What good is Mutambara prosperity pentagon if buffoon can, once again, rig elections and impose voodoo policies

Dear Nomazulu Thata,

Thank you for your thought provoking article "Professor Arthur Mutambara, Dr Nkosana Moyo and Advocate Nelson Chamisa are speaking" in Bulawayo24.com.

I agree that both Dr Nkosana Moyo and Professor Arthur Mutambara have offered some interesting economic policies and ideas on how to revive the Zimbabwe economy. However, I do not agree that they are what Zimbabwe need at this point because the two gentlemen have completely failed to understand the political challenges the nation is facing much less offer the solutions.

Zimbabwe is in a real economic mess and many of the economic policies that have landed us in this mess are foolish, voodoo economic, defying common sense. One did not need to know Professor Mutambara's prosperity hexagon to know the printing of money led by then Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Dr Gideon Gono was going to led to economic ruin, for example.

For those who did not read Nomazulu or Professor Mutambara's article here is the prosperity hexagon - "An alternative shared national vision;-  A corresponding national strategy (social, political, economic and  technological) the game plan; - Clearly articulated alternative, well-thought out and coherent national policies; - A national implementation matrix (who, what, when, how, resources, timelines, milestones, definition of success, success markers, etc); - A national monitoring, evaluation and feedback system; and tested, ethical, competent and technocratic leaders."

Zimbabwe is up to her eyes in this economic mess because the nation has been stuck for 41 years and counting with a corrupt, breathtakingly incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF regimes. The nation could not remove the regime from office because Zanu PF rigged the election.

The nation can have a whole battalion of technocrats with the most detailed four dimensional election manifesto but unless the team comes up with a plan to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections; not even one policy in the master plan manifesto will ever see the light of day. Not even one!

Zanu PF will rig the elections and the nation will be back to voodoo economics, blaming sanctions for the country's woes, etc.

Dr Nkosana Moyo was warned repeatedly that participating in the 2018 elections with no reforms to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections was insane. He did not listen. Like the rest of the opposition politicians who participated he maintain en masse voter turnout will overwhelm Zanu PF's vote rigging capabilities. Tsvangirai got 73% of the votes in 2008 and that was not good enough - that is the target the opposition have to beat! Of course, it is insane to even accept participating in such a blatantly unfair contest!

For Pete's sake! Zanu PF does not have the right to rig the elections. Free, fair and credible elections are not just a democratic and fundamental right of every Zimbabwean but more significantly it is the basis for good governance.

Zimbabwe is in this economic mess precisely because for the last 41 years the nation has been stuck with a corrupt and incompetent government. Free, fair and credible elections is our ticket out of this man-made hell-on-earth Zanu PF dictatorship has landed us into.

Dr Nkosana Moyo, Nelson Chamisa and 20 other opposition opportunists joined the presidential rat race with thousands other joining the parliamentary and local government races. As expected, Zanu PF blatantly rigged the elections to secure the presidency and 2/3 majority in parliament and senate. Zanu PF allowed the opposition to share the remaining 1/3 or so gravy train seats, to entice them to participate.

By participating the flawed and illegal elections Dr Moyo and company gave the elections process credibility, why otherwise would the opposition keep participating if the process was flawed; and, extension gave vote rigging Zanu PF legitimacy.

Professor Arthur Mutambara has his prosperity hexagon but good was that to the nation to one with not an iota of common sense! Mutambara was Deputy Prime Minister in the 2008 to 2013 GNU whose primary task was to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the Zanu PF dictatorial powers to deny Zimbabweans their freedoms and rights including the right to free elections and even the right to life! Mutambara and company failed to implement even one token reform in five years because they are corrupt and breathtakingly incompetent!

If Mutambara and his fellow MDC friends had implemented the democratic reforms during the GNU, the 2013 elections would have been free, fair and credible. If the elections did not produce a competent government at least Zimbabweans would know they can remove the failed regime and try a different one. As it is, Zanu PF has emerged out of the GNU with all its dictatorial powers untouched and so the nation is still stuck with Zanu PF!

"It is sad to come to terms with a gullible electorate we have in Zimbabwe," continued Nomazulu.

"We have Moyo, we have Mutambara, they are technocrats and many more at home and in the Diaspora: these are experts who can turn around our economy with ease. Zimbabwe does not need politicians of the moulds of Chamisa, he is economically illiterate.

"The electorate is hell bent to vote for him, come 2023. How myopic can we still be, we are unable to see where our genuine potential lies in solving the economic quad mire, we find ourselves in. Voter stupidity is a very powerful force that politicians play around with, with abject abandon."

You hit the nail on the head there! The Zimbabwe electorate is naive and gullible and politicians from both sides of the political divide, Zanu PF and MDC, have taken advantage of the people. Indeed, both politicians have brainwashed the people for the sole purpose exploiting them; the politicians wanted followers who would follow them blindly like sheep to the slaughter no questions asked. And that is what they have.

Yes, many Zimbabweans are "hell-bent" on voting for Chamisa come 2023. They would not vote for him or any of the MDC leaders if they knew what the GNU was about and why the country is still in this mess because MDC leaders sold-out by failing to implement even one reform.

Indeed, the people would not participate in these flawed and illegal elections if they understood that by participating they are per se giving legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF regime!

What the people need is education; the antidote to ignorance. One of the key democratic reforms that must be implemented is one free the country's media so it can be the platform for freedom of expression and most important of all free to perform the important task of informing and educating the people - not brainwash them!

"Seek ye first the political kingdom, and all else shall be added unto you", said Ghana's first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah was right! What good is Professor Arthur Mutambara's Keynesian tried and approved prosperity pentagon manifesto if none of it will ever see light of day because some buffoon will blatantly rig the elections, for the umpteenth time, claim "The voice of the people is the voice of God!" and continue imposing his ruinous voodoo economic policies!

What Zimbabwe needs is men and women who will implement the democratic reforms and guarantee free, fair and credible elections for ourselves and for posterity! Nothing of any substance or value can ever be accomplished until we cure ourselves of the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

We cannot stop Zanu PF holding the 2023 elections none can we stop the entourage of opposition opportunists participating. However, what we can do is make sure the election process is seen for what it is - a farce - and condemned as illegitimate.

The nation will then need to appoint an interim government whose primary task will be to implement all the democratic reforms to restore the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections.