Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe needs a reset through an NTA to prepare for democratic transition
3 hrs ago | Views
Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink.
We are witnessing a nation sliding further into economic despair, political illegitimacy, and social disintegration.
The alarm bells are ringing loud, yet we continue as if nothing is amiss.
But if this is not a crisis, then what is?
We are a country that has been through one disputed election after another.
These are elections that have not only failed to unite the nation but have left us even more polarized and broken.
Violence, intimidation, and the subversion of state institutions like the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the police, the judiciary, and the public broadcaster have all become a norm.
● If you believe in my fight for justice in Zimbabwe, please consider supporting this work financially. Every contribution helps me keep going, independently and fearlessly.
They have systematically been weaponized in favor of the ruling elite and against the will of the people.
The 2023 elections were condemned by nearly all credible regional and international observer missions - SADC, AU-COMESA, the European Union, and the Commonwealth - all of whom found the polls to have fallen far short of accepted standards for democratic elections.
Yet, despite this damning verdict, no meaningful corrective action has been taken by Zimbabweans themselves or the international community.
We have effectively normalized illegitimacy.
The consequences have been devastating.
After failing to secure a two-thirds majority in Parliament required for constitutional amendments, the ruling ZANU-PF found an unlikely ally in the self-imposed "interim secretary general" of the CCC opposition party, Sengezo Tshabangu.
His bizarre and relentless recall of elected opposition legislators - enabled and rubber-stamped by a partisan Speaker of Parliament and upheld by the courts - handed ZANU-PF the two-thirds majority it desperately needed on a silver platter.
This maneuver effectively neutralized Parliament as a check on executive power.
It is now filled with legislators who are either too aligned with the ruling elite or too terrified of losing their seats to dare hold the government accountable.
The result is a rubber-stamp Parliament, presiding over a looted economy and a collapsing state.
Zimbabwe loses over US$3 billion annually through corruption and illicit financial flows.
Our public hospitals are in shambles, devoid of basic medications and functional equipment.
Cancer patients and those needing dialysis are sent home to die.
Ambulances are scarce, and health professionals are overworked and underpaid.
Schools are little more than glorified huts - many without desks, chairs, or textbooks, where children sit on rocks under trees.
Our civil servants survive on an insulting average of US$200 a month, while the cost of living continues to skyrocket due to runaway inflation.
Over 80% of Zimbabweans live in poverty, and more than 90% are unemployed.
To make matters worse, scandals involving government-linked individuals, such as convicted criminal Wicknell Chivayo receiving over R800 million from South Africa's Ren-Form CC - allegedly for electoral materials - have been swept under the rug.
Parliament, which should have investigated and held these individuals to account, is conspicuously silent.
The system is broken. The people are suffering. The looting continues.
The growing divisions within ZANU-PF itself - fueled by the unpopular push to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa's term beyond the constitutional two-term limit - have only escalated the crisis.
Prominent voices such as expelled Central Committee member Blessed Geza have openly called for the President's resignation.
There is a real danger of another military coup if the current trajectory continues.
The atmosphere is tense, with a growing sense that Zimbabwe is a ticking time bomb.
The opposition, weakened and infiltrated, stands little chance in this manipulated political environment.
Civil society is under siege.
Fear reigns supreme.
Even those in the ruling party who genuinely want reform are silenced by the threat of political persecution.
This is not democracy. This is not stability. This is the road to state failure.
This is why Zimbabwe needs a National Transitional Authority (NTA) - a non-partisan, inclusive, and time-bound mechanism to reset the country.
An NTA is not a Government of National Unity (GNU).
It is not a power-sharing deal between political parties.
It is not a Trojan horse for any party to sneak into power.
Rather, it is a framework for stabilizing the nation, rebuilding critical institutions, and creating conditions for genuinely free, fair, and credible elections.
It is a temporary body - composed of technocrats, civil society leaders, representatives from political formations (including those from the ruling party), and respected individuals from the faith, business, and academic communities.
It operates under strict timelines and mandates and does not involve partisan jockeying for power.
For those who remain skeptical - particularly within the opposition - fearing that an NTA might somehow rob them of their rightful path to power, let us look to history for assurance.
In the early 1990s, South Africa was at a similarly fragile crossroads, transitioning from the brutal apartheid regime to democracy.
A transitional authority - the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) - was established not as a means to deny the African National Congress (ANC) power, but to ensure a credible and peaceful transition.
Nelson Mandela and the ANC did not view this structure as an obstacle to their aspirations, but as a necessary and stabilizing bridge to usher in democracy.
In fact, it helped ensure that the first democratic elections in 1994 were held under conditions that leveled the playing field, avoided civil war, and guaranteed legitimacy for the incoming government.
Zimbabwe, too, can follow this example.
The role of the NTA would be to oversee critical reforms.
These would include reforming state institutions like ZEC, the judiciary, and law enforcement to ensure neutrality and professionalism.
It would guarantee media freedom and access to all political actors.
It would tackle corruption decisively, ensuring transparent management of public finances and natural resources.
It would prioritize the revival of public services - especially health, education, and infrastructure.
And, most importantly, it would prepare and oversee fresh elections, conducted under a level playing field, with full international supervision, so that Zimbabweans can finally choose their leaders in a credible and transparent manner.
Yes, those in power will likely resist the idea of a National Transitional Authority, as it threatens their grip on unchecked control.
But history shows us that when a people unite - regardless of political affiliation, tribe, or background - and raise their voices in unison, even the most entrenched regimes are forced to listen.
If we, as Zimbabweans, stand together and consistently demand a reset through an NTA, we will not only shift the political temperature internally, but also signal to the international community - especially regional and continental bodies - that we are serious about charting a new course.
That solidarity will increase global pressure on our leaders to yield to the will of the people.
Only under such an environment can the opposition ever hope to win an election based on popular support.
Only then can even genuine reformers within ZANU-PF speak up without fear of retribution.
Only then can citizens freely criticize their leaders without being branded as enemies of the state.
Only then can Parliament function as a real check on executive excesses.
Only then can corruption be curtailed, the economy revived, and public services restored.
We are not calling for a violent overthrow.
We are not calling for the collapse of the state.
We are calling for a responsible pause - for Zimbabweans across the board to come together and fix what is broken.
This is about patriotism. This is about survival. This is about giving our children a future.
If we continue on our current path, we risk becoming another Somalia.
Civil unrest is not just possible; it is probable, especially as economic hardship intensifies, political divisions deepen, and public anger simmers under the surface.
We are a country sitting on a powder keg.
It is time for Zimbabweans of all political persuasions - within the ruling party, the opposition, civil society, the business community, and the general public - to rally behind a bold, peaceful, and practical solution.
A National Transitional Authority offers us a way out.
A way forward. A way to restore legitimacy, rebuild trust, and save our country from the abyss.
Let us not wait until it is too late.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
We are witnessing a nation sliding further into economic despair, political illegitimacy, and social disintegration.
The alarm bells are ringing loud, yet we continue as if nothing is amiss.
But if this is not a crisis, then what is?
We are a country that has been through one disputed election after another.
These are elections that have not only failed to unite the nation but have left us even more polarized and broken.
Violence, intimidation, and the subversion of state institutions like the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the police, the judiciary, and the public broadcaster have all become a norm.
● If you believe in my fight for justice in Zimbabwe, please consider supporting this work financially. Every contribution helps me keep going, independently and fearlessly.
They have systematically been weaponized in favor of the ruling elite and against the will of the people.
The 2023 elections were condemned by nearly all credible regional and international observer missions - SADC, AU-COMESA, the European Union, and the Commonwealth - all of whom found the polls to have fallen far short of accepted standards for democratic elections.
Yet, despite this damning verdict, no meaningful corrective action has been taken by Zimbabweans themselves or the international community.
We have effectively normalized illegitimacy.
The consequences have been devastating.
After failing to secure a two-thirds majority in Parliament required for constitutional amendments, the ruling ZANU-PF found an unlikely ally in the self-imposed "interim secretary general" of the CCC opposition party, Sengezo Tshabangu.
His bizarre and relentless recall of elected opposition legislators - enabled and rubber-stamped by a partisan Speaker of Parliament and upheld by the courts - handed ZANU-PF the two-thirds majority it desperately needed on a silver platter.
This maneuver effectively neutralized Parliament as a check on executive power.
It is now filled with legislators who are either too aligned with the ruling elite or too terrified of losing their seats to dare hold the government accountable.
The result is a rubber-stamp Parliament, presiding over a looted economy and a collapsing state.
Zimbabwe loses over US$3 billion annually through corruption and illicit financial flows.
Our public hospitals are in shambles, devoid of basic medications and functional equipment.
Cancer patients and those needing dialysis are sent home to die.
Ambulances are scarce, and health professionals are overworked and underpaid.
Schools are little more than glorified huts - many without desks, chairs, or textbooks, where children sit on rocks under trees.
Our civil servants survive on an insulting average of US$200 a month, while the cost of living continues to skyrocket due to runaway inflation.
Over 80% of Zimbabweans live in poverty, and more than 90% are unemployed.
To make matters worse, scandals involving government-linked individuals, such as convicted criminal Wicknell Chivayo receiving over R800 million from South Africa's Ren-Form CC - allegedly for electoral materials - have been swept under the rug.
Parliament, which should have investigated and held these individuals to account, is conspicuously silent.
The system is broken. The people are suffering. The looting continues.
The growing divisions within ZANU-PF itself - fueled by the unpopular push to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa's term beyond the constitutional two-term limit - have only escalated the crisis.
Prominent voices such as expelled Central Committee member Blessed Geza have openly called for the President's resignation.
There is a real danger of another military coup if the current trajectory continues.
The atmosphere is tense, with a growing sense that Zimbabwe is a ticking time bomb.
The opposition, weakened and infiltrated, stands little chance in this manipulated political environment.
Civil society is under siege.
Fear reigns supreme.
Even those in the ruling party who genuinely want reform are silenced by the threat of political persecution.
This is not democracy. This is not stability. This is the road to state failure.
This is why Zimbabwe needs a National Transitional Authority (NTA) - a non-partisan, inclusive, and time-bound mechanism to reset the country.
It is not a power-sharing deal between political parties.
It is not a Trojan horse for any party to sneak into power.
Rather, it is a framework for stabilizing the nation, rebuilding critical institutions, and creating conditions for genuinely free, fair, and credible elections.
It is a temporary body - composed of technocrats, civil society leaders, representatives from political formations (including those from the ruling party), and respected individuals from the faith, business, and academic communities.
It operates under strict timelines and mandates and does not involve partisan jockeying for power.
For those who remain skeptical - particularly within the opposition - fearing that an NTA might somehow rob them of their rightful path to power, let us look to history for assurance.
In the early 1990s, South Africa was at a similarly fragile crossroads, transitioning from the brutal apartheid regime to democracy.
A transitional authority - the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) - was established not as a means to deny the African National Congress (ANC) power, but to ensure a credible and peaceful transition.
Nelson Mandela and the ANC did not view this structure as an obstacle to their aspirations, but as a necessary and stabilizing bridge to usher in democracy.
In fact, it helped ensure that the first democratic elections in 1994 were held under conditions that leveled the playing field, avoided civil war, and guaranteed legitimacy for the incoming government.
Zimbabwe, too, can follow this example.
The role of the NTA would be to oversee critical reforms.
These would include reforming state institutions like ZEC, the judiciary, and law enforcement to ensure neutrality and professionalism.
It would guarantee media freedom and access to all political actors.
It would tackle corruption decisively, ensuring transparent management of public finances and natural resources.
It would prioritize the revival of public services - especially health, education, and infrastructure.
And, most importantly, it would prepare and oversee fresh elections, conducted under a level playing field, with full international supervision, so that Zimbabweans can finally choose their leaders in a credible and transparent manner.
Yes, those in power will likely resist the idea of a National Transitional Authority, as it threatens their grip on unchecked control.
But history shows us that when a people unite - regardless of political affiliation, tribe, or background - and raise their voices in unison, even the most entrenched regimes are forced to listen.
If we, as Zimbabweans, stand together and consistently demand a reset through an NTA, we will not only shift the political temperature internally, but also signal to the international community - especially regional and continental bodies - that we are serious about charting a new course.
That solidarity will increase global pressure on our leaders to yield to the will of the people.
Only under such an environment can the opposition ever hope to win an election based on popular support.
Only then can even genuine reformers within ZANU-PF speak up without fear of retribution.
Only then can citizens freely criticize their leaders without being branded as enemies of the state.
Only then can Parliament function as a real check on executive excesses.
Only then can corruption be curtailed, the economy revived, and public services restored.
We are not calling for a violent overthrow.
We are not calling for the collapse of the state.
We are calling for a responsible pause - for Zimbabweans across the board to come together and fix what is broken.
This is about patriotism. This is about survival. This is about giving our children a future.
If we continue on our current path, we risk becoming another Somalia.
Civil unrest is not just possible; it is probable, especially as economic hardship intensifies, political divisions deepen, and public anger simmers under the surface.
We are a country sitting on a powder keg.
It is time for Zimbabweans of all political persuasions - within the ruling party, the opposition, civil society, the business community, and the general public - to rally behind a bold, peaceful, and practical solution.
A National Transitional Authority offers us a way out.
A way forward. A way to restore legitimacy, rebuild trust, and save our country from the abyss.
Let us not wait until it is too late.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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