Ken Mufuka it is Mugabe's no regime change nonsense we should be concerned about

I used to read Ken Mufuka's "Letter from America" in the Chronicle; I stopped because they became tediously monotonous - starting nowhere and going nowhere else. I can see that things have not changed; all Ken has done here (see Nehanda Radio opinion US sanctions should be taken seriously) is tell us that he was in Washington and he knows "of a small but important office in the US treasury department called office of foreign assets control."

"This division of the US treasury is the one responsible for sanctions enforcement. Like most Zimbabweans also, I was surprised to learn that it is not a toothless bull-dog," wrote Ken. "It is full of poisonous fangs."

If Zimbabwe is free to trade goods and services with China, Russia, India, etc. under whatever terms it sees fit then why should America not do the same? America imposed sanctions of Mugabe and a select few in his inner circle; she has done the same of Russia's President Putin. If America should wish to fine tune its sanctions on the two groups; again that is up to America.  


Ever since the west imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his cronies back in 2002 Mugabe responded with his look East policy and made a big song and dance about it. The message then was very clear Zimbabwe does not need the West because she will get all she needs to grow and prosper from the East.


Indeed Zimbabwe should have gone on to prosper because there was nothing Zimbabwe was getting from the West she could not source from the East. Ian Smith managed to grow the economy under even more stringent UN sanctions for Pete's sake!


The truth is the Zimbabwe economy did not prosper but instead continues in its downward spiral showing that it was not the sanctions imposed by the West troubling the economy but something else. The something else was mismanagement and corruption which Mugabe vehemently denied allowing these cancers to grow and spread and after 34 years they are now killing the economy.


Mugabe regime has been caught in this contradictory position where it insists it does not need the West to prosper and yet again and again keeps going back and blame the illegal sanctions imposed by the West for all the country's economic troubles!


When Mugabe signed the mega deals with China and Russia a few weeks ago; he once again went through the usual we do not need the West now accompanied by the gorilla silver-back chest drumming. The regime's ZimAsset economic recovery plan was back on track, the nation was told. It was all a bluff of course because none of these two countries gave him even a dollar for the budgetary support he was seeking. The Chinese told him to his face that "he is a bad debtor"!


The Zimbabwe economy is in ICU and needs surgery to remove those cancerous tumours and instead of Mugabe admitting it he is now fishing for a new sanctions angle to explain why the mega deals with China and Russia are not working.

Nathaniel Manheru has come up with this story that the US is imposing new additional sanctions of Zimbabwe because the country signed the platinum deal with Russia. And Ken Mufuka has taken this up arguing the nation should take US sanctions seriously and thus giving that new angle more mileage.


The Zimbabwe economy is in total meltdown and the resultant economic hardships are causing heart-breaking hardships on millions of our people. No economy in the world could sustain the criminal waste of resources caused by the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption that now exists in Zimbabwe. We need these cancers removed now and stop wasting time on these mythical sanctions.


Even if we are to accept the one half of Mugabe's contradictory theory that the sanctions imposed by the West are the primary cause of the nation's economic meltdown then after 12 years of finding ways to avoid them it is clear that Mugabe has failed to do so. Mugabe and his propagandists have admitted as much thousands of times. And Ken Mufuka has just told us of the poisonous bites from the US sanction!  

So yes we must take the sanctions very seriously and instead of suffering another day of the sanctions poison we must replace this Zanu PF regime that has clearly failed to work with the West on who our economy is totally dependent on!


Zimbabwe is stuck in this economic hell because for 34 years only Mugabe and Zanu PF could say what is going wrong in the economy and impose the solution because on the political front the nation was not allowed to have a meaningful say on who governed the country. The nation held regular elections but there was to be no regime change.

So it is really irrelevant whether it is the sanctions imposed by the West or the rampant corruption that is the real cause behind Zimbabwe's economic meltdown what matters here is what Mugabe and Zanu PF say what is the cause because it is them alone who have the political power to impose the solution. It is their 34 years of misrule that got the nation into this mess and we are truly stuck!

The only way out is to end this nonsensical position of no regime change Mugabe and Zanu PF imposed on the nation. Forget the sanctions the only serious issue this nation must deal with here and now is restoring the power of the people to a meaningful vote in free, fair and credible elections to decide who governs the country. This is the only way to end Mugabe and Zanu PF's political and economic imposition in the nation. Nothing of any value or sense politically and economically will ever be accomplished in Zimbabwe until this tyrannical imposition is removed.

After living in America all these donkey years, one would have thought that of all people Ken Mufuka would understand the critical importance of a free and meaningful vote in good governance, political stability and economic prosperity. Sadly the years of exposure to a functioning democracy has had no effect on our Professor; his brain is impermeable to reason and logic but a superconductor of Zanu PF nonsense and propaganda!

Ken, it is Mugabe's "no regime change" nonsense that we must serious deal with and not US sanctions; the former is the real hyena killing our goats whereas the latter is the mythic three headed griffin with eyes that can see through stone the tyrant, the real hyena, has created to confuse and instil fear and panic on the politically naïve and gullible!