Zimbabwe in the grip of a multiple of strands of crises

Zimbabwe is in the grip of a multiple of strands of crises, which we squarely blame on Zanu-PF's Robert Mugabe and Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa.

The events unfolding in the country clearly show that we are in serious crisis and that the Zanu-PF government has failed and failed dismally.

This is a serious indictment and the day to day challenges that the people are facing is a fact that this country is in turmoil.  We find that it is regrettably and unacceptable that by mid-July Chinamasa has failed to pay civil servants their salaries.  Where workers provide labour and are unpaid that is the classical definition of slavery in this century and in this day and age.

We do not accept that the government has no money.  We are dealing with profligate, fraudulent and ill-disciplined government that does not believe in spending what it saves and eat what it kills.  This government is a rogue regime that has spent millions of dollars travels of the president and the first his wife.

It is ironic that this government has spent over $340 m on vehicles and we now have ministers driving around in the most expensive SUVs across the continent.

We also find it unacceptable and condemn the high levels of corruption in government with the parastatals and other state enterprises being used as conduit vehicles of looting.

As the People's Democratic Party (PDP), we say to this government, "Stop this corruption".  We do not accept haphazard measures that are being used by this regime.

The Statutory Instrument 64 recently introduced by the government, which banned the importation of basic commodities when industries have totally collapsed is unacceptable. The SI 64 was introduced by the Smith government in 1974 when the country was at war and when it was under proper sanctions of the United Nations.

The move by this regime should be repealed as the SI 64 is in breach of SADC trade protocol and the world trade protocols.

We want to make it clear that the international community should not accept this rogue regime, which came empty handed from its re-engagement talks in Brussels Paris and the UK despite much ado.

As the PDP, we are part of the social protest movement that is holding peaceful demonstrations and calling on Mugabe and Zanu-PF to resign immediately.  We want to reassert that it is the constitutional right of every citizen codified in the Constitution to protest.  We are part of all demonstrations including that of tomorrow and Thursday.

Our message to Robert Mugabe is that 92 years is really old and he must retire with his entire cabal of ministers including Patrick Chinamasa.

We therefore condemn unreservedly the arrest of human rights activists, Linda Masarira who is in remand prison after she was denied bail, Promise Mkwananzi and that of Pastor Evan Mawarire and we call for their immediate unconditional release of those in police custody.

The person who should instead be arrested is Patrick Chinamasa for failing to pay civil servants and Robert Mugabe for running down the country resulting in 75% of the population living in extreme poverty and four million forced to live outside the country.

We therefore call upon Southern African Development (SADC) to take an active interest and urgently intervene and put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the next SADC meeting before the country implodes and the cost of cleaning the mess becomes higher.

This regime has failed and failed dismally and must resign and pave way for the National Transitional Authority (NTA).  We also call for the internal dialogue amongst Zimbabweans. There must be a convergence among the political parties and we are happy to state that we happy to be part of these on-going negotiations.