Opinion / Columnist
Sibanda wants to meet Mugabe to appease the tyrant - a fundamental MDC weakness
11 Sep 2015 at 13:39hrs | Views
Jabulani Sibanda revealed the fundamental flaw in his thinking which goes a long way to explain why we are in this political and economic mess.
"If he (Mugabe) calls me I will go and meet him, even if he calls Tsvangirai he will go and meet him or even Biti will go and meet him because what we want is to find best ways of reviving the economy not removing as he is told by the few fake war veterans who are surrounding him," said Sibanda.
We are in this political and economic mess because Mugabe has refused to accept that he is democratically accountable to Zanu-PF members and, even more significantly, to the people of Zimbabwe. It is not for him to decide how longer he will remain as leader but for the party members and the nation in a free and democratic vote.
So instead of telling Mugabe the nation demands free, fair and credible elections and an end to all his political shenanigans and vote rigging; Jabulani will meet his to appease him and tell him he can continue doing what he has been doing to accomplish his no regime change ethos as long as he allows the nation to revive the economy!
No doubt this is the reason Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not implement any of the democratic reforms throughout the GNU; they wanted to revive the economy without ever doing anything that would threaten to weaken in any way Mugabe's iron grip on power.
Tendai Biti, as Minister of Finance in the GNU, complained that government was not getting all the revenue it was entitled to from the diamond mining in Marange. He was even aware that the money from Marange was "funding a parallel government" in the form of the Joint Operation Command (JOC), this secretive Junta pooling the top brass from the Army, Police, CIO, Prison Services, a select few from government and Zanu-PF headed by Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
MDC did not pursue the matter further when it became clear JOC was the heart and brains of the Zanu-PF dictatorship, disband the Junta and Mugabe's iron grip on power will disappear overnight. So to appease Mugabe MDC turned a blind eye to all the looting and plunder in Marange and, worse still, to all the lawlessness and thuggery of JOC.
Gorden Moyo was MDC Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals in the GNU and he uncovered a lot of corruption and flagged this with his MDC leader Tsvangirai and Mugabe had the stories swept under the carpet. Dealing with the corrupt individuals would have weakened Mugabe's political patronage system and thus his grip on power because he allows the corruption as a reward for the individual's blind loyalty to him.
In the end MDC failed to revive the Zimbabwe economy, the country continue to lose jobs throughout the GNU years as the nation failed to restore confidence in the restoration on the rule of law and to end the rampant corruption. Of course the idea that the nation could have a thriving economy but still have an incompetent and corrupt government is an oxymoron!
President Mugabe is in State House to lead the nation in our search for freedom, justice, human rights and economic prosperity and not to gratify his insatiable appetite for absolute power and wealth. There is no doubt that he has failed dismally in his primary task.
A healthy and functioning democracy says the people hold the leaders to account and, in a free, fair and credible electoral process, the people will express their democratic wish whom they want to lead them. It is not for Jabulani Sibanda, Morgan Tsvangirai or anyone to make a deal with Mugabe the terms the tyrant will be allowed to stay in power. It is the people of Zimbabwe and them alone who decide that.
The root-cause of the country's political and economic mess is because the people have been denied the opportunity to remove an incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical regime from office. We should stop wasting time pussy footing over this matter and call a spade a bloody shovel; Mugabe and his Zanu-PF dictatorship is the disease killing the nation and free and fair elections is the cure.
We must implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA and then hold free and fair election.
The people of Zimbabwe have been denied their right to free and fair democratic vote for 35 years. Zimbabwe's next elections must be free, fair and credible, there is no excuse why this should not be so!
----------------
Wilbert Mukori <zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
"If he (Mugabe) calls me I will go and meet him, even if he calls Tsvangirai he will go and meet him or even Biti will go and meet him because what we want is to find best ways of reviving the economy not removing as he is told by the few fake war veterans who are surrounding him," said Sibanda.
We are in this political and economic mess because Mugabe has refused to accept that he is democratically accountable to Zanu-PF members and, even more significantly, to the people of Zimbabwe. It is not for him to decide how longer he will remain as leader but for the party members and the nation in a free and democratic vote.
So instead of telling Mugabe the nation demands free, fair and credible elections and an end to all his political shenanigans and vote rigging; Jabulani will meet his to appease him and tell him he can continue doing what he has been doing to accomplish his no regime change ethos as long as he allows the nation to revive the economy!
No doubt this is the reason Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not implement any of the democratic reforms throughout the GNU; they wanted to revive the economy without ever doing anything that would threaten to weaken in any way Mugabe's iron grip on power.
Tendai Biti, as Minister of Finance in the GNU, complained that government was not getting all the revenue it was entitled to from the diamond mining in Marange. He was even aware that the money from Marange was "funding a parallel government" in the form of the Joint Operation Command (JOC), this secretive Junta pooling the top brass from the Army, Police, CIO, Prison Services, a select few from government and Zanu-PF headed by Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
MDC did not pursue the matter further when it became clear JOC was the heart and brains of the Zanu-PF dictatorship, disband the Junta and Mugabe's iron grip on power will disappear overnight. So to appease Mugabe MDC turned a blind eye to all the looting and plunder in Marange and, worse still, to all the lawlessness and thuggery of JOC.
In the end MDC failed to revive the Zimbabwe economy, the country continue to lose jobs throughout the GNU years as the nation failed to restore confidence in the restoration on the rule of law and to end the rampant corruption. Of course the idea that the nation could have a thriving economy but still have an incompetent and corrupt government is an oxymoron!
President Mugabe is in State House to lead the nation in our search for freedom, justice, human rights and economic prosperity and not to gratify his insatiable appetite for absolute power and wealth. There is no doubt that he has failed dismally in his primary task.
A healthy and functioning democracy says the people hold the leaders to account and, in a free, fair and credible electoral process, the people will express their democratic wish whom they want to lead them. It is not for Jabulani Sibanda, Morgan Tsvangirai or anyone to make a deal with Mugabe the terms the tyrant will be allowed to stay in power. It is the people of Zimbabwe and them alone who decide that.
The root-cause of the country's political and economic mess is because the people have been denied the opportunity to remove an incompetent, corrupt and tyrannical regime from office. We should stop wasting time pussy footing over this matter and call a spade a bloody shovel; Mugabe and his Zanu-PF dictatorship is the disease killing the nation and free and fair elections is the cure.
We must implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA and then hold free and fair election.
The people of Zimbabwe have been denied their right to free and fair democratic vote for 35 years. Zimbabwe's next elections must be free, fair and credible, there is no excuse why this should not be so!
----------------
Wilbert Mukori <zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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