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- Written by: Richard Gandari
- Category: Zimbabwe
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Retributive Triumphalism: The Hallmark of Illegitimacy
Dictatorship looks invincible from a distance but its hollow core is a laughable fiasco. In this day and age, no nation can hope for any progress under the clueless rule of a tinpot dictator. Cavemen leading their clans had better prospects for success than the occult administration of a despotic ruler. It must ring true even to the staunchest tyrant that dictatorship is a hard sell in today’s world. That is why every dictator tries his best to masquerade as a democrat.
Unfortunately, the pretense strictly demands periodic elections, whose outcomes are not always favorable for the incumbent. The correlation between credible elections and legitimacy is every dictator’s Achilles heel. When ordinary citizens reject a dictator through the ballot, his foundation is shaken. He bites his nails and makes countless frantic calls to the head of his handpicked election commission. Spirited efforts are made and the bare minimum percentage of electoral victory is fraudulently conjured up. The dictator barely survives, through the skin of his teeth.
Yet being declared the winner is not exactly the same as being the legitimate leader of a country. Apart from abdication no perfume can take away the stench of illegitimacy. It stinks to high heaven.
In the case of Zimbabwe, His ZEC-cellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa is a broken man with a fatally bruised ego. His sham election in August 2023 introduced humanity to a new blackhole of election rigging and gerrymandering. It was a global 'first' but quickly replicated in Gabon which held elections 3 days after Harare’s fraudulent charade. Unfortunately for the Gabonese incumbent, his bootleg version was rather hurried and lacked an after-heist roadmap.
In Zimbabwe, a clear strategy was in place, with all permutations and combinations of the post-election period anticipated.
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- Written by: Richard Gandari
- Category: Zimbabwe
- Hits: 771
The Cost of Tyranny
When the Union Jack was lowered and handed to Prince Charles on 18 April 1980 at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, no one would have guessed that it was the beginning of Zimbabwe’s demise. Many considered it the beginning of prosperity and advancement for the black majority, under the assurance of self-rule. The ideals of Marxist ideology proselytized throughout the liberation struggle meant that everyone would get a piece of the cake in the new republic.
The people’s euphoria at Independence made it treasonous to even slightly suggest that self-rule could easily mutate into self-ruin. Without institutional checks and balances, it was not long before things morphed into George Orwell’s Animal Farm scenario. The paradox of Zimbabwe’s independence needs careful dissection. Viewed from afar, it put an end to the Rhodesian white minority rule and its accompanying evils.
Yet a closer inspection will reveal how independence actually paved the way for a black minority elite which quickly turned into the average citizen’s worst nightmare. It would be naïve to make a blanket assertion that colonialism was better than post-independence Zimbabwe but no objective analysis can ignore the structural failures of the latter. Central to the failure of the independence project was Robert Mugabe’s power-hungry desire for a one-party state. Mugabe turned ZANU into Zimbabwe and narrowed the definition of citizenship to his party membership.
Zimbabwe’s fate was sealed by the conflation of party and state.
In essence, every statutory entity with an acronym starting or ending with the letter Z became an appendage of ZANU. So, in Mugabe’s warped view there existed statutory bodies like ZANU National Army, ZANU Republic Police, ZANU Broadcasting Corporation, National Railways of ZANU and Reserve Bank of ZANU. This humongous enterprise of state capture is proudly portrayed by the party flag of ZANU. One can easily mistake it for Zimbabwe’s national flag.
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- Written by: Richard Gandari and Duke Maplanka
- Category: Zimbabwe
- Hits: 2194
Press Conference 16th Feb 2024
Today 10am Harare {8:00 am GMT} LIVE LINK - Click the image of the flyer below. After the LIVE Press Conference is over, this Link will still take you to the video of this confernece on the 16th February 2024 by The Rt Honourable President MS Nkomo For those withour Facebook - see the video at this LINK {Click Link} Follow the "Read More" for a Full Transcript of the day's Press Conference:
From right to left in order on the live link/video The ZAPU vice President Derrick Katsenga , ZAPU President Sibangilizwe Micheal Nkomo, The ZAPU National chairperson John Zolani Dlamini ,The Party National Spokesperson Richard Gandari. Vidoe Here: https://www.facebook.com/MediaCentreZw/videos/1071597544099000 Follow the "Read More" for a Full Transcript of the day's Press Conference:
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- Written by: Duke Maplanka
- Category: Zimbabwe
- Hits: 1948
Let us not forget the genocide of Gukurahundi. The recent "enquiry" smacks of an air-brush attempt to alter history
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- Written by: Duke Maplanka and John Burke
- Category: Zimbabwe
- Hits: 1580
Geneva — Taken from a VOA article {duplicated as "News" by other media} which ignores all ZEC vote rigging, manipulation and mis-declarations. ZHRO and many others are Organising Protests. See Image.
The United Nations called Friday for an independent investigation after an opposition activist in Zimbabwe was found dead following his abduction ahead of controversial by-elections {our italics - how about illegal due to fake recalls?}. The body of Tapfumanei Masaya, a pastor and an activist with the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), was discovered Monday, 30 kilometers (18 miles) outside Harare, the UN rights office said. He and fellow activist Jeffrey Kalosi had been snatched by armed men in broad daylight two days earlier while campaigning in the Zimbabwean capital for a CCC candidate.
"Both were reportedly tortured," UN rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell said, adding that Kalosi had been released in the same area where Masaya's body turned up. See ZHRO Statement on the Tapfumanei Masaya Abduction, TORTURE and Murder
The killing follows a string of reported abductions, arrests and other violent acts that the CCC says {it is a campaign of intimidation that the evidence is showing} are part of a campaign of intimidation against its supporters following disputed general elections last August. Throssell noted that Zimbabwean authorities had said Masaya's killing was being investigated. {as unlikely as that is going to happen}
"We urge them to ensure there are thorough, prompt and independent investigations not only into his death but also into all allegations of people being tortured and kidnapped," she said.
"Perpetrators should be held accountable in fair trials that follow due process."
Subcategories
Zimbabwe ZAPU MP's
List of Zimbabwe Zapu MP's currently sitting in Parliament
