'Business is unsettled,' says Chamisa

There are three things one could have predicted with 100% certainty six months ago:

1)    That Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance will take part in this year's elections even though there was still not even one reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections in place.

2)    That Zanu PF will blatantly rig the elections, again, and confirm Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by vote rigging thugs.

3)    That the much hoped for economic recovery will never happen because investors do not do business in pariah state.

All three predictions have come to pass.

What anyone in the know would find infuriating here is that Zimbabwe would not be in this political and economic mess if Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends had implemented the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections when they had the golden opportunity to do so during the GNU. SADC wanted the July 2013 elections to be postponed until the reforms were implemented

"If you go into next month's elections, you will lose; the elections are done!" SADC leaders had warned Tsvangirai and his MDC friends. Tsvangirai et al paid no heed. Greed had the better of them, as David Coltart, MDC senator and cabinet minister during the GNU readily admitted in his book.

"The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn't now do the obvious – withdraw from the (2013) elections," wrote Senator Coltart.

"The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility."

The economy's reaction to another Zanu PF rigged 2013 elections was predictable, Zimbabwe's Stock Exchange shares slumped by 35% in the first week of the election results and the economic meltdown, which was already in a sorry state, continued in its downward spiral forcing unemployment to soar to 90% plus.

So one can well imagine the sheer frustration at Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance friends' insistence on participating in this year's elections knowing fully well that not even one reform had been implemented since the July 2013 rigged elections. Once again, greed ruled the roost! They did not even have the common sense to demand of ZEC a clean and verified voters' roll for Pete's sake.

Of course, President Mnangagwa and his junta blatantly rigged the elections and, as expected, once again as expected the economy has taken another knock!

It is laughable that Nelson Chamisa should focus on the rigged elections and the loss of confidence in the economic, predictions 2) and 3) above, as proof of his own popularity; forgetting his own role in creating the mess, prediction 1).

"But as both a leader and citizen, I am deeply concerned by the level of suffering of Zimbabweans. There is violence in the minds of people due to the painful challenges they are facing everyday under Mnangagwa's controversial leadership," he told NewsDay.

"The economy is freezing and even fuel is in short supply. What is more in short supply is market confidence. Business is not settled because elections were tampered with. You can change statistics of elections, but you cannot tamper with figures in economics."

No, pompous one, the root cause of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and political paralysis goes much deeper than this year's rigged elections. One must ask why it was as easy as grade one "a b c d" for Zanu PF to rig these elections?

It was you, oh pompous one, and your MDC friends who not only failed to implement during the GNU but refused to listen not to take part in the election with no reform first in 2013 and again this year. You are the ones who have made it easy for Zanu PF to rig elections.

The nation has no more confidence in Mnangagwa and his junta taking the nation forward than it has in you, Mr Chamisa, and your corrupt and incompetent MDC friends.

What is needed is a bold admission that Zanu PF rigged the elections therefore must declare the process null and void. This will allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms and hold free, fair and credible elections, the country's first.

Allowing Mnangagwa to stay in power will only mean the country sinking deeper and deeper into this hell-on-earth Zanu PF has landed us in. Or worse, having yet another military coup or violent street protests. A situation in which 90% are unemployed, ¾ are forced to live on US$1.00 a day, etc. is very socially, political and morally unsustainable. We have been trading water for far too long already!