'Mnangagwa is in a fix!' advised Magaisa - it's Zimbabwe in the fix, thanks to you

Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess and there are many reasons why we are in this mess. One of the reasons why we are in this mess is our propensity to make mountains out of a mole-hill.

"Mnangagwa is in a fix!" screamed the headlines in Bulawayo24 and The Standard. Eye catching until you read the article!

Coronavirus, the the grim riper, has claimed the lives of thousands of Zimbabwean lives, many more than the regime is letting on. The virus has hit hard the poor for who social distance, washing hands regularly, staying put, etc. are impossible because they live in crowded accommodation, have no running water, have go out any earn a living or starve, etc.

The ruling elite, their cronies and their families have largely escaped from the coronavirus; cocooned in the five star mansions with clean running water, the sanitisers and the PPE for the odd occasion they ever got out of their cocoon, food and everything. They greatest worry during the corner virus lockdown has been boredom and piling up the weight!

Still, a few of the ruling elite did catch the coronavirus, they have received five star medical attention and a tiny fraction of them have died. Amongst the ruling elite coronavirus dead are three Ministers. No doubt there will be many more Ministers, Deputy Ministers, etc. to follow, the grime riper's work has only just began; the coronavirus pandemic has the rest of 2021 to run in Zimbabwe, at the very least.

Mnangagwa must find the competent men and women from the elected MPs and Senators, he has already used up his allowed allocation of non-elected individuals, to appoint as Ministers and Deputy Ministers to replace those claimed by the coronavirus. And there lays Mnangagwa's "fix"!

"His (Mnangagwa) choices are extremely limited," argued Alex Magaisa, in the article.

"He has to appoint from the current pool of elected representatives. Alternatively, he will have to sack some of those non-MPs if he wants to appoint new outsiders.

Section 104 (3) of the 2013 Zimbabwe Constitution reads: "Ministers and deputy ministers are appointed from among Senators or Members of the National Assembly, but up to five, chosen for their professional skills and competence, may be appointed outside Parliament."

Mnangagwa already has already appointed the five non-constituency ministers namely: Higher Education minister Amon Murwira, Local Government minister July Moyo, Sports minister Kirsty Coventry, Lands minister Anxious Masuka and Finance minister Mthuli Ncube.

What Magaisa has missed here is that Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless thugs cheered along by their corrupt and egotistic acolytes.

There reason why there is no competent men and women in parliament and in the senate is because Zimbabwe's de facto one party dictatorship has stifled debate and democratic competition in both the ruling party and the opposition. Zimbabwe's political system is a swamp; you cannot expect to catch quality fish, only frogs, newts and eels!

Even those Ministers appointed for their "professional skills and competence" have accomplished nothing of substance because in a Banana Republic they are not allowed to do anything. They are appointed to give the regime a good name, they nothing but window dressing manikins.

Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, for example, has been taxing the street vendors to death and yet has done nothing to end the gross mismanagement and rampant corruptions, the cancers killing the nation's economy. Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF cronies are the Godfathers of mismanagement and corruption and they have ring-fenced their activities; Minister Ncube knows these are not to be touched, the untouchables.

So even if Mnangagwa was to disregard the constitution and appoint more than the five non-elected individuals as ministers this will not make any difference as to the quality of government in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe will still be a Banana Republic blundering from pillar to post, from one crisis to the next!

Indeed, if appointing non-elected technocrats ministers, etc. would get Zimbabwe out of the economic and political mess the country is stuck in for 40 years and counting; only a dogmatic academic like Alex Magaisa would complain!

In case some people have forgotten: Alex Magaisa was chief advisor to Morgan Tsvangirai, then MDC leaders and Prime Minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The primary task of MDC was to implement the raft of democratic reforms agreed the Global Political Agreement designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections.

MDC failed to implement even one token reform in five years. Not even one reform!

If MDC had implemented the reforms Zanu PF would have been stopped from rigging the elections and Zimbabwe would not be a Banana Republic.

It is not Mnangagwa who is in a fix it is Zimbabwe that is in a fix, stuck with a pariah state! Advising Mnangagwa he has already reached the limit of non-elected minister he can appoint is not going to end the Banana Republic.

"He has only two options," continued Magaisa. "The first one: he can only appoint from the current pool of elected MPs which means that his choices are very limited. But if he wants to bring in someone from outside Parliament, which opens the second option, that means he has to sack some of the current ministers who are not in Parliament. That will open up space so that he can appoint someone from outside Parliament. So that's the only two options that he has."

When the nation's destiny depended on Magaisa giving Tsvangirai sound advice, he let the nation down. And ever since, Magaisa cannot shut his mouth, dishing out nonsense! Whatever Mnangagwa does with his ministerial appointments it will not stop Zimbabwe being a Banana Republic ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs.