Opinion / Columnist
After 34 years Zanu PF admits to some 'bad apples' we will not wait for the party to condemn the barrel!
02 Dec 2014 at 17:25hrs | Views
Zanu PF says the on-going purge of leaders like VP Mujuru and Rugare Gumbo was long over and is good for the party and country.
In an official statement the party's deputy director of information, Psychology Maziwisa said that "a lot of ZANU PF's and Government's precious time was now being wasted on unproductive plots. The purging is therefore not just in the party's best interest; it is in the nation's best interest as well".
Maziwisa said historians will look back on the ZANU PF 6th National People's Congress as "Zimbabwe's turning point". He added: "Only unreasonable people would see the removal of bad apples as something that could spell catastrophic consequences for the party. Quite the opposite, ZANU PF will come out more united and better able to tackle the economic challenges".
There is no doubt that there was a lot of deadwood in Zanu PF; it goes without say, how else otherwise can one explain the depth of depravity the country has sunk in so short in time since independence.
The country has seen life expectancy; the qualitative and quantitative measure of the people's standard of living and nation's economic progression or otherwise; drop from 68 years in 1980 to 34 years in 2008. It would have dropped even lower were it not for donors who have provided a safety net.
Donors have stepped to feed millions facing starvation almost every year now since the regime's violent seizure of white owned farms to give to party loyalists, the move turned Zimbabwe from a net exporter of food to a food aid dependent country because the party cronies failed to maintain the productivity. Donors stepped in to contain the cholera outbreak a few years ago, it killed 4 000 but could have been a lot worse given every city and town has no clean running water.
The nation has no clean running water because there is no money to replace the broken equipment, to buy chemicals to treat the water, etc. and yet the nation has money to splash on a $1 million birthday party for the president, $ 5 million on his daughter's wedding, etc.!
A drop of 34 years life expectancy in three decades when the nation was not at war or has suffered any major natural disaster but all due to gross mismanagement and rampant corruption must be a world record! So the admission by the deputy minister that there are some "unproductive" individuals in the regime that has dragged the nation into this hell is as superfluous as a devil's imp admitting there are sinners in hell!
Most Zimbabweans have known that there is deadwood in Zanu PF for the last fifteen years at the very least. In a healthy and democratic nation where ordinary people have a meaningful say in the governance of the country the voters would have forced the party to dump the deadwood or else they would have dumped the party. Nothing has happened all these years, forcing the nation to sink deeper and deeper into this hell, because Zanu PF was and still is not democratically accountable to the people.
Yes deputy minister Masiwisa the nation is grateful that Zanu PF has finally admitted that the party has some deadwood but the nation has moved on. What the nation wants to know is: why has it taken 34 years, a ruined economy, over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans murdered in cold-blood for selfish political gain, etc. for Zanu PF to finally admit there was a problem in the party?
The question has opens the floodgate of other questions and lines of inquiry which all lead, like veins, back to the heart of the nation's problem – the lack of democratic accountability. The nation did not need to wait for 34 years, have the national economy in ruins, etc. to address the problem of incompetent leaders if the people, the voters, had not been denied their basic democratic right to a free, fair and credible vote.
Zanu PF is telling us that with the on-going purge the party is getting rid of the "bad apples"; is this not what is wrong here? We have been saying there are bad apples all these years, a view the party has stubbornly denied until now. Whilst we agree that the purge has removed some of the bad apples we believed there are nonetheless still many more bad apples still left in the Zanu PF barrel. Indeed many will go so far as to say the whole Zanu PF barrel has nothing but rotten apples.
This time the nation is not going to wait another 34 years for Zanu PF to have another purge!
Zanu PF's purge is important for the party but what is really important for the nation is that the right of the people to purge those in power timeously and not have to wait 34 years is the real key to ensure this does not happen again. We need that key and now!
It is all very well for the deputy minister to say "ZANU PF will come out more united and better able to tackle the economic challenges". It must be the people of Zimbabwe in fresh free, fair and credible who will decide whether Zanu PF or someone is to rule this nation from now going forward.
Last year's elections were not free, fair and credible; there is no need to go over this ground again, but it will suffice to say there will be no economic recovery until there are free, fair and credible elections.
zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
In an official statement the party's deputy director of information, Psychology Maziwisa said that "a lot of ZANU PF's and Government's precious time was now being wasted on unproductive plots. The purging is therefore not just in the party's best interest; it is in the nation's best interest as well".
Maziwisa said historians will look back on the ZANU PF 6th National People's Congress as "Zimbabwe's turning point". He added: "Only unreasonable people would see the removal of bad apples as something that could spell catastrophic consequences for the party. Quite the opposite, ZANU PF will come out more united and better able to tackle the economic challenges".
There is no doubt that there was a lot of deadwood in Zanu PF; it goes without say, how else otherwise can one explain the depth of depravity the country has sunk in so short in time since independence.
The country has seen life expectancy; the qualitative and quantitative measure of the people's standard of living and nation's economic progression or otherwise; drop from 68 years in 1980 to 34 years in 2008. It would have dropped even lower were it not for donors who have provided a safety net.
Donors have stepped to feed millions facing starvation almost every year now since the regime's violent seizure of white owned farms to give to party loyalists, the move turned Zimbabwe from a net exporter of food to a food aid dependent country because the party cronies failed to maintain the productivity. Donors stepped in to contain the cholera outbreak a few years ago, it killed 4 000 but could have been a lot worse given every city and town has no clean running water.
The nation has no clean running water because there is no money to replace the broken equipment, to buy chemicals to treat the water, etc. and yet the nation has money to splash on a $1 million birthday party for the president, $ 5 million on his daughter's wedding, etc.!
A drop of 34 years life expectancy in three decades when the nation was not at war or has suffered any major natural disaster but all due to gross mismanagement and rampant corruption must be a world record! So the admission by the deputy minister that there are some "unproductive" individuals in the regime that has dragged the nation into this hell is as superfluous as a devil's imp admitting there are sinners in hell!
Yes deputy minister Masiwisa the nation is grateful that Zanu PF has finally admitted that the party has some deadwood but the nation has moved on. What the nation wants to know is: why has it taken 34 years, a ruined economy, over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans murdered in cold-blood for selfish political gain, etc. for Zanu PF to finally admit there was a problem in the party?
The question has opens the floodgate of other questions and lines of inquiry which all lead, like veins, back to the heart of the nation's problem – the lack of democratic accountability. The nation did not need to wait for 34 years, have the national economy in ruins, etc. to address the problem of incompetent leaders if the people, the voters, had not been denied their basic democratic right to a free, fair and credible vote.
Zanu PF is telling us that with the on-going purge the party is getting rid of the "bad apples"; is this not what is wrong here? We have been saying there are bad apples all these years, a view the party has stubbornly denied until now. Whilst we agree that the purge has removed some of the bad apples we believed there are nonetheless still many more bad apples still left in the Zanu PF barrel. Indeed many will go so far as to say the whole Zanu PF barrel has nothing but rotten apples.
This time the nation is not going to wait another 34 years for Zanu PF to have another purge!
Zanu PF's purge is important for the party but what is really important for the nation is that the right of the people to purge those in power timeously and not have to wait 34 years is the real key to ensure this does not happen again. We need that key and now!
It is all very well for the deputy minister to say "ZANU PF will come out more united and better able to tackle the economic challenges". It must be the people of Zimbabwe in fresh free, fair and credible who will decide whether Zanu PF or someone is to rule this nation from now going forward.
Last year's elections were not free, fair and credible; there is no need to go over this ground again, but it will suffice to say there will be no economic recovery until there are free, fair and credible elections.
zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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