with many killed at every election.  It takes amadoda sibili, (real men of courage) to vote against, let alone stand in an election or campaign against ZANU PF. So why should Zimbabweans endanger their lives by participating in sham elections? To save Zimbabweans from being maimed, harassed and killed, Zimbabwe should just be declared a one party state and Mugabe life President so that there are no elections where people will be in trouble if they dare try to elect a leadership other than that of Mugabe and ZANU PF. That way Zimbabweans and the world at large will be under no illusions about the brand of democracy that Zimbabweans "enjoy", thanks to ZANU PF. To most Zimbabweans, democracy remains a dream deferred, 32 years after independence. Nhai Nehanda nyakasikana, kokuchazova riniko isu vanyayi tichitambudzikza? Taiti zvatabvisa vana baas vegandajena tazvibva, tisingazivi kuti mashefu eganda dema sesu vachationesawo pfumvu.

ZANU PF does not brag in song that "ZANU ndeyeropa" for nothing. Their slogan says it all, "pasi na nhingi" charitably interpreted to mean may harm befall the person so mentioned in the pasi slogan or at worst an exhortation to ZANU PF supporters to harm the named person. ZANU PF is a party that mobilises support on the basis of fear, coercion and violence, and no less a figure than the party's spokesman Rugare Gumbo admits that so fearful are politburo members to challenge Mugabe that one has to be made of sterner stuff to even bring up for discussion in the politburo, Mugabe's leadership of the party.

So people should understand that ZANU PF will never abandon violence, because it has served them well in the past. ZANU PF is the major beneficiary of violence in the current government as they hold the presidency thanks to violence. The current attempts at fooling the world into believing that ZANU PF has suddenly had a road to Damascus experience in relation to violence should not fool anyone.  It has not, ZANU PF remains the same old wily fox. ZANU PF are masters of the politics of deception. All this noise about condemning violence is a carefully choreographed exercise in deception by ZANU PF, designed to pull wool over the eyes of the world. ZANU PF is just going through the motions. They are not about to let go of the only weapon left to them whose efficacy has been proved over the years. ZANU PF will not let go of the levers of government that give them access to untold wealth like the diamonds that generate 2 billion dollars a year, a big chunk of which goes into the private pockets of politicians in a country where there is no censure against corruption and as long as you are politically connected the supposedly long arm of the law will never catch up with you, no matter how brazenly corrupt you are

ZANU PF's strategy_ crafted at the highest level_ is to preach nonviolence while practicing violence in the belief that the world will be fooled as it has always been over the years. That is why you hear ZANU PF politicians publicly denouncing violence, when their fingerprints are all over the acts of violence in the country. So convinced are ZANU PF of the efficacy of violence especially after it landed them the presidency in 2008 that they think they can wrest some urban seats from the MDC by employing violence. Remember how they prevented Tsvangirayi from holding a rally at the show grounds open space in the run up to the 2008 presidential run-off?

Zimbabweans are so scared of ZANU PF that running against ZANU PF is considered a death wish among family and friends. Fearing for their lives, Zimbabweans have to buy Zimbabwe flags lest they be beaten by ZANU PF thugs for not being patriotic enough, musicians have to sing praises of the party leadership or their songs will not get air play on national radio and businesses have to donate to the party or harm will befall their businesses.

However, in the wake of events that happened in Libya where the international community invoked the principle of protecting civilians to intervene in Libya, ZANU realises that their planned violence in next year's election may so outrage the international community that it may be forced to intervene to protect civilians from ZANU PF violence. ZANU PF also realises that propaganda may have its limits and that the world may be finally seeing through their deception as evidenced by the Livingstone disaster, where the SADC organ on politics and defence saw through the ZANU PF lies and rightly condemned the party. To counter the possibility that the international community, (SADC included), may be so appalled by their violence as to refuse to buy their propaganda, they have started on a diplomatic offensive, to persuade China and Russia to use their veto should Western powers try to use the Security Council to act against them, which they say are attempts to "remove democratically elected governments" as happened in Libya and Ivory Coast. To counter this ZANU PF strategy, Tsvangirayi should take his diplomatic offensive to Russia and China and expose the ZANU PF lies, instead of perpetually preaching to the converted by lobbying the West. If ZANU PF fails to persuade China and Russia to block the West's moves to intervene in Zimbabwe using the principle to protect civilians, ZANU PF is prepared to go to war and they warn that they are prepared to use the sizeable white community in Zimbabwe and members of the opposition as human shields.

ZANU PF has a long history of using propaganda to gloss over its violent character. In the run up to the 1980 elections, ZANU PF outwitted Governor Lord Soames as it effectively created no-go areas in rural areas for other parties using violence to intimidate voters and bar other parties from canvassing for votes and then deploying propaganda to silence critics. Remember the -"don't be clever by half"- jibe directed at Lord Soames during the 1980 election campaigns?

In the early years of independence, Zimbabweans were mesmerised by the ZANU PF leadership's impressive command of the English language, but twenty years later, they realised that mavhoko chete,  hapana zviripo makumbo enyoka, (they are just verbose speakers whose speeches are full of sound and fury signifying nothing in terms of improving their standard of living). After independence, Zimbabweans were  alarmed to see the ZANU PF politburo and other structures of the party packed with  VanaMuchekadzafa (cowardly opportunists) who were nowhere near the liberation struggle in spirit or in person, Madzakudzaku, Mapuruvheya (sell outs) but who  were incorporated in the higher echelons of the party  only for  declaring undying loyalty to Mugabe, "VaMugabe chete chete". That is why in exasperation, Zimbabweans have decided to throw in their lot, -- for better or for worse--, with the much-maligned MDC, fed up with years of ZANU PF deception, thuggery and arrogance.  Clearly, Zimbabweans are a people betrayed by their liberation party.  That is why after more than 3 decades of deceit and endemic violence against them by ZANU PF Zimbabweans would rather vote for "a semi-literate serial bed-hopper" "(according to ZANU PF), ahead of a multi-degreed well-spoken consummate gentleman __ just to rid themselves of the ZANU PF violence and the attendant politics of deception.

Zimbabweans may have been prepared to forego the civil  liberties that come with liberal democracy in exchange  for economic prosperity and an honest government where corruption is not condoned, like happens in China. But Zimbabweans found themselves saddled with a government where corruption by the powerful goes unpunished, government policy is motivated by a desire for self-aggrandisement of the leaders, and ordinary people are killed and brutalised for pointing out the ills of the leadership. ZANU PF claims to follow the Chinese model of development, yet clearly showing no desire to emulate China's draconian attitude towards corruption. Where public officials accused of corruption are sent to the gallows in China, in Zimbabwe they are promoted to the politburo.

And now ZANU PF, would have the world believe that they are duty-bound to cling to power to ward off imperialists, who are at the gates, ready to recolonise Zimbabwe. How deceitful can people get! __ even by the ignoble standards of African politics. This claim of fighting imperialism by ZANU PF is a transparent ploy by VanaChidaushe (the most power hungry of God's creatures), in ZANU PF to cloak their contemptible insatiable appetite for power in respectable robes. One of the tragedies in Zimbabwean politics is the elevation of liberation era politicians to the status of demigods who regard Zimbabwe as a personal fiefdom they acquired through conquest. On the back of this personalisation of the state, the country is run through personal whims and caprices where if the owners of the country pick an otherwise personal ego fight with Tony Blair (or anybody for that matter), a lot of national resources have to be expended towards the fight to assuage the country's owners' bruised egos. As a result in Zimbabwe nobody is allowed to think on matters of national interests, except the owners of the country who know what is best for their country and its people. Everybody else has to amplify the views of the owners of the country like choir boys. Should Zimbabweans suffer because of a Maningindaba leadership (self-important know-it-alls) seeking self-immortalisation as the only ones with the guts to take on the powerful West?Because of this personalisation of the country, Zimbabwe is the only country in the world where a national anthem had to be changed because the country's leadership felt they would be eclipsed by South Africa if the country retained Nkosi Sikelela Africa as its anthem, just like South Africa.

At the root of Zimbabwe's problems is a leadership which feeling snubbed by the British, decided in anger to behave like a bull in a British china shop_ smashing anything British in Zimbabwe especially  the land belonging to the British kith and kin_ all in an effort to get the attention of the British. A leadership that is obsessed with being worshipped, a leadership prepared to kill or destroy a nation's livelihood all in an effort to be treated like demi-gods. If you worship the ZANU PF leadership whether you are brazenly corrupt or a known murderer you will be rewarded with high posts in government instead of being punished. Tony Blair refused to treat the ZANU PF leadership like the demi-gods they think they are, preferring to treat them like the mortals they really are. This triggered unending tantrums characterised by the vilification of the person of Blair and anything remotely British or white. Zimbabwe's curse is a leadership obsessed with flexing it's none- existent muscles on the international relations front by provoking unnecessary diplomatic wars with world powers that a poor developing country is ill-equipped to fight. The root of Zimbabwe's problems is a leadership with an oversized ego, which wants to provoke fights with world powers it is ill-equipped to fight. A leadership which puts its personal egos ahead of national interests. A leadership which has no qualms with destroying the country to avenge their egos if they feel personally slighted by the British or anybody for that matter. Zimbabwe's curse is having the evil genius as part of its leadership.