Opinion / Columnist
Reshuffle now a must to move Zimbabwe beyond Covid-19
26 Mar 2021 at 18:13hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's government under the leadership of President ED Mnangagwa has faced enormous challenges in the short period it has been steering the national agenda. With the events of 2017 ushering in a new dispensation the smell of change in the air created high expectations for a new lease of life on the political, economic and social fronts. Optimism of a new Zimbabwe under the mantra of "Zimbabwe Open for Business" struck the right codes for embracing global opportunities. In reality the slogan was a positional statement for a nation that was already open for business in the face of the vast Zimbabwean diaspora army of professionals that has amassed across the globe over the years in search of the good and great opportunities that the world may offer. The optimism of November 2017 soon turned sour as the leadership of the MDC opted to nail the plight of the nation on the cross with punitive sanctions they campaigned for across the western world. The USA put a law to cement the suffering of Zimbabweans under ZIDERA. With this development a series of ugly scenes and machinations of darkness began to unfold. A campaign of a scorched earth policy became a cardinal policy for the opposition and other neo-colonial agents of disinformation and misinformation to discredit the government of Zimbabwe.
The recall of Tendai Biti exposed the American Agenda against Zimbabwe. There is a Shona saying which is translated as " if you want to know the owner of the dog beat it" once Biti was touched America came running with threats and threats.
That aside Zimbabwe looks forward and will never rely or dream of any reasonable help from America.
So, in the main President Mnangagwa's tray is spilling with challenges and it is time to act as a true revolutionary to stamp out the tide of challenges and national attacks on various fronts.
2018 General Election Mischief
In line with the constitutional provisions elections were held in July 2018. It goes without saying that despite the insults and threats of the opposition, these were by far the safest elections in the history of a democratic Zimbabwe. Political campaigns were largely free and with no loss of lives. However, throughout the campaign the leader of the main opposition, Mr Nelson Chamisa the chief agent for American neo-colonial expansion and Mr Tendai Biti threatened that the country will be ungovernable if they did not win. They also made claims of truckloads of money that America provides for a government he would lead. While the government took the utterances lightly, the reality was more chilling. As election results were being counted and announced the opposition chose to mobilise civil disobedience and disruption of life for the people on 1 August 2018, a day after elections. Harare, the hotbed of the violence saw use of firearms resulting on the loss of lives of five people. As if that was not enough, further paralysing actions and destruction of property ensured. Another incident that saw people lose lives took place in January 2019. In all these damaging developments Nelson Chamisa has not apologized, but remains a powerful voice of dissent. The arrogance of Nelson is an attempt to draw America into the politics of Zimbabwe to justify the hidden agenda for accessing natural resources.
STAGED ABDUCTIONS
The persistent strategy of manipulating the government into undemocratic actions has been relentless. The last three years have seen several staged abductions to fuel the social media with fake news in order to paint the government as diabolic and undemocratic. The nation has been gripped with fear as news filtered the various social platform with the "extreme evil" supposed at the behest of the government. Several leaders of the opposition and their partners in misinformation and disinformation have crowned themselves high priests of evil to destroy the government. There has as been a lot of unpalatable reporting in the social media which has been damaging to the country. Some the stories were meant to create division within the government and the part and also influence international opinion so that sanctions are tightened in order to strangle the government. While the spate of staged demonstrations has gone the government needs a strategy to end these retrogressive tactics.
Political Instability in Zanu PF
By design or by default there is a semblance of instability within the revolutionary party. The impression of a fight for power by groups in support of one group or another has attracted unwanted publicity that has provided a feast for the opposition. It is damaging when such rumours or misinformation are not confronted and an official position is given. The biggest problem is to allow second hand information to become the basis for decision making or treating others. We are witnessing sponsored hatred or chaos unfold. What stops the leaders from sitting around a table threshing out modalities, instead of allowing rumours to be manufactured and blossom into a truth as leaders act them. It is important that the president's briefing on political issues is corroborated by accurate intelligence, lest the highest office on the land could be used to advance factional agendas. Instead of dealing with the real national issues the rumours divert attention to flimsy issues, but at the same time they damage the government.
The National Challenge is Huge
So it is clear from the stories making the headlines and from the intelligence and government reports that Zimbabwe faces multitudes of challenges. It needs to be stated clearly, Zimbabwe faces challenges, Zimbabwe is not poor, but its people are skilled but poor. The greatest poverty bedevilling Zimbabwe today is leadership initiative. Zimbabwe can turn a corner like many other countries. Over the years there are many case studies that show how a nation can be transformed. We are not short of examples with China, South Korea, Rwanda and UAE to name just a few. The infrastructure is in tatters, why not use the public private partnership and BOOT to build or repair the infrastructure. Why not also utilise the diaspora network as a source of funding through a National Development Foundation into which people can commit resources on special terms. The security of the country is threatened by the seeming squabbling. The education system needs revisiting to align with the trajectory for new challenges and national plans. Politics needs healing and alignment with the national challenges. An ideological re-engineering is a necessity. With forty years of independence behind us, we cannot remain in the mould of the 1980's. The call is to shape the ideology in line with the dictates of the new world. Many of the problems have been presided upon by government ministers and senior civil servants over the years. For some ministers and official this is normal. It is time for a radical shake up and strategize.
The New Order Arise
President ED Mnangagwa would do well to ruthlessly shake up the situation on every front. With parliamentary majority in parliament and an opposition in quandary smart move should make the opposition an inconvenience to the national political agenda. The call on the president is for a radical reshuffle of ministers, presidential advisory group and top government officials to remove the inertia that has crept in. A robust consultation is a necessity. At the same time action should be taken swiftly without delay. Many of the problems and attempts to manipulate the president will disappear with a reshuffle. Some ministers are beginning to think that they are God fathers. They have stayed for long in one ministry and not doing anything visible. A serious reshuffle will be in order.
This is the time the party must adjust and align the laws. The constitutional amendments can be implemented without any complication since Zanu PF has the majority. It is paramount that the president acts with speed to run with the shift from the ravages of Covid 19.
The gossiping ministers should be put in place. The nation should indeed be guided to prosperity.
The president must be applauded for captaining the country during the COVID pandemic. Nobody gave us a chance but here we are.
The recall of Tendai Biti exposed the American Agenda against Zimbabwe. There is a Shona saying which is translated as " if you want to know the owner of the dog beat it" once Biti was touched America came running with threats and threats.
That aside Zimbabwe looks forward and will never rely or dream of any reasonable help from America.
So, in the main President Mnangagwa's tray is spilling with challenges and it is time to act as a true revolutionary to stamp out the tide of challenges and national attacks on various fronts.
2018 General Election Mischief
In line with the constitutional provisions elections were held in July 2018. It goes without saying that despite the insults and threats of the opposition, these were by far the safest elections in the history of a democratic Zimbabwe. Political campaigns were largely free and with no loss of lives. However, throughout the campaign the leader of the main opposition, Mr Nelson Chamisa the chief agent for American neo-colonial expansion and Mr Tendai Biti threatened that the country will be ungovernable if they did not win. They also made claims of truckloads of money that America provides for a government he would lead. While the government took the utterances lightly, the reality was more chilling. As election results were being counted and announced the opposition chose to mobilise civil disobedience and disruption of life for the people on 1 August 2018, a day after elections. Harare, the hotbed of the violence saw use of firearms resulting on the loss of lives of five people. As if that was not enough, further paralysing actions and destruction of property ensured. Another incident that saw people lose lives took place in January 2019. In all these damaging developments Nelson Chamisa has not apologized, but remains a powerful voice of dissent. The arrogance of Nelson is an attempt to draw America into the politics of Zimbabwe to justify the hidden agenda for accessing natural resources.
STAGED ABDUCTIONS
The persistent strategy of manipulating the government into undemocratic actions has been relentless. The last three years have seen several staged abductions to fuel the social media with fake news in order to paint the government as diabolic and undemocratic. The nation has been gripped with fear as news filtered the various social platform with the "extreme evil" supposed at the behest of the government. Several leaders of the opposition and their partners in misinformation and disinformation have crowned themselves high priests of evil to destroy the government. There has as been a lot of unpalatable reporting in the social media which has been damaging to the country. Some the stories were meant to create division within the government and the part and also influence international opinion so that sanctions are tightened in order to strangle the government. While the spate of staged demonstrations has gone the government needs a strategy to end these retrogressive tactics.
By design or by default there is a semblance of instability within the revolutionary party. The impression of a fight for power by groups in support of one group or another has attracted unwanted publicity that has provided a feast for the opposition. It is damaging when such rumours or misinformation are not confronted and an official position is given. The biggest problem is to allow second hand information to become the basis for decision making or treating others. We are witnessing sponsored hatred or chaos unfold. What stops the leaders from sitting around a table threshing out modalities, instead of allowing rumours to be manufactured and blossom into a truth as leaders act them. It is important that the president's briefing on political issues is corroborated by accurate intelligence, lest the highest office on the land could be used to advance factional agendas. Instead of dealing with the real national issues the rumours divert attention to flimsy issues, but at the same time they damage the government.
The National Challenge is Huge
So it is clear from the stories making the headlines and from the intelligence and government reports that Zimbabwe faces multitudes of challenges. It needs to be stated clearly, Zimbabwe faces challenges, Zimbabwe is not poor, but its people are skilled but poor. The greatest poverty bedevilling Zimbabwe today is leadership initiative. Zimbabwe can turn a corner like many other countries. Over the years there are many case studies that show how a nation can be transformed. We are not short of examples with China, South Korea, Rwanda and UAE to name just a few. The infrastructure is in tatters, why not use the public private partnership and BOOT to build or repair the infrastructure. Why not also utilise the diaspora network as a source of funding through a National Development Foundation into which people can commit resources on special terms. The security of the country is threatened by the seeming squabbling. The education system needs revisiting to align with the trajectory for new challenges and national plans. Politics needs healing and alignment with the national challenges. An ideological re-engineering is a necessity. With forty years of independence behind us, we cannot remain in the mould of the 1980's. The call is to shape the ideology in line with the dictates of the new world. Many of the problems have been presided upon by government ministers and senior civil servants over the years. For some ministers and official this is normal. It is time for a radical shake up and strategize.
The New Order Arise
President ED Mnangagwa would do well to ruthlessly shake up the situation on every front. With parliamentary majority in parliament and an opposition in quandary smart move should make the opposition an inconvenience to the national political agenda. The call on the president is for a radical reshuffle of ministers, presidential advisory group and top government officials to remove the inertia that has crept in. A robust consultation is a necessity. At the same time action should be taken swiftly without delay. Many of the problems and attempts to manipulate the president will disappear with a reshuffle. Some ministers are beginning to think that they are God fathers. They have stayed for long in one ministry and not doing anything visible. A serious reshuffle will be in order.
This is the time the party must adjust and align the laws. The constitutional amendments can be implemented without any complication since Zanu PF has the majority. It is paramount that the president acts with speed to run with the shift from the ravages of Covid 19.
The gossiping ministers should be put in place. The nation should indeed be guided to prosperity.
The president must be applauded for captaining the country during the COVID pandemic. Nobody gave us a chance but here we are.
Source - Dr Masimba Mavaza
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